Fansproject WB008 Trianix Alpha

Fansproject, a 3rd party company who have been part of the scene since the beginning, have just released their interpretation of the 1980 Diaclone Dia-Battles figure. This WB008 from the Warbot series is called "Trianix Alpha", in reference to the fact that the original Dia-Battles - and this Trianix - split into three individual vehicles but combine to form the robot. It has been produced to scale with Classics/CHUG figures but it stands taller than the TakaraTomy Diaclone Dia-Battles V2 that saw release in the late spring. I was aware of this release and had a passing interest, but when I walked past it on display at Kapow Toys during TFNation, that passing interest became a fervent fascination.

Masterpiece MP-21R Bumble - Red Body

TakaraTomy's Masterpiece MP-21R Bumble - Red Body is a fascinating release, probably for all the wrong reasons. I know I personally pre-ordered it out of a sense of obligation and completion, trying to make up for never having properly completed the vintage Diaclone and MC Car Robots & minibots I so desired. Masterpiece MP-21 Bumble was in itself one of the toys of the decade and a comprehensive success, but I found the G2 repaint MP-21G massively underwhelming, so my hopes of being impressed by the red version were not high. I've seen a lot of disparaging comments about this release because it is supposedly a poor man's Cliffjumper and the origin of the colour scheme confused a number of collectors. 

Masterpiece MP-26 Road Rage

Welcome to an extended gallery of images for Takara Tomy Transformers Masterpiece MP-26 Road Rage. Road Rage is basically a red version of Tracks whose roots lie in Takara's 1984 Diaclone Car Robot No.21 Corvette Stingray released in Japan (in red of course). With the red Corvette Stingray imported and sold in countries like Italy (GiG) and mainland Europe (Ceji Joustra) under the Diaclone banner, it's no surprise that collectors have memories of actual red Tracks toys, not just the artwork on the back of 1985 Hasbro boxes. In 1985, when Hasbro and Milton Bradley took over the licence and stock from Ceji Joustra to sell Takara's transforming Diaclone and Micro Change Series toys in mainland Europe, they inherited a gaggle of red Corvette Stingrays. These were subsequently repackaged into Transformers boxes (MB badged) and so was born a bona fide Transformers Red Tracks. In 2002, E-Hobby paid tribute to this colour scheme by releasing a red version of the reissue Transformers Tracks called "Road Rage", a character created for that E-Hobby release, and a female Autobot to boot. Here then is Masterpiece Road Rage, a repaint of MP-25 Tracks with newly sculpted head, hands, thighs and waist to differentiate her from Tracks. Oh, she also comes with the toy-accurate handgun, a mini Twincast, the small laser for the front of the vehicle... and a gorgeous red deco. No display stand, no Raoul and no "CS" on the hood for "Corvette Stingray".

Masterpiece MP-25 Tracks - Full Gallery

Here is the full hi-res gallery for MP-25 Masterpiece Tracks, I hope you enjoy it! You can find the full review with smaller pictures here in the TFSource review.

Transformers Adventure (TAV-18) Drift

I actually had no intention of collecting the Takara Tomy Transformers Adventure (TAV) versions of the Hasbro Robots In Disguise 2015 toys. I was going to buy the locally available Hasbro versions of RID 2015 because that was a wonderful novelty in the UK, and I was going to watch the cartoon with my daughter and wear the cheap-ish toys down into the ground with our playtimes. A destiny every toy dreams of , surely. However, after my Hasbro RID Bumblebee became broken and I sprung for the show accurate TAV-01, together with the images of TAV Drift and how much better his deco was than Hasbro's, the die was cast. TAV-18 Drift arrived this week - amid news of TAV Drift:Origin, a piece of news that lit my Twitter feed up like a Christmas tree when I shared it.

Transformers Adventure (TAV-01) Bumblebee

My Hasbro Robots In Disguise 2015 warrior class Bumblebee stopped working. Actually it's debatable that it ever worked considering the leg issue all of them have straight out of the packaging. However, once the doors could no longer tab onto the side of the vehicle mode, causing them to hang off and sag (thank you broken tabs), a more show accurate premium option was immediately attractive. Enter Transformers Adventure TAV-01 Bumblebee from Takara Tomy, with extra paint apps, suspected improved build quality and a very sensible £18 shipped price from Asian online retail.

Transformers Adventure (TAV-15) Lockdown

My personal reaction to re-use of Transformers Animated moulds for any purpose, any purpose at all no matter how ridiculous the premise (Knights Of Unicron), is overwhelmingly positive. Seeing Swoop and Snarl re-used in Transformers Adventure by Takara Tomy, a line heavily based on the Hasbro's Robots In Disguise 2015 with added repaints of older moulds, made me happy. I didn't buy them because their release coincided with a jarring halt to my buying in recent months, but Lockdown...Lockdown was always going to be bought. I pre-ordered this TAV-15 Lockdown before anyone even knew the nature of the repaint. The fact that mere weeks before release (and months after pre-order) it was revealed he was to sport Age Of Extinction Lockdown's colours made me insanely happy. 

Masterpiece MP-22 Ultra Magnus - Quickie Pictorial

Like the title says, just a straight up mini-gallery of the wonderful MP-22 Takara Tomy Masterpiece Transformers Ultra Magnus. This is a figure I did not pre-order or like the look of. Then it started arriving and "best Masterpiece yet" comments started to make me pay attention. The fact is, he's incredibly good in both modes, hugely solid, has a buttflap that you will immediately stop caring about and the best Masterpiece transformation of them all - except Bumblebee. Thanks to my friends, I got this at a terrific price, a price that a non-believer did not deserve. I learned though, and it made me buy Star Saber too. No more small-only TFs for me. I like big bots.

TF Alternity A-04B Banzai Tron

Banzai Tron is an unforgivable name, seriously. Hailing from the Action Masters of the 1990s, a mechanical martial arts specialist and Decepticon, he got a very unlikely Alternity repaint released in 2012 as a Toy Hobby Market (now Takara Tomy Mall) exclusive. The mould is based on the Skywarp/Thundercracker 1:32 scale Alternity figure. The vehicle is Japanese manufacturer Mitsuoki Motors' Orochi sports car model from 2006. I basically missed Alternity completely despite a massive love affair with Binaltech. It coincided with some hobby down time for me, but thanks to Transformers GT, I now understand the appeal. Banzai Tron was bought immediately after I saw some good pictures of that robot mode, head sculpt and thanks to everyone's favourite factory sweeper, Lena.

TF Animated: Takara Tomy Bumblebee

Before I had made a decision to sell a large portion of my collection (still need to post about that), I had still given myself the task of collecting every significant Transformers Animated variant - Hasbro, TakaraTomy, bootleg - that I could find. Bumblebee was my first love in Animated and although I have discovered deluxes that surpass him and leave him feeling as flawed as people always said he was, the soft spot remains. When a seller in the UK offered a MOSC Takara Bumblebee, I had to pounce and man, I am glad I did.

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.

Masterpiece MP-12 TF Expo Lambor

This was supposed to be a TF Expo Masterpiece MP-12 Lambor (Sideswipe), a Japanese show exclusive version of the very popular (and widely bootlegged) Masterpiece Sideswipe from Takara Tomy. The main difference is that this version of MP Lambor has no massive Autobot symbol painted on the chest of the robot, a chest symbol that doubles up as a hood symbol. This specimen isn't the official release though, it was bought from eBay seller 'Lena', who is known to have factory samples maybe not quite up to being released, often having defects. It's a bit of a lottery.

C.A.B.B.A.G.E.

THAT'S RIGHT! It's the Crack Autobot Badgeless Badass Assault Group Elite...C.A.B.B.A.G.E! Made up of the stealthiest, hardiest and completely unadorned Autobot warriors. Otherwise known as Masterpiece/3P Autobot car figures to which stickers have not yet been applied for reasons of Diaclone heritage (read: straw clutching). There's Tokyo Toy Show exclusives MP-12T Tigertrack and MP-18S Silverstreak, the regular release MP-12G Lambor G2 version and the newly released DX9 Toys Phantom version of Invisible, a Mirage-based Masterpiece-a-like. Joking aside, I hope you enjoy the pictures.

For The Love Of Arms Micron

I'll be the first to admit I don't know anywhere near as much about modern day Transformers as I should, historically being more interested in vintage stuff. I make discoveries these days that are approximately 3 to 10 years behind everyone else! I have been told that Arms Micron toys from Takara Tomy were not met with as much positivity as someone such as myself, walking into it years after launch, are feeling towards it upon discovery and experience. The Japanese TF Prime figures were not more show accurate than the Hasbro versions, and did not feature extra or accurate paint application. In fact, they went completely the other way, and that is the crux of what I find attractive and special about them.

AOE Nemesis Evasion Prime - Pictorial

The sensationally good Evasion Mode Optimus Prime mould in black, red and cyan must mean the sensational Nemesis Evasion Prime, TakaraTomy's TF Expo Japanese show exclusive. Lots of paint application coupled with the mouth-plate wearing head sculpt we might have, but isn't everyone tired of Nemesis Prime/Black Convoy repaints?What's the fuss all about?

New Arrivals - Mid January 2015

And now to the mid-January arrivals. These include two extremely special Japanese releases of Evasion Mode Optimus Prime, both exclusives, a Masterpiece that we really ought to have had some time ago but were still made to suffer for and two things I didn't photograph. Those would be a sealed Arms Micron Wildrider and a Robots in Disguise legends class Bumblebee. To the Japanese stuff!

Body Parts - State of Collecting + Happy 2015!

Body parts for Transformers and 3rd party items that had defective/damaged bits, how does that become a reflection of the state of high end Transformers collecting in today's hobby? This was just supposed to be a quirky post about my last new arrivals of 2014, and how I had three parcels, none of which contained a proper Transformers toy, but instead contained one leg, one crotch and one face. The leg and crotch were factory defects on 3rd party items that needed replacing and the companies responsible duly obliged, and the face was a replacement purchase for something I damaged on a Masterpiece toy that was part of a pre-order incentive. Quality control, customer service, pre-order prices/availability, all issues that can make or break purchases and enjoyment of Transformers.

Transformers Cloud Hot Rodimus

I managed to be completely underwhelmed and uninterested in Transformers Cloud - the story of Cloud World and the Transformers that live there (and SARA...seriously if you care, go here). I'm being unfair, of course, I care as much about Transformers fiction as I do the toys. Maybe even more. But, this piece is about the first TF Cloud toy to capture my attention, TFC-A03 Hot Rodimus, a Hot Rod-coloured Generations Springer, and that is in no way an over-simplification, that's exactly what this figure is. It also happens to be magnificent.

New Arrivals - Early December 2014 (Part 1)

It's not just been 3rd Party stuff coming in of late, I've definitely rediscovered my love of the Transformers movie lines, and filling gaps in burgeoning collection directions has been a theme of late. In addition to the kind of toys you see int he above image - Human Alliance, Animated and Age of Extinction - you will see the most ridiculous addition so far in these posts.

DX9 03 Invisible - MP Vehicle Mode Pictorial

Earlier today I posted images of DX9's "Invisible" Not Mirage amongst a sea of other Masterpiece figures, official figures, and the reaction online has been quite funny. It seems to have cemented people's views on both sides of the fence. Those that figured it would 'fit' are now adamant, and those that doubted are now certain that it won't. I wonder if the vehicle mode pictorial in Masterpiece surroundings will change anyone's mind?