Just plays a mean pinball.

I feel like a jerk because some local Transformer afficionados (as seen in "Transformer Afficionado" magazine, now out of print for obvious reasons) had a get together and I semi-invited Til All Are Mine to join me. But I didn't have an address for the event. Until the day of the event. So Til All Are Mine, sorry, as by the time the party started I was trying to get my house internet back online, and then I had to bolt out the door. So next time.

Myclone! And some neat links.

I'm adding a few links to the bar on the right (when you scroll down); I don't know if I can reference EVERY TF blog, but there's some really cool ones out there, some of which serve as a wealth of information for other Transformers fan (and myself!). I've said hello to Heroic Decepticon and Til All Are Mine and they've said hello back and linked me (probably how you found this page).

Through their pages I'm checking out Botch The Crab's archive of box art (and much more!) and I just discovered the Obscure TF site. So this will help fill in a few moments of my day between meetings and such. Yay fellow TF fans!

A few months ago I'm browsing the frequently mentioned/visited store Quake and they had these:

They're called Myclones, "superdeformed" versions of G1 figures. I picked up Jazz, Sideswipe, and Trypticon. They're absolutely adorable...and they fall apart easily. More below:

Diakron Multi-Force 14 - the bad guy Megatron should watch out for...

I stopped by Quake Collectibles in Chicago and was happy I brought my camera. Dave had the Diakron Multi-Force 14 Robot.

(Please note that the back of the box pictured on the Multi-Force link is slightly different. I'll get to that after the jump.)

If you check out this amazingly well researched TF site, you can see how Multi-Force 14 fit into the pre-TF world, or whatever other licensed toyline he was a part of at the time.

It looks like he was a bad guy, going by the comics that were included with the Diaclone figures, and maybe the main bad guy.

This was, as far as I could tell, a complete figure, though I didn't see any instructions or stickers. Dave was also charging $250 for the shebang. See more after the jump.

Another Swerve custom, and a BONUS easy custom!

Here's another custom. You may have already seen my "More Than Meets The Eye" Swerve. But I also painted the face of the G1 Swerve minicar to try to match his comic book counterpart.

early custom attempt - Starchild Prime

A quick few things that are not newsworthy at all:

1. I won't be buying the Beast Hunter (Prime) figures. Not like anyone asked me or cares what I think.

2. The Mrs. pre-ordered MP Smokescreen for me.

3. I am having a tough time finding the "wave 1" of Kreons.

OKAY, so, anyway, I like to paint my Transformers. I never said I was awesome at it. This is for my own amusement (though I DID sell one! Really!). I've gotten some advice from customizers in the local TF community, including ideas like "you should spraypaint them first" and I can't do that where I live. One guy said "you should use tape, to make straight lines," and then the look of terror when I tell him that I did in fact use tape.

I'm THAT clumsy.

SO, anyway, after the jump, is maybe my 2nd custom attempt. And it's the whole reason why I bought paints to ruin extra transformers.

Whirl - Headrobots Drone kit

First up, holy moly, the Hasbro Toy Fair news: so many Generations figures, the biggest news about the biggest transformer, "titan" class Metroplex: I don't have $130 for this guy.

Sideswipe head action figure ruination

I mentioned before I'd be switching the heads for Classics and Fall Of Cybertron Sideswipes. I did!

Pic 1 - The FOC head on the Classics body!
Pic 2 - the FOC head, with his eyes painted blue! (The piece of plastic that form the "eyes" is too short from the getgo, and hence that is why they don't reach the eye sockets in his face. Not because I shaved them down or that they wouldn't reach because I supeglued the head back together.)
Pic 3 - when you turn his windshield on his back, the head descends into his chest. It FITS! Whee!

There you go.

Fall Of Cybertron Haul

FOUR figures. That's me. No wait, technically SEVEN figures. The JUMP:

Masterpiece (US) Thundercracker

Some unexpected Xmas money came our way and the Mrs. said, "Masterpiece Thundercracker." That might sound odd but I had posted a picture of it on the ol' Facebooks with a comment "Hi, I can't afford this" and I guess she took that as a hint. So, hooray to the wife for encouraging me.

I didn't buy it at Toys R Us as the price of the thing just kept going up and up, and recently it hasn't been on the shelves. Then a few weeks ago TRU posted it on their EBAY page. So, what the heck, bought it. It was still way too expensive; I don't think the Starscream or Skywarp figures went for the same price when they were introduced. The latest Masterpiece Prime has been increasing in price through its exclusive retailer. What is that about? I know these are for the adult collectors, but jeez louise adult collectors don't have that much money. They better not. They should be paying their rent.

That reminds me,  if you saw how I was gushing over iGear Brawn, I'm embarrassed because iGear just announced preorders for FOUR more figures, and nearly 5 or 20 dollars more than what Brawn went for. Um, NO THANK YOU? I gotta learn to say no to this cool stuff. I was really excited about these figures and if they put them out 2 figures every 6 months, that's fine. Worth the wait and price with plenty of official Hasbro figures between those releases. But instead the're practically competing with Hasbro's regular output but releasing four (at about $200 or more for all four) the same time.

One of the iGear figures is Swerve, and I just made my own Swerve based on the More Than Meets The Eye comic, so I'll probably just keep that.

ANYWAY, MP Thundercracker: click on the link for images from Seibertron. He looks like the MP versions of the other jets, except that he has a new heel that folds out from his engine/foot part and that helps him stand on his own without the help of the display stand. Also, his tailfin has an image of him holding Soundwave like a boombox. his armpit/shoulder joint, when transformed into airplane mode, has an image of Reflector. Like a tattoo. And his guns have their own swivel stands...on his ARM. I'm not sure what that is about.

Like Sideswipe, Thundercracker was on of the first regular-sized figures I ever had. Actually, along with Soundwave, he was the first. Neither G1 figures had the rubsigns. Sideswipe and Ratchet were the only regular sized Autobots I had for a long time before I started collecting. But anyway, it's cool to finally have my favorite Decepticon in the MP line.

W Cassettebots (link)

Despite their introduction in the cartoon movie (or probably because of the trauma from seeing it), the G1Autobot cassettes were not that well known (though they all appeared in Season 3 of G1). Decepticon Ratbat was probably better known than Ramhorn, Eject, Rewind, and Steeljaw, followed by Overkill and Slugfest, and then a few more tape characters that barely had robot modes (and combined to form what passed for "robots").

The Headmasters series in Japan however featured other characters, including four cassette figures referred to as the dinocassettes in this article with some great pictures. Check it out.

I don't have these figures. I've SEEN them, whooptie do. They are bizarre looking and barely pass as robots or robot animals. They are also supposedly very rare and insanely expensive on the collector side. Anyway, check out that link, it's a good breakdown and some great pictures.

custom job: Swerve from More Than Meets The Eye

This needs a tiny bit of work. Paint from his hands are already chipping off. He transforms into some sort of car. Really. Made out of a bunch of Armada figures. Enjoy.

MASTERPIECE SIDESWIPE! And HENCH.

I took photos of the subjects on my drafting table. Which is covered in disassembled Transformers and model parts I'm painting for very custom projects. Sorry for the clutter.

First up, a review of FALL OF CYBERTRON from my regular blog, slightly edited:

GDO Springer

My friend Chad snagged the Generations Springer for me last week. Info: www.tfw2005.com/resources/generations-autobots-404/autobot-springer-6246/ Springer is Hunt For The Decepticons Tomahawk with a different head, is green, and has a sword. Not much to say on this; there was a classics Springer that was part of a 2 pack, voyager-sized repaint of Blades. The GDO has a head closer to that of the cartoon; the body's skinny legs doesn't match the sturdiness of the other Springer. I would love to see a Whirl for this mold. That's it. I picked up FALL OF CYBERTRON and it's pretty awesome.

Music Label SOUNDWAVE

The dream is a simple one: a Soundwave that plays music.

Changes (more like TRANSFORMATIONS!) to the site, non-drastic.

I'm not sure about how I'm doing as far as color scheme goes for this layout. If this is blinding you and you won't read it as a result, let me know and I'll change it.

I've also added links to other blogs out there.

I found a few things at Quake that are kinda interesting. And I'm also going to have another custom project soon. It might be some work beyond painting. So many projects!

Also soon: a review of MusicLabel Soundwave! Because no one demanded it!

RADIO blaster!

Okay, this was on sale at Quake Collectibles.

This is a working AM radio. That TURNS into...a ROBOT!

I'm not sure if this supposed to be pre-Blaster or if it's in the vein of this semi-licensed working radio guy. "Robotic Radio" was the only thing that I saw as his label. I'm doing the online 'research' as I type this up and thanks to matching an eBay listing and going from there, this is from 'Tai-Fong Japan.' I would prefer to link to any TFW2005 page for info but they seem to be besieged by malware as I type so I can't go there for more info.

Pretty cool. Here's a shaky video review.  

I have a Musiclabel Soundwave. That's the MP3 player that transforms into Soundwave, if you couldn't figure that out. Perhaps a review in the future. But, due to that, my interest in having a Transformer that turns into a tape player that actually plays music has been sated, though maybe I'll pick this up from eBay.

Recent.

Transformers Prime has a toyline out. A few figures were released a few months ago as "first edition" before slightly altered molds of the same characters came out in the regular line.

I managed to get an Arcee from this line. I got an Arcee from the regular line and it was not as...cool.

The plan was to hold it and use it to make a War For Cybertron Slipstream. But out of what character body?

Anyway, the First Editions reappeared in some stores recently, so I guess they weren't going to be as rare as Hasbro/fandom said. I managed to get deluxe sized Starscream, of whom the Transformers Collector Club used the mold to make THEIR version of Slipstream, and Vehicon, the generic trooper bad guy. Vehicon is going to be another project, as a friend dared that I use it to make a Batman figure (the car mode kinda looks like a toned-down Batmobile).

FE Starscream's body might pass for the WFC Slipstream, but his head pin is too small for Animated Arcee's head (which, to ME, painted black, silver & purple, would have passed as Slipstream's).

Since this is the 2nd go-around for a supposedly rare wave of toys, I don't feel bad about painting them up.

Will update.

turn it on, wind it up, blow it out...GDO!

So there's a few "Generations" (classics III) figures that were going to be released in Asia only: they're called GDOs, which I have no idea what that means. A quick search gets me nothing, and after I just sat through Dark Of The Moon (with RIFFTRAX) I don't feel like searching anymore. I never said I'd provide you with all the information about every toy.

Where was I? Oh yeah, they WERE only going to be released in Asia, except that they weren't because they're here in the US now. There's a few scouts that intend to pass up (Hoist is just a repaint of the tiny Trailbreaker, I mean Trailcutter, from the Reveal The Shield line. SO, these have been showing up at Toys R Us's here and there. A friend picked up SWERVE for me. Swerve is a repaint of Generations Kup with a new head. I think due to his recent popularity in the More Than Meets The Eye comic book, Swerve would have been better done as a legends or scout figure. Based solely on his original size as minicon, and the way he's drawn in the comic book. Perhaps comic book sales are not high enough to influence Hasbro into making a figure that matches his comic book counterpart. 

See? Not deluxe size. Scout size. Legend size. And adorable. (I painted the face of the G1 Swerve, at it was all red, to match his comic counterpart a little better.)

ANYWAY, the other three GDO deluxes were Cliffjumper, Wheelie, and Springer. Cliffjumper is basically his Prime figure with a G1 head sculpt. Wheelie is a repaint of Reveal The Shield Jazz with a new head. Springer is a Hunt For The Decepticons Tomahawk, also with a new head. So, basically, four old figures with new heads. I'm not a fan of Wheelie, and have his G1, and that will do, so I'll pass. I'm not in love with the Prime figures, and I have the original Classics Cliffjumper, and I like that one better because it's slightly smaller. I am on the lookout for Springer, even though I have the Voyager sized Springer from the Ratbat/Springer 2-pack that came out like four years ago.

I have the HFTD Tomahawk. I took off his head and painted it yellow and put it on a Generations Bumblebee. This makes a Generations Bumper. The Gen Bumblebee is a slightly darker yellow than the head I painted, however. So it looks kinda weird. What I need to do next is sculpt a head for the Tomahawk body to make WHIRL. There was going to be a "Head Robots" version (3rd party), or at least one was announced, but I haven't seen or heard of this product again.

That's about it. New painting project: I bought a model kit for a Roboteck Valkyrie fighter. The plastic is mostly off-white/almost gray. I was thinking about what to paint it, and decided to paint it after Scud The Disposable Assassin. This will take a while.

Goodnight! 

Awwww-bots and cute-a-cons. And ongoing projects.

If you're not aware, Hasbro licensed the Transformers to a company called Kre-o, or rather that's the brand name of the Lego rip off company. I don't know if Transformers were too small a property for Lego to license themselves. "Transformers? Their last movie made a billion bucks? Nah, small tomatoes. Move on, please." I don't know the story. I do know that building a toy robot from scratch, and then breaking it down and building a car from the same materials, minus the actual "transforming," might defeat the very purpose of licensing an already gimmicky concept to a Lego style line.

HOWEVER:

Lil Formers.

Cute.