When I started to get close to finishing my American G1 collection I began to look across the shores to Japanese and European exclusives. I decided that I would concentrate on the Japanese G1 first and then move on to the European G1 (which also crosses into G2 territory). I did this because I already had a few Japanese exclusives anyway and I considered them more desirable (and thus more expensive) than the Europeans. Since G1 figures only get more expensive as time goes on, I like to try to buy the more expensive figures first so I don't end up spending a fortune in the future. Case in point: I remember back in 1999 when the Liokaiser giftset was going on eBay for about $300. In 2008 when I was finally able to purchase Liokaiser it was for over $700. And this year I've seen the giftset go for over $1000. So yeah, get the expensive stuff out of the way before it gets insane.
So needless to say I don't have that many European G1 figures in my collection. I've picked up a couple here and there, but it was never really a focus. However a deal came up a few weeks ago that I just couldn't pass up, the prices were too good. So as a result I added Rotorstorm and Thunderclash to my collection. I had owned these molds previously since they were both released under the Machine Wars banner in 1996, however I've always loved the gaudy colors of the early 1990's figures and so it was a thrill to finally get these guys. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.
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| Rotorstorm |
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| Gah! The blades are pink!!!! |
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| With his Machine Wars counterpart - Sandstorm. |
When Machine Wars was released all of the gimmicks of the figures had been removed. So Sandstorm's missile launchers don't fire whereas Rotorstorm's do. It isn't so bad on this figure, but it becomes much more apparent on the other Machine Wars figures.
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| Identical except for the missiles. |
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| Thunderclash |
Thunderclash is notorious for suffering from
GPS so I didn't want to risk transforming his trailer for the picture. In fact when I got him he was in truck mode and I only transformed him once (very, very carefully) to robot mode. Unfortunately he will probably never be transformed again because of the GPS but at least he is pretty.
When MW Prime came out I didn't know he was based on the Thunderclash mold. It drove me nuts why Prime had a mouth versus a faceplate. I was surprised Kenner/Hasbro didn't remold the head since they went to the trouble of remolding the missiles.
ReplyDeleteWow, these look great. I've probably passed them in the shops back in the day. I can't believe the prices on them are that crazy these days. BTW, is Thunderclash a shellformer of sorts?
ReplyDelete@Novelty: His trailer is a bit of a shellformer, the figure not so much. Unfortunately the main component of the trailer is made of gold plastic so I really don't want to even open it up for fear of a break. Fortunately MW Prime is the same toy so once I get him (again) I can enjoy the mold more.
ReplyDelete@Colbey: Did MW Prime even come with missiles? I can't remember. I wanted to try out the missiles on Thunderclash, but I'm a little hesitant due to his fragile nature.