wada sez: Minerva was one of the most dramatic reinventions of a Hasbro toy for the Japanese market, a complete redeco of Nightbeat into a medic’s car. Ignoring later retcons, she was the first ever toy of a female Transformer. Together with Shūta and Cab, she was one of the three schoolkids given a Master-Brace by the Autobots, which allows her to transform into a Headmaster and combine with a Transtector. Chōkon Power is involved somehow. Given that Minerva is a schoolgirl, perhaps you’re wondering why Mas has drawn her Like That. Great question! Mas’s stated justification (per the machine-translated commentary I’ve included below the break, along with some extra art) is that he found the premise of the young teens driving around saving the world too far-fetched, so he’s aged them up a bit. Sure, I guess. If we’re talking in terms of the plot of Masterforce, this strip appears to be set after the fourth episode, “Birth! Headmaster Jrs”, which has the first altercation between the Autobot and Decepticon Headmaster Juniors—but obviously Mas is adapting the story for a new audience so is at liberty to futz with this kind of thing. To paraphase a comment by Mas on deviantART, he justifies the sheer quantity of text in this strip by reminding readers that he’s writing about a story/characters most readers will have zero familiarity with, because he’s “not interested in explaining Starscream’s treachery towards Megatron, or how nice Hot Rod is”! Based?
The idea is simple, I want to introduce the main characters of Masterfroce, which outside Japan, are more or less unknown in many countries, and the series, in terms of potential, seems to me the most profitable and innovative.
Personally I have always wanted to face Transformers in a more serious and adult way, more in line with these times, I think that the younger audience already has its "Animated" and will always have the classic series.
I also think that it would be relatively easy to make Transformers a good comic of say "superheroes or robots" and I mean a comic that both Transformers and non Transformers fans would like. And I think it would be easy to put it at the level of ... maybe some x-men (?!) ( sacrilegeee!!!! ) ( not in terms of sales volume, that's logical, but in essence ).
Another of the "problems" that I feel transformers comics have in general is that at graphic level the robots are indeed very well, but that’s all.... when it comes to drawing backgrounds or humans ........... let's be frank although it annoys us, in the comic world, nobody takes transformers as something serious, it is considered a sub-product ( never better said "SUB" ) to simply sell dolls, of course, so far they have done well.
In the mosaic, first of all I tried to create the same feeling I had with Masterforce when I saw it,
- really, this is transformers ? no robots ! -
So, in none of these mosaics I'm going to introduce anything related to robots, although of course, they are an important or fundamental part of the theme.
But before we talked about giving an adult touch to the theme, and in this aspect, I am more interested in what the "souls" of the robots may think, which in this case is the function that humans do, in order to be able to understand better the metallic beings.
But in this aspect I always give the same example... in "the walking dead" the main thing should be the zombies, however they end up being something secondary... and nobody will deny that the series is more than good.
However in this Mosaic, those of you who know Masterforce will have noticed.... in the series, Minerva was not so grown up.... well, I have done it for coherence, the eighties were another thing, but today, it would be too far-fetched, even within the far-fetched nature of the story, that a girl of 15 years not only drove a car, without being stopped by the police, but also save lives and worlds, with the maturity that presumably entails.
Masterforce is also not a new twist to the same, which would be easy and what every X time is already done, but a new concept, an evolution of robots and characters, far are the already "incarcerated and typical" Prime and Megatron, beings to which I have great respect and appreciation, but I consider that neither the fans of Transformers or any series can live forever of the same characters, even more when they are so well known, in this case,
Wolverine is a good example, nowadays it is very difficult to create something surprisingly good and new with Wolverine and even more without breaking the different continuities.
Or Batman too... to create something that really catches the attention, they have had to kill Bruce Wayne .....
I know that I run the risk that many because people don’t see robots, they won’t be interested interested in the story, but without wanting to seem offensive, that’s your problem, we have been watching Prime and Megatron for 25 years..... and I'm starting to get a little tired, and besides even at the time Masterforce was better than the original G.1 in almost all concepts, in animation, character design, drawing and scripting.
So, I hope that people can discover and enjoy Masterforce and I hope that those who already know it can "open" their mind a little and they will like it, if not... they will always have Prime and Megatron.
wada sez: As previously stated, Lord Giga is the other commander of the Overlord Transtector, alongside Lady Mega. So far as I can tell, the Eisenhüttenstadt castle is neither a real place nor something from Masterforce, but presumably it’s the same location as in Lady Mega’s strip? I’m not sure that the defeat of Buster and Hydra is a particular one from the cartoon; Super Ginrai first appears in the appropriately-named “Heroism!! The Birth of Super Ginrai”, while Overlord would finally show up in the appropriately-named “Super Ginrai Gets Blown Away in the Desert!?” Mas’s usual commentary and extra fanart below.
Well... while waiting for the "normal" mosaics, that is to say the non "human component" ones to be finished.... the truth is that I have 4 or 5 scattered all over the place for half a year or more....
We continue with those of Masterforce, which serve as a way of introduction for people who have not followed this series.
Today is the turn of the Decepticon Emperor.
Someone was saying that he’s reminiscent of Mister Sinister from X-men.... it’s true, he recalls that character, although surely it will be because it is in black and white... generally I don't paint in color these mosaics... because with the volume that there is to produce and adapt all masterforce if I had to paint them myself or distribute them all around the world to be painted, the thing would take too long, so I prefer to leave them in black and white, even so I think that this somewhat minimalist touch suits him well, besides being quicker... also I try to keep a chromatic range for each of the groups.
What I have modified have been the eyes, in the series appears with normal eyes but I prefer to leave them white or keeping that reflection or robotic glow, to somehow identify with the character or faction.
The story as all of this type intends to focus on the character, logically, and reveal small details of his personality, his position, location, etc ... we could continue further, but it is as always, ... a page can only do so much .... however I think that all the Human component have the ability to "combine" creating a continuous storyline ...
I hope you enjoy it... we will see how is the next one... in a few hours we will show the "making off".
Story - Jim Sorenson
Art - Iván Mas
Letters - Carlos Oliveros
deviantART | Seibertron | TFW2005 | BotTalk
wada sez: Holy smokes, it’s Jim! Jim Sorenson is best known as the guy behind The AllSpark Almanac, Ask Vector Prime, Beast Wars Uprising, and a bunch of insanely cool and stupefyingly dorky stuff like that. A longtime fan of Mas’s artwork, Jim would regularly share pieces on his own blog, Disciples of Boltax, resulting in the partnership for this strip. For this strip’s release, he would give his own commentary, which I’ve archived below; sadly, this would be the only Mosaic strip Sorenson would write, although Mas evidently enjoyed their collaboration. As for the strip’s contents—Clouder is a young man who pilots the “Doubleclouder” Transtector, better known in the west as Doubledealer.
My first Mosaic piece went out today. As long-time readers of this blog no doubt know, I'm a big fan of the art of fan artist Iván Mas. That's why I decided to collaborate with Iván and Synapse (AKA Carlos Oliveros) on their ongoing 'Human Component' series of mosaics. The first piece in the series was Minerva; look for more in the future.
Basically, 'Human Component' seeks to get into the heads of the 15 men and women of the Masterforce conflict. With Clouder, I felt that the core of his character was his moral dilemma and wanted to touch on why he might choose, initially, to side with the Destrons without hitting the reader over the head.
It's also interesting that, of the folks in Masterforce, he's the only character who actively seeks to get involved in the conflict. Everyone else was recruited by outside forces. I think there is a reason for that, too. Note that the Masterforce Bracelets come pre-adorned with a faction sigil on them. Basically, the Road King transtector was always destined to fall into the hands of someone noble of heart and pure of spirit. Likewise, the Overlord transtector, a pair of Destron bodies, needed to find people ruthless enough to use it. But the Clouder transtector has within it the potential to serve with either side. I think, in a sense, this Transtector needed to fall into the hands of someone outside of the conflict, someone who could approach both sides and then choose for himself.
On a side note, I've seen some evidence recently that suggests that early drafts of Masterforce had TWO humans for Doubleclouder, just as Overlord does. Certainly, with two Godmaster figures, that would have been the more obvious direction to go. I suppose that the human Godmaster components would have battled it out for Doubleclouder's spark. That could have been fun, but putting both sets of armor in one person's hands I think allowed them to tell some interesting stories and explore some interesting themes.
Let me know what you think! If you like it, I've got a few more one-page stories to tell ...
Transformers: Mosaic #386 - "Human Component: Lady Mega"
Originally posted on May 22nd, 2009
Story - Carlos Oliveros
Story, Art - Iván Mas
deviantART | Seibertron | TFW2005 | BotTalk
wada sez: Lady Mega are Lord Giga are the Godmasters that command the Overlord Transtector. If you’ve never played pool before, the first panel shows Lady Mega having just put chalk on the end of her cue, to make better contact with the cue ball. The billiards metaphor here is interesting, illustrating the unpredictability that can ensue from a simple action, but can you imagine cutting about in your castle or whatever dressed like THAT? Mas’s usual commentary plus some extra fanart below—including a panel of Mega in armor which was intended for one of his Mosaic strips (perhaps this one), but ultimately cut.
Here .... one of the Decepticons leaders of Masterforce, I have not emphasised that part of her personality... it did not fit, it was one thing or another, and here I have preferred to give more importance to the leadership skills and the plan or the idea that she has about how to win the battle against the autobots.
I have tried to make a kind of simile between the billiard balls, and the society or the city in which they are going to attack, mostly because I remember that in the series there was something similar, this mosaic, could somehow link with the Masterforce that I did some time ago...
wada sez: This strip takes place during “Assemble! The Four Godmaster Gunmen”, in which the fourth Godmaster, Road King (better known in the West as Slapdash) is discovered. “Slap”, curiously, is his Spanish name, explaining where Mas got it. In a fun easter egg, Road King’s racing suit has the IDW logo on it. See below for Mas’s usual commentary, which is a bit light this time. No, I’m sorry, there isn’t a pin-up for Road King, but there is a pretty cool preview showing a map of the circuit.
Well.... an introduction to Roadking, the last Godmaster, who was a Formula 1 racer you can see .... nothing much... a simple thing, but it was fun to add the logos on the driver's suit and so on.
Anyway... next ones are to come and I hope you like them more or enjoy them more....
wada sez: Giga and Mega would activate Overlord and take on Ginrai in “Super Ginrai Gets Blown Away in the Desert!?” No prizes for guessing how that went. Mas didn’t provide any commentary for this strip so far as I can tell.
wada sez: Cancer is named for the astrological sign associated with the crab. His backstory was revealed in the late Masterforce episode “God Ginrai - Save Cancer!?”.
Well, carrying on with this theme.... today it's Cancer's turn...
I wanted to recall the look he had in the animation, so it is easier to understand that some time has passed, compared to what we saw in the original series, and that is why, like Minerva, we see him with more age.
I intend to add little by little more mechanical or robotic elements, so here we can see a complete masterforce armor.
I am also completely aware that there will be many people that this does not call their attention, do not like it or do not understand it, well, if they want to get into the subject cool, if not, that’s fine too, they already have what IDW publishes and without belittling the rest, the other Mosaics, so they are already well served, although there is always one that says - this is not transformers...- well, it depends how, it doesn’t even deserve an answer...
Even so, I didn't want to pigeonhole myself with this topic, I mean, the last mosaics of mine that have come out are about this topic .... is due to a small coordination error, I made 7 mosaics, that should have been finished some time ago, the idea was to intersperse those seven, with these of Human component, unfortunately, we are pending to finish those 7. . we already have a delay of a year.... bad thing, I did my work, but it seems that the colorist(s) doesn’t have much time, and incomprehensingly the thing is taking forever,... among other things, that is one of the reasons why I painted or gave color myself to the Human component, so that it did not take me much time.
