Remembering that our old toys actually exist!

Post by **Blackjack** » Thu Aug 28, 2014 4:30 am

(Longhorn would've looked so much better with the paint done properly -- it would be painted clear plastic instead of just a random swathe of clear blue)

My Straxus's hip ball joints gone really loose now!

He can barely stand without leaning to the Galvatron toy behind him, so at least Galvatron's good for something.

Classics Grimlock has been one of my all-time favourite toys... I'm not a big fan of his big robot fists or his rather weak robot legs, but his dinosaur mode? Pure awesomeness. I've always preferred predator scientifically-accurate T-Rexes than Grimlock's godzilla alternate mode, so I've always loved Grimlock -- he's currently being posed next to Age of Extinction Scorn, Slug and Strafe with Optimus Prime the Kre-O riding him.

I've always thought Sideswipe's hood-chest looked too... curvy for Sideswipe. The mould works better as Sunstreaker, but the shade of yellow they used for Sunstreaker and the general lack of detail compared to Sideswipe's more gorgeous black stripes on his sides, always made me prefer Sideswipe over Sunny. (I think I've displaced both their guns -- Sideswipe and Sunstreaker are both holding PCC Minicons in weapon mode.)

Skyquake87 · Post by **Skyquake87** » Fri Aug 29, 2014 8:16 pm

I thought the Classics Grimlock mould didn't work for Grimlock (I didn't pick up on the Pretender thing at all...even though its really obvious when you look at him) , works a treat for Overkill though (nicer colours)

And speaking of Dinobots...

Why not, the Dinobots! The G1 bruisers are magnificent toys. Oddly, Grimlock with his big golden chest seems a little out of place next to his red chested troops (this is probably deliberate). I love that they come with a ton of silly shooty gun things, swords, pistols, rifles and also turn into big robotic dinosaurs! Hooray. Snarl and Sludge are my favourites.

I don't play with them much because they feel stupidly fragile, despite their diecast, but I does love them. Even little Swoop

Post by **Warcry** » Mon Sep 08, 2014 5:46 pm

Are those the real thing, or the recent Asian bootlegs? They look like they're in pretty good shape regardless.

I've only owned Slag and Snarl, and not at the same time, so I've never gotten the full impact of the group. They're a cool team, though. I'd love to own them all but barring reissues the price is prohibitive.

Oh, and if we're going to post whole G1 subgroups...

I've always loved the Insecticons. My cousins had Kickback (I think...maybe Shrapnel) when I was a kid, and the figure's colours always grabbed me. Of course this was in 1990 or something, so I never had a chance to own them myself back in the day.

I grabbed the Hasbro reissues like mad when they came out...five years ago? I wasn't very impressed initially though, because their stickers were terrible and half of them fell off almost immediately. A set of Reprolabels later, though, and I think they're great! All three of them have a nice look, and (like the Dinobots above) I think they're a group that really works best when you've got them all together. The black, purple, orange and silver colour scheme works great, and I love the oh-so-80s designs of the alt-modes.

Kickback has the nicest robot mode, IMO, and Shrapnel is my favourite in bug mode. Bombshell tends to be overshadowed a bit by his IMO far better brethren, but they work best as a trio so I think there'll always be a place for him in my display.

ganon578 · Post by **ganon578** » Mon Sep 08, 2014 6:44 pm

Warcry wrote:Straxus still causes a "wait, they didn't really make this, did they?" reaction whenever I see it. The robot mode isn't entirely accurate to the comic design, but then the comic design was a throwaway guest star that didn't have much in the way of detail. It does a good job of capturing the important bits, though: his head design, his bulk and his signature weapon. He's got better poseability than most, a transformation scheme that I'd never seen before and an alt-mode that, though nowhere near the flying gun we saw in the comics, is very fitting. This guy is still one of my favourite figures ever, and I'm a huge fan of his redeco Skullgrin as well.

I got rid of my Straxus a while back, for two reasons:

1) Having never read any of the comics, I had no connection whatsoever to the character. Bought him on a whim since he looked neat, and all the descriptions on TFWiki made him seem like a decent villain. And I needed to boost my Decepticon ranks. Didn't think he was all that special to keep as time pressed on.

2) The figure I had featured some really weak/loose ankles. No matter what I did I had to balance the heck out of him to get him to stand on his own. The figure design seemed well weight-distributed, but he would never stand right, so I couldn't put him into cool action poses. Just stood there like a statue, slightly tilted to the front to keep him up. Drove me nuts.

Skyquake87 · Post by **Skyquake87** » Mon Sep 08, 2014 8:49 pm

Warcry wrote:Are those the real thing, or the recent Asian bootlegs? They look like they're in pretty good shape regardless.

They are customs of a sort, they have been built from a bunch of junkers, given a new lick of paint and some repro labels. I bought them off a soldier

I also loves the Insecticons. I bought a couple of E-Hobby drones to go with my lovely TFC reissues.

Tra la la

numbat · Post by **numbat** » Mon Sep 08, 2014 8:56 pm

Skyquake87 wrote:They are customs of a sort, they have been built from a bunch of junkers, given a new lick of paint and some repro labels. I bought them off a soldier

I also loves the Insecticons. I bought a couple of E-Hobby drones to go with my lovely TFC reissues.

Tra la la

Yeah, the Insecticons rock. I had the E-Hobby drones too, until I cleared out most of my G1 figures (other than Minibots). They're great for nostalgia, but really don't do it for me anymore in the flesh. I'm just too easily bored I guess...

Although I am still tempted to get hold of a Fort Max... The holy grail (and unattainable as it was never released in the UK) figure of my childhood. That said, Sixshot fits the same bill. I'd love updated versions of both really, so will be keeping an eye out for the new MMC Sixshot, and have ordered PE Warden. I'd still like a Citybot Fort Max though. Generations Metroplex is amazingly amazing, but an updated Fort Max would be something else!

Skyquake87 · Post by **Skyquake87** » Mon Sep 08, 2014 9:11 pm

I have the RiD Brave Max (the cheapy Sonokong Korean version with his upside down Autobot insignia) and I have to say, the colours are a lot more striking than on Fort Max. He is a bit of a doorstop, but his City mode is fun for interacting with smaller 'bots.

numbat · Post by **numbat** » Mon Sep 08, 2014 9:59 pm

Yeah, I always preferred the Brave Max deco. With the Encore edition, G1 Fort Max may be more attainable, and would work with PE Warden well. But seriously, I think any Fort Max is likely a pipe dream for me...

Post by **Warcry** » Mon Sep 08, 2014 10:10 pm

ganon578 wrote:2) The figure I had featured some really weak/loose ankles. No matter what I did I had to balance the heck out of him to get him to stand on his own. The figure design seemed well weight-distributed, but he would never stand right, so I couldn't put him into cool action poses. Just stood there like a statue, slightly tilted to the front to keep him up. Drove me nuts.

I've owned a few versions of the mold myself and never had that problem, but I can easily see why it'd become an issue. He's a fairly bulky figure and they're fairly small joints, so it wouldn't take much to make them loose. Especially considering the way they're mounted, which means that there's going to be weight on them at all times.

For non-comic fans, though, I'd recommend Skullgrin over Straxus. You don't need to know the character to appreciate a ram-faced lunatic.

Skyquake87 wrote:They are customs of a sort, they have been built from a bunch of junkers, given a new lick of paint and some repro labels. I bought them off a soldier

Neat! Well, regardless of provenance they look great and you're making me want to start tracking them down for myself. I guess reviving my battered Slag is a good first step. Now, to find a replacement rear leg...

Skyquake87 wrote:I have the RiD Brave Max (the cheapy Sonokong Korean version with his upside down Autobot insignia) and I have to say, the colours are a lot more striking than on Fort Max. He is a bit of a doorstop, but his City mode is fun for interacting with smaller 'bots.

Brave Max always looked quite lovely to me. I'd imagine the price has stayed relatively sane too, what with the reissue of the original last year. I'd love to track one down but don't have the room for something that big.

Grand Maximus easily outdoes the original on looks too, but the price? No thanks.

Skyquake87 · Post by **Skyquake87** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 7:38 am

Toys Toys Toys /I'm looking for a good time!

RiD Sideways vs Axer

Leaving aside that Sideways is one of the worst Transformers names ever, this sexy wasp-themed repaint of Generation 2's Road Rocket is a lovely looking chap. His right arm is a little restricted by the light up saw blade, but he's a great early example of the awesomeness of balljoints. He also looks fab with the excellent Agent Helix off of the G.I.Joe movie line (because I am no purist!).

Axer is a beautiful silver/ gold trimmed repaint of Generation 2 Road Pig (why Hasbro couldn't have re-used these names for these two, I don't know) whom turns into one of those MASSIVE Harley things. He's the better of these two bike bots, having a much less cluttered robot mode. There's just the stupidly fragile tabs in his lower legs to worry about which mean I've only Transformed this guy twice for fear of these just snapping (as they did on my old Road Pig toy, which left him with floppy legs). I have had the Baroness model this fellow for you!

Both of these guys are still the benchmark for how you do a motorbike Transformer.

RiD Brave Maximus
Seen as we've been talking about him, lets have a look at the big fella. Yeah, this bad boy knocks the bland grey and blue block that is Fortress Maximus out of the park. And, in my opinion, Grand Maximus as well. The mix of red, blue and silver is just much more pleasing. The figure itself is a surprisingly hefty and heavy brute. He looks best in robot mode, his City mode is decent, but that attack thing is pretty poor and isn't a patch on the other City bots. I like that he's huge and chunky and full of retro stylings. The double Headmaster gimmick is fun and even without the additional accessories of Fort and Grand, he's still got a plentiful supply of flip out weapons at his disposal. The City mode is probably the best out of the line for interacting with smaller toys, although small figures like the Micromasters get the best out of the thing.

Post by **Warcry** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 8:35 pm

Never owned either of the Laser Cycle molds. They look cool, though!

Have some more G1! Well, reissues. Close enough.

I don't think I was even aware that Hoist existed when I was a kid, which means that he was a pleasant surprise when I joined the online fandom. A "new" character from the original days that I'd never heard of! But I didn't especially care about him, and I didn't really think about buying him until TRU had started to put the reissues on sale for $20 off regularly. I think I got him, Grapple and Red Alert all at the same time?

But anyway, I was really surprised to find that I liked him! The blocky, primitive look that he's got to him really meshes nicely with his colour scheme, and gives him the look of a workmanlike, unspectacular support-crew character -- which, of course, is exactly what he is. I like that he comes with three different swappable "hand" modules, too, though I tend to stick with the one hand, one missile configuration that the character model used.

Tracks is actually kinda boring compared to the other ex-Diaclone cars. He's just bland and plasticky in car mode, with a boring robot design. Not a huge fan of the guy. He's not all that bad, just sort of forgettable.

And then there's Starscream, who is terrible. And I knew he was terrible, because I owned Thundercracker as a kid and thought he was terrible then (before I broke him). So why did I buy Starscream? Damned if I know. He sort of looks nice surrounded by a shelf of other G1 Decepticons, though.

Inferno was one of the reissues I chased down the hardest when he came out. The primary reason for that is this sticker album (mine was English obviously, but whatever) which I always thought made him look super-cool when I was a kid. He didn't disappoint when I finally got one. I like that he's got a leaner, more humanoid body layout than most of the Diaclone figures, and I like both his head design and accessories (like Hoist, the swappable hands are cool). His alt-mode is probably the weakest of the Autobot Cars, though, basically being a truck cab with a bunch of obvious robot parts trailing behind it.

Gotten on the cheap, Grapple is okay but unspectacular. He doesn't quite outshine Inferno in any way, having a duller colour scheme, fewer accessories and a less-exciting alt-mode. Out of the four decos this toy got that I'm aware of (Artfire and Hauler being the other two) this is probably the least interesting. He's still cooler than most of the other toys of his era, but suffers in comparison to his flashier mold-brother.

numbat · Post by **numbat** » Sun Oct 26, 2014 7:22 pm

Whilst going through Transformers doing a clearout I played around with a few:

- TFTM Voyager Premium Ratchet: Frankly I had to get him out to square off against AoE Lockdown. First thing I noticed is yeah, he dwarfs not only AoE Deluxe Lockdown, but also AoE Voyager Evasion Mode Prime and AoE Voyager Hound. Other than that, he's still an amazing cool mould. I love the simplicity and ingenuity of the transformation, and both modes look great in metallics. Because I don't have a particular love of Ratchet, I took a while to get round to getting the TFTM one, and I still remember how surprised I was by how awesome he is. And you know what? 7 years down the road and he still rocks!

- Classics Deluxe Skywarp: I still love the Classics Seeker mould. It's simple but very effective. Skywarp is gorgeous, although the lilac still seems more pink than it ought to... I love every one of my Classics-style Seekers still - I just don't see this ever being done better at this scale.

- Classics Voyager Jetfire: I was so excited by this guy. But I bet any UK Transformers fan would be. He did a great job, and is a good representation of the Stormbringer design. However, I have to say that Generations Leader Class Jetfire really is much better - at least for me. I do prefer Voyager Jetfire's general jet design though - it's more G1 cartoon - but the execution is not up to scratch with the more modern (and larger) figure.

- TFTM Deluxe Barricade: Simple, but fun, and those legs are getting easier over the years. But, not nearly as detailed as ROTF onwards figures, and perhaps one of the least detailed TFTM figures. And he has no lower body. I do love Frenzy though...

- DOTM Deluxe Barricade: Remarkably much more complex than the TFTM version, and still has tricky legs, whilst lacking a lower body. Much more detailed, and a better representation of the character but lacks Frenzy and is a total midget.

Only Jetfire made the cut for sale / trade by the way (although others not mentioned above such as Generations Deluxe Thunderwing, who is just too small basically, are also now on my sale / trade thread - but this is not a blatant advert so I won't mention any more!).

-

Post by **Warcry** » Mon Oct 27, 2014 1:22 am

Speaking of Seekers...

I love the mold too! I never got a Skywarp, though I've gotten one version of pretty much everyone else who came out at retail. Pretty much the only mold I've ever army-built. Universe Starscream and Generations Thundercracker are by far my faves. Starscream's unique mix of the toy's blue with the cartoon's red and white is just beautiful.

Classics Jetfire is really primitive compared to modern stuff, but I love his jet mode and all the clip-on gear he has in robot mode. The legs are terrible, though.

I have both of the Barricades you're talking about. My 2006 Movie version is in pretty rough shape though...the police decals on his doors have pretty badly flaked off. I think the DOTM version is the far better toy, but he's such a dwarf that he doesn't display well with any of my other movie toys.

Thunderwing sorta sucks but I inexplicably love him anyway.

Heinrad · Post by **Heinrad** » Mon Oct 27, 2014 2:17 am

Skyquake87 wrote:
Jetfire
Seeing the new Generatins toy in the flesh at AA this year made me realise how still bloody amazing the original is. And of course, its great because it doesn't originate with Takara :P Great alt mode, nice robot and clip armour stuff and a right big gun. Awesome. And one day, I will figure out exactly how the gun clip works and where its supposed to go. Oh yes.

I, too, love my G1 Jetfire. Even managed to get the canopy shield off of a friend's Bandai rerelease of Skull One. Makes Jetfire look a bit more imposing.

As for the gun clip, it clips onto the right arm so the gun pod can be stored there when not in use, and also keeping it locked into the undercarriage in fighter mode. The Super Armor Jetfire comes with renders the clip a bit useless, because the armor's not designed to work with the clip.

ganon578 · Post by **ganon578** » Mon Oct 27, 2014 5:14 pm

Warcry wrote:I love the mold too! I never got a Skywarp, though I've gotten one version of pretty much everyone else who came out at retail. Pretty much the only mold I've ever army-built. Universe Starscream and Generations Thundercracker are by far my faves. Starscream's unique mix of the toy's blue with the cartoon's red and white is just beautiful.

I managed to get my hands on a Skywarp before everyone went bonkers for the set for the Magnus in it. He's a beauty! Starscream's my fave of the bunch (because of the character) but Thundercracker and Skywarp have better paint jobs. The metallic blue on Thundercracker is really stunning.

Dirge and/or Acid Storm are my least faves (I have the whole set, luckily). I kinda wish they would have made Sunstorm instead of Acid Storm.

numbat · Post by **numbat** » Mon Oct 27, 2014 6:21 pm

ganon578 wrote:The metallic blue on Thundercracker is really stunning.

Yeah, I have the six G1 Seekers (so no Acid Storm), and Thundercracker is easily the best in terms of paint job. Ramjet is really awesome too, and I have a soft spot for Thrust as I always wanted him as a kid. Like you, though, my fave is Starscream as he has the character appeal and was the first Decepticon I ever owned when I was wee.

Dirge isn't bad really - although it's a shame you can't pose the wings on his legs like you can with Ramjet.

Knightdramon · Post by **Knightdramon** » Wed Dec 17, 2014 10:47 pm

Thanks to a dear friend of mine visiting from Athens, I had a chance to be re-acquainted with the last 2 "large" TFs I had back in Athens...MP Grimlock and ROTF Buster Prime [solo edition].

ROTF Buster Prime is hands down the best version of Movie Prime that will ever be. Consecutive toylines have either slightly tweaked the design [DOTM minor remoulds] to accommodate various add ons, or completely reinvented it with worse results [AoE]. Big, chunky, detailed, has tons of moving parts, very articulated, can have both swords and the buster gun, has a non derpy open face, and makes a large truck to boot.

As a fun retro look, my friend really liked Buster Prime much more than MP10 Prime, looks and functionality wise.

MP Grimlock is every bit as basic and fun as he ever was. Compared to, say, MP09 Rodimus, who came out right after him, he has not aged that well. The bot mode is kind of floppy as the upper chest and lower torso do not properly lock together, and the legs have got too strong a ratchet so they can easily undo/loosen the torso connection with some movement. His huge and heavy arms being on massive ball joints was not the best of options, and the dino mode is too compromised by all the junk mechanisms on his back that allow you to move the head around, up and down, and waggle the tail in unison with it. Still a good piece but really looking forward to whatever FT can do with it, only bigger and possibly less compromised.

Tetsuro · Post by **Tetsuro** » Sat Dec 20, 2014 8:16 pm

It's kind of funny, really - thinking back, I was really upset when TT announced a second version of the Masterpiece Rodimus which would supposedly fix all the problems of the previous version, shortly after I acquired one myself - but I ended up never doing anything about it, so to this day, I still own the V1.

Which ironically was probably for the better, because in addition to correcting the problems of V1, V2 introduced a whole bunch of new ones, like the tendency to snap in half at waist or at arms thanks to some stupidly weak plastic. With the only weak spots in V1 being the leg plates, and mine do not appear to have any stress marks as of yet, it seems like I ended up getting the better end of the deal in the long run.

Notabot · Post by **Notabot** » Sun Dec 21, 2014 12:38 am

So we are packing to move to Iowa at the end of December, and I have the daunting task of boxing up all of my Transformers. It's ridiculous how many I have! But in the process, I'm remember just how cool some of them are. HFTD Lugnut and Lockdown, Movie Mindwipe and Skystalker, Cybertron Galvatron, Alternators... It's nice for them to get some appreciation instead of just sitting on a shelf collecting dust. And now they can sit in a Rubbermaid tub and not collect dust.

Uberbonus: The new parsonage we are moving to has built in wall shelves with glass fronts, and my wife instantly said, "It already has Transformer shelves!"

Post by **Clay** » Wed Dec 31, 2014 10:50 pm

Notabot wrote:Uberbonus: The new parsonage we are moving to has built in wall shelves with glass fronts, and my wife instantly said, "It already has Transformer shelves!"

So, you're not going to be mayor anymore?

As for me, I dug out Transmetal Tarantulas yesterday. I never noticed it before, but the way the spider head becomes the chest and the legs jut up and behind him, he's sort-of not-dissimilar to Starscream. I should make a shelf of backstabbing traitors from across sublines.