Frankenstein Week - XL

For our second day of Frankenstein Week we'll head to outer space with Buzz Lightyear of Star Command which was the weekday cartoon series spin off of the popular Toy Story movies and the real version of the fictional cartoon series that the toy character Buzz Lightyear came from in the series of films. In the cartoon several cool villains were introduced but right now we'll focus on the character of the evil paychwork robot XL and to a lesser degree the villains he is associated with NOS482 and the Wire Wolf.

 Voiced by Bobcat Goldthwait, XL was the original attempt by the LGMs (Little Green Men) to build a robotic Space Ranger, however due to faulty programming the robot was unstable and mostly bipolar. Decommissioned and deactivated the head of the robot was found by the recurring villain Emporer Zurg and reactivated. In an effort to seek revenge on Star Command XL assembled a composite body from various robots and test labs. He was thwarted but returned a total of five times before being readmitted to Star Command as a photocopier.

In his return appearances, XL was teamed with two other villains from the series, the robotic vampire lord NOS482 and the Wire Wolf, a spce ranger who had the misfortune of having been bitten by NOS482 on the moon Canis Lupus which caused him to turn to a robot werewolf whenever exposed to a chunk of the now destroyed moon. The three worked together in the episode "Revenge of the Monsters"... here watch it...

Unfortunately, while a toy was made of NOS482, no toy was ever made of the Wire Wolf or XL, otherwise they'd be sitting on my shelf right now...
When XL was a villain, he had a series of weapons and equipment at hand due to his mismatched parts. Most were secured in his two arms, both of which were different and were used for different tasks, as well as his chassis.

Chassis - Stolen from one of the latest warbots, XL's chassis had the ability to deflect the Rangers' laser attacks due to its armarillium plating. It contained a rocket in the back compartment that allowed XL to fly and stored nets that he used for capturing.

Left Arm - Stolen from a research facility originally used for conducting experiments on objects and performing delicate work. However, XL used it to spew corrosive acid that could easily eat through metal, and because of its ability to extend, XL would use it to grab objects from a long distance.

Right Arm - Probably the most complex and diverse of all his attachments, modified to suit his needs as an arsenal of weapons. It could morph into three guns, each with a different set of abilities. The first gun could shoot bolts of plasma; the second, appearing almost like a machine gun, fired off laser blasts; the third, the largest of the three, looked like a cannon that shot the largest and deadliest plasma bolts. Besides morphing into guns, his arm could also morph into a sawblade, a drill, a studded mace, an egg-beater, a sledgehammer, and a strange sort of drill with metal clampings around it that XR once called a "drill with teeth". His arm could also spark with electricity and send electrical currents at people to stun them. Last, but not least, XL's right arm had a compartment similar to his chassis where he stored nets, and a special modded compartment with three distinctly-labeled buttons: blaster, acid and escape from prison.
Here's the episode, Revenge of the Monsters in three parts...

Frankenstein Week - Autobot X

Since it's the week of the Fourth I figured hey, might as well go with the aliteration and make it Frankenstein week. I'll be looking at the Monster of Frankenstein as seen through other franchises then the typical horror movie. For our first entry we'll go with an old favorite of mine from the original Transformers cartoon, Autobot X.

 In the episode "Autobot Spike" we are introduced to the autobot patchwork creation of Sparkplug, father of Transformer human sidekick Spike. Built from spare parts of various autobots... wit lets stop there a sec... spare parts? These are living robots right? So these aren't really so much spare parts as body parts from dead Autobots... creepy, I like it. Okay back to the story. Sparkplug has built the patchwork body and with the Autobots gathered to watch fires up the power and like the patchwork creation of Dr. Frankenstein, the large (even for Autobot standards) creature rises from his high tech slab and with a few growls and groans sets about destroying the place. The Autobots subdue the rampaging brute and he is deactivated but not dissassembled, instead the body is put into storage to act as a host body for the spark of any badly damaged Autobot that needs severe repairs. As fate and cartoon contrivence will happen, the Autobots get into a battle with their enemies the Decepticons and during the fight Spike is badly wounded (serves ya right for tagging along with the big laser toting robots). Spike's doctor, who must be a mad scientist himself, suggests that the Autobots and Sparkplug transfer Spike's brainwaves to the body of Autobot X until Spike's body "can be repaired" (guess they had to send out for spare parts not in stock). So using a mind transfer device Spike is put into the body of Autobot X now called Autobot Spike and on cue he breaks loose and rampages due to the process making his mind "unstable". After destroying some of the lab Spike is subdued and restrapped to the slab to rest. Wheeljack, an Autobot scientist of the semi mad sort, turns the main computer to a local television station so Spike can relax and zone out, unfortunatley and in a plot moving device kind of way the station is showing Frankenstein. Spike becomes enraged and breaks free of the lab and out into the wilderness where he begins an internal struggle between his own mind and the spark inhabiting the patchwork body. The main villain Megatron is alerted to the new possible menace and he manipulates Spike to fight the Autobots. When his father is put in danger Spike reasserts himself and saves his father and then send the Decepticons packing. His body repaired Spike is transfered back and the mind transfer device destroyed, Autobot X was placed in storage and not seen again. Man, is Autobot X cool looking. Made from parts of various Autobots the recipe goes like this:

Autobot X has a pair of bolts in his neck, similar to Frankenstein's monster.
Prowl's forehead crest and right chest/front bumper
Bluestreak's left door
Sunstreaker's shoulder
Hound's shoulder-mounted missile launcher and right fender/shoulder
Trailbreaker's arm cannon and left chest
Optimus Prime's left wrist and parts of the right leg
Jazz's photon rifle, mounted on his right arm, the back of Jazz's left leg, and crotch

There has not been a figure made for Autobot X/Autobot Spike but there have been some sweet custom like this one made by a customizer named Franzyrumble

Now here, watch the episode yourselves