I've had my eye on Sky Garry here for a very long time. Probably at least ten years or more ever since I learned about the Japanese exclusive Transformers. However in the past I never pulled the trigger on purchasing him because he never really seemed that rare or hard to find. As time went by, this of course changed. My basic philosophy to buying old transformers is to "buy it now before it becomes more expensive later". I applied this mindset to the
Dinocassettes, Liokaiser,
Black Shadow, and countless other hard to find figures. But for some reason Sky Garry always seemed easy to find, almost like and afterthought. So that is how I began to see him. I would only buy him when I found a deal I couldn't refuse. And I found that deal at Botcon this year. A MISB Sky Garry in near perfect condition for only $100. Hell, I paid that much for
Movie Starscream!
So of course I had to open him up. If you've never had the pleasure of opening a mint vintage Transformer, it is quite an experience. The smell is what is really memorable to me, that new toy smell. It is kinda like opening up a pack of baseball cards for the first time, you always get that little hint of print along with a little adrenaline at not knowing exactly what you might find.
I will say Sky Garry does not disappoint in the toy department. Sure his robot mode is a brick, but so are all G1's. Not only does he transform into his 'Micromaster' carrier mode, he also transforms into a base that can be connected to other
TF: Return of Convoy (the series to which he belongs) bases. There is a tremendous amount of play value in this toy. And he comes with a ton of stickers! I haven't had the chance to apply them yet, but I will sometime soon. Not to mention he comes with an exclusive Micromaster. Micromasters were like the mini-cons of my youth so they still retain that "collect them all" mentality. Obtaining some of these rarer Japanese Micromasters can be very hard to do (
Grandus, I'm looking at you).
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| Robot Mode with Micromaster Shotbomber |
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| Vehicle Mode |
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| There's room for a pilot! |
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| Very cool base mode. I love bases. |
I hope to purchase more Return of Convoy figures in the near future, so I can build a massive Micromaster City, but with the cost of Grandus these days it may be a while yet.
I had the red Brave version of the toy (still wish I did). You are right when you say Sky Garry always seemed fairly easy to find. I can't believe you got him for $100...sealed too! If you even need to borrow Star Convoy or Sonic Bomber for a photo shoot let me know.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Brave toys, you may want to go after Dag Base (Grandus mold) sometime. He's not exactly the same, but a lot cheaper in most cases.
I thought about going after some more of the Brave stuff, but after considering it for a while and picking up some of the non-tf released ones I think my Brave experience is over. The whole reason I want those figures is specifically because they are Transformers and not part of another line even though they do share molds. Don't worry, I'll get them eventually, it just may take a very long time and a whole lot of money. Maybe by the time I hit 40 :)
ReplyDeleteFYI, there are several Brave Death Garrygun toys on eBay right now. Most of them are the Sonokong Korean versions which means you can get him for as cheap as $20 before shipping.
ReplyDeleteSky Garry just does not seem to do it for me. The guy got really cheap when there was a warehouse find in Japan about 2-3 years ago - snapped up by about 2-3 Singaporean shop owners, 2 of which I know personally. They started selling at SGD$250 per piece and then as more and more hit the market, the price just went spiraling down.
ReplyDeleteAgree with Arkvander that the Brave Series stuff don't do it for me. I have MIB Dug Base and Red Geist MIB, but don't really like that. Also, they were made in Thailand (?!?!)