Plasticos IGA G1 Yellow "Tailgate"

The card says "Tailgate." The toy says "Windcharger." So which is it? As is the case so regularly with the Transformers manufactured by Mexican company Plasticos IGA, the answer is of course "both!" 

What you see there is the Mexican 1987 release of "Tailgate", the yellow variant, which was just a repaint of Windcharger instead of a full retool. The card has Spanish on it, although this particular specimen hails from the Netherlands, and you can see the price tag for the now-defunct Dutch supermarket chain Konmar on the card!

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.

Hasbro G1 Reissue Smokescreen - Devolution

In 2003, Hasbro released a reissue of the Generation 1 Autobot car Smokescreen as part of their Commemorative Series line of G1 sold exclusively in Toys 'R' Us. This was after Takara themselves had reissued Smokescreen in 2002 as part of the TF Collection book-style series. It was a wonderful time. The toy you see above is the Hasbro Commemorative reissue of Smokescreen, but with a slightly historical - and custom - twist applied by myself. So what's the story?

Ceji G1 "Puffer" Pipes

It's been a while, hasn't it? The longest period of time between Transformers articles from me for almost a decade, but it's taken quite a gorgeous and special vintage Generation 1 Transformers item to inspire me to write again. Since returning exclusively to collecting vintage G1 Transformers toys, I inevitably gravitated back towards my variant G1 and pre-G1 roots, but obviously with a modest budget there's only so much one can afford. Finding the above Ceji G1 Pipes - given the fan name "Puffer" - in a mixed lot of junkers was a touch of the good old days for me, and worthy of an article.