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.

Optimus From Yugoslavia - Part 1

In June 2014, that feeling came again. The feeling where everything you think you know about the limit of Generation 1 Transformers is once again lain to waste with the discovery, or rather uncovering, of an age-old lost section of vintage G1 variants. This time it was a boxed Generation 1 Optimus Prime from...Yugoslavia! Thanks to the Serbian Transformers community, this absolute gem of a hybrid variant was posted on TFW, and I couldn't wait to dive in and get involved. If it wasn't for the sharing and kindness of the Serbian TF community, there'd be nothing to report, so first off, my sincerest thanks to Danilo, Nikola and G1 Aerialbot for help with that auction, for information and communicating their knowledge.

Mexican G1 "Chrome Parts" Devastator Quickie

The Mexican Constructicons by Plasticos Iga are among the least rare of these lovely variety of vintage G1 Transformers variants. They were released as individually carded figures and also as a giftset, the only Iga giftset we know of. Heck, Devastator is the only Iga combiner we know of. These toys were exported to many countries including the UK, Germany, Holland, countries in Scandinavia and also the Balkans. These toys are of a different shade of green to Hasbro Constructicons, have no rubsigns, slight moulding differences here and there (Long Haul's grill is one that comes to mind) and have "JAPAN" blocked on their copyrights. What's really interesting though, is that a handful of these Devastators/Constructicons come with a few chromed parts, and not the normal drill or double-barrel missiles, but parts that were never chromed for Hasbro or Takara release. 

New Arrivals - Early July 2014 (Part 4)

Yet more Optimus Prime, but this time how about something that has never been seen before? I received a box just days ago where the contents far more closely resembled the type of Transformers I have been collecting for pretty much half my life. A box of vintage foreign variant G1 Transformers, and one in a box that had never been seen until about a month ago, buried for two and a half decades. Back in my comfort zone!

Ceji G1 "Yellow Devastator"

This is not Generation 2, and these are not Classic-era yellow and grey non-combining European Constructicons, which can be seen clearly in the above picture of the combined "G1 Yellow Devastator". That's right, "G1", look at the rubsigns. In 1986 before they folded, French toy company Ceji (by then Ceji Revell) agreed as part of the deal for Hasbro Bradley to take over their stock of Diaclone and licences for the mainland European region, to manufacture certain Transformers figures for release under "The Transformers" in countries such as France, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Spain, Austria and parts of Scandinavia. The Constructicons were part of that arrangement, except the memo about the colour was lost.