Remembering that our old toys actually exist!

Figures, collectables, customs and collecting.
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Warcry
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Re: Remembering that our old toys actually exist!

Post by Warcry »

I find that I enjoy my figures more when I mix and match, for sure. Just because a character gets a new toy doesn't mean they get a BETTER one, after all. And the more different lines and styles you mix together, the less anything looks out of place.

And also, honestly, the 80s line was a hodgepodge of mismatched figures from different lines from day one. And I liked that! The lack of uniformity in the G1 toys made the universe feel so much bigger to me when I was young, even if I wouldn't have been able to word it in such terms. I suppose people who only played with the first couple years' worth of toys and then aged out would have had a different experience than me. But I grew up with Thundercracker, Sinnertwin, Bludgeon and Skyquake all on the same team, Powermaster Optimus and the Targetmasters hanging out with second-hand Jumpstarters and '85 Minibots, Pretender Grimlock palling it up with G2 Slag, etc. Having Classics, TR, Siege and Third-Party stuff all hanging out together and just seems like the way Transformers has always been.
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Clay
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Re: Remembering that our old toys actually exist!

Post by Clay »

Ugh. This took a couple of hours. I color coded the shelves, lol. I know I can get a stronger and more distinct color vibe for each shelf going, but everything in there now was simply rearranged from that or another shelf. I... like it.

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Denyer
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Re: Remembering that our old toys actually exist!

Post by Denyer »

Neat. I'm still kind of OCD about not having the same character in the same display, but equally it's nice to have comparison shots. And there's some unusual pieces there -- is that a Japanese gum toy Piranacon? Who's the green Scoop redeco?

Got this one out the other day. It's a genuine Redbee but with the face plate from a KO MP BB cut and glued in (IIRC the red version disappointingly didn't have a battle mask and a pre-TF homage should absolutely have a face plate). It did as a Cliffjumper substitute for a while, and I'm getting a hankering to unpack the spray gun and do a Glyph in metallic blue, but I'd get another KO to potentially screw up for that. Since the other two uses of this mould I've already got aren't in a position to transform easily due to head mods this one's the desk toy.

It's particularly nice that these days you can get very similar figures in the main line for the (admittedly increasing) price of a deluxe.

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Warcry
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Re: Remembering that our old toys actually exist!

Post by Warcry »

That looks fantastic. The facemask improves that toy a ton in any colour. I'm not even sure where my cartoon faces went.

I'm really surprised by how few repaints the good MP Bumblebee got. It's not particularly show-accurate or complex, but if you take it as the fancy Deluxe toy that it is, it's great.
Denyer wrote: Wed Aug 19, 2020 4:40 pm It's particularly nice that these days you can get very similar figures in the main line for the (admittedly increasing) price of a deluxe.
Yes and no, for me. It's tough to get too excited for a "new" toy when it's 75% the same as one I've owned for five years. But on the other hand, it's so familiar that I know I won't be disappointed by Hubcap if I ever track him down.

The new Generations mold would make neat custom fodder, but with the state of Hasbro these days, I half-expect them to just make all the repaints themselves. Plus the construction of most Siege and Earthrise TFs is so unfriendly to disassembly that the MP might actually be easier to work with.
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Re: Remembering that our old toys actually exist!

Post by Denyer »

https://gear4geeks.co.uk/blog/2017/06/0 ... 21-review/

^ I'm not going to get chance to do anything with it for ages, but since there's a bit of cracking down on KOs I've ordered one of the oversized (and this is double the height) KBB MP 21+ ones. It won't fit with most things I've got being around MP-01 scale, if not bigger, but the re-designed elements might better suit partial deconstruction and repainting.

Plus die-cast.
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Clay
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Re: Remembering that our old toys actually exist!

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Denyer wrote: Wed Aug 19, 2020 4:40 pm Neat. I'm still kind of OCD about not having the same character in the same display, but equally it's nice to have comparison shots. And there's some unusual pieces there -- is that a Japanese gum toy Piranacon? Who's the green Scoop redeco?
Here's the shelves individually: https://imgur.com/a/dOhMqtU

Yeah, that's the new Kabaya Piranacon. There was another one from 1988 or 89, but mine is the one that came out in ~2016. I believe they're separate molds and the original is actually a little smaller. None of the usual sites have much info on them. Wasn't expensive, though... maybe $30 for a box of eight when they came out? I got it from BBTS.

Green Scoop is Roadblock. Honestly, it's weird that they didn't have a Scrapper head ready to go as a premold considering the transformation and alternate mode are identical.

You can also see the KO Hulkie that arrived a week or so ago. After that came in, I ordered the KO CW Dev and KO Gravity Builder as well, so I'm gonna need to redo the shelves again. I do like the color concentrations though, so I'll work within that.
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Denyer
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Re: Remembering that our old toys actually exist!

Post by Denyer »

:up:

With the G2 Megatron talk I fished out RID Bludgeon -- this one's had the cannon shortened and in the second pic you can just see that the bellows piece has been retained (since it's necessary for the tank mode to not have a gaping hole) but plugged onto his back with a 3/4 Technic pin.

Great mould, just a shame it's as floppy as f*** in execution.

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Denyer
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Re: Remembering that our old toys actually exist!

Post by Denyer »

Denyer wrote: Thu Aug 20, 2020 11:55 amPlus die-cast.
Don't think I'm going to touch this with customising as it's too nice. The yellow is a little more orange than the typically bad photo shows, and the figure's a great example of upscaling and better materials showing what the MP line could have been. Much prefer this older sculpt to the V2.

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In other news, FOC Brawl and CW Ironhide showed up from Toy-Fu. Ironhide got a few minutes of retouching as Tote -- Dreamwave may have done more harm than good overall, but a profiles book was a good idea. The yellow stripe paint wasn't budging with rubbing alcohol or paint stripper, though.

Brawl is full of compromises and far too spindly to work as Brawl, but I have a soft spot for the mould and I should've kept one of the ones I had. I see some similarities with AM Charger in this shade of green -- imagine twin linked lascannons on the grav-tank setting fire to things and a stand-in rifle with incendiary shells, perhaps, the character was never more than a cipher -- and if I can dye some parts and paint others whilst keeping him transformable I will.

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Tantrum
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Re: Remembering that our old toys actually exist!

Post by Tantrum »

I saw a white Cybertron Vector Prime at a flea market yesterday. i didn't get it, but it did make me think of the gold repaint I bought at a yard sale many years ago, which had a misassembled right elbow. The elbow would bend backwards instead of forwards. I decided to try to fix it today. I got out my little screwdrivers, found which one I needed to take the screws out of the elbow. However, that wasn't enough to get anything apart.

I slid the shoulder armor off its pins. Then I realized that all I had to do was rotate the shoulder and elbow joints, and the elbow would work normally. I did that, snapped the shoulder armor back on, and he's fine. I put the screws (which never needed to come out in the first place) back in and that was it. 30 seconds of effort I put off for 10 years.
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Denyer
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Re: Remembering that our old toys actually exist!

Post by Denyer »

Is it too early to wax nostalgic on Titans Return? I like figures that have added posing options because of their transformations, and Windblade being able to meditate is a nice one. The sword is a cast by the chap who I bought a repro Bludgeon gun+turret from, which was very kindly added to the order due to a bit of a delay.

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Warcry
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Re: Remembering that our old toys actually exist!

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After realizing how many of my favourite toys hail from the distant past of 2010 (a great year for Transformers toys!), I realized that I couldn't call them "the best X of the last decade!" anymore! That got me wondering what my favourite toys from the decade that just ended (2011 to 2020) were, and since it's New Year's Eve (or maybe New Year's Day, depending on how much wine I drink how long I take to write this), today felt like a great day to actually sit down and figure it out! I had a lot of fun doing this, and I'd love to hear about everyone else's faves from recent years as well.

25th Anniversary Unicron (2011):

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Yes, the first toy I'm talking about is a retool of a figure from 2003. It's my list, shut up. As a university student in 2003 I was far too poor to afford an Armada or Energon Unicron, so this was my first experience with the toy. I think it's safe to say that the original must have been one of the best of its decade as well, because even in 2021 it's a lot of fun. He's packed with gimmicks, with room for...well, more Minicons than I've ever owned, that's for sure! What he's not is "spherical", but my son certainly doesn't care about that when we have him eat whatever other toys are lying around, and it doesn't bother me either. And the robot mode, in spite of the planet half kibble on the back, is way more poseable than it has any right to be. I can understand the appeal of the super big Haslab one, if only because Unicron deserves the "biggest Transformer toy ever" label, but I have a hard time imagining the new one will be anywhere near as much fun as this thing.

Prime First Edition Starscream (2011):

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TF:Prime can't possibly be this old, can it? Oh, you say that the TV show premiered in 2010 and the finale was in 2013? Where did all that time go? Well, it doesn't matter how old this sly bastard is, because it's still the best toy any version of Starscream has ever gotten. And I was as surprised as anyone, because when I first saw the designs on TV I thought there was no way they'd be able to even make a passable toy of it. But this figure has great articulation, and it's SUPER expressive. It looks delicate but it's not fragile, which is actually a pretty good metaphor for the character as well. Its only real flaw is that the teeny, tiny feet can make it a bit difficult to actually get the guy to stand!

Generations Thrilling Thirty Sandstorm (2013):

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Easily the best triple-changing figure Hasbro have ever made. And -- this is going to be a recurring theme as this post runs along -- Springer is just as much of a winner as Sandstorm is. I figured there wasn't much point in taking pictures of all the different variations of a mold, so where applicable I just grabbed the best and/or whichever one was easier to get off of the shelf. Both of them are great on their own merits but I think my favourite thing about both of them is how different they manage to feel. There's a ton of retooled parts between them, to the point where neither of the alt-modes even look like the same toy. Sandstorm winds up being the one I pull out to play with more often mostly because he won the QC lottery -- my Springer takes a bit of fiddling to get into either alt-mode and some parts don't fit great, where my Sandstorm transforms as smoothly as anything. A toy that's fun in all three modes and even more fun to switch between them.

Masterpiece Ratbat (2014):

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So, spoiler alert, no version of Soundwave made the cut for this post. It turns out that if you're going to turn into a featureless box, being tiny and cute is the special sauce you need to become one of the neatest Transformers ever. Or maybe it's being a picture perfect representation of the coolest Decepticon leader ever? Ratbat here does literally nothing but transform, but it doesn't matter because he's adorable and transforming him is a ton of fun. He's also -- and this goes a long way towards explaining the lack of Soundwave on this list -- the only one of the MP cassettes that I can cycle through my MP Soundwave without something jamming. Which is hilarious, because he's actually a $8 bootleg that some dude mailed from China in a bubble envelope.

(On a serious note, I love both MP Soundwave and Siege Soundwave as action figures, but I haven't transformed either of them into their alt-modes more than five times and every time I do, I wonder why I bothered. Still lots of fun, but that's a high hurdle to clear when we're talking about my favourite Transformer...)

Masterpiece Blue Bluestreak (2015):

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The Datsun mold is easily the nicest of the MP cars -- a gorgeous car, a slick transformation and a very handsome, poseable robot, and nothing like the panel-forming, undetailed messes that modern MP cars have become. If they hadn't made this figure, then this spot on the list would have belonged to Prowl. But I think anyone who had the 1984 toy catalogue as a kid, or ever saw Bluestreak's box art anywhere in the 80s, can understand why I fell in love with these colours. The original blue Datsun Diaclone figure was gorgeous. Those same colours on a Masterpiece figure are exquisite. And the alt-mode is amazing too.

(I love this car and this deco so much that I came very close to buying a 1982 (I think?) Datsun in these colours when one came up for sale locally a couple winters ago. Sadly, I had nowhere to store it though the long Manitoba winters. :( )

Masterpiece Optimus Primal (2016):

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Most Masterpieces are very much "the best toy we can make of the cartoon robot mode", with accurate real-life alt-modes where applicable. Primal feels like something else, though. Because his show model was literally just the toy with some surface changes, this MP feels more like the 90s toy remade with modern engineering. So it's no surprise at all that it's so, so much more fun to play with than the average Masterpiece figure. Most of them look great but become frustrating when you handle them. But in spite of a transformation that has a fair few wrinkles added on top of the 90s template, Optimus Primal is more fun than a barrel of munkys. I own the original mold and the Robot Masters version of the design. All three of them are among the best toys of their respective decades. But this one is the best of the bunch.

(I'm making a point of not ranking these 1 through 10 because I don't want to start picking at them looking for flaws, but Primal would almost certainly wind up as #1 if I did rank them.)

The Last Knight Scorn (2017):

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I was surprised to find that only one Movie toy makes the cut here, because I'll always say that I have a bunch of movie toys that I love and I have a hard time conceptualizing that it's been 13 years since the first movie line. But it turns out that almost all the movie toys I love were all mode from 2008 to 2010, and I've only bought a whopping nine movie figures in the last decade. Four of them were terrible. One broke. One got kitbashed into a G1 character. One of them is a redecoed Beast Wars toy that I don't even think of as a Movie figure most of the time. One of them was a smaller, overall less impressive version of Scorn. And the last one is this guy, who is absolutely fucking amazing. My wife and son gave him to me as a Christmas gift four years ago and he hasn't left the living room since. Both modes look great and he's got good poseability in both modes, but what gets him on this list is the same thing that got Prime Starscream here: the toy just has presence. It's expressive and has a ton of personality in both modes. This figure is moviespikes to the nth degree, probably the Bayest of all the Bay figures I own, but the fact that they went all-out to make it so "Bay" is why it's such a standout.

Titans Return Misfire (2017):

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I've probably said it a gazillion times, but G1 Misfire was the first Transformer I chose for myself and bought with my own money. My mother was DEEPLY CONCERNED at my choice, possibly because he was a bad guy or possibly because he was super bright pink, but I never regretted it. He was one of my favourites right up until his legs and cockpit fell off because I played with him too much (at which point I turned his broken torso upside down and pretended he was Ratbat...) All of which is to say that I'd have adored a new Misfire for existing no matter how the actual toy turned out. But it turned out great! Titans Return was my favourite line of the 2010s and Misfire was absolutely the best Titans Return toy.

(Triggerhappy, who uses the same lower body, is firmly #2. Their retool buddy Slugslinger is a bit farther down the list because he's a kibblemonster, but he's also a solid figure in his own right.)

Power of the Primes Outback (2018):

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From the ROTF line in 2008 until 2010/early 2011, the Scouts were the bread and butter of Transformers. Then Cyberverse (the first incarnation) killed them, but when they came back under the Legends name for Thrilling 30 they immediately became a highlight again (until Hasbro axed them AGAIN and replaced them with Micromasters in late 2018). These guys were too small to ever be "10/10 best toy ever", but they were very, very consistently fun little basic figures even when the bigger price points suffered from obvious budget issues that sapped their quality for long stretches (Deluxes in the FoC and Thrilling 30 era, and Voyagers during the Prime Wars line). It didn't feel right to do a "best of" without at least one of them, and Outback here wins out as my favourite. I've got a pile of Scouts and Legends that I really enjoy, and any of POTP Beachcomber, CW Viper, CW Bombshell, CW Chop Shop, TR Brawn, TR Rewind, T30 Cosmos, Human Alliance Basic Sandstorm (who I need to replace, mine broke a few years ago), CW Skywarp or CW Blackjack would have been a fitting representative for a really good size class. But Outback here has always had a special place in my heart. I'm assuming it's the colours...tan and reddish-brown are a real unique combination when it comes to Transformers. But either way he's a great little pocket toy.

Siege Spinister (2019):

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Obviously. Who did you think was writing this?

Even with the truly shameless second cockpit, though, Spinister has a really sleek copter mode. And his robot mode is one of the most dynamic of any figure I own. Add the gorgeous colours and one of the best implementations of the hilariously-named "C.O.M.B.A.T. System" to the mix, and you've got a really fun toy. Add to that the fact that he's the sort of character that I never, ever thought would get a dedicated mold (after Titans Return came and went without them bothering to make any of the 1988 Headmasters) and you've got the recipe for one of my favourite figures of all time.

Honourable mentions: Reveal the Shield Jazz (2011?) and downsized bootleg MP10-VB Nemesis Prime (2017/18ish?)

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Even the Wiki seems unsure about exactly when Jazz came out, which makes me think he was one of those "January 1st but he showed up earlier in some markets" releases that Hasbro seems oddly fond of. The specific Jazz in this picture, I definitely bought in 2011 -- it's the "white plastic forearms" one that I got at a clearance outlet that summer for $8 (the "black forearms painted white" Jazz that I bought at some point in winter 2010/2011 eventually became Skram). That's not what pushes him out of the top 10, though. What pushes him out is that he's one of my favourites now...after I've put a lot of work into it and done a fair bit of painting. The stock toy, I tend to forget, was a lot plainer, though the Takara version is great right out of the box.

Nemesis is a bootleg, but (as Ratbat will attest!) that's not enough to drop him out of the running on its own either. It's a fun figure, but there are quality issues...all the screws are rusting after a couple years spent mostly in a glass case in a climate-controlled room, one of the hand joints have cracked (the risk you run with a downsized figure, alas), the hip joints have gotten disappointingly loose, and what little paint he has is a bit sloppy. I feel like the actual MP-10 would make a lot of people's lists. But for me, I honestly don't think I'd be anywhere near as impressed with the thing at full size.

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inflatable dalek
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Re: Remembering that our old toys actually exist!

Post by inflatable dalek »

You should make a custom IDW Outback by slicing him in half.
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Warcry
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Re: Remembering that our old toys actually exist!

Post by Warcry »

I had to Google that because I haven't read Spotlight: Kup in over a decade. Obviously I need to start following along with your IDW revisitation!

It's a lot less gruesome than I remembered it being. Just pop the right arm and leg off their ball joints and you're most of the way there.
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Clay
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Re: Remembering that our old toys actually exist!

Post by Clay »

I was going to chide you for not picking the robotmasters beast Megatron that you got for $3, but then I remembered that he came out in 2004 and is thus excluded from the running. :o

Interesting topic, though. I'd really have to think about it, given the past decade has (inclusive of the third party stuff) probably had more new-mold figures than any comparable span of time before it.
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Warcry
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Re: Remembering that our old toys actually exist!

Post by Warcry »

That Megatron would definitely make my five year old's list of favourite Transformers, though! For a while there he would spend all day running around the house with it going ""Yeeeees..." But somehow, Robot Masters was seventeen years ago. I kind of don't want to believe that. I'm also in denial about how we're getting to the point where my early-2000s G1 reissues are going to be older than the originals were when the reissues came out! Actually, that's a good idea for the next group of figures I should appreciate in this thread. I haven't had the reissues out in years.

You're probably right that the last decade has featured more new molds than any other. Honestly it's probably there even before you consider third-party stuff, considering we've had Generations, a Movie line, Rescue Bots, a second TV show line and at least a couple random side-lines (Botbots, R.E.D., etc.) all running side by side for much of those 10 years. I made things a bit easier on myself by only considering stuff that was actually upstairs on a shelf. I figured that no matter how good something was, it can't be a favourite if it's packed up in some bin in the basement, mostly forgotten.
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Re: Remembering that our old toys actually exist!

Post by Skyquake87 »

I'll have a bash at this, seeing as all my Transformers are in fairly easy reach! I had a rummage through my bins and picked the following, which are probably the ones I've played with and been impressed by most.

Power Of The Primes Predaking (2018)
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Predaking has been the one combiner released as part of the Prime Wars Trilogy that hasn't disappointed me. Sure the figures are a bit crude and marred by compromise, but they're tough, chunky and great fun. Most importantly, the combined form of Predaking is incredibly solid and can stand up without wibbling all over the place or falling in a heap.

Generations Brainstorm (2014)
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From the days the Generations line was doing something a bit different with those old 1980s designs, bringing to life IDWs take on Transformers. This Voyager scale figure looks like Alex Milne's design has jumped off the page. I love how aerodynamic and swooshy Brainstorm is. I'm also impressed Hasbro included the Headmaster gimmick and tech spec chest readout. Even if it wasn't ass good as the olden days spinning drums.

DOTM Cyberfire Bumblebee (2011)
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Bumblebee has had a gazillion toys since the first live action film rolled out in 2007. This is my favourite. Ot at least it is now since I saw it in one of Thew's videos and instantly had to get one. The energy drink deco is fantastic and really suits the muscle car alt-mode. Coupled with the blood red translucent plastics, this is a marvellous rendition of 'bee. The Mech Tech weapon is rubbish, though.

Masterpiece Shattered Glass Optimus Prime (2016)
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Takara have made a mint spinning out endless repaints of their finest MP mould (yeah it is, the new one might have cartoon accuracy, but it doesn't look much fun) so it was nice to see Hasbro have a bash with this purple, black and green redeco. I absolutely love this toy. Sure, the Black Convoy/ Nemesis Prime evil Optimus has it beat, but I've spent more time playing with this guy and trundling him around in truck mode. He's ace. Shame there's no Roller, but it's not the end of the world.

Titans Return Quake (2017)
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Mould-mate Hardhead was impressive, but this chap just looks phenomenal. I love the deep, rich colours accented by some nice stickers, that glorious yellow face and translucent blue plastics. An incredible figure and a cracking example of a well done repaint. Brilliant stuff.

RID15 Bludgeon (2017)
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The RID Warrior Class toys don't get nearly enough love. Hasbro did some incredible work turning the animation models into credible looking toys. Bludgeon here takes all his design queues from the 2009 ROTF N.E.S.T. figure, simplifies it and boiling it down to this top notch design. Transformation is great fun and he's easily my favourite version of the master of metalikato.

Generations Waspinator (2013)
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I was incredibly sniffy of the Generations Beast Wars figures; not really seeing the point as the originals can still be easily picked up. Then I picked up Rhinox, as he was in clearance in Wilkos and saw what they'd done! These updates were so good that I picked up all three. Waspinator is easily my favourite and is a great piece of work. I like that he also works in a beating wings gimmick! Fun! Kingdoms is really going to have a job on it's hand beating this design.

Studio Series Scrapper (2020)
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Studio Series has been brilliant for the Live Action Movie designs, lending them all a cohesive size and scale. Best of all, we got Constructicons with robot and alternate modes that could combine. Scrapper is my favourite of the team. I love his great big clawed paddle arm and tiny scrunched up unhappy face. Absolute winner.

Prime Robots In Disguise Vehicon (2012)
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Stand out figure from the entire Prime line for me. Again, Hasbro really went to town on this toyline. The engineering seen in Prime was envelope pushing stuff, and the Vehicon drone is the best in terms of overall design, engineering and finishing. And it looks cool as f**k.

Earthrise Sky Lynx (2020)
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I love arrogant blowhard Sky Lynx. He's so sure footed and capable and not afraid of telling anyone within earshot. I had his Encore reissue, but sold it and missed the big lug. The Combiner Wars figure was fun, but this is what I wanted from him. It just makes me smile having these two daft beasts that can combine and turn into a base! A brilliant update with two stellar alternate modes and the word 'Magnificence' tampoed on his shuttle mode. How true.
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Re: Remembering that our old toys actually exist!

Post by Warcry »

Some great choices!
Skyquake87 wrote: Tue Jan 05, 2021 2:02 pm Generations Brainstorm (2014)

Prime Robots In Disguise Vehicon (2012)
I remember hunting around everywhere for these guys back in the day, and always coming up empty. I suppose Brainstorm is probably a technically "worse" toy than the TR figure that followed a few years later and had more modern articulation, but that IDW-based figure just oozes personality. It really does just go to underscore how quickly the brand changed. There was, what, two or three years between the two Brainstorms?

Never being able to find any Vehicons was probably the last straw for me giving up on the Prime line, because it looked like one of the coolest figures of the bunch.
Skyquake87 wrote: Tue Jan 05, 2021 2:02 pm Titans Return Quake (2017)

Earthrise Sky Lynx (2020)
Both of these guys could easily have made my list too, if I'd made it on a different day. Sky Lynx clearly had a ton of love and attention poured into him. I can't imagine how you could have modernized his design any better than they did -- the added launch base mode is brilliant! And I love Quake so much that I made his Targetmasters.
Skyquake87 wrote: Tue Jan 05, 2021 2:02 pm DOTM Cyberfire Bumblebee (2011)
I've never owned a Murderbee but I've always loved how photogenic he is.
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Clay
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Re: Remembering that our old toys actually exist!

Post by Clay »

Skyquake87 wrote: Tue Jan 05, 2021 2:02 pm Titans Return Quake (2017)
Yeah, even though it's not out of the realm of possibility that they'll make a new-mold version of basically anybody at this point, the Quake we did get is actually really nice. The color deco is pretty and not used terribly often.
Warcry wrote: Mon Jan 04, 2021 5:38 pm You're probably right that the last decade has featured more new molds than any other. Honestly it's probably there even before you consider third-party stuff, considering we've had Generations, a Movie line, Rescue Bots, a second TV show line and at least a couple random side-lines (Botbots, R.E.D., etc.) all running side by side for much of those 10 years.
Yeah... it's not just more product than we can keep track of, but it's almost a completely different niche experience. When I started buying stuff again in 2002/2003, new figures of existing characters' designs wasn't even a thing. Masterpiece Prime and the new mold Robotmasters like Prime and Starscream were an actual novelty. Basically every individual figure mold up to that point was a distinct thing unto itself. Now, the Optimus Prime and Starscream designs are almost a medium unto themselves. Collecting is just plain different conceptually now than what it was back then. I also remember wearing an onion on my belt, as was the style at the time.
I made things a bit easier on myself by only considering stuff that was actually upstairs on a shelf. I figured that no matter how good something was, it can't be a favourite if it's packed up in some bin in the basement, mostly forgotten.
Not true for me. I have a ton of favorites in either their boxes or storage bins from various failed attempts at regular rotation for the display case. It's overdue again, so I think I might put together a Robot Masters shelf this time since I've got the whole line, and maybe try more with color-coded shelves, which I like.

OH, go look up what either Titans Return or Legends Misfire goes for on ebay now. Or Twin Twist. It's ker-aaazy.
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Warcry
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Re: Remembering that our old toys actually exist!

Post by Warcry »

Clay wrote: Thu Jan 07, 2021 3:10 pmYeah, even though it's not out of the realm of possibility that they'll make a new-mold version of basically anybody at this point, the Quake we did get is actually really nice. The color deco is pretty and not used terribly often.
I'm not even sure how you'd make the robot mode look any more like Quake than this one already does. Hardhead has basically all the right design cues...treads on the legs, and the same arm and chest shapes. I guess you could make him turn into an Earth tank?
Clay wrote: Thu Jan 07, 2021 3:10 pmYeah... it's not just more product than we can keep track of, but it's almost a completely different niche experience. When I started buying stuff again in 2002/2003, new figures of existing characters' designs wasn't even a thing. Masterpiece Prime and the new mold Robotmasters like Prime and Starscream were an actual novelty. Basically every individual figure mold up to that point was a distinct thing unto itself. Now, the Optimus Prime and Starscream designs are almost a medium unto themselves. Collecting is just plain different conceptually now than what it was back then. I also remember wearing an onion on my belt, as was the style at the time.
I also remember well the days of "if you want a toy of G1 Prowl, you need to go buy G1 Prowl." Even though Beast Wars and the UT got pretty heavily into remaking the same characters, it was always with fresh designs, so you really only had one choice for any given "look". And even the early Classics and Universe toys were mostly refreshes of familiar characters, not aiming to recreate the old designs 1:1 like most of today's Generations stuff. I guess it was the movie lines that really started the trend of making new molds for the same handful of designs over and over and over, and it just carried over from there.

I enjoy getting the remakes we get nowadays, but I wish Hasbro could find a balance where we got more new or creative stuff alongside them.
Clay wrote: Thu Jan 07, 2021 3:10 pmNot true for me. I have a ton of favorites in either their boxes or storage bins from various failed attempts at regular rotation for the display case. It's overdue again, so I think I might put together a Robot Masters shelf this time since I've got the whole line, and maybe try more with color-coded shelves, which I like.
I don't think I commented on it before but the colour-coded pics you shared a few months ago were awesome.

I rotate my superhero stuff like you're describing, but for Transformers I mostly wind up just adding new stuff to what's already there, and then periodically pruning out my least-favourites when it gets cluttered. It leaves the best of the best out pretty much all the time but the downside is that the stuff that's in storage sometimes tends to get forgotten.
Clay wrote: Thu Jan 07, 2021 3:10 pm OH, go look up what either Titans Return or Legends Misfire goes for on ebay now. Or Twin Twist. It's ker-aaazy.
I know! I have an MOSC Misfire sitting around my house waiting for a custom project that hasn't happened yet because I can't find the right accessories and parts for it. Every once in a while I look over at it and think about how many other Transformers I could get if I eBayed it instead. :glance: That wave actually wasn't too hard to find around here, it got restocked a few times and hung around long enough that I was able to buy my second Misfire at 50% off IIRC. Of course, the trade-off for that was that I wound up needing to import Slugslinger...
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Re: Remembering that our old toys actually exist!

Post by Skyquake87 »

...I did the same...and then didn't care for him so much! So I've sold him. I don't know why, because I love Slugslinger's design. I guess it was a bit of retool/repaint fatigue. I think with the way some moulds get reused so frequently, figures quickly loose their 'wow' factor for me these days. That and having to chase imports or whatever to get figures that were either very hard to come by or just didn't show up sucks the joy out of collecting somewhat. Sigh. I suppose it's like today's Pre-Order / Retailer Exclusive churn. Anyway!

I second having Hasbro doing something a bit fresh and new. I know they run things like Cyberverse and whatnot alongside the Generations stuff, but it would be nice to see some brand new characters/ designs. I'm bored of seeing endless G1 recycling. I know you've got to protect those all important trademarks, but still.

A lot of the toys I've had the most fun with over the last year have been things like Universe Countdown (I'm still staggered this guy clutters up ebay - he's a fantastic toy!) and some of the Energon figures I picked up. Rather undermines the point I was making, but chunky fun things like Towline (a sort of Ironhide homage) and Scorponok have reminded me how brilliant Transformers can be, when Hasbro are making fantastic stuff for kids and aren't so beholden to the noisy older bumberclarts in fandom.
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