When I first heard about the Brainmasters I thought to myself: "What the hell can those be and how much different are they from Headmasters?" Soon enough I discovered that instead of the 'master' component being the entire head of a Transformer, it only became the face (and thus the 'brain') while the shell of the head remained firmly attached to the larger Transformer body. Now I am not exactly sure how this works in Japanese lore because I've never had the attention span to actually sit down and watch the Transformers: Victory TV series without becoming insanely bored. That isn't to say that it is a bad show, it just isn't
my Transformers. Is the master figure the actual consciousness of the larger figure and just 'combines' with a larger body? Are there two minds that merge?
Anyway, Road Caesar is a gestalt made up of three Brainmaster figures: Blacker, Braver and Laster. Each figure has a particular trait that he brings to the team; Blacker is Strength, Braver is Intelligence and Laster is Skill. When combined they form the perfectly balanced combiner who is more than a match for his adversary, Liokaiser. There is only one other Brainmaster figure in the Victory toyline and that is the leader known as Star Saber. I've had Star Saber for a while, I purchased him back in 2007 but I only very recently received Road Caesar to complete my Brainmaster collection. Fortunately I was able to obtain the giftset version (which is the first Japanese giftset I have ever purchased) rather than the individual releases like I have with other combiners such as Liokaiser and Raiden.
What is so immediately striking about this figure when you get him combined is how sturdy and large he actually is. Despite being made up of only three members he is quite a large toy and is at least as tall as Galaxy Shuttle. 1989 was a good year for big Transformers in Japan apparently. Ironically at the same time in America the Transformers were getting smaller with Micromasters. Japan got their share of Micromasters too, but without sacrificing the larger figures. I think this is probably the last original mold G1 combiner that I did not own and since I am such a fanatic about combiners I was very happy to finally acquire this guy.
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| Blacker and the 'Brain of Strength' |
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| Laster and the 'Brain of Skill' |
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| Braver and the 'Brain of Intelligence' |
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| All three 'Brains' which I don't think even make an appearance in Victory. |
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| These guys are the very definition of a brick. |
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| Road Caesar loves the camera! |
This guy definitely falls under the category of "I wish they would reissue him because I want him but not enough to pay vintage prices for him."
ReplyDeleteI have a few in that category.
^ So true Botch. Love the new look of the site BTW.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I think after the failure of the reissue of God Ginrai Takara would be really hard pressed to get this one out. I would expect a KO before an actual reissue.
ReplyDeleteIs there a reissue Overlord?
ReplyDeleteNovelty: Technically yes. Overlord was re-released in Europe in the 1990's in a different style box. Both versions are still difficult to find unfortunately. There hasn't been a recent reissue of him.
ReplyDeleteThe Brainmasters were also released in Europe but were called Motorvators.
ReplyDeleteJust like Overlord, the Brainmasters were also re-released in Europe, but were called Motorvators. Apparently they missed the Road Ceasar combining gimmic though..
ReplyDelete