Why a carded Condor (aka Laserbeak, I'll just refer to him as Laserbeak) when I have the US version MOC and also almost all the reissues of this toy? Reason - this is exactly how my Laserbeak came when I was young. A US carded Laserbeak, for some reason, was never available in Singapore.
For some time, I thought the cartoon just repainted Buzzsaw red to taunt me, just like Rumble was purple/ blue in the cartoon. Neither Rumble (in cartoon colours) nor Laserbeak could be found is stores back in the 80s Singapore! What gives?!?
Somehow, my uncle managed to find a Japanese carded Laserbeak for me. That is how I got Laserbeak when I was young and the Laserbeak I got came on a card like this D-60: Laserbeak.
The carded Laserbeak is something that to this day, I find extremely beautiful and becoming, from the vintage-ness of the card layout to the extremely intricate and detailed box art that is shown to great effect, it is a piece that still makes my heart skip a beat.
Have a look.
What do you think?
Here's a close up shot of the extremely well detailed and beautiful box art. After Bluestreak and Ravage, this must be close to being one of my favourite pieces of boxart. Definitely in my top 10.
Close up of the cassette. The one downside to this toy (which cannot be seen if MOSC), is that there is no Decepticon symbol on its head. Instead, there is a raised ridge running across the length of its head. Why this is so, I don't know. What I do remember was that this annoyed me back when I was young and I actually switched Buzzsaw's head (which has a Decepticon symbol) with Laserbeak's head.
Back of card. Notice anything unusual?
It's the battle scene art, which shows the Japanese 1986 battle scene. The carded D-60: Laserbeak was actually a 1986 "reissue" of the 1985/6 Laserbeak in Japan. The 1984/5 Japanese Laserbeak comes in a box if I'm not wrong.
Marked "Takara 1984 . 1986"
Here's a shot of both MOSC toys I got from FC.
Personally I love the look of the single carded cassettes since I'm only used to seeing the US versions. Nicely done.
ReplyDeleteThanks dude. I'm really fond of this one because of the childhood connection, but I think that one that really blows me away is the US card Ravage and Rumble.
DeleteAnother thought is that the early release Japanese boxed cassettes like Ravage, Laserbeak and Frenzy would go very well with pieces like C-121 to C-124 and D-108 and D-109.
Oh jeez, don't tell me that! My inner completist is raging right now!
DeleteI heard the early year boxed cassettes had foam inserts too (not 100% sure).
DeleteYou really want me to go broke don't you?
DeleteBut you are having such a good week!
DeleteQuite honestly, this deserves two big thumbs up, HD. :) Because while I tend to say that some collectors (including myself) should collect what interests them as adults. But this? Very nice and good to see you go it. :)
ReplyDeleteAlso... I should add that I only remember how I obtained two Transformers. And the one I have fond memories of getting was Soundwave, who came with Buzzsaw. Small world, huh? :) (However, I should note that I opted to have Dark Skyfire be my return to Transformers.)
Thanks Kuma-nin!
DeleteSoundwave is awesome, and I loved that toy when I was a kid. My TF collecting is geared toward one thing - getting back what I couldn't get when I was a kid. It is for this reason that I don't really collect pre-TFs and I don't really collect Euro TFs, I never knew what these were when I was young and therefore, "don't really need them now". Anything else is quite irrelevant.
This is awesome HD; having seen you obtain one pack that alluded you since childhood (Rumble & Ravage MOSC), seeing this is just as awesome - Congrats mate! :)
ReplyDeleteYou know how I feel about G1 artwork, so I whole heartedly agree with you in regards to Condor/Laserbeak; Rather curious though that the backside art is from '86 (Of which I really wasn't expecting! :P), how interesting it is that within 1 or 2 years that figures should start being reissued - Clearly a testament to the popularity of the brand in the 80s on an International level. :O
I think I need to seek out a new Laserbeak myself; the one I've had for a number of years now has always had me 2nd guess it's authenticity, I've had 1AZRAEL1 take a look and he feels that it could be a reissue but could also very well be a KO. :(
By extension of my love of Soundwave; I really don't like the idea of one of his minions being anything less than what I'd be willing to uphold for him, so I think that is yet another thing I'll have to add to my growing list of things getting in the way of me finishing off my Japanese Beast Wars collection. :P
Yes, this is awesome. It is sort of an opportunity purchase though. I have not be searching for it but just happened to come across a sale thread that had this.
DeleteAs for "reissues", they did happen quite frequently in during G1. Series 1 did not arrive in Japan until 1985 and probably arrived with US Series 2 figures in the US. Then Japan did not get TFTM till pretty late, as late as 1988 I understand (could be wrong). Therefore, there were a lot of weird and wacky things happening as long as toy and figure releases were concerned - it was just not in sync with the US releases.
however, I'd see these and also the early 90s Chinese "reissues" of G1 pieces as more like 2nd printings, 3rd printings and so forth, if I could compare them to comic books, rather than "reissues". They should only be reissues after active production for those figures were completely stopped and then factories were revitalised again to reproduce more figures - those, I'd think are reissues.
Damn, gotta authenticate your Laserbeak somehow. Perhaps as Sky Shadow, Kup or 5FDP, those guys are very knowledgeable. I'd love to help too in any way I can.
Nice write up HD, was a few posts I had to catch up on. I just got this guy MOSC myself. I really like them individually carded too, just need carded frenzy then I have the boxed/carded set! Actually the early cassettes insert is the same as the pretenders (or more correctly diaclones? heh)so sadly no styrofoam love for them.
ReplyDelete