Post by Philip Ayres on Aug 28, 2010 21:48:58 GMT
Blaster
Blaster is another Transformer toy with pre-Transformers origins. He's a 1984 Microchange toy, MC21 Radio-Cassette robo. Microforever.com doesn't have a page for this toy. Probably the best I can do is point you at This 1984 Micochange catalogue which shows him. We'll come back to the Microman version after we've talked about the Transformers one as we need to draw attention to certain features.
Blaster is a red ghetto blaster style stereo tape player, with an opening yellow tape door and black speakers set into a grey surround. There's a handle over the top of the toy, but it's the only tape player handle I've ever seen that doesn't fold back. Earlier Blasters have a moveable on-off switch to the left (from your point of view) while later ones have this feature moulded in to the plastic. The tape door is opened by pressing the eject button. He can carry any of the Transformers Micro Cassettes, but at the time of his release in 1985 no Autobot cassettes were available: they followed in 1986. To the left of the tape door is a moulded tuning knob. The main problem with this mode is that the scale looks wrong. A real ghetto blaster would be so much bigger and I'm pretty sure Ghetto Blasters all used the compact cassette format rather than the Micro cassette size used by Soundwave and Blaster.
Transform: Slide the black bar on the handle to the right separating the handle in two. Fold the grey surrounds for the speakers out to the sides and under the toy forming the legs. Fold the handle into the legs. Shorten the legs by pushing the grey parts together. Fold the feet down. Swing the red sides of the tape deck forward 90 degrees to form the arms. Push the arms in towards the body. Pull on the ends of the arms to extend them then slide the fists out which then need turning 90 degrees towards the outside of the body so the fist holes point up. Fold the head up and turn round. Place his gun in his hand.
Blaster's robot mode is very large for an Autobot at the time. Possibly Jetfire and Omega Supreme (I don't have either) are larger of the toys made in the first two years of the Transformers toyline. I've had him standing on my shelf with Perceptor and Blaster towers over him. Blaster's just too big for the Autobots round him which is ironic considering my complaints that the tape deck was too small. The tape deck still opens in this mode which is useful if you've got some tapes to use with him. The head peers over the top of the tape door, but looks far too small for the body. He has some articulation in this mode: His head turns & leans back, the shoulders turn & fold back and the wrists turn. There's nothing at all in the legs though and this is a bit disappointing.
In many ways Blaster himself is a bit of a disappointment all round. He's nowhere near as good as the previous tape deck, Soundwave, who's got more articulation, is closer the size of his fellows, feels less plasticy and can store his weapons in tape mode. Blaster feels like an attempt to do it all again, but misses the mark set by his predecessor quite considerably. UK Toy shops didn't sell Blaster, and this coupled with his starring role in the comics built up a sense of anticipation amongst UK fans who missed out on him. I've heard similar tales from various people that when they finally got one they felt let down by the toy.
At this point we need to look at Microman Blaster and some things will start to become clear. For a start here's two versions of Microman Blaster - one is similar to the Transformers version, with a blue door, while the other swaps red for dark blue and has a light blue door. Neither comes with a transforming cassette, unlike the Microman version of Soundwave who has the Microman version of Rumble. Instead he came with a cassette shaped piece of electronics which turned the toy into an AM radio. The radio was tuned by turning the knob to the left of the tape deck, which is a separate functional piece on the Microman version. The switch located by one of the speakers turned the toy on and off. I believe batteries for the toy were kept in the large back panel: There's Blaster variants with an opening back panel like Soundwave. An included white ear piece with a mono 2.5mm jack, a common radio accessory in the days before walkman headphones and stereo in the ear headphones, would have attached to the toy, presumably via a socket behind the other speaker: On my Blaster there's a recessed filled in hole and text marking it as Output 8ohms and earphone. This earpiece would fit in the round hole in the middle of the gun with the cord wrapped round the stock and the plug plugged into the 2.5 hole in the gun's shoulder rest. Since one speaker has the on/off switch beside it, the bulk of the electronics are in the middle and the socket is behind the other speaker there has to be some wire inside the toy linking the three. Since the speakers are mounted in what becomes the legs the wire must run up one leg into the body and another wire down from the body and into the other leg. This explains why the legs are fixed with no joints. As a Microman toy with these features he might have been quite good.
Since Blaster is one of the tallest original Autobots and looks too big as a Transformer toy, so I'd be tempted to resize him. If we shrunk the chest down to the width of the tape door and enabled the arms to fold behind the tape door (as per Soundwave we could then resize the rest of the toy in relation to the chest (save the head, which I'd leave at about the same size) to be something that looks better alongside his fellow Autobots. While we're at it we could jazz the articulation up no end to make a much better figure.
Blaster was first sold as a Transformer in 1985. He was not available in the UK, as were several other prominent Transformers that year: Devastator, Omega Supreme, Perceptor, Shockwave, Swoop and all the deluxe Autobots & Decepticons. Blaster was sold in Japan in 1985 as Transformers toy #38 Broadcast.
Blaster has been widely re-issued twice, but there's also information existing on an earlier lesser known reissue. Apparently Australia had a release of Blaster in the early 1990s in his original packaging. From TF Wiki's description this sounds like one of the Chinese releases many of which made it into the UK in the early 1990s The first widely known re-issue was as part of Takara's Transformers Collection where in 2006 he was the final release numbered 21 where he was packed with Steeljaw. In 2010 he was released in Universe Commemorative Series packaging within a red lenticular presentation slipcase as an exclusive for San Diego Comic Con. This package also included Eject & Ramhorn, who were both packed with silver weapons, and Steeljaw who has gold weapons.
Blaster's had some other versions over the years but not as many as you'd imagine. He returned in 1990 as an Action Master which I raced out to buy, along with Action Master Shockwave & Devastator because I was such big fans of the characters and hadn't been able to buy the original toys. Blaster's next re-imagining isn't until 2005 when he returns as a Binaltech toy who is a recolour of the same toy line's Skids, following which he's a 2008 Universe recolour of Cybertron Soundwave. Finally in 2010 Takara issued a Device Label toy of Blaster which transforms into a functional USB Hub. Four new Transformers toys, one of whom is an action figure with a Transforming accessory, isn't a lot in the last 25 years for such a popular character.
Twincast
Twincast is a repaint and minor remould of Blaster. The red becomes blue on this release with the grey becoming lighter. The black of the hands and gun only are now moulded in red plastic. The tape door is a new piece moulded in clear red plastic with the capacity to hold two tapes within it. The clear red tape door acts like the tech spec decoder included with earlier toys and allows the special stickers on tape toys like the Steeljaw included with him, to show the weakness on the large Headmasters leaders, Fortress Maximus and Scorponok who were also available in 1987.
Twincast was an exclusive to the Japanese Headmasters line in 1987, where he was packed with Steeljaw and numbered C-116. Twincast has been reissued once, as an e-Hobby exclusive in 2006 which accompanied the release of Blaster as Transformers Collection #21. For some reason this release is in a purple Decepticon box. This release also includes Flipsides, a brand new recolour of Eject/Rewind who also has the weakness sticker previously seen on Steeljaw
Blaster is another Transformer toy with pre-Transformers origins. He's a 1984 Microchange toy, MC21 Radio-Cassette robo. Microforever.com doesn't have a page for this toy. Probably the best I can do is point you at This 1984 Micochange catalogue which shows him. We'll come back to the Microman version after we've talked about the Transformers one as we need to draw attention to certain features.
Blaster is a red ghetto blaster style stereo tape player, with an opening yellow tape door and black speakers set into a grey surround. There's a handle over the top of the toy, but it's the only tape player handle I've ever seen that doesn't fold back. Earlier Blasters have a moveable on-off switch to the left (from your point of view) while later ones have this feature moulded in to the plastic. The tape door is opened by pressing the eject button. He can carry any of the Transformers Micro Cassettes, but at the time of his release in 1985 no Autobot cassettes were available: they followed in 1986. To the left of the tape door is a moulded tuning knob. The main problem with this mode is that the scale looks wrong. A real ghetto blaster would be so much bigger and I'm pretty sure Ghetto Blasters all used the compact cassette format rather than the Micro cassette size used by Soundwave and Blaster.
Transform: Slide the black bar on the handle to the right separating the handle in two. Fold the grey surrounds for the speakers out to the sides and under the toy forming the legs. Fold the handle into the legs. Shorten the legs by pushing the grey parts together. Fold the feet down. Swing the red sides of the tape deck forward 90 degrees to form the arms. Push the arms in towards the body. Pull on the ends of the arms to extend them then slide the fists out which then need turning 90 degrees towards the outside of the body so the fist holes point up. Fold the head up and turn round. Place his gun in his hand.
Blaster's robot mode is very large for an Autobot at the time. Possibly Jetfire and Omega Supreme (I don't have either) are larger of the toys made in the first two years of the Transformers toyline. I've had him standing on my shelf with Perceptor and Blaster towers over him. Blaster's just too big for the Autobots round him which is ironic considering my complaints that the tape deck was too small. The tape deck still opens in this mode which is useful if you've got some tapes to use with him. The head peers over the top of the tape door, but looks far too small for the body. He has some articulation in this mode: His head turns & leans back, the shoulders turn & fold back and the wrists turn. There's nothing at all in the legs though and this is a bit disappointing.
In many ways Blaster himself is a bit of a disappointment all round. He's nowhere near as good as the previous tape deck, Soundwave, who's got more articulation, is closer the size of his fellows, feels less plasticy and can store his weapons in tape mode. Blaster feels like an attempt to do it all again, but misses the mark set by his predecessor quite considerably. UK Toy shops didn't sell Blaster, and this coupled with his starring role in the comics built up a sense of anticipation amongst UK fans who missed out on him. I've heard similar tales from various people that when they finally got one they felt let down by the toy.
At this point we need to look at Microman Blaster and some things will start to become clear. For a start here's two versions of Microman Blaster - one is similar to the Transformers version, with a blue door, while the other swaps red for dark blue and has a light blue door. Neither comes with a transforming cassette, unlike the Microman version of Soundwave who has the Microman version of Rumble. Instead he came with a cassette shaped piece of electronics which turned the toy into an AM radio. The radio was tuned by turning the knob to the left of the tape deck, which is a separate functional piece on the Microman version. The switch located by one of the speakers turned the toy on and off. I believe batteries for the toy were kept in the large back panel: There's Blaster variants with an opening back panel like Soundwave. An included white ear piece with a mono 2.5mm jack, a common radio accessory in the days before walkman headphones and stereo in the ear headphones, would have attached to the toy, presumably via a socket behind the other speaker: On my Blaster there's a recessed filled in hole and text marking it as Output 8ohms and earphone. This earpiece would fit in the round hole in the middle of the gun with the cord wrapped round the stock and the plug plugged into the 2.5 hole in the gun's shoulder rest. Since one speaker has the on/off switch beside it, the bulk of the electronics are in the middle and the socket is behind the other speaker there has to be some wire inside the toy linking the three. Since the speakers are mounted in what becomes the legs the wire must run up one leg into the body and another wire down from the body and into the other leg. This explains why the legs are fixed with no joints. As a Microman toy with these features he might have been quite good.
Since Blaster is one of the tallest original Autobots and looks too big as a Transformer toy, so I'd be tempted to resize him. If we shrunk the chest down to the width of the tape door and enabled the arms to fold behind the tape door (as per Soundwave we could then resize the rest of the toy in relation to the chest (save the head, which I'd leave at about the same size) to be something that looks better alongside his fellow Autobots. While we're at it we could jazz the articulation up no end to make a much better figure.
Blaster was first sold as a Transformer in 1985. He was not available in the UK, as were several other prominent Transformers that year: Devastator, Omega Supreme, Perceptor, Shockwave, Swoop and all the deluxe Autobots & Decepticons. Blaster was sold in Japan in 1985 as Transformers toy #38 Broadcast.
Blaster has been widely re-issued twice, but there's also information existing on an earlier lesser known reissue. Apparently Australia had a release of Blaster in the early 1990s in his original packaging. From TF Wiki's description this sounds like one of the Chinese releases many of which made it into the UK in the early 1990s The first widely known re-issue was as part of Takara's Transformers Collection where in 2006 he was the final release numbered 21 where he was packed with Steeljaw. In 2010 he was released in Universe Commemorative Series packaging within a red lenticular presentation slipcase as an exclusive for San Diego Comic Con. This package also included Eject & Ramhorn, who were both packed with silver weapons, and Steeljaw who has gold weapons.
Blaster's had some other versions over the years but not as many as you'd imagine. He returned in 1990 as an Action Master which I raced out to buy, along with Action Master Shockwave & Devastator because I was such big fans of the characters and hadn't been able to buy the original toys. Blaster's next re-imagining isn't until 2005 when he returns as a Binaltech toy who is a recolour of the same toy line's Skids, following which he's a 2008 Universe recolour of Cybertron Soundwave. Finally in 2010 Takara issued a Device Label toy of Blaster which transforms into a functional USB Hub. Four new Transformers toys, one of whom is an action figure with a Transforming accessory, isn't a lot in the last 25 years for such a popular character.
Twincast
Twincast is a repaint and minor remould of Blaster. The red becomes blue on this release with the grey becoming lighter. The black of the hands and gun only are now moulded in red plastic. The tape door is a new piece moulded in clear red plastic with the capacity to hold two tapes within it. The clear red tape door acts like the tech spec decoder included with earlier toys and allows the special stickers on tape toys like the Steeljaw included with him, to show the weakness on the large Headmasters leaders, Fortress Maximus and Scorponok who were also available in 1987.
Twincast was an exclusive to the Japanese Headmasters line in 1987, where he was packed with Steeljaw and numbered C-116. Twincast has been reissued once, as an e-Hobby exclusive in 2006 which accompanied the release of Blaster as Transformers Collection #21. For some reason this release is in a purple Decepticon box. This release also includes Flipsides, a brand new recolour of Eject/Rewind who also has the weakness sticker previously seen on Steeljaw
