Goodbye Binaltech

From the very beginning I've been a fan of Binaltech and Alternators, and even when I sold off the latter in one of my many culls, the Binaltech survived. They survived everything, the Diaclone sales, the G1 sell-off, the Animated, CHUG, Movie, artwork and reissue clearouts...you name it, Binaltech stayed. They were at the core of everything I held dear as a Transformers, Generation 1 and model car enthusiast. I even wrote a slew of detailed articles on TFSource Blog to summarise the series up to BT-18 here, here, here, here, here and here, and made a lot of friends by writing the articles at the time of release for TF-1.com here. Having previously declared to the world why I would never sell them here, I have now put virtually all of them up for sale and already said goodbye to a fair few. 

New Arrivals - Late January 2015

After a barrage of Masterpiece purchases and 3rd party review samples, the back end of January 2015 has been quiet in terms of new toys, and that's great news as it gives one the opportunity to go back and appreciate what's been bought, reviewed or long since locked in storage. The recent Human Alliance appreciation is a result of that. However, that said, when a couple of sealed Animated deluxes which usually command higher than average Animated prices - namely Swindle and Samurai Prowl - were offered in the UK, I jumped on them. I've wanted a sealed Swindle since he became one of my Ten Holy Animated Deluxe moulds (Blurr, Swindle, Cyb Optimus, Bumblebee, Lockdown, Rodimus, Ironhide, Earth Ratchet, Oil Slick, Arcee and Soundwave. Is that 11? Screw you). Samurai Prowl was bought because of the exceptionally good price. And that's it, really.

Bootleg TF Animated Goodies

My infatuation with bootleg Transformers Animated toys from China continues, and a shopping spree on Taobao has lead to a number of choice - and mostly utterly garbage- purchases, but what they all have is character, charm and comedy value. They were also all pretty damn cheap, well they were before internal postage, international shipping and agent fees. Then they were more than official figures. Great. 

TFCC Barricade

Officially. One. Of. The. Best. Repaints. In the history of repaints. And that is all it is, there is no fancy new head sculpt or re-modeled bodily or vehicular features, the Transformers Collector's Club Barricade of 2014 is a straight-up repaint of Beast Hunters Prowl, itself a retool of Beast Hunters Smokescreen. The Collector's Club re-imagined the figure as Barricade and I have rarely seen a mould re-purposed with such success. I wrote on the TFSource Blog a few weeks back Why Repaints were bought by collectors, and Barricade is the finest example of how some paint and re-purposing can elevate a great figure to an exceptional figure.

New Arrivals - Mid-September 2014 (Part 1)

After buying every comic-related appearance of Shane McCarthy's brand new IDW Transformers character "Drift" in almost every cover variant available, it was about time I bought the toy! But that's for a different dedicated post, I also came into possession of my seemingly favourite thing in the world, more repaints.

New Arrivals - Early September 2014 (Part 2)

For some reason packages are taking much longer to arrive, but the good thing is that whatever arrives allows me time to photograph properly with its mould mates. At the moment I am all about mould completion. This chapter on arrivals includes the Beast Hunters Smokescreen/Prowl deluxe mould, the Minicon Six Speed mould, FOC Data Discs and Animated Starscream. 

Protectobot Streetsmart Quickie

Here are a few pictures of the upcoming Hasbro Transformers Protectobots Emergency Response "Streetsmart", once upon a time known as "Streetwise", back when G1 Protectobots made some big fellow named Defensor. This toy will be released with a repaint of TF Prime Robots In Disguise Ratchet as "First Aid" and a repaint of Cyberverse Arcee as "Groove". Streetsmart himself is a repaint of the Beast Hunters Prowl mould - itself a later version of Beast Hunters Smokescreen. The set is believed to be due for release in mid-September 2014.

Transformers in Iceland 2014

Another summer in Reykjavik, Iceland, and another tour of the local Transformers haunts that have become my sole link to the hobby when I spend time with the in-laws on this bizarre island in the North Atlantic. In the past I've seen American import movie figures, Animated and other such modern goodies that stores here in the UK could only dream of. The main source of good TFs in Iceland is the collector's store Nexus, and I interviewed Svenni who runs the place for TFSource a couple of years ago here. The main supermarket chain Hagkaup occasionally has items of interest (Premium series 2007 Movie) but for a few years their selection has been poor, and Toys 'R' Us Reykjavik even moreso, and that's to say nothing of the astronomical prices. Here's my summary of what I found in July/August 2014 in Iceland.

New Arrivals - Early August 2014

It's been so long since my last post (end of holiday in Iceland, crisis of collecting faith, Auto Assembly) that I'm no longer sure what toys arrived when, but I've got some pictures so it's easy enough to cobble together an update! I've got a post coming where I will show what was available in Iceland in terms of Transformers at retail, then something on Auto Assembly 2014, so between these posts hopefully nothing will fall through the cracks, neither on the blog nor in my actual collection.

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.

Masterpiece Autobot Cars Pictorial - May 2014

  

Exactly what it says on the tin, a very short pictorial of all the Takara Tomy Masterpiece Cybertron Cars (Autobot Cars) we've had so far displayed alongside each other in both modes. What this serves to do is show just what the potential for this series is when we finally get to Wheeljack and Bumblebee, some actual new moulds. Before we get that far though, we'll have MP-18S, the toy-accurate G1 all silver Bluestreak. That will make it 4 - 4 between the Datsuns and the Countaches, so August and MPs 20 and 21 cannot come soon enough. Oh, MP-10 Hasbro Optimus Prime is in there too. Enjoy!

New Arrivals - Early May 2014

Long time no new toys, and I still haven't bought anything. So step in the wonderful Mr JB Martin to send me a timely box of 3 unused loose reissue Commemorative Series Autobot cars. Just in time for my upcoming birthday, I can't even put into words how happy this package made me when I opened it yesterday, so unexpected it was, and such a hole they fill from all the G1 car-based Diaclones I have sold recently, leaving me with virtually no representation for these toys. 

RID "Car Brothers" Pictorial

Tonight's TFSource Blog article "Blast From The Past" was entirely inspired by a friend of mine bringing back my RID Side Burn, Prowl and X-Brawn after over a decade of having them in his garage. To quote from the article: ''Car Robots is now almost as old as Generation 1 was when Car Robots first came out''. Profound, no?

Diaclone "Prowl" Quickie

The original Takara Diaclone Car Robot No.13 Police Car Fairlady Z was released in Japan around June 1983, commonly referred to as "Diaclone Prowl" thanks to this toy's eventual use in the 1984 Hasbro Transformers line as the Autobot Strategist. The image above, as ridiculous as it seems, is not the Japanese toy but the Italian GiG release of this figure sporting its outrageously and inappropriately large orange and black safety boppers. For this post, we'll be looking at the Italian version of this release.

Mexican G1 "Black Prowl" Quickie

Another variant from yesteryear that seems to have been around forever, the Mexican "Black Prowl" from the G1 Transformers range manufactured by Plasticos Iga. Released in 1985 in Mexico and widely exported into Europe, this is as well known as G1 variants come. There are 3 confirmed variations of this toy and one a little less confirmed, but the overall appeal is that Mexico created a G1 Prowl with Spanish text on the factory stickers and a mostly black colour scheme, especially a black robot helmet.

Selling Art Is Hard

When Alternators and Binaltech were huge, I bought as much original box artwork for the Alternators toy line as I could get my hands on. Why? For investment purposes? Hell no, have you seen the artwork for Alternators? Created by Transformers comic and toy industry legends Marcelo Matere, Alex Milne and Guido Guidi amongst others, they were the lovechild of the best official TF artists around and the best looking Transformers toys we'd had in years. If I had not bought them at the time when they were offered by the artists themselves at conventions, I might have lost the chance to get them forever. Having these pieces of unobscured, full-size history was the mightiest honour and pleasure an Alternators/Binaltech fan could experience. And I loved them, and displayed them fully.