30 April 2012

Series 1, pre-rub Optimus Prime MIB (blue variant)

This is item #4 that I flagged in 'The calm before the storm' post. I'm not posting them in any chronological order, and I just felt like posting about this one today.

This was another someone-showed-something-to-me-I-thought-hey-maybe-I-will-buy-it type of purchase. No, its not really that callous. A buddy collector from the UK have been conversing with me about TFs and I learnt about his sales thread (was more of a trades thread actually).

There I saw this nice MIB Optimus Prime, which made me think to myself "gosh, of all the Transformers I have amassed over the years, including doubles and triples of certain figures, the one thing I have not done is tried to upgrade my childhood Optimus Prime MIB with a mintier boxed specimen".

My childhood Optimus Prime - perhaps its time for an upgrade, no?


I talked more with my buddy and learnt that the Prime he had on offer was not just any Optimus Prime, it was a unique variant.

He described it so well, I thought I might as well quote him:

"I'll try and give you a breakdown of how the first Optimus Primes were released.
  • Japanese Diaclone Battle Convoy - Light blue trailer parts, light blue roller, bloated accessories, metal plates in trailer.
  • First Optimus Prime #1 - Dark blue trailer parts, grey Roller, bloated parts and metal plates. Diaclone mould cab.
  • First Optimus Prime #2 - Light blue Diaclone coloured blue trailer parts AND Roller, non-bloated parts and no metal plates. Updated mould cab.
What's most interesting is that they came in a very early Hasbro box where the stock photography of the radar dish on the bottom of the box actually was not correctly cropped and appears on the front of the box right under the box art."

This was all very interesting to me, very new to me - the last one was a variant that I did not know about. While the bloated parts, grey roller Primes were fairly well know if not well available, this one was new. I was interested. And it was pre-rub too, which led to all sorts of interesting discussions with E and E doing her own research on what is pre-rub.

After a number of small discussions with E, we decided, yes, we would like to add this to our collection.

Before I go on, I'd like to thank Maz for selling this to me and also for his gracious permission to use his photos for my post here. Yes, all the photos in this post were taken by Maz and not me.

So here it is, 'first Optimus Prime #2' with the light blue trailer parts.


Back of box


Again, quoting Maz, who so eloquently described its characteristics, I'm going to reproduce his words here:

"Here's just a run down of the features:
  • Diaclone light blue coloured parts
  • Copyright is Diaclone style "TAKARA JAPAN" only
  • The 3 stock photos in the top left corner of the box front have no white border
  • You can see where Prime's fist is in the boxart, there is an extra little grid square that would be later removed. This is as close as Prime gets to a "no-grey" box
  • You can see the error at the bottom of the artwork between his feet, the radar dish was not correctly cropped from the bottom"
Radar dish not cropped, photoshop fail!

The contents, simply beautiful!


Here, the 'blue' parts are clearly visible

"I need a recharge."

Autobot Commander - Optimus Prime

The rich history of this variant is covered by Maz in a lot more detail over at TF Source here.

11 comments:

  1. No matter how often I see a vintage G1 Optimus Prime including its original packaging it just never gets boring. One of my favourite toys ever! Great score!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Mijo! It's good that I upgraded one of the most iconic TFs ever with this purchase, a long time coming I'd think.

      Delete
  2. Any TF Collector worth his salt should have a nice G1 Prime. That being said I still need one, lol. Very nice purchase, I've always been a little wary of prime because of all the different variations, but this was a nice introduction to the differences. Good info about the off-place radar dish and the grey/non grey issue. Looks like a great centerpiece to your collection!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hahaha... if that's the case, then I'm only recently worth my salt, yum! Don't you have a AFA Optimus Prime, which theoretically is about as good as it gets next to casefresh.

      Delete
    2. Oops, Arkvander, the above was actually me ^^.
      Forgot to log out of my wife's account before replying as myself.

      Delete
    3. Loool, lurking around as your wife, hilarious. Unfortunately I don't have an AFA Prime, I wish I did! He's on my "eventually when I'm ready to pay that price" list :)

      Delete
    4. Good collectors lurk, just like good boys drink milk... heh

      Delete
  3. Looks like my son's. Are you interested in selling? My son's optimus prime he saved for as a child was in perfect condition.
    When we sold out house all the transformers were mistakingly left behind. All are gone.
    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey, sorry not selling. Good luck with the hunt!

      Delete
  4. What is the value of optimus #2 misb light blue trailer parts dish not cropped out?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hi, you must have been asking because of this auction? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/261178482819?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

      I'd say, its worth nowhere near what the winning bidder paid for it, nowhere near, especially in that tattered box that it comes with....

      Delete

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