Fans Hobby MasterBuilder MB-03B The Red Dragon

This tremendous looking beast is Fans Hobby's "Red Dragon". Designated MB-03B in the MasterBuilder series (basically Masterpiece-alike), it is their repaint of Feilong/Doublecross into a Beast Wars Transmetal 2 Megatron. There was already a show exclusive MB-03A, but this has a slightly different deco and is mass release. You can read my review of the base mould for Feilong separately, as I'll be focusing on this toy's looks and features for this review as opposed to an in-depth rundown of the mould itself.

MMC Reformatted R-28 Tyrantron / Tyrantronus

2017 has been the year of Megatron. We've had the glorious Masterpiece MP-36, we've had Spark Toys version of the War Within Megatron and now MMC give us the long-awaited IDW Megatron as seen in the pages of More Than Meets The Eye/Lost Light, Chaos Theory and Megatron origin...R-28 Tyrantron/Tyrantronus. MMC have been going at the Lost Light cast and crew something fierce, with the DJD, Turben (Whirl), Calidus (Rodimus) and more to come. Tyrantron is a major draw for lovers of the title, especially as James Roberts writes Megatron in an absolutely compelling, complex and multi-faceted way that has brought him to life for me and others in a way little other TF fiction ever did before. Tyrantron is a big deal.

MakeToys MTRM-11 Meteor

When MakeToys revealed their intentions to do a Masterpiece-style Starscream, it was seen as a very bold statement of intent. One that indicated the Boys at M'Toys not only felt they could improve upon the official MP-3 and MP-11 iterations of Masterpiece Starscream - in itself something most believed wholly possible - but also convince enough collectors to buy it and replace the expensive incumbent to make the project worthwhile. Well, Meteor - formerly Howling Meteor - was released in short supply at TFCon just recently and is due for full release later next month. I've got the figure in question right now, so it a success or a howler? 

Masterpiece MP-36 Megatron - Full Gallery

Welcome to my complete TakaraTomy Transformers Masterpiece MP-36 Megatron gallery, in celebration of reaching 7000 likes on the Transformers Square One Facebook page. I actually had not planned to purchase this figure, such was the expense in getting it to me in Iceland (no pre-order, international shipping, customs etc). I was also concerned about inevitable damage from handling and the fact that some had paint wear straight out of the box. My recent experiences with other paint-flaking MPs did not help. I wrote a whole article about the feelings I was having regarding this purchase. 

Decepticon Rock Band (aka Animated Resurgence)

Transformers and music have never been too far apart. The Autobots had Jazz and Blaster in the original G1 cartoon, Tracks had Raoul, even Soundwave, Laserbeak and Rumble were spotted partying with humans in a night club. It should have come as no surprise to see the lighthearted - but deeply serious - Transformers Animated intertwine Soundwave's character so intimately with music. So much so, in fact, that his Laserbeak companion in Animated was a Gibson Flying V electric guitar. Genius. The repaint of Soundwave, Electrostatic Soundwave (basically Soundblaster), had a keytar that changed into Ratbat. Again, pure genius. Despite that, the collective surprise at the SDCC 2014 exclusive Knights Of Unicron set must have been palpable. A Transformers rock band. Tonight, we're looking at the madcap rock god Megatron, the repainted Animated Laserbeak and Ratbat that come with that set.

Recent Departures - New Year 2015

A few more finalised and significant sales to help me towards affording a property in the near future and also to pay for my daughter's first term at part-time nursery. And Masterpiece Skywarp. What a ridiculous price tag. For both! First departure was the above Diaclone police type Countach LP500S (Police Sunstreaker). It sold for $1475 shipped and had been the subject of many an authentic upgrade from yours truly. I had added better styro, better fists, unbroken shoulder attachments, unused missiles with the correct white plastic base, unused stickersheet and instructions. Only the box, car and driver were from original acquisition. One day, one day I'll keep one for myself. I guess this one was always in the shadow of my first Police Sunstreaker, a toy so mint it still makes me cry.

Takara G1 "16 Megatron"

Takara's 1985 G1 Megatron, designated 16, is a wonderful thing. It has no chrome and is so much noticeably heavier than its chromed Hasbro counterpart since it still retains the bullet firing mechanism. That's right, it comes with bullets. Basically, this is the Transformers release of the Micro Change Series grey MC-12 Walther P38 Gunrobo. You can see the complete lack of stock attachments, and instead the retention of MC-12's sword. The box artwork is unique, not too unlike the MC-12 artwork and nothing like the Hasbro Megatron/MC-13 UNCLE artwork. It's shown with red inner legs, but of course this version sports blue plastic. 

New Arrivals - Early December 2014 (Part 2)

Some great deals to be had in December, there always is. One of the best auctions I ever won was in Christmas week from Japan, and a very well-priced Ceji Joustra Battle Convoy on Christmas day. Not quite that order of magnitude to compare to this year, but at least the quality of the figures remains high. The Evolution 2-pack Evasion Mode Optimus Prime above, MP Bumblebee, a massively underrated Diaclone car variant, a 3rd party show exclusive that I can't believe I bought and a Megatron. A real, original, proper man's man Megatron.

New Arrivals - Early December 2014 (Part 1)

It's not just been 3rd Party stuff coming in of late, I've definitely rediscovered my love of the Transformers movie lines, and filling gaps in burgeoning collection directions has been a theme of late. In addition to the kind of toys you see int he above image - Human Alliance, Animated and Age of Extinction - you will see the most ridiculous addition so far in these posts.

TF Animated: Fight Of Start!

This isn't an easy giftset to find and then justify the price for. The toys within are not vastly different in moulding or appearance to anything that isn't already easily available from Hasbro, but for those who love the Cybertronian Mode Animated Optimus Prime deluxe or the Cybertronian Mode Animated Megatron deluxe, it's a big deal. This is the Japanese Takara Tomy Animated "Fight of Start" giftset - or at least that's what I'm calling it thanks to the gramatically incorrect English text on the back of the box. I guess it kind of acts as TT's answer to the Hasbro "Battle Begins" giftset in the US and Europe where the Earth mode deluxe Prime and Cybertronian deluxe Megatron were packaged together with the DVD.

TF Animated Lucky Draw Gold Optimus and Megatron

Even the most available, recent and relatively cheap line of Transformers toys will have its expensive exclusives, rarities or prize version figures. Usually in Japan. Transformers Animated is absolutely no exception, in fact exclusive figures make up a very noticeable part of a complete collection. They aren't always just regular characters in special colours, very often the US exclusives like the TFCC or BotCon figures were brand new Animated characters making them completely essential. What we have here though are the Japanese Takara Tomy exclusive gold chromed 'Lucky Draw' deluxe Earth mode Optimus Prime and deluxe Cybertronian mode Megatron, both limited to 1000 pieces each, which is actually quite a lot for a Lucky Draw figure.

New Arrivals - October 2014

Mercifully haven't done one of these posts for a while as they were literally taking over the blog, and October has been much slower in terms of arrivals which again I am pleased with, but here's a quick run down of what's new. In this first picture you can see a number of figures already reviewed on this blog like Human Alliance Leadfoot, KO Animated Activators Lockdown and the wonderful die cast KO Activators Bumblebee, but also a sealed Takara Tomy Animated Electrostatic Soundwave, sealed Hasbro Animated Rodimus Minor and sealed Hasbro Animated Ironhide (none of which are sealed any more) and Hasbro Animated Skywarp.

Japanese TF Oddities - Post #100!

Even though I've never actively collected Japanese Transformers toys or paraphernalia (not counting Diaclone), it doesn't mean I haven't come across a few interesting and sometimes rare bits of Takara Transformers peripheral goodness. Not quite what I had in mind for post #100 but here's a quick look back, and I do mean quick.

New Arrivals - Mid June 2014

 

Diaclone, Macross, Comics, Animated - this is the new obsession, and it's BRILLIANT. All the UK dealers I know have tonnes of Animated and they can barely sell it because everyone has been offloading collections of the stuff, sealed specimens are cheap and it's possible to get ten times as much toy for £80 than any Leo Dux could ever be, I don't care how good it is. Luckily Animated is very good, with every deluxe a reminder of just what's possible for toys of that scale. Here are the last batch of purchases that arrived.

New Arrivals - Early June (Part 2)

This is a big one today, not just a small post with one picture of each new arrival. I am currently getting in so much Transformers Animated (and other things!) that I can't keep up with the blog posting the way I was able to when I had virtually no new toys to speak about so I could plunder my photo archives. I've gone from 2 TF Animated toys to over 40 in two weeks. I even had to dedicate this week's TFSource Blog article to Animated. So here we are, the second batch of significant arrivals.

Transformers GT

 

Ignored, under-appreciated, maligned, ridiculed, misunderstood. Just some of the terms you could use to describe how Transformers GT was met by the majority of the Transformers collecting community. Unfortunately the line used a mould from Transformers Alternity that had already been massively milked for repaints, increased the price to almost unacceptable levels for even those who showed an interest, and then got released during the height of Takara Tomy's Masterpiece output. Didn't stand a bloody chance.