A Big Reveal (Part 2)

Puerto Pollensa, the island of Mallorca, Spain 2006. A sunny afternoon, a beach-side souvenir shop, a gumball machine and a bootleg yellow and blue Transformers G1 minibot Beachcomber. Words cannot express the surprise we all felt (except Matt, a non-collector, this must have been his worst nightmare) at finding something so topical - as it was a period of much variant discovery - in the most unlikely of places. But how to get at it? 

25+ Euros and a million tennis balls  later...

The answer was simple, Ras would pile as many 1 Euro coins into the gumball machine as it took to release the yellow and blue Beachcomber KO from its captivity. Something about the whole experience seemed like it was worth recording, so before he started emptying his pockets into the incredibly reluctant machine, we decided to document every single attempt he made to free Beachcomber. 

Beachcomber. Found by the beach.

With the yellow and blue Beachcomber KO finally in hand, the questions could begin. Was it G1-sized? Yes, perfectly, not in any way shape or form under or over-sized. Was it a kit? No, it came pre-assembled and in this case, in a sealed gumball with no paperwork and unique stickers already applied. Any copyrights? Of course not. Quality? Nowhere near official quality, but not as shabby as some - and perfectly transformable, although Ras never transformed it on the holiday, it wasn't until he got back to the UK and some time later that I finally got to see it in robot mode.

Pic courtesy of Ras

A beautiful contrast of yellow and light blue, this thing really does stand out. Immediate differences to a Transformers Beachcomber are the stickers on the hood and also on the roof. The wheels are 100% moulded and therefore there are no rubber tyres. The headlight location and moulding is completely different too, with them being part of the knees as opposed to being connected where the wheels meet the hood. Also, there is no grill pattern on the sidepods/outer arms, that surface is complete smooth and lacks detail. 

Pic courtesy of Ras

Robot mode is even more special than the vehicle mode as the yellow comes into its own. You can see the foil finish on the leg stickers, the unique chest sticker, lack of paint apps on the face, the lack of moulding detail on the forearms and abdomen compared to a regular Hasbro Beachcomber. Bits of plastic flash are evident here and there too.

Pic courtesy of Ras

The question remains, is this a vintage KO or a more recent one? It being available at a form of "retail" and being of such different moulding to the original would suggest a more recent origin. Also, the colour scheme is very reminiscent of the 2005/2006 Mild Seven Renault Formula 1 team where Spanish superstar driver Fernando Alonso won the world championship in those years, resulting in Spain having some of the highest F1 viewing figures in the world in that period and ever since. Alonso and Renault were massive in Spain during 2005/6. We saw many Renault F1 bootleg toys during that holiday.

The thing is, recent discovery has shown this wasn't the only available colour scheme...

End of Part 2

All the best
Maz