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G1 Micromasters and Decoys

December 30th, 2012 Comments off

More goodies from my childhood. I have some G1 Micromasters. Only the most hardcore of TransFans would know of Micromasters. They came around at a time when G1 was on its last legs. At the time, Micro Machines were all the rage. I think Hasbro wanted to capitalize on the trend, and thus came up with Micromasters. Basically, these are extremely small Transformers. Think Micro Machines that transform, which is essentially what they are. The G1 Marvel Transformers comics did come up with a backstory for them.

Micromasters came in packs of 4. For most of my G1 Transformers, I still have a fairly vivid recollection of how it came into my collection. Like where I bought it, who and what I traded for it, or who gave it to me as a gift. That’s not the case with my Micromasters. I have absolutely no memory of how I acquired them. I guess even at the time, I was not too impressed. Either that, or my focus has been shifted entirely away from Transformers (the original NES was big at the time). Anyway, here they are. I don’t remember their names at all. Had to Google them. And sorry for the crappy pics. My camera just can’t take pics this close.

Autobots- Off-Road Patrol

Tote, Powertrain, Mudslinger, Highjump

Like I said, these came in packs of 4. The above are the Off-Road Patrol. Mudslinger is probably my favorite out of these 4. That’s not saying much though.

Decepticons – Air Strike Patrol

Tailwind, Storm Cloud, Whisper, Nightflight

These 4 Decepticon jets make up the Air Strike Patrol. They are ok. Some of these remind me of G.I.Joe vehicles from Real American Heroes. Tailwind reminds me of the Cobra Rattler, which I did have at one time in my youth. Whisper looks like the original Cobra Night Raven. BTW, I played with that Raven extensively, since I gave one to a friend for his b-day. In 2011 I bought the Raven from Rise of Cobra, and IMO the original Raven is better. Nightflight looks like the Joe Sky Striker. I never played with the Sky Striker when I was a kid, but I did buy the re-issue at Target for $17 this past summer. Regardless, Nightflight seems like an odd name for this character. I keep thinking that must be the black jet in the bunch.

OK, now for some G1 Transformers Decoys. These are rubber figures that came with some G1 figures, I think in Seasons 3 and 4. I have 4 of these.

Windcharger, Bumblebee, Grapple, Skywarp

These are kinda cool. I remember distinctly that the Grapple decoy came with my Technobot Afterburner figure. Don’t remember where the rest came from. I saw more of these when I went to BotCon. I wanted to get more, but must have forgot from seeing all the other TF craziness at BotCon.

Above is all of them in one shot. I put a AA battery in there for size comparison to note their extreme smallness.

Transform and Roll Out.

Categories: Pics

G1 Targetmasters

December 27th, 2012 4 comments

Happy Holidays! I’m back home again for Christmas in SoCal. Time to dig out more treasures from my childhood. So today I think I will feature the Targetmasters.

In G1, Targetmasters came around in Season 4 and continued into Season 5. The gimmick here is the weapons of the main figure will transform into mini figures. Targetmasters came at the same time as Headmasters. I always felt that Hasbro gave the Headmasters top billing, and that Targetmasters got gypped by being the secondary citizens in the grand scheme of Master Technology. I dunno, personally I liked the Targetmasters better. I think having the weapon transform is cooler than the head transform, but that’s me.

The Autobots

Scoop with Holepunch and Tracer, Crosshairs with Pinpointer, Hot Rod with Firebolt

The Decepticons

Quake with Tiptop and Heater, Misfire with Aimless

All my Targetmasters are in great shape. They are all complete too, with the manual, but no box. The Season 4 figures (Hot Rod, Crosshairs, and Misfire) I played with extensively so I remember them well. The Season 5 figs I didn’t play with as much, probably because that’s about the time I felt that G1 figs were starting to lose their quality (not to mention the US cartoon ended). Oh yeah, the Season 5 Targetmasters are all “double” Targetmasters. That means they come with 2 Nebulan guns. Each gun transforms into a figure, and the guns can combine into a larger rifle type weapon. I know that sounds cool in theory, but in actuality the Season 5 weapon figures aren’t that good. They pale in comparison to the Season 4 weapon figs.

But as I look at them now, I’m liking the Quake figure quite a bit. He’s much better than I remembered. The rest of them is about how I remembered.

It’s too bad I didn’t have a bigger allowance back then. I probably would have bought even more Targetmasters. Come and think of it, I didn’t even buy Hot Rod and Misfire. Those were b-day presents from my cousin.

I might do a few more G1 nostalgic posts before this holiday season is over. Targetmasters… Transform and Roll Out!

Categories: Pics

Vehicons!

December 16th, 2012 4 comments

This whole year I have been trying to avoid buying multiples of the same figure. When you got as many TFs as I do, space becomes an issue. And buying multiples of the same thing does seem a little extravagant. However, I have also mentioned that Vehicons are the only figures I might break this rule for. In Transformers Prime we can countless Vehicons, and many TransFans do indeed army build by getting multiples of these.

Earlier in the year it was almost impossible to locate any Vehicons in retail, probably because hardcore TransFans would snatch up multiples if they saw any. I did not find any Vehicons until October of this year. Vehicons can be easily found now for the most part.

PaxCybertron found TF Prime figures for $5 each at his Walgreens! He bought a Vehicon, didn’t like it, and sent it to me. Thanks PaxCybertron! Now I have a pretty good size Vehicon army. Check out the pics below. I have two RID Vehicons, in the center and on the left (the center one is from PaxCybertron). A First Edition Vehicon is on the right.

Most Autobots would have nightmares if pursued by all these Vehicons!

RID Vehicons are easier to transform, and are probably more fun to play with as a toy. FE Vehicons might be more show accurate however, at least in the transforming mechanism. Both are really good figures. If you like TF Prime, then I recommend both of these.

All I need now are some Jet Vehicons. I hope they bring out the Jet Vehicons here in the States.

Vehicons… Transform and Roll Out!

Categories: On The Hunt, Pics