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Tuesday, August 14, 2012

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.



Unfortunately by purchasing the reissue set I was denying myself the pleasure of Sixliner's original giftset box, which like most of the later Japanese boxes is beautiful. I really enjoy the character art on these and I feel like a lot of collectors tend to overlook them because they aren't as rare as some of the other figures.


Now I don't really know a lot about Sixliner as far as the fiction goes, except that he is related to Sixtrain though I'm not really sure how that works since they are both made up of six individual figures. Is each figure related to his counterpart? I can understand how Sideswipe and Sunstreaker are related to each other, but this is kinda mindboggling. Then again, it is Japan, so I'll just let it go and stop trying to make sense of it.

Sixliner and his "brother" Sixtrain

Upon comparing Sixliner to his reissue I was surprised to find a large number of differences which frankly I am grateful for, it continues to get harder and harder to differentiate reissues from the originals, especially where KO's are concerned.

Vintage on the left, modern on the right.

Namely the largest difference are the tampographs on the modern release vs. stickers on the vintage. Plus a couple more paint apps in the eyes and on the chest. The colors for the most part are very similar. One other thing I have to mention about this set are the names of the individual members, some of which are surprisingly pedestrian.

From left to right: Spark, Alan, Leaf, D-Go, Joe, and Night


Alan and Joe. Uhhhh...yeah. You know, if they were going that route they might as well have named them all in the same vein, perhaps throw a Henry or James in there as well. At least that would have been consistent. I shudder to think of the wackyness to come in the other "six" combiners. We shall see...

See Also:
TF-05 Sixtrain Giftset

8 comments:

  1. Interesting how Takara didn't change up Sixliner much for his re-issue while Sixtrain had some drastic differences.

    One of these days I'll land one of these giftsets. The box is just too nice to pass up.

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    1. I think maybe Takara hadn't figured out they could change things up yet, hence no "special" repaint of this figure unlike the others.

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  2. Wow...those are....interesting names for sure. Alan and Joe, D-Go, it sounds like they were running out of names to use, or as the running joke in IDW goes "all the good names are taken."

    I have a theory that, despite the line ending soon in the US, another factor for not bringing these guys over was the fact that rail transportation isn't as big of a deal here as it is in Japan.

    Glad you were able to get the G1 set though, there sure are a lot of differences!

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    1. I believe you are absolutely right, Trains are a big deal over there. I'm actually surprised we got Rail Racer here in the US as part of RID!

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  3. I love the plain Japanese names. I always imagined Prime walking in, giving orders and saying something like "Hardhead, can you do this? Maybe you should take...Alan with you.". It's just hilarious.

    That box is gorgeous. I must say that the extra apps on the reissue do make it stand out.

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    1. Lol, that is awesome. I would love if they could've stuck one of those guys into the show, it would've been fantastic.

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  4. Wow that's a great catch! I too am looking for those two sets but have no luck finding them for a decent price.

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    1. Thanks! Both I have found on Rinkya, you might want to check there, I never see them on eBay.

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