1984's Transformers Are Forty!

[Jim]

I like the MP birds a lot, even if the engines are on the small side it's quite impressive how they're integrated (along with the head camera!). I wasn't so keen on the more cartoony Frumble mould.

If there's one thing I'm learning this year it's that what I really want is Missing Links of all these...

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Jun 10, 2024 8:47:33 GMT The Doctor said:

The original cassette moulds have never been bettered.

I agree, even though half of Laserbeak's robot mode is add-on parts, making the Strike Planes' add-on forearms a relatively minor design compromise by comparison.

Martin

[pulsar]

I thought these were great toys. The die-cast parts made them feel higher quality than the minibots, there’s lots of detailing, they look like real tapes, and what they transform into isn’t obvious from the robot modes.

The add-on parts didn’t bother me as much as with the jets because they didn’t seem as essential. Frenzy’s robot mode works just as well without the silverware. Laserbeak’s does look like it’s missing something, but I think that’s partly because we’re so used to seeing him with giant thrusters/cannons.

Having said that, I didn’t particularly want this set back in 1984. Recolored versions of the same toy seemed a waste when there were so many other TFs to collect. It made more sense to get the bird with Soundwave and the robot with Ravage.

Anyone know why they were packaged together? Just to have something at the £5 price point?

[Pinwig]

Jun 10, 2024 7:14:12 GMT Llama God said:

Anyway, had these two after finding them in a random toyshop in Havant that I never saw again, when I had some holiday money to hand.

I was about to say if only Havant had random toyshops these days, but then remembered the stand in the Meridian. Last weekend it had boxed G1 Red Alert, Sideswipe, Tracks and someone else I can't remember. Frustratingly the owner doesn't price the toys. I guess it's 'if you have to ask, you can't afford it'.

[The Doctor]

Oh I hate that. Price your stock or GTF.

-Ralph

[Shockprowl]

SPY CASSETTES!!!

I love Spy Cassettes. They were part of the mystery of Robots in Disguise.

Never had a Laserbeak until the double chested Soundwave re-release as a young adult, but my brother had Rumble and Ravage. The Frumble mold is great, fun, interesting and Frenzy is a great character.

But the bird cassette mold is one of the best if all G1. Laserbeak (and Buzzsaw) are just perfect 'minions' for Soundwave and Laserbesk in the cartoon and comic was compelling. I do enjoy the no-added-partsness of the MP, but the original is just utterly superb.

Numbers-wise, what the heck's going on with all the .5s and .25s?!?! I've never seen that before, Philip! Maybe I've seen the odd .5, but never a .25!

They are interesting numbers though. When you consider Brawn's intelligence to be only 3, Frenzy's right up there with 5! Laserbeak has the same courage as our hero Bluestreak. Laserbeak is also surprisingly strong, but then the bird-cassettes do seem bulkier than the Frumbles and ol' spindley-cat.

[that_bluestreak]

Frenzy and Laserbeak are two toys I never had until reissue era came along - indeed I never saw a Frenzy or a Rumble in the plastic until then. I had Buzzsaw with Soundwave, so I was familiar with the mold for Laserbeak at least.

Frenzy is definitely blue. I didn;t see enough of the cartoon series to consider it to possible any other way. He's got great characterisation in the comics, though I do remember something odd about him not being able to see a human go past him on guard duty because his vision was no good. I have headcanoned that to mean that he didn't consider humans to be sentient or worth noticing or something. That fits better. Got some great lines and roles in the comic, Robot Buster probably his best moment, or that time OP had to rescue Bb and laid out all the 'Cons one by one. Or maybe Distant Thunder, that really showed him to be a nasty little shit. Was fun in the IDWverse too. Yeah, I'm down for Frenzy.

Laserbeak is a wonderful toy, the condors have gotta be in the top 10 TFs of all time. Whilst Buzzsaw deserved a story arc fit for his character, Laserbeak's character fit into lots of story arcs and he got some great moments. Mostly ones in which he was messed up - blown to bits by OP in ...Last Ark, blown up by Bluestreak in Brainstorm, shoved into Slag's gob in Dinobot Hunt... stomped by Death's Head in Hunters, he's one tough bird. Oh yeah, and of course he starrred in Laserbeak's Fury, which I had multiple copies of as a kid. I think the Book N Tape thing made a cheap gift for a kid who you know likes a) books, and b) transformers! I enjoyed his IDW presentation too, though he wasn't as tough that time round!

The pair of them are lovely little toys, look great, but even better fully weaponed up, with shiny chrome and decent stickers. Sadly Frenzy often ends up with a damaged spring so his head doesn't stay up.

I think they should have done a third version of both molds, there were too few Cons in the first wave and I think the market could have borne another set of cassette spies better than another seeker.

[The Huff]

My first Transformers toy was a Spy Cassette pack (just not this one) as I was amazed that they'd made 'Robo Machines that turn into tapes' after seeing the ad in a comic.
Then to see there were also animal ones too completely blew my mind.

I always had a weird theory following the Frenzy/Rumble mix up for a while too. Granted, I just thought Rumble's colours were just muted in the cartoon (until Frenzy popped out of a hole in all his Rumble-ness). But then I thought the idea was that kids watching the show and then buying the toy 2-packs would sort of get a Rumble either way, either in name or colour, regardless of whether they wanted Ravage or Laserbeak to go with him.

[Andy Turnbull]

If there was a conscious decision to colour swap Rumble/Frenzy my theory is just for greater conistency with the rest of the Decepticons, there's not a lot of warm colours in the line up (Starscream has the most predominant, which suits as he's a bit an outlier) and Laserbeak has relatively distinct red accenting, but that's about it, the rest it's all trims and little details. The Rumble(Sunbow Frenzy) colour scheme is a more Autobot palette.

And yes my Frenzy has a damaged spring.

[The Huff]

I agree, which is why I thought Rumble's colours were just muted at first - he certainly isn't actually Frenzy's pallet as he is more purple/lilac than blue and black. It was almost as if they made this decision for the reasons Andy says above and then when it was suddenly time to introduce Frenzy, they thought he'd look too similar, panicked, so thought 'sod it, well just give him Rumbles original colours!'

[The Doctor]

The only true cassette is ENEMY.

-Ralph

[Pinwig]

Shush, you. Behave.

[The Doctor]

You know I'm right.

-Ralph

[The Huff]

A shame Ratbat wasn't packed in with a new different character (or Enemy with a proper name).
But that would prevent Frenzy winning the longest available toy from 1984 competition.

[legios]

Ah Lazerbeak, I do love his bio - full of character, establishing that he is basically a coward. Terrifying and intimidating when torturing a captive, but absolutely not up for a fair fight in any way. Appropriate for someone who has taken on for form of a Condor - several species of which tend to be carrion feeders. Also a very lovely looking toy - sure, he is an obligate parts-former but that is not unique to him. The only Decepticon cassettes that don't look out-of-proportionatly flat in their "thing" mode are Ravage and Ratbat I feel. But once he is united with his accessories he is a fantastic looking toy.

Karl

[Philip Ayres]

Jun 16, 2024 17:11:08 GMT The Huff said:

A shame Ratbat wasn't packed in with a new different character (or Enemy with a proper name).
But that would prevent Frenzy winning the longest available toy from 1984 competition.

Even redecoing Frenzy in Rumble cartoon colours

[Philip Ayres]

Now can we guess on who the spotlight will fall on tomorrow?

[Benn]

Me.

[The Doctor]

ENEMY.

-Ralph

[The Huff]

HUFFER!

[Philip Ayres]

Not yet

[Philip Ayres]

Jun 16, 2024 20:40:42 GMT The Doctor said:

ENEMY.

-Ralph

Enemy is not a 1984 Hasbro toy. A shame but there we go

[The Doctor]

INCORRECT.

Enemy is a 1984 Transformers toy!!! BAD PHIL.

tfwiki.net/wiki/Enemy_(G1)

-Ralph

[The Doctor]

And before you say "not made by Hasbro", neither was Red Foot Optimus Prime.

I have trapped you in the clever maze of total logic!

-Ralph

[Philip Ayres]

Enemy is not a 1984 Hasbro toy. The 1984 Enemy tat is made by a different company

[Philip Ayres]

1984's Transformers Are Forty: Week 12 - Prowl



Function: Autobot Military Strategist
Japan: 9
tfwiki.net/wiki/Prowl_(G1)/toys
www.tfu.info/1984/Autobot/Prowl/prowl.htm

"Logic is the ultimate weapon."

Prowl will keep at a task for as long as it takes. Strives to find reason and logic in everything. A listener, not a talker. Has most sophisticated logic center of all Autobots. Able to analyze and advise on complex combat situations almost instantaneously. Fires wire-guided missiles and high-corrosive acid pellets. The unexpected can often scramble his circuits.


Strength
7
Intelligence
9
Speed
7
Endurance
9
Rank
9
Courage
9
Firepower
4
Skill
9

[Fortmax2020]

Jun 17, 2024 6:22:33 GMT Philip Ayres said:

Enemy is not a 1984 Hasbro toy. The 1984 Enemy tat is made by a different company

Next you'll be saying Autobot isn't a character.

[The Doctor]

Jun 17, 2024 6:22:33 GMT Philip Ayres said:

Enemy is not a 1984 Hasbro toy. The 1984 Enemy tat is made by a different company

It's an official Transformers toy, under licence from Hasbro.

The name of the thread does not include the word "Hasbro".

Game. Set. AND MATCH!

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Prowl is ace.

Martin

[that_bluestreak]

PROWL! Prowl was my favourite when I was a kid. I missed him the first time round but got a mexican one during the whole Mexican Toys With Lead Paint thing. My toy got completely mangled over the years, nothing left of it now. Beautiful toy, absolute classic. Some TFs don't live up to their boxart but Prowl totally does. His art is one of the best of the whole run IMO. Fantastic characterisation in the tech specs too. Didn't get another until TF Collection, which was one of the few from collection three I didnt sell because it is so beautiful. Might go and get it and stroke it a bit. A diaclone original is definitely a Grail toy for me.

As I've said before, I didn't really watch the cartoon so I can't speak for him there except in TFTM, and I refuse to accept that he was killed. It just didn't make sense based on the injuries we've seen TFs receive before. I wondered if maybe he was actually killed when the shuttle crashed - after all no-one was piloting it, and that might be the sort of injury that a Transformer wouldn't survive. Although of course, Prowl has already survived a spacecraft crash, so it might not be such a problem.

Underused character in the comics until the classics era. I loved that he was the polar opposite of Grimlock, and that Grimlock's leadership blew his mind. Of course I never read them at the time, having stopped reading somewhere around zombie Starscream but before Pretender Starscream. Despite being almost completely ignored in US continuity, he got some fine bit-part roles in the UK - Wrath of Guardian, for example, where he is woken into a crisis caused by Grimlock (although tbf it wasn't Grimlock's fault for a change). I am not sure about the relationship between him and Prime - perhaps its a two man con... Prime is the nice guy and Prowl is the prick, but in the end Prime does what Prowl suggests (e.g. giant super warriors) even after publicly saying he won't. That said later on in Earthforce he is basically Grimlock's assistant, perhaps the aim is supposed to be the same. Got some good characterisation in Distant Thunder, arguing for lethal force again, and The Gift, chewing out Jetfire. Quietly put down by SuperStarscream, he is revived by nucleon and wakes up in a crisis again, is promptly kicked out of a shuttle, and it doesn't get better for him from there... though he is one of the last bots standing in three different Marvel comic timelines (normal, earthforce, rhythms of darkness), so if you want to back a winner he's your bot.

Enjoyed him in IDWverse too. He survived then as well, please note. Perhaps everyone was making up for the injustice of the movie.