I finally did it, I got my first Japanese Micromaster giftset. There are five of these sets total if I'm not mistaken: Sixliner, Sixturbo, Sixwing, Sixbuilder and of course Sixtrain here. All but Sixliner were released in 1992 at the very end of Generation One in Japan and thus can be somewhat difficult to obtain in good condition. Of course they were all rereleased between 2002 and 2003 in Takara's Transformer: The Micromaster series. And then they were subsequently released
again by Hasbro (sometimes in different colors) through 2007 under the Universe banner. But it all comes back to the original releases in 1992. I've had the reissues for years but this is yet another example of how I am trying to obtain all originals for my collection. With Sixtrain here it is pretty easy since his colors are completely different from the re-releases.
I am also a big fan of the art on the box, it is really interesting to see where the art designs for the later Transformers were going before it was rebooted into Generation 2.
You'll notice that Sixtrain may look a little bland, this is due to the fact that the specimen I acquired came with sealed paperwork and I really don't want to open it and sticker him up. Personally he looks pretty good for my tastes so I'll just leave him as-is.
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| Individual train modes...hence Sixtrain |
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| The vehicle modes can combine into small train sets |
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| Robot modes, I'm sure I could look their names up, but I'm too lazy to bother |
Upon closer inspection I noticed the individual robot mode colors were drastically different between the releases. I felt like putting them side by side was the best way to showcase these differences.
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| Originals are in the foreground, reissues in background |
This shot really shows off the differences between the original and the newer figures. The red figure represents Sixtrain's "Red Mode" which is from what I understand like a
Super Saiyan mode for him. The red mode figures were blind packed with the Sixtrain reissue making them all difficult to find. You'll notice that all the decorations on the reissue figures are tampographed.
Personally I'm really happy I was able to find this guy and hopefully his fellow "Six" releases aren't too far behind.
Hey, congrats on obtaining this set. The "Six" series combiners are really nice and agree that they are drastically different in colours from the reissues. Also the reissues have 'stickers' tampographed on them while the original does not. With the silvery backing of the original's stickers, the toy will really stand out once you apply the stickers.
ReplyDeleteLike you, I'm also very fond of the boxes for these guys, so nice and compact and with a foam insert to seal the deal.
Another 5 more sets to go?
Yep, another five. I'm a little wary about applying the stickers though. I kinda wish I hadn't applied them to my Overlord so for right now I think I will leave him as-is. Maybe in the future though.
DeleteStickers are for applying, so I do encourage applying them. Plus they bring back a slice of childhood, cracking a box open, applying the stickers, then playing with the toy...
DeleteI wonder why Takara chose to change up the colors for the Sixtrain reissue and not Sixliner? For that reason alone you made a good choice starting off w/ Sixtrain. One day, one day I'll own one of those nice giftsets.
ReplyDeleteI dunno, but didn't they change the colors for all the releases after Sixliner? I even compared my reissue Landcross with the vintage one and there are a lot (if not obvious) color differences.
DeleteThey are all awesome sets, some of my faves for the size, indefinably Sixbuilder being one of the best aesthetically, but I love trains so Sixliner and Sixtrain beat him by a hair for me. Some sick, sick box art- train feet screeching down the tracks so killer!! I was lucky to find them all at good prices, keep looking everyday and you will find what you are looking for! The TF greater powers are good to us that search!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I'm keeping an eye out, looks like Sixwing is probably the hardest to find. I can't wait to have them all lined up together though!
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