Transformers Toy of the Week

[The Doctor]

Just for fun, why not nominate a TF toy once a week to discuss? Perhaps one that holds a special space in your heart, or one you haven't pulled down from the shelf for a while? Perhaps you feel thee is an obscure toy you'd like to highlight? Fun features, etc.

To kick off, that perennial favourite...

From 'The Transformers'...

OPTIMUS PRIME

-Ralph

[Grand Moff Muffin]

I liked the way you could poke the Combat Deck missile launcher / arm thing through the square hole in the roof of the trailer, or even the square hole at the front.

And I liked how if you open its canopy you can have Brawn or Outback sit on it.

Martin

[Deleted]

If you took all of the stuff out of his trailer you could fill it with Cadbury's chocolate fingers.

[The Doctor]

That is the most awesome idea I have heard all day.

On a related note, the Pepsi edition of a few years has a different trailer on which a beverage of choice can be placed. I did use it for beer once.

-Ralph

[Gav]

You are truly living the dream, Ralph.

[The Doctor]

It's true. Optimus Prime is indeed the noblest Autobot of all.

-Ralph

[kayevcee]

I once tried to think how many iterations and variants of the original Optimus Prime have been released over the years. Counting grey Roller, blue Roller, purple Roller, red feet, bloated fists/gun etc back in the day I think it works out at about twenty. He's a popular chap.

-Nick

[The Doctor]

Yeah and he turned up in Encore in Japan again this year and his 25th Anniversary Edition is but a few months ago. It warms the cockles of my heart that Prime remains a continual viable toy release after 25 years.

-Ralph

[Gav]

I didn't get my Prime until the re release about 5 years ago. Walked into A1 Comics and paid the ludicrous 30 odd quid for it.

I love him, though. Even now he towers above me on the shelf, gun poised at an awkward angle.

[The Doctor]

-Ralph

[Gav]

The Japanese adverts are so cool, if only because Wheeljack is so sassy in them.

*Is now in the mood to watch old He-man commercials*

[The Doctor]

Optimus Prime and He-man in the same ad!



-Ralph

[Gav]

Freddie, what are you doing up there?

FREEDOM IS THE RIGHT OF ALL SENTIENT BEINGS, MOM!

[Nigel]

Optimus was my first ever Transformer, Christmas 1985.

[legios]

I never owned Optimus Prime as a youngster. When he was easy to get he was too expensive to be a birthday or Christmas present, and certainly far out of the reach of what I could afford with my own resources, and when he was within the affordable realm he was no longer available. So Prime was one of those halcyoned toys I knew threw pictures and experience of those owned by other people. Perhaps that may have colour my opinion, but I have a lot of love for Optimus as a toy.

He has huge play value - three components that all do different things, a superb real-world vehicle mode. It may not be one I have often seen on the road over here, but it is a great rendition of the real thing (especially given his age).

Not only that, but over the years I have come to recognise the importance of the mold historically. One of the first products of a group of promising youngsters who were challenging the previous assumptions about transforming toys - "Why do you have to take them apart to turn them from one thing into another?", "Why can't they just be designed to transform" - the Diaclone Battle Convoy that was Prime's first incarnation represents the start of the design trend that would spawn the whole of the Transformers aesthetic as well as inform Machine Robo, and direct the thinking of designers on a raft of other animated series and related toys. Prime's a great toy in his own right, and also one of the founders of a whole "new wave" of transforming mecha. He must be doing something right when a fair chunk of the attempts to "reimagine" Prime have returned to major parts of the original designs formula.

Karl

[Deleted]

I must have some of those knickers in that ad. If they allow the wearer to change into anybody from Matt Tracker to Optimus Prime who knows what you can achieve.

[The Doctor]

They are the pants of champions.

-Ralph

[The Doctor]

This week, randomly, the big green talking...

GENERATION 2 MEGATRON

Listen to the voice of doom!



-Ralph

[kayevcee]

For me, G2 Megatron represents both the best and worst applications of the fully integrated sound chip idea that Hasbro seems to adore so. If memory serves he has several distinct sounds:

Press down on wheels: "tank treads rolling" noise. Cool.
Load a missile into the cannon: "round being chambered" noise. Awesome.
Fire a missile: "cannon blast" noise. Spiffy!
Slide the cannon aside to complete the transformation: "Megatron attack!" Er...
Press down on the head: "Megatron attack!"
Pick up the toy suddenly: "Megatron attack!"
Cough in the toy's vicinity: "Megatron attack!"
Glance at it: "Megatron attack!"
Encase the f***ing thing in concrete and drop it off a bridge: "Megatron attack!"

I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with this guy.

-Nick

[Bogatan]

A cool toy, but I must admit to preferring the more play sized Combat Hero Megatron. It wasnt till RID Primes super mode that a Prime was released that didnt look silly next to the might of G2 Megatron. I know I should have been used to such leader size irregularities as the only matching set released in g1 were the original and Actionmaster Prime and Megs. Um and maybe Magnus and Galvatron even though Rodimus was clearly the leader at that point. For some reason though G2 megs seemed even more massively oversized than Skyquake to Thunderclash.

Andy

[The Doctor]

I am going to put batteries in mine for when you next come round, Nick.
When you hear the voice of doom...

-Ralph

[legios]

Aug 18, 2008 19:08:20 GMT The Doctor said:

When you hear the voice of doom...

-Ralph

....turn the page?

Karl

[legios]

G2 Megatron, an interesting toy this - in the sense that I really shouldn't like it and yet I do. It's articulation is quite woeful considering it era - in that aspect it resembles a product of the technology of the early eighties. Basically it has a couple of joints in its arms and that is your lot. Not exactly poseable.
But what makes up for it is the aesthetics of the toy. For me G2 Megatron is the first time that Megatron really felt like the toy lived up to the character's hype. It is big, chunky and seemingly powerful in a way that earlier Megatron toys didn't really manage. The alt-mode is rather good as well. It doesn't quite manage to look that much like any specific armoured vehicle (it is going for M1A1 but doesn't quite get there) but it does have a nice sense of "tankness" to it. It is a shame that the turret doesn't traverse - that would have lifted it out of the ranks of "decent enough" to "quite good". It was an interesting new direction in terms of aesthetics for Megatron and is a toy I have a bit of a soft spot for.

(Ironically, I have never owned a G2 megs with a working sound feature, so the much revered "voice of doom" doesn't really factor into my opinion of the toy that much).

Karl

[The Doctor]

I removed the batteries from mine as it kept going off. I have the urge to make him talk again though...

Very much looking forward to the mini G2 Megs that is coming out in Universe. It looks very neat and will be (I think) all of £3?

I shall buy two and they shall sit on opposite shoulders of Big Megs.

-Ralph

[dyrl]

I will blaspheme and say that for me - the G2 Megatron mold will forever be...Megastorm of Bw II.

I love Megastorm and his cooky antics.

As for G2 Megatron... well... I always figured it was a dang SHAME having that big a toy be such a complete brick.

I mean - yeah, I guess he had articulation at the knee - but would it really have been too hard to articulate the waste at least? And the head?

I mean... Galvatron had lots of good articulation.... Shockwave had better articulation...

I know, I know... it's a general complaint but...

I tend to complain more about BIG unarticulated G1 era toys than little ones.

Although...I guess... as I really loved the G2 comics, G2 Megs is a lovely being.

Pete

[The Doctor]

This week, a childhood favourite in Burns Towers, the original...

GALVATRON!

and let's compare him to...

ULTRA MAGNUS!





-Ralph

[grahamthomson]

Call Trading Standards, that Japanese advert has an Ultra Magnus with light up eyes!!

And the UK advert brings back memories! Wow - £21.99 for Magnus and £23.99 for Galvatron - they were really expensive toys for 1986!

[dyrl]

They were also the best! I LOVE Ultra Magnus and Galvatron. The Galvatron toy is fantastic for being so big and poseable and simple and fairly well detailed for its' time.

Magnus on the other hand gets kudos for ingenuity.

To this day, my G1 Magnus and Galvatron rank amongst my favorite G1 toys.

really great stuff.

Pete

[legios]

Galvatron and Ultra Magnus eh? I have to say that the Galvatron toy is fairly good in a lot of areas. It has some very good articulation - shoulder, a workable attempt and an elbow, and a very good knee joint. The sculpt also has some very good proportions. I don't just refer to the humanoid mode, where he feels visually very well proportioned (allowing for the fact that his lower arms seem some what underdeveloped - he needs to broaden his exercise regime). His other two modes feel like they are well proportioned too - the cannon mode feels like a powerful self-propelled artillery piece and the handgun mode has a good heft to it for a childs hands. I remember feeling, back in the day when I owned a Galvatron, that he felt like he lived up to the comics billing of him as a powerhouse.

Ultra Magnus on the other hand, rather shows his late-era Diaclone roots in many ways. He is a little challenged on the articulation front to say the least, mostly comprising a solid block with a bit of arm articulation. The recolour he got from the Diaclone version also seems not to be entirely in his favour to be honest, his "Transformers" colours feel a little uninspiring on the toy to me. That said I quite like the general idea behind the design of the toy - one that marks him as the primitive ancestor of a lot of Brave toys, which adds to the historical significance of the toy. Sadly the primitive execution of the idea leaves Magnus with somewhat limited play-value in humanoid mode. He is a lot of fun in vehicle mode, there is something rather appealing about him being able to act as a Machine Carrier (well "Personnel Carrier" doesn't feel right in context) for other Autobots.

Objectively I would have to say that Galvatron is the better toy - he has more play value (three modes, more articulation, light and sounds) than Magnus by a long way.

(For some reason though it is Magnus that I have ended up obtaining in my current collection rather than Galvatron. Figure that one out.)

Karl

[dyrl]

I sort of agree with your assesment of Magnus Karl - at least on the face of it, but...

Notice that Magnus' articulation is really no worse off than any of the other Diaclone inspired Autobots; Prowl, Jazz etc - all of them are bricks with semi-articulate arms.

The reason why Magnus makes this deficiency stick out is because of his sheer size. I have always felt that the G1 TF articulation is was actually not very problematic on the smaller toys. But with the bigger ones (G2 Megatron has the same problem) - it suddenly becomes more glaring and annoying.

This is probably because the larger size makes it less excusable to have shoddy articulation.

Pete