Late Thoughts on Transformers Earthspark, More Than Meets the Eye

In the debut pair of Transformers Earthspark episodes, the new bots are unlike their kin from planet Cybertron, and have much to learn.

Transformers EarthsparkPresented on YTV Nov 11, 2022

The robots in disguise that we all love have gone Terran, and this new series continues from where Generation One ended. Although the events took place many decades ago–the flashback sequences present the original designs–Transformers Earthspark literally evolves the story further. Unlike past sagas set in its own continuity (i.e. universe), this one sees the battle between the Autobots and Deceptions finally over.

But as for the new threat, who we’re dealing with is like M.E.C.H. from Transformers Prime. This was formerly led by Leland (Silas) Bishop. Here, Dr. Meridian wants to merge a man with mecha and his agenda is nothing like Headmasters.

Like every other series, every introduction requires youths discovering these robots. However, for brother and sister Robby Malto (Sydney Mikayla) and Mo (Zion Broadnax), what they discover are creations that may well be Earth’s firstborn techno-biological lifeforms. They did not crash-land on this planet, but rose from its primordial goo that looks suspiciously like a lake of energon. Because they interfaced with it, they too wear a special gauntlet, so they can feel each other’s emotions. Thus, Twitch (Kathreen Khavari) and Thrash (Zeno Robinson) are born, and are probably the same age. They behave like their human counterparts, to which they’ve “bonded” to.

Continue reading “Late Thoughts on Transformers Earthspark, More Than Meets the Eye”

CMON on Board the NFT Train with Zombicide

To combine an online CCG with NFT is more of a game-changer since it can increase the value of a card.

CMON LogoCMON LTD wants to create a NFT marketplace for collectors to exchange digital artwork of their line of IPs, and thus the platform and company Monsoon Digital is ready to take shape! Amongst the first wave of collectibles is licensed artwork from Zombicide. Although trading is limited at the moment, the idea to grow this product depends on whether gamers will embrace this “new fad” or not. Wizards of the Coast had their own idea to turn Magic the Gathering into that, but when there was an unofficial product being made, they shut that down fast.

As for how that can work in the real world depends on what one can do with a digital product that doesn’t have a real world counterpart. The platform is now open as a public beta at https://www.mon.sn/collections and what I’m seeing barely scratches the surface. I’ll be keeping my eyes on it though, since it’d be nice to have some kind of “ownership” over customised material for a game. I see this practise at comic book conventions, where a collector asks their favourite artist to draw a character or planeswalker they love (Chandra for example) to use as a proxy card over using the official one. The concept for digital is no different.

For now, fans of the Zombicide board game can exchange digital assets to adjust what their favourite characters can wear. In order to survive, what they hold as their wares matters a lot more. That is, people can fuse a bunch of cards together to improve the artwork. Currently, these upgrades are pre-defined rather than user-created, and what’s featured online have a bit of animation on them. They won’t interact with you, but it’s a cute touch to give life to the character cards. The only problem I see here is that you can’t bring this into the board game. I suspect that if the idea takes off, CMON might be open to allowing it into their games.

Continue reading “CMON on Board the NFT Train with Zombicide”

%d bloggers like this: