Mexican G1 "Smokestreak" Quickie

Smoke...Streak? Surely that's a mistake. Well, yes, it was a mistake, one that was repeated, repeated again, repeated to a slightly lesser degree and then finally corrected. It's actually a great shame that Plasticos Iga in Mexico ever bothered to correct their release of the Autobot Smokescreen because their 'mistakes' were sublime. The reason for the collector-given nickname "Smokestreak" is that while the toy is clearly presented in Smokescreen colours, three of the four versions of the Mexican toy actually had a large number of Bluestreak's moulding features, including one release that was 100% Bluestreak - just painted up in red, white and blue.

Diaclone "Police Sunstreaker"

 

There's obscure Diaclone, known-about but rarely-seen Diaclone, hyper-rare Diaclone, unjustifiably hyped and expensive Diaclone, and then there's the "Police Sunstreaker". Among Transformers collectors, unlike a number of Diaclone Car Robot variants that tend to evoke resentment due to inaccessibility, rarity, cost or just plain odd colours, the No.3 Car Robot Countach LP500S Patrol Car Type is famous. Famous for all the right reasons: It's beautiful, character-laden, can be had with just a little bit of an extra financial outlay than your standard Transformers rarity, pops up multiple times per year and is far enough removed from its Transformers successor that it ticks the exotic box. Quite frankly, it's one of the best Takara pre-Transformers ever released.

Canadian G1 "Red Slag"

If you're interested in time-honoured, well-known, much-loved vintage Generation 1 Transformers variants that seem to have been around longer than the hobby itself, you won't get much better than the Hasbro Canada late 1984 release of Dinobot Flamethrower Slag, or "Scories" as he was called on the Canadian packaging. Often considered cartoon-accurate (although he isn't completely), 'Red Slag' seems to become more popular as the years go by as folks take the opportunity to polish up certain corners of their near-complete G1 collections. Inevitably, its price has gone up too.

Recent Departures

If one is going to collect expensive, rare toys as a hobby, then one must accept that somewhere down the line certain things have to be sacrificed in order to continue collecting the high-end, obscure stuff, or one must switch to cheaper more accessible pursuits...or even cash in on the rare figures in one's collection and accept that other priorities take precedence at certain points in one's life.That's where I'm at, and here is a look at some of the special Transformers and Pre-Transformers items I've said goodbye to recently.