With the acquisition of Blue Bacchus some months ago, my G1 Transformers (US & Jap) collecting is more or less coming to a close. In other words, there wasn't anything that I'm consciously after there wasn't anything I was hunting and there wasn't anything on my 'want list'.
In any event, that's the key reason its been quiet. Sometimes, I do go out and 'upgrade' with some MISB, near-MISB or MOSC pieces like Goodbye Convoy and the MOSC Triggerbots / cons, but its happening less and less.
Anyway, nothing on my want list does not prevent me from toy shopping. So, I continued to visit YMT and MK quite regularly. On one of my trips there about 2 weeks ago, I popped in to visit my friend in Shop 221. I looked around the shop and noticed 2 sets of Decoys there for sale (to be honest, they must have been there forever, just that I never took notice).
I've never taken the Decoys seriously, always preferring the Takara SCF figures, but then Decoys qualify as vintage where the SCF figures do not.
I asked my friend about them: "Are these sets complete?"
"Yes, they are. But you'd need another 9-pack set to complete the series of 53 figures.", he showed me some images from Alvarez's "The Unofficial Japanese and International Transformers" guide by way of confirmation.
'You mean Decoys were that easy to complete?', I thought to myself. 'So its just these 2 sets of 22 figures each and another 9 unique figures and I was done?', I mused. 'I could live with that', I thought.
"How much are you selling these 2 sets for?", I enquired.
"HKD$*** for both", he answered.
Wow, that's a pretty good price considering that I would be 90% done with these 2 sets and it'd save me the trouble of having to hunt them down individually, a feat, which would have been monumental given that Decoys were only packed one-Decoy-per-toy with the Throttlebots, Aerialbots, Protectorbots, Technobots, Stunticons, Combaticons and Terrorcons back in 1987.
"Ok", I said, "I will buy them."
My friend was really nice because he also gave me his copy of "The Unofficial Japanese and International Transformers" guide by Alvarez together with the Decoys.
I'm a happy camper.
Collection No.1: Cybertron Hero collection 22
This collection includes the following Decoys in red: Blaster, Bluestreak, Brawn, Grapple, Hoist, Hound, Huffer, Ironhide, Jazz, Mirage, Optimus Prime, Perceptor, Ratchet, Red Alert, Sideswipe, Skids, Smokescreen, Sunstreaker, Swoop, Tracks, Wheeljack, Windcharger.
Back of box
The contents
Here they are, not necessarily in order - Blaster, Bluestreak, Brawn, Grapple, Hoist, Hound, Huffer, Ironhide, Jazz, Mirage, Optimus Prime, Perceptor, Ratchet, Red Alert, Sideswipe, Skids, Smokescreen, Sunstreaker, Swoop, Tracks, Wheeljack, Windcharger.
Collection No.2: Destron Hero collection 22
This collection includes the following Decoys in purple: Astrotrain, Blitzwing, Bombshell, Bonecrusher, Devastator, Frenzy, Hook, Kickback, Laserbeak, Long Haul, Megatron, Mixmaster, Ravage, Reflector, Scavenger, Scrapper, Shockwave, Shrapnel, Skywarp, Soundwave, Starscream, Thundercracker. Notably, Rumble is missing from this collection of Decepticons.
Back of box
The contents
Here they are, not necessarily in order - Astrotrain, Blitzwing, Bombshell, Bonecrusher, Devastator, Frenzy, Hook, Kickback, Laserbeak, Long Haul, Megatron, Mixmaster, Ravage, Reflector, Scavenger, Scrapper, Shockwave, Shrapnel, Skywarp, Soundwave, Starscream, Thundercracker.
As can be seen above, some figures just does not sit properly in the packaging and some had to be squished into the package itself because they have raised arms or guns that were longer than the rectangle created to fit them.
Congratulations on joining the decoy cause ;) That book has some nice pics in it too.
ReplyDeleteThanks Skullcruncher! I got more Decoy related updates over the next 1-2 days, so do have a wander back... heh.
ReplyDeleteThis begs an interesting question: Now that you are pretty much done with G1 where do you go collecting wise? Will you start with the Diaclone & Microman stuff, or will you go for prototypes and unreleased figures? You're only the second person I know who has completed their G1 collection and I am interested to see where you go next.
ReplyDeleteAlso, nice job on the decoys, they are pretty easy to find, except for the red Decepticon ones. I've been working on those for years and am still missing five.
@ Arkvander - I think I am tending toward vintage Transformers merchandise (or at least ramping up their acquisition where previously I would buy them if I see them but will not actively look). I'm particularly interested in Jap TF merchandis (not all of them), especially the board games, figures, posters, ArtBooks, etc.
ReplyDeleteI'm not really into Diaclone / Microman because I'm quite particular about the item being released as a Transformer. With that being said, there are a few pre-TF figures that I would like: blue Fairlady Z (which I have) and dinosaur-robo Swoop.
I am also not one for prototypes because to me, these are unfinished products and sometimes not painted well; again the "released as a Transformer" logic applies.
Decoys - like what I've found so far. I think it'd be hard to complete the Decoys if for example one were aiming to have all the colours and also to have 1 set each of the US and Jap numbering...