My Generation 1 Transformers Collection

[Khyron]

I only want ones that I had some attachment to as a kid - but I passed on sideswipe due to quality issues. Hopefully the 2nd run fixes them.

I'm still super impressed with the soundwave bird tapes. Amazing detail but not so crazy you can't transform without instructions (re: smokescreen)

[Mar]

Name: Hound
Release Year: 1984
Rarity (1-10): 4
Alternate Mode: Mitsubishi J59 Military Jeep

One of my favourites, I always liked this character and the toy is amazing. Lots of die-cast parts on this one and the alternate mode looks really cool.


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[Mar]

Name: Gears and Swerve
Release Year: 1984 and 1985
Rarity (1-10): 2
Alternate Mode: 1983 Chevrolet S-10

After making moulds for the Minibots in 1984, Hasbro decided to reissue them with slight changes in 1985 as new characters. Here we have Swerve (red) and Gears (blue) with slightly varying moulds but nearly identical. These have very fun, simple transformations.


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Name: Brawn and Outback
Release Year: 1984 and 1985
Rarity (1-10): 2
Alternate Mode: Land Rover Defender 4x4

These 2 are interesting because Outback is the only Minibot which has a weapon, though he can only wield it in truck mode, it doesn't fit onto his hand anywhere. And oddly enough, Brawn also has a hole to mount a gun on his roof but no gun came with this toy and Outback's gun doesn't fit in there.


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Name: Pipes and Huffer
Release Year: 1984 and 1985
Rarity (1-10): 2
Alternate Mode: Semi-truck cab


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Name: Tailgate and Windcharger
Release Year: 1984 and 1985
Rarity (1-10): 2
Alternate Mode: Pontiac Firebird Trans Am

As you can see my Tailgate has spent too much time in the sun, he's getting a little yellow though he looks much better after I gave him a back in hydrogen peroxide. He was really bad. Windcharger is in red and then on the end are 2 South American variants in blue and yellow. Since the cartoon was only marketed in North America, the company Estrala which held the rights to the moulds in South America didn't have any restrictions for colours when producing them. They weren't even marketed as Transformers, they were just transforming toys. Many of the South American variants have these strange colour patterns including white, orange and blue Bumblebees.


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Name: Bumblebee (red / yellow), Cliffjumper (red / yellow), Hubcap
Release Year: 1984 and 1985
Rarity (1-10): 2
Alternate Mode: Volkswagen Beetle, Porsche 924, Porsche 924

I saved the most interesting one for last. What you say? Bumblebee was never red? Well his Generation 1 toy was, it came in both red and yellow in North America with red being more rare. The same with Cliffjumper, his on screen character was red but his toy came in both red and yellow with yellow being more rare. Also on the end is what looks like Cliffjumper without a spoiler but in fact it's a completely different character named Hubcap. He also has a different face mould.

If you look on their roofs you see that the red Cliffjumper in the middle doesn't have a faction (rub) symbol, it just has a sticker. That's because many of these toys were sold over a span of a couple of years but when they first appeared in stores in 1984 they didn't have the faction symbols, they just had stickers. The symbols wren't added until 1985 which makes it easy to tell which specific year your toy is from.


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[awolxxx]

Mar, i'm getting some serious nostalgia chub reading your posts...

I even started looking for the masterpiece toys.

[Mar]

Originally posted by awolxxx
Mar, i'm getting some serious nostalgia chub reading your posts...

I even started looking for the masterpiece toys.

Don't bother looking in Calgary, I checked Kijiji trying to find a Masterpiece Soundwave (Toys 'R Us version) and they're all $200. I changed my location to Toronto and there are only $150 there for whatever reason. So I kept looking around and got one shipped from Vancouver for $165.

I only have Optimus besides that but I could really recommend Megatron from the YouTube reviews I've seen of it and I also really need to get Grimlock which is available at retail now as a reissue for $200 new. I'm going to wait though, all hints are pointing towards a Hasbro re-release and I'd rather do that.

Besides that there are a lot of unofficial releases from third party companies, FansToys is doing the other Dinobots, Slag (Scoria) is available for preorder with Swoop and Snarl in the works.

[Chantastic]

I was just in Hong Kong and picked up Masterpiece Smokescreen, Sideswipe, and the new Metroplex. I was super tempted by Soundwave but it was around $200 Canadian there too. They had a Toys R Us yellow eye variant I saw too, can't remember the price though.

I have MP Prime and Grimlock. When I was out there I saw a whole bunch of the 3rd party ones (Shockwave, Devestator). Amazing! I wish I had more cash/luggage room!

[Wakalimasu]

Originally posted by Khyron
I only want ones that I had some attachment to as a kid - but I passed on sideswipe due to quality issues. Hopefully the 2nd run fixes them.

I'm still super impressed with the soundwave bird tapes. Amazing detail but not so crazy you can't transform without instructions (re: smokescreen)

Soundwave bird tape's have really stiff tails. I cracked the tail of laser beak and had to return soundwave for a 2nd box when TRU had a bunch of them.

The 2nd one I got was really stiff to so I left it alone in tape mode.

[Mar]

Name: Soundwave
Release Year: 1984
Rarity (1-10): 3
Alternate Mode: Cassette Player

I believe this guy needs no introduction, it's Soundwave! And I finally got my Masterpiece version yesterday so I thought I'd do a side by side comparison of both of them today. It took a long time to transform everything, very tedious.

Back in 2009 when the movie was coming out, plus all the movie toys were getting released I was upset to learn that they had changed Soundwave from a cassette player to some sort of satellite, I thought that was stupid. I had just acquired my Generation 1 Soundwave (Thanks Khyron!) around the same time and had mentioned to my girlfriend's 11 year old son how the new version wasn't a cassette player and how dumb that was. He replied with, "What's a cassette player?" Therein lies the reasoning I guess.

So here are the photos:


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There are quite some interesting facts with this figure (original version) as well. In 1984 the tapes were originally released with silver chrome weapons but in 1985 there was a version released with gold weapons for some of them. You can see here I have the gold versions which are more rare.

Also they released a plastic foot and metal foot variant for Frenzy and Rumble with the metal foot versions pictured here. The metal feet are rarer.

Also I have no idea about the comics but I know the cartoon from the 1980s had Rumble in blue and Frenzy in red. However when the toys got released, they mixed them up and Rumble was red and Frenzy was blue. I'm not sure which one of them got it backwards but someone fucked it up. The Masterpiece version continues the original toy line and put Rumble in red though I added the pile drivers to Frenzy here in the photo to make it cartoon accurate.

Lastly, a lot of people I talk to remember Soundwave being originally packaged with Laserbeak which is incorrect. Soundwave originally came with Buzzsaw, the yellow / gold bird and Laserbeak was available as a separate purchase. The cartoon had Laserbeak used much more frequently than Buzzsaw which probably brought about the confusion.

Masterpiece Soundwave is now being reissued in black as a lot of the Masterpiece figures have been, and that release will come with a currently unseen Ratbat figure. The blue version I have only came with Rumble, Frenzy, Buzzsaw, Laserbeak and Ravage. I'm hoping they release Ratbat as an individual toy so I can add it to the collection without having to buy the entire Soundwave figure again.







A funny story about when I bought my original Laserbeak, I stopped at Starbucks on the way home from the guy's house and sat at a table in Starbucks checking it out to make sure it was in good shape. This kid no more than 6 years old opened his eyes real wide and walked over to my table and sputtered, "Laserbeak! Can I play with him just a little?" This kid was 6, how did he know whom Laserbeak was? It was very funny, I had to tell him it was too old and fragile to be played with.

[Mar]

Oh man oh man oh man oh man oh man oh man oh man oh man oh man oh man oh man oh man oh man oh man oh man oh man.........

Fans Toys just announced that they're doing all 5 Dinobots in Masterpiece scale........what a great way to wake up on a Monday.



Scoria is their version of Slag which they've been slowly releasing photos of and to which I linked to already in an above post:



You can see a video review of it here, it should be released in about a month.



This morning Fans Toys released images of their next release, Soar. It's their interpretation of Swoop and you can get it in the cartoon accurate blue chest or the (North American) toy accurate red chest:





They also released the rest of the lineup as everyone didn't know whether or not they'd be doing Grimlock since both Hasbro and Takara have already released multiple versions of Grimlock. I'm glad to see they're doing 5 Dinobots though I'd really like to see Paddles as well. Never any love for the Dinobot Paddles.

[mac_82]

I just picked this up at the Comic Expo. My first Masterpiece.



Will look good next to these guys, the last Transformers I have purchased. (not my photo)

[Mar]

Originally posted by mac_82
I just picked this up at the Comic Expo. My first Masterpiece.

Nice, I hope you got a good deal on it, I saw them on the shelf at the expo for $220 but you can still buy them privately for $150. I got mine about 2 months ago shipped from a guy in Vancouver for $165.

I picked up a Masterpiece Lambor (Sideswipe), a Takara Generations Metroplex and a Fans Project Function X-3 Smart Robin (Brainstorm). I'll post pictures once I get my bristol board set up again.

[mac_82]

Originally posted by Mar

Nice, I hope you got a good deal on it, I saw them on the shelf at the expo for $220 but you can still buy them privately for $150. I got mine about 2 months ago shipped from a guy in Vancouver for $165.

I picked up a Masterpiece Lambor (Sideswipe), a Takara Generations Metroplex and a Fans Project Function X-3 Smart Robin (Brainstorm). I'll post pictures once I get my bristol board set up again.

I picked it up for $160 with the 5 tapes (yellow eyes). I saw them ranging up to $220 for the Japanese model at various vendors. I lucked out on Sunday.

[JordanEG6]

Originally posted by Mar

Also you might already know this but the slim plastic clear pieces on Soundwave's arms and shoulders are specifically meant for holding Laserbeak, the bird will actually clip on there. It looks in the picture like it's just balanced there.

Oh cool, I didn't know that.

I posted in here as to not hijack the Comic Expo thread. I had a question, other than both Rumble and Frenzy, where can you attach the 'piledrivers'? When they sit in the little rack it comes with to keep it together, there are hinges in the back that looks like it goes somewhere.



And it also comes with this other silver piece (sits by itself in the plastic tray when you open the box). It looks like it attaches to one of the piledrivers, but I am unsure.


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[Mar]

Originally posted by JordanEG6


Oh cool, I didn't know that.

I posted in here as to not hijack the Comic Expo thread. I had a question, other than both Rumble and Frenzy, where can you attach the 'piledrivers'? When they sit in the little rack it comes with to keep it together, there are hinges in the back that looks like it goes somewhere.



And it also comes with this other silver piece (sits by itself in the plastic tray when you open the box). It looks like it attaches to one of the piledrivers, but I am unsure.


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The pile drivers, as you already know, clip on to Rumble and Frenzy, however you might not know that they actually do clip on. I had a hell of a time figuring it out at first because they just seemed to hang on their arms and then fall off but a YouTube video showed me how to get them to clip and stay on.

As for where the whole pile driver assembly goes, it clips onto the back of Soundwave in cassette player mode. I have to go out the door right now but I can show you a picture when I get back and I'll also show you what the silver piece is for.

[JordanEG6]

Originally posted by Mar


The pile drivers, as you already know, clip on to Rumble and Frenzy, however you might not know that they actually do clip on. I had a hell of a time figuring it out at first because they just seemed to hang on their arms and then fall off but a YouTube video showed me how to get them to clip and stay on.

As for where the whole pile driver assembly goes, it clips onto the back of Soundwave in cassette player mode. I have to go out the door right now but I can show you a picture when I get back and I'll also show you what the silver piece is for.

SWEET! Thanks!

[Mar]

Originally posted by JordanEG6


SWEET! Thanks!

Sorry, busy day.

The pile drivers clip on to Soundwave's elbows like this:



And the guns can go in the side too:



Or Soundwave can use the pile drivers on the attack:



Or they even clip onto the cassettes:


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Also Soundwave comes with a data display grid piece for his chest:


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That's for the times in the cartoon when Soundwave would display things on his chest like a video. If you cut out the different scenes from his instruction manual, they can be placed in here to complete that effect.

He also comes with an energon cube:



And Hasbro released an online cube cutout you can print and place inside the clear box to make it look like an energon cube:

http://tf.takaratomy.co.jp/toy/event.../box_sheet.pdf

He comes with a little Megatron gun:



Which can be disassembled like so:


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And lastly, the little plastic piece you asked about is a sensor he used in a specific episode. If you leave his fist tucked away, it'll snap onto his arm like so:

[lint]

you can also fit 3 cassettes into soundwaves chest, though they can get stuck trying to get them out

[JordanEG6]

Originally posted by Mar

Sorry, busy day.

*CLIP*[/IMG]

Wow, that's awesome. Thanks for the info, Mar! Gonna try all this later.

[Wakalimasu]

My masterpieces



I also have Acidstorm, Rodimus and 2 Soundwaves still in box.

[Mar]

Originally posted by Wakalimasu
My masterpieces



I also have Acidstorm, Rodimus and 2 Soundwaves still in box.

Is Soundwave drunk? I really want those WST Dinobots, all I have is Slag so far. I found him for $20 shipped a month ago, haven't been able to find any others under $35.