New Arrivals - Early June (Part 2)

This is a big one today, not just a small post with one picture of each new arrival. I am currently getting in so much Transformers Animated (and other things!) that I can't keep up with the blog posting the way I was able to when I had virtually no new toys to speak about so I could plunder my photo archives. I've gone from 2 TF Animated toys to over 40 in two weeks. I even had to dedicate this week's TFSource Blog article to Animated. So here we are, the second batch of significant arrivals.

Deluxe Blazing Lockdown

Never owned a Lockdown, no sir. Didn't look like something I'd enjoy, too gangly. Now I have FIVE. The regular deluxe, the Stealth Lockdown deluxe, the two Activators and now the one I thought I'd be least impressed by - Blazing Lockdown. So imagine my surprise when this turned out to be my favourite of the lot. The chainsaw accessory was a must have, and being able to nail one down for £8.50 shipped made it irresistible.

The gold paint uniformly applied, the ability to seamlessly attach regular Deluxe Lockdown's hook (which is yellow) and that gold face, wow what a classy repaint which I feel has been largely ignored. I do wonder what extra touches the Takara version has, if any. The chainsaw accessory is not wonderful, but it's a decent addition and clobbering bits onto Lockdown is exactly what the character is all about. Thrilled with this purchase, beautiful toy.

Voyager Atomic Lugnut

Atomic Lugnut, my first Animated obligation purchase? Good grief, that didn't take long. Thank goodness it's awesome. I owned a voyager Lugnut originally so I was no stranger to the toy or the mould, I wasn't that into it because of the odd toes, and the unforgivably diminutive robot mode. I sprang for a sealed Atomic Lugnut, again due to the reasonable price, £15.95 shipped.

I don't understand why this colour scheme - at least amongst my closer collecting buddies - has proven divisive. I absolutely love it, I think it makes the distinct and strong features of the mould pop where I feel the standard Decepticon purple shrouded them on the original release. That shark-teeth pattern on the side, with the honking great atomic logo, the prominence of that odd greyish-green and the black elevate this from an also-ran of the original cast to something I've proudly put on display. Photographs damn well too.

Tokyo Toy Show exclusive Elite Guard Prowl (Takara)

If I doubted how much I'd be into Atomic Lugnut or Blazing Lockdown, Tokyo Toy Show exclusive Elite Guard Prowl was the complete opposite. If it was at all possible to make the marvel that is deluxe Animated Prowl any more attractive, apparently painting it white was the key. Absolutely - utterly - stunning colours on this one. Immediately striking and I was under its spell from the moment I got back into Animated. 

During my photography of Elite Guard Prowl, I realised I had been transforming him wrong all that time I used to own the regular deluxe. The bike mode always seemed a bit compromised, until I got it right this time around. Wow, supremely impressive mould, but the paint application on this exclusive is a little shoddy in places. See the sirens on the rear? There's also asymmetrical paint apps on the front of the bike where the gold meets the white. Ah well. Price was about £33 shipped, and seeing as how they go for more on eBay, I will not complain. My first sealed Takara Tomy Animated toy, certainly not the last. My goal of a completely inaccurately-coloured show cast goes on! The white traffic light accessory is still hilarious, just that it's still there and got repainted too. Brilliant.

Deluxe Freeway Jazz

I had completely forgotten about this repaint. In fact the repaints of the main show figures are what really appealed to me this time around. Freeway Jazz, Roadbuster Magnus, Rescue Ratchet, Elite Guard Prowl, Stealth Lockdown etc, I knew about them but had completely forgotten, so each one was like a new discovery that dusted off the ancient Animated memories. Found on eBay USA, bought for just under £20 shipped, couldn't wait for it to arrive because I loved deluxe Jazz, and the movie colour adaptation on this one looked great.

Overall I like this figure, but there are a few questionable features. For example, he has translucent yellow plastic on the back of his head obviously intended for light piping, and then they painted the visor blue so that it wouldn't work. Yellow light piping on this toy would have been something to behold. Also, I don't know if the mould has degraded (I'm guessing not since BotCon repaints and TFCC repaints seemed good) but the fit in vehicle mode is terrible on this specimen. Unsealed by myself literally a couple of days ago, and all 4 wheels struggle to touch the ground at the same time, and the left door panels just won't align or clip in flush. Disappointing, but not in robot mode. Subtle and classy as expected, no Elite Guard logo on this one unfortunately, but as quality an addition to wrong-colours-Animated-cast as I could hope for.

Leader Shadow Blade Megatron

I remember this big bastard in stores just before I gave up collecting in 2008. I had the normal leader class Megatron in show colours and it was a delightful figure. For the life of me I couldn't understand the point of releasing a £40 toy in irrelevant colours and how they expected it to sell. Same thoughts I had about leader Roadbuster Ultra Magnus. This shelf-warmed as far as I remember. I also remember how bizarre it was that his nose wasn't painted, but left translucent red. He looked like a clown.

Yep. Boy do I feel silly now having one of these on the desk next to me. At this moment in time I have to point to this Shadow Blade Megatron as my favourite Animated toy. It is unbelievably strong in the flesh, the colours and sheen on the purple parts are alluring to the point that I can stare at it for ages. I took it to work on Wednesday and sat it on my desk because I didn't want to wait until I was home to stare at it again. Needless to say, sat next to a gorgeous picture of my daughter, between the two images of beauty I got precious little done at the office on Wednesday.

Shadow Blade Megatron is immense, truly gobsmacking in its beauty. I wasn't prepared to pay the £30 asking price but I traded a rare comic for it and in hindsight, £30 would have been more than fair. One of the best Megatron moulds we have ever received in the most Decepticon colour scheme ever. Guess what? It works a treat. On the downside, it is far too easy to scratch that purple paint on the cannon, mine's already got a few noticeable nicks in it, as well as on the black plastic that the cannon is connected to. Sod it, I don't care, we have a winner. I completely understand why the boys at Hasbro decided to put this out, when the production sample was on their desk in the meeting, nobody could have refused to release this into the world, and I thank them - and Morgan - for it.

More acquisitions to come. Seriously.

All the best
Maz