03 May 2016

Mini-Spy Hard with a Vengeance / Rubsigns

These curious little fellows are an oddity in Transformers, as they’ve never been packaged to buy individually. Instead, the mini-spies were given away “free” in 1985, packaged with the Autobot mini-cars to introduce the new concept of heat activated rubsigns, so you could see which faction a character belonged to! Not like it was ever a big secret before mini-spies, with Transformers items branded with the appropriate faction logo right on the front of the packaging.

The real reason for the new rubsigns was slightly more insidious. Unsold stock from licensing deals (most notably Diakron) that pre-existed the Hasbro / Takara alliance were showing up for sale with the popularity of the Transformers cartoons, and Hasbro wanted to make it very clear to parents and children what a REAL Transformer was, with the instructions from 1985-1987 stating that only a REAL Transformer has the rubsign as a seal of authenticity – after all, Hasbro saw no money from these other toys. It also helped to distinguish Transformers from their rival GoBots, because to many a parent, a transforming toy robot was a transforming toy robot. Of course, children and parents back then couldn’t have known the intricacies of trade deals, or predict the rarity of the pre-rub toys, or even moreso the mythical unsold Diaclone / Microchange toys cluttering up clearance aisles with their weird colouring variations.

The Mini-spies were never named individually, but were available in four different body types; Jeep 4WD, Buggy, Toyota FX1 Concept, and Porsche 928, and in three different colours; White, Blue, and Yellow. That means a Transformers collector with OCD has no good way of displaying four different minispies, as two of the colours will repeat. This has never sat well with me.

One solution is to collect each mold in each colour, for a total of 12 variations. But wait, there are different faction logos; Autobot and Decepticon. That makes a total of 24 variations?!? What is a fanboy to do?

Well I’m sure many a collector will happily track down all 24 variations, but for me this was too much. I’m not bothered at all about faction variations, as to me any cars from the first three years have to be Autobots, right? Twelve mini-spies isn’t untenable, but it is now a question of space and as cute as they are, do I need that many variations?

But there is a real solution.

Contrary to popular belief, the Mini-Spies were not ported over from Diaclone or Micro-Change, yet they are Takara through and through, from another line called Mecha Senshi (Mecha Warriors), where they were packaged separately, and in great packaging too. In Mecha Senshi, they were only available in two colours; blue, and red.

Wait, did I say red?

Suddenly, my collecting woes are over!

I only found out about the red Takara versions a few months ago after a chat with fellow toy enthusiast Flux Convoy, and made it one of my priorities for Botcon 2016. It’s not like they are particularly expensive, but even Hasbro minispies can be hard to find, never mind a pre-Transformers version in red. I found one which was a little expensive for my tastes, but I couldn’t resist the packaging.

I’m trying to find out a bit more about the Mecha Senshi figures, like were they available to buy separately, or were they some kind of vending machine product, because the packaging almost looks more like a primitive gacha capsule. The current consensus seems to be store display, probably counter-top case displays. Any pictures or information would be gratefully received.

The thing I appreciate most about the Takara version are the stickers, although they offer little to the mechanized and awesome pull-back-and-go car mode, the robot mode badly needs some extra detailing, and the numbering of each figure is a great touch. It make me want to seek out the other three in Takara versions, but then I’m limited to the two colours again. And if I’m not going to do that, should I put a rubsign on the red version to give them a uniform look? It seems a nerd’s work is never done.

Rubsigns were phased out in 1988, most likely because the plethora of all new molds post-movie meant that distinguishing Transformers from previous incarnations of Takara product was no longer a concern. This meant that some of the combiners were available sans rubsigns for the first time with the gold-packaging re-releases of the early 90s. We wouldn’t see the return of rubsigns until Beast Wars year two, as Energon chips, and they finally returned to Transformers proper in 2006 for the Classics line, just as we always remembered them.

Note the Toyota listed as a Mazda, a common mistake.

Most people who collected Transformers in the eighties will remember the rubsigns with fondness, I’m sure. Together with the red decoder strip for text specs, and the iconic packaging, these things all helped to cement Transformers into an entire generations psyche, but as fun as the gimmick was, even as a young ‘un I felt that in some circumstances the rubsign got in the way. On top of Optimus Prime’s cab? No problem. Front and center on Soundwave’s chest in lieu of a proper show accurate faction sticker? Problem.

Pre-rub vs Rub

Other than the minispies, the idea of a transformers allegiance being a mystery until you checked the rubsign was never actually used to promote a toy or build mystique surrounding a characters loyalties, which I feel is a real missed opportunity. The closest we came was with Punch / Counterpunch, who had both an Autobot and a Decepticon logo. Even now, 30 years on, I think it would be very cool to introduce a character in the comic and his or her allegiance be kept a secret until the toy release, which reveals once and for all their true leanings. Although, I fear in the age of internet spoilers, this potentially cool idea would be blown before the toys even made it to the shelves.

Arguably, the best use of the rubsigns was on the Battle Beasts toyline, with their wood, fire, and water powers (think rock / paper / scissors analogue) hidden in a rubsign on their chest. In Japan, this toyline was actually a part of the Transformers line, with the Beastformers first appearing in the Headmasters cartoon. Perhaps we’ll take a look at this range another day.

Thanks for reading.

24 Apr 2016

MC17 and MC18 Trasformers (not Transformers)

Over the last few years, I’ve enjoyed branching out evermore into the Takara design back-catalogue, rather than just collecting Transformers branded items. This has opened the door to my love of big, bulky Brave toys from the nineties, and to the early 1980s Diaclone and Micro-Change figures that were not utilized in the Transformers line.

As a subline to the New Microman line, Micro-Change figures avoided all mass-shifting complications by existing in a 1:1 scale. Hence they were real world objects such as cassettes, guns, microscope, and Penny Racer deform toy cars. Only Browning held this scale over into the TF line, transforming into a tiny robot sidekick in the Japanese cartoon.

A quick look at a catalogue reveals some familiar faces, the shot below is of the 1984 Gig Trasformer releases.

Not pictured in the catalogue above are Perceptor and Blaster, and a few more releases that didn’t make it into Transformers.

I could write articles about each of these releases quite easily, and spend weeks just discussing some of the other Diaclone toys that never made it to the Transformers line, but today, our focus is on these two:

MC17 Con Combinazione

This guy is a working combination lock, known as Dial Man in Japan. I wouldn’t want to use it to secure any valuables because I imagine it wouldn’t take much force to tear it open, and I’d be more concerned about the damage to the toy than most “valuables”.

Packaged in alt. mode, it’s another one of the Micro-Change “common things beside you”, an every-day household item that also transforms into a robot defender. The combination for the locks varies, but due to its transformation the middle number is always 8, reducing 1,000 possibilities down to a mere 100. Like I said, you shouldn’t really be using it as a lock anyway, but as a kid I’m confident I totally would have. The “secret” combination is stickered on the back, and for the sake of completion and minty freshness that is where it will stay.

Shush! Don’t tell anyone.

The transformation is great fun, starting with unlocking it which pops up the robot head in the process. From there, it’s a few familiar twists and turns to get this into that familiar Takara bipedal form. It works exactly how you want it to. The metal hoop is very obvious, but Takara try to mitigate this using it as a missile holder (unshown, as I am keeping my missiles on the sprue).

He’s a lot of fun. He does come with a stickersheet (unapplied), but the simply factory-applied chest sticker screams early Transformer to me, and he’ll absolutely fit in with the rest of my curiosos and unreleased figures, squeezed in with the e-hobbies somewhere.

MC18 Magnetico

Released in Japan as Magneman, Magnetico is a working key lock, with a magnetic twist (the name might have given that away). Again, I would want to use the lock to secure a factory full of Aston Martins, but as a kid I would have had great fun with this. The lock mechanism is actually quite strong, with a metal lock coming up out of the foot into the hoop lock, put to the stress, I think the plastic would fail long before the metal mechanism.

No, he’s not just a Mini-Blaster.

Unlike MC17, this guy comes with a little handgun which can be stored in his opening chest cavity in either mode. The magic comes when you open the foot panel and jam the handgun into the open hole, this allows a release on the lock mechanism meaning you can pop it back down into the unlocked position. Quite genius, and like a lot of the Micro-Change, feels very ahead of it’s time (considering it’s now 33 bloody years old!).

Free to transform him, you’re in for a treat, transforming like a slightly more intricate Blaster. He makes a fun robot, and again the metal hoop can be used as a missile holder. The slide-down hands are similar to what Astrotrain nearly received before Hasbro cost-cutting nixed that idea. You can see the hole with magnet reactive metal in his right shin, and the magnet in the end of his handgun; this is what is used to unlock him in lock mode.

No doubt had they been released as TFs they’d have been Decepticons due to the way Hasbro / Marvel split the 1984 range, but I like to think of them as classic enemies to each other rather than a sub-group within a faction. If I was in charge of naming them I would have made MC17 a Decepticon called Lockout, and MC18 an Autobot called Secure. But I’m not and they aren’t.

I’m no expert on the Micro-Change line at all, and I’m still collecting them and discovering more about them every day, but for my money there is no better collection of Micro-Change than in Ras’ collection. Check it out if you want to see some amazing bits.

In conclusion; these are not the most expensive toys in the world, nor are they the hardest to find. I bought these in the last five minutes of Botcon this year on a complete whim, offering a dealer much less than he was asking for on my way out of the dealer hall and to my surprise he said yes! Score. On tone with what I was saying above, they’re not the most expensive toy I bought at Botcon, or the rarest, but man are they fun!

Two original Takara molds from 1984 I have had no prior experience with, how could I say no? Easily my favourite purchase of the show.

Thanks for reading,

-Sid / CZH / Ceno / Another name I made up for no reason.

21 Mar 2016

You’re not the Boss of me!

This week, we’ll be taking a look at the Turbomasters, a quick one each day, and then a recap and group shots at the weekend. They are firmly G1, sometimes known as Euro G1.5 and occasionally mistaken for G2 figures. Some people know a few of the molds from Machine Wars and even the Universe line of repaints, but not all the molds have been re-used.

The Turbomaster Cars for instance, were released in 1992 in Europe by Hasbro, and they were also released by Takara as part of the Operation Combination series in Japan later the same year, but they never saw release in the United States, ever, and to date have never had any repaints, retools or reissues.

The gimmick for this series (other than Transforming, of course) was missiles! Lots and lots (and lots, seriously) of missiles. Their rivals are the Predators (sometimes called the Predator Jets, who we will be looking at next week) also has the same gimmick, but with much more generic – and fragile – launchers.

First up, we look at Sub-Commander of the Turbomasters; Boss.

As a robot, Boss looks simple enough. His paint job and stickers don’t do much for him, and only a few things make him stand out from the crowd; One is his incredibly Prime-esque head and faceplate – possibly a case of primus apotheosis, and the second is his pink windshield / chestplate, which may be what confuses some people into thinking of him as a G2 piece. His over-sized weapon also looks quite boss in this mode.

It’s his alt. mode and the simple but fun transformation that make this guy shine. The Turbomasters each have unique missile launchers which can be integrated into their vehicle modes and in the case of Boss this is very much essential to his transformation. His spare missiles can be stored on his alt. mode as pictured and while they can be stored the same way in robot mode, the results are not quite as photogenic.

Obscure European card artwork

Like a lot of the toys from this era, I love this guy. Away from any “Master” gimmicks, be they action, target, head, micro or shell based, and just fun transformations that look like cool cars and fun robots.

Boss has had relatively few fiction appearances, other than a never resolved Dreamwave sub-plot and some appearances in the IDW continuity, certainly nothing that has showcased him like some of the other European figures such as Pyro.

Boss is also known by the name Blizzard in France, and Mach Road in Japan where he was packaged in a two-pack with Flare Jet (Snare) in some of the best packaging I’ve seen, packaging so nice I did start to try and collect them even though I’m a loose collector and I already have both the toys. I’ll try and get some good photos of some of at least one of these two packs for the final article. While nothing about the toy was changed for this release, his packaging artwork was reworked to give him a more toy accurate face.

Japanese Vs. Europe

To date, Boss has had no re-imagining (despite how easy it would be to release him as a retooled CHUG Blurr – are you listening Fun Publications?), third party or official, and his name has not even been re-purposed. He remains a woefully under-used part of the TF lore.

17 Mar 2016

I AM THE GOD OF HELLFIRE AND I BRING YOU… ugh, Firecons :(

No-one can deny that the early days of Transformers G1 provided us with some real innovation, especially in this early Takara Diaclone and Micro-change toys.

Unfortunately, the good ol’ days only last so long, and pretty soon the reality of business takes over. For Hasbro, this meant designing new toys in house which were cheaper to manufacture and – thanks to the nature of plastic over die-cast – with molds that would last much longer.

As kids, a lot of us might not have noticed the cheap-creep, but I remember my parent’s certainly voiced it as they loved the early years, but were not fans of the later era. As metal disappeared, detailing became simpler, basic gimmicks took over, and sometimes hands disappeared to be replaced with stubs (I’m looking at you Powermaster Prime!), it was easy to see the difference from 1985 to 1987.

This wasn’t always a bad thing, as limitations can often spur creativity – case in point Budiansky and Furman’s writing, and some of the Hasbro designs have a charm and simplicity all of their own. Many toys I disliked as a child I have come to love, including the much maligned Action Masters, and many collectors love their Pretender collections.

But sometimes we get The Firecons.

Despite a fairly cool first appearance in the comic-book, where they went toe-to-toe with Galvatron (spoiler – they lost), nothing could have prepared me for the toys.

Yeah. Any Gee-wunners who go with the fleeting statement that all G1 are better than the toys we get now, need look at these guys. From left to right, we have Flamefeather (blue), Cindersaur(purple) and Sparkstalker (pinky purple), released in 1988 as one of the lower priced figures in the TF range.

They transform from three decent enough looking mythological bird monster creatures (a lot of Decepticons went a bit feral cyber-beasty by this era), with some really nice sculpted detailing – albeit with rubber tyres sticking out of their chests – to…

…this. Three decent enough looking mythological bird monster creatures with robots carved onto their backs. Their alt. mode legs retain the same function in robot mode, their robot arms unfold to reveal the very basic (and similar looking) robot heads underneath. The alt mode head, tail and arms just fold behind the robot as mega-kibble, so don’t look behind or turn them around.

I guess much of the sacrifice was due to their gimmick (other than transforming), as the Firecons could fire sparks out of their beast mouths if you ran their alt. mode bellies along the ground, then it was a rush to point the sparks into your friends eyes before they stopped working (the sparks and the eyes!). This was great fun as a kid, for the first week or so until you wore the flint out, and got a rollockin’ from the parents for scratching up the living room table / kitchen counter / doorframe. Usually, this would result in a bit of paint work damage too, which is why the beaks and horns on these guys often have some paint rubbing.

These guys are cheap enough to collect, and an interesting curiouso, though I would suggest the main collecting reasons for these guys are a) nostalgia and b) a sense of completion. But honestly? How is that any different to the rest of collecting? They are also something of a rarity – as they will never be displayed in robot mode in my collection.

Two of the three were later released in Generation 2 exclusively in European markets (please note, European markets often also include Canada, presumably due to the dual language packaging and licensing deals in place), using one of my most hated giummicks; clear plastic. Thankfully, the colours are suitably offensive and G2, so I do dig them. A lot. As much as I might joke about the Firecons, these G2 variations are legitimately hard to find, especially in the United States.

Cindersaur didn’t make the cut, I’ve often wondered if his absence could be explained through gang-molding, as Flamefeather and Sparkstalker appear to share a few colour-schemes in the G1 and G2. However, 16 years later as part of Botcon 2010, they did release a Cindersaur, albeit using the 10th Anniversary of Beast Wars Megatron mold, so it doesn’t really fit. Despite an incredibly cool colour palette that makes me want to immediately do a custom to complete my G2 set proper, I just can’t get behind this toy. It’s just too far from the source for me, and instead of “completing a set” with a mold 16 years remove, it instead starts yet another sub-set it Fun-Pub have no intention of finishing. Points for effort though guys.

Cindersaur? Or just a blue Beast Megatron? You decide.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the Japanese releases of these, also in 1988.

As the Decepticon Sparkdash sub-group, we saw Cindersaur re-coloured into a mean looking green and grey as Guzzle, Flamefeather released as Sizzle unchanged, and Sparkstalker in red as Javil. These names are especially confusing if you’re familiar with the names of the Western Sparkabots; Fizzle, Sizzle and Guzzle. We will do an article on these guys in the near future, but if you’d like to see more of the Destron Sparkdash’s, check out Brr-icy’s wonderful blog here. These guys have fantastic packaging, that almost make you want to pay $200 for an unchanged $5 toy in the case of Flamefeather.

In conclusion, the Firecons haven’t seen much love. No CHUG re-imaginings, no Third Party Representation, and only the most token of name re-usage in Bot-Shots, you would have thought they’d have fit well in Beast Hunters. At least Sparkstalker has had a decent showing in the IDW comics (with a name like that, you’d think he’d be a lot more bad-ass) but as yet, it hasn’t let to any new toys. Despite my lack of fondness for the G1, it would be nice to see these guys done well as it could redeem them a little bit. I was hoping to get these from a company like iGear or Mech iDeas as they seemed to fit with their concept of small and cost effective, but alas, thus far we have nothing. Titan Masters anyone?

– CZH / Ceno Kibble / Sid.

06 Apr 2015

Apolly who??

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With DX9 bringing revealing this awesome looking upgrade kit for Hasbro’s Leader class Megatron. Its making us Wonder could this be the best Megatron to date?