Strange old man

This article is about a character or concept that lacks a name, but has an official term or designation. For more information, see Help:Nameless.

The "strange old man" is a human(?) from the Mystery of Convoy portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

Is it still product placement if no one knows you're advertising something?

Who is this strange old man (へんなおじさん henna ojisan)? Why is he hiding out in a Decepticon Time Tunnel? What's his beef with the Autobots? Is he human, and if so, why is he so big? Does he like corn puff snacks? What's the deal?!

Games

Transformers: Mystery of Convoy

• Stages: 3, 6
• Point value: 50000 (see notes)

The strange old man was inside a hidden room within the Decepticon Time Tunnels in stage 3 and 6. Should an Autobot stumble into his secret area, he ran along the block-bridge above, whacking it with a pickaxe and dislodging blocks, sending them crashing down onto the Autobots below. However, the blocks were breakable and gave up Energon Cubes upon destruction. Like a happy prospector dropping candies. The bridge protected the old man from all forms of Autobot retaliation, but after a short while, the old man relented, and the Autobots were sent back into the normal Time Tunnel. Transformers: Mystery of Convoy

Notes

• No, really, we don't know who this character is supposed to be. His inclusion in the game is utterly baffling. He does not appear to be from any of Takara's previous video games, and the strategy guide only refers to him as a "strange old man" (へんなおじさん henna ojisan). Our best guess is that he's based on Karl Ojisan (カールおじさん, "Uncle Karl"), the mascot for Meiji's Karl snacks; notably, the music that plays in his room is very similar to "Iimondanafurusatoha" (いいもんだな故郷は, "It's Nice to be Home"), the song played in commercials featuring the character. That said, even if it is meant to be Uncle Karl, it's not clear why he's here, as while Takara and Meiji did have a few collaborations with other franchises, we don't know of any such cross-promotions attached to this game.
• In one of many little misfires in the game, the old man has a stray pixel in his "raised pickaxe" animation frame (seen in the screenshot above), at the very top edge of his border.
• There is another entrance to this room from stage 10, but it is blocked by a wall.
• If one were to somehow get above the bridge, the old man would die after one shot and give 50,000 points and one extra life. However, this is impossible in normal gameplay and requires editing the player's location through hacking.