Remembering that our old toys actually exist!

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

Post by Warcry »

After digging through a few boxes in my basement, I was reminded of just how bloody many Transformers I own. I was also reminded of how much I liked some of those toys five or ten years ago, but how they've been pushed aside by newer, shiner things as the years wore on. And that's what this thread is for: revisiting the toys we used to love (or hate) and seeing just what we think of them now. As a fandom we tend to be all over whatever the hot new thing is, often to the extent we forget about last year's "best TF ever". Well, none of that in here!

I'll start off with a few of mine. Feel free to toss in some of your own, or argue whatever I've got to say about mine.

Let's start with three guys I pulled out of the box pretty much at random:

Image Image

Universe Skywarp dates back to 2004, though the mold he's based on is several years older. The Deluxe Jetstorm mold was the Classics Seeker of its' day, with five nicely distinctive decos coming out within half a decade. If you'd told people then that Skywarp was going to be the last time we'd see the mold, I think you'd have elicited a sigh of relief from the fandom at large. But you know what? This is a really good toy! The jet mode in particular is brilliant, second only to G1 Cyclonus (and his Universe update) when it comes to futuristic aircraft. The robot mode is very poseable, hindered only by the huge arms, and manages to look very alien without being ugly or silly like a lot of the BM Vehicons were.

Verdict: I still love it! Skywarp is a great representative of two different eras: Beast Machines Vehicons, and the original Universe line of random redecos.

Energon Sharkticon (also 2004) has gotten some reuse more recently, with Fun Publications using the mold as the basis for a new Sky-Byte and an army of G1 Sharkticons and Takara inexplicably redecoing him into the Axalon. He was by far my favourite toy in the Energon line at the time, and taking another look at him now I still think he's pretty good. His robot mode has better articulation than pretty much anything else from the Unicron Trilogy, he's got a million cool built-in weapons and his colour scheme is adorably mad. Plus he's got a great head sculpt with tonnes of personality.

He's got some flaws, though. The biggest one is that he's clearly wearing more than half of his alt-mode as a cape in robot mode, and while it looks alright it tends to make him really back-heavy. His alt-mode is equally flawed, with clear robot bits in the underside and making up its tail.

Verdict: I can't not love this guy. He's got some problems, but the toy has so much personality that they're easy to look past. I think he might well be my favourite UT toy.

ROTF Brawl is newer than those two (2009, with a mold from 2007), but he's easily the most primitive of the three. Colours aside, he manages to capture the look of the on-screen character pretty well. And the talk mode is absolutely brilliant. But as a Transformer, it's a bit of a mess! It's in this weird place where it's got almost no useful articulation, yet still feels like it has too many moving parts. Lots of bits don't lock into place like you'd wish they would, but the arms and legs are weirdly jointed, so I'm left feeling like the only parts that are poseable are the ones that aren't actually meant to move.

Verdict: This one is really showing his age. I love the character design and he's got a great look, but this just isn't a very good toy. A shame the Leader-class Brawl goes for $100 now. :(

Anyone else feel like digging out their old favourites? :)
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Blackjack
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Post by Blackjack »

Here's a couple older toys that I've mucked around on my desk alongside Generations Drift before the influx of new toys came in. There is totally not a pattern.

Classics/Universe Hound: Hound! Why does no one talk about Hound? When people are praising the Generations lines it's always Starscream and Mirage and Cyclonus and Onslaught and whatever, but Hound! I've completely forgotten that I even own this little bugger standing behind a sea of far taller Autobot cars. Hound is significantly shorter than most of the other Classics Autobot cars, having sacrificed some of his deluxe-class mass to his pack-in partner Ravage. But he's a pretty good toy! He looks like Hound, he's a great update to the character in both alternate and robot modes, comes with a funky little gun... he's got a great transformation (his chairs transform!) and great poseability all around. His square-y feet can hinge around like an ankle to allow him to stand with his feet apart. Hound's a pretty awesome little toy.

G1 Crosshairs: Crosshairs is one of the few Generation One toys I managed to track down (no Pinpointer though, so he moonlights with one of the PCC Minicons), though I haven't exactly played with it much once I cleaned the thick layer of dust that was caking it and peeled off the half-dead stickers... and then he just kind of sits there on the back of my G1 shelf, looking big and imposing and nothing else. And playing around with him... he's pretty awesome, actually, even for a G1 toy. The first-year Targetmasters in general have great alternate modes (though Sureshot never excited me, and both Scourge and Kup have ridiculous-looking alternate modes) and Crosshairs' alternate mode is one that has never registered in my head until I've bought the toy. It's this wacky futuristic vehicle that's a cross between a van and an ATV with massive dune buggy wheels. And it's red and blue because why not? He's got pretty great articulation for a toy his time (read: shoulders, wrists, knees) and his transformation is pretty intuitive. It's certainly showing its age compared to a lot of the newer toys with ball joints and everything, and while obviously a less fun toy than Hound or Lockdown in this list he's still a pretty fun one.

(I want Misfire)

Encore G1 Bumblebee: Bumblebee came in an Encore set alongside Swerve, Tailgate, Pipes and Outback. And I've already liked the latter four, a long, long time before MTMTE was even a thing. Swerve and Pipes were my favourites, being tiny colourful things, whereas Outback scares me because of his flimsy hands and Tailgate keeps falling backwards, so both Swerve and Pipes often hung out with modern toys on my desk. But G1 Bumblebee? He was banished into the deep dark place of Prime's trailer. Until I got him out a couple of weeks ago, anyway. And while my big MOVEE BUMBLEBEE schtick may be a big reason why this toy was summarily forgotten, another reason is his retooled cartoon face. Instead of the faceplated thing I associate the G1 Bumblebee toy with, Encore Bumblebee instead placed a flat, lifeless version of his cartoon face on it. Ugh. But other than that, though? Bumblebee is a fun little minicar or whatever you call their size class. It's never going to be my favourite thanks to that ugly noggin, but it's not a horrible thing.

Animated Lockdown: Lockdown is a pretty brilliant offering from Animated that I haven't touched in close to five years. He's such a towering deluxe class toy, easily as tall as (or even taller than) a lot of voyagers... and he doesn't look as skinny as a reed! He's got enough mass in his body and his legs to look like he's a threat, and between the spikes he has on his wheel kibble and his shoulders, his paint-scheme, that massive hook hand and the general slouched pose, Lockdown looks like a pretty badass dude. While there are some bad offerings from the line, Animated certainly doled out some toys that are just pure win, and Lockdown is definitely one of them. Transformation is fun and quick, and his alternate mode is a badass spiky muscle car thing. He's got great articulation... except in one area. His wrists can hinge inwards but not quite outwards, so he's permanently stuck with his hands (or non-hook hand, rather) bent at at least a 45 degree angle from his lower arms. I mean, you can buy two Lockdowns and transplant the hook car kibble so he has two hooks or a hook and a chainsaw or two chainsaws and pretend he's Pharma, but you kind of need those hands. Overall it's a bit of a letdown on what is a brilliant toy.
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Skyquake87
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Post by Skyquake87 »

I've been having a bit of a clear out, so this is a bit fresh in my mind (got rid of all my Animated and Movie toys over the last six months, plus some CHUG figures I didn't see the point of).

Here's my picks...

Universe Nemesis Prime
This for me is the Nemesis Prime. A huge, evil looking Mamoth I'd probably cack myself I saw charging towards me. Okay, the alt mode is a bit of a brick, but then it busts open into this awesome robot mode framed by those tusks. The colours are great, a mix of black teal, bone white, blood red, bright red and silver.

Universe Constructicons
I love the Build Team, but even they with their colourful, blocky forms are put in the shade by these sexy purple and green recolours.

Armada Cyclonus
Outwardly, there's not much to like about the portly Cyclonus and his dumpy chum Crumplezone. The alt mode is a lazy 'will this do?' jumble of barely concealed robot parts and the robot mode is pretty ugly looking. Crumplezone is a terrible block in both modes, but somehow they are just incredible fun. The plastics are glorious, the moulded detail is off the hook and the colours are just superb. He's a really fun figure to mess about with topped off with a cute trigger -activated rotor.

Micromaster Collection Sixwing Reissue
Micromasters are still the coolest. And whats more cooler than awesome little 'bots that can combine into a slightly bigger robot? Nothing! That's what. Even the gestalt parts get something to do! Hooray!

Beast Wars Cybershark
The sexiest looking Beast Wars figure. Check out that composited alt-mode, mashed up out of 3 different sharks, and then witness the fitness as he cracks out this blinding roobt mode, complete with jagged toothed mouth! Blinding bit of work only slightly upstaged by Sharp Edge from Beast Wars Neo.

I could go on, but we'll be here all day...
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Blackjack
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Post by Blackjack »

Oh my god that Nemesis Prime

I must have it

Cybershark looks cool too, and I always kind of liked how Armada Cyclonus looks, clunky as he is. Not enough to track him down though.
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Knightdramon
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Post by Knightdramon »

Great timing---back in Athens so reunited with the rest of my collection.

FE Cliffjumper--sadly I only kept the purple god awful stickered edition, but I'll be hunting at AA for a proper red one again. Just marvelous.

FE Starscream--sadly forgotten after a few years, but a very expressive toy with a neat transformation and a very sleek robot mode.

FE Bulkhead---wow magic. Taking him with me as he's going on a Wreckers shelf with Sandstorm in York. I also messed with my FE Clear Prime, but he's nowhere this good. Equally nice to look at, though.

Alternity Megatron--this one goes for all the nay sayers of Kobayashi [guy who designed MP01 to MP09, MP11 and now MP Magnus]. Very solid figure, madly articulated, very expressive and very, very compact. Both versions I have [blue and black] are flying with me to York, will probably hunt for the silver version as well.

:clap:
Few stuff in the UK to trade/sell. Measly sales thread.
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Denyer
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Post by Denyer »

Hmm... old stuff I've kept, apart from loose battered early Autobots, that aren't on display...

Cybertron Starscream / Vector Prime two-pack
Actually I re-purchased them fairly recently. Despite being a bit large and (in Vector Prime's case) immobile by standards these days, they're both great detailed sculpts with effective colour schemes that'll get displayed at some point.

Pretender Bludgeon (inner robot)
Simple, perfectly proportioned, and whereas I don't particularly care for the original shell (especially at the prices they now fetch) versus a nice, characterful DOTM Bludgeon plus the Blood upgrade kit, I do like a good tank figure.

Treadshot
I have a fondness for generics, be they pretender inner robots or "new character" Actionmasters -- Treadshot has the whole bounty hunter schtick, and the significant paint damage across his visor only adds to that.

Targetmaster Rodimus Prime
Objectively a blocky piece of crap. Had the Ladybird books and had a friend as a kid who had a lot of the movie figures, who in fact traded with me for Firebolt at the time. Got a reissue Hot Rod years later, by which time the Targetmaster partner was long gone which obviously couldn't hold it, so both got moved on. This scratches an itch to have a complete one and scrubs up quite well with Reprolabels... it's basic, and a step back from Diaclone engineering, but makes me smile.
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Warcry
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Post by Warcry »

Blackjack wrote:Classics/Universe Hound
Never truly felt this one, I have to be honest. He's alright but I never thought he was great, with his short arms and huge feet. He's definitely the best G1 Hound toy around, though.
Skyquake87 wrote:Universe Nemesis Prime
Always wanted him, but I never saw him in stores and he's stupid expensive now. :(
Skyquake87 wrote:Armada Cyclonus
My first experience with "main line" toys after I started collecting again! I was never in love with the figure, but it's a fantastic kids' toy and a perfect example of what Hasbro should be marketing to the 5 to around 10 age bracket. Lots of guns and gimmicks, a quick transformation and poseable enough for a kid to have it fight other toys.

Mine is with my sister's kids now, and seemed to be the most popular of the TFs I gave them a year ago.
Skyquake87 wrote:Beast Wars Cybershark
A treat, this one is. The alt-mode is a brick, but then he's a fish so what do you expect? The robot is great though. Lots of personality, like all the best BW toys, neat weapons and good articulation to boot.
Knightdramon wrote:FE Starscream--sadly forgotten after a few years, but a very expressive toy with a neat transformation and a very sleek robot mode.
I could say exactly the same thing about him as you have! He's great but he's got so many other Starscreams to compete with that he's easy to lose track of.

I can't say the same for Bulkhead, who is just as good but not so easily forgotten because it's my only figure of that character. FE Bulkhead's never left my shelves since I bought him.
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Skyquake87
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Post by Skyquake87 »

God, this thread has me rummaging through my toy box...

Lets have a look at what else I think is AWESOME

Trailbreaker
I always wanted this guy as a nipper. I think just because no one I knew had him, he seemed a bit forgotten and only had a brief appearance in a Ladybird book (that I could recall) to his name. He just seemed that bit more mysterious an interesting than Hoist. Although I have the Encore one which is lovely and shiny and new,its my slightly worn second hand one I got off Ebay. Its just so chunky and bouncy looking and turns into a hilarious blocky wee blob. Lovely

Beast Machines Blackarchnia
After two pretty rum Beast Wars toys (yeah I like her TM2 toy, but its got so much kibble) she turned out a right sexy slip of a thing for Beast Machines. The spider mode is super-creepy, the colours are lovely and she has a fantastic robot mode. Sure the legs are a bit chunky, but she looks the part.

Armada Megatron
Wees all over G2 Megatron from a great height and still the greatest Megatron toy EVER. Oh yes.

Beast Wars Transmetal Rampage
GIANT METAL CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAB!!! Run for the hills!All the Transmetal Beast Wars toys are awesome slabs of amazing, but the brutal Rampage I do like. The crab mode is just gorgeous, all covered in sexy copper chrome. Great big purple claws and he turns into a really unconvincing tank. But! It has rubber treads that really work and a rather powerful gattling cannon. Great fun!

RiD Ruination (Target Exclusive Urban Camo Deco)
I love the Combaticons. As the Constructicons proved, a uniform colour palette really brings the gestalts together, and that idea was pinched for these black and white bad boys. They just look awesome, although its a bit unfortunate that Rollbar ends up looking like a Golly.
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Warcry
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Post by Warcry »

Here's a few more:

Image Image

2010 Terradive might very well be my favourite Deluxe-class toy ever. He's definitely the best jet-former I own at that price point. His robot mode integrates the entire vehicle mode with no notable kibble left over, and the jet (while not quite as perfectly-integrated) is very slick as well. He's got a unique colour scheme, a beautiful head sculpt and great articulation, and it's a shame that nobody remembers or cares about him because he's an off-screen nobody from a random movie line.

My only complaint about the guy is his weapon. As you can maybe see in the pics, it's broken in half for pretty much no reason.

Definitely a keeper, and people who don't own him really need to track him down!

Beast Wars Insecticon is one of the last toys I bought when I was a kid. He's got ball joints all over like all the early BW basics, a good sculpt and a great beetle alt-mode. Unfortunately the years have not been kind to mine, as his ankles have gotten so loose that he can't stand upright and I need to use his antennae to keep him in beast mode. That's what happens when you play with a toy as much as I did with him, though, I suppose.

On a shelf with more modern toys, though, what really stands out is the lack of paint apps. Although the blue and green contrast each other nicely, he really needs a bit more than that to make him stand out from the crowd. It's truly a shame that this toy was never redecoed, and that it never will be since Hasbro and Takara apparently managed to lose the mold along with most of the other BW Basics.

I really do like him, though, and one day I need to track down a version of him who's not broken-down and loose for display purposes.

And lastly, Universe Onslaught. Damn, is this guy a big bruiser! He also tends to, sadly, be a bit forgotten by a fandom that is inexplicably obsessed with combiners. People's (to me) completely incomprehensible demand for gestalts caused this toy to be met with a somewhat dismissive attitude when it came out, because apparently a combiner team member who doesn't combine is heresy or something? Well screw that, Onslaught is awesome! In his day, toys as big and heavy as he is tended to either be bricks, unposeable due to balance issues, or both. But Onslaught has the articulation and balance of a good Deluxe-class toy. He's also got a great alt-mode and electronic gimmicks that don't manage to ruin the entire toy (he's the only figure in my collection with sound gimmicks whose batteries I haven't taken out). The 2008 Universe line had several strong offerings, but I think Onslaught is the best of the bunch -- better than Cyclonus, better than Hound, better than Sideswipe and better than Sunstreaker.
Denyer wrote:Cybertron Starscream / Vector Prime two-pack
Actually I re-purchased them fairly recently. Despite being a bit large and (in Vector Prime's case) immobile by standards these days, they're both great detailed sculpts with effective colour schemes that'll get displayed at some point.
Both of these toys seem like they're one or two size classes too big for the complexity of their designs. I think if Hasbro remade them as Generations Deluxes, even without changing much in terms of articulation or transformation, I'd like them a whole lot more.

Vector Prime in particular is a great display figure, though it's a shame how much molded detail he's got that never saw paint. If all of those exposed gears and such had been coloured, he'd be fantastic.
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Blackjack
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Post by Blackjack »

Reissue G1 Skids: Skids is a Reissue toy I bought, I played with a bit and tossed into the display case because who cares about Skids am I right? I mean he's got a couple of issues in the Marvel comics but nothing really that I cared about. Come MTMTE and he's this character with an overpowered mutant power, who everyone likes and can do everything. Yet somehow I've warmed up to him somewhat. Though probably digging his toy out a couple while back might be the impetus for that. Skids is a pretty good toy! He's a fun little dude that turns from robot to car very quickly, and has a shit-ton of guns for a G1 toy.

Beast Wars Sea Clamp: Sea Clamp! He turns from a lobster to a robot to a pair of legs. Ever since I tracked down him and Cicadacon, they have been combined with my Japanese Ram Horn Motorarm into Tripredacus for a while now. But Sea Clamp in his own is pretty awesome though! The sculpting really makes him look like a lobster, and in robot mode he's just got these really wide shoulders and these long, massive pincer-hands that look like they're going to beat the shit out of you. And inside the pincers are these little flip-out jagged shivs, because Sea Clamp is hardcore. I do like him a lot. His face's got personality, he looks a lot like a brawler... shame his lobster tail piece kind of gets in the way of his feet.

Beast Wars Cicadacon: Cicadacon kind of blows Sea Clamp out of the water, though. It's not that Sea Clamp is bad, it's that Cicadacon is good. I look at a sub-par modern toy like the Age of Extinction Dinobots or Generations Blitzwing, and I pull out a ten-year-old toy like Cicadacon, who, in addition from transforming into one of the most beautiful robot modes ever, can also combine into a gestalt that has articulation? FOC Bruticus has ten years on Cicadacon, and none of his component parts are any good. Cicadacon and Sea Clamp, though. His bug mode is excellent, his robot mode has a range of posability that puts the similarly-shaped Generations Waspinator to shame. He's just so awesome. The wings are all individually ball-jointed, he comes with a pair of swords... Cicadacon is a toy you need to own.

Motorarm sucks, though.

Movie Bonecrusher: Bonecrusher is awesome. Don't let anyone tell you different. I mean, sure, he's got super long arms, and his upper limbs is a mass of boxy kibble, and his crotch pieces kind of like to come loose, but he's awesome. He transforms from this monstrous military minesweeeper thing into this massive rollerblading robot with super-long arms and a massive venus flytrap scorpion tail thing. It's a mould that has got a shit-ton of personality and certainly stands up well to a lot of modern toys.
Warcry wrote:Never truly felt this one, I have to be honest. He's alright but I never thought he was great, with his short arms and huge feet. He's definitely the best G1 Hound toy around, though.
Hound's certainly not as good as Cyclonus and Onslaught -- two of the greatest toys to ever come out of Hasbro -- but he's certainly on par with the likes of Sideswipe and Bluestreak and most of the moulds that came out around then. I think it's just because he is Hound and visually not as interesting as many of the other toys to come after him.
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Post by Thunderwave »

I excluded more recent purchases even if they'll end up on future favorites lists, like Vector Prime. That said, here are a few I still enjoy:

GDO Brawl: I was pretty "meh" about Breacher. The mold works so much better in brown and green. The kibble on him is manageable and works as extra armor.

GDO Hot Spot: I have a weakness for the Protectobots and even though this mold isn't a combiner I do enjoy it. The shade of blue is just lovely and the "I'm not taking any of your poop, Blades" headsculpt is perfect.

HFTD Lockdown: Tall, gangly, and looking like he pieced himself together from what he could take off his captures/kills.


Warcry wrote: 2010 Terradive might very well be my favourite Deluxe-class toy ever. He's definitely the best jet-former I own at that price point. His robot mode integrates the entire vehicle mode with no notable kibble left over, and the jet (while not quite as perfectly-integrated) is very slick as well. He's got a unique colour scheme, a beautiful head sculpt and great articulation, and it's a shame that nobody remembers or cares about him because he's an off-screen nobody from a random movie line.

My only complaint about the guy is his weapon. As you can maybe see in the pics, it's broken in half for pretty much no reason.

Definitely a keeper, and people who don't own him really need to track him down!
I love Terradive. I own two copies of that mold. He was surprisingly poseable and he's a fun toy. Felt more like an action figure then a Transformer in robot mode.
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Post by ganon578 »

Admittedly, my collection isn't very deep, but here's a few that aren't 10's but I really enjoy them for various reasons:

Movie 2007 Breakaway:
I got this one as a surprise gift, so it's really dear to me. My wife is very conservative with money, but she picked this one up for me on a random shopping trip. He's not the most articulate or complex figure, but I missed out totally on the Unicron Trilogy. I like his chunkiness and sturdiness, and the simplicity of the transformation is something that I think has been missing in some TF lines as of late.

Movie 2007 Fracture:
An awesome mold, in my opinion. Fracture is super articulate and poseable, and a sweet Gobot homage with a great color scheme. Plus, Fracture is the only female bot I have in my collection until Arcee & Chromia come out in the Generations line later this year.

Universe Heavy Load:
In my noob days of getting back into collecting, I didn't even realize this guy was Mixmaster when I picked him up. On a random shopping trip to Toys R Us when I lived halfway across the country from where I am now, I bought him specifically because he's noted as a chemist - and so am I. Just like with Getaway above, I like the chunkiness of this guy, and the Cyber key gimmick doesn't bother me all that much. Plus he came with a mini-con, which would turn out to be my first ever. Fantastically, he also turned out to be the only Constructicon not included in the Classics Devastator I own, so he filled a gap there too.
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Warcry
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Post by Warcry »

Three more!

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Deluxe Armada Optimus Prime: I remember the hype that this toy got when it was new, and it's no surprise why. It's easily the best-articulated Armada toy, and much better-looking than the bigger, heavily-gimmicked Optimus toy. But by modern standards, he's not as impressive as he used to be. He's got articulation, but the joints don't have the same range of motion that a good modern toy will. His Minicon is also pretty awful, though.

Optimus looks insanely tiny alongside pretty much any other Armada toy, though a part of that is that every other Armada Deluxe was about 25% bigger than that size class was in any other line, which I'll discuss a bit more when we get to Wheeljack. He doesn't look as bad compared to modern figures, though he seems to have started a trend where Deluxe Optimus figures are consistently tinier than every other Deluxe in a line (culminating in RTS Laser Prime, whose sword this Prime appears to have stolen).

All in all I'd say that he's pretty cool, but he's definitely dated. I love the Armada Optimus character design, though, and this is definitely the best rendition of it in toy form.

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Armada Wheeljack: Yeah, Wheeljack's big. As you can see above, he's almost exactly the same size as a Masterpiece car or Generations Rhinox, who is a smallish Voyager. But in the Armada days, he was an averageish Deluxe! His large size and simple design makes him seem really oversized, but he's got more articulation and more complex sculpting than your average Armada toy. He's got a great design, but he's just not suited as a display figure unless you've got a lot of other Armada toys to put up there with him. I'd love to see him get a Generations update one of these days, though.

He's also got a cool Minicon partner in Wind Sheer (or is it Windrazor?). A lot of Armada toys came with partners who could have gone with anyone, but these two look like a team and the cohesiveness is nice.

My guess is that one day I'm going to give this one to my (hypothetical) children.

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Energon Starscream: Like FE Starscream, I tend to forget this guy because I own way too many Starscream toys. But you know what? He's pretty cool! His shoulder articulation is a bit awkward and his giant Energon weapons (not pictured -- I don't know where they are) look stupid, but all in all I think this is my favourite G1-styled Starscream toy. He's better-looking than the awkward Masterpiece and has much better articulation than the Classics F-15.

At the time I regretted not getting the more G1-coloured version of the toy, but looking more closely at it now, it neither looks good nor all that G1. I wouldn't be at all opposed to seeing the figure done up in a more accurate Starscream colour scheme, though, or even as Thundercracker and Skywarp.

(Things like that are why I miss the old Universe line so much.)
Blackjack wrote:Reissue G1 Skids
Skids is one of my favourite G1 cars! He's not flashy like Jazz or Sideswipe or Prowl, but I love the way his tall, lanky robot mode explodes out from such a tiny compact vehicle. He's probably the best-engineered of the bunch.
Thunderwave wrote:I love Terradive. I own two copies of that mold. He was surprisingly poseable and he's a fun toy. Felt more like an action figure then a Transformer in robot mode.
You, good sir, are a man of refined tastes!
ganon578 wrote:Movie 2007 Breakaway
I like this one too! The Cybertron Hot Shot mold is all kinds of fun. I just wish it wasn't so huge compared to other Deluxes, because it looks way too big alongside Classics or Movie cars.
ganon578 wrote:Movie 2007 Fracture
Always wanted this one, but I don't think I ever saw her in stores. I never liked this mold as Mirage, because Mirage is supposed to be stocky and short, but as a random female character I think it works great.
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Post by Denyer »

Warcry wrote:Always wanted this one, but I don't think I ever saw her in stores.
Remind me what your address is.
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Blackjack
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Joined: Sat May 03, 2008 1:04 pm

Post by Blackjack »

Ooo, was about to write a piece about BreakGetaway too, who I took out of the shelves thanks to rereading MTMTE. The Cybertron Hot Shot mold, is one of the better ones engineered from the Cybertron line, and so is the other Hot Shot to come from that line:

Universe Roadbuster: Roadbuster comes from the second Hot Shot mould, and in my opinion the Roadbuster colours really suit the military vehicle a lot better than Hot Shot's colourful blue, yellow and red. The mould is simply filled with missile racks, and it suits Roadbuster's personality (i.e. the due with a shit-ton of guns) very well. He's got missile pods everywhere, and his Cyber Key gimmick is localized in the small turret thing, which is cool. He's blocky, yeah, but then so's Roadbuster. And he comes with this wrist-sword that detaches as a dagger! And they painted him so that from a distance he does look like a dude with a visor and a faceplate. Roadbuster is one of those random repaints that work really, really well -- it has a sense of identity that sets it apart from a slavish remake like Generations Roadbuster, but at the same time it's a good homage that makes it a distinct entity from the original Hot Shot toy.

Universe Ratbat: Repainted off Cybertron Sideways, Ratbat is a gorgeous looking robot. Having read the Marvel comics first, when Ratbat shows up as a humanoid robot in both the Dreamwave and IDW comics, I did a double take. Dreamwave sorta did it better by making his face not as humanoid as possible, but still, he's Ratbat! But Universe picks the perfect mold that made me change my opinion. Sideways isn't especially batty, but between his cool-looking swords, the faceless face, the crossbow weapon and all the angles from head to toe, Universe Ratbat is a pretty distinctive looking thing that I have grown really fond of over the years.

Movie Wreckage: A very low-note toy from a rejected Decepticon design from the 2007 movie, I didn't get Wreckage until around a year after he's gone off the shelves, and I ended up really liking him! He's a more solid and less kibbly toy than Brawl and Barricade from the same line, and while he's not quite perfect, a combination of his snowy-white alternate mode, the blood-red robot limbs he grows when he transforms, the skull-like face and the (admittedly rather disappointing now, but freaking awesome when I was a kid) flip-out swords Wreckage just exudes the appearance of a professional assassin-type thing. I really like this dude. He's not as spectacular as my memory had him, but I still like him a fair bit.

Fracture is one I didn't get as well, and in retrospect I really kicked myself for it. I bought her wavemates Breakaway and Crankcase, but I already have a Classics Mirage so I thought 'who collects two of the same mould'? Oh, young and foolish me.

Heavy Load is an old one I have in a box somewhere. He's cool, but for whatever reason I haven't took him out in years. I'll go rescue him from his imprisonment in a moment.
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Heinrad
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Post by Heinrad »

What? There's hardly any RiD love here. Have to add some.

RiD Scourge/Black Convoy: Out of all of the RiD figures I had, the only one I've kept is Black Convoy. I can't call him Scourge. He's a good, solid figure.

G1 Bludgeon: Yes, he's a largely immobile chunk of plastic encasing a small, very cool looking robot, but the shell looks so cool.

N.E.S.T. Global Alliance Bludgeon: With the Blood upgrade kit, of course. A great updating of Bludgeon.
As a professional tanuki (I'm a Japanese mythological animal, and a good luck charm), I have an alarm clock built into me somewhere. I also look like a stuffed animal. And you thought your life was tough......

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Warcry
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Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Post by Warcry »

Denyer wrote:Remind me what your address is.
Done. :up:
Blackjack wrote:Universe Roadbuster
Always been intrigued by him. I wanted one for a good long while, but now he's too short to fit in with Springer, Roadbuster and Whirl. I do think that he's a nicer-looking toy than the upcoming Voyager though, especially with the third-party head that some people have equipped him with.
Blackjack wrote:Universe Ratbat
This one's a gem! Mine isn't out on display now, but he's a great figure and he really should be.
Blackjack wrote:Movie Wreckage
Wreckage is interesting. In retrospect he strikes me as the forebearer of the "sort of movie, sort of not" toys that filled out later lines in greater numbers -- guys like Terradive, Tomahawk, Breacher, Seaspray, Lockdown, etc. who fit in well enough with Classics, Movie or Prime figures.
Heinrad wrote:What? There's hardly any RiD love here. Have to add some.
I'd be talking up RiD Prowl, but one of the doors broke off of mine so he's in no shape for pics. Side Burn and X-Brawn wouldn't get very positive reviews from me I'm guessing, and Gigatron is too new to me to belong here (and he's never left my display shelves since I got him, because of Flec and the RPG).
Heinrad wrote:N.E.S.T. Global Alliance Bludgeon: With the Blood upgrade kit, of course. A great updating of Bludgeon.
I agree here, though I actually do prefer the stock head on the toy. It creates the impression of a skull without actually being one, and I think it fits better with the toy's overall moviefied, alien look.

And since you combined RiD and Bludgeons in one post, I think that means I'm going to have to pull out RiD Bludgeon for a later set of pics (though not the next few as they've already been photographed).

Next up:

Image Image

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ROTF Ransack: I don't think I ever quite got on the hype train for this guy the way others did. I love that a TF biplane even exists, and I get that his whole gimmick (dating back to when he was in the draft scripts) was that he was a rickety old piece of crap...but that's just not a great selling point for a toy. His legs are a mess, and his arms are spindly and sort of awkward to pose. His plane mode is cool, but I think I like the idea of a biplane robot a lot more than the reality.

Image

DOTM Sideswipe is actually kinda cool! I like him more than either of the ROTF molds, and he's a dynamic figure with lots of personality...in robot mode. In car mode he's just a mess. A convertible with no floor? Body panels that don't lock together? A Corvette that's flat grey because Hasbro can't afford paint apps or metallic flake in the plastic? That last one is easy to fix with a bit of paint, but the other issues with the car mode leave me feeling like it's not worth it. The sloppy finish really weighs him down, and I don't think I'll be missing much if I never transform him into car mode again.
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Clay
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Joined: Mon May 24, 2004 2:19 am
Location: Murray, KY

Post by Clay »

I like this thread.
Warcry wrote:Energon Sharkticon
I've loved him since I found him in 2004. He has more paint on him than any other mass-market deluxe that I can think of. I also vaguely remember someone making the big missile launchers on his back detachable, but I've never found that thread again. :(
Skyquake87 wrote:Universe Nemesis Prime
I still have this one, and still like it. I remember paying roughly $30 on ebay for it around the time of release because the only Target near me didn't stock it.
Denyer wrote:Treadshot
I have a fondness for generics, be they pretender inner robots or "new character" Actionmasters -- Treadshot has the whole bounty hunter schtick, and the significant paint damage across his visor only adds to that.
Treadshot is one of a few survivors from my childhood... he's managed to hang around unbroken and complete for almost 25 years now.
Warcry wrote:2010 Terradive might very well be my favourite Deluxe-class toy ever.
Yep! It's weird to think of 2009/2010 as something like "the good ole days", but the amount of top notch stuff delivered then hasn't been matched since. Terradive is among the best of that crop, too. And I liked the trident... he had an aerial mode, a ground-based name, and a marine weapon. He's a triple threat!
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Clay
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Location: Murray, KY

Post by Clay »

My turn!

Takara Tigatron: I'll always love the Beast Wars cat mold, but I think the Takara version of Tigatron is my favorite. The mold always came off as a bit too bulky for Cheetor to me, but it fits Tigatron nicely. The Takara version was different in that it was a nice, crisp white instead of the creamy version Hasbro offered.

In fact, I wouldn't mind seeing what a new mold could do in the Generations line, but the 2008 Cheetor mold was terrible, and I'd rather not see another version of that or another failed attempt like it was.

Razorbeast: Probably my favorite of the animal spring-loaded toys. He actually has some minimal articulation as an animal, even if he can only lay on his belly. The robot mode, while basically unpainted, has so much sculpted detail that it overrides the lack of color and gives a lot of character. Fun little fellow!

Street Speed Minicon team: These little guys, along with Unicron, were my first robot purchase in a store as an adult collector. I picked that set because I liked the look of them most out the minicons available at the time. I now understand it to be the contrast in the different iterations of "car to robot" within a single set: the cars are all the same basic shape, yet they turn into robots in different ways. They're also very detailed and reasonably articulate for figures so small, and that they came together in a pack for $7 shows how wide the gap has gotten in price versus size.
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Skyquake87
Protoform
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Post by Skyquake87 »

Big thumbs up from me for Fracture (I also have her, but one leg is a slightly different shade or red to the other, for some reason :( ). I used to have Breakaway too, but I didn't like the rather flat colourscheme and papery feeling paint next to the sparkly goodness of Cybertron Hot Shot.

Armada Wheeljack is always one of those cool Armada toys I forget about. I may have to see about tracking one of those down one day...perhaps at AA, if I'm lucky.

Do like RiD Black Convoy as well - Love it so much it put the G2 Laser Prime in the shade that ended up selling him as he just looked kind of goofy next to BC.

Just having a look at what else I like, and I'm surprised how many are, er, Universe repaints...!

Universe Ratchet
A bit spoiled by the penny pinching on the mould - he really could use a proper light bar rather than a crappy tampograph - but still rocks a killer mix of black, white, red and chrome!

Universe Soundwave & Spacecase
Just look at those colours! The Stalker mould is vastly improved by Soundwave's radioactive colours and I love the big radioactive Smartie thats stuck on him. The G2 Cyberjets were funky little chaps and Spacecase has a massive upgrade here with some rather more sturdy plastics and a nicer set of colours. Bit of a shame that Hasbro didn't have one of the Predator jet moulds available as it would have been great to get some proper use out of Soundwave's Mega-Visor gimmick. Especially as they could have kept the Rotorstorm slide in place as that mould also ended up repurposed for Universe ... as Whirl.

Universe Reptilion
A figure I picked up whilst sourcing a Frostbite (I love Frostbite) off the back of reading Warcry's review or a thread or something. I love the mad nuclear colours. They work less well in robot mode, but its still looks crackers. Bit of a shame the frill is prone to popping off - at least one my example - which isn't a problem I've had with mould mate Iguanus.

New Constructicons
Now the only remnants of my European Transformers collection. They can't combine and were clearly just cheap filler to pad out the ranks but I like them just as much (if not slightly more) as my beloved G1 Constructicons.
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