Mexican G1 "Sparkly Metroplex" Quickie

I remember a time when we thought Mexican Transformers by Plasticos Iga only covered the first 2 series of Autobots and Decepticons, and not even all of those. Sure there were series 3 minibots but they weren't new moulds, they were just series 1 moulds repainted into s3 colours. Then came Metroplex, one of the most 1986 Transformers of them all, first known by the existence of an Iga Metroplex instruction sheet shown to all by Napjr. At least that's how I remember it. Morgan Evans later had a loose complete one that he showed off on Skywarp.co.uk and in 2011 I landed a boxed one myself from Mexico. By that time there was also a sealed one on eBay, but let's have a look at what matters, the toy itself.

Now this Metroplex, I assume, was actually released in 1987 which was typical of Iga getting things out a year later than Hasbro. The Iga logo on the front of the box is black instead of the standard white, and the text on the diorama image sits on a black text box, quite different to the Hasbro Metroplex template. The text across the box is Spanish, as you would expect, and being a later Iga release it does indeed have the Tech Spec graph, but no Robot Points. The insert is the same layout as Hasbro Metroplex and on first glance, the toy seems similar too. Let's get to that in a second.

Missing Sixgun chest

The main thing about the Iga Metroplex, apart from the same cream coloured plastic compared to Hasbro white, is the fact that all the maroon parts - cannons, double-barrel gun and Sixgun torso - are not dull, they are in fact very sparkly and almost metallic in appearance. This is the same kind of sparkly plastic used on Iga Ramjet's wings. In the background you can see the massive instruction sheet with the Spanish text, same as Nap's that he'd scanned all those years ago. It also has no rubsign.

The sparkly plastic is very clear in person and even in photography, but what seals the deal as far as it being an Iga-manufactured item, is the quite blatant curve in the moulding of the double-barreled gun, something I hope will be obvious in the last photo above. 

With other Mexican minibots

It's almost the case that the metallic maroon plastic overshadows the fact that so much of Metroplex is cream instead of the Hasbro white, but that's not a bad thing at all. The off-white plastic used on Mexican TFs almost always looks like discolouration, and this is one of those occasions where Plasticos Iga have actually improved the overall look of the figure thanks to the sparkly maroon.

Metroplex is such an outstanding Transformer anyway that there's probably not much Iga could have done to spoil it, had they slapped wacky colours or a Trailbreaker head on it, chances are it would be even more appealing to collectors. As it is, I'd say it's one of the lesser known Mexican variants but it's one that will appeal to the proper Iga enthusiasts, instead of variant collectors as a whole. It has signature subtle Mexican traits that do not stand out in a crowd and it's a massively significant discovery in being the first confirmed series 3 mould used by Plasticos Iga for their Transformers. There have been alleged sightings of Mexican Sixshot and Hot Rod, but to this day Metroplex is the only series 3 mould confirmed to exist in Mexico, and it's a damn fine one to carry the flag.

All the best

Maz