Decepticon Rock Band (aka Animated Resurgence)

Transformers and music have never been too far apart. The Autobots had Jazz and Blaster in the original G1 cartoon, Tracks had Raoul, even Soundwave, Laserbeak and Rumble were spotted partying with humans in a night club. It should have come as no surprise to see the lighthearted - but deeply serious - Transformers Animated intertwine Soundwave's character so intimately with music. So much so, in fact, that his Laserbeak companion in Animated was a Gibson Flying V electric guitar. Genius. The repaint of Soundwave, Electrostatic Soundwave (basically Soundblaster), had a keytar that changed into Ratbat. Again, pure genius. Despite that, the collective surprise at the SDCC 2014 exclusive Knights Of Unicron set must have been palpable. A Transformers rock band. Tonight, we're looking at the madcap rock god Megatron, the repainted Animated Laserbeak and Ratbat that come with that set.

Could be mistransformed, don't know, was having too much fun

Your eyes do not deceive you, this is not a custom, this is actually a WFC Megatron repainted in batshit crazy Rock God colours. Complete with quite lovely blue leopard print pants (really very striking in hand), insane wig, snake tattoo, leather waistcoat and scarf, Megatron never looked so glam. I won't pretend to know a thing about the mould or its previous incarnations, or even the other wacky figures in the Knights of Unicron set, all I wanted were the repainted Transformers Animated Laserbeak and Ratbat.

The alt mode on this Megatron is not quite up my street, I'm pretty sure I missed a step or three but it's all about robot mode and his interaction with that beautifully repainted red and white Flying V Laserbeak. Despite most people grabbing their weapon-and-guitar-less Knights of Unicron Megatrons from good old 'Lena', mine actually came straight out of an SDCC exclusive box set, the seller was selling them separately. As a result, he came with the elusive Laserbeak that I suspect will haunt many an Animated collector for years to come. This concept was besmirched by many, however the comedy of it appealed to me, and in-hand it doesn't disappoint. This was some of the most enjoyable photography I've done in ages. Just look at the mad bastard!

Teaming Megatron up with Animated Soundwave and Soundblaster, together with the normal Animated Laserbeak and the SDCC Ratbat (just a few new paint apps compared to normal Hasbro Animated Ratbat), and you've got the Decepticon Rock Band. My SDCC Ratbat did actually come from Lena, and I bought a second for a friend which was completely devoid of its innards. Just a reminder that you take a risk when you buy from sellers who collect factory rejected stuff en masse and hawk it on eBay for nothing with free shipping.

I've gotten this repaint SDCC Animated Laserbeak at a time when I have almost totally finished my quest to complete Transformers Animated as a toy line, wherever incarnations of its mould have turned up, and have found my interest in getting the very last few bits waning. This has been thanks to my interest in Masterpiece, 3P and other things increasing, and knowing that all remaining Animated purchases will be silly expensive payouts for obscure or exclusive repaints or prototypes. However, it is also very timely because the new Robots In Disguise toy line seems very much in the Animated vein, and the Japanese Takara Tomy Transformers Adventure Toy line (Takara's version of RID) includes upcoming repaints of Animated Swoop, Snarl and LOCKDOWN! So couple that with my rediscovery of just how utterly stunning Takara's Animated Soundblaster is (see above) in that jet black, holding SDCC LaserHairMetalBeak, and the result is a rekindling of my Animated romance. 

More Animated releases on the horizon? Music to my ears.

All the best
Maz