My favourite MTMTE covers

Today is the day when More Than Meets the Eye #28 will be released.

In other words, MTMTE Season 2 is going to start! After, to me, the non-really-exciting-event that was Dark Cybertron, I am so excited for MTMTE to continue!

Here I look back at some of my favourite MTMTE covers from "Season 1". 2 of my favourites were #7 and #18, but on the whole most of the Milne covers are pretty darn nice. There were some instances where I have opted for "Cover B" because I felt that convoyed the interior story a little better.

So here they are, my favourite MTMTE covers from Season 1.

Thanks to Maz for helping me obtain the covers for #1E, #3A, #9A, #10A and #17A (did I miss any?).

Oh and here is the #28 cover that I'm planning to get....

Takara, Fight! Super Robot Life, 23 - Skywarp MIB, unused (#10 of 36)

Following from my previous post, which showcased all the seekers in Japanese packaging, I will now (over time) go through each seeker in more detail.

So for this post, because I am lazy and actually 20 mins away from leaving to the airport to go to Fukuoka, I thought I actually wouldn't write anything and let the photos do their talking for one of my favourite G1 pieces, that was never available in Singapore when I was young, Skywarp!

He is #10 of 36.

Takara Fight! Super Robot Life, 22 - Starscream MIB, unused (#9 of 36)

Following from my previous post, which showcased all the seekers in Japanese packaging, I will now (over time) go through each seeker in more detail.

The first seeker is none other than Starscream himself, the Decepticon Air Commander - he is #9 of 36.

There is not much I can say about Starscream that has not already been said. So, I will be brief and say 2 things:

(1) this post is dedicated to the Cave Collector, one of the most enthusiastic Starscream fans out there (or 'Starscream slut', as he likes to refer to himself as).

(2) this post is done in tandem and perfect timing with Maz's Ceji G1 Starscream quickie post.

Now onto the photos...

Takara, Fight! Super Robot Life, 08 - Bluestreak MIB, unused (#8 of 36)

So this is figure #8 of 36 - Japanese box 08 - Bluestreak (or 'Streak' if you would). So #8 is 08, or 08 is #8, heh.

One of my all time favourites. What more can I say?

One of the key reasons I really love this guy is because of the box art - look at it, it's absolutely stunning. Thanks to Ginraii for doing the below pic for me.

So, this is the Takara Japanese boxed Bluestreak, one of the more difficult early Autobot cars to find in Japanese box. Certainly still commands a pretty hefty price, compared to say Prowl or Smokescreen, despite it being reissued just as many times as the other 2.

The rub-sign orientation for the Jap piece is different from the USA reb-sign figure - see below for comparison.

Devastated - 03 x Devastator giftsets

I previously wrote that I obtained the Takara 37-Devstar giftset here.

Below is a quickie shot of all my Devastator giftsets, while I was re-arranging my shelves.

Left - vintage USA box Devastator giftset
Right (top) - vintage Japanese box 37-Devstar giftset
Right (bottom) - reissue Japanese box Encore 20-Devstar giftset

Takara Transformers, Fight! Super Robot Life, D-72: Octane MIB (#7 of 36)

This is another piece from the 'giant' lot that I bought awhile back - it's #7 of 36.

The aim was really to get all of Japanese numbering "01" to "49", but because Blitzwing (number '43') and Astrotrain (number '48') are within the numbers, I 'had to' also get Octane, the remaining Decepticon triple-changer.

This is a very minty piece. Absolutely 100% complete and unused, with all paperwork and unused sticker sheet. A stunning specimen.

OKC - display rearrangement - The Decepticon Seekers

Seeker shelves - re-arranged.

I loved the jets when I was young. Skywarp was probably my favourite seeker, but he and Thundercracker were never sold in Singapore, so I had to 'settle' for Thrust, which was the only childhood seeker I had.

As part of a large lot of Transformers I bought from a friend, I also get Japanese boxed 22, 23, 24, D-56 and D-57 - ie: Starscream, Skywarp, Thundercracker, Ramjet and Thrust respectively.

In a way, this is completion of my Japanese boxed seekers (I've had the USA boxed ones for some years now).

Japanese Mail-Away Transformers

As many of you may know, I have started trimming down on my collection and therefore have sold a number of TFs.

Before some of these go, I'd like to record the Japanese Mail-Away Transformers that I have - these are the more significant ones, I feel, because they are packaged differently from their US-counterparts.

By the time of this writing, some of these will no longer belong to me.

Series 3, 1986 - Ramhorn and Eject MOSC ('extremely' rare Hong Kong variant(?))

One of my recent acquisitions - I got this from a buddy in Sweden, who I got to know off FaceBook (you know who you are!). I know, stranger things has happened and for the life of me, I never imagined that I would trade Transformers from someone I didn't know other than through FaceBook. The transaction turned out very well for the both of us and it was a win-win situation.

This was a trade with cash to me, in exchange for this MOSC Ramhorn and Eject from Sweden. I will not go into the details of the deal here, but it worked out very well and I am glad I had faith in the human race and dared to go ahead with this trade.

I have recently decided to acquire all the USA carded cassettes MOSC, another lofty aim and this adds to the tally, so far.

If you look closer, however, you'd realise that this is not a "USA carded" set, but a "Chinese release". Every man and his dog has theories about the "Chinese releases" or the "1990 Chinese reissues" as some would call it. The is good authority that they are legitimate, but some parts of the fandom think that there are knock-offs produced for sale in China in the 1990s.

To me, it matters little - because my view is that this is simply a USA carded version with some Chinese language stickers on it for non-English speakers.

If you have read the HighEnd TFs link, I would like to point out something - despite what is said there, I think that these are unlikely to have been produced for marketing to China. Why? China has for years used simplified Chinese (which is commonly used in China, Singapore, Malaysia), but the words on the packaging are actually in traditional Chinese (which is commonly used in Hong Kong and Taiwan).