The Mysterious G1 Hound Stickers

I've wanted to sticker up a Generation 1 Hound for absolutely years, ever since I discovered an error with his vintage (and subsequent reissue) stickersheet. I've owned a Ceji Joustra Diaclone Jeep (European pre-G1 Diaclone Hound, effectively) for almost two decades now, but I haven't had a Transformers Hound for even longer than that, but I finally plugged that hole this year and was able to use the above Takara TF Collection reissue from 2004 to apply the stickers how I believe they were always intended to be applied. I fully believe that a vast majority of G1 Hounds out there today are incorrectly stickered as a result. Yes, it's another one of THOSE articles.

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 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?

The Mysterious G1 Tracks Stickers

Generation 1 Transformers are magical. Not just the toys, but everything that surrounds them, to this day. The fact that I am finding it impossible to do a straightforward stickering of a vintage or reissue G1 toy without finding some mystery, inconsistency or long-ignored point of fascination is a credit to just how mad everything being produced at the time was, and just how much this hobby and this area of Transformers collecting still has to offer even seasoned enthusiasts. This is how I came to discover that most of us have been stickering G1 Tracks incorrectly for 33 years!

Ceji G1 Bombshell

I'm re-treading the past again here on Square One. I first featured the Ceji-manufactured 1986 G1 Insecticon variants from Europe a few years ago as a set. The article on the Ceji G1 "Orange Chested" Insecticons was basically what the title suggested, a look at the French-made Insecticons produced by Ceji on behalf of Hasbro Bradley for the 1986 wave of Transformers in mainland Europe. The deeper and richer orange plastic on the chest canopies was always the draw of these variants, making the toys more closely resemble their box artwork compared to Hasbro's vintage Insecticons with a much more yellow translucent plastic. So why revisit the Ceji Bombshell?

Hasbro Walmart Exclusive G1 Hot Rod

Talk about a welcome surprise. Here we have the brand new, Walmart (and Hasbro Asia?) exclusive reissue of Generation 1 Hot Rod. Completely out of the blue, a surprise listing seen from an Asian retailer, and certainly not the first time he has been reissued. Takara first reissued “Hot Rodimus” for the Japanese market in 2000 with vintage-style G1 Takara Packaging. Hasbro then released it as "Rodimus Major" for Western markets in the Commemorative Series packaging. Takara then reissued a Targetmaster version for the TF Collection reissue series in 2004. There was no Encore reissue for Hot Rod, so although fans feel like we are constantly getting Hot Rod reissues, it’s actually been fourteen years since we got the last reissue G1 Hot Rod – the exact same amount of time from Hot Rod’s vintage 1986 release to the first reissue in 2000. Fourteen years.

C-310E Fire Guts God Ginrai

In Europe and the West, in 1988, we received Powermaster Optimus Prime and thought it was amazing. Japan, on the other hand, got Super Ginrai and then God Ginrai during the airing of Japanese Transformers series Super God Masterforce (or Chōjin Masterforce). Die cast, proper windows, chrome, retractable fists, generally better quality construction and an exclusive Godbomber figure too meant that for years the Japanese set was highly regarded and sought after. Then just after the turn of the century, Takara (because at that stage they were still just Takara) reissued C-310 God Ginrai as a giftset, and then came the exclusive recolour Fire Guts God Ginrai that you see here in 2002. Orange Powermaster Prime and orange Godbomber, if you'd like to oversimplify! 

New Arrivals - Mid July 2014 (Part 3)

I don't know why my first instinct was to post a disclaimer about this not being a 100% Animated haul post, because you should feel privileged if it was! The best TRANSFORMERS TOY line ever deserves to be made tribute to every single day of the week. In actual fact this is quite a varied series of bots that make up the back end of Transformers-Arriving-Endlessly-July, but Animated Cheetor being the looker that he is, earns the headline image.

Collector's Cards

One of the most appealing feature of collecting Japanese Transformers is the inclusion of collector's cards with most releases, from just after the start of the Takara vintage Generation 1 era all the way through reissues, Car Robots, Binaltech, Animated and present day Masterpieces with many other lines in-between. These cards would almost always feature attractive character artwork, character or toy specifications and backstory. Their highly collectible nature lends itself nicely to modern adult Transformers collecting and the need to preserve the condition, originality, prestige and completeness of our toys.

Macross One Year Project - Q1 Report 2014

 

After the first quarter of 2014, it looked as though the one year project to complete an entire vintage and reissue 1/55 Macross Valkyrie collection was highly possible and well ahead of schedule. But, no real additions to the collection in March, April and May due to other priorities have meant that what I had in March, is exactly what I still have now. The only difference is, I finally got everything out for some serious group photography.

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. 

Macross One Year Project - Mar Apr 2014

The Macross OYP ground to a halt in March and April, with the only really new items being either free gifts, or items that had been bought ages ago that finally got through administrative auction and proxy service red tape and arrived on my doorstep. All that means this will be a short update with only one real new addition.

Macross One Year Project - Feb 2014

  

I lied. February contained even more Macross 1/55s coming through the post than January, but some were purchased in January so I guess it's still where I did the bulk of the spending. At the rate I was going through reissues, and the regularity with which I was seeing everything on my wants list on auction or offered privately, I realised that the only obstacle was going to be budget and continued spending. Vintage Elint Seekers, Super Ostriches, Armoured Valkyries, Super Valkyries and even Max and Miriya VF-1J vintages were popping up often, but it was around February that I started to realise that the pace of purchase was beginning to harm my finances so things got a lot quieter after February. In the meantime, here's what showed up... 

Macross One Year Project - Jan 2014

If December was the month that I did the most research and learning about Macross 1/55 Valkyrie history, variants and reissues, prices and sources/resources, then the dawn of 2014 was the month in which I made the most purchases and built a solid foundation for the collection I was dreaming of. Literally dreaming of, and that's a weird sensation. I do this, I blitz a new interest and then look at the collateral damage, but having interests with attainable goals (read: justification) is a new thing to me that first started with IDW More Than Meets The Eye comic collecting. Here's January 2014's one year project progress.

Macross One Year Project - Dec 2013

 

With the decision to commit to buying every 1/55 reissue and vintage Macross Valkyrie made, I spent a great deal of my Christmas break looking at auctions, forums and sales pages. I was aware that Macross prices had tanked compared to the days where VF-1S Strikes could go for hundreds upon hundreds of dollars. It seemed as good a time as any to finally scratch that itch. And by good time, I mean the worst possible thing I could do to my finances and collection focus. But unless anyone in the room can point out to me where good decisions and toy collecting ever intersected, here's December 2013's project progress.

Ambassadors Part 6 - and my picks for Parts 5 and 6

This week on TFSource Blog sees the last chapter of the Ambassadors series, where contributors pick the one toy from a particular category that could be used as a representative to get others interested in the line or area. Last week the topic was 3rd Party and this week it's Cybertron, Beast Wars, Reissue exclusives and Transformers Watches. Since I don't have any experience of most of the categories across the 2 weeks, I've combined my choices for parts 5 and 6 into one post here. You can see tonight's brand new Part 6 HERE and last week's Part 5 HERE.