Ambassadors Part 6 - and my picks for Parts 5 and 6

This week on TFSource Blog sees the last chapter of the Ambassadors series, where contributors pick the one toy from a particular category that could be used as a representative to get others interested in the line or area. Last week the topic was 3rd Party and this week it's Cybertron, Beast Wars, Reissue exclusives and Transformers Watches. Since I don't have any experience of most of the categories across the 2 weeks, I've combined my choices for parts 5 and 6 into one post here. You can see tonight's brand new Part 6 HERE and last week's Part 5 HERE.

MASTERMIND CREATIONS (3rd Party)

MMC Bovis

MMC Fortis and Bovis

I just can't see any part of Feral Rex (Not-Predaking) - or any other 3rd Party combiner - surpassing the design of MMC Bovis. For a while there I thought Fortis was actually the better choice thanks to his colours, but Bovis was the first, his bovine horns add a really unforgettable shape to his head/helmet and the chest moulding is superior to that of Fortis in my opinion. For a 3rd Party toy, it's as close to a Masterpiece Predacon as I could imagine is possible, but those QC issues may have turned a couple of folks off. They weren't issues for everyone, not by a long way, and those who suffered were sorted out by MMC and their customer service. Only Quakewave stands above these boys as far as my 3rd Party experience goes. Jonny Napalm is right when he says folks should stop and think about just how good this toy is when a lot of us display it in leg mode. I hope he will always remain more Bovis than Feral Rex's leg to me, he deserves that and then some.

REISSUE EXCLUSIVES

C-78 Crystal Hot Rodimus

Or "Clear Hot Rod"

Lucky Draw Black Tracks? Not fair, it was a lucky draw. Tigertrack? Thought about it. Shining Magnus? Really really close. Crystal Rodimus? Definitely. Of all the reissue exclusive repaints and special figures I've had down the years, even the Black Tracks did not out-last Crystal Rodimus, he alone remains in my collection. This is the toy that inspired my first review, my first article. I may be mad for Diaclone, but I will always prefer Diaclone to their reissues, no matter how good the newer versions may be. Quality wise it was always a crap-shoot, not that Diaclone was of stellar quality anyway.

My choice of Crystal Rodimus is based on the fact that it ticks the right boxes, just as the minibot recolours did for Colin Pringle. He's a new colour, he's simply breathtaking in the flesh and eclipses the original toy, the packaging is nice and it's enough of a twist on a well-known and iconic toy/character that a collector would have cause to reconsider their previous stance of not dabbling in recolours, such is its presence. Another vital point is that it IMPROVES on the quality of the original Hot Rod toy, the spring-loaded spoiler/backpack is such a joy to handle, you cannot imagine until you have experienced it yourself. A great introduction to clear repaints for the uninitiated too.

TRANSFORMERS WATCHES

Ceji Joustra Diaclone "Kronoform"

Also known as Watch Robo

I may have only ever owned two moulds of watch from those that made it to Transformers, but there's only one choice for me. I have pictured the Joustra Diaclone version of the Watch Robo, called "Kronoform". This mould is probably known the world over by toy collectors thanks to a simply unending line of bootlegs and even official global releases. It was available in four colours for the original Watch Q line, there were further Takara releases in cubic packaging, four variants in Micro Change Series packaging, then the North American Kronoform line, Ceji Joustra Diaclone had 3 variants in Europe and it made it to Transformers too.

As beautifully simple a premise, and transformation, as you'd expect for a Transformers wrist watch. Digital watch to robot, with arguably as much articulation as most of the Generation 1 Transformers line! As Ras says, in my infinite wisdom I freed one from its vintage packaging and wore it on my wrist for a while. The only thing stopping me from continuing to do that is the fact that the battery connection had lost its vigour over the decades it sat in its cardboard prison. Every single collector should own one of this mould, it's just that cool.

Now if my Kronoform Scorpion watch wasn't sealed, it may have given me reason to reconsider...

Kronoform Scorpia (Ceji Joustra Diaclone Scorpion)

All the best
Maz