Jim
Thunderjet
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Posts: 4,857
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Post by Jim on Dec 22, 2013 11:24:16 GMT
Week 33: Beast MachinesYup, Jim was right, it's the Beast Wars sequel this week! Your top 5 Beast Machines toys please. www.tfu.info/series/bm.htm for a toy list No prizes for guessing my number 1 toy from this line! 1. Night-slash Cheetor - No contest, an awesome figure in both modes and lots of fun. Love the colours too! 2. Blast-punch Primal - Beautiful and shiny + fun gimmick. 3. Jetstorm (deluxe) - looks especially good in floaty mode. 4. Geckobot - Mad, gangly looking thing but very visually appealing, especially in beast mode. 5. Night Viper - Decent animal mode, and interesting robot mode. BM was a great line which took far too much undeserved flack in some areas of fandom for too long. Some nice robot mode variation and decent gimmicks. Too many bubbling under to list comprehensively. Spy streak is great, but I think I prefer him in his RID colours, always felt Stryka was a bit let down by the toy's robot mode (great vehicle though) and looks better in Universe colours. It gets a lot of criticism, but I also really like deluxe Primal - he has a lot of character in both modes. -Jim
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Post by The Doctor on Dec 22, 2013 22:11:12 GMT
Oh I had forgotten about deluxe Jetstorm! Fabulous toy. I wasn't so keen on the Ultra version though.
-Ralph
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Post by KnightBeat on Dec 23, 2013 1:37:49 GMT
I was still in my Must-buy-every-TF-I-can-find phase at this point and picked up much of the UK BM line. However, toy size inconsistencies (try pitting Megatron against Nightscream), frustrating transformations (I recall Deluxe Optimus Primal being particularly painful), and weird colours (er... most basics) made it a disappointing toy line to collect.
I'd place the following in my top 5:
1) Night Slash Cheetor - A great figure that allows lots of cool poses and is surprisingly show accurate. The transformation is simple, but satisfying and the colour scheme gives Cheetor a tougher appearance than his TV/Supreme counterpart.
2) Deluxe Jetstorm - Prior to Beast Machines, non-earth jets looked like flying pyramids or bugs with booster rockets. Jetstorm gave us a unique Cybertronian design, unemcumbered by G1 nostalgia and Earth vehicle disguise.
3) Tank Drone - A tiny Tankor, you say? I'll have a million.
4) Blastcharge - The bucket head, michelin Man legs and dodgy proportions of his robot mode would be a complete disaster in any other line, yet he perfectly represents the blocky, machine-driven ethos of the BM Vehicons. His vehicle mode is also pure destruction on wheels.
5) Mirage - Mirage was amazing in a time when posable vehicular transformers were still a novelty. He's not quite as impressive now, but the neat vehicle mode and flexible robot mode continue to be fun.
Honourable mentions:
6. Longhorn - A disappointing robot mode and some questionable transparent plastic, but you have to love a Maximal with a nose ring.
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Post by Philip Ayres on Dec 26, 2013 8:23:07 GMT
Got a topical theme planned for this week :-)
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Post by Philip Ayres on Dec 27, 2013 7:37:08 GMT
Week 34: Top 5 TFs you got for Christmas
We'll take a very loose definition of "For Christmas" to include in the run up to Christmas, so we can have Silly Season finds, anything that arrived around Christmas and anything in January sales as well as actually given for Christmas.
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Post by KnightBeat on Dec 28, 2013 1:57:45 GMT
This Christmas or any Christmas?
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Post by Philip Ayres on Dec 28, 2013 7:45:19 GMT
any Christmas. Sorry should have made that clear
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Post by Shockprowl on Dec 28, 2013 8:30:16 GMT
Oh any Christmas?! Well that opens up all sorts of possibilities! Let's see.....
5 Ramjet G1. My first strike plane. Large figure, big rockets, great toy.
4 MP Thundercracker. He's in here 'cos his arrival completed my MP Strike Plane set. There's something about the three original jets together that's very nostalgic for me.
3 Astrotrain G1. Must have got him the Christmas after Ramjet, I distinctly remember getting him for Christmas. His triple changing goodness blew my young mind.
2 Megatron G1. Close between Megs and my entry at number 1. Megatron came the same Christmas as Ramjet. I had the Decepticon Leader!!!! Fantastic.
1 Ultra Magnus G1. The last Transformer my parents bought me, after this they thought I was too old! Foolish parents! I have since forgiven them. Magnus was very impressive and just nips ahead of Megatron due to his size, and transporting abilities of other Autobots.
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Post by Marc Graham on Dec 28, 2013 12:58:44 GMT
Wasn't Optimal Optimus Beast Wars and not Beast Machines?
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Post by Pinwig on Dec 28, 2013 14:39:45 GMT
Wasn't Optimal Optimus Beast Wars and not Beast Machines? He was. Great figure. Primal Prime was Beast Machines. Was that one a remould of Optimal? Gosh I'm going to have to dig some of these out again
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Post by Philip Ayres on Dec 28, 2013 15:30:34 GMT
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Post by Philip Ayres on Dec 28, 2013 16:20:15 GMT
I'm too old to have been given TFs for Christmas. However.... 5) Transmetal Cheetor, Rhinox & Tarantulas: Found out on the shelves early at TRU Brent Cross a few days before Christmas 1998. 1998 was a superb Christmas to be a TF fan as the silly season was superb. I drove a few miles toy hunting that year. More 1998 later. 4) Reissue Rodimus Prime The year we moved into the house I remember going to church on the Sunday before Christmas and having Royal Mail knock on the door when I got home to deliver this! 3) Beast Wars Grimlock 1998 was the first year BW was available in the UK. It was obviously doing well as TRU had brought in cases from the US to boost their stock on the shelves. And in those cases were such wonders as the then unreleased Fuzor Basics and the deluxe Beast Wars Grimlock, not officially released in the UK!! Zero hesitation! TRU Woking about a fortnight before Christmas but I later saw him in both TRUs Brent Cross and Croydon. The same year also saw TRU having a wall of US Star Wars figures that hadn't been sold in the UK. Fabulous days. And then early the next year Argos ended up with US deluxe Transmetals including waves that hadn't been UK released. 2) Rodimus Prime Yes a second go for Rodimus. Because back in 1986 13 year old Phil had taken his younger brothers to the cinema to see TFTM and one the way out we found a Rodimus in Zodiac Toys in Kingston which I bought for them. 1) Scorponok Christmas sales post Christmas 1988: Phil is wandering the stores with money burning a hole in his pocket. He wanders into Boots Kingston which used to have a toy department upstairs and finds Scorponok ridiculously cheap, half price or something. Loved that toy. Yes it was missing some paperwork stickers and/or instructions but it was my first Headmaster.
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Post by The Doctor on Dec 28, 2013 17:11:43 GMT
I have strong memories of getting Metroplex, Galvatron and Scourge for Christmas 1986. That was a good day. Blew my mind to get those three.
-Ralph
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Jim
Thunderjet
Micromaster Backside Monitor
Now in glorious Ultra HD 4K
Posts: 4,857
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Post by Jim on Dec 28, 2013 18:15:17 GMT
Week 34: Top 5 TFs you got for ChristmasWe'll take a very loose definition of "For Christmas" to include in the run up to Christmas, so we can have Silly Season finds, anything that arrived around Christmas and anything in January sales as well as actually given for Christmas. 1. Doubledealer - beautiful toy whose joys I have extolled previously in this thread. 2. Runamuck - my brother got Runabout, I think I got the more interesting-looking one! I remember us having lots of fun with them at 5am one Christmas morning anyway. 3. Micromaster Construction patrol - love micromasters, love construction themed Transformers, and these are good 'uns. 4. Micromaster Military patrol - pretty much joint 3rd place, a fine, diverse micromaster set. 5. PMOP - an Optimus Prime at last! Overshadowed by Doubledealer being so awesome, but still a cool toy. One of the shoulder cannons was broken on Boxing Day at the peg when my brother sat on it. Still holding that grudge. I so desperately wanted Metroplex in '86 and made this no secret to my parents but woke to bitter disappointment and some Lego Technic and Meccano. I guess they were hoping I was growing out of Transformers (and Space / Castle Lego). 27 years later... -Jim
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Post by legios on Dec 30, 2013 14:27:57 GMT
Missed a couple of weeks due to being with family and therefore mostly away from the Internets:-
Week 33: Beast Machines
Bubbling under - Night Viper - lovely aesthetic to both modes, Spy Streak - cracking humanoid mode, lovely transformation and a great aircraft mode, Primal Prime - looks more like he belongs in his line than Optimal Optimus did to me, cracking colour scheme and somehow fits the BM aesthetic as if he was always meant to be a part of it.
5. Stryka - A hefty-looking all-terrain infantry support vehicle mode - love a good chunky six-wheeler - a great colour scheme, and an interesting humanoid mode with some distinctly mechanoid design touches to it.
4 Night Slash Cheetor - The best Beast Machines Cheetor toy, and possibly the best Cheetor toy ever. Has a lovely "coiled to spring" aesthetic to it, and perfectly captures the lean design sensibility of Cheetor's show model. It also has an incredibly striking colour scheme.
3. Obsidian - Clearly intended as a helicopter, but an accident of design actually makes it the first Tilt-rotor Transformer. A lovely design with distinctly predatory, wasp-ish lines.
2. Tank Drone - Such a fun little toy, feels true to the show model and is also incredible fun to play with. One of those toys that tempts one to by handfulls so they can act as mooks against your heroes.
1. Deluxe Jetstorm - such a fantastic toy. Great looking toy in both modes, fun transformation. Missile firing feature which neither gets in the way of anything or feels tacked on afterwards... Looks at its best in the Sonic Attack Jet colour scheme, but in any colour scheme this is a standout toy.
Week 34: Transformers you got for Christmas.
5. "The Transformers" Grimlock - My first Dinobot and the only one I was lucky enough to own as a child. I went into Stirling determined to obtain him, and dragged my mother and sister all around the centre of Stirling until he was located in the new upstairs toy-section of Woolworth's. Breathtakingly wonderful as a child, I believe that Grimlock is a toy whose engineering has stood the test of time and that he is still outstanding to this day.
4. Metroplex - To this day my favourite base-former toy. Not because he is objectively as good as Fortress Maximus, but because he was, for me, the first base-former I ever owned, and he was the perfect size to interact with the Mini-bots which formed a large part of my collection back then. By virtue of transforming into a mighty battle-station, a base in which his charges could rest and recover, and a powerfully built robot armed to hold-the-line, Metroplex rose to be the leader of my Autobots all through the long "Saga of the Lost Prime". He stood alone against all of my Decepticons in the darkest hours, fought Galvatron to closer to a standstill than anyone else until the arrival of Powermaster Prime. Even his sub-components gained personalitites of their own - the cunning, stealthy Scamper, the resolute gunslinger Six-gun and the taciturn, unyeilding and stubborn Slammer (always the first to engage in battle, and often biting off far more than any single Autobot could chew)
3. Skorpornok - A mammoth scorpion/humanoid/base, mounting lots of firepower, and with a little tank partner to fight alongside him in battle... I still recall my first sight of Skorpornok standing atop his box, next to the Christmas tree, surveying the living room which he clearly saw as his new domain. He was chunky, fun and full of play-value. Absolutely marvelous toy which gave me hours of fun.
2. "The Transformers" (Yellow) Cliffjumper - the day after boxing day, at Tattenham Corner shops I was siezed with an urge to spend what remained of my Christmas Money. I already had an Evil Decepticon to terrorise the Earth, so I needed a Heroic Autobot to even the odds and take a stand in defence of the helpless human populace. The thing was I didn't have a great deal of money left, certainly not enough for a Bluestreak or a Jazz. But there was enough for a Mini-bot, and there he was on the spinner rack glowing in his yellow glory, his bio gave me the impression of a brave but rash warrior - one who would take on a Decepticon who out-massed and outgunned him without a second though. So Cliffjumper joined my collection, and he has survived through thick and thin, with his only damage to date being the loss of a single tyre back in '85.
1. "The Transformers" Skywarp - Christmas, Transformers have only really just landed in my part of the UK. The massive landing in Llantwit Major wouldn't really take place until the beginning of January. I'm standing in the Toymaster store in Sutton staring at the shelves, driving my father to distraction with indecision (all toys were the same to him - they were things that weren't trainsets. He couldn't understand why I didn't just pick something at random and be happy with that. I meanwhile was torn between Thundercracker - who was the more interesting character, and Skywarp - who had the more striking deco (Starscream was an also-ran as far as I was concerned even then). Both of them were absolutely outstanding things. F-15's - the worlds newest and most advanced full up air superiority platform, that turned into invading evil alien war machines from space! Almost unheard of at that age, and truly amazing. In the end Skywarp's colour scheme won-out and I purchased him, to my fathers great relief. I couldn't wait to get back to my Grandparents house, and all the way down Nork Way my hand was flying low-level along the front walls of peoples gardens, rehearsing the high-speed strike passes that Skywarp would be involved in once we got home. Skywarp still has his place amongst my colletction to this day - he is battered and scarred from the flying hours he has accumulated, but I wouldn't trade him for the world.
Karl
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Post by Philip Ayres on Dec 30, 2013 21:42:47 GMT
:-)
We now return you to your top 5 memories of Christmas TF toys past!
Some top stories so far chaps well done.
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Post by Philip Ayres on Dec 30, 2013 21:46:06 GMT
Missed a couple of weeks due to being with family and therefore mostly away from the Internets I make you having missed week 31: 1991 toys too.
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Post by Philip Ayres on Jan 3, 2014 5:49:17 GMT
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Post by Shockprowl on Jan 3, 2014 8:10:27 GMT
Not sure I agree with "best ever year" of Transformers! And indeed I own none and have little or no knowledge of this years releases. However, looking through the figures, there are some fun looking toys! Rotorstorm for one. Guard City, the Protectobots looking nice in those colours, especially Blades in almost Starscream colours.
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Post by The Doctor on Jan 3, 2014 11:59:40 GMT
Guard City is pump. I recall being excited out of my mind when Toy-Fu told me he had acquired one...and in the box! But in the plastic it is really cheaply produced and doesn't look that great. That was a Dark Day. Where it more widely available I doubt it would have any draw at all.
As for great 1992 toys...Thunderclash! Skyquake! Rotorstorm! Ironfist! Scorch! I have owned and loved all, long before they became popular again after being in IDW comics.
-Ralph
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Post by Philip Ayres on Jan 3, 2014 18:01:02 GMT
A quality Guard City wth a full Red Defensor would be great!
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Post by Philip Ayres on Jan 3, 2014 18:07:40 GMT
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Post by Shockprowl on Jan 4, 2014 9:25:40 GMT
Guard City is pump. I recall being excited out of my mind when Toy-Fu told me he had acquired one...and in the box! But in the plastic it is really cheaply produced and doesn't look that great. That was a Dark Day. Where it more widely available I doubt it would have any draw at all. -Ralph Oh Dear God! What a shame, 'cos it looks excellent. I can imagine your pain!
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Post by Shockprowl on Jan 4, 2014 9:27:17 GMT
A quality Guard City wth a full Red Defensor would be great! Maybe the upcoming third party defensor will have repaints! Now there's an idea!
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Post by Shockprowl on Jan 4, 2014 9:33:22 GMT
I've always thought (as I'm sure has been talked about on this mighty forum) that a repainted set, with a red Hotspot, would make a lovely G1 Autobots combing team! Optimus, Prowl, Jazz (Groove), Ratchet, and......? I'd have to, I dunno, swap Blades out for a sportscar Wheeljack lookalike. Jazz would be better as a sportscar as well. And a shame to miss out Ironhide (and no equivalent G1 Decepticon team). But still! The makings are there!
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Post by The Doctor on Jan 4, 2014 13:51:59 GMT
A quality Guard City wth a full Red Defensor would be great! Oh it would, it would. Such a shame the 92 version is so poo. I still cry about it! -Ralph
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Post by Philip Ayres on Jan 4, 2014 15:22:32 GMT
We can but hope for Encore Defensor and his eHobby counterpart.....
.... and Ian: I've been making that arguement for years now! To me it's ppbvious that Defensor is meant to be original autobots
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Post by Shockprowl on Jan 4, 2014 15:43:30 GMT
Ah yes I knew it'd been talked about at some point! I agree completely!
What of a coresponding Decepticon unit? Onslaught for Megatron? Three F-16s recoloured from the Aerialbots, and someone as Soundwave? Brawl, or even Blastoff.
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Post by Philip Ayres on Jan 4, 2014 17:24:25 GMT
Onslaught is Soundwave with the tapes as his limbs
It amazes me we've never seen a Decepticon repaint of the Aerialbots!
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Post by The Doctor on Jan 5, 2014 0:16:44 GMT
Defensor is not the original Autobots!
-Ralph
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