Welcome to my Toy Archive and Collections... Here I will share with all of you Transformers fans, my toy collection and share my personal views of them with all of you...
With the world hooked on Transformers Mania... Hasbro is churning out more TF movie toys, The upcoming "All Spark Powers" toys is the latest wave of TF movie toys that are a mix of repainted, retooled and completely new characters with new molds. The figs in this wave are - First Strike Optimus Prime, Cliffjumper, Landmine, Stockade, Desert Attack Brawl, Night Watch Optimus Prime, Incinerator and Evac.
I am eagerly waiting for these babies to hit the shelf as the bots designs are getting better as they are starting to look more like the bots we love and not really fugly bots from the earlier waves.
First Strike Optimus Prime is a repaint of movie rocker Prime that resembles G1 prime's paint job. Night Watch Optimus Prime looks awesome standing side by side the original rocker movie Prime... His color scheme kinda makes him look like Ultra Magnus.. yet another repaint... But this repainted prime is not introduced as Ultra Magnus. But frankly speaking..i don care what he's called... he could be called Arcee's geriatric grandfather for all i care..I'll still get this figure LOL
Pics of this wave of TF are available at - http://tformers.com/ig.php?mode=album&album=8197&dispsize=800&start=0
With the whole world gone nuts over the whole TF mania, thanks to the recent CGI movie and the success of last years Transformers Classics line. Hasbro is bringing us "Transformers Animated" a new animated series that's slated for release next year - 2008 on Cartoon Network. The characters and designs of the bots in this series is heavily influenced by the G1 bots... with a twist.
I gotta admit that i was abit skeptical about the new look n animation style of this series. it's one thing to put the "Teen Titans" with this animation style, but to apply this style on robots...more accurately "Transformers'!!! I have been waiting for the past 6 yrs for a western based TF series since beast machines, bcoz i am seriously sick of the Japs take on Transformers since Transformers - R.I.D, bcoz the storylines of the series are very preachy and riddled with irritating kids.
Imagine my surprise when i saw the first released image of the new western take on Transformers entitled - "Transformers Animated". Prime looks like a mix between a Doberman and a Gorilla!!! Needless to say, there's a huge hue and cry over this new series look.
Transformers: Animated 2008 Preview
But everything changed ( well, atleast for me ) when previews of the upcoming series was released on this year's SDCC. The video clips above obtained from youtube are the previews released on SDCC. OK, upon seeing the previews, I must say... they don't look half bad in this very stylized "Teen Titans" look. But what caught my attention are a bunch of very interesting characters that actually makes me anticipating the debut of this series. The characters that appeared in this short preview clips are - G1 Arcee, Beast Wars Black Arachnia and the appearance of the g1 Dinobots!!!
Testshots pics obtained from www.Tformers.com
I am further convinced with the coolness of this series when Testshots of the toys for this upcoming series was released. I have to admit that i was wondering how on earth are the boys at Hasbro gonna pull off making the toys anime accurate and transformable. Boy was i blown away when i saw the pics of the toys at my fav TF news webste www.tformers.com. The toy figs looks awesome.... the toy pics gave us an idea that more G1 characters with an updated look.
Figs like Soundwave, The Dinobots and a sketch of a tripplechanger which is reminiscence of G1 Blitzwing and a bunch of other cool characters whose identities will be revealed in due time.
All i can say is... i am very very looking forward to this series as well as the toys that are gonna be released along with the debut of this new "Transfomers Animated" series.
More pix of the toys are available at - http://tformers.com/ig.php?mode=album&album=8198&dispsize=800&start=0
Today's feature on G1 Tansformers are the "Dinobots" or rather originally known as "Dynabots" in the pre-earth Transformers - War Within series. The Dinobots are perhaps every Transformers toy collectors favorite.. I mean, what's not to like? it's made up of 5 of the most well known Dinosaurs... coming from the 80's when the kids are equally as nuts about Dinosaurs and Transformers... this was a match made in Cybertronian Heaven!!! Like most G1 toys... they very a repackaged and repaint of the japanese line of transforming dinosaurs toys called "Dinosaur Robo" by Takara. Thanks to Hasbro...these relatively unknown toys are being introduced to us in the Transformers Universe as the beloved "Dinobots".
As always, I'm not gonna go into too much details about the History of the Dinobots as u can prolly read em up in the multitude of sites on the Internet... In fact, here's a quick link to all things - "Dinobots" - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinobots
Transformers G1 - Dinobots
Ok... now that that's out of the way, i will talk about my collection of Dino's in a more personal perspective. The Dinos depicted in my collection here are G1 Grimlock, G2 Blue Grimlock, G1 Swoop, G1 Sludge, G2 Red Snarl, G2 Green Snarl, Diaclone Slag, G1 Slag, G2 Red Slag and G2 Green Slag. I guess from this collection of Dinos, u can pretty much guess how big a fan i am of the Dinobots... hehehe
I'm still missing quite a few dinos if i truly wanted to complete my collection of all the Diaclone, G1 and G2 Dinos. I remember vaguely as a kid having all 5 of the Dinobots... but they were never as a set of 5. i think i had to trade em off so that i could atleast get to play with each one of them at a time. My fav was always Grimlock and Snarl... I'm a sucker for T-Rex n Triceratops LOL
It's kinda ironic how i used to play with my Transformers toys and kinda bash em against eachother and not bother about it other then the enjoyment of playing with em. Heck, i used to bring em into my parents bathroom during bath time and play with em in the bathtub LOL. Ofcourse this would end up in massive wear on the decals and a bad case of "Cosmic Rust" LOL. I never bother drying em off either after playing with em in the bath tub. A kid's imagination is boundless when u give him a toy and let him cut loose..I was one such kid with a little too much imagination for his own good LOL.
The first time the Dinobots made their debut in the G1 Tv series " S.O.S Dinobots", i was like frickin going nuts. There i was, glued to the Tv set watcing my favorite Cartoon series and they are introducing Dinosaurs into the whole Transforming mix!!! Grimlock, Slag and Sludge were the first 3 Dinos introduced in the show. Swoop and Snarl was later introduced in "War of the Dinobots". The Dinobots personalities are further explored in 2 more Dinobots based stories in "Dinobot island" and "Desertion of the Dinobots".
Best of Dinobots from Transformers the movie
A testament to their popularity is the fact that they survived the chopping block when the Transformers Animated Movie of 1986 literally almost kill off every Autobots that we've come to know and love in the first 2 seasons of the Transformers Tv series.
Unfortunately for the Dino's, they are not often featured in the post Transofmers animated movie (1986)... with the exception of Grimlock making regular appearances. But not as the arrogant and powerful leader of the Dinobots.. but rather as a comic relief for the whole of season 3 of the Tv series. In fact he was even made a genius in the episode - "Grimlock's New Brain" where he was responsible for the creation of the "Technobots' and finally returned to his dim witted state when he transfers his super intelligence to "Computron"
Grimlock even go so far as to save the universe when he helped destroy "Tornadron" a being made of pure energy.. supposely created as the successor of Unicron by an ancient being known as "Primacron" in the season 3 episode - "Call Of The Primitives" this is my favorite episode in the entire season 3 series.
The Dino's toys have since seen many reincarnations in the post G1 series... beginning with G2 repaints, then in Beast Wars as a character simply known as "Dinobot" in both organic and transmetal II form. Beast machines also came out with a sub-line of toys called "Dinobots". Transformers - Energon also released a show inspired version of the Dinobots, but only Grimlock and Swoop was released and they have the ability to merge into 1 bot. The Transformers Universe line also did it's endless repaints n renditions on some of the earlier Dino toys and finally.. Transformers Classics released a "Grimlock" toy that's a tribute to it's G1 counterpart albeit an updated look. But the other dinos were reduced into measly "Minicons"... However, the future of the Dinobots seems bright as the upcoming 2008 Transformers animated series aptly entitled "Transformers Animated" are bringing back the Dinobots in all their G1 glory. So far test shots of both Grimlock and Slag have been shown and they look awesome. Hope to see the other 3 dinos being made as well. if this is so, this will be the first time the Dinobots are being brought back to the TF universe as they are in an updated look!!! can't wait for that to happen LOL
OK folks.. That's all for now... until my next blog entry of my TF toy collection... Till All Are One!!!
Ok guys, lets get the ball starting with me sharing my thoughts on my TF collections... and who better to start with but my favorite Transformer character of all time... "STARSCREAM"!!!
I have always been a big Screamer fan since it's G1 appearance.and none have captured his sneaky characteristics better then the late original voice actor of G1 Screamer - "Mr Chris Latta". His screachy voice is quite hellish to imitate as u would prolly sound hoarsed if u were to continue trying to imitate his voice.
Anyhow, Starscream's character and designs have always been a favorite of mine and that love for all things Screamer became even more fanatical when "Dreamwave" released the "War Within" series which dealt with the stories of Transformers before they crash landed on earth. the designs were awesome... Especially the seekers designs. They were reminiscence of the G1 cartoon cybertronian pyramid shaped seekers as seen on eps 1 of the Transformers cartoon series. The designs for the look of the pre- earth Transformers designs falls on the shoulders of a talented young comic book artist named - "Don Figueroa.". This design is later produced under the 6" Titanium line. But i won't talk about that here now..:)
The reason why i love TF GF/Cybertron's Starscream as my fav figure and the 1st toy i choose in my collection to talk about is... This is actually the very first Starscream figure that's been made to look some wHat similar to that of the "War Within" Screamer/Seekers designs.
The robot mode looks very impressive and majestic, very befitting of the character that is Starscream.The Cybertronian jet mode is just as impressive. Sadly, the toy in it's robot mode suffers from the lack of articulations on it's arms. It's simply a case of "Style over Substance"...i guess the later lost out. But no biggie to me.. i can live with a minor sacrifice on such an awesome looking toy design.
Honestly, i much prefer this deluxe sized Screamer rather than the super sized "Supreme (King) Starscream"... I find that figure too cumbersome.. but a sweet mold nonetheless....and paying homage to his 1986' animated Transformers - The Movie, "Starscream's Coronation" look is a real treat to many TF fans out there... especially those who grew up and loving all things TF from the 80's
The Starscream toy depicted here is the "Takara" version... I never got the "Hasbro" version as Hasbro's release of the toy was actually released much later, and i simply couldn't wait that long for em to release the figure. The "Starscream and Vector Prime" 2 pack was never made available here in Malaysia as well. It is often very unpredictable over here for us TF fans and collectors. We are never sure if we will get certain so called "Store Exclusive" figures from Hasbro.. But that is never the case with Takara's TF's. There is a 100% certainty of obtaining them here, especially the E-Hobby figs.. But ofcourse when the local Hasbro destributors do bring in some unexpected figures... it is snapped up really really fast.
One such figure to look out for is the re-painted MP-03 TakaraTomy's Starscream to it's original anime accurate colors by Hasbro. Since this too is a "Store Exclusive" toy, we are not sure if we are getting it here locally.
Ok then, that's it for now... i am almost certain that i will be talking a heck lot more about Starscream since aside from the multitude of toy versions of Prime and Megs that i collect... Screamer also belonged to my category of must have figure to have...and i mean every single version i could get my hands on :)
So until the day i post another toy pic of Screamer and talk about how engrossed i am with it...
OK, let' get the ball rolling on talks about my Transformers toy collections. Now, from the very beginning when this blog was set up... I've made up my mind that i would not be making a very formal "Review" of my toys... I wanted to talk about them casually and perhaps some in depth personal views n memories that may be connected to them.
Transformers - Devastator's debut!
I would like to start things off by talking about the most loved G1 Decepticon Combiner/Gestalt of all time, "The Constructicons" - "DEVASTATOR" -!!!
The Constructicons like most of the G1 Season 1 and 2 Transformers are from a pre-Transofrmers line of Japanese toys by Takara known as "Diaclone". When hasbro bought the rights for these toys and re-introduces them to the world as "Transformers"... Hasbro have unknowingly started a rich history and fan base spanning over 20 years and enriching new generations of fans and collectors of Transformers!!!
The Constructicons are made up of six Decepticons, They are - Scrapper, Scavenger, Longhaul, Mixmaster, Hook and Bonecrusher. Each transforms into construction vehicles and trucks. They first made their debut in the G1 animated series "Heavy Metal War". The history behind the extistence of the Constructicons are somewhat screwed up in the animated series.
- First of all, They were introduced in Season one as being created on earth by the Decepticons in a secret temporary base.
- Then they were introduced in the Season Two episode, "The Secret of Omega Supreme" as friends of Omega Supreme who got reprogrammed by Megatron into Decepticons with the use of a reprogramming device called the "Robo Smasher" and was given a the ability to merge into "Devastator". Omega Supreme is hell bent on exacting revenge on the betrayal of the Consructicons for destroying "Crystal City", supposedly the most beautiful city in Cybertron, which was originally under the care of Omega Supreme.
- Finally, they were later revealed to be the maker/creator of "Megatron" before the great war with the Autobots. it was never really explained except for the scene where the Constructicons were putting together a robot in some laboratory and the end product was the birth of "Megatron". This would have contradict with the history of their first appearance in season one.
Such were the abundance loopholes and mistakes that the G1 series were riddled with throughout the existence of the show.. I guess back then, quality control wasn't that tight on cartoons... They probably think that it's no "BIG DEAL", since it's just a cartoon.
When the US Transformers series ended after Season 3 n 4... Hasbro tried to revive the toy line by introducing "Transformers - Generation 2". It is generally just a rerun of the G1 series with a touch of tech to it and CGI opening credits. With it, toys are being released under the G2 banner and the Constructicons are being repainted yellow in color in this G2 version.
Well, that's enough with the History lesson... you guys can probably read more in detail about the Constructicons in the net. In fact.. here, u can go read all about them here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructicons
Dreamwave Constructicon / Devastator
Now, Let me share with u guys my memories related to "The Constructicons". Like i said before in my earlier posts, I was brought up in a below average income family and most of my TF toys are either bought by myself or charity projects of my much richer and luckier friends. Devastator was perhaps the very first combiner TF i "ALMOST HAD"... noticed that i said "Almost HAD" and not "HAD". Reason behind it was, thoough it would have been the only combiner i could afford on my own as they are completely comprised of 6 small Transformer toy unlike the other combiners that come with a 5th bigger deluxe sized toy. Since the other combiners only have 5 figures in a set.
Though they were much easier to afford... i still had to save up like hell for em and have to get em one at a time. U see... i was one of those kids who love their toy so much that i had to bring my toys to school with me. I mean, I've already had 5 out of 6 constructicons and i had finally saved enough to get the 6th figure that would allow me to build "Devastator" Ofcourse i was excited.. i mean, WOULDN'T YOU???
I remembered that day well, I had packed in all 5 of my Constructicons into my school bag and couldn't wait for school to end. When it did finally end, i left my school bag outside of my classroom and rushed off to the sundry shop just across the street from my school. I went and got my 6th Constructicon and was happily making my way back to school and to my school bag. But i was about to have a very BIG and BAD surprise!!! When i got back to school and went and open my schoolbag to put in my newly acquired toy. I realized that all the other 5 Constructiocns were GONE!!! Someone had stolen my other 5 Constructicons!!! I was very upset to say the least and completely gave up any hope of ever having a complete Devastator.
yet somehow, I remember finally owning one towards the end of the 80's. I'm not quite sure how. memories of it are somewhat fuzzy. I remember distinctly that i did had a "Devastator" becoz i gave away a huge plastic bag full of Transformers toy in 1990. The show had ended by then and so had the comic book. I was moving on with cooler and more grown up stuff. I got hooked on Comic book collecting and went from Transformers to X-men Mutants!!!
G1 Constructicon Team
Constructicon Techspec & Instruction Sheet
Anyhoo... Fast forward to 2001, i got addicted again with Transformers and this time, i was hell bent on getting all the G1 Vintage i never had or had given up a decade ago. Devastator was obviously my prime target.
I guess in a way, the universe is making up for all the crap i was handed out as a kid and decided to make good in paying it back to me generously. Because by the later half of 2001, i manage to get my hands on a bunch of G1 TF which also includes a complete devastator for a really low and affordable price. I got em from someone i bumped into at a toy store who didn't know that there are people out there who are interested in his old toys!!!
But by 2002... i was once again forced to give up my beloved Vintage Transformers due to a dire need to pay my college tuition fees. Once again, i bid adieu to my TF's which includes "Blaster" n "Soundwave" along with almost all of their "Cassettebots".
But then again, fate smiles my way and i manage to get my hands on an even newer vintage Devastator for an even cheaper price than the one i had sold off to pay my tuition fees. Then another Devastator from another collector who's giving up vintage Transformers. All in all, i would have almost had 5 Devastators with me if my first wasn't stolen and the 2nd being somewhat fuzzy in my memory!!!
By 2002-2003, "Dreamwave Production" has turned the world of TF fans into a pack of marauding wolves, gorging up every single available copies of "Transformers" comics in the market. There was a time when "Transformers" comic books are not obtainable locally at all, due to some distribution issues. I actually have to obtain mine from Singapore!!! They were scalped to hell locally... Heck, i still got tons of extra copies of em LOL.
It was also around this time that the Vintage TF toys are making a comeback, being first reissued by Takara as the "Book Cover" series and later joined by Hasbro releasing the "Commemorative" series. But the vintage Constructicons were never released till this day. Though the market is flooded with an exact size Bootleg version of the Constructicons, available as a gift set.
War Within Constructicons - Designed by Don Figueroa
Don Figueroa, the talented comic book artist of the - "Transformers War Within" series designed a new look for the Constructicons Cybertronian modes for the comic book series and i must say, they do look WICKED!!!
Now if only they would make a Transformers - War Within toy series and finally make a "Devastator" set that would do us proud and sends us clawing and biting our way just to get one to satisfy all of our hunger for the most loved Decepticon Transformers Combiner of all - "DEVASTATOR"!!!
I have always love the "TRANSFORMERS' when i first saw them as a kid... and i'm still loving em after 20++ years and i suspect that i will keep on loving em for the next 20 yrs to come and perhaps even 20 more..if i live that long :)
