Top 5 Transformers Toys

[kayevcee]

Hmm. Hmmmm. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

1) Ultra-class Ape Optimus Primal. Great sculpt, great articulation, great features.
2) Galvatron. Really incredible toy. Knocked off the top spot by GPS in the feet.
3) Big Convoy. Loads of great features but a bit of a bastard to transform.
4) Longrack. See above.
5) Depth Charge. Great look, cool design and brilliant integrated disk launcher.

-Nick

[Bogatan]

In no order
Fractyl
Packrat - I love these moulds so much and these are the best colours, plus they came in a G1 box which in 1997 was epic.
TM Megatron
Quickstrike
Insecticon

Man this is tough, so many of them hold up so well, but the basics were the ones I found the most fun, if not for TM Megs I probably have rounded out the list with Razorbeast, but the deluxes were good too Tarantualrs/BA and TM tarantulas, Cheetor, Waspinator, Fuzor Silverbolt all awesome.

TM and TM2 never worked for me so well.

We should do a worst 5 too, bring on the negativity, I think I can guess what a Worst 5 BW list would look like. Though I find it really hard to dislike ole fish face.

[legios]

Hmmm. Keeping it to just Western Beast Wars (sorry Stampy, Moon, you will get your turn in due course).

1) Optimus Primal (original Gorilla version) - so much play value, and so much cool stuff tucked into his compartments and stuff.
2) TM2 Megatron - he's a Red Dragon, I was born in Wales. This would be contractual obligation even if he wasn't a truly fantastic toy
3) Transmetal Rampage - Crab, tank. big chunky articulate robot with springloaded rotary gun for dakka. Sold.
4) Transmetal Megatron - Robot dinosaur with ducted lift fans and a segmented, poseable tail. Can do an approximation of a boxing-stance in humanoid mode.
5) Tigerhawk. Not a real animal mode, but great fun to play with - even if his missile launchers were worryinglu hair-trigger. He was the first TF Toy I had that actively tried to injure me - but not the one that came the closest. (see "God Fire Convoy and the Metre and a Half Fall of Doom"). But he was a great toy to play with nevertheless, and looked good on a shelf.

Karl

[Philip Ayres]

May 24, 2013 19:47:10 GMT Bogatan said:

We should do a worst 5 too, bring on the negativity, I think I can guess what a Worst 5 BW list would look like. Though I find it really hard to dislike ole fish face.

Feel free to append worst fives ! Though I don't think there's any BW I actively hate unlike, say, every movie line.

Still pondering mine. Though the winner is obvious .....

[The Doctor]

Night slash Cheetor?

-Ralph

[Philip Ayres]

May 25, 2013 8:28:34 GMT The Doctor said:

Night slash Cheetor?

-Ralph

..... Is a Beast MACHINES toy!

[Philip Ayres]

5) Deluxe Cybershark

This was the first BW deluxe that I bought in the shops. It's fabulous. UK memories of it are tainted by how many of them shelf warmed (see philstfreviews.site11.com/bw_Cybershark.html for the sorry tale)

4) Transmetal Airazor

And this was obtained through my first trade of UK stock to the US. A perfect melding of mettalic parts and the bird of prey form, a pretty decent vehicle mode too, and a superb colour balance.

3) TM II Megatron

It's all been said already. Fab toy. Why it didn't get reissues in a BM Ultra box instead of that **** Mega with the shower curtain I don't know

2) Tigerhawk

Superb again. Fab melding of the two animal forms, the best Fuzor albeit without the F word on the box.

1) Ultra Optimus Primal

The toy that restarted it all for me. Absolute classic! Action features, hidden weapons, mopre weapons than he can use at once, decent in both modes and the best Optimus head you could ask for.

[The Doctor]

Ultra Optimus Primal is my favourite BW toy. Fairly sure the Universe version of it was the only BW toy to survive my massive 'culling for space' efforts. Just big chunky fun!

-ralph

[Philip Ayres]

Week 4: Top 5 Micromaster Base Toys

Any Transformer toy which can turn into a Micromaster base.

See tmukhub.proboards.com/post/155402/thread for a complete list

[kayevcee]

Oooooh.

1) Dai Atlas. So many features. Car launchers, spinning turret, spinning drill, 90* base connectivity, rolling vehicles, rolling road and roving robot! Delighted to hear he's being reissued by Hasbro Asia (although we haven't heard anything since the initial announcement several months ago).

2) Grandus. Robot mode is limited but I love the look of it. Base mode is brilliant with a docking bay for microstrailers and the great motorised lift and radar dishes (with a bit of help from Star Convoy). I like carrier mode. Others don't. I also love all the accessories he comes with- very versatile.

3) Autobot Headquarters. I know it doesn't have any base connectors, but it's a superb truck with lots of interaction potential and two great looking jets- the back half in particular opens up into a full-on mobile command centre with seating for four in the rear. Great.

4) Countdown with Rocket Base. For sheer surface area and connectivity, it is the ultimate Micromaster playset.

5) Star Convoy. Not as good as Dai Atlas but it does have the look, the motorised features, the Hot Rod Micromaster and the ability to link Grandus to the motor providing a unique connectivity feature and bringing the latter to life. It also has twin car launchers dropping onto a rolling road. Cracking base, Gromit. Just a shame the robot has to come apart rather than transform to get everything into the right place.

-Nick

[Toph]

Countdown and Skystalker, Erector's trailer.

[legios]

1) Countdown - sprawling base mode, and the Transport Assembly mode is fantastic as well
2) Dai Atlas - Motorised features, mighty Cybertron Leader appearance in humanoid mode, fine centerpiece for a Micromaster display... Job done.
3) Grandus - the humanoid mode is a brick, the carrier mode is the same brick lying on its face... but the base mode is marvelous multi-level fun
4) Battlefield Headquarters - Truck to two shuttles which self-deploy as armed bunkers... fun stuff, I would have loved it as a kid
5) Aerial Assault - a spacecraft for the Decepticon Micromasters to fly about in to plunder the universe, which transforms into a base for them to plunder particular planets (until the Autobots arrive to kick them off-world anyway), really, what is not to love about that?

Karl

[Philip Ayres]

I don't have all the Japanese bases so I'm limiting myself to the ones I do have. Groundshaker's great but suffers from missing paneling on one side - he is the the anticendant of the DOTM ARK - and Countdown and I have never truely got on. So ....

5 Air Wave the movable runways/road make it an essential multiple in any bug Micromaster Base city

4 Sky Garry top toy anyway but the tower mode is higher than any of the other Micromaster bases I have and really adds something.

3 Sky Hyper I like Skyhopper loads but the Japanese white repaint, of which I have an Italian version of of dodgy provenance, is so much more attractive.

2 Star Convoy Optimus Prime. With MM Hotrod (oh for MM done a fe years later with G1 characters) Motorised features. Superb

1 Skystalker I can remember rummaging through a parts box at Transforce 2004(?) and putting bits of Skystalker together. Fab shuttle mode, fab mode. Love. Anyone got a spare connector for his large gun?

[The Doctor]

I've never owned a Countdown but based on playing around with other people's I think it's probably the most fun of the bases.

-Ralph

[Benn]

1. Countdown
2. Skystalker
3. Groundshaker
4. Pipeline/Gusher
5. ...actually, I think thats me done. I've no experience with the others...

Even as an 'adult' the Micromasters and their bases hold a fascination over me. Awesome little things, full of fun and playability... the way you could combine the bases into one huuuge super base... <resists the ebay urge>

[Philip Ayres]

I've said before that if they'd have played up the interconectivity of the bases a bit at the time I'd have bought the **** out of them. As it is I did a few years ago and have all the euro one (bar the combiner transports)

Publiscise that feature, make the Micromasters new versions of the older G1 characters and release some toys like the Japanese Robot/Vehicle/Bases I think things would have been very different for Transformers.

[Jim]

Catching up...

Beast Wars

1. TM2 Prowl (black) \
2. TM2 Prowl (white) -+-- Awesome cyborg owls!
3. Rhinox - I favour the Telemocha reissue.
4. TM Airazor - Something kind of retro cool and hard to describe that I love about her. The Armada repaint is also cool.
5. Stampy - All round solid figure, first BW toy I owned.

Lots bubbling under - TM Waspinator, Razorbeast, Big Convoy (shell-formerishness and bits dropping off be damned, he's still awesome), TM Cackle, TM Tigerhawk (if he had more deco in robot mode he'd be more of a contender)...

-Jim

[Jim]

Micromaster bases

1. Ironworks - my first, but also really cool.
2. Skyhopper - great base mode.
3. Groundshaker - also great but not quite as effective.
4. Greasepit

That's where I run out of ones I've actually experienced, so:

5. Countdown - always looked great to me.

Hoping to get a Countdown one day, and that the Dai Atlas reissue rumour is true.

-Jim

[Bogatan]

1. Countdown - it was the centre of my autobot bases for a long time, it just worked. The Brave recolour looks better, but also looks as though it can/will/does suffer from every GPS type syndrome Transformers experience.

2. Hot House cause I like the tank.

3. Skyhyper - I dont actually like the base very much I remember taking it back for some reason and getting Groundshaker rather than replacing it. But I do like Frontwheeler and a red repaint of Freewheeler is awesome.

4. Star Convoy - I would have loved this toy growing up.

5. Groundshaker - As it and Actionmaster Prime were the only bases with forward facing defensive barriers they got a lot of play time on the front lines.

Grandus and Diatlas should probably make the list but I've never erally spent any time playing with the Grandus remould I have and my Dia Atlas is a junker that until I bought a cheap KO had no parts that made it MM compatible and I still haven't tried it out.

[Philip Ayres]

Week 5: Top 5 Transformers Toys released in 1985

See www.tfu.info/year/85index.htm for a list

[Philip Ayres]

1) Grimlock

Big, lots of weapons, plenty of articulation, a classic alt form. The Dinobots were a large part of cementing TFs success and Grimlock was a big part of making them so succesful. When they Masterpieced him effectively all they did was upsize this mode and chuck in some extra articulation.

2) Devastator

Six construction vehicles, that all are decent functional vehicles as well as reasonable robots. And they combine to form a giant Transformer? A crime they were never legitimately sold in the UK at the time

3) Inferno

largest Autobot car, decent robot, decent arm articulastion, missile fists, fists that can hold weapons, an extending ladder and a rotating turntable. TOP toy. Always annoyed me he wasn't in the comics until much much later.

4) Perceptor

When I was younger I liked the look of Blaster better but now I've got both toys I much prefer Perceptor. There's just something about him

5) Snarl

Tempting as it was to just write down 5 Dinobot names I resisted. But I can't resist a second one. Snarl was the first one I bought, loose and weaponless off a market stall in the early 90s. Over the next few years I acquired his weapons. Lots of chrome, used really well. All three weapons can be used at once (unlike Grimlock)

[kayevcee]

Oh man. I'm gonna have to sleep on this.

It's coming up for 1 a.m. here.

-Nick

[Shockprowl]

'85! Good year!

5 Grimlock -Robotic Dinosaur!

4 Skids -sentimental reasons.

3 Blitzwing -hang on, TWO vehicle modes?! What the?!

2 Astrotrain -my personal favorite triple changer

1 Devastator -never had the original as a kid, but the concept, combing individual robots, blew ma away man!

[legios]

I've been doing some consideration and musing on this one...

5) Hoist - a Tow-Truck alt-mode which can actually two other Autobot cars, loads of accessories for his humanoid mode. I also liked his profile, which established that he had a job description other than "break stuff". That was what I liked about the Autobots, they seemed to have people to do all the sorts of necessary jobs, rather than just folk to shoot things.
4)Bombshell - Decepticons that turn into insects? A fun idea, and I really liked the look of Bombshell's humanoid mode - it had a rounded feel to it which made it feel like he was armoured for the fight and I liked the mortar mounted to throw rounds arcing over his head. Basically he just looked the part and made a big impression on me as a result.
3) Devastator - A bunch of Decepticons who combine into a single monstrously huge engine of destruction? What is not to like about that. They also fitted the bill of "things you might see around you" which I liked in my Transformers when I was growing up.
2) Jetfire - I grew up next to an RAF Base - so the idea of a variable-geometry, high-tech, super-fighter being the Autobot's air support resonated with me. I loved the design - the splitting engine exhausts, the optional boosters et al. The blooming great gun-pod like an early Phantom. It looked great in humanoid mode as well, and playing with other folks Jetfires showed me how much fun he was. (He was one of the other early definers of "wooshability"). He also had a great profile - all the stuff about Jetfire thinking that the solution to winning the war was to Science! it some more appealed to me.
1) Grimlock - I loved Dinosaurs as a a kid (I blame the Natural History Museum) so the appeal of a Tyrannosaurus that turned into a tough, no-nonsense, rough-and-tumble Autobot warrior should be obvious. He was great fun to play with as well - the opening mouth in dinosaur mode, the jointed legs, the small arsenal in humanoid form (I adored the Dinobots for having the gall to bring swords to a gun-fight. It just made me think of them as stubborn headcases wrong-footing 'cons by charging into them for an archaic style melee that no "modern" Transformer was expecting). I still believe that Grimlock still absolutely holds up as a toy today - and apparently the Tomy designers agree, witness the fact that the Masterpiece version had only a few tweaks here and there from the original Diaclone design).

Karl

[Toph]

Grimlock
Sludge
Slag
Snarl
Swoop.

There are no transformers that I cling to harder, in the whole history of transformers, than the five dinobots.
End of story.

[Benn]

Yeah, the temptation really is to just say 'Dinobots' and be done with it, but I shall not!

1. Inferno
2. Snarl
3. Jetfire
4. Powerglide
5. Blitzwing

It was a tie for 5 between Blitzwing and Perceptor, but I didn't get my mits on a Perceptor until recently, and the mouthplate kinda bothers me. So Blitzwing gets the nod!

[kayevcee]

Tough. Very tough.

1. Cosmos. All the 85 minibots are sensational, but Cosmos is the pinnacle. So much character in such a tiny form. Hasbro has tried to do him as a Titanium and as a Classics Deluxe, and both times he never got beyond resin prototype. I don't know if even the deluxe price point can do him justice now. Maybe someday a 3P company will take a crack at him. Hopefully Toyworld once they're done with the Throttlebots.
2. Snarl. My first and favourite Dinobot.
3. Perceptor. Really nicely proportioned robot and a very clever design.
4. Jetfire. Far and away the biggest robot in the TF line by this stage (Omega Supreme notwithstanding since he didn't get an official UK release) and a huge presence on the living room floor battlefield.
5. Whirl. Another big bugger, very distinct with a very groovy vehicle mode and nifty set of accessories.

Roadbuster would probably place if not for his incredibly fragile shoulders and the number of accessories he has that don't mount in one mode or other and are thus liable to get lost. I think I already had Hoist and Grapple when I read "Rock & Roll Out", and successfully managed to find Skids and Smokescreen before the Diaclone cars were bumped off the shelves by Headmasters. Tracks I managed to pick up during Classics, along with Wheeljack. I have a lot of affection for the "Rock & Roll Out" quintet- possibly because I was old enough to be able to read the stories unassisted by the time they showed up. I also managed to get all the Insecticons and all five of the Minibots (I actually had two Seasprays and Beachcombers due to generous but uncommunicative classmates at my fifth birthday) as a kid. I remember being a bit miffed that when they finally made a Blaster toy I could buy in 1990 (I had a German catalogue with a picture of the original in it courtesy of an imported Topspin from Toymaster) they didn't make Perceptor as well. Mainframe was my stand-in Perceptor for many a year.

85 really was the Autobots' year, wasn't it? The Decepticons got three more jets, three Insecticons and two triple changers (plus four Deluxe Insecticons, Shockwave and six Constructicons in the US, Japan and parts of Europe). The Autobots got five Dinobots, six new cars, five new minibots, Jetfire, Omega Supreme, Blaster, Perceptor, Roadbuster & Whirl and the Jumpstarters. Okay, once I added in the 'cons that didn't get UK releases it doesn't seem so uneven, but it's still a pretty hard skewing of already unbalanced armies. The 'cons don't even have the defense of being bigger any more.

-Nick

[Philip Ayres]

Jun 8, 2013 3:38:29 GMT kayevcee said:

The Autobots got five Dinobots, six new cars

Your ToyFu is weak ToyFu!

Grapple
Skids
Hoist
Smokescreen
Tracks
Inferno
Red Alert

[Toph]

iGear just released a Cosmos, Nick.
Gigantic scout (Not so much gigantic in height, as just a *lot* of plastic), loosely based on the Cosmos legend. Comes with a flight stand that breaks immidiately, and a fifty's style scifi raygun.

[kayevcee]

Yeah, I saw that. It's scout-sized you say?

I don't know why Phil, but I always forget about Inferno. I think it's because I got the G2 one with the crumbly tyres so I associate him more with the 90s. That and he didn't appear in the comic until... Legacy of Unicron?

-Nick