Toys

I have returned to collecting vintage G1 Transformers after many forays into modern Transformers lines. This return coincided with a request from IDW Transformers More Than Meets The Eye writer James Roberts to photograph the Scavengers toys (G1 Misfire, Krok, Crankcase and Spinister) for one panel of issue #45. Having to acquire these toys forced me to see just how much I loved buying and owning G1 toys. A solid 1987 Headmasters and Targetmasters collection has sprouted from that realisation, all packaged with good stickers maintained well by the original childhood owner. Whatever the childhood owner whose toys I bought didn't have, I found elsewhere, but I insisted on m…

Decades, years, months, weeks, days, hours and minutes have been counted in my eternal wait for this character. It took 14 years for the 1989 Japanese exclusive Takara Transformers Victory sixchanger C-325 Greatshot to find its way into my collection in 2015, after a protracted period of longing. When 3rd party company Mastermind Creations revealed then released their Reformatted R-01 Terminus Hexatron interpretation of Decepticon Sixshot, the belief was that a Greatshot repaint was in the works. Despite teaser images, the Greatshot repaint had to wait its turn as MMC worked their way through Terminus Hexatron, Super Nova edition, Dark Emissary and Continuum releases bef…

When you collect Transformers, the beauty of it is that you decide how deep or varied your collection and interests can be. While this can sometimes depend on your circumstances, most of the time it’s probably down to collector preference and taste. Whether it’s devotion to a particular character, series, aesthetic or type of Transformer, there seems to be no limit to how much a collector can diversify. You can buy the supposed high-end prestige version in the Masterpiece line, the vintage version from your childhood or the modern updated mainline representation. Possibly even an unofficial tribute. One can even go beyond the toys and enter the world of merchandise and pa…

I have only recently had the pleasure of making Duron Land’s acquaintance, but in that short time he has proved himself to be a knowledgeable and well-connected collector, as well as another example of the good people we have in the community. Not only does he host the very popular TFYLP podcast, but he’s also an expert photographer and has become a regular supporter of the TFSource blog and related articles. I’ve had the honour of appearing on the TFYLP podcast, so it was only fitting that Duron lend his experience, knowledge and expertly curated Transformers collection to the Source Blog. Collector Interview 41 – Duron Land | Source Blog <- CLICK TO READ …

Thanks to images from K-Hobby and Hobbylog.jp posted last week from the All Japan Model and Hobby Show 2015, we got our first look at all new prototypes for Transformers Masterpiece Shockwave and Hot Rodimus! In addition to the imminent release of Masterpiece Tracks, Road Rage and later Ironhide, Takara Tomy shocked most of the community by dropping major masterpiece news in the shape of Quakewave-challenging Shockwave and a new take on the ever popular Hot Rodimus (Hot Rod). New Masterpiece Reveals | Source Blog <- CLICK TO READ All the best Maz

1987 was an exceptional year for the Generation 1 Transformers, arguably the best depending on your persuasion. There is an awful lot of justified affection for the Diaclone and Micro Change Series era moulds that Hasbro used throughout 1984 and 1985 (even 1986), but the post animated movie futuristic designs that Hasbro and Takara created purely for The Transformers stand proudly on their own in 1987. From Headmasters to Targetmasters, Sixchangers to the enormous bases and Monsterbots to Clones, Transformers was enjoying a great period. A period that may be even more appreciated today than it was at the time. A few weeks ago we looked at the three 1987 Decepticon non-mov…

Unique Toys are at it again, one of the most productive 3rd party companies of the last 12 months – whether it was under the banner of UT or DX9 – are doing Decepticon Triplechanger Octane. Y-01 “Provider” comes hot on the heels of Chigurh, the Triplechanger Astrotrain that DX9 produced earlier this year. With Sandstorm (Sworder) teased just yesterday, this company are not wasting any time nailing down this whole subsection of Generation 1 multi-changers who are yet to be spoken for at Masterpiece scale. Whether or not you agree that Provider is indeed MP scale is another matter, but my gut feeling is that’s what UT were going for with this. High Octane | Source Blog…

Hi, I'm new to collecting the TAKARA versions of figures, and now that I finally have spare money to afford TAV18 Drift, and TAV21 Optimus Prime, I can't find them for anything less than a 15-30 dollar markup. SO, my question is, given that these figures have been out for two months, are those the only prices I'm going to find from here on out? Or if I wait, will some of the shops who have them listed for a more reasonable markup *probably* get more in eventually? Again, I'm new to collecting the Takara version of the toys, and I'm am gravely concerned by how hard it is proving to find these toys suddenly at the shops I actually frequent, and FURTHER co…

A number of weeks ago we discussed what would happen to our Transformers collections when we were no longer around, and some of our contributors said that their toys would go to their children. This week we asked more Transformers collectors how they felt about the prospect of their children (hypothetical or otherwise) collecting Transformers when they become adults. We asked male and female collectors, with and without children. While I expected a fair number of them to say they would be happy to share the hobby with their kids for years to come, I also thought we would have some opposing opinions. That’s not quite how it worked out. Do We Want Our Children To Coll…

Our look at the 1987 range of Generation 1 Transformers continues this week with the three basic Decepticon Headmasters Skullcruncher, Mindwipe and Weirdwolf. While the Autobot Headmasters introduced in the same year were land and air vehicles, the Decepticon counterparts were beasts. 1987 also saw the release of Decepticon Headmaster base Scorponok and Headmaster Horrorcons Apeface and Snapdragon, but we will cover those three in a future article. The plan was originally to release four basic Decepticon Headmasters to face off against the Autobots, but plans for the stingray Decepticon Headmaster were canned. Here then is our look at Skullcruncher the crocodile with Head…