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Post by The Doctor on Apr 4, 2018 18:09:29 GMT
No it doesn't.
-Ralph
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Post by Shockprowl on Apr 4, 2018 18:52:56 GMT
Here we go again...
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Post by Llama God on Apr 4, 2018 21:21:19 GMT
No we don't.
Well. Maybe.
Anyway, I've definitely dragged my heels with this one. But that's only because this is too difficult. The first thing is... wow, what a difference a background makes. That red background does NO favours for the toys. Figures that looked great in the UK catalogue look less so now.
But much to everyone's surprise and/or dismay, I'm going to have to vote for Trailbreaker. Partly because in that photo he's one of the few that stands out. And partly because of the impression he made in Man of Iron. By mostly being on fire. But you know...
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Apr 5, 2018 5:04:24 GMT
If a vehicle really turned into an alien robot, I could imagine it looking like Trailbreaker, especially if you use his twin blasters in place of his humanoid hands. Wheeljack, Ironhide and Ratchet can also make this claim. Most of the others are too human to believe they are not of Earth origin.
Martin
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Post by The Doctor on Apr 5, 2018 7:05:56 GMT
Ah! But Trailbreaker's body was built on Earth!
-Ralph
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Apr 5, 2018 17:37:38 GMT
Am I right in thinking Trailbreaker is the only toy character appearing in 'Man of Iron' who wasn't in the initial UK toy line-up? Megatron was notable for his absence. Maybe Trailbreaker was drawn as a vague silhouette (on fire) because the artist didn't have the toy to copy off. The other characters were drawn so precisely. Just speculating, mind!
Martin
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Post by Shockprowl on Apr 5, 2018 22:09:42 GMT
Woaw. Yeah. Damn got speculation there, Martin...
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Post by Philip Ayres on Apr 5, 2018 22:23:54 GMT
Poll closes first thing tomorrow morning!
VOTE NOW!
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Post by Bogatan on Apr 6, 2018 5:42:23 GMT
Im stuck on mobile and the pooll doesnt show. I would have voted for prowl.
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Post by Philip Ayres on Apr 6, 2018 6:34:31 GMT
Im stuck on mobile and the pooll doesnt show. Ooo, that's a new complaint. We'll look into that. |
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Post by Philip Ayres on Apr 6, 2018 6:45:01 GMT
Trailbreaker wins!  Prowl would have been joint second with Andy K's vote. I would have voted for prowl. |
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Post by Shockprowl on Apr 6, 2018 6:51:10 GMT
DAMN IT, USER 3!!!!
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Apr 6, 2018 6:53:54 GMT
Prowl would have been joint second with Andy K's vote. Prowl _was_ joint second. Prowl wouldn't have left it so late to vote! Martin |
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Post by Philip Ayres on Apr 6, 2018 6:58:12 GMT
Week 7: What is the best Mini Vehicle introduced on the UK 1985 catalogue?New Year! New Catlogue! Everything the UK had the previous year returns, which is the only time this happens! We also get the toy we were missing in 1984 plus several new toys. Surprisingly Jetfire, Who we previously confirmed was out here in 1985 is missing..... as are a number of other toys which we'll come onto in a few weeks time!   But this week is about the 5 new mini vehicles: 
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Apr 6, 2018 7:01:22 GMT
I never noticed Cosmos had a yellow head on the catalogue before.
Got to be Seaspray this week.
Martin
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Post by Pinwig on Apr 6, 2018 7:26:16 GMT
Warpath is the only one of these I had as a kid, and I still remember opening him. Vivid memories of imagining him to be much more than he really is. Thing is, now we come to it, I'm not sure he's the best figure of that bunch.
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Post by Philip Ayres on Apr 6, 2018 7:29:13 GMT
I never noticed Cosmos had a yellow head on the catalogue before. Just the standard one unpainted isn't it? |
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Jim
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Post by Jim on Apr 6, 2018 8:16:23 GMT
Another close one but I'm going for Seaspray. I had Seaspray as a kid (and for all of a day, traded him for Beachcomber with a schoolfriend before asking to trade back), my brother had Cosmos and Powerglide, and my best friend had Warpath so it's a rare occasion that I have childhood experience with the lot of them.
Powerglide is a close second for me (those arms are amazing), but Seaspray edges it for an interesting transformation. I was going to say how distinctive he is too, but in context most of those mini-Autobots are distinctive.
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Post by Kingoji on Apr 6, 2018 8:31:25 GMT
Seaspray's transformation is the same as Warpath and Cosmos', though? 'Course, my own vote went to Warpath and a lot of that was down to the joyful transformation... For me though, Warpath has the additional play feature of the rotating barrel, and he was one of the earliest examples of a good guy being designed for the offensive, and that made him stand out for me.
This second batch of minibots all feel way more fiddle-friendly than the first though.
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Jim
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Post by Jim on Apr 6, 2018 8:36:53 GMT
ah, true, it is pretty much the same scheme thinking about it. It feels different to me, but maybe that's just because I have more experience of it than any real difference.
I agree on the fiddle-friendliness, and think this has carried over into their recent CW/TR/POTP incarnations (well, apart from Warpath); also is it just me or do they seem less fragile than the first lot? All the vintage examples I have from the first wave are broken in some way, but none of the second (apart from Cosmos' head being a bit loose and liable to slid back down).
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tomwe
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Post by tomwe on Apr 6, 2018 8:45:44 GMT
This is a most challenging choice. I now own all of them, and remember getting Seaspray distinctly from a newsie in the east end. They're also the ones I first handed over to my 4yr old since they transform easily and are less delicate than the likes of Brawn & Huffer. That metallic finished plastic breaks so easily!
But Beachcomber's chunky rubber tyres swing it for me!
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Post by Benn on Apr 6, 2018 9:00:31 GMT
I seem to remember army-building Seasprays for a while as they were the only Minibot that our local Toymaster had in.
My vote is torn between two others though. I need to think.
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Post by The Huff on Apr 6, 2018 9:20:37 GMT
Another tough one - they are all so different with their own quirks and memorable characters (or perhaps caricatures is a better description) in the cartoon. In the end it would be between Seaspray & Cosomos but I've gone with Cosmos because he really is one of a kind! There are no other flying saucer Transformers are there?
Before the cartoon & comics, I always imagined some of these guys without proper feet and that they would travel around by other means (Powerglide, Cosmos and Seapray hovering and Warpath rolling around on his treads Dalek style like he is on his card art).
Also, without going full on Phil-mode (sorry Phil!) I still maintain that the second batch of Mini Autobots came from a different place or line than the original Micro Change 'deformed' type vehicles.
None of these can clip to your belt though. (But I'd love to be proved wrong).
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Post by Kingoji on Apr 6, 2018 9:25:37 GMT
also is it just me or do they seem less fragile than the first lot? All the vintage examples I have from the first wave are broken in some way, but none of the second (apart from Cosmos' head being a bit loose and liable to slid back down). Maybe we were just rotten-rough as kids, but we had a couple Powerglides over the years and the tailwings broke on each, s his robot could no longer stand. I think one of them lost an arm as well. We were buggers foor peeling off Minibot tyres as well. |
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Post by Philip Ayres on Apr 6, 2018 9:34:52 GMT
I have had a long standing problem with the 1985 Mini Autobots going right back to their release, which I can remember. They showed up in the local Toymaster affiliate and dept stores at the same time.
Powerglide is a plane. Up until then the Decepticon vehicles has mainly been planes, so he felt like he should have been a Decepticon. Warpath is a tank which felt a bit too aggressive for the Autobots and would have made a more appropriate Decepticon: indeed the Decepticons get their own tank this year. Those were the only two we had at the time: Powerglide's arms, while articulated, had a habit of breaking especially at the joint between body and wing.
Cosmos has always looked odd to me but I could get my head round a spaceship Autobot more than a plane Autobot.
Seaspray, while pushing the envelope in terms of his mode, feels much more Autobot than the three I've mentioned so far. But Beachcomber is a car and that's more what I was looking for so I think he gets my vote.
In retrospect this assortment probably does a lot for the long term survival of the range by pushing the play pattern beyond Autobot Cars and Decepticon Jets but it annoyed me at the time in a way the Dinobots and Jumpstarters didn't. It also annoyed me that they had no obvious small toy opposition in the UK that year as we skipped the carded Constructicons. Even now I can't get up that much enthusiasm for them as toys: I much prefer later versions of all five!
Then there's the question of "where did they come from?" EVERYTHING else in 1985 has their origin in another toyline, even if they were unreleased there (Astrotrain, certain deluxe Insecticons) Are these 5 the first original Hasbro toys or has their origin elsewhere been lost in the dim and distance past? They lack the super deformed element to indicate they were successors to the original 1984 Mini Autobots in Microchange and IIRC there's something odd about their copyright stamps too.
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Post by Philip Ayres on Apr 6, 2018 9:35:34 GMT
Nobody loves Powerglide :-(  |
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Post by blueshift on Apr 6, 2018 9:51:16 GMT
Phil these screenshots show that you are making objectively wrong votes!!
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Post by Philip Ayres on Apr 6, 2018 9:57:44 GMT
And what's wrong with me voting for Beachcomber?
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Post by The Huff on Apr 6, 2018 10:06:15 GMT
Then there's the question of "where did they come from?" EVERYTHING else in 1985 has their origin in another toyline, even if they were unreleased there (Astrotrain, certain deluxe Insecticons) Are these 5 the first original Hasbro toys or has their origin elsewhere been lost in the dim and distance past? They lack the super deformed element to indicate they were successors to the original 1984 Mini Autobots in Microchange and IIRC there's something odd about their copyright stamps too. That was my point just now. I don't think they were made for the Transformers line as apparently they didn't start that until the '86 range (and going by product numbers etc. it was apparently proved that Eject was actually the first bona fide Transformer toy)so what line were they from? Also always bugged me that there were only 5 of them - nearly all the pocket-money toys were released in 6 or three (not counting Bumblejumper or the red/yellow variants of BB & CJ). |
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Post by Philip Ayres on Apr 6, 2018 10:27:53 GMT
Yeah the 5 aspect has always annoyed me too!
Did they perhaps intend an official Bumblejumper release?
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