Triple Takeover finishes up with Octane! Of the Decepticon Triple Changers, Octane is far and away my favorite. Yeah, he isn't some super aggro tank or fighter jet. Sure, one of his modes isn't as awesome as a space shuttle. You know what? I could care less. An evil passenger jet is just as good, maybe even better.
Really, one of the main reasons Octane is so near and dear to me has to do with the above picture. While Blitzwing had the nerve to stand up to Galvatron and work with the Autobots to stop the Quintessons, Blitzwing was merely banished. Octane had brass ones the size of Cybertron's moons and he displayed them by defecting from the Decepticons and started hanging around the Autobots. What's more? He was hanging out with a freaking pacifist. I wonder how Galvatron liked them apples? At least on the show. In the comics, he was pretty much background fodder. So sad.
So here's an embarrassment from the past. This picture was actually taken about three years ago when I thought I had decent equipment. I did not then, and I do not now. Fortunately, my photo taking knowledge and skill has progressed to the point where I'm not completely making a fool of my myself when displaying my pictures. Low self esteem aside, this photo does point out just how ugly my childhood Octane had gotten. As a kid, I had a habit of taking things apart to see how they worked - telephones, bikes, the occasional VCR, and toys. Especially toys. Especially Transformers. My god did I love taking apart poor Transformers to see how they were engineered. For the most part, when I put them together, the only evidence that anything had happened to them would be a decal with a hole in it, if it covered a screw hole, or a torn one if it was on a part that separated. But Octane seemed to have fared worse than all of the others combined. I think it had to do with the fact that there was something freaky going on with his midsection, but I could never figure out what I was looking for or even how to fix it. I would later find out that I was correct on the waist, after reading TFWiki, but when I was 12, I didn't know. As a result of all of the tinkering, I wound up with one crappy looking Octane. Look closely at the above picture, and you'll notice that the wheels are missing on Octane's chest. Thankfully, I lost the cover for the tanker mode, so I was able to quickly get over the agitation of replacing a childhood toy.
Hey, look! It's an Octane with wheels on his chest! And paint left on the hood! And decals on the shield! Is he a K.O. reissue? I hope not, because he cost me like $30 M.I.S.B., and I'd hate to think I spent that money on a cheap piece of plastic. I kid, of course, but the fear of winding up with a K.O. kept me from purchasing a replacement Octane for a few years. Thankfully, this one has enough wear to him to make me feel more than comfortable with the purchase. Like any self respecting G1 figure, articulation is limited to the arms, but Octane is able to move both his shoulders and elbows in an up and down motion! Jealous?
I don't know why I love the tanker mode so much, but I just do. Could it be that I dreamed of becoming a truck driver one day? No, I can't even imagine I'd last a day as a truck driver. I used Octane's tanker mode like everyone probably did - refueling. That's right, Octane drove the battlefield refueling Decepticons - and later, Autobots - with laser fire gonig off all around him. That's a sign of bravery. Keeping his fellow bots fueled is a dirty job, but someone has to do it.
Airplanes are sexy, and everyone knows it. The thing is, it doesn't even need to be a fighter jet to be sexy. Just tell someone at that you're trying to impress that you're a pilot, and they'll swoon almost immediately. Flying a commercial jet is much more impressive to the ladies, I think, because it's hard flying a jet that large with that many people on board safely. All of this is conjecture, of course, since I've only ever flown paper airplanes and an Airhog X-Wing Fighter that I hated. The point that I'm trying to make is that Octane's jet mode is just as impressive as Blitzwing's. Heck, Octane is even bigger than Blitzwing in jet mode.
Here's a picture that I could have easily taken years ago, but I was embarrassed. Not because of my perceived lack of skills, but because of Octane's sorry state. Man, it sure feels nice to have the gang all together again. Six Triple Changers? Check. Still no clue on what to do with the old Octane, however. He's too sorry looking to sell, even as a junker. Maybe I'll just keep him in jet mode. Man, now that I'm looking at this picture, maybe I should look at replacing my childhood Astrotrain...dammit.
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