Art Feather Bumblebee

Okay, so I had to at least get to this guy. I first found out about this figure on the TFW boards about eight months ago, but I must not have read everything carefully enough because I originally thought this was a kit that you could modify on to your existing Classics Bumblebee. So imagine my surprise when I receive the figure fully finished and packaged. I was all ready to make it an afternoon project, but I'm not complaining!

So much cool new stuff....

And absolutely no time to talk about it. Unfortunately this time of year is always super busy for me. I really wish I could talk about each of these great figures in turn, but I just can't find the time to sit down and do it. At least I'll have a lot to cover after the beginning of the new year! C'est la vie...

Plain 'ol Circuit

Hooray! A post about Transformers again! Even though it is just Circuit here, he doesn't get a lot of love fictionally speaking. I believe he has only appeared recently in the IDW comics (in the background nonetheless) and other than his toy bio he really doesn't have much going on. He is the epitome of obscure Generation One characters. But that may change soon.

Tough Mudder Run Part 5, The End

It was at this point in the course where I was really starting to feel the effects of nine miles and eighteen obstacles. My knees were starting to throb, my left shin was killing me and for some unknown reason my hip was giving me problems (I guess I'm old). But still I pushed on.

Tough Mudder Run Part 4, The Distance

Right after I passed the second set of Berlin Walls came the mile marker 5 sign. Meaning that I hadn't even gotten halfway through the course yet! I was still feeling pretty good and I hadn't injured myself so it was really more mental than physical at this point. I decided this would be a good time to use the Gu I had with me to help revitalize my system. Gu is really just electrolytes and energy to refuel you on the go. I am really glad I did because I'm not sure what would have happened had I not used it.

Tough Mudder Run Part 3, The Height

I won't lie, after Electric Eel it was difficult to run. My head was ringing and I was trying to do a mental check to make sure I hadn't forgotten anything important. That may sound silly, but I was concerned, okay?

Tough Mudder Run Part 2, The Shock

Fortunately not long after passing the first mile marker there was a water station. I had originally thought this was a bit of a waste when I originally saw the course map, but now I understand. You are so fatigued from the obstacles you really need a short break. I grabbed a water and a banana, scarfed them down and proceeded on...

Tough Mudder Run Part 1, The Cold

I. Am. So. Sore. I could tell even before I moved out of bed this morning that this was going to be a difficult day. Just about every part of my body hurts. I am bruised, scraped and mentally fatigued but it was all completely worth it. I wanted to chronicle my experience while it was still fresh in my mind, so I am going to be going through my experiences of the entire course yesterday complete with an obstacle list for anyone who is curious. Warning, this may get lengthy.

Tough Mudder Prologue, The Calm Before the Storm

This Saturday I will be participating in probably the most physically challenging event I have ever attempted: a mud run. And not just any ordinary mud run, this is the Tough Mudder run, an 11 mile obstacle course designed by British Special Forces to push you to your limits and at the same time make you as uncomfortable as possible. Now why would I want to do something like this you ask? That is a very good question.

Impossible Toys Alicon (or Allicon if you wish)

For being a movie based solely on trying to sell toys to kids, the 1986 Transformers animated movie sure missed the boat in a lot of categories. There were so many characters (some pretty major) that never received a toy in any fashion. Arcee, Unicron, the Lithonians, all the Quintessons and of course the Allicon. Back when I was small, this was the figure I wanted more than any other to go with my Sharkticon. And of course before the advent of the internet or any kind of fan-based information sharing I had no idea if the figure would ever be released or not. Even after years had passed I still longed for an Allicon and on more than one occasion dreamed about working up plans on creating one. Fortunately I no longer have to worry about that.

Transformers Prime Sergeant Kup (aka Hound)

First off I must apologize for my absence, things have been super busy lately. I actually got this figure at the same time as Ravage, but have not had the time to talk about him until now. Originally I had ordered what was supposed to be Prime Ironhide from BBTS because I thought he looked like a really good Fall of Cybertron Ironhide. Unfortunately Hasbro changed their plans and released Sergeant Kup instead.

Decepticons Forever! X-9 Jaguar (Ravage)

Sometimes I am amazed at the amount of patience I possess. As I child I had absolutely no patience whatsoever and it took many years for me to train myself to not want everything right now. However sometimes that little kid comes back out when I see other people purchasing really cool things. Fortunately that was not the case with X-9 Ravage here. I originally missed getting him when he was available at retail back in 1999 and then of course his price skyrocketed due to the unique mold, foreign exclusivity and popularity of the character in the Beast Wars show. But I knew that if I waited long enough, eventually one would come up at a reasonable price.

5/6ths

So guess what popped up on eBay a few weeks ago...

Charticon 2013, The Charlotte, NC Transformer Convention

I know this may not be as relevant here on the blog since most everyone I know on here lives in a different country, but I thought I would go ahead and announce it anyway. Next August the North Carolina Transformers group will be hosting the first Transformers Convention in Charlotte, NC. We have been working on this for a while now and it is looking to be like a great convention so far. If you are interested in attending (and are close enough) here are a few of the events we have planned:

Voice Actors and Voice Actor Panels
Cosplay and Costume Contests
4,000+ sq ft Dealer Room
Transformers Toy Panels
Trivia Contests
Kids Games
Friday night DJ Party

Plus much more, but I can't divulge too many details just yet. Anyway, Hotel Reservations are already up and pre-registration should be available before the end of the year. Check out: www.charticon.com for full details.

Part of the reason we are doing this is because Savcon 2013 was unfortunately cancelled and we all really enjoyed the last convention. So in an effort to continue the Southern United States TF conventions we decided we would hold Charticon instead.

Is it bad that it is still eleven months away and I'm already really excited for it?

C-310 God Ginrai - Inside the Differences

SCF God Ginrai

Right, so back to where we left off yesterday, inside the differences between the original God Ginrai giftset and the 2001 reissue. First off let me just say that this set was pretty difficult to find since the reissue is all over the place nowadays. And I can remember back before 2001 it was a pretty hot commodity, going for somewhere around $400 online. Fortunately the reissue cut that price by more than half, but if you are looking out for the original it is important to know the differences. My buddy Heroic Decepticon has already covered this to some detail, so I'll just go over a few things not in his post.

C-310 God Ginrai Giftset...Vintage!

I remember when I first learned about God Ginrai, it was during the first few months of college when I had a T1 internet line and was discovering the world beyond alt.toys.transformers. Powermaster Optimus Prime had been one of my favorite figures when I was little, mainly because of the gimmick of Prime combining with his trailer. When I discovered there was a second trailer that could be utilized as well I completely freaked out. After much searching, I was able to find a very grainy video of God Ginrai's first appearance in Masterforce, uploaded by some devoted Japanese transformer fan. Needless to say, at that moment I decided I needed a God Ginrai, no matter the cost.

A Random Find...Part 2

Wow, Fall of Cybertron has been taking up all of my blogging time lately! But I wanted to finish the story I started last week, however in order to do that, a little setup is necessary.

A Random Find

So I went back to my hometown this past weekend to visit family and decided to go on a little hunt. The wife and I perused the local yard sales without much luck but when we reached The Flea Market (and I say that because it is the only flea market in my entire town) we hit the motherload! I nabbed quite a few G2 figures that I will be highlighting later. But it didn't end there...

C-370 Sixliner, the first Micromaster Combiner

Alright, time to get back to some Japanese G1 goodness. I've been holding on to this jewel for a little while because I honestly couldn't remember if I had already created a blog post for him. But apparently I was remembering the similar, yet different Sixtrain. It can get a bit confusing at times. Sixliner here is yet another figure in my ongoing quest to replace all my reissues with originals. I was first introduced to him when it was reissued in 2002 as part of Japan's Micromaster line. Of course all those figures were blind-packed and thus I was required to purchase an entire case (12 figures) to ensure I received a complete set. In fact, this plan lead me to receiving two complete sets, the other which I just recently sold.

TFC-007 Rage of the Hercules

RAAAAAAGE!!!!

How about that? Something new! For the longest time I was on the fence about this "upgrade" set because I really thought Hercules didn't need it. He was originally designed so that most of his combiner parts were integrated into the individual robot modes. Although unfortunately TFC couldn't find a good way to hide the hands. But I figured I had already purchased everything else Hercules related so I thought why not go ahead and finish him off? I really hadn't taken a long, hard look at all of the upgrades included in this set, but I was looking forward to the forearm replacements.

The Last Piece...

Whew, it has been slow around here lately. Although with me not purchasing much  and the 2012 Olympics going on I'm not really surprised. But I did want to showcase one little item I obtained recently. You can see it in the picture to the right. If it isn't immediately recognizable to you as G1 Splashdown's spear then you're not as crazy as they say you are. If you did recognize it, then I can't really help your obsessive needs.

SDCC Bruticus and all that Hype

Big Damn Box

I think Hasbro must have some weird rules about when it makes combiner figures. The first rule would have to be "No extra parts in any mode". Okay, I can understand that one. They want to cut down on costs and so there is no need to have extra parts in either the individual or the combined modes. In fact, I'm in favor of this idea when it can be put to good use. The second rule must be "All limbs must be interchangeable, no matter what." And this is the one that really irks me. I don't understand why they just can't commit one limb to one place; some of the best combiners have been made this way: Devestator, Predaking, Liokaiser, and so on. But when they need to make engineering sacrifices to ensure each limb can be both an arm and a leg then the overall figure suffers. And that is the problem with SDCC Bruticus (and all his subsequent repaints). But it does look like they have learned from at least some of their past mistakes and made Bruticus one of the best official modern combiners to date.

Arms Micron Breakdown (with friend)

I'll be honest, I didn't like Transformers: Prime when it first came out. It had way too many "movie" elements to it for my liking, especially the mute Bumblebee. But the more I watched the show the more it grew on me. However I still wasn't completely sold until the folks at Botcon 2011 previewed an upcoming episode for us featuring this guy: Breakdown. The episode was appropriately titled 'Operation: Breakdown' and it really fleshed out Breakdown as a character giving him more than just a "Decepticon SMASH" personality. It was after viewing this episode that I was hooked on Prime as well as Breakdown's character. I've always really enjoyed bad guys that aren't evil just for the sake of being evil but actually have histories and motives for what they do. I had been looking forward to seeing Breakdown released domestically ever since then, but apparently it was not meant to be.

It Never Ends!

Today's the day! Finally the day has arrived that the original Marvel comic storyline is continued in the world of the Transformers! It's probably mostly nostalgia, but I've always loved the original run of comics; what started as a four issue limited series and eventually expanded to eighty issues has finally come back to life! It is no secret that the original storyline was cut short by dwindling sales, but how cool is it that IDW was able to work with the original creators to bring it back and finish it in a proper way? I feel especially lucky as my copy features Cover B, complete with throwback coloring techniques (remember all the tiny dots?) and featuring a retro Optimus Prime in the top left corner. It might as well be 1991 all over again! I haven't read it yet, I am still savoring the feeling, but never before have I been this excited about a comic release. I may share my thoughts on it later.

Toyworld Hegemon in all his Megatron-y goodness

Due to his unique nature Generation 1 Megatron is very difficult to update. I mean, he turns from the leader of the Decepticons into a handheld gun, which honestly seems kinda stupid. But ever since Generation 2, Megatron has always taken another form whether that be a tank, jet, or tanker truck. Everyone can agree that Optimus Prime has always been and will always be a semi-truck of some sort. But with Megatron it is a different story, no one can really agree on what exactly he should transform into. This also has really affected the G1 updates we have received in the past. The closest we ever got to an actual G1 Megatron was the Nerf-inspired classics Megatron which was a bit of a disappointment, but hey we take what we can get.

C-121 Gurafi and C-122 Noizu KO Comparison Guide

Ever since Knock-Offs (KO's) of the Dinocassettes came out a little while back collectors have been having a difficult time telling the real thing from the fakes. I don't want to get into a debate about real vs. KO, I only want people to know what they are buying. You can already find a guide on C-123 Diaru and C-124 Zauru on HighEndTFs.com but there is no guide for these two figures yet. Since a friend of mine acquired these two last weekend at Savcon (fortunately he already knew they were KO's) I thought it would be a good opportunity to get some comparison pictures so anyone who was interested in trying to tell the difference wouldn't get swindled. Once you get the two versions side by side, all of a sudden the differences become very obvious.

Destination Savcon!

As Transformers conventions go it has been a long time since one has graced my particular corner of the United States. Sure we had Botcon 2010 in Orlando about eleven hours away and of course Botcon 2007 in Rhode Island about thirteen hours away, but not since 2001 (Raleigh, NC) has there been one within only a couple hours drive. I think this was the primary motivator for me wanting to attend Savcon located in Savannah, Georgia; a relatively short four hour drive. However I was also motivated to attend a smaller, local convention without all the bells and whistles that come with Botcon. Since I had only been to Botcons in the past I really had no idea what to expect especially from a first year convention. What I discovered was much more than I could have imagined.

The Oncoming Masterpiece Onslaught

Haha, no, we aren't getting a Masterpiece Onslaught. Yet. And I only say yet because it looks like the Masterpiece line is going from a one-off character focused toyline to an actual series based on recent events. First of all, I want to congratulate whomever is in charge of the Masterpiece line at TakaraTomy; you have renewed my faith. At first I was all against a second Optimus Prime being released in the series, but as more and more releases have been announced I now see the light. I see it was all part of a carefully structured plan to revitalize and revamp the line in a scale-accurate form (more or less). And I've already sung the praises of the recently fixed MP-11. But I am getting a little ahead of myself here.

Prime Vehicon, like the elusive Aardwolf

Not an Aardwolf

If you've never heard of the Aardwolf, don't feel bad. They tend to be very difficult to find in nature and resemble a hyena crossed with a wolf. Apparently they are called Aardwolfs because their diet consists of almost nothing but termites, much like Aardvarks. But the point is, they are ridiculously hard to find in the wild, much like the Transformers Prime Vehicon.

D-306 Darkwings Gift Set

Out of all the Japanese exclusive Transformers, Darkwings is one of the less desirable due to the fact that it really isn't that different from the American release; so it follows that there are probably more of these available out there than say, Minervas. But that doesn't mean it isn't as cool or unique as some of the other exclusives. Now Dreadwing is the American counterpart to Darkwings, made up of Dreadwind and Darkwing. Of course Darkwings is actually the combined form made up of the individuals Hydra and Buster. With so many darks and dreads and wings it is very easy to get confused and it took me a long time to be able to sort them all out. Even now I still get a little confused.

Retro: G1 Cloudburst, first in a long line of Pretenders

Sometimes I feel like some characters in the Transformers mythos really get the short end of the stick. I mean sure, Prime, Megatron and Starscream keep getting new toys, new interpretations in shows and countless re-releases of their original figures. But what about all those characters who never really had a chance to shine in the limelight, even if for only a minute? Well, that is all about to change, starting with our good friend Cloudburst here. I wanted to start with Cloudburst because he has some special significance to me; he was the very first Pretender figure I ever received.

Comic Thoughts...

I was never much of a comic collector as a child. I think perhaps I was a little ADHD and just didn't have the patience for them. During my early years I only actually picked up one or two comics and those were specifically Transformers. As I reached my teenage years I attempted to get into the comic scene by purchasing a couple of issues of different characters such as Spawn, Spiderman 2099 and Venom. None of them held my interest in the slightest. But I also managed to snag a couple of the Marvel Transformers back issues. I've spoken about that experience before. But what I never mentioned was that by the time I really got into the Transformers comics they were off the shelves and no new stories were being produced.

The Chance of a Lifetime

Collecting Transformers can be a very satisfying and yet frustrating hobby. Satisfying when you finally obtain that one figure you've been after for a while or when you see the new figures showcased at Botcon. Frustrating when you travel all over town looking for an army builder that happened to be shortpacked or someone else beats you out on an eBay auction by just a couple of pennies. But then there are also those times when a once in a lifetime event comes along that just cannot be passed up; experiences that may even define one's entire collecting career. It doesn't happen to every collector, but if you are lucky enough to have it happen to you then it can change your life, for better or for worse.

On Transformers Paperwork...

This almost falls under the category of Mail Call, but I haven't done any of those for a while since things are so few and far in between nowadays. What makes this a little different is I wouldn't have this great Fort Max booklet if it weren't for a good friend of mine attending Botcon 2012. I'd like to give a shoutout to fiveironfr3nzy, without his diligence I wouldn't have been able to add this piece to my collection as cheaply and easily as I did. As it stands now I am only three more instruction booklets away from a complete G1 collection and all of those are giftset booklets. For some reason, like with everything else Fort Max related, his booklet is super expensive compared to almost all the others and thus it was one of the last I needed for my paperwork collection.

I was surprised by how small the booklet actually was, I was expecting the size to be more like Sixshot's, but I guess when you break it down Fort Max really isn't that complicated. Just large.

C-301 Goshooter - Shūta Gō!

If there is one thing I have learned over the years it is this: "When Botcon comes around, good deals abound" as our good friend Wheelie might say. I believe this applies whether you attend the convention or not, because while everyone is distracted by all the Botcon exclusives, news, etc. there are a bunch of great deals to be had on eBay and elsewhere. This year a particular TFW seller put up a massive amount of Japanese, European and Diaclone stuff about three days before Botcon! Thankfully Heroic Decepticon alerted me to the thread in time before everything sold out. I wasn't quick enough for some items, but I snagged Landcross, Twincast and GoShooter here. GoShooter is the real gem because he is dead mint with all paperwork, no flap crease and no yellowing. And even though he is only a repaint and not a Japanese exclusive mold he can be hard to come by today.

Third Party Minibots - Brilliance in the Making

Anyone who has been collecting Classics figures knows we need more minibots, Hasbro just hasn't delivered the goods in this department. For those not in the know the minibots were small basic figures that were easy to transform released during the original Generation One run. Despite this they included some of the most important characters in the franchise including Brawn, Cliffjumper and Bumblebee. If there was ever an opportunity for Third-Party companies to fill an opening it is this one. And so far Maketoys and IGear have delivered nicely even if there is a bit of overlap.

Twincast can bust it better than Blaster ever could!

Ah, the eighties; when people walked around with huge boomboxes up to their ears and no one said boo about it. Today it's all Ipods and...well...Ipods I guess. This behavior was so pervasive there's even a Transformer commercial showing Rumble walking around this way, it's quite hilarious. Of course this is the commercial highlighting Blaster, the transformable boombox. I can't think of any other transformer that so uniquely personifies the eighties in his alt-mode better than Blaster. I guess Swindler might be a good contender but he really doesn't count because (1) he's a micromaster and not very well known and (2) he was released at the very end of the eighties.

Landcross: Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations

Ok, so the figures that make up Landcross can't really be combined in an infinite number of modes. But it sure feels like it. I believe you can actually combine them a total of thirty different ways plus the six-figure Landcross combination making a total of thirty-one. Personally I don't know any other Transformers with that type of versatility. I myself have never attempted all the different combinations, but I think it would be an interesting way to spend an afternoon. I feel like Landcross was an experiment by Takara to determine the limits of playability in a Transformer. From the sketches and drawings in the Generations: Deluxe book it looks like they had been working on something like this for a while and had a few more planned. There are instances in the book of combiners made up of as many as fifteen different figures! But apparently Landcross was the only one to make it to the production stage. Interestingly enough, this multiple combination gimmick would be mirrored almost twenty years later in Transformers: Superlink (Energon in the U.S.).

SCF: The Truth Who the Eyes Met Before!

What can I say? I'm a sucker for small collectible figures. The Super Collection Figure (SCF for short) line began in 2001 and continued through 2003 consisting of ten waves of six figures each. Each wave released each figure in a color version and either a clear or pewter color version depending on the wave. And of course because they were released in Japan, they were blind packed. Back when the characters of G1 was a scarcity (not like today) collectors were clamoring for anything they could get their hands on; and the SCF line provided cartoon accurate representations of their favorite characters in a small, relatively cheap form.

Big Update to my Japanese Page

I spent the better part of last weekend updating my Japanese page to reflect everything I have in chronological order along with everything I am still missing. Hopefully it looks a lot better and will be an easier resource in the future to link to past stories. I may do something like this with the other lines based on how well this seems to work. Just click the Japanese tab above to see the changes.

Beast Wars Neo C-53 Big Black Convoy

I'm a big fan of the Beast Wars Neo and have been ever since I learned about it in the late 1990's. I think what draws me to it the the sheer uniqueness of the beast modes that populate the line. Giraffe, Penguin, Rabbit, Archaeopteryx, Styracosaurus, Tanuki?? It's kinda crazy. Of course one of the most easily recognizable figures is that of Big Convoy, the Woolly Mammoth. American Transformer fans are just as familiar with this figure as their Japanese counterparts due to the mold being released as Universe Nemesis Prime and the character being heavily featured in the Beast Wars IDW comics. However the figure was repainted in an almost all-black color scheme and sold in Japanese Toys R Us Stores as Black Big Convoy. Personally I call him Big Black Convoy instead because the words flow better and it sounds more menacing. The figure was also released as a lucky draw in a blue color scheme (Big Blue Convoy :)

G2 Gobots and Drench Vindicated!

I was challenged. My resolve was tested. And yet I prevailed. That's right, I have added loose versions of G2 Gobots and Drench to my collection. Just recently I had obtained a sealed G2 Drench and I received a lot of peer pressure to just go ahead an open the sucker. Fortunately I didn't listen as just last week I was able to grab Drench and Gobots insanely cheap and thus spare the sealed versions from being subjected to the wrath of the 2012 atmosphere. It is 1993 inside those packages and that is how it is going to stay. I imagine if I ever did open them I would be able to momentarily hear the faint sounds of gangsta rap anyway. It's all dubstep out here now.

In honor of Botcon: Action Master Thundercracker

Since Botcon is being held in Dallas this week I thought it would only be appropriate to do a post about a G1 figure that received an update from the Botcon folks last year. Of course I am talking about Action Master Thundercracker. Like so many other things at Botcon, AM Thundercracker has a complicated history that only the most fervent fans tend to appreciate, but I'll do my best to iron it all out.

It's Botcon Time Yet Again

Wow, it is hard to believe it has been almost a year since Botcon 2011 in Pasadena. This year it is a little more convenient for most people since it is in Dallas, Texas, essentially the middle of the country rather than one of the coasts. I was betting on Chicago myself, but I guess when Fun Publications can't figure out where to go they'll just default to Texas. We'll see how this theory pans out in the future...

Lego Town Hall

For some reason this one flew under my radar. I usually keep a close eye on new Lego releases but somehow I completely missed the new Town Hall set. I didn't find out about it until the day it was released! Last year, when the Pet Shop and Brownstone were released I was at my local Lego store that day! But fortunately for me my local store had plenty of Town Halls in stock when I went to pick it up last week. Upon arriving home I wasn't able to even start construction for another few days due to work and other responsibilities, but once I finally did the build went fast. This is another great modular building set from Lego, and it does a great job continuing to add more and more interior details.

D-108 Slugfest and D-109 Overkill

Ohhhh baby. I have been waiting quite a while for these two gems. These guys can be impossibly hard to find and I'm not really sure why. As far as I can tell they got a relatively wide release during the Headmasters toyline in Japan but for some reason are really obscure. Regardless, they now have a permanent spot in my collection. And fortunately I was able to get them in excellent condition. Slugfest is still MISB while Overkill is MIB, but all his paperwork and weapons are still sealed. I could send these guys off to AFA if I wanted, but I think I would rather keep them out. I doubt I will ever unseal them, but you never know.

TF-05 Sixtrain Giftset

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.

Movie Optimus Spychanger..."GASP!"

Yeah, that's right. I bought a movie figure. But it isn't really a movie figure. Technically it is a movie repaint of an existing Robots In Disguise figure. And it was a total impulse buy; I was just browsing eBay the other day and I happened to come upon it. I didn't really know a whole lot about it but I thought it would be something cool Flywheels would like, but upon checking his Shmax page I discovered he already owned it. Big surprise (he has, like, everything). But the seller had it for half off at what seemed to be a pretty reasonable price especially for a Japanese exclusive so I bit the bullet.

The Return of Convoy

Back in 1991 when Generation One was dying off Takara was trying to think of a way to bring kids back into the toys. I must assume they decided that the re-creation Convoy (Optimus Prime to those of us outside of Japan) in the form of a Micromaster base would be the best idea since they were all the rage at the time. Since in the Japanese fiction Powermaster Prime was actually a different character named Ginrai this was the first new Convoy toy since the Goodbye version back in 1986! Nothing like bringing back the most popular character from past fiction to revitalize a series, huh? On an additional note they brought Megatron back too but unfortunately there was no toy created for his new form.

Pipeline, Gusher and the Tanker Transport

This is more of a celebratory post than anything. I have been attempting to complete this particular G1 figure for a very long time. It was one that not only has been expensive for a while now, but I never had as a kid either. A few years ago I found a boxed Mexican sample in a local comic store which I purchased for a cool $40, but unfortunately when I got home I discovered it was missing four of the parts! These parts really don't come up very often and after two years and one Botcon of looking I finally found all four. Now they did cost me a good bit because they are so obscure, but it was still a lot cheaper than buying the entire set over again for the ridiculous prices they go for on eBay.

The Masterpiece Starscream Saga

Starscream has always been my favorite character. Always. Ever since I first saw him on TV in 1985. I don't know why, but for some reason I identified with this lying, cheating megalomaniac. I felt like he never quite got his due, except in the 1986 movie when he was finally crowned Decepticon leader for a few brief moments before being destroyed at the hands of Galvatron. But his toy was abhorrent. The figure came from the Diaclone mold and was more or less a parts former (which means you remove the parts from the robot and put them back on in a different way to form the jet). Very little of the figure actually transformed.

With this comes a complete loose Beast Wars Collection

Being able to replace my failing Rattrap with Metals Rattrap at last year's Botcon I was only one other figure away from completing my loose Beast Wars collection. That remaining figure was Transmetal Megatron. Much like figures with GPS, TM Megatron is notoriously brittle, but for different reasons. Therefore it is difficult to find one today that hasn't broken in some manner. I'm proud to say my original lasted for at least eight years before it decided to snap one day in mid transformation. I also have a MISB version just for completion's sake, but my display never looked quite right with such an iconic and important character missing. The solution? Purchase the Japanese version of the figure which uses a different and stronger type of plastic and doesn't have the same breakage problems.

Misinformation Debunked

This article is a little old, but apparently I missed it the first time around so I thought I would throw it up here in case anyone else hasn't had a chance to see it. Personally I found this a very refreshing and informative read.

Back to the Future Myths Debunked by Producer Bob Gale

Tower Run

This weekend for the very first time in my life I actually competed in a race in which I wasn't forced to participate.

When I was younger I absolutely abhorred sports and exercise despite my parents' best efforts to encourage me to try out for baseball, soccer, judo and a host of other physical activities. I never felt like it was something I had to do, exercise and sports were for other people. I absolutely hated everything I was forced to do and purposely failed at every sport, no matter what. However as I got older (and heavier) I realized that I would probably need to start doing some sort of physical exercise as time went on because my body just couldn't function as well with me sitting on the couch eating Doritos all the time. I started exercising regularly when I went to college, nothing hard core, just enough so that I didn't gain the freshman 15 or whatever they call it.

Omega Spreem is NOT the last line of Defense

No matter what fiction you're talking about, Omega Supreme is always a massive, nearly unstoppable robot that usually transforms in to a rocket capable of carrying all of the Autobots pretty much anywhere they want to go. So it is with dismay that his Action Master counterpart (the annoyingly named Omega Spreem) is quite small and underwhelming. He is part of the very short lived Action Master Elite line that was exclusive to Europe in the early 1990's. However as an Action Master Elite he is considerably larger than any of the regular Action Master figures, and is heftier than I had imagined. But he is no longer the Autobots' Last Line of Defense. He's been reduced to more of a foot soldier (much like Devastator). And his colors have been, shall we say, altered.

小型トランスはとてもかわいいです！

It really doesn't get any more Japanese than Choro-Q. These are basically a (very-short) line of small, super-deformed Transformers characters that actually transformed in to similarly deformed alt modes. I'm not really sure why things like this are so popular in Japan, but since they were never sold in America I can say pretty safely that it isn't something that would be very popular over here. But then again I could be wrong, after all we do have Bot-Shots.

Happy St. Patrick's Day from Mostly Transformers!

A very Happy St. Patrick's Day to you and yours! Don't forget to wear your green!

Orion Pax is getting a lot of attention lately, why not a little more?

Ever since Transformers: Prime has been on the air it has been exploiting a new refined and updated continuity that Hasbro has decided to use to unify its different Transformers properties instead of having a bunch of different aspects of the same property in different 'Universes". In effect what this means is that every fiction to come from Hasbro since 2010 or so has been with this new continuity line. Fortunately for fans who enjoy G1 this continuity borrows heavily from it, and that means before Optimus Prime there was Orion Pax. This was showcased heavily in the recent three-part TF: Prime serial, the aptly named "Orion Pax: Parts 1, 2 & 3".

European Exclusive Ironfist

In my ongoing and seemingly endless European G1 quest Ironfist was a name that was eventually going to come up. Thrust into the limelight by both The Last Stand of the Wreckers and the Botcon 2011 attendee exclusive figure, Ironfist was one tough mother to find at a reasonable price. However I came upon a MIB sample with stickers unapplied recently and feel like I paid a decent price for him; especially after receiving him I discovered the figure had never been removed from the box! After a quick consultation with Flywheels I decided not to sticker the little guy and thus left him in all his naked glory. With this purchase I have now completed all of the Lightformers and Trakkons (aka small figures with huge mounted weapons that obscure their faces).

Ironfist with his weapons platform, unnecessarily large.

Alongside his Animated Counterpart: Fisitron

Is it any coincidence that both Ironfist and Swindle are weapons experts and tan military road vehicles? Seems a little too convenient to be pure chance. Perhaps Ironfist is Swindle's nemesis!

My Generation 2 Drench Dilemma

During the release of Generation 2 I was in my early teens so it was a very on/off period for me. What I mean by that is one week I would be very into buying Transformers and spend all of my money there while the next I was 'over' Transformers and wanted to focus on things like friends, girls and other useless crap like that. At any rate it was a very confusing time (as puberty tends to be) and thus I missed a lot of good stuff that came out at retail during those years. Somehow I managed to pick up most of the '93 stuff but completely missed all the color changers. So in my quest to obtain all of the Generation 2 figures I missed I happened upon Drench here, Em. Oh. Cee. (MOC or mint on card).

When I purchased him off eBay I thought to myself: "Great, this Drench is cheaper than any of the loose versions out there and he is mint! I'll just open him up when I get him and add him to the shelf". However when I finally got him in the mail I couldn't bring myself to do it. Maybe it is the residual AFA collector in me, or maybe it is just not wanting to ruin a beautiful piece of sealed artwork (and by this I mean the entire package with toy, not just the art printed on the card) but I was very conflicted about opening him. It also doesn't help that I have another sealed G2 color changer: Go-Bots. And of course they look great together.

So ultimately I decided that it was best to keep him sealed and I could always find a loose version without too much trouble and that way I can add this sealed one to my carded G2 collection which seems to be growing despite my best efforts. This also reminds me I need to still find a loose Go-Bots. And a loose Superion (yeah right!). And a loose Jolt. And a loose Beachcomber.

Hmmm. I'm seeing a trend here.

Unicron's Four Horsemen

Back in 2004 a little over a year after the Transformers: Armada toyline had debuted something very interesting happened; apparently the line was such a success Hasbro had underestimated the demand and needed a few extra toys in order to fill out the line before the next incarnation, Transformers: Energon, was released. As a solution they decided to re-paint five molds that were used for Beast Wars, remold them slightly and then release them under the Armada banner. As a result the transmetal incarnations of Cheetor, Rhinox, Airrazor, Terrorsaur and Megatron started showing up in stores with Mini-con partners. Now I don't usually talk about anything from the Unicron Trilogy because it is something that I have absolutely no love for, however I feel these five figures are a special case.

Not long after they were released a few fans came up with (what I feel) was an inherently ingenious idea that Cheetor, Rhinox, Airrazor and Terrorsaur were the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse riding their transmetal tyrannosaur steeds of the underword: Megatron. Eventually this idea gained such popularity that the then-current owners of the Transformers comic book tie-in license, Dreamwave, incorporated it into their story with the four figures being the Horsemen of Unicron (basically the Transformers version of the devil or ultimate evil). Unfortunately Megatron (he was re-named Predacon for his Armada release) was cut from the story. Personally I thought Predacon worked better as a 'horse' than the non-toy characters in the comic. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) the comic story was never finished because Dreamwave folded, but that is an entirely different story.

At any rate, I purchased these five figures back in 2004 and they have been part of my collection ever since. The odd thing is: their new color schemes seem to accurately reflect their new personalities. I mean Airrazor was released in an almost completely black color scheme that just screams 'Death'. Currently they are perched on the very top shelf in my room, casting their demonic gazes below to all the Transformer underlings. Even though they are minor characters in what some would consider a mediocre storyline (and I would probably tend to agree), I feel like they represent an important part of the mythos nonetheless. By establishing that Unicron's heralds are often harbingers of doom it speaks volumes to the creation of Galvatron, Cyclonus, Scourge and the Sweeps 18 years earlier. Could they have been potential 'Horsemen' as well? Something to consider.

Pestilence

Famine

Death

War

...and the Horse

After writing this post and pondering the matter more carefully, I feel like I need to go out and purchase three more Predacons in order to complete my Horsemen collection. And then maybe some saddles. Yes, definitely need saddles.