A Treasure Chest Full of Transformers!
A week or so ago, I cracked open the Treasure Chest, which sits in my living room and serves as my TV stand. I showed off some of the contents of the Chest in this story here, but now I will show you the rest...
In order for us to be ready to leave town, the Treasure Chest must be properly packed up in preparation for relocation. As mentioned, the Treasure Chest is filled with roughly 85% original Transformers toys from the 1980's.
Some of them are from my childhood, but most were acquired during the years of 1996-2002, thanks to this place:
I covered the subject of Xeno in my story about Capitol Hill, a few days ago, where I mentioned that this store changed my collecting. Which is absolutely true.
After seeing what Xeno carried for inventory, and how it was displayed, that was the collection I wanted. And my collection started to grow quickly. One of the first sources was the ancient Usenet Newsgroup: alt.toys.transformers, accessed via America Online dial up internet, in 1996. After moving to Colorado, I was able to draw from outlets such as Xeno, and several other antique and collectible toy stores around Denver, and other parts of the country.
Toy Boy is Anoka, Minnesota, has also provided quite a few Transformers to my Museum over the years. During several Minnesota vacations, I always made plans to stop by while in town to see what Toy Boy had in stock.
But as of now, the most important thing is to get all of this stuff securely packed and ready for transport.
On May 4, 2013, I last opened the Treasure Chest in order to photograph all of it. So for the purpose of this story, very little of the pictures are new. I'm glad I saved all this time for myself five years ago...
As I unpacked the Chest, I noticed the cats showing actual interest in something. As I unloaded everything onto the floor, I imagined the cats were each leading their respective toy army's into battle...
While Gracie sets up last minute directives, at her base camp, located on north-central futon.
What neither side realized until later on, was that I was playing the role of America in their conflict. Selling the same weapons to both sides, in order to profit off other's needless war!
Both Gracie and Oliver realized this and reached an historic treaty. Oliver got control of the bed for afternoon napping...
When I placed Optimus Prime, Megatron, Soundwave, Kickback and a boxed Beast Wars Megatron, on top of my stereo.
By November 1999, the Transformers Museum had grown to take up three plastic shelves at Kenyon.
In May, 2003, I was packing up the Transformers Museum at Kenyon, in preparation to move it all to Minnesota. (Just as I'm doing in May 2018...)
As the 1990's advanced, there was new money to be made from the Transformers name. The brand received a nice boost when the toy line was revived in 1996 with Beast Wars. Since those toys were selling well, and the cartoon was a success, Transformers: Beast Wars expanded greatly in the late 1990's.
My issue with a lot of the toys is they don't look like what they are supposed to be disguised as, because so much attention was paid to making the robot action figure looking cool. Instead of the reverse, as the case was with the original toyline.
The red fire breathing dragon is a much better look for Megatron (since he can no longer be a handgun), than the T-Rex of the original Beast Wars line...
The TransMetals were popular, and looked cool, if unlike what they were supposed to look, but the Beast Machines improved on that.
And that sums up my whole problem with the Beast Wars line. It was Transformers in name, but wasn't quite cutting it...
In 2002, Hasbro's Transformers started to get it right. Scrapping their strange obsession with Transforming animals, and returning to the vehicle concept that made them millions in the 1980's. The Robots In Disguise line came out and it was the return of cars and trucks that turn into robots and hate each other!
I bought and kept a bunch of them, because they were cool new Transformers (their accompanying "Japanimation" cartoon for this toy line was obnoxiously BAD).
The RID line was short lived, as it quickly changed into the Energon line. Which meant a new cartoon and a new comic book, in addition to new toys.
Hasbro was starting to wise up on how to make these new toy lines successful. Base some of them off of characters that are familiar! Sure it's a no-brainer to have main characters based on Optimus Prime and Megatron. But Hasbro was trying to invent new characters, and try to make people care about them...
Sure, you could take that new pickup truck based toy, paint it blue, white and grey (or any three colors) and name him "Truck-Or" or whatever, and who cares? No one! But when I saw a new Transformers toy truck, with a color scheme and name based on the old character Rodimus Prime... Well, I'm going to pick that up and look at it it. And if the toy is cool enough, I'll buy it.
To illustrate that point even further, by mid-2003, to tie in with their big Transformers story push on TV and in comic books, for the newest line: Armada. Hasbro FINALLY made an action figure for Unicron!
After 15 years of being the one toy Transformers fans always wanted, but was unreasonable due to the expense of doing it correctly, versus the amount of interest there would be in such a toy. And the issue of how to design it came to a nice conclusion that was a barrier in 1986.
Don't worry about the scale... Don't try to make a large round globe... And keep the retail at around $50, so I can buy two. One to open for display, and one to keep sealed...
2003 Unicron is an awesome toy, I have two of them (both sealed) that I purchased for $49.95 at the Englewood Kmart (R.I.P.).
Anyone who saw pictures of the Unicron prototype toy from 1986 is grateful that abomination was never made... (Thanks to seibertron.com for the image)
Not all of the Transformer ideas of they came out with in the early 2000's were good. The Transformers Universe line was kind of a mess of weird animal weapon combinations...
Razorclaw is some sort of panther with giant cannons attached to his sides... Making him look far more like a spaceship than anything... Oh well, Razorclaw's identity crisis is Mile High Comics problem now...
From 2007-2011, classic toys were redone with today's technology, creating updated original toys that looked like the originals in both robot and vehicle form. These toys were great, and I'm still looking for any I don't have.
Earlier I mentioned reading alt.toys.transformers on Usenet via AOL, in 1996. It was from that source that I seriously began acquiring classic Transformers. The prices were better in the newsgroups than they were from the few online retailers of the day, and ebay didn't really become a thing until 1998.
In late 1997, my growing collection was missing the yearly toy catalogs that Hasbro packaged with boxed Transformers. I posted a request and soon was given an offer to buy the first 4 Transformers catalogs for $20, shipped. Sounds good to me!
Now that we have our study guides, it's time to dive into the World of Transformers... The original stuff from the 1980's!
Might as well start with the television cartoon that I found endlessly entertaining as a kid, providing the foundation for this collection...
Back in May, 2000, I scored what I believed to be a massive coup on my part... I bought a who-knows-what-generation VHS set of all Transformers cartoons off ebay... Had I just waited 4 more years, the DVD's would have come out...
I was so happy to get these 7 VHS tapes in a large box in the mail... And I was really disappointed in how little of it was watchable...
But that was a sign of the times. 20 years ago, barely anything was at your fingertips. You had to work for the cool stuff that you wanted. I wanted a copy of all the original Transformers cartoons that I could watch whenever I wanted. In order to make that happen, I had to find someone that had previously gone through the work and effort of finding copies of all the episodes. He likely had searched high and low to put his collection together, then had to work to put it all in order, then had to sit there and duplicate all of it.
The Transformers Movie came out in 1986, and I was on board to immediately purchase a used rental copy, the instant I found a VHS rental place ready to sell me one in 1987... And now I don't remember which one it was... I'm REALLY tempted to say it was purchased from the Super America gas station at Northdale and Hanson in Crapids...
And a cereal bowl from the Go-Bots... Not Transformers, but a worthy piece. This was my parent's cat's (Kitty) dry food dish for many years. But now it's back in the Treasure Chest.
The left side of dish shows Zod. Who was like some bigger battery operated thing that flipped around like it was having a seizure. Until you pushed the red button on it's tummy, that would stop the seizures...
Few of these survived, but I still have four of the mini rubber "Decoy" figures that came packaged with certain carded Transformers back in the original run. I usually pose them with my remaining Battle Beast...
And as a card collector, I have to have some original 1985 series Transformers action cards... This pack is opened, just put back together through the magic of Photoshop!
In trying to figure out a way to go through my 67 original Transformers, and show them off here. I've decided that best way to do this is...
I HATED these two toys as a kid. Neither character were brought into the TV series or comic book, and they existed thanks to the lame "Jumpstarter" gimmick. Pull them back on a flat surface, they speed forward, then jump up into robot form on their own. I disliked these toys so much that I repeatedly tuned down chances at buying them, even at decent prices...
Until a 2007 ebay auction that packaged both together, with their original boxes, with shipping, that was less than the two original price tags on the boxes added together.
Another gimmick Transformer in the kin of the Jumpstarters. Only now they were called Throttlebots, and did about the same thing as Jumpstarters, only they didn't jump.
I never liked Dirge the toy, or the character in the cartoon or comic book. He was always depicted as a dumbass, and the ugly tan wings don't work with the blue and black of the body. Make those wings blue, black or silver and you's got something...
The weakest of the three Decepticon Triple Changers, by far... The robot mode looks terrible, the tanker truck looks even worse and the plane is just passably bad. This toy should have never made it past the planning stage. No wonder he wasn't allowed on TV, and barely made a cameo in the comic book. Octane was a somewhat reasonable Toy Boy purchase in 2002.
Blurr barely gets feet, but more than Brawn... My Blurr is missing the shield, which doubles as the front end of the car mode. Without it, this toy looks really stupid. Especially since Blurr's arm flaps are really loose and wont stay in place on their own. Key character in the TV series, it's a shame the toys sucks so much...
In the 1987 run of toys, Hasbro made a set of "twins" for both the Autobots and Decepticons. Each would like very similar in robot mode, but would turn into different things. In this case a cougar and an eagle. I never really liked Pounce & Wingspan very much (I do remember buying them at the Northtown Mall Montgomery Wards for a really good price), but one of these twins would figure in on a very valuable parts trade...
A cheap ebay pick up that I would have probably turned down had the massively damaged card not been included...
Another gimmicky Throttlebot... Goldbug ranks higher because he was given a backstory. In the comic series, Bumblebee was kidnapped by Cobra (of G.I. Joe fame, in a Marvel crossover) in a Decepticon plot, led by Shockwave. His body was destroyed and put back together by G.I. Joe, and then good things happened to good people... And stuff...
The Autobots answer to Soundwave (to me) came across like Tonka's (Go-Bots) answer to Hasbro (Transformers). Blaster was an overly large and boxey toy, that could have easily been shrunk down considerably to accomplish the same thing. I can't stand Blaster as a toy, despite him getting a great push in both the cartoon and comic book.
But combined into Superion, is something I'm just not a fan of... The toy is loose and floppy, and not JUST because I'm using a bunch of knockoff parts... You see, back when Wingspan had to make a difficult sacrifice for the greater good, Superion too was asked to give what many would consider to be too much...
Pipes is a descendent of Huffer. Using a similar template, but not the same pieces to come up with a robot/truck that look similar, yet are different. Hasbro could have gone cheap here, but I like the way these two toys were made.
Huffer is a surviving toy from childhood. This one came from the Ben Franklin store at the Northdale Shopping Center in Crapids.
Okay, this one is ranked too low... I took away points for the incomplete legs, but that Insecticon beetle mode is so awesome that I needed to put more points back... This character has gotten a couple of reissues in various new Transformers toy lines, but always goes by the name "Hardshell" these days...
A main character in the movie and cartoon, but one I was never a big fan of... I got the toy off ebay in 1998 for next to nothing because the seller misspelled Transformers, and didn't know what this was. Unfortunately, none of the stickers came with, nor did his gun. But I paid less to have Kup shipped to me in 1998, than I would have paid for a pack of smokes that same day!
Powerglide was a good toy for the mini-car class. I liked the contrast between his highly posable arms and his completely immobile legs. Powerglide arrived in my collection from a long closed toy shop on the 4200 block of south Broadway, in December 1997, when Trav was visiting from Minnesota. Set me back a major $5, and the price tag is still on him.
Thrust is similar to Dirge in that Hasbro took the same Decepticon Jet body, and cast some new shaped plastic snap on wings, then called it a new character. I liked Thrust a lot more than Dirge, despite my Thrust missing a bunch of pieces.
A Summer 1998 visit to a Denver Savers (a large scale thrift store) toy aisle led me to pick up both Grapple, and another very significant original Transformer, packaged together in the same plastic baggie for $5. No accessories for either, but both unbroken and in great condition. I'll tell you who the other one was, as soon as we get to that spot in the Whatever!
This was one of the first Transformers I bought after moving to Denver in 1996. Ironically enough, Kickback was an incentive, after I made a big purchase with someone on alt.toys.transformers. I'll tell you what that purchase was later in the Whatever...
For X-Mess one year, I got the Transformers Electric Train Set. Issued in cooperation between Hasbro and Tyco, each of the 4 train cars also "Transformed":
You would set up the oval train track on this carboard mat. I always love the messed up perspective on these things. That dam is damn hilarious!
For whatever reason, Hasbro didn't license any actual Transformers to Tyco, so the train set came packaged with a selection of generic rubber robots. Many of which were exact duplicates... These were very disappointing. Had they gone with a selection of actual Transformers, this would have been a much better piece overall.
Pieced together off ebay in the summer of 1999. The Terrorcons were just a bunch of weird looking monster things that combined into the bigger robot Abominus. This was a gimmick that Hasbro used multiple times. And it's great marketing on their part: Sure you can just buy one of the figures and it's a stand alone piece... But if you want to make the big super cool toy, your parents have to buy you all FIVE! Start begging now!
One of the four "Deluxe" Insecticons, that never got any play on TV or in Comic Books... The toys themselves were cheaply made, Which pretty much sums up why I've had very little interest in collecting the Deluxe Insecticons for the Museum.
On July 29, 2000, Good friend of Four Baggers, Robert Smith married his girlfriend in the backyard of her parents house. On my drive home, I stopped at (what would later become) Darrell's Toys. It had been a while since I checked out what his store had. They had Ransack. Which would set me back $30 because it came with the original box, which was in decent enough shape.
In the little bio written up on Cosmos's "Tech Spec" card, it lists "flying over human's backyards in the middle of the night, to scare them" as one of Cosmos's hobbies. I liked that idea, even as a little kid... Thus, Cosmos will always be one of my favorite Transformers. This is not my original, which was bought at the great Holiday Superstore in Fridley, MN, back in the mid 1980's. That Cosmos broke.
Hound should rank higher. After all, take a good look at the Jeep. That thing rules. Now take a look at the robot... Did Hasbro forget to give Hound arms? Should be such a better toy...
Hasbro did a much better job with this Triple Changer, than what they gave us in Octane. The tank looks good, the plane looks good, the robot is... Passable. It's very top-heavy, and is difficult to convince to stand on his own.
My ebay edition did not come with stickers applied. Which always bothered me. As a kid, the highlight of getting a new Transformer was applying the stickers. No matter how poor of a job you'd end up doing... I've seen so many that have never been applied, it makes me wonder who would simply choose to not put them on?
My first and only unopened original Transformer. A relatively cheap ebay purchase from the late 1990's, Runabout was a Battlecharger, which was another Hasbro euphemism for Jumpstarter or Throttlebot. They all did the same thing... Poorly...
From the first 1984 wave of Transformers, the "Tech Spec" bio card for Trailbreaker (an off-road 4 Wheel Drive truck) mentions that "due to his high fuel consumption, Trailbreaker is often left behind on missions..." As a kid, that thought amused me. Trav told me that Trailbreaker was the only Transformer he owned. Around the time of his birfday in 1998, I bought Trailbreaker from Xeno for myself. In his honor!
Another survivor from the 1980's. This Tracks was purchased from Kay Bee Toys inside the Mariner Mall in Superior Wisconsin, likely in 1986. However, this middle aged Corvette has a difficult time standing these days, due to a bad hip. Overall, he's got a few miles on him, but he's in good shape. Unfortunately, his chocking hazardly small missiles have been missing for decades. I hope no one choked on them...
Another of those quintuplet gimmicks... Five insane and EVIL vehicles combine to make a big evil robot. What's not to love? The Stunticons were good toys, realistic cars and decent -yet simple- robots. However, Motormaster (the black, gray and purple semi) was a swing and a miss. The boxy toy (lower right) was clunky and far too small for what it was supposed to be. Understandably, it had to "fit in" with the design of Menasor, but the character was written as being single mindedly obsessed with taking out Optimus Prime, so he could rule the road. Great evil character motivation for a kids toy. But something that strong deserves better than this toy...
I screwed up... I have like 12 or so, of the original Transformers cassette tapes. But only two made the Whatever... I don't feel like getting the pictures off the external drive and redoing the Whatever at all... So Frenzy and the other one will have to represent for all, the sheer awesomeness that would be the Transformer cassette tapes...
A microscope! That works in the sense that it barely magnifies anything and is pretty blurry, but it at least does something! Perceptor was a great toy, played a large role in the movie and cartoon series, but had little role in the comic book. My copy still exists from childhood, where it was an X-Mess gift. 1985, I think...
Should rank higher due to the significance of the character to the entire Transformers brand, but I'm so uninterested in this toy that it gets dragged down... It's my Whatever! So whatever....
A great and significant character that gets dragged down by a subpar toy. Those hands are terrible. And the weird head is just off-putting... Cyclonus is the type of toy that gets worse the more you look at it... Hasbro gave Cyclonus another try in 2008 for the Generations line and made an awesome toy that looked very close to how the robot looked in the cartoon, and the plane look the way it did on TV as well.
Hasbro did a great job with Scourge, in comparison to his movie sidekick Cyclonus. The robot mode is an excellent adaptation of what we were shown for the first time in theaters. Even looks good as a hovercraft. Which is surprisingly heavy and dense when you hold it.
Hasbro thought that killing off the beloved Optimus Prime, and replacing him with this poor imitation was a good idea. No. So much not so, that they immediately tried to revive the character by bringing him back as Powermaster Optimus Prime a year later...
And the Rodimus Prime toy? Stiff and immobile. The legs don't move at all, despite there not being a reason they couldn't. The pop open camper brought on bad flashbacks to the awful Ratchet and Ironhide Transformers that I refuse to pay anything in order to add to the Museum.
I bought Rodimus Prime, also at the Mariner Mall in Superior Wisconsin, during a vacation to Duluth, MN. Rodimus's yellow spoiler was lost at some point before making it back to Crapids. Rodimus of course stayed in my collection to this day. But in addition to being a terrible toy, it was missing the spoiler. The boring toy's most defining characteristic.
During an early 1997 reading of alt.toys.transformers, I found a guy who had a Rodimus spoiler available for trade, and inquired as to what he was looking for. My opening bid was the fists, crotch and head of Superion, to which he agreed. But he insisted on Wingspan's wings in order to complete the trade...
That's a stiff price... I can deal with the Superion parts because I don't like the toy. Take Wingspan's wings away and he's just Span... But reuniting Rodimus with his spoiler seems like an important thing to do as well...
Continuing the run of new characters introduced in the 1986 movie, you have Ultra Magness. A large car carrying semi-truck, that includes a bleached white "Albinomus Prime" cab. Great toy that I still have intact.
Including the box. Which was a 1986 X-Mess gift. Even at that point I'd decided Transformers needed to be collected, and I tried to save the box, along with the toy.
Pretty much all of the Dinobots are great and well made toys. Slag gets knocked back as the tail and ass end of the Triceratops is rather wobbly in dinosaur mode. Other than that, Slag is a great toy and robot, and was given a distinct personality in both cartoon and comic book. Though significantly less goofy in the comic book...
A rather massive Scorpion and Spaceship Base and robot that I picked up in the early 2000's from what would become Darrell's Toys. I'm not sure if it's complete. Knowing Transformers of this size, there are all sorts of tiny accessories that are likely long lost and forgotten.
Skorponok was a late arriving character to the cartoon, though he figures prominently in the Transformers season 4 cartoon, which only aired in Japan. It's available on DVD in America, but you have to read subtitles...
Even if this Skorponok is incomplete, it included Lord Zarak. A tiny robot that transforms into Skorponok's head. Storyline being that some Transformers crashed on a planet and were taken prisoner by a breed of super human aliens (or something) that insisted on becoming the robots heads in order to let them live.... Whole thing seems rather contrived for a gimmick... Either way, Transformers with missing heads are tough and expensive to reunite...
Lamborghini's were so big in the 1980's. So much in fact the Autobots had three of them, and the Decepticons had one. Sunstreaker was a decent toy, with large arms and feet, but he arrived to the Museum with a very A-List partner...
Even with his ridiculously tiny arms, Astrotrain was one of my favorite toys. The space shuttle looks awesome. The train engine looks awesome, put some bigger arms on the robot and this shoots up even higher on the Whatever. And thanks to one of Astrotrain's few lines in the movie, I learned what the word "jettison" means!
My Astrotrain arrived via purchase on alt.toys.transformers in early 1997. The stickers have peeled, the joints are loose and it was in rough shape then. But at the price I paid, I couldn't turn it down. Though I would like an upgrade at some point...
As I mentioned before, Hasbro started to cash in on Transformers nostalgia in the late 1990's. Noting that many childhood fans of the 1980's, had become collectors of the toys in the 1990's. And Japan was ahead of the curve... Special reissues were being imported into America, in deluxe packaging honoring the original release.
In early 2002, I ordered the Smokescreen reissue from a toy collectors website I found in a toy collecting magazine. I was ecstatic at the nice piece that arrived in the mail soon after:
The box contained color printed out summaries of the toy and accessories, the character in relation to how the original "tech spec" read, and other stuff that appeared only in Japanese. The Smokescreen toy was made of stronger plastic than the original Transformers were made with.
Just before I was getting ready to pack the Kenyon edition Transformer Museum up, in May 2003, I ordered the Thundercracker reissue. When it arrived in the mail, I never opened it, and packed it with the rest of the Transformer Museum.
It was planned to be a surprise at whatever point I unpacked the Museum. Which came a little more than three years later, as I was moving into the apartment I move out of it in less than a week... The packaging is less cool than the Japanese reissue version of Smokescreen, and they safetyitized Thundercrackers missles...
Hasbro's Transformer Generations got into that game in 2009, with a 25th Anniversary commemorative Optimus Prime, made from the same molds as the 1984 toys. This came with a reprint of Marvel Transformers issue #1, and a DVD of the More Than Meets The Eye cartoon mini-series that launched the series.
There was no price tag on the box when I encountered this at the WalMarts in Englewood. Hell, the Museum needs this and how much can it be?
Introduced as executioners in the 1986 movie, and slaughtered by the hundreds in that battle. Mass produced, brain dead killing machines that had no individual personality, and was only loyal to whomever fed them. That concept seems so oddly appealing... Plus it was a cool as hell toy!
Hasbro recycled this Transformer model numerous times in the toy line, this time it was to make a police car. Which doesn't really work... And unfortunately, these cars are fragile as hell. The low grade plastic used on the rear windows and windshield snaps off if you look at them wrong. All three have broken on Prowl. At some point in the future, I will need to get some Supa Glue and fix them...
The ebay auction for Prowl also included his box. Excellent condition, though slit cleanly along the back edge for removal of the Robot Points, and for me to store it flat.
Same exact toy, minus the plastic sirens and a different paint job. Bluestreak moves ahead of Prowl because it was a gift from a fellow Overpriced Art School student. He had it from way back in the day because he liked the car toy. After years of it being hidden away, he found out that I collected Transformers and donated it to the Museum.
I won this ebay auction at a great discount because whatever kid previously had this toy, inexplicably placed Hot Rod's crotch sticker on his spoiler. And it's the "rarer" version with metal -not plastic- feet...
Of the five Dinobots, Snarl was my favorite. With a Tech Spec that defined his personality: "An unhappy loner of few words and fewer opinions... Slow... Uncooperative nature hinders others from helping him..." Yeah? So? What's wrong with that? All five Dinobots were written to be malcontents to the good guy Autobot cause, but an apathetic robot Stegosaurus? Has that ever been done before?
Sadly, Omega came missing his right leg clip, making a great toy a little less great, but a whole lot cheaper on the collector's circuit! Luckily, the Omega I won off ebay included the instruction manual or I'd be lost as how to deal with all of the pieces.
Omega Supreme doesn't transform as the toy more just falls apart, then you put it back together in a different way. Thanks for the diagrams! The previous owner also didn't feel like putting the stickers on either. At this point, I've not done it yet either....
A favorite character from the TV series, who had a prominent role in the first two seasons, before getting killed off in the movie. I always thought the toy was really cool too... Early in 1997, I picked a junker Wheeljack up off of alt.toys.transformers, and a separate pack of his missing accessories, for less than a complete better condition one. I'd always intended to upgrade, but have yet to get around to it.
My favorite of the Decepticon Jets. There's something striking about the Colorado Rockies color scheme that just works... An early purchase from Xeno, Skywarp is complete, with the exception of a missing rear tail fin. Unfortunately, Skywarp was an undeserved background character in both the cartoon and comic book series. His corpse was resurrected as an anonymous henchman "The Sweeps" in the 1986 movie...
When I saw the 1987 Transformers Catalog, and got my first look at Fortress Maximus, it was jaw dropping. A massive base that turns into a 2 foot tall robot? This I've got to see! The problem is, I never did get to see Fortress Maximus. The sheer size and scope of the toy gave it a $100 suggested retail price. (Hasbro did the same thing with the G.I. Joe line, unleashing the U.S. Flagg Aircraft Carrier on the public at the start of the same shopping season.) Remember, that is 1987 money...
I never saw either Fortress Maximus or the U.S. Flagg on sale until Xeno Toys. Who had a MISB Fortress Maximus on sale for $2000, and one loose in the display case for $1200. In comparison to all of the other Transformers around it, Fortress Maximus was insanely huge in size.
Since the first days of me reading alt.toys.transformers, I tracked sales of Fortress Maximus. Obviously, complete and excellent condition copies of Fortress Maximus are far beyond my bank account, but the lesser condition models were very intriguing. If I could find the right toy, missing the fewest key pieces, at a price that I can swallow... I'd regret turning it down if I had the opportunity...
August 1999 was that opportunity... I had just started a new job (at Amar-A-Ngis) and was going to blow a big chunk of my first paycheck on something stupid. I'd been monitoring ebay, and thought I found my model. Though, I was quickly outbid. As I decided to give up on that auction, I was emailed by a guy who said he'd sell me a Fortress Maximus for what my bid on the other one was.
I'm embarrassed by what I paid for my Fortress Maximus, but I will say it was still less than half of my monthly rent at the time...
Yeah, it was missing a big bunch of parts. The stickers are all faded, torn or missing and it's rather dusty. But what is here, isn't broken. Fortress Maximus's head (Cerebros) is present, even if Cerebros' head (Spike) is not. Spike is expensive as hell to replace. I've seen ebay auctions end between $150-$200, just for a two inch tall plastic robot. That you don't even need to display Fortress Maximus in robot form.
A nice variation on the same car as Prowl & Bluestreak. So far my Jazz hasn't had any small accidents that would cause breakage. I distinctly remember Jazz being the object of received birfday money, spent at Xeno. It was a great complete toy and a prominent character in both cartoons and comic books.
A key point in the 1986 Movie was Unicron rebuilding a dying Megatron into Galvatron. In the movie, Galvatron was a cold calculating dick, more evil than Megatron was. In the cartoon series afterward, Galvatron became an unstable evil madman. A very interesting character. However, the toy was rather crappy... And much like Cyclonus, Galvatron got a much nice reissue, that streamlined both the robot and cannon mode. But has been far too expensive for my budget these days. So it's inclusion to the Museum has so far eluded me...
When I won the ebay auction for Galvatron in late 2000, the listing touted the electronics as "working". Sure enough, when it arrived, it made wacky space gun sounds and Galvatron's eyes lit up. Cracking open the battery compartment revealed this ancient Sears DieHard 9 Volt Battery attached inside. Who know how long that battery had been there. I put it back in Galvatron and called it good.
Another 1986 X-mess gift, Metroplex was considered to be Autobot City long before Fortress Maximus showed up. And this toy was sweet! From all of those massive guns right down to the Morse Code shoulder pads. You can even take all of Metroplex's guns and make a whole other robot out of them!
The box for Metroplex has been saved since X-Mess 1986, living alone in Basement World until it's official induction in the Transformers Museum, back in the summer of 1998. I remember first seeing this box at the Crapids Target and loving the little scene Hasbro made with the toys on the box front.
Another very massive Transformer, purchased via ebay in the Summer of 1998. Trypticon's gimmick was much better than a Jumpstarter or a Throttlebuster or whatever the hell those lame things were called... Put a bunch of C Batteries up Trypticon's spine and he'll walk across the floor for you, T-Rex arms waving as he loudly trudges across the room. While I've not tried it with Oliver and Gracie, I used to sometimes send Trypticon on a friend making mission to General Hafaaz Supacat (RIP). He just looked confused and ran away...
And while nowhere near as complicated as Omega Supreme, I thank the ebay seller for including Trypticon's original instruction manual...
On a May 2006 visit to Toy Boy in Anoka, he was offering up this beautiful Predaking toy for only $125! I considered this to be my Apartment warming gift to myself, and Predaking stood watch on the fireplace mantle for over five years before being moved into storage. For as awesome as this toy is, Predaking was sorely underused in both the comic book and TV cartoon run.
In an unfortunate accident, as I was packing Predaking up after taking these pictures, a plastic connector between Razorclaw and Headstrong snapped off. As best as I can tell, Headstrong may be salvageable, but Razorclaw needs to be replaced. Since I don't need any of the accessories for either, replacements shouldn't cost too much...
Way back about 76,000 words ago, I mentioned buying Grapple in a plastic bag at Savers, with another notable Transformer. That other one would have been non other than Grimlock! $5 for both of them! No accesories, but who cares! There are very few characters in the run more iconic than Grimlock. While played for comic relief and made to be a buffoon in the TV series, Grimlock was a highly intriguing character in the comic book. During a lengthy run where he was named leader of the Autobots, he lead like a fascist dictator. You didn't see that on TV!
In late 2000, I was taking inventory of the Transformers Museum, wondering how many of the key characters that I am missing. Quickly became apparent that I had a huge gap, where Starscream needed to be... (After all, I need to satisfy BOTH Darryl Strawberry and Robert Smith -of The Cure, not New Mexico...)
I lucked into finding a mint and complete Starscream for about half what I expected to pay on ebay. Within minutes of recognizing the missing, he was ordered online, and in under a week, was in his rightful place in the Museum!
One of my most desired Museum pieces was acquired in December 1997, during a visit by former Minnesota roommates, Jen and Trav. We went for a walk in downtown Denver, and found this at a collectable toy shop that I don't remember the name or location of. Battery operated just like Galvatron, in 2003, the lights and sounds still worked. I haven't tried replacing the battery yet, but it did not work in 2013 or 2018. Nor should it have...
While regulated to being the stay behind on Cybertron Decepticon representative, who got a token appearance a couple of times a year during the cartoon series, Shockwave STARRED in the comic book series. From his explosive debut in issue 4, and being a constant source of pure evil throughout the Marvel storyline, Shockwave was the character I found the most interesting of the entire comic book run.
When your introduction to a comic book series comes on a cover like this, you know big things are in store for your character...
As a kid, I collected the set of six Constructicons, in hopes of building Devastator out of the iconic green and purple construction equipment vehicles. Problem being, with these bought as a kid, most of the needed Devastator connecting pieces are long lost. All six Constructicons lasted to this day, (though Long Haul has a bum wheel, so he's now Short Haul...) but I needed all of the accessory pieces so Devastator could live again...
The answer to my problems came in the form of a Devastator "gift set", which was missing one of the six Constructicons (Hook), that I didn't really need. So I bought this new set, and put my five old Constructicons inside the box for display purposes, used my old Hook with the new Constructicons, the new connecting pieces and BLAMMO! Devastator! Plus I got a semi-rare original box with cool art for the Museum.
When the cartoon debut, and I started seeing friends bringing Transformers to school, I immediately needed this in my collection. Even at 10 years old, I knew this... A robot that turns into a cassette player, then ejects the cassettes that turn into smaller robots and animals! That concept all sorts of rules! Then you saw the cartoon and Soundwave was given that soulless empty cold metallic voice and this character became iconic...
Soundwave was officially my first Transformer. Purchased from a Kay Bee Toys, located at an outdoor shopping center in Los Angeles, California, during an April 1985 family vacation. There's me in the hotel room with my newly purchased Soundwave, wearing a weird rainbow visor. Which didn't survive over the years. The visor or Soundwave... What was left of my first Soundwave was given to Trav in the late 1990's, after a replacement was purchased off of alt.toys.transformers in 1997.
Not that Ravage is really the fourth greatest Transformer of all time, but as the main accompanying piece to Soundwave, a key character in all formats of the brand, Ravage has to be represented. Even if it's a bit too high... I no longer have Buzzsaw and/or Laserbeak, so the two awesome bird cassettes were out. I have the four original Autobot cassettes (plus a few that came afterwards), and a whole buncha more Decepticon cassettes. They will have be represented by Ravage...
And you will never find a cooler Transformers toy than Jetfire... The highly posable Valkarie was lifted directly from the Robotech toy line. I know there were some sort of issues with Hasbro using it, specifically in how the toy was represented in the TV series and comic book, but I'm not opening that can of worms to dig into that story. I simply had to have Jetfire for the Museum, and that was all that mattered. Mr. Rux had one that he received for X-Mess one year, and Jetfire stood guard over his TV.
When it comes to acquiring pieces for the Museum, to keep costs down, I'll often buy an incomplete piece. Going into the transaction with preset negotiators. For example: Jetfire's gun (and clip) is a very rare piece. Most Jetfire's on the market today are missing the gun. models with the gun sell for significantly higher than models without. To me, having the gun was not paramount, so I could save about $50 right off the top.
After establishing what my market was, I waited until I found several options hitting the market at the same time. Ones with guns were way more than ones without. But there was a new element; Jetfire with no gun, but WITH box!
However, the box is in rough shape, but still in highly displayable condition... I watched ebay close, and this new entrant confused the market. Box, but no gun? I actually won this ebay auction for less than quite a few ebay auctions of just the Jetfire toy with incomplete armor. No box. No gun. No clip.
So who beat the iconic Optimus Prime for #1... It's a bold choice to not go with everybody's favorite Transformer. First off, I don't need to explain the significance of Prime. You know him, you love him... I think the main point of recognition needs to be how sweet that toy really is... That semi-truck looks incredible, even if it didn't turn into a robot. And the robot looks great as well. Good use was made of the trailer, and you just can't go wrong with this quality piece.
I finally got my Optimus Prime in the Summer of 1986. The Movie had just come out, and that was Hasbro's way of breaking the news to the kids that Optimus Prime was dead. Make way for the new toys!
My mom had taken me to see the movie and recognized the coming shift in the brand. She said the newest JC Penney catalog had the Optimus Prime toy on sale, and she was going to order it before they disappeared from the market. A few days later, she picked it up from the old Crapids Catalog Pick-Up Store by the old Rainbow Foods and Target.
Obviously the box had to be kept as well, and I think I did a decent job of keeping it in good shape.
Megatron was a toy SO evil that after the 1980's, Hasbro had to change it completely in order to just sell it again! And while the innuendo may have been lost on a few kids, you can hardly fail to notice the angle of a robot that carries a giant gun on his arm, and turns into a gun, had a GIGANTIC boner! Seriously, that trigger sticks straight out of Megatron's crotch! The balls of Hasbro!
Megatron was my "Welcome to Colorado!" present to myself in November 1996. I put word out on alt.toys.transformers that I was looking for a loose Megatron, hopefully with all accessories. I got an offer back that included everything but Megatron's silver handgun, no box, but did have the Tech Spec card. I felt his price was a little high, so I asked him to toss something else in and bump the price up by like $5.
He offered up (a) Kickback, the Insecticon that I liked but didn't have, and we made the deal. I picked up the money order and had Megatron a little more than a week later!
(From Wasted Quarter issue #61 - Everybody Shut Up)
Tuesday, February 20, 2007 6:57pm
============================
Trav came over this afternoon and drove with me to US Bank in Anoka, where I cashed in the big bucket of spare change I brought from Denver. $414.88! (Almost what I had in May 2003.)
A good chunk of that was subsequently dropped at Toy Boy, across the street on the boxed Megatron that I’ve wanted all my life. Only would have cost me $12 in 1986... $150 in 1996... And $225 of my hard saved coins today. I couldn’t pass up a very nice condition Sunstreaker with all it’s accessories either. Both of them are mine for a cool $285. Ouch... But, oh well... Last year, Toy Boy provided me with a long desired Predaking in great shape, and this year I get my high dollar dream Transformer.
Complete, minus a 1984 catalog. All accessories present, a “Reinforcements from Cybertron” catalog, Tech Specs Decoder, Instruction booklet and the sticker sheet, some still unapplied! Only one small tear in the corner of the box. This was probably the time to buy it. Doubtful that at any other time in my life this could be justified... Possibly the last big ass retarded purchase I will be making for a very long time...
After buying Megatron, Trav and I checked out a couple of the antique stores in the area to look at records. “Lots of ten cent stuff for $5...” He said of our search that lead to nothing of interest to him. Deciding to leave Anoka while we were still ahead, we came back here to watch the Pixies Sell Out live DVD of the 2004 European tour...
I don't know if I'll get another blog post in before we leave Colorado. Making matters worse is I'm moving to a place that has no internet connection, so it may be a while before I can update Four Baggers again.
In order for us to be ready to leave town, the Treasure Chest must be properly packed up in preparation for relocation. As mentioned, the Treasure Chest is filled with roughly 85% original Transformers toys from the 1980's.
Some of them are from my childhood, but most were acquired during the years of 1996-2002, thanks to this place:
Xeno Collectable Toys was located in the Capitol Hill Neighborhood of Denver.
They operated out of this storefront until early 1999 when the store closed.
Today it sells marijuana...
Money that was allocated for stuff like this:
Was now going for stuff like this:
But as of now, the most important thing is to get all of this stuff securely packed and ready for transport.
On May 4, 2013, I last opened the Treasure Chest in order to photograph all of it. So for the purpose of this story, very little of the pictures are new. I'm glad I saved all this time for myself five years ago...
Never had any plans for writing a blog then...
Oliver rallies the troops at base camp, in front of the TV, in the early hours of May 4, 2013...
What neither side realized until later on, was that I was playing the role of America in their conflict. Selling the same weapons to both sides, in order to profit off other's needless war!
Both Gracie and Oliver realized this and reached an historic treaty. Oliver got control of the bed for afternoon napping...
While Gracie decided to run obstruction on the photographing stage I'd set up...
******
The first incarnation of The Transformers Museum came in early 1997.
By November 1999, the Transformers Museum had grown to take up three plastic shelves at Kenyon.
In May, 2003, I was packing up the Transformers Museum at Kenyon, in preparation to move it all to Minnesota. (Just as I'm doing in May 2018...)
There's a lot more of it now...
******
My issue with a lot of the toys is they don't look like what they are supposed to be disguised as, because so much attention was paid to making the robot action figure looking cool. Instead of the reverse, as the case was with the original toyline.
For example... This is supposed to be a panther...
The TransMetals were popular, and looked cool, if unlike what they were supposed to look, but the Beast Machines improved on that.
Cheetor looks like a Cheetah. But the robot mode still looks like a Cheetah...
And that sums up my whole problem with the Beast Wars line. It was Transformers in name, but wasn't quite cutting it...
In 2002, Hasbro's Transformers started to get it right. Scrapping their strange obsession with Transforming animals, and returning to the vehicle concept that made them millions in the 1980's. The Robots In Disguise line came out and it was the return of cars and trucks that turn into robots and hate each other!
Simple concept Hasbro, stop trying to complicate things!
The RID line was short lived, as it quickly changed into the Energon line. Which meant a new cartoon and a new comic book, in addition to new toys.
Hasbro was starting to wise up on how to make these new toy lines successful. Base some of them off of characters that are familiar! Sure it's a no-brainer to have main characters based on Optimus Prime and Megatron. But Hasbro was trying to invent new characters, and try to make people care about them...
Sure, you could take that new pickup truck based toy, paint it blue, white and grey (or any three colors) and name him "Truck-Or" or whatever, and who cares? No one! But when I saw a new Transformers toy truck, with a color scheme and name based on the old character Rodimus Prime... Well, I'm going to pick that up and look at it it. And if the toy is cool enough, I'll buy it.
Rodimus out-sells Truck-Or 9 times out of 10...
After 15 years of being the one toy Transformers fans always wanted, but was unreasonable due to the expense of doing it correctly, versus the amount of interest there would be in such a toy. And the issue of how to design it came to a nice conclusion that was a barrier in 1986.
Don't worry about the scale... Don't try to make a large round globe... And keep the retail at around $50, so I can buy two. One to open for display, and one to keep sealed...
And Hasbro did just that!
Anyone who saw pictures of the Unicron prototype toy from 1986 is grateful that abomination was never made... (Thanks to seibertron.com for the image)
Not all of the Transformer ideas of they came out with in the early 2000's were good. The Transformers Universe line was kind of a mess of weird animal weapon combinations...
Razorclaw is some sort of panther with giant cannons attached to his sides... Making him look far more like a spaceship than anything... Oh well, Razorclaw's identity crisis is Mile High Comics problem now...
When it came to tapping into their past, Transformers finally hit a home run with Generations.
******
Earlier I mentioned reading alt.toys.transformers on Usenet via AOL, in 1996. It was from that source that I seriously began acquiring classic Transformers. The prices were better in the newsgroups than they were from the few online retailers of the day, and ebay didn't really become a thing until 1998.
In late 1997, my growing collection was missing the yearly toy catalogs that Hasbro packaged with boxed Transformers. I posted a request and soon was given an offer to buy the first 4 Transformers catalogs for $20, shipped. Sounds good to me!
Thanks, guy in Erie, Pennsylvania!
He even threw in an additional "Reinforcements from Cybertron" 1985 catalog,
just because he was a cool guy!
Transformers 1984 Catalog
Transformers 1985 Catalog Side A
Transformers 1985 Catalog Side B
Transformers 1986 Catalog Side A
Transformers 1986 Catalog Side B
Transformers 1987 Catalog Side A
Transformers 1987 Catalog Side B
******
Now that we have our study guides, it's time to dive into the World of Transformers... The original stuff from the 1980's!
Might as well start with the television cartoon that I found endlessly entertaining as a kid, providing the foundation for this collection...
The entire TV series, all on convenient DVD!
Back in May, 2000, I scored what I believed to be a massive coup on my part... I bought a who-knows-what-generation VHS set of all Transformers cartoons off ebay... Had I just waited 4 more years, the DVD's would have come out...
I was so happy to get these 7 VHS tapes in a large box in the mail... And I was really disappointed in how little of it was watchable...
But that was a sign of the times. 20 years ago, barely anything was at your fingertips. You had to work for the cool stuff that you wanted. I wanted a copy of all the original Transformers cartoons that I could watch whenever I wanted. In order to make that happen, I had to find someone that had previously gone through the work and effort of finding copies of all the episodes. He likely had searched high and low to put his collection together, then had to work to put it all in order, then had to sit there and duplicate all of it.
Then I had to buy it and have it mailed to me.
Which added another week to the process!
You kids have it so easy today...
To tie-in with the 1986 movie, of course I had the accompanying sticker album.
If anyone still has a few of the stickers laying around, I'm missing a whole bunch...
I had to upgrade my VHS copy when it was re-released in 1998. Thank you Tower Records!
Of course the collection also includes the 1985 Action (Board) Game...
And the official plastic lunchbox!
The left side of dish shows Zod. Who was like some bigger battery operated thing that flipped around like it was having a seizure. Until you pushed the red button on it's tummy, that would stop the seizures...
I always wanted Zod...
And as a card collector, I have to have some original 1985 series Transformers action cards... This pack is opened, just put back together through the magic of Photoshop!
******
In trying to figure out a way to go through my 67 original Transformers, and show them off here. I've decided that best way to do this is...
Whatever...
So I now present the Top 67 Original Transformers in my collection!
#67 - (Tie) Top Spin and Twin Twist
I HATED these two toys as a kid. Neither character were brought into the TV series or comic book, and they existed thanks to the lame "Jumpstarter" gimmick. Pull them back on a flat surface, they speed forward, then jump up into robot form on their own. I disliked these toys so much that I repeatedly tuned down chances at buying them, even at decent prices...
Until a 2007 ebay auction that packaged both together, with their original boxes, with shipping, that was less than the two original price tags on the boxes added together.
$10 for that package, sent to me?
Fine, I'll add Top Spin and Twin Twist to the museum...
If I have too...
(To sweeten the offer, the seller even threw in an additional 6 Robot Points...)
#66 - Searchlight
Another gimmick Transformer in the kin of the Jumpstarters. Only now they were called Throttlebots, and did about the same thing as Jumpstarters, only they didn't jump.
#65 - Dirge
#64 - Brawn
Brawn is allegedly a tough guy, but he doesn't get to have hands or feet...
#63 - Octane
The weakest of the three Decepticon Triple Changers, by far... The robot mode looks terrible, the tanker truck looks even worse and the plane is just passably bad. This toy should have never made it past the planning stage. No wonder he wasn't allowed on TV, and barely made a cameo in the comic book. Octane was a somewhat reasonable Toy Boy purchase in 2002.
#62 - Blurr
#61 - Pounce & Wingspan
In the 1987 run of toys, Hasbro made a set of "twins" for both the Autobots and Decepticons. Each would like very similar in robot mode, but would turn into different things. In this case a cougar and an eagle. I never really liked Pounce & Wingspan very much (I do remember buying them at the Northtown Mall Montgomery Wards for a really good price), but one of these twins would figure in on a very valuable parts trade...
Wingspan made a very difficult sacrifice for the greater good of the Transformers Museum...
Story to come!
#60 - Windcharger
#59 - Goldbug
Another gimmicky Throttlebot... Goldbug ranks higher because he was given a backstory. In the comic series, Bumblebee was kidnapped by Cobra (of G.I. Joe fame, in a Marvel crossover) in a Decepticon plot, led by Shockwave. His body was destroyed and put back together by G.I. Joe, and then good things happened to good people... And stuff...
I don't remember how it ended, I read it some 25 years ago, and it didn't leave a strong impression...
#58 - Blaster
The Autobots answer to Soundwave (to me) came across like Tonka's (Go-Bots) answer to Hasbro (Transformers). Blaster was an overly large and boxey toy, that could have easily been shrunk down considerably to accomplish the same thing. I can't stand Blaster as a toy, despite him getting a great push in both the cartoon and comic book.
#57 - Superion (Aerialbots)
I like these toys a lot as planes. I like them somewhat as individual robots.
Story to come!
As I was photographing Superion and the individual Aerialbots, Gracie was spotted running surveillance...
#56 - Pipes
Not a bad toy in the series of Autobot mini-cars. I may have underranked Pipes.
And he came with a non-destroyed card!
#55 - Huffer
Pipes is a descendent of Huffer. Using a similar template, but not the same pieces to come up with a robot/truck that look similar, yet are different. Hasbro could have gone cheap here, but I like the way these two toys were made.
Huffer is a surviving toy from childhood. This one came from the Ben Franklin store at the Northdale Shopping Center in Crapids.
#54 - Gears
Another surviving toy, pretty sure Gears came from the Crapids Target...
#53 - Bombshell
Okay, this one is ranked too low... I took away points for the incomplete legs, but that Insecticon beetle mode is so awesome that I needed to put more points back... This character has gotten a couple of reissues in various new Transformers toy lines, but always goes by the name "Hardshell" these days...
I guess the word bomb is taboo now?
#52 - Kup
A main character in the movie and cartoon, but one I was never a big fan of... I got the toy off ebay in 1998 for next to nothing because the seller misspelled Transformers, and didn't know what this was. Unfortunately, none of the stickers came with, nor did his gun. But I paid less to have Kup shipped to me in 1998, than I would have paid for a pack of smokes that same day!
#51 - Powerglide
Powerglide was a good toy for the mini-car class. I liked the contrast between his highly posable arms and his completely immobile legs. Powerglide arrived in my collection from a long closed toy shop on the 4200 block of south Broadway, in December 1997, when Trav was visiting from Minnesota. Set me back a major $5, and the price tag is still on him.
#50 - Thrust
Thrust is similar to Dirge in that Hasbro took the same Decepticon Jet body, and cast some new shaped plastic snap on wings, then called it a new character. I liked Thrust a lot more than Dirge, despite my Thrust missing a bunch of pieces.
#49 - Grapple
A Summer 1998 visit to a Denver Savers (a large scale thrift store) toy aisle led me to pick up both Grapple, and another very significant original Transformer, packaged together in the same plastic baggie for $5. No accessories for either, but both unbroken and in great condition. I'll tell you who the other one was, as soon as we get to that spot in the Whatever!
#48 - Swoop
Swoop was the weakest of the very strong 5 Dinobot toys.
There, I said it...
#47 - Kickback
With all of these cliffhangers, how could you possibly leave this page?
******
So let's step away from the countdown and look at this...
The Engine/Satellite/Radar Thingy
The Coal Car that turns into a "Laser".
The Box Car turns into a shopping center.
The Caboose turns into a plane of some sort.
For whatever reason, Hasbro didn't license any actual Transformers to Tyco, so the train set came packaged with a selection of generic rubber robots. Many of which were exact duplicates... These were very disappointing. Had they gone with a selection of actual Transformers, this would have been a much better piece overall.
Some of those little rubber figures have been lost over time.
As were the cardboard cut out buildings...
No longer fully intact, the Train Set is still a treasured piece of the Transformer Museum!
******
Back to Whatever...
#46 - Abominus / Terrorcons
Pieced together off ebay in the summer of 1999. The Terrorcons were just a bunch of weird looking monster things that combined into the bigger robot Abominus. This was a gimmick that Hasbro used multiple times. And it's great marketing on their part: Sure you can just buy one of the figures and it's a stand alone piece... But if you want to make the big super cool toy, your parents have to buy you all FIVE! Start begging now!
#45 - Ransack
On July 29, 2000, Good friend of Four Baggers, Robert Smith married his girlfriend in the backyard of her parents house. On my drive home, I stopped at (what would later become) Darrell's Toys. It had been a while since I checked out what his store had. They had Ransack. Which would set me back $30 because it came with the original box, which was in decent enough shape.
It makes the Museum!
#44 - Beachcomber
The little dune buggy was one of my favorites. Now I need to replace it with one that is not painted...
#43 - Cosmos
In the little bio written up on Cosmos's "Tech Spec" card, it lists "flying over human's backyards in the middle of the night, to scare them" as one of Cosmos's hobbies. I liked that idea, even as a little kid... Thus, Cosmos will always be one of my favorite Transformers. This is not my original, which was bought at the great Holiday Superstore in Fridley, MN, back in the mid 1980's. That Cosmos broke.
This one's a tribute...
#42 - Hound
Hound should rank higher. After all, take a good look at the Jeep. That thing rules. Now take a look at the robot... Did Hasbro forget to give Hound arms? Should be such a better toy...
#41 - Blitzwing
Hasbro did a much better job with this Triple Changer, than what they gave us in Octane. The tank looks good, the plane looks good, the robot is... Passable. It's very top-heavy, and is difficult to convince to stand on his own.
My ebay edition did not come with stickers applied. Which always bothered me. As a kid, the highlight of getting a new Transformer was applying the stickers. No matter how poor of a job you'd end up doing... I've seen so many that have never been applied, it makes me wonder who would simply choose to not put them on?
#40 - Runabout
My first and only unopened original Transformer. A relatively cheap ebay purchase from the late 1990's, Runabout was a Battlecharger, which was another Hasbro euphemism for Jumpstarter or Throttlebot. They all did the same thing... Poorly...
#39 - Trailbreaker
From the first 1984 wave of Transformers, the "Tech Spec" bio card for Trailbreaker (an off-road 4 Wheel Drive truck) mentions that "due to his high fuel consumption, Trailbreaker is often left behind on missions..." As a kid, that thought amused me. Trav told me that Trailbreaker was the only Transformer he owned. Around the time of his birfday in 1998, I bought Trailbreaker from Xeno for myself. In his honor!
#38 - Tracks
Another survivor from the 1980's. This Tracks was purchased from Kay Bee Toys inside the Mariner Mall in Superior Wisconsin, likely in 1986. However, this middle aged Corvette has a difficult time standing these days, due to a bad hip. Overall, he's got a few miles on him, but he's in good shape. Unfortunately, his chocking hazardly small missiles have been missing for decades. I hope no one choked on them...
#37 - Menasor / Stunticons
At least they got that concept right in the Robots in Disguise toyline with Scourge...
Oh, nevermind...
#36 - Defensor / Protectobots
Blah blah blah same thing....
#35 - Frenzy
I screwed up... I have like 12 or so, of the original Transformers cassette tapes. But only two made the Whatever... I don't feel like getting the pictures off the external drive and redoing the Whatever at all... So Frenzy and the other one will have to represent for all, the sheer awesomeness that would be the Transformer cassette tapes...
#34 - Perceptor
A microscope! That works in the sense that it barely magnifies anything and is pretty blurry, but it at least does something! Perceptor was a great toy, played a large role in the movie and cartoon series, but had little role in the comic book. My copy still exists from childhood, where it was an X-Mess gift. 1985, I think...
#33 - Bumblebee
Should rank higher due to the significance of the character to the entire Transformers brand, but I'm so uninterested in this toy that it gets dragged down... It's my Whatever! So whatever....
#32 - Cyclonus
A great and significant character that gets dragged down by a subpar toy. Those hands are terrible. And the weird head is just off-putting... Cyclonus is the type of toy that gets worse the more you look at it... Hasbro gave Cyclonus another try in 2008 for the Generations line and made an awesome toy that looked very close to how the robot looked in the cartoon, and the plane look the way it did on TV as well.
#31 - Scourge
Hasbro did a great job with Scourge, in comparison to his movie sidekick Cyclonus. The robot mode is an excellent adaptation of what we were shown for the first time in theaters. Even looks good as a hovercraft. Which is surprisingly heavy and dense when you hold it.
#30 - Rodimus Prime
Speaking of characters introduced in the 1986 Movie, you immediately think of Rodimus Prime.
Oh... You didn't think of Rodimus Prime?
EXACTLY!
And the Rodimus Prime toy? Stiff and immobile. The legs don't move at all, despite there not being a reason they couldn't. The pop open camper brought on bad flashbacks to the awful Ratchet and Ironhide Transformers that I refuse to pay anything in order to add to the Museum.
I bought Rodimus Prime, also at the Mariner Mall in Superior Wisconsin, during a vacation to Duluth, MN. Rodimus's yellow spoiler was lost at some point before making it back to Crapids. Rodimus of course stayed in my collection to this day. But in addition to being a terrible toy, it was missing the spoiler. The boring toy's most defining characteristic.
During an early 1997 reading of alt.toys.transformers, I found a guy who had a Rodimus spoiler available for trade, and inquired as to what he was looking for. My opening bid was the fists, crotch and head of Superion, to which he agreed. But he insisted on Wingspan's wings in order to complete the trade...
That's a stiff price... I can deal with the Superion parts because I don't like the toy. Take Wingspan's wings away and he's just Span... But reuniting Rodimus with his spoiler seems like an important thing to do as well...
I reluctantly agreed, since Rodimus is a far more significant piece in the Museum.
Even if the toy sucks...
#29 - Ultra Magness
Continuing the run of new characters introduced in the 1986 movie, you have Ultra Magness. A large car carrying semi-truck, that includes a bleached white "Albinomus Prime" cab. Great toy that I still have intact.
Including the box. Which was a 1986 X-Mess gift. Even at that point I'd decided Transformers needed to be collected, and I tried to save the box, along with the toy.
#28 - Slag
Pretty much all of the Dinobots are great and well made toys. Slag gets knocked back as the tail and ass end of the Triceratops is rather wobbly in dinosaur mode. Other than that, Slag is a great toy and robot, and was given a distinct personality in both cartoon and comic book. Though significantly less goofy in the comic book...
#27 - Skorponok
A rather massive Scorpion and Spaceship Base and robot that I picked up in the early 2000's from what would become Darrell's Toys. I'm not sure if it's complete. Knowing Transformers of this size, there are all sorts of tiny accessories that are likely long lost and forgotten.
Skorponok was a late arriving character to the cartoon, though he figures prominently in the Transformers season 4 cartoon, which only aired in Japan. It's available on DVD in America, but you have to read subtitles...
Even if this Skorponok is incomplete, it included Lord Zarak. A tiny robot that transforms into Skorponok's head. Storyline being that some Transformers crashed on a planet and were taken prisoner by a breed of super human aliens (or something) that insisted on becoming the robots heads in order to let them live.... Whole thing seems rather contrived for a gimmick... Either way, Transformers with missing heads are tough and expensive to reunite...
#26 - Sunstreaker
Lamborghini's were so big in the 1980's. So much in fact the Autobots had three of them, and the Decepticons had one. Sunstreaker was a decent toy, with large arms and feet, but he arrived to the Museum with a very A-List partner...
Story to come!
#25 - Sideswipe
Another Lamborghini! In the storylines for both cartoon and comic book,
Sideswipe is Sunstreaker's brother.
Because robots have kin? Still, great toy...
#24 - Astrotrain
My Astrotrain arrived via purchase on alt.toys.transformers in early 1997. The stickers have peeled, the joints are loose and it was in rough shape then. But at the price I paid, I couldn't turn it down. Though I would like an upgrade at some point...
Let's take a break or Whatever...
******
As I mentioned before, Hasbro started to cash in on Transformers nostalgia in the late 1990's. Noting that many childhood fans of the 1980's, had become collectors of the toys in the 1990's. And Japan was ahead of the curve... Special reissues were being imported into America, in deluxe packaging honoring the original release.
In early 2002, I ordered the Smokescreen reissue from a toy collectors website I found in a toy collecting magazine. I was ecstatic at the nice piece that arrived in the mail soon after:
The box contained color printed out summaries of the toy and accessories, the character in relation to how the original "tech spec" read, and other stuff that appeared only in Japanese. The Smokescreen toy was made of stronger plastic than the original Transformers were made with.
Plus I finally got to apply stickers to a new Transformer again!
A year later, the reissues were less exclusive to Japan, and available on a wider basis in America.
It was planned to be a surprise at whatever point I unpacked the Museum. Which came a little more than three years later, as I was moving into the apartment I move out of it in less than a week... The packaging is less cool than the Japanese reissue version of Smokescreen, and they safetyitized Thundercrackers missles...
Even Gracie is suspicious...
There was no price tag on the box when I encountered this at the WalMarts in Englewood. Hell, the Museum needs this and how much can it be?
Answer: $69.97...
Damn you WalMarts!
******
And now, back to Whatever....
#23 - Gnaw
#22 - Prowl
Hasbro recycled this Transformer model numerous times in the toy line, this time it was to make a police car. Which doesn't really work... And unfortunately, these cars are fragile as hell. The low grade plastic used on the rear windows and windshield snaps off if you look at them wrong. All three have broken on Prowl. At some point in the future, I will need to get some Supa Glue and fix them...
The ebay auction for Prowl also included his box. Excellent condition, though slit cleanly along the back edge for removal of the Robot Points, and for me to store it flat.
#21 - Bluestreak
Same exact toy, minus the plastic sirens and a different paint job. Bluestreak moves ahead of Prowl because it was a gift from a fellow Overpriced Art School student. He had it from way back in the day because he liked the car toy. After years of it being hidden away, he found out that I collected Transformers and donated it to the Museum.
#20 - Hot Rod
I won this ebay auction at a great discount because whatever kid previously had this toy, inexplicably placed Hot Rod's crotch sticker on his spoiler. And it's the "rarer" version with metal -not plastic- feet...
#19 - Snarl
#18 - Omega Supreme
Sadly, Omega came missing his right leg clip, making a great toy a little less great, but a whole lot cheaper on the collector's circuit! Luckily, the Omega I won off ebay included the instruction manual or I'd be lost as how to deal with all of the pieces.
Omega Supreme doesn't transform as the toy more just falls apart, then you put it back together in a different way. Thanks for the diagrams! The previous owner also didn't feel like putting the stickers on either. At this point, I've not done it yet either....
#17 - Wheeljack
A favorite character from the TV series, who had a prominent role in the first two seasons, before getting killed off in the movie. I always thought the toy was really cool too... Early in 1997, I picked a junker Wheeljack up off of alt.toys.transformers, and a separate pack of his missing accessories, for less than a complete better condition one. I'd always intended to upgrade, but have yet to get around to it.
#16 - Skywarp
Skywarp deserved better!
#15 - Fortress Maximus
When I saw the 1987 Transformers Catalog, and got my first look at Fortress Maximus, it was jaw dropping. A massive base that turns into a 2 foot tall robot? This I've got to see! The problem is, I never did get to see Fortress Maximus. The sheer size and scope of the toy gave it a $100 suggested retail price. (Hasbro did the same thing with the G.I. Joe line, unleashing the U.S. Flagg Aircraft Carrier on the public at the start of the same shopping season.) Remember, that is 1987 money...
I never saw either Fortress Maximus or the U.S. Flagg on sale until Xeno Toys. Who had a MISB Fortress Maximus on sale for $2000, and one loose in the display case for $1200. In comparison to all of the other Transformers around it, Fortress Maximus was insanely huge in size.
I never did ask for a price on the U.S. Flagg...
August 1999 was that opportunity... I had just started a new job (at Amar-A-Ngis) and was going to blow a big chunk of my first paycheck on something stupid. I'd been monitoring ebay, and thought I found my model. Though, I was quickly outbid. As I decided to give up on that auction, I was emailed by a guy who said he'd sell me a Fortress Maximus for what my bid on the other one was.
And his was in much better condition...
I'm embarrassed by what I paid for my Fortress Maximus, but I will say it was still less than half of my monthly rent at the time...
Yeah, it was missing a big bunch of parts. The stickers are all faded, torn or missing and it's rather dusty. But what is here, isn't broken. Fortress Maximus's head (Cerebros) is present, even if Cerebros' head (Spike) is not. Spike is expensive as hell to replace. I've seen ebay auctions end between $150-$200, just for a two inch tall plastic robot. That you don't even need to display Fortress Maximus in robot form.
Spending that much money on this was stupid, but I don't regret it!
#14 - Jazz
A nice variation on the same car as Prowl & Bluestreak. So far my Jazz hasn't had any small accidents that would cause breakage. I distinctly remember Jazz being the object of received birfday money, spent at Xeno. It was a great complete toy and a prominent character in both cartoons and comic books.
#13 - Galvatron
A key point in the 1986 Movie was Unicron rebuilding a dying Megatron into Galvatron. In the movie, Galvatron was a cold calculating dick, more evil than Megatron was. In the cartoon series afterward, Galvatron became an unstable evil madman. A very interesting character. However, the toy was rather crappy... And much like Cyclonus, Galvatron got a much nice reissue, that streamlined both the robot and cannon mode. But has been far too expensive for my budget these days. So it's inclusion to the Museum has so far eluded me...
When I won the ebay auction for Galvatron in late 2000, the listing touted the electronics as "working". Sure enough, when it arrived, it made wacky space gun sounds and Galvatron's eyes lit up. Cracking open the battery compartment revealed this ancient Sears DieHard 9 Volt Battery attached inside. Who know how long that battery had been there. I put it back in Galvatron and called it good.
In 2013, the DieHard was Hard Dead...
#12 - Metroplex
Another 1986 X-mess gift, Metroplex was considered to be Autobot City long before Fortress Maximus showed up. And this toy was sweet! From all of those massive guns right down to the Morse Code shoulder pads. You can even take all of Metroplex's guns and make a whole other robot out of them!
The box for Metroplex has been saved since X-Mess 1986, living alone in Basement World until it's official induction in the Transformers Museum, back in the summer of 1998. I remember first seeing this box at the Crapids Target and loving the little scene Hasbro made with the toys on the box front.
Metroplex was Autobot City, but Decepticon City was all this guy...
#11 - Trypticon
And while nowhere near as complicated as Omega Supreme, I thank the ebay seller for including Trypticon's original instruction manual...
#10 - Predaking / Predacons
On a May 2006 visit to Toy Boy in Anoka, he was offering up this beautiful Predaking toy for only $125! I considered this to be my Apartment warming gift to myself, and Predaking stood watch on the fireplace mantle for over five years before being moved into storage. For as awesome as this toy is, Predaking was sorely underused in both the comic book and TV cartoon run.
In an unfortunate accident, as I was packing Predaking up after taking these pictures, a plastic connector between Razorclaw and Headstrong snapped off. As best as I can tell, Headstrong may be salvageable, but Razorclaw needs to be replaced. Since I don't need any of the accessories for either, replacements shouldn't cost too much...
#9 - Grimlock
Way back about 76,000 words ago, I mentioned buying Grapple in a plastic bag at Savers, with another notable Transformer. That other one would have been non other than Grimlock! $5 for both of them! No accesories, but who cares! There are very few characters in the run more iconic than Grimlock. While played for comic relief and made to be a buffoon in the TV series, Grimlock was a highly intriguing character in the comic book. During a lengthy run where he was named leader of the Autobots, he lead like a fascist dictator. You didn't see that on TV!
#8 - Starscream
To the FrankenMac!
#7 - Shockwave
While regulated to being the stay behind on Cybertron Decepticon representative, who got a token appearance a couple of times a year during the cartoon series, Shockwave STARRED in the comic book series. From his explosive debut in issue 4, and being a constant source of pure evil throughout the Marvel storyline, Shockwave was the character I found the most interesting of the entire comic book run.
When your introduction to a comic book series comes on a cover like this, you know big things are in store for your character...
#6 - Devastator / Constructicons
As a kid, I collected the set of six Constructicons, in hopes of building Devastator out of the iconic green and purple construction equipment vehicles. Problem being, with these bought as a kid, most of the needed Devastator connecting pieces are long lost. All six Constructicons lasted to this day, (though Long Haul has a bum wheel, so he's now Short Haul...) but I needed all of the accessory pieces so Devastator could live again...
The answer to my problems came in the form of a Devastator "gift set", which was missing one of the six Constructicons (Hook), that I didn't really need. So I bought this new set, and put my five old Constructicons inside the box for display purposes, used my old Hook with the new Constructicons, the new connecting pieces and BLAMMO! Devastator! Plus I got a semi-rare original box with cool art for the Museum.
#5 - Soundwave
Soundwave was officially my first Transformer. Purchased from a Kay Bee Toys, located at an outdoor shopping center in Los Angeles, California, during an April 1985 family vacation. There's me in the hotel room with my newly purchased Soundwave, wearing a weird rainbow visor. Which didn't survive over the years. The visor or Soundwave... What was left of my first Soundwave was given to Trav in the late 1990's, after a replacement was purchased off of alt.toys.transformers in 1997.
#4 - Ravage
Not that Ravage is really the fourth greatest Transformer of all time, but as the main accompanying piece to Soundwave, a key character in all formats of the brand, Ravage has to be represented. Even if it's a bit too high... I no longer have Buzzsaw and/or Laserbeak, so the two awesome bird cassettes were out. I have the four original Autobot cassettes (plus a few that came afterwards), and a whole buncha more Decepticon cassettes. They will have be represented by Ravage...
This little jaguar is carrying a heavy load on his shoulders...
#3 - Jetfire
And you will never find a cooler Transformers toy than Jetfire... The highly posable Valkarie was lifted directly from the Robotech toy line. I know there were some sort of issues with Hasbro using it, specifically in how the toy was represented in the TV series and comic book, but I'm not opening that can of worms to dig into that story. I simply had to have Jetfire for the Museum, and that was all that mattered. Mr. Rux had one that he received for X-Mess one year, and Jetfire stood guard over his TV.
I needed one to stand guard over the Museum...
After establishing what my market was, I waited until I found several options hitting the market at the same time. Ones with guns were way more than ones without. But there was a new element; Jetfire with no gun, but WITH box!
However, the box is in rough shape, but still in highly displayable condition... I watched ebay close, and this new entrant confused the market. Box, but no gun? I actually won this ebay auction for less than quite a few ebay auctions of just the Jetfire toy with incomplete armor. No box. No gun. No clip.
Hooray for me!
#2 - Optimus Prime
So who beat the iconic Optimus Prime for #1... It's a bold choice to not go with everybody's favorite Transformer. First off, I don't need to explain the significance of Prime. You know him, you love him... I think the main point of recognition needs to be how sweet that toy really is... That semi-truck looks incredible, even if it didn't turn into a robot. And the robot looks great as well. Good use was made of the trailer, and you just can't go wrong with this quality piece.
I finally got my Optimus Prime in the Summer of 1986. The Movie had just come out, and that was Hasbro's way of breaking the news to the kids that Optimus Prime was dead. Make way for the new toys!
My mom had taken me to see the movie and recognized the coming shift in the brand. She said the newest JC Penney catalog had the Optimus Prime toy on sale, and she was going to order it before they disappeared from the market. A few days later, she picked it up from the old Crapids Catalog Pick-Up Store by the old Rainbow Foods and Target.
Obviously the box had to be kept as well, and I think I did a decent job of keeping it in good shape.
#1 - Megatron
Sorry Prime... Love ya, but I just have to go with evil here...
Megatron was my "Welcome to Colorado!" present to myself in November 1996. I put word out on alt.toys.transformers that I was looking for a loose Megatron, hopefully with all accessories. I got an offer back that included everything but Megatron's silver handgun, no box, but did have the Tech Spec card. I felt his price was a little high, so I asked him to toss something else in and bump the price up by like $5.
He offered up (a) Kickback, the Insecticon that I liked but didn't have, and we made the deal. I picked up the money order and had Megatron a little more than a week later!
(From Wasted Quarter issue #61 - Everybody Shut Up)
Tuesday, February 20, 2007 6:57pm
============================
Trav came over this afternoon and drove with me to US Bank in Anoka, where I cashed in the big bucket of spare change I brought from Denver. $414.88! (Almost what I had in May 2003.)
A good chunk of that was subsequently dropped at Toy Boy, across the street on the boxed Megatron that I’ve wanted all my life. Only would have cost me $12 in 1986... $150 in 1996... And $225 of my hard saved coins today. I couldn’t pass up a very nice condition Sunstreaker with all it’s accessories either. Both of them are mine for a cool $285. Ouch... But, oh well... Last year, Toy Boy provided me with a long desired Predaking in great shape, and this year I get my high dollar dream Transformer.
Complete, minus a 1984 catalog. All accessories present, a “Reinforcements from Cybertron” catalog, Tech Specs Decoder, Instruction booklet and the sticker sheet, some still unapplied! Only one small tear in the corner of the box. This was probably the time to buy it. Doubtful that at any other time in my life this could be justified... Possibly the last big ass retarded purchase I will be making for a very long time...
But what a beauty...
*******
After about 12 hours of work, the Treasure Chest was secured, boxed up and ready for the cross country move. This accomplishment was celebrated with Arby's eaten on top of the conquered Treasure Chest!
Those Arby's Bourbon BBQ Sammiches are fantastic!
******
And on that note, this could be goodbye for quite a while...
But stick with me...
The blog will return as soon as I can get things together in my new old surroundings...
No matter how long that may take!
I have too many stories left to tell!
Jetfire. The apex of my favorite X-mass toys. The last year a toy could be so cool for me. And next to the NES is by far my favorite present to open on Christmass. There is no 3rd place.
ReplyDeleteAlthough it still hurts a little to think about. I was so happy and so excited. Opened up everything so carefully. Went real slow putting the stickers on. Realized I put one on backwards. So pealed it off carefully and reapplied. But the curl was there and it never would stay down and look right. Eventually picked up dust and came unglued.
Kept that toy for a long time. In the end, don't know whatever happened to it.
Mr. RUX
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