Sometime this month, the Target exclusive Elita-1 will be out. This brings the number of times the Energon Arcee mould has been used up to eight - Energon Arcee, Superlink Ariel, Ariel: Paradron Type, BotCon Chromia, BotCon Flareup, BotCon Flamewar, Target Exclusive Blue Arcee, and Target Exclusive Elita-1. So far, the mould seems to be holding up well.

The sheer amount of use this mould has been getting might be a bit of a hint that we could use a few more female moulds. As much as I am all for as many Arielbots as possible, variety would also be nice. My preference is cars.

Q: How effective would a rail gun that accelerates its ammunition to about 1/10th the speed of light be against the demons?
A: About as effective as anything else - not very unless it's a very small demon.

Q: Greetings, Vector Prime.
1)What was E-Mirages reaction to Dreadmoon Energon Upgrade?
2)What have you done to Skyfire after chasing him off panel?
3)How do new rrivals to the Apartanent feel thevselves - dioriented, like been torn out of their continuity or they are built with lwledge of their nature of mass-produced merchandice?
4)To previous question - If I understood correctly, all present characters are from some time periods after the end of their respective shows, right?
A: 1) He didn't care. Repaints happen.

2) He spends most of his time on the Brigade/Armads/Energonbots shelf, standing between Thrust and Cybertron Starscream.

3) Most don't seem too worried by it. There's no disorientation - people often don't even realise they've walked to the wrong universe until Kickback pounces on them, gives the welcome wagon speech, and steals their wallets.

4) Not always, but generally.

Q: Dear Vector Prime,
First of all, I must say that you and Safeguard look SO adorable! :D
And to speak of business: I've been reading through your archives some time ago, and here's some things I thought of:
1) You explained that boat-formers are drawn to power because on Cybertron they are practically useless. So, why do they even exist? What's the point of creating water-craft based bots on a completely dry planet?
1a) In the same response you said that bot's alt mode basically stays the same throughout the changes and upgrades. Why Soundwave skipped from streetlamp to tapedeck, then?
2) You're going to hate me for that one, but I can't resist. Did someone really write slash about You and Insecticons? *supressed snigger* Can I see it? *snickers again at the mere wrongness of the mental image*
3) It appears that Mary Sues REALLY have awsome powers. One of them did something I thought impossible - she made Insecticomics boring. So my question is: can you kick her chain-adorned behind out of the apartment, so we can go back to Kickback and the Brigade?
Honestly, the only funny thing in last few panels was a line about Dreadmoon yelling for the nearest jet if touched. *sigh* I admit that two years of addictive reading doesn't make me an expert, but it appears that there are much more fics/esseys/stuff that complain about Mary-Sues than MarySue-fics themselves. So... enough already? Maybe that big green thing with the unpronounceable name can eat her?
4) Could you give me the coordinates of Voks' whereabouts? Tarantulas asked about them, and he was hiding a really big bomb behind his back. (I secretly hope he'll manage to deliver it)
Thank you for your time.
A: 1) Water or something like it used to exist on Cybertron, at least in G1, reference War Dawn. Possibly the AEC was similar. Or they took on the forms while on watery planets like Earth and just kept them. Some can fly in boat-mode ( Mirage and Thunderblast come to mind ) so they aren't trapped in robot-mode away from water.

1a) I didn't say always, I just said that we tend to stay with similar forms. A lamp isn't too different from a tape deck, compared to some things. Both are immobile objects. It's not as big a jump as between, say, a car and a jet.

2) Yes, someone did. No, I'm not going to post it.

3) It's not about Mary-Sues ( ironically, Angelle is only a highly annoying character, not a Mary-Sue - the readers hate her, but so does the cast, and they aren't punished for it, ) but about fanfiction writing peeves and cliches in general. The arc ends on Sunday, so you need only sit through one more episode. Yes, we do take all feedback, positive or negative, seriously. We don't drop arcs just because of a complaint, but feedback does help us shape the future.

4) The Vok tend to exist in the Nexus. Much as I dislike Vok, I would advise against dropping a large bomb in the Nexus, as it could damage the realities it touches.

Q: dear high and most honourable vector prime,
is angella darque goong to be a useful charecter, or just very dense comic fodder?
A: Isn't everyone in the series comic fodder? Generally, if a character is around long enough, they manage to be useful. Angelle may become recurring, she may not. We don't know who will have staying power when they first appear. Many characters appear for one arc and vanish.

Q: Dear Vector Prime,
I'd like to be the person who asks you deep and thought-provoking questions, who makes it fun to have an answer column to write, at least for one week. However, I am easily distracted by shiny things and can't think of any deep and thought-provoking questions, so instead I will settle for being the person who writes grammatically correct and properly spelled questions.
1. Back at the beginning of the Scavenger's Harem arc, Dreadmoon mentioned that he once had a girlfriend. Who was she? What was she like? Why did their relationship end?

2. Having customized a few dolls in my time, I'm curious-- just how much work has Angelle Darque had done?

3. Having attempted to photograph said customized dolls, the quality of the photos in Insecticomics really impresses me, especially in Volume Three. What kind of camera does Wayward use? Does she use any special lighting?

4. I stumbled across a photo of your vehicle mode on the Transformers Wiki-- 'kindly described as vintage' or not, you are one gorgeous ship. I really like how all the gold scrollwork lines up. (This is not a question, true, but it merits saying.)

Thank you for your time! Someone's dinner smells delicious and I'm off to see if they made enough to go around.
A: And for spellchecking, I thank you.

1) The lady in question would be Icewing. She was a largish War Within-style Seeker who ran an off-world Decepticon colony and fancied herself a scientist. The relationship ended because they didn't like each other much. Unusually for a Decepticon break-up, neither ended up dead. Last I heard, Icewing was raising lizards.

2) Not much, really. Her make-up and shirt were painted on, the jeans were sewn, and the chain was just stiched on. The head and the body are mismatched, though - the head is from a Fountain Falls Lila ( for the sparkly hair ) and the body is a Dance and Groove Lila for the articulated arms. Polly Pockets have rather random articulation, and most lack elbows and knees. If Angelle becomes a recurring character, she might end up with a fully-articulated Stylin' Pose or Pet Boutique body.

3) The 'studio' is a table with three lamps on it. The bulbs are 60 watt GE Reveals - they have a a faint blue tinge, while regular lightbulbs turn everything yellow. The camera is a 6.0 megapixel Sony Cyber-shot. Wayward is actually a rather bad photographer, so she ends up taking any picture at least three or four times, then picks the best of the shots. If a shot is being uncooperative, she might end up refilming it a dozen times. The studio is pictured above.

4) Thank you.

Q: Who was the strongest member of Primus’s original 13 transformers?
A: According to the local mythology, the Liege Maximo was overall the most powerful. The local mythology is a bit biased.

Q: I read Thunderblast’s tech spec and I saw that she see’s a “kindred spirit,” in Sideways and I was wondering what that actually meant. Does that mean she likes him or has a crush on him or something like that?
A: It means he reminds her of herself - manipulative.

Q: Will Thunderblast ever stop being mean to Thundercracker, Ransack, and Crumplezone? I know that she’ll always be mean but what I’m asking is will she be some what nicer to them like she is to Lugnutz?
A: She might warm up to them eventually. More likely she'll ditch them as soon as the next warlord comes along.

Q: Why was Skyfire written out of the show?
A: The real reason involves Bandai being unhappy with Takara, and Skyfire was based on a Macross ship. The in-show reason is that he probably got buried in the snow again.

Q: Since Scourge was made from Thundercracker and Cyclonus was made from either Skywarp or Bombshell (that’s an issue that’ll NEVER be resolved) does that mean that they can use their old selves’ powers? Like can Scourge make sonic booms? And can Cyclonus either teleport or make cerebro shell?
A: It's only unresolved because people can't stand the thought that it's Bombshell, it's very obvously Bombshell, but he's an icky bug. No, they can't use their old powers, given that Unicron used them as raw material and rebuilt them completely. Possibly Unicron took out Shrapnel's clone-making powers and put them in Scourge, but that seems to be the extent of it.