Unusual 80s & 90s toys. Usual Transformers of all eras. Sharing pictures from my ridiculously huge toy collection and thoughts from my ridiculously tiny brain. Relive your childhood through the eyes of someone who never really left his…
671 followers 208 following 2,159 posts
view profile on Bluesky
Blackstar Meuton! A weird yet fun figure that isn’t in the cartoon. It has a really cool design with an odd 4-lobed parrot-like beak & bat wings (shared with the series 1 Gargo figure). The handcuffs are a weird addition (is he a cop or just kinky?). I’ve ended up with a small swarm
Transformers Sidetrack! I like how all 3 tanky members of the Battle Patrol are all different atypical tanks, lot of visual variety in what could have been a samey outfit. Sidetrack here is handsome double-cannoned anti-aircraft affair who turns into an even more handsome robot #vintagetoytuesday
Pay for your robots in style with this Transformers lenticular wallet! Picture turns from Sunstreaker’s robot mode to a standard unaltered yellow Lamborghini Countach (Tigertrack? The original pre-bio switch Spinout/Sunstreaker? MP-39 32 years early?) with a simple flick of the wrist
Yeah you’d think someone could have given Galoob final reference material seeing as the toys came out a couple of years after the series had finished.
Blackstar and his faithful dragon steed Warlock, along with their Trobbit friends Terra and big-eared Mike Pence, set out on another adventure to free Sagar from the cruel clutches of The Overlord! This is the second, less accurate version of Warlock & the Laser Light Blackstar
Transformers Flak! Very satisfying transformation on this classy lil guy. Hiding his foot peg holes amongst his missile launcher tubes was an incredibly clever design touch. In the UK comic he memorably shot a Decepticon who was mocking him for his size right in the face so watch the short jokes
Amazed they never did this with the original Magnus. Mind it’s been a LONG time since the last use of G1 Ultra Magnus so maybe the mould wore out.
Transformers hold-all kit bag! Can’t deal with PE now? Now you can as Ultra Magnus guards your gym clobber from Ravage and Laserbeak (unusual & very one-sided battle). This is a bit worn but still has charm. Plenty of internal volume and a side pocket- carry as much cargo as Magnus himself!
Horrible! (🐂)
Max is generally pretty sturdy in day-to-day operations. I’ve had a few pass through my hands over the years and never had a major problem other than yellowing. The central tower tabs are a little scary though have always behaved for me.
You should definitely do this as Horri-Bull *WILL* break if you don’t. Another good G1 anti-breakage mod is to slightly unscrew Triggerhappy’s forearms to stop the tabs on his double blasters from breaking. Unscrew the bottom screw a few turns. Changes nothing, will save your TH-Instructions in alt
I remade Spirits of the Ice Forest. A bit low-budget compare to the original but the Leaellynasaura are definitely cuter
Transformers Walkie Talkie Combat Communicators! Released by Durham Industries these smell *AMAZING* (something about that cheap old electronics smell that’s incredibly evocative). Obviously based on Bluestreak’s box art but changed enough to be interesting generics. Love their speaker chest kibble
Transformers Sunrunner! The primary reason I wanted the Battle Patrol so badly. Look at him! Gorgeous cream plane with a honking great triple missile launcher/rocket thruster on the top. Nothing else like him. The elbows are an interesting novelty though not as dynamic as the typical shoulder joints
Aw, thanks, you’re very welcome! Trying to find comfort in lovely things of the past to distract from today is definitely more fun than howling into the void in existential horror
Transformers Pencils! 4 pencils in a nice shrinkwrapped package. Sadly the eraser mounts are corroded, always in two minds whether to open them and clean them up. The designs on the pencils line up quite nicely which is satisfying
Transformers Waverider! Enjoys the trippy out of body experience of working alongside his shell, a fun bio detail that gives an idea how the Pretender shells work. I got just the inner robot from a market when I was wee & even with no accessories he kicked ass with his nipple guns
They are a bit of a lost art, cheap simple Transformers that are nicely sculpted and look good. I have very fond memories of going into town with my dad every few weeks to pick up a new Patrol with my accumulated allowance.
Transformers Big Shot! One of the elite-tier Micromasters with sculpted launchers next to his head. Has a distinctive helmet with a looong crest almost as impressive as his gun barrel. The crappy Siege version would butcher both of these qualities along with just about everything else cool about him
Not having the best start today as my Ghostbusters Ecto-Glow figs arrived beaten to hell with a puncture that’s damaged the box inside. Then I threw up (unrelated to Ghostbusters). That magical rumour going around might improve it though… c’mon, please give the Ghostbusters something to do 🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞
Power Lords Shaya! Gloriously weird & wonderful, the Queen of Power hides a third eye under her helmet & can morph into a more formidable skinless monster form
Animal Robot! A good quality bootleg of the mammoth component from Dancougar with better instructions than the Robo Machine release. “Able to change into a huge animal!” The snazzy stickers give it a bit of a G2 vibe. Box shows the other components though sadly they aren’t included
Transformers Earthrise Doublecrosser! Though the ER Battle Masters had slightly crap alt modes (lumpy square shield & too short ramp) they had GREAT robot modes & Doublecrosser here is particularly wonderful. Grumpy two-headed candy man! Well named as ramp can attach in 2 directions
You’d want to check your wallet and banking apps in the morning though
Transformers Micromaster Battle Patrol! I wanted these battlin’ badasses SO badly when I was wee but never got them. Went looking for Micros regularly & never found them. Odd as they weren’t rare or short-packed. Must have been popular (you can see why). They were worth the wait though. Magnificent💥
Shame they cut his handgun/s. Feel a bit sorry for him seeing as all the other Predacons got two.
Really hard to find one with decent eye paint
Transformers Pretender Grimlock! Making someone with contempt for humans look like one was fun. Proud member of the bayonet/sword club. I briefly had one but lost the tail on the bus home. My aunt naughtily took it back & exchanged for Jazz. Worked out for the best, got Classic Grim following year
Set in the same universe though movie isn’t essential to the watching the series (some fun rewards though). Series is GREAT - if you liked the movie you’ll LOVE the series
I had the Gameboy version. Never got very far as it was more fun to just vandalise everything
Robo Machine Dancougar Mammouth! The “Mammouth” component of Dancougar was also released separately. It was definitely good enough to serve as as standalone toy though since the rest of team wasn’t released separately it feels a bit lonely. Worth buying again just for the for the stunning art!
Yup, had to get creative with the guys with no weapons! Thinking about it it was definitely inspired by Daniel’s partial Exosuit transformation in TFTM. They also got to do Sideswipe-esque piledriving with them.
Transformers Roadhugger! Triple missile batteries on each side of his head (or at least vents I interpreted as missile launchers) and a rich purple colour made him seem pretty luxurious. He loves road so much
Always amazed how well the vehicle kibble matches up with the Action Master’s detailing. If you didn’t know better you could easily think it was designed to be Krok
The very healthy Gobots/Robo Machine section from the Spring/Summer 1987 Argos Catalogue gives a good idea just how expensive the Dancougar gifset was - RRP £38.50 (£113-ish adjusted for inflation) Argos price £26.95 (£78) To put that into perspective £26.95 was the same price as Scorponok (!)
Power Lords Trigore! This spaceship (seriously!) is weird even by Power Lords standards and I LOVE it. Looking like someone turned a chameleon inside out and mated it with a tricycle. The beast’s main method of attack seems to be causing foes to vomit themselves unconscious.
Nice! Seems to be a lot of TM2 Megatron in there
It does! They called it a shield rather than a poncho though because apparently Bandai Europe hated joy
Robo Machine Bismarck! Robo Machine was very successful & ported over extra bots from various Japanese Bandai lines. Sadly Bismarck (interestingly released as a baddie) was rather expensive (£26= £78 adjusted for inflation) - the same price as Scorponok so didn’t sell well
That’s not a worm poking out of that eye socket…
Transformers Detour! Seemed to have been bought from the same car showroom as Wheelie which I liked. With a nice car mode, sharp colours and the ability to have my fan mode car kibble arm blasters he got a lot of play. Doesn’t seem to have a sculpt variant like his mould-mate Hyperdrive
Slow and talky as it is I’m quite enjoying it though they seem to have mixed up which Ridley Scott movie they are supposed to be doing. Blade Runner is the next IP over, sillies (hardly alone on that as every project since Prometheus has treated the Androids as more interesting than the Aliens)
Bags of Character Robo Machine Pencil Case! This snazzy pencil case features Baron Von Joy which seems a bit cruel as I’m not sure ze Baron could operate a zip with his clamps. Or a pencil, for that matter. Maybe the shiny lil dude in his head could do it for him.
Definitely regret not getting my act together and getting the one that used to taunt me though in my defence it was *ludicrously* expensive (shop it shelfwarmed in didn’t really discount things either, hence hanging on to circa 1993)
Here is Dancougar loose! Boasting 12 modes between Mammouth, Land Ligar, Black Cougar and Eagle Fighter (all sic) they certainly pack in the play value. The Headmaster Eagle is cute. Magnificent, though could use another member to bulk out the upper body (maybe another bird for wings ala Predaking)
Robo Machine Dancougar Giftset! Serious contender for greatest packaging art of all time. I used to drool over one of these in a local shop (where it lingered until the early 90s) though it was too expensive for a pocket money purchase & not cartoon-shilled enough for an occasion #vintagetoytuesday
😍
I did, look very nice. I try to avoid “new” stuff due to lack of space but they were very tempting
Power Lords Arkus - The Evil Dictator! This imperious insectoid isn’t quite as buff as Skeletor or Mumm-Ra but as he rules his own interstellar empire he must be doing something right (well, wrong, seeing as he’s evil). A strikingly beautiful figure though he’s ridiculously frail #vintagetoytuesday
The paint mask doesn’t align properly and go up to the very top (possibly due to the slightly different shape) but it is a different sculpt too
Speaking of Hyperdrive he has 2 sculpts - thin face with a short optic strip w/a rounded edge, thin helmet crest, thin round lips. Or chubby face w/wide flat optic strip, wider crest & big pouty angular lips. Chest vents are also deeper on chubby face & belts are different. Crazy! More deets in alt
Transformers Hyperdrive! In my games I made him hyperactive, aggressive and very, very fast (with a literal hyperdrive) which was a recipe for disaster - and fun! He has pretty colours and ridiculously shredded pecs
If you like Danger Mouse you’ll love The Trap Door. Very similar humour. Lot of (if not all) episodes on YouTube. And the theme tune freaking slaps m.youtube.com/watch?v=Qwhs...
Turtles Triceraton! Sadly this isn’t my original as it was one of the few TMNTs I was gently persuaded to trade away to my cousin to try to ween me off toys (ha!). A heavily-armed rat-eating triceratops is awesome but he got the chop as I hadn’t seen him in the show or comic. Nice to have one again
Transformers Blackjack! It blew my tiny mind that he *wasn’t* a redeco of Swindler (I thought he would be ala Whisper/Groundshaker). They look so similar yet don’t share a single part. Indulgent! Blackjack’s trickiness & fondness for Autobot dress-up meant they often swapped places in my games
Do wish they had waited for the inevitable Cliffjumper retool to do this (or used it if CJ parts already exist as a pretool) as new feet would really help him look less Bee-ish
I like the mummy & baby effect that placing a Ravage puffy sticker over the printed Ravage graphic on this Transformers pencil case creates. 5* for creativity there random 80s kid, even though you grew out of them I shall preserve your efforts in perpetuity. Another “Warrior Robots in Disguise” item
Just so sad. So much stuff like this still exists yet one fire, one flood, one corrupted hard drive and it’s all gone
Yep, another thing that makes the task harder! Also I’m not entirely convinced the gun you can very briefly see in Starscream’s shell’s hand matches the comic Snaptrap-inspired gun, so who knows. Hopefully some more models will turn up one day to clarify things
Confirming this is made much harder by nearly every Marvel artist who drew the Classic Pretenders being prone to making up generic guns rather than use the model sheet ones. Even arch copier Delbo strayed from the model sheets on occasion!
It’s difficult to be 100% given the fleeting glimpses we get but I’m pretty sure that the other Pretender Classics models have the stand-in weapons from the same protos. Though Marvel didn’t use the bot models they did use the shells & you can see Bumblebee using a PM Prime gun & SS using Snaptrap’s
Turtles Android Krang! Absolutely baffling that it took Playmates until 1994 to release a normal-sized Android Krang. I was long out of Turtles by the time it was released (not sure it even came out in UK) but the Turtles-crazy me of 1990 would have killed for it (I *hated* the walker version I had)
My fav thing about that model is it features the only animated appearance of Sludge’s rifle! bsky.app/profile/slig...
Interestingly Pretender Jazz’s animation model uses a gun based on a stand-in, seen on a prototype in the 89 catalogue. The gun originally belonged to Sludge. Sludge’s own model doesn’t feature that gun, just his missile launcher, so Jazz gives us a glimpse at what a toon version might look like
The hulls start to build up if you buy a few SW lots & they bump postage up too much to stick into parts lots so I can see why they were dumped. Several of them seem to have back landing legs so whoever parted them out either didn’t know they were removable or simply couldn’t be bothered with them
Transformers Sports Car Patrol! Powerful tricksters with a penchant for pretending to be Autobots. Really hard to pick a favourite as they all have something great going for them. Usually hung around with Skyhopper in my games (the base was as much theirs as it was his & they’d deploy from the nose)
Crazy late Transformers G1 Pencil Case/organiser featuring an Overlord that puts Action Master Thundercracker to shame! This gaudy graphic was used on a few different bits of Italian merchandise & never fails to make me want to reach for a TR Overlord & some paint 🎨
It's gone completely wappy on iPhone too, changing out correctly spelled words for random nonsense (most infuriating is changing every other "the" for "Tue"). Suspect AI fuckery but can't find any setting to turn off. Autocorrect was a godsend for a clumsy-fingered dyslexic but it might have to go
Transformers Pretender Jazz! A Caucasian Jazz feels all kinds of wrong (I suppose it is a good disguise!) but the shell is actually a cool design. Sadly the same can’t be said for the inner bot, which is shit. When I got Euro Classics Jazz he replaced the crap inner bot & stole the shell & small gun
The always stylish Transformers Decepto Pack! (one of a few box variants). Interestingly the blaster in this set is the pistol Optimus Prime wields in the 1984 packaging mural battle. The face on the shield strongly resembles Brawn's animation model head though that is probably coincidental
Perhaps my greatest claim to fame is that I own one of the 350 Robo Machines given away in this issue (I didn’t win it but I bought it off someone who did). An achievement I’ll probably never top.
Transformers Stamp Bots Starscream by House Martin! Starscream rubber stamps all of his betrayal plans
Given Bumblebee’s popularity & the Beetle alt mode I’d imagine the toy designer simply mixed up the horn-helmeted Minibot heads when asked to do a cartoon face. If you were a designer only familiar with Bee’s toy head working from b&w models it would be easy to get confused as to which was which
Feels insanely wasteful when for years they’ve been telling us how prohibitively expensive extra paint apps are but then thinking about it I guess a vat of pink paint must be cheaper than a load of pink plastic. Economics be crazy.
Transformers Pretender Bumblebee! This ‘Bee was an unstoppable killing machine with black stripes on his hood long before Bay. His Volkswagen Beetle mode is really nice though it gives him a bit of a gut in bot mode. Once you notice he actually has Cliffjumper’s head you’ll never unsee it
That lovely period when Takara was on fire with making little improvements to the reissues that made them nicer whilst preserving the uniqueness of the originals
My old primary school STILL has some of the “temporary” mobile classrooms that were old, knackered and draughty when I was there 35 years ago. It would almost be impressive if it wasn’t so desperately sad.
This remake of the “Spirits of the Ice Forest” episode of Walking With Dinosaurs is a bit low-budget compare to the original but the Leaellynasaura are definitely cuter - Leaellynasaura hand and finger puppets from the original run of Walking with Dinosaurs!
No idea how I missed this as a child. Grew up in the area, loved stuff like this and used to get books on local folklore out of the library on a continuous loop yet someone never heard of her until today. Feel a bit robbed on my childhood self’s behalf! (least child me didn’t get skinned, I guess)
My fav thing about this poster is that Ultra Magnus is clearly shooting Galvatron in the crotch & Galvatron is clearly distressed about it. Maybe Magnus just wanted to set off Galvatron’s sound effect button? (Also fun that Mags is wielding a Metroplex rifle & Galv has an oversized Scamper pistol)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Road Ready Mutations Don! Donatello does machines? No, Donatello *is* machines! Specifically Jazz by the looks of it. He’s even number 4! Car mode is surprisingly lovely. Like a lot of TMNT of this era his cool weapons (antifreeze gun!) are available in multiple colours
Yeah I remember the lil thrills in discovering various "secret" modes (Prime's repair bay, Metroplex's ability to combine with the Scramble City Torsos etc) when I first got online back in the day
Weird. Why not mould them in the right colour if they aren't gang moulded with any other parts? The paint is an extra cost too.
His tech specs, model sheet & the show bible don’t show or mention his third form so the writers probably didn’t know it existed. His expanded bio describes it as a “stationary field artillery piece” rather than a tank & his instructions call it a “mobile laboratory” so they weren’t much help either
Eat your dinner in style whilst Optimus Prime himself protects your table from splashes, spills and soup with this attractive Transformers table mat from Icarus. Wipe him clean! Like a lot of early UK stuff it features the tagline “Warrior robots in disguise”
Turtles Psycho Cycle! Bebop’s bike was pretty rad and really ripped when you pulled the cord though my favourite thing about it by far was the badass fully painted buzzard companion/pet. Sadly a lot of the pink & grey plastic on mine is decaying & has gone really weird and sticky (looks ok though)
I see a lot of ducks, apparently
Run as fast as BLURR, no less!
🧵2/2 ... (different poster & membership card, no tech specs booklet & the US mailer is *much* nicer). Never sure if I should build it or not (can’t be many unused ones left) though would be nice to when I have space to display it. Maybe one day...
🧵1/2 Transformers mailaway S.T.A.R.S. Command Centre! This is an unbuilt UK version of the set. The UK variant has some differences from the main US version (which I also have but it’s *really* buried in my attic hoard) - most notably the board game floor & the included extras…
He's the reason that the Deluxe Insecticon has got to be "Venin" so it's likely the same here
Wanna race? 🏁
The only necessity for me is Predaking as the individual PotP Predacons are kinda pathetic and I dislike the lanky look of the combined form. Some better Seacons would be nice too but not holding my breath.
Transformers Wheeljack Zipper Clip by HG Toys! Let’s hope Wheeljack didn’t design it himself lest there be any unfortunate zip explosions. Be extra careful which zip you put it on just in case...
Masters of the Universe Power⚡️Tronic Cassette Recorder by Nasta! I have the power… to play and record on cassettes! Play your favourite tunes through the thrusting crotches of He-Man and Skeletor. I like how Skeletor seems to be enjoying the funky beats more than He-Man is
I assume there's a note on there somewhere that reads "make these gears out of the most fragile plastic known to man"
LJN Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Mercion! This cleric casts white magic & healing spells. Weirdly she was not released in the UK by Matchbox (who handled our distribution) & she was removed from cardbacks & catalogues. The other female figures were released here so guess she was too holy for Brits
Zero Hour Night Hawk Bomber & Quicksilver Fighter Set! This awesome flying fortress has an incredibly fun working bombing feature & it can launch the piggyback fighter to intercept incoming threats. Despite looking rather sinister it belongs to the heroic Zero Eagle Air Squadron
“Let fire become white, let fire become star-bright, let The Enflamer come forth” Ro-Bear Bill summoning The Enflamer (sic, apparently) is an odd choice of scene for this MB Thundercats / Cosmocats jigsaw puzzle but a charming one
Yeah, there’s a Valkyrie in Fight or Flee too. I think the FoF one is a use Jetfire’s first animation model though this one is clearly unarmoured with the elbows and ankle circles visible so definitely not Jetfire’s model. Someone seems to have snuck an Easter egg like the Gundams in TF:TM