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Post by Kingoji on Jan 20, 2010 16:09:10 GMT
Kinoji - where did you get a Devastator box from ? I'm assuming you weren't in the UK at the time. I know I rejoiced when the Constructicons finally showed up in Woolworths in '89 and beg/borrowed the money for all 6 of them at once. No, I was in the UK. I couldn't tell you where it came from, though. I was four or five, and never cared where my presents came from; only that they were there. Until right now, I just assumed that it was widely available. *shrugs*
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Post by Philip Ayres on Jan 20, 2010 16:12:17 GMT
Anything but.
The Devastator boxset has never been sold in the UK as far as I know.....
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Post by Kingoji on Jan 20, 2010 16:48:31 GMT
Well, I just asked my parents if they ever had to do anything special to get it, and my mother says that MAYBE she ordered it through a club book like Empire Stores, but she doubts it.
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Post by Philip Ayres on Jan 20, 2010 16:51:54 GMT
Still got it ? Might be one of the Mexican lead infested KOs.
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Nigel
Thunderjet
Posts: 4,973
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Post by Nigel on Jan 20, 2010 17:10:13 GMT
The Mexican toys weren't KOs, they were manufactured under licence from Hasbro, who weren't able to export their toys to Mexico at the time.
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Post by Philip Ayres on Jan 20, 2010 17:18:27 GMT
But I'm right about the lead aren't I ?
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Nigel
Thunderjet
Posts: 4,973
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Post by Nigel on Jan 20, 2010 17:37:05 GMT
Yep. I remember them talking about it on That's Life. It always stuck in my mind because I found Autobot Cars in my local newsagent which then disappeared and were presumably the offending imports. TF Archive has an article worth reading: www.tfarchive.com/toys/articles/mexican_invasion.phpKingoji, check your Constructicons' eye colour.
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Post by Kingoji on Jan 20, 2010 19:52:00 GMT
Devastator's eyes are yellow.
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Post by Philip Ayres on Jan 21, 2010 14:36:25 GMT
Back to Special Teams: Why no Autobot opposition for the Seacons ?
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Nigel
Thunderjet
Posts: 4,973
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Post by Nigel on Jan 21, 2010 15:36:42 GMT
There's a design for a monster-based combiner in Generations Deluxe (page 98 if you have it). I don't what faction it is though, nor the date. The Predacons didn't have any direct competition either, unless you consider the Dinobots to be their rivals.
Hmm. Are we including Predacons within this broader-than-usual definition of Special Teams?
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Post by Kingoji on Jan 21, 2010 15:54:00 GMT
Personally, I don't. For me, the term 'Special Team' only extends to those whose limbs are interconnectable with each other. Devastator and Predaking had to have the rest of their team to work, and in a specific arrangement. Maybe 'Special Team' and 'Gestalt' need to be separate entities...
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Nigel
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Post by Nigel on Jan 21, 2010 17:16:12 GMT
Normally I only use Special Teams for those four that were specifically referred to or marketed as Special Teams, but in this discussion we've included the three others that combine in the same manner. The Predacons do combine in the same way, (ie four limbs plugged into a central torso) but on a larger scale....
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Post by Philip Ayres on Jan 21, 2010 17:18:45 GMT
Special Team is a subset of combiner - a comnination system. See also: Energon Combiners, Six Teams and the RID Build Team.
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Post by The Doctor on Jan 21, 2010 19:11:16 GMT
Unless it's one of the robot chaps that made Prime and Buster sit up and yell: "SPECIAL TEAMS!" then they're not a Special Teams bot to me and and are A.N.Other Combiner Dude.
-Ralph
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Post by Shockprowl on Jan 21, 2010 19:31:07 GMT
Special Teams were/are coolio. Great way to get kids to buy toys, as someones already mentioned. I remember a guy down the street being the first to get 4 limbs and a leader thus enabling him to form a combination robot. How amazed we all were! Scales didn't bother me back then, but they're crazy no doubtying that. My faves? TERRORCONS!!!!! No scale necissary! They're daft, weird monsters, but that's why I love 'em!
Oh, I was intruiged a while back when someone on the Hub was mentioning a rumour that the Protectobots may have been planned to have been '84 characters, Hotsopt= Optimus, Streetwise = Prowl, FirstAid = Ratchet, etc. Or did I imagine that?
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Post by grahamthomson on Jan 21, 2010 20:38:04 GMT
I saw the Terrorcons long before seeing the Predacons in toy form and always assumed the Preds were the same sizes. A lot of the US-only stuff was left to my imagination back then!
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Post by Kingoji on Jan 21, 2010 20:48:11 GMT
^My brother and I thought the same. It wasn't until I was into my twenties and picked up some books called The Cybertronian Recognision Guide, which, while being shodily made, was an incredibly useful collection of photos of every toy including reproduced tech-specs that we discovered just how big that bastard really was.
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Post by Philip Ayres on Jan 21, 2010 22:36:08 GMT
Oh, I was intruiged a while back when someone on the Hub was mentioning a rumour that the Protectobots may have been planned to have been '84 characters, Hotsopt= Optimus, Streetwise = Prowl, FirstAid = Ratchet, etc. Or did I imagine that? It was me. Paint Hotspot read like a proper fire engine and look at the head. Then extend the analogy. Obvious.
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Post by Philip Ayres on Jan 21, 2010 22:39:48 GMT
Special Teams in the UK is applied to just the original 4 UK released combiners. The Japanese Scramble City designation is used by them and the other 3 teams that use the same combination system AND the other toys that link into it: Magnus* (Overload style transporter for Silverbolt), Metroplex & Tripticon
* Is Galvatron labelled Scramble City in Japan ?
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Post by blueshift on Jan 22, 2010 7:51:39 GMT
As similar as some of them are, I think it is unlikely that the Protectobots were going to be '84 characters, since I believe the current theory is that they were all originally going to be part of Diaclone before that line was wrapped up (the fact that all four 'leaders' can connect to Metroplex at once indicates they were all going to be on the same side).
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Post by grahamthomson on Jan 22, 2010 8:05:21 GMT
Myself, I don't see any resemblance of the Protectobots to any existing Autobots. Sure, Hot Spot has a face mask, but with that logic you could assume Bludgeon's inner robot mode was supposed to be Optimus Prime.
Metroplex/Team Leaders is a bit like the Japanese Micromasters. Takara made the better choice of having most/all Micros the same size so kids could collect a bigger city.
It's a shame Hasbro neutered the spring-loaded launchers on Motormaster, Silverbolt and Onslaught. Through, to be fair, Silverbolt launching the smaller jets into the ground at high speed does seem a little pointless.
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Post by Philip Ayres on Jan 22, 2010 11:35:10 GMT
As similar as some of them are, I think it is unlikely that the Protectobots were going to be '84 characters, since I believe the current theory is that they were all originally going to be part of Diaclone before that line was wrapped up (the fact that all four 'leaders' can connect to Metroplex at once indicates they were all going to be on the same side). Diaclone had multiple Convoys - isn't the Diaclone Magnus the same character as the Diaclone Optimus but with a different trailer ?
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Post by legios on Jan 22, 2010 13:11:24 GMT
Diaclone had multiple Convoys - isn't the Diaclone Magnus the same character as the Diaclone Optimus but with a different trailer ? Sort of yes, and sort of no I would have said They are the same type of mecha towing different trailers, but they weren't specificially the same individual mecha. The Battle Convoy and Powered Convoy arguably weren't characters as such at all . The Diaclone stuff was all meant to be mass-produced, piloted, mecha, so the idea was that there were lots of Battle Convoys and Powered Convoys out there, piloted by various members of Diaclone, fighting the Waruder. (As suggested in the Powered Convoy television ad, where - as I recall there is a long convoy of Powered Convoys and the yellow Countach-mecha). At least, that is the way that I have always understood things anyway. Karl
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Post by Philip Ayres on Jan 22, 2010 13:24:46 GMT
Either way I wait for a Guard City style re-release of Hotspot to call Optimus. Whoever heard of a pale blue fire engine anyway
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Post by Bogatan on Jan 22, 2010 13:39:18 GMT
Nothing prior to Prime death in the movie shows Hasbro thinking that the original characters had to be frequently reused, but it wouldn't surprise me to find using the combiners as earlier characters had been considered and if they had been released after the movie I think thats what we might have gotten.
But I dont know if Hotspot would have been Prime, its got the head, but Motormaster has the truck.
My take would have been Prime - Motormaster Mirage - Dragstrip Sideswipe/Sunstreaker - Breakdown Jazz, Hot Rod or Bumblebee - the other two
Inferno - Hotspot Prowl - Streetwise WreckGar - Groove - or else some random like Red Alert Ratchet - First Aid Springer - Blades - maybe Jetfire
Megatron - Onslaught - Swindle Astrotrain - Blast Off Blitzwing - Brawl Soundwave - Vortex
Starscream or Evil Skyfire - Silverbolt Any 4 strike planes - the other four
the only out of place one is Swindle as the best match would be Hound but I don't think any of the autobot figures make a better con than Swindle. Also Silverbolt would make a good Autobot Jetfire but neither Hotspot or Motormaster lend themselves to an existing con that I can think of. Octane is the only truck type that come to mind.
I suppose you could have Octane - Motormaster (Prime goes to Hotspot and Inferno gets cut) Blitzwing - Brawl Astrotrain - Blast off Soundwave - Vortex (Its a shame Hasbro never used the helicopter triplechanger) Shockwave - Swindle
Megatron - Onslaught Starscream plus 3 strike planes
Andy
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Post by Philip Ayres on Jan 22, 2010 13:59:08 GMT
But I dont know if Hotspot would have been Prime, its got the head, but Motormaster has the truck. Ah but if Hotspot was coloured red, like most fire engines, he'd have the Prime head, the body colour and the chest design - look at those two chest stickers and imagine them in black as Prime's windows. Nah. Onslaught is Soundwave making the limbs Rumble & Frenzy and Laserbeak & Buzzsaw.
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Nigel
Thunderjet
Posts: 4,973
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Post by Nigel on Jan 22, 2010 16:05:00 GMT
I find that saying Hot Spot is Optimus Prime because of his head is a bit like saying Soundwave is The Fallen because Soundave has the Decepticon logo for his head.
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Jan 22, 2010 18:33:41 GMT
I agree with Graham and Nigel, I don't buy the idea that Hotspot was ever intended to be Prime. It was only with G2 that they really started releasing toys of existing characters where they so little resembled their original configuration.
Martin
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Post by grahamthomson on Jan 22, 2010 18:33:55 GMT
Do you know what just occurred to me? Using Pirranacon's (sorry, I'm using the comic's spelling) fists and any one Seacon's weapon, you could make ANY Special Team's limb a weapon.
This realisation is 22 years late, granted, but that's just how slow my mind works.
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Post by Philip Ayres on Jan 22, 2010 19:55:48 GMT
I've just got a Microman combiner with articulated G1 Combiner style fists - opening claw hand and bending wrist.
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