#destrons

[Transformers Masterforce E16, 17:16-17:25. video from Youtube]

Dear Etymology Enthusiast,

This answer is complicated by language barriers that span galaxies. As Galvatron alluded to—albeit in tones I would never use—Cybertronian words can be very linguistically dense; a translation that conveyed every nuance of our equivalent for "Autobot" would take over seventeen minutes for a human to say! As such, "Autobot" and "Decepticon" are only approximations of the neocybex names of these factions.

In many universes, my faction is named for the ideals of freedom and autonomy—hence, "Autobot" is derived from the term "autonomous". Sometimes this reflects a casting off of Quintesson rule or triumph over a caste system, but in other contexts—sometimes simultaneously—it reflects a darker facet of Cybertronian history. A famous bot once said that autonomy was a gift, a spark of sentience kindled by Primus himself. That bot's name was Nova Prime, and he used that belief to justify the subjugation of hundreds of alien worlds.

The suffix translated as "-bot" encompasses ideas such as "person", "individual", "independent agent". It could be considered an adaptation of the common English-language "man", of course—you might be familiar with the Aerialmen, the Dinomen, and the Sparkamen—but "bot" conveys that it most commonly refers to mechanical lifeforms. While typically used in the names of teams and factions, occasionally an individual might be called "Dinobot" or "Dreadbot"; such sobriquets can be seen as similar to a human being carrying a family name as their first name, such as "Jackson".

As for "Decepticon"… much has been said of the phrase "you are being deceived." In many universal clusters, this is indeed the earliest origin of the term. "Decepticon" suffers to a greater degree from the imperfections of localization. In many universes, Cybertronian language uses nuances related to subject and object that fail to translate, especially when neologism is concerned; "Decepticon" principally suggests "deceptive" in English, but in its original Cybertronix, the waveform can simultaneously be read as "the deceived".

The "-con" suffix is not dissimilar to "-bot", though it carries subtly but significantly different implications. "Person" is an adequate translation, but its meaning is much broader, not being restricted to living creatures; you may know of data-cons, information storage devices commonly used in my home reality. The closest equivalent to the suffix in your language would be "entity"—or, more bluntly, "thing". As such, the translation "-con" is derived from your language's "construct", a created object or idea.

The reasoning for the use of this suffix varies across the multiverse. On versions of Cybertron where Functionism took hold, Cybertronians of lower labor castes, or with alternate modes considered fit only for use by others, were more likely to have "con" names or be assigned categories like "Constructicon", "Agricon" or "Recordicon". Conversely, in universes where the Decepticons originate as a military junta, the use of "-con" carries the suggestion of component; all Decepticons are considered to be a part of Megatron's war machine. These implications, of course, carry over to the Mini-Cons. While I am proud to count Safeguard as a friend and partner, for much of my world's history, Decepticon and Autobot alike treated his kind as "smart tools", as mere objects to be collected. Regardless, the Great War created extreme political polarization of the "-con" suffix, and nearly no self-described Autobot adopts it; even as Decepticons freely use "bot" to describe themselves, "con" is almost exclusively used by Autobots as a term of animosity.

Transformers: Super God-Masterforce (1988-1989)

Everything about this is so fucking funny to me

my beloved pair of Space Pirates <3

Transformers Generations Selects

TT-GS10

God Neptune

Beast Wars II

by Hasbro (2020)

This Predacon team was featured in 1997′s anime Beast Wars II, a Japanese only spin off of Beast Wars, which never made it to the U.S. Originally all these toys were, were repainted G1 Seacons, now given Predacon status as new characters and presented as space pirates. Otherwise I’m not all to familiar with their story or roll in the anime.

Well in 2019 Hasbro Pulse released exclusive Seacons (which I don’t own) and were all heavy retools of previous Combiner Wars molds. For 2020 those same Seacons were repainted for Beast Wars II, minus Nautilator, since I guess he wasn’t part of the Beast Wars team...

This is going to be a long post, so I’m mostly going to show pictures of the characters.

The God Neptune team are all robotic sea-like creatures (sharks & stingrays with legs and arms), and primarily these Predacons have a unified color scheme of white, gold and gray. Halfshell, the leader, stands out with a fair amount of blue on him. This is one of only a handful of Combiners that has a constant color; the Seacons, Constructicons, and (G1) Predacons being the other three.

Halfshell

Halfshell is the leader of the space pirates, and he is a turtle. I viscous looking robo-turtle.

Beast Mode:

Helfshell is a heavy retool of the Combiner Wars Silverbolt mold (who isn’t at this point?), and as clever as I think it is, I’m still not a huge fan of the beast mode, it just feels a little bit off to me. But then again, Hasbro did take a mold intended for a jet mode, and rework it into a turtle, so perhaps some jankiness was inevitable.

 I do like the turtle head however. It’s well detailed, and I like the silver teeth, and he’s the only one who has a Predacon symbol.

And I will say this, with the guns coming out of the shell like that, he reminds me of the Pokemon, Blastoise. 

That can’t be a coincidence. Pokemon either used the G1 Deceptcon’s design, or it could be some kind of Japanese cryptid.

Fully decked out with weapons (and combiner parts) Halfshell is a force to be reckoned with. 

Robot Mode:

Transformation isn’t too bad, the shell is removable and can act as a shield for Halfshell, and it can hold his guns well. As the center part of the Combiner team, Halfshell is the only voyager figure.

Coelagon (left arm)

Coelagon appears to be some kind of angler fish, I think...with legs and arms, of course. The beast mode’s got a cool look, in my opinion. 

Fully armed

Adding the weapons to the beast mode, Coelagon can have a deadly spike, and two guns, utilizing its many 5mm ports.

Robot Mode:

Once in robot mode, Coelagon also looks pretty good. Aside from the angler fish backpack, he looks like a perfectly serviceable tough-bot.

The beast tail becomes a gun, and his two gun can combine to a double-barreled gun.

And he he holds his sword well too.

Scylla (left leg) 

Moving on to  Scylla, our femme-fatale of the group. She is...squid, I think. I’m not 100% sure. Octopi have 8 tentacles, and squid have 9...Scylla has 10 limbs (if you count the legs, which I do) So I’m not entirely sure.

The beast looks pretty good. The face is just wild with that sharp fangs and the red lip stick.

Decking her out in full weaponry, she looks like a squid-monster with a mohawk.

Transformation is a wee bit finicky, but once you get her to robot mode, Scylla looks, mostly okay.

Scylla is packing with two large hand cannons! (Wrong guns, but I like this picture, so I’ll keep it).

And apparently they’re blast effect compatible!

Her melee weapon is some kind of serrated knife. It looks awkward to weild.

Much to my surprise Scylla has 14 5mm ports! That’s a lot of places to peg weapons to.

Sea Phantom (right arm)

Sea Phantom is a manta ray (with legs, of course), and I really dig this beast mode.

He can even be fitted for a 3mm flight stand.

Adding two of his guns to the wings almost give him a star fighter look.

And with his other gun and knife, he looks like a manta ray...with a mohawk. Sure.

Robot mode is easy enough and Sea Phantom almost reminds me of a Decepticon Seeker. I’m cool with that.

He’s got a lot of posing options too.

Terrormander (right leg) 

Terrormander is a shark...ticon? with legs and arms, naturally. Personally, I think he might be the weakest of the bunch in beast mode, but he stands well, and has some range of motion.

Outfitting Terrormander with his weapons...allows him to shoot stuff.

As far as robot mode is concerned, I actually kind of like Terrormander a bit better, because I am kind of diggin the generic Predacon bot form. It works.

He’s good for posing though.

God Neptune

God Neptune is the combined form of the five Predacons, and I have to say that he could be better...

Look, this is Combiner Wars tech from what; 2016? I still like the idea of Combiner Wars, and I don’t want anyone to think that I hate this figure, but God Neptune is a bit on the floppy side. Now, that could be said about ALL Combiner Wars gestalts but he seems a bit more floppy than previous combiners.

My main issue is with the ratcheted hips, and I don’t think they’re tight enough to really hold the weight of the figure; I have to pose God Neptune with his feet facing away from each other to get him stable.

Otherwise this is an impressive Predacon bruiser.

Scylla is supposed to play the roll of the right leg, and unfortunately I think she does a great job. Due to her transformation, and design, she’s got a lot of hinges, and she wasn’t particularly load baring. Fortunately the limbs can easily be swapped around.

I think the head sculpt is really good with those red eyes, and the finned-out side pieces.

I really want to see a big Predacon badge on his empty, but well sculpted chest; I might have to buy a sticker.

I love the articulated hands of the combiner. The engineering is similar to both Combiner Wars, and Power of the Primes combine hands, but now with separate fingers, hinging at the knuckles. The thumb can also be swapped to either side of the hand depending what limb you’re using.

God Neptune’s weapons consist of a trident sword, which is cleverly made up of the Predacon’s numerous melee weapons.

And a...hot mess of a blaster, made up of all the firearms of the Predacons guns. I’m not a fan of this weapon. I suppose I could divide it up, and just place them all around God Neptune’s 5mm ports. This jumble of guns really weighs down his arm anyway.

Final Thoughts:

My opinion about the God Neptune set is that...I like him, but the toy has flaws.