X-Dimension Air Defense Microns - The Fire Saber!

Wow things are getting random around here lately. But I did make a lot of random purchases recently so it isn't that surprising. I also figured that most bloggers are in the process of talking about either the Botcon Exclusives or the recent TF Collector Club Exclusives so I thought I should offer up something a little different. When Transformers: Armada was just getting started back in 2002 one of the innovative new things about the line was the introduction of Minicons (or the reintroduction of Micromasters if you like to think of it that way). Minicons were normally either sold with a larger figure or in three-packs usually revolving around a theme. One of the first three packs was the Air Defense Minicon Team: Sonar, Runway and Jetstorm. They could each transform from a small jet to robot and could also combine to form the Star Saber; a mythical weapon of great power in the series (and named after the Japanese only Supreme Commander of Transformers: Victory).

The idea behind the minicons was to emulate the "collect them all" mentality of Pokemon which was incredibly popular at the time. So it was no surprise that every minicon released was recolored over and over again. By my count the Air Defense Team was recolored at least three, maybe four times and remolded and recolored twice more for later releases. When Armada first came out I was determined to collect every single minicon that was released, whether it was a recolor or not. Unfortunately it became immediately clear to me that this would never be a reality due to all of the Japanese exclusive releases, some of which are very, very rare. However, I really liked the idea behind the combining minicons, so I was determined to at least attempt to collect all of the combiners. Two weeks ago, that goal became one step closer with the purchase of the X-Dimension Air Defense Team: a Japanese exclusive repaint of the Air Defense Team in a "fire" theme that was very limited. To my knowledge (and Flywheels may need to correct me here) that was the last repaint of these figures I needed in order to complete my "Star Saber" collection.

So now I can finally display all of my "Sabers" together!

Robot Modes

Vehicle Modes

Jetstorm and his repaints/remolds

In robot form

Sonar and his repaints/remolds

In robot modes

Runway and his repaints/remolds

Robot modes

From Left to Right: The Cybertron Saber, The Fire Saber, The Star Saber, The Dark Saber, The Ice Saber, The Energon Saber

All the Robots!

I wasn't planning on purchasing "The Fire Saber" while at Botcon, I just happened upon it (a lot like Rattrap) and I couldn't resist since it was at such a good price and was still sealed. Maybe I will end up with all the minicons after all, it may just take a really long time :-)