Posted October 4, 2016 at 12:45 am

I went on and on about Cerebros a while back, and here's his Japanese counterpart, Fortress.  Unlike Cerebros, who had a completely-made-up-head-for-animation-for-no-known-reason, Fortress was a much more toy-accurate design.  He has box-shaped shades instead of eyes, and that's essentially the only difference between his animation model and the toy.  Cerebros was decked out in blacks and whites and grays, while Fortress stuck to the gray-and-also-gray of the toy.  And so in a roundabout way, it'd be easy for me to have nostalgia for Fortress just because he looks just like the toy I had when I was 8.

Additionally, because I am old, I can have nostalgia for stuff I experienced when I was twenty, and so I can also have affection for Fortress because of his depiction in the Headmasters anime, particularly with the so-bad-it's-amazing Omni Productions English dub.  And because Cerebros and Fortress have different heads, color schemes, and personalities, it's really easy to mentally segregate them into two very distinct characters rather than different interpretations of the same guy.

But, honesly, the reason I got Fortress was because I wanted the Fortress Maximus body that he came with.  As previously noted, I spent a good chunk of third grade obsessively crafting cardboard Fortress Maximuses, and so I have some very deeply rooted Fortress Maximus Opinions.  For example, Fortress Maximus has red hip-nipples, dammit.  Does the new American Fort Max have red hip-nipples?  No!  They're silver!  Unacceptable.  And so I purchased the new Japanese Fort Max, which is much more slavishly adherent to the original toy.  Ultimately, I have the American Fort Max for the Cerebros and the Japanese Fort Max for the Fort Max.  Plus, bonus Fortress!

Like Cerebros, Fortress has electronic lights and sounds.  Unlike Cerebros, whose sounds are mostly sound effects interspersed with a few trademarked phrases like "CEREBROS" and "FORTRESS MAXIMUS" so that his toy still makes sense to non-English-speaking folks in various markets, Fortress's sounds are of his original Japanese voice actor saying full Japanese sentences, and also a clip of the Headmasters anime theme music.  I don't understand Japanese, and so these phrases are mostly lost on me, but I do recognize them as sentences, so at least Fortress sounds way more articulate than Cerebros, who is only good at saying his own name.  

At the end of the day, Fortress is good to have in order so that my Fort Max has a head in robot mode, while Cerebros is off being Cerebros with his pals.  

anyway fort max doesn't fit in my lighting studio, so i hope you like me talking exclusively about his detachable head

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