The Mysterious G1 Hound Stickers

I've wanted to sticker up a Generation 1 Hound for absolutely years, ever since I discovered an error with his vintage (and subsequent reissue) stickersheet. I've owned a Ceji Joustra Diaclone Jeep (European pre-G1 Diaclone Hound, effectively) for almost two decades now, but I haven't had a Transformers Hound for even longer than that, but I finally plugged that hole this year and was able to use the above Takara TF Collection reissue from 2004 to apply the stickers how I believe they were always intended to be applied. I fully believe that a vast majority of G1 Hounds out there today are incorrectly stickered as a result. Yes, it's another one of THOSE articles.

Hasbro G1 Octane - The Missing Stickers

There is much of the vintage Generation 1 Transformers toyline that I have never owned or experienced, what you might call 'bread and butter' figures. The 1986 Decepticon triplechanger Octane was one of those figures until I found and bought a sealed vintage specimen in 2019. Due to the restrictions on travel caused by the pandemic (still cannot believe things like this will be immortalised in articles and blogs now), I didn't get my hands on this Octane until 2021. What unfolded during the stickering and article creation for Octane made that wait entirely worth it.

Hasbro Canada G1 Pre-rub Cassettes

Vintage Generation 1 Transformers from Canada have always had their quirks, from the most famous toy variants like the red cartoon accurate Dinobot Slag to the full trailer sticker Pepsi Optimus Prime. Beyond that, there is the bilingual naming of every character, as well as the notable errors such as "Autobot Megatron" and Tracks-as-Swoop on the tech specs. For those who are interested in such things, there are also other gems to discover such as pre-rub minibots with the Robot Points on the front of the card, due to a lack of real estate on the back!

The Great Cybertronian Write Off - Weeks 7, 8 & 9

It's been a few weeks, but the Great Cybertronian Write Off has not slowed down! Week 9 has just finished and myself, Sixo, Toybox Soapbox and tikgnat are over halfway into 1985's entries. For anyone unfamiliar with #GCWO, it was an idea we had to put out daily G1 Transformers reviews, accompanied by photos, all presented in the style of a poster with vintage Euro and UK Hasbro design elements. We did it to give fans something small to look forward to daily while they were potentially stuck at home for an indefinite period of time.

Hasbro G1 Breakdown - More Hidden Stickers

It seems that every time I go to add vintage stickers to a Generation 1 Transformers toys these days, either the instructions, stock photography, catalogues or packaging artwork throw up some degree of contradiction or lack of clarity regarding sticker placement. This often leads to a bunch of research across multiple sources - even prototype toy specimens - and sometimes an enjoyable discovery. Not long ago, I posted about the hidden stickers on G1 Drag Strip, and now his fellow Stunticon Breakdown reveals his hidden secrets, too.

The Great Cybertronian Write Off - Week 6

After a short break, the Great Cybertronian Write Off returns for 1985's G1 Transformers entries! Myself, Sixo, Toybox Soapbox - with design by tikgnat - have been producing poster-style mini-reviews of G1 Transformers toys daily, with our own photographs, all stitched together and presented in the style of vintage UK and Euro G1 paperwork. Why? Well, in order to give Transformers fans a tiny little something to look forward to daily at a time when most of us are confined to quarters!

The Great Cybertronian Write Off - Weeks 4 & 5

Accept no cheap fan-made imitations, only expertly and lovingly-made fan made imitations! The Great Cybertronian Write Off has now completed four-and-a-bit weeks of daily G1 Transformers photo, review and nostalgia poster-style entries in the style of old UK and Euro G1 paperwork, courtesy of myself, Sixo, Toybox Soapbox and tikgnat! It may seem like a strange point to do a summary, but having completed my own contributions in Week 4, the other two writer/photographers stuck in two more entries to round out all of the 1984 series of #GCWO posts, and yes, that is a hashtag you can - and should - be following on social media to make sure you don't miss any entry in this hyper-crossover!

The Great Cybertronian Write Off - Week 3

The mission is to entertain Earth during this extended period of home stay, and so the write off begins...The Great Cybertronian Write Off!

Well, actually, it began three weeks ago. But it has been raging ever since, and every week it just feels like it's getting more exciting, or at least it is for myself, tikgnat, Sixo and Toybox Soapbox! For three weeks now we have been posting daily G1 toy photos and mini reviews, woven together with the visual magic of early UK and Euro G1 paperwork designs. Myself, Sixo and Toybox Soapbox have been on writing and photo duty, with tikgnat executing the stunning design work. The idea has been to give everyone something - however small - to look forward to daily while we live our lives mostly from home. This short blog post will summarise my contributions to Week 3!

The Great Cybertronian Write Off - Week 2

Hey there, did you know that "Only the real GCWO have these watermarks?"

Well now you do! Welcome to the second weekly summary of my contributions in Week 2 of GCWO - The Great Cybertronian Write Off! Bringing everyone daily G1 Transformers content in the form of poster-style mini-reviews, photography and vintage-style UK/Euro Transformers paperwork posted across our social media accounts, myself, Sixo, Toybox Soapbox and tikgnat continue to - hopefully - give fans of G1 Transformers something small to look forward to in this extended period of home stay. You can catch my Week 1 summary if you've missed any entries, and you can of course follow the #GCWO hashtag on Twitter and Instagram for the daily dose. How long will it continue? Who knows, but we're having a blast doing them!

Hasbro G1 Sunstreaker - Figure & Sticker History

The Hasbro G1 Transformers Autobot Warrior Sunstreaker is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful toys ever created and released. I lusted after a Sunstreaker as a child and was only fortunate enough to get one during the Classic Heroes era circa 1991 in Cyprus, of all places. He did not disappoint, and much of my adult Transformers and Diaclone collecting has centered around this toy. My current collecting focus is finding vintage G1 in perfect condition, which sometimes means applying vintage stickers. Almost every time I undertake a stickering project, I discover something new about a G1 Transformers toy, and Sunstreaker has been no different.

The Great Cybertronian Write Off - Week 1

Welcome to the first weekly summary of The Great Cybertronian Write Off (GCWO)! The GCWO is a project started by Transformers Square One (myself), Sixo, Toybox Soapbox and tikgnat that aims to provide daily Generation 1 Transformers content for fans to enjoy during the indefinite period of lockdown and social distancing many of us are now experiencing as a result of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic of 2020. This weekly series of blog posts should allow you to keep up-to-date with all the content produced as part of the GCWO across all three of us!

Hasbro G1 Cyclonus - Figure & Sticker History

As far as Generation 1 Transformers and their global or historic variants go, 1986's Decepticon Saboteur "Cyclonus" has never had a particularly complicated or long story. He's popular, extremely well known and widely owned as a toy, but not complicated. He's a toy of three real major variations across his vintage lifespan - an early blue-eared release from 1986, a later release without the blue colouring from 1986, and a final Targetmaster re-release from 1987 - and he has a mere 10 stickers whose intended locations are clearly and consistently defined on his instructions across all releases. Or so I thought.

Hasbro G1 Soundwave - Sound or Power?

While collecting vintage Generation 1 Transformers and their reissues, I've had some recent experience of stickering them up to look as they were intended. As a result, I've come across a number of errors and conflicting resources regarding where one should place particular labels. It's happened with Tracks, Hound/Detritus, Blitzwing/Overcharge, Hurricane, Quickswitch, Drag Strip, and Smokescreen. With the very recent Walmart reissue of G1 Soundwave fresh off the blocks, the subject was very much in the air again.

Hasbro G1 Drag Strip - The Hidden Stickers

The mission to uncover hidden Generation 1 Transformers mysteries and erroneously long-held beliefs is one that seems to have no end, and for that I am grateful. Most of the credit for the subject of this article, however, goes to the inspirational Lee Cheney (@Leeroybrownhu9) who discovered hidden stickers on the label sheet of the 1986 Stunticon Drag Strip. The full account of his adventure can be found on Twitter, called "Lee-Roy's Drag Race", and I will reference that in this article, too, where I took the project a step or two further.

Diaclone Jetrobo F-15 Hi-Speed Fighter

Takara's Diaclone Jetrobo F-15 Eagle Hi-Speed Fighter from the Real & Robo sub-series, released in Japan in 1983, was the very first use of the now-legendary Transformers G1 Starscream mould. In my mind, it is as historic a figure as Diaclone Battle Convoy, the predecessor to G1 Optimus Prime. It represents an absolutely magical purchase for me personally, although not one I have ever chased with much fervour - which actually surprises me a lot. The manner in which this toy finds itself in my collection and was completed - it didn't start out as a purchase of a complete toy - is something of a reflection of everything I feel I am about in this hobby and what it means to me.

Hasbro G1 Turbomaster Hurricane

The Turbomasters are an absolute wonder of late European (and Japanese) Generation 1 Transformers. Some refer to these particular Autobots and other toys of the same era as G1.5, as they are so close to the Generation 2 era toys, but they are still absolutely G1 toys, from 1992. They are also some of the best G1 toys in existence because they have the core essence of what makes G1 special evident throughout their makeup. 

Hasbro Canada G1 Pre-rub Bumblebee

In 1984, The Transformers graced the world. Well, some countries in the world. The United States, United Kingdom and Canada are probably the three best known territories that received Transformers toys in the first year of their manufacture. Hasbro Canada had an appreciable pre-rubsign range of Autobots and Decepticons in 1984, including the very earliest 'pre-rub' minibots packaged in vehicle mode on their card backs. Canadian G1 figures had bilingual packaging, English and French, including a French name for the character. In Bumblebee's case, his French name was "Bourdon", and quite apart from being the same as a Hasbro US pre-rub Bumblebee, the packaging featured something extremely unique.

Milton Bradley G1 Warpath

I've spoken a lot about European G1 Transformers on this blog, recently, and this short piece will be much of the same. The Warpath you see above is from 1985, and the packaging is branded Milton Bradley instead of Hasbro. Otherwise, it's a standard, Takara-manufactured G1 Warpath. This would have been available in countries like France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and parts of Scandinavia on a quad-lingual Milton Bradley cardback. It also happens to be a bit of a rarity.

Milton Bradley G1 Ravage

I'm not exaggerating when I say the Transformers Generation 1 Milton Bradley-badged Ravage from 1985 is one of the rarest packaged regular production Transformers in the history of the line. Ravage itself is a very common G1 toy, released in many countries and in many forms, but this specific packaging from mainland European countries in 1985 stands out as not just the rarest occurrence of this figure, not just of all the known and confirmed MB-badged G1 figures, but almost ALL G1 packaged figures worldwide.

The Mysterious G1 Tracks Stickers

Generation 1 Transformers are magical. Not just the toys, but everything that surrounds them, to this day. The fact that I am finding it impossible to do a straightforward stickering of a vintage or reissue G1 toy without finding some mystery, inconsistency or long-ignored point of fascination is a credit to just how mad everything being produced at the time was, and just how much this hobby and this area of Transformers collecting still has to offer even seasoned enthusiasts. This is how I came to discover that most of us have been stickering G1 Tracks incorrectly for 33 years!