My Collection Rooms

Figured I would do a couple posts of what my collection looks like. My main collection is G1 and MP, both of which are in my G1 room. My small G2 collection is in there too. The other room contains my Alternators, Animated, Classics, and random collections.

Starting with the G1 room. The left side when entering the room is all Autobots, the right, Decepticons, the only part that goes against this is the Micromasters. I'll go in a circle around the room.

Flanking the doors I have two billy bookcases, which contains mostly 1984 and 1985 figures. The lower shelves have some of the later subgroups and my fledgling G1 Euro collection. My cassette collections each take up their own shelf in each case.

One of the lesser known subgroups. The Triggercons and Triggerbots

These six aren't the most common figures in the G1 line. The mechanisms seem to be pretty easily broken on some of them. There is a theory that Windsweeper and Dogfight were faction switched. Which would go along with the mechanisms. The other two Autobots are spring loaded, while the Decepticons have the wind up.

Dogfight is a blue Grumman X-29 fighter jet. He's an extremely aggressive and skilled air warrior. When the trigger is pushed, the wings rotate forward and the guns end up on top.

Micromaster Combiner Transports (Missile, Tanker, Cannon)

These three are some of the best Micromaster sets. The three of them are probably the most difficult to track down of the US released Micromasters. The Micromasters that each of them come with are redecos of the Constructor Squad. These are the only redecos of the combiner sets.

The first of the three is the Missile Transport. It comes with Retro and Surge.

G1 Stunticons and Menasor

G1 Menasor was always my favorite of the Scramble City combiners. I loved how they could blend in with Hot Wheels with only a little size discrepancy. (I was never much for scale)

The first one I got was Breakdown, his wheels are rusted, and one day, I might replace him.

Victory/Zone Galaxy Shuttle

Just received a replacement for this guy in the mail. My first one had yellowing but it was whitened as soon as the warm weather returned. He was truly the last Micromaster base I needed to be complete on that end. I'm not sure if he will stay where I displayed him or not, debating on at least getting a spare body to go in the Micromaster display, we'll see. I ended up selling that one on, this is a nice minty white one I picked up.

Shuttle mode is pretty accurate, just the extra thrusters on the top and the wing guns. Mine is lacking in the sticker department, but we'll see if that can be remedied later. There's a working landing gear on the front of the ship plus wheels on where his hips will be in bot mode.

Decepticon Micromaster Battlestations.

A continuation from yesterday's post. Airwave and Greasepit are the Decepticon releases. In Zone, they were released as Autobots. Greasepit I got with Ironworks, he was missing the small Z-Gasoline sign when I got him, it ended up being one of the hardest parts to track down. Airwave I got from Tfland in a lot that I finished my US set with.

Greasepit is a small minded swindler. He uses his gas station to siphon gas from unsuspecting humans. He turns into a monster truck repainted from Mudslinger from the Off Road Patrol. His battlestation is a gas station.

Autobot Micromaster Battlestations

Most that know me, know I love Micromasters. The first time I re-collected G1, I didn't even bother with them. This time, I was clearing out my friend's remaining extras, so I picked up what Micros he had, lots of incomplete patrols, and a couple bases. Hot House came from that lot. Ironworks, I got from a TFW member with the AA base, Greasepit, and Cannon Transport.

Today, we'll go with the Battlestations: Hot House, Ironworks, Greasepit, and Airwave. I love these things. As a kid, I was into Micro Machines almost as much as Transformers, that might explain partially why I like Micromasters so much.

We'll start with the easiest one of these to acquire, Hot House. His bio makes him out to be one of the guys that never shuts up, and a brawler. He's a redeco of Tailwind from the Air Strike Patrol.His battlestation is a Fire Station. For some odd reason, the Micromaster was an A-10 Warthog, When there was a perfectly acceptable fire engine, but I can see their reasoning a bit, as it's ambulance mold mate doesn't really have a set to go with.

Victory: Road Caesar

Laster and the Liokaiser parts that I got last summer were what started me off on the spiral of Japanese exclusives. For some reason Overlord didn't have that effect on me, maybe since I knew what I was getting with him, and he was a "one off" at the time. 

Laster, however, was one of a combiner. I had to have them all, didn't I? A few weeks after I got Laster, my wife and I went to an 80s convention to help a friend sell his figures, and the next table had Blacker. He was priced higher than I wanted to pay, so I ignored it. At the end of the day, we were picking up my wife and a friend's girlfriend from the mall (they needed to get out of the con by the end of it) when my friend who's table we were helping at called me telling me he had cut the price in half. A good friend of mine answered my want ad within an hour of me posting it for Braver, and the set was complete.

Some backstory of the characters: In Victory, the main Cybertron (Autobot) super warriors were the Brainmasters. Star Saber was one of them, along with Braver, Laster, and Blacker. The figures were released individually, in a giftset, and later again individually in chinese boxes. All three came with a sword, and some of the combination parts. The figures themselves were very well built, with lots of ratchet joints, diecast in the legs of the two leg bots, and rubber tires all around.

The Brainmasters left to right: Brain of Strength (Blacker), Brain of Skill (Laster), and Brain of Intelligence (Braver)

Zone: Metrotitan

Getting this guy was a huge surprise. I bumped my want list on Cybertron.ca and a member I had never seen before PM'd me that he had a bunch of Japanese pieces for sale. I checked his ebay link, and there were a lot of pieces for sale for great prices. In the end I got three from him. Metrotitan was the first. I decided on him since it was the rarest piece he had for sale, and it was guaranteed not to be the knock off version.

Metrotitan is so named because he was constructed on Saturn's moon Titan, he was trained by the Nine Demon Generals in the ways of evil. He also leads the Metrosquad. Consisting of Metrobomb, Metroshot, Metrodash, and Metrotank. He is a redeco of Metroplex. Unlike most of the base redecos, he retains all the accessories of the original. 

Metrotitan uses the non chrome legs and plastic tires version of the Metroplex. 

By Request: Metroplex and Trypticon

These two were the first "real" base-formers unless you count Omega Supreme. Metroplex was originally designed for the Jizai Gattai or Free Combination subgroup of Diaclone, which was scrapped in favor of releasing them in Transformers. The four first Scramble City combiners were also part of this. There are pics out there of what Metroplex would have looked like, but I haven't seen any pictures of the Diaclone combiner sets.

I actually sourced the Trypticon for a friend a few years back at a great price, after I had sold my G1s. The buyer had a lot of my old collection. For this and one other piece, I jokingly said that if he ever sold them, that he had to sell them back to me at the same price. In the end, I'm glad I did, since he ended up clearing out his entire collection. I think I have everything back I sold except one piece. Metroplex came in the giant lot this summer.

Both Metroplex and Trypticon can incorporate the combiner torsos as add-ons to their bases. Trypticon can add two. Metroplex can add all four, plus four of the limbs. Both are triplechangers with a rolling battle platform and a base mode.

Metroplex's robot mode is around the size of a very bulky leader class toy. He has shoulder and hip articulation. Like a lot of the 1986 figures, he came in two variants, plastic wheels or rubber. Also in his case, the chrome on the thighs was changed to a sticker on the plastic wheeled version. I was also informed that there was another screw added to the waist section on the plastic version to prevent him snapping in half (thanks Ignition Terminals)

Zone Landshaker and Sky Hyper

In case you haven't noticed, I love Micromasters. Getting offered Sky Hyper was a huge surprise. I had seen a couple pictures from the old Cobraislandtoys.com site, and a friend had shown me his when he got it. I fell in love with the colours and searched for a while before I sold my original G1 collection.

Sky Hyper and Landshaker are redecos of Sky Hopper and Groundshaker respectively, with new Micromaster partners (redecos of the Race Car Patrol instead of the Air Strike Patrol like their US counterparts)

We'll start with Landshaker, the main base is the same colour as the US release, with the only difference being the labels (which Reprolabels makes btw). The box is pretty nice with both the artwork and actual toy on it. 

Landshaker's alt mode is a heavily armed six wheeled APC. The main cannon can go up and down. and it rolls.

Something Domestic: Seekers and Coneheads.

These guys were fun to track down, the friend that sold me Overlord, had a bunch of seeker parts. He told me to grab parts for each out of the bag, and he'd charge $20. So, out of the bags, I got a complete Dirge, mostly complete Starscream and Thundercracker, and I'd say about half of a Skywarp. Starscream and Thundercracker were completed for under $20 each, and Skywarp was $45. Well worth the original investment. Ramjet and Thrust were $30 and $45 respectively. The only seeker I had as a kid was Ramjet. the rest were just the bodies, or I never had them at all. I had a very fun time collecting US G1, seeing how cheaply I could get the figures. I didn't restart collecting G1 until TFcon 2011, I did have a few of my favorites still from the first time though.

Disclaimer: Some of the parts won't match, I wasn't too particular about it when I got the parts. I may eventually swap them out, but only after I get the rest of G1 finished.

Starscream. Being one of the main G1 characters, his figure is pretty easy to find, but a little more pricey than the others. (not by much)

Zone: Battle Patrol Team, Super Car Patrol Team, and Rabbicrater

In the Zone line, most of the Micromasters were Identical to their US counterparts, other than being faction swapped to mostly Cybertrons, except the Race Track Patrol. There were two recoloured patrols, the Battle Patrol and the Super Car Patrol (Sports Car Patrol over here) and Rabbicrater, who was shipped with the VHS of Zone. Random Toy Reviews and Heroic Decepticon have both done great reviews on everything that was included with him on their blogs. Mine is loose, so I'll just be covering the figure.

*Japanese names are first

Battle Patrol

I really like both sets of them, the domestic and Japanese versions definitely are some of the nicest Micromasters in my opinion.

Cybertron Brainmaster Leader: Victory Saber

With the recent announcement of Star Saber getting an MP, and a ton of "who dat?" posts on various fan sites, figured I'd review him and Victory Leo. The Star Saber is the first release with stickers instead of chrome on the chest. The Brainmaster is also bare.

Star Saber is the Cybertron (Autobot) Supreme Commander in Victory, he's a master swordsman, and a surrogate father to Jan, the show's kid character. The toy is a bit bigger than G1 Metroplex, combined, he is the second largest G1 figure made. I picked up this piece from a seller on Cybertron.ca who was clearing out his Japanese pieces, missed a few great deals, but did manage to get three very nice pieces from him (Star Saber, Dai Atlas, and Metrotitan) Now onto the pics.

Star Saber is a Brainmaster, which means he comes with a small figure that goes in the Saber figure's chest, simply called the Brain of Courage, it's non transformable, but it does serve a purpose.

One of my favorite Victory pieces: Liokaiser

The main heavy-hitter Destron combiner in Victory is Liokaiser, who's components were called the Breastforce. the figure is very nice, with only the helmet as kibble, everything else was built in. Each figure came with a Breastmaster chestplate, which could transform into an animal, or a hand gun. and each character had the elements of their animals in their helmets and names. I got Killbison, Drillhorn, a Leozack stripped body, and Metamorphs KOs of Hellbat and Gaihawk from a friend as my second Japanese piece earlier this year. Which were later replaced with a Giftset. So, on to the individual members, starting with their leader.

Leozack, Destron second in command, pretty much Victory's Starscream persona, not quite as brazen as Starscream, but always thinking of ways to overthrow Deathsaurus. He proved to be the most difficult to complete due to the helm, did a trade with a friend for the helm, another body, and his box, later another friend gave me his Breastmaster. he has shoulder articulation and can sit down.

Generation 1 Canadian Slag and other Dinobots

Instead of splitting this up into five mini reviews, I'll post them all as one. I got extremely lucky with my Dinobots, I received an email from someone asking if I would like to buy his childhood toys. The lot had Swoop, Snarl, Sludge, Blaster, Blitzwing, Astrotrain and a couple others, all in immaculate condition, except Sludge had a broken neck and missing a few accessories, but most were there for $50. I went and picked them up that night. I had a Sludge neck piece in my parts drawer, so that was a non issue. I sold the Blaster and Blitzwing I had already, and kept his. The entire lot is still in my collection.

Grimlock I got the parts from someone for helping them identify a ton of parts, and the body was fairly cheap. The Canadian Slag I bought from a friend (complete with the launcher) for a great price. I sold the body I already had, and I think at the end of the day after all was said and done including buying the missing accessories, I paid around $125 for the set of five.

Firstly, I'll take a look at Grimlock, since he's the leader of the group. His Dino mode is fairly articulate for a G1 figure, with dino shoulders, hips, knees, jaw, up and down neck, and even toe articulation. The five of them sport a ton of gold and silver chrome, making them stand out pieces on anyone's shelves. He has a spot for a Diaclone driver in his back, I personally would love a mini Daniel or Wheelie to sit in it.

Return of Convoy "Triple Combination Battlestar Attack"

Something you don't see everyday, The Return of Convoy "Triple Combination Battlestars Attack" which is made up of Star Convoy, Sky Garry, and Grandus. I pieced this set together over the summer, Two of the pieces i got at TFcon, and the third I got a couple months ago. 

Generation 1 Omnibots

Tonight I decided to post something different, I have a few other reviews done of Japanese G1 figures, but they can wait. Tonight's focus is on the Omnibots. These three characters didn't get a lot of fiction. But they are great figures, each having a flight mode like Tracks, they were slightly smaller than the regular cars, so I guess that's why they were made to be mail-aways instead of being released in the main line. Their order forms declaring "reinforcements from Cybertron" they were on a lot of kids wishlists it seems, making them more readily available than their mail in counterpart Reflector.

Overdrive is a strategist according to the mail in flyer, and that was about all we got. He was given to me by a friend from his childhood collection, I later completed him. He has a sleek Ferrarri BB Diablo alt mode.

Transformers Masterforce: Darkwings (Buster and Hydra)

Continuing on with the Masterforce kick from yesterday, is two of my favorite G1 figures, redecoed from Dreadwind and Darkwing, Buster and Hydra. They are Mega and Giga's right hand men, extremely powerful, and very proud warriors.

Hydra is the older brother. Actor turned assassin, believes the Destrons should rule mankind

his transformation is kinda neat, involving the Godmaster unlocking the nosecone, and the torso turns, revealing his head. Found this figure in a lot on Facebook, was in pretty rough shape, the Godmaster had a broken arm, the labels were shot, broken head mechanism, and no guns. Luckily none of the parts that were broken or missing were a different colour than Darkwing, so I spent some time and effort restoring him. the end result, paid under $100 for a mint complete Hydra.

Masterforce Cybertron Godmaster Cars

Short review of the three Cybertron Godmasters. Two of them are identical to their US counterparts, but the third is a repaint.

Lightfoot (Getaway) is the heir to the British Motors car company, but never forgot his roots. His transector is a sports car that can reach mach 10. Toy-wise, he's identical to Getaway. The godmaster unlocks the hood for transformation, which in turn unlocks the arms. This figure was the main goal of one of the toy shows I went to last year, as it was the last one I needed to finish the US Powermasters. Found it at about five mins to the floor closing, and had just enough to grab it.

First post, a short review of Masterforce Overlord

Since this is my first blog post I'll start with one of my all-time favorite figures, Masterforce Overlord. The figure comes with two Godmasters (Powermasters) Giga and Mega, they are the leaders of the Destron (Decepticon) army in Masterforce under Devil Z. When I first started re-collecting G1, a very good friend of mine mentioned he had a spare of Overlord, and that he'd been saving it for when I started collecting G1 again. On the promise I would never sell it, he sold it to me for an amazing price. It was missing a couple missiles, but otherwise complete. (I've since procured the missing missiles thanks to another friend)

Giga