Limited Editions/Collectibles

Odd, one might think, to have a collectibles section within the collections section of my website. But, as George Orwell so astutely observed, some things are more equal than others. While I highly prize most of the items in my collection, some are officially collectors' items, and some are limited editions. And for once, I can't blame Forbidden Planet for starting me off...

It's difficult to organise this sort of thing, because there are recent releases based on Gen 1 models (E-Hobby are particularly fond of this trick, and Takara/Hasbro themselves rereleased some models for the 20th Anniversary), while some are limited edition repaints of more contemporary models. While I'm not certain that the Takara/Hasbro reissues are limited editions as such, some items in this list are 1 in 3000. To make it easy on myself, I'll list these in order of purchase.

E-Hobby Cobalt Sentry
Also known as Ravage and Laserbeak in blue, this is a pair of Gen 1 Soundwave's cassette minions. Aside from using blue plastic rather than black, these are completely identical to the originals. Except that my Howlback has been packaged with two of the right-side rocket launcher. E-Hobby offered to replace the incorrect weapon when the problem was discovered, but I quite like the fact that a mistake was made. That, and I'd rather not open the box... Yet. I've always liked the cassettes, and these two are still very impressive bits of engineering.

Toy's Dream Project Ariel (Paradron Type)
A minty green version of the girly pink motorcycle from the Superlink/Energon series. Exactly the same as the original, but all the pink bits are now a tasteful shade of green. Likewise for the translucent weapons - now all a very bold green, but still in keeping with the figure's paintjob. I'm not really sure what a Paradron is, but apparently one turned up in the old Gen 1 TV series, looking remarkably like the character Arcee from TransFormers The Movie, only green rather than pink. Since then, a non-transforming action figure and a statue of the 'Paradron Medic' have been made, both of which are green repaints of similar Arcee models. This figure was limited to 3000.

Takara Reissue 19 Perceptor
One of the few Gen 1 toys that never made it to the UK, and a very interesting one at that, I resolved to lay my hands on Perceptor almost as soon as his rerelease was announced. This is perhaps one of the cleverest TransFormers, in that it transforms into a (barely) functional microscope. It's actually not that well designed for use as a microscope, not least because it only offers up to 2x magnification, with a slide tray which is poorly positioned to allow light from a chromed plastic reflector to pass through it. Nevertheless, a nice try. Robot mode, with the huge shoulder cannon, is pretty impressive and suprisingly posable for a Gen 1 figure. While the hips don't allow for forward or backward motion, the knees do bend authentically. The third mode - a kind of laser tank - seems like an afterthought, but works pretty well. E-Hobby remade this one in black and packaged it with a Microman figure.

Tigertrack
Available originally through Japan's Figure King magazine back in 2003, I picked this up in London's Orbital Comics, partly because I'd never owned the original. The box is entirely cardboard, printed in one colour - a pale orange - rather than the usual full colour box with a plastic window. I'd actually expected the model to be a similar orange, so I was surprised to find he's essentially Sideswipe in Sunstreaker's colours. Always a cool model despite being a brick, this Lamborghini Countach transforms into an Autobot Sentinal. He is armed in exactly the same way as the original Sideswipe (and the other Countach repaints, Gen 1 Red Alert, and limited editions Deep Cover and Clampdown, both of which came out as 'New Year Specials' also in 2003).

E-Hobby (Junkion Mercenary) Detritus
Another instance of buying a repaint having missed the original, Detritus is basically Gen 1 Hound in desert colours. Or rusty. Who knows? The Jeep model was always one that I wanted, and one that some of my friends had, but I never got round to buying it. There were too many cool TransFormers around at the time, and I didn't have enough money for all of them. Packaged like one of the original Gen 1 toys, Detritus comes with the same accessories as the original Hound. Transformation is quite satisfying and the robot is the usual kind of Gen 1 brick. Worse still, his arms are ridiculously stubby, and he can't even point his handgun forward. Cute all the same, though... just a bit of a let-down after Binaltech Hound and Swindle.

Robot Masters Skywarp & Thundercracker 2 pack
Just like Gen 1, Skywarp and Thundercracker are straight repaints of Robot Masters Starscream, with all the same complaints about the lack of leg articulation. Some, also, were incorrectly assembled (there were reports of them being put together with two right arms, for example) but mine are perfect. There's also a rather cool Decepticon insignia pin badge, and the box is in the Gen 1 style, like the E-Hobby reissues. This is supposedly the last of the Robot Masters line - at least, the accompanying webcomic reached its climax - but there are already rumours of continuation...

Toy's Dream Project Dark Fang Wolf
While Galaxy Force Fang Wolf is a decent enough model with a clever transformation, the colour scheme of the original just looks plain wrong. Worse still, the lack of paintwork on his white face means most of the detail goes unnoticed. Not so with this fella. The standard black repaint works wonders for him, making him look meaner, moodier, more powerful. Other than the paint job, he's exactly the same as the original Takara counterpart - Wolf mode's tail becomes a gun/sword, and its head becomes the right arm, harking back to the original Beast Wars Megatron. The Force Key opens the Wolf's mouth and deploys glowing fangs, ready for attack, but the key won't stay put in mine, so the mouth springs closed again. This is just a pot-luck mold issue, and I have a similar problem with GF Noisemaze. Limited run of 6000.

Dark Nitro Convoy
Galaxy Force seems to be getting its fair share of Dark repaints, with Dark Ligerjack, Dark Fang Wolf and now Dark Nitro Convoy. In each case, they've taken a model with a dubious colourscheme and made it look much better simply my making the main colour black and adding silver, metallic turquoise and red detailing. As with the garishly coloured original, Dark Nitro Convoy's main gimmick is the automatic (though only partial) transformation brought on my pushing a button at the front of his vehicle mode. Considering the importance of the key gimmick in most of the other models, it's confusing that it wasn't used here for the auto-transforming feature, but instead for a rather weak-looking and unweildy gun. Still, even with some weak joints, it conspires to look very good. Limited run of 2000.

Black Lio Convoy
There were four versions of Lio Convoy in total - the original, this black repaint, the 'Flash' version (made of translucent, glittery plastic) and another black repaint called Galva Lio Convoy, which was supposed to be the evil version. This one was limited to 6000 pieces and looks much better than the 'Flash' and 'Galva' versions, the latter of which was quite garish in its paint job, sharing the purple, red and gold motif of the equivalent Beast Wars Galvatron.

Robot Masters Black Lio Convoy
Clarifying the issue of Black Lio Convoy's alliegance is this Robot Masters mini version. Just like the original Robot Masters version of this model, it's at once the same and very different to the full-size version. The most striking difference is the paintjob, which has much more contrast. While the full size version is made largely of dull black plastic with dark metallic grey paint, the Robot Masters version has opted for a brighter silver look. The chest plate and certain other key areas have been painted over in a very glossy black. Additionally, with its red eyes (in both modes) and a Decepticon (as opposed to Predacon) insignia hidden under the top piece of the mane (where the original RM Lio Convoy had an Autobot insignia), this is more obviously a Nemesis than the full-size version.

Toy's Dream Project Soundblaster
Unlike all the other black versions, this is neither a Nemesis-version or a 'Dark/Black' incarnation... this is a whole different character. Just as Galaxy Force Soundwave was a homage to a Gen 1 character, TDP have come up with a homage to the Gen 1 Soundwave 'remix' known as Soundblaster. The original was indentical to Soundwave in every respect bar colour and the capacity of his cassette door - it was bulked up to carry two cassettes at a time. While it clearly isn't possible to adjust the GF Soundwave mold in the same way, the colourscheme has been adopted and adapted, and proves very effective. Black suits the idea of a stealth jet much better than the blue of the original, and the gold and metallic reds contrast nicely.

THS-02 Hybrid Style Generation 1 Convoy
When I saw this thing in person, I couldn't believe how dinky he really is. Smaller than the original Gen 1 Optimus Prime, and yet far more articulated, not to mention several thousand times more impressive than Robot Masters Convoy. When I bought him, I was advised toward using the instruction the first time I transform him. The waist is on a ball joint, and quite a weak one by all accounts, meaning one tends to be left with two halves of a robot during the process. Of course, while ball joints may occasionally be weak, this is both a weakness and a strength, as it means putting it back together is very easy. This model will be staying in its box until I have somewhere to display him properly.

BotCon 2003 Sunstreaker & Sideswipe
Just to show things never change that much, the convention exclusive figures for BotCon three years ago were straight repaints of models from the Robots In Disguise/Car Robots line. These two linked in with Gen 1 rather more obviously that some of the other figures in the line, as the original Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were also Lamborghinis, yellow and red respectively. Like some other RID cars, these two have some similarities to the Binaltech models, but in miniature.

BotCon 2006 Boxed Set - Dawn of Futures Past
Easily the best BotCon Package yet, and certainly a huge improvement on last year's repaints of Beast Wars, RiD and Energon. Dawn of Futures Past takes a look at the characters from Beast Wars before they got reformatted with animal alternate modes. Each model in this collection comes from the Galaxy Force/Cybertron line, with the exception of 'Darksyde Dinobot', who's actually a Galaxy Force/Cybertron retooling of an Armada model. The package comes in a nice, heavy card collectors box, with foam inserts to keep the models safe. Each one comes with a 'Golden Disk', essentally a very basic repaint of the Galaxy Force/Cybertron key - these are based, strangely, on the standard Decepticon key and, rather disappointingly, still have the embossed Decepticon logo on the back. Obviously, with the gold paint all over the front, it's not visible, but it loses a few points in quality due to this overlooked detail. There's also a nice, heavy, enamel badge in the package. As I understand it, this was a bonus for BotCon attendees - those who bought this package mail order did not get the badge.

On the Maximal side, we have (L-R) Rhinox, Rattrap, Optimus Primal and Cheetor. Rhinox is based on the Guardshell/Landmine mold, with no retooling. The head is just about similar enough to BW Rhinox to get away with a simple green/gold repaint. Sadly, this incarnation of Rhinox doesn't have anything like his signature weapon from BW. Rattrap is based on the Gasket/Ransack mold, again with no retooling. This is particularly disappointing because the comic book explaining the Pre-BW storyline shows Rattrap with his BW head, not this one... and they're not quite similar enough for it to work. It is noteworthy, however, that this is the first incarnation of this mold to have the rear wheel fixtures fitted the right way round. Optimus Primal is the reason I wanted this set. Using the Land Bullet/Crumplezone mold, they've made the perfect Pre-BW Primal. The only possible complaint about this one is the size of his retooled head, which seems disproportionate to the rest of the body. While I didn't initially like this mold in Galaxy Force, I've really warmed to it since picking it up, and this version is even better. Cheetor uses the Skids/Clocker mold to good effect, and has a completely retooled head to fit the character. While the cheetah spots look rather tacky in vehicle mode - they're on the seats, predominantly - they manage to work quite well on the robot... of course, I still don't quite understand why a Pre-BW robot would have spots...

The only Predacon to be represented in the boxed set is Dinobot, who later defects to the Maximals. Before I picked this package up, this would have been my reason for passing on it entirely. It's a throwback to Armada days, and the mold just seems to keep getting recycled for each new line. Having had a closer look at it, though, I find myself warming to the mold. While I won't go seeking the previous versions, this model does have decent posablilty (if you can get it to balance), and manages to look pretty decent.

There were a few more BotCon exclusives which were not part of the package - Megatron, for example, is a retooling of First Gunner/Cyberton Defence First Aid and, even though the electronics were stripped, still manages to be a pretty good model, and an excellent interpretation of a Pre-BW Megatron. Sadly, he was made in very limited quantities, and tends to be very expensive. At the London Expo, I was quoted £200, which is way outside my budget for a single figure. To put that in perspective, this entire set cost me £275 and even that seemed a bit much. A single additional figure costing more than two thirds the price of this set seemed like insanity. Tigatron, the white/metallic teal repaint of Cheetor is similarly expensive due to its rarity.

BotCon 2006 Souvenir Tigatron
...Clearly the inflated price tag didn't stop me buying him when he turned up on eBay.
To be fair, though, I got him pretty cheap, all things considered. I was prepared to pay more than I did... but was glad that I didn't have to. Tigatron is the same model as DoFP Cheetor, but with a white and metallic teal paintjob to match Beast Wars Tigatron, and even details like 'whiskers' painted onto his face. It's strange how suitable this mold is for the characters of Cheetor and Tigatron, who also shared their Beast Wars mold.

BotCon 2006 Souvenir Laserbeak & Buzzsaw
Both of these are simple recolours of the Energon Divebomb/Superlink Shadowhawk mold, though neither seem as stable or poseable as the two Energon/Superlink models I own. There's something about the hips, knees and feet on these two that doesn't work as well. They stand, but they're limited in the poses they can pull off while remaining upright of their own accord. It's an effective mold, nonetheless, and doesn't require too big a stretch of the imagination to see the two Generation 1 'condor cassettes' in these figures.

Takara 'Beast Wars Reborn' 10th Anniversary Set
Picked up at the November 2006 Memorabilia, from those groovy folks at Second Star, this is the Japanese version of the Beast Wars 10th Anniversary set. Supposedly identical to the American Toys'R'Us-exclusive set (except that the US version apparently had ratchet pieces missed out on some joints), this is a 'show accurate' pair of repaints of Beast Wars Optimus Primal and Megatron, with some remolded details and new heads for both. They've always been an excellent, reasonably poseable pair of TransFormers, fairly convincing in either mode, but the new paintjob does wonders to improve them - especially Megatron, whose 1990s paintjob could only ever be described as 'sparse'. If I had one complaint, it's that Optimus Primal's forearms haven't been remolded to be more like his TV show counterpart - he still has only one double-barrel cannon in one wrist, and that silly skull-mace in the other. While I haven't taken either out of the packaging, it appears that Megatron still has his water pistol tongue in the T-Rex head, which was easily one of the coolest features of the original.

With the addition of a 'Golden Disc', which is actually a CD-ROM with loads of interesting (albeit textually Japanese) content, the Beast Wars Reborn set really should be a must-have for any Beast Wars fan... and while I've never considered myself to be a fan of the toy range (aside from a few quirky models), the TV series was excellent.

TFCC Membership figures Skyfall, Landquake & Breakaway
The official TransFormers Collectors' Club has been very clever in its decision on free membership figures. The first four are to be limbs  of a gestalt - 2005 was Skyfall, derived from the Energon Superion set, 2006 brought Landquake from the Energon Bruticus set, 2007 returns to Superion for Breakaway. The implication is that 2008's will be the final limb from this set and 2009's will be the larger robot who becomes the torso... The questions are "Which limb will be next?" (the only existing gestalt that isn't represented at this stage is Constructicon Maximus/Devastator) and "Which larger robot will they use?"  While it would be nice to imagine they'll come up with an entirely new model for the body, chances are it'll be a repaint/remold of one of the existing four. I already have Steamhammer and Storm Jet... so it would be nice to see the other one used, if it's not going to be an entirely new model.

The coolest thing about these is that they come with lenticular 'certificates of authenticity' which have a 3D effect. I'm not entirely convinced by the use of translucent plastic, but I'm sure there's a point to it.

TFCC Exclusive Astrotrain
Based on the Armada Jetfire mold, but with a whole new head and a totally different (though heavily based on an unreleased Hasbro TF Universe model named Spacewarp), Astrotrain ramps up the value for money by coming with a team of Mini-Cons whose names all have and 'Astro-' prefix. While the main model in this box may be based on a mold several years old, the Mini-Cons are brand spanking new, from the Cybertron line, in which they were the 'Giant Planet Mini-Con Team'. They're a great set - excellent molds, reasonably poseable... and the new colour scheme suits them just as well as the original.

Astrotrain himself shows the age of his mold in that it's not particularly poseable. Strangely, while the knees and even ankles have some mobility, the hips have only rotation and a single notch of sideways movement. The arms, on the other hand, as as poseable as just about any other contemporary TransFormer, and even the wrists rotate. I'd have to say that his 'handgun' is a tad oversized, but it also houses the lights and sounds (which are actually quite cute). Overall, it's a good set and, thanks to the strong pound versus the dollar, pretty good value for money.

TFCC Exclusive Airazor
Continuing the BotCon 2006 theme of "Beast Wars characters before Beast Wars", Airazor is Energon Slugslinger with a new head and a colourscheme to match the original Beast Wars Airazor. This is the TFCC model that made me a member. The idea is fantastic, the mold is fun, and the new head does a very good job of evoking the character... Even if it does appear to have a goatee.

The only problem with this model is that the shoulder cannon has a hair trigger, possibly as a result of mold degradation. Even so, the model looks great, despite the use of quite a jarring orange colour for the main body. If the Club continues to produce exclusives of this quality (and the BotCon 2007 set is, perhaps, a small step backwards), I'll be more than happy to keep my membership going.

BotCon 2002 Exclusive Tap Out
From the early days of BotCon, when the giveaway figures weren't as big or elaborate as they are now... Tap Out is a repaint of the Generation 1 Mini-Autobot Cliffjumper, based on the more recent reissue keyring version, hence the loop on the left shoulder. Whereas Cliffjumper was a red 'Penny Racer/Choro-Q' style Porsche with black as the secondary colour, Tap Out is a metallic sea-green, with grey for the robot parts and car windows. Cliffjumper was my first Autobot, so I have a soft spot for this mold. He's cute, and makes a decent robot for such a small toy. While the original had Dunlop-branded tyres, this BotCon version has plain tyres with no branding. This one was bought for me as a late 'birtday present' by a friend, when visiting Memorabilia.

BotCon 2007 Boxed Set - Games of Deception
Adopting the Classics aesthetic, the 2007 boxed set is made up of three repaints and two (slight) remolds of Classics models. The set drew more than its fair share of scorn by featuring three more Seekers, one in particular - Thundercracker - that fans had been baying for a more widespread release. While some complained that the pricetag was too high for very little remolding, what was never taken into account was the very limited run (about 1200 to 1400, depending one where you look) and the fairly extravagant paintjob the three jets received, partly mimmicking their Generation 1 sticker designs. Add to that the entirely new wing design for Thrust and a new head for Dreadwing, not to mention the excellent box art, and you have an eminantly collectable boxed set.

BotCon 2007 Souvenir Springer
Originally packaged with Cybertron Armorhide repaint Huffer, Springer is a repaint of Cyberton Defence Hot Shot/Galaxy Force Exigeyser and, bizarrely, it fits very well. Springer was a triple-changer back in the days of Generation 1, but sacrificing his third mode hasn't lessened Springer in any way. His colourscheme is quite close to the original, and the overall look of the figure is far more impressive. In some ways, it even beats CD Hot Shot/GF Exigeyser, though the weaknesses in design in that original are still evident in this repaint. Still, as limited editions go, the leader of the Wreckers is pretty darned cool.

BotCon 2007 Souvenir Alpha Trion
When Cybertron/Galaxy Force Vector Prime first emerged, many fans commented on his similarity to Alpha Trion, so it seemed almost inevitable that there would be a repaint. Several fans did their own, some even making a new head, but this one is 'official'. The only reason I have this is that the organisers of BotCon left a couple of cases of this guy back at their offices when they went to Rhode Island, so I consider myself very lucky to own him. Sadly, he's far from perfect - the central crest on his head is missing, so he has a very unsightly groove in his head when viewed from behind or in his alternate mode, and one of the 'wings' is misassembled, so one of the two halves doesn't fold round properly. There also seems to be a stability issue that wasn't present in Vector Prime... And yet he still manages to look awesome. His Mini-Con was eventually named Beta Maxx, an almost clever play on the video cassette format that lost the battle with VHS.

BotCon 2007 Souvenir Weirdwolf
A clever  repaint of Cybertron Snarl/Galaxy Force Fangwolf as a Generation 1 HeadMaster, Weirdwolf manages to be one of the most impressive of the BotCon 2007 set. While the colourscheme should be garish, somehow it works better than the original - not least because it brings out far more detail than the US/UK release of the original model. Additionally, while the original Gen 1 model was a clumsy brick, this update reflects all the improvements in design and manufacturing that have happened in the years since Gen 1. What's really sweet about this model is that the originaly Weirdwold came with a handgun and a sword which doubled as his wolf-mode's tail. This Cybertron/Galaxy Force mold combines the two into one weapon... almost as if a Weirdwolf homage was always the intention.