The Birthday Post 2014 - Parts 2 & 3 - Skullcruncher

In Part 1 of my birthday post yesterday, I posted about a casefresh unused Diaclone blue Fairlady Z, aka "blue Bluestreak". Given the rarity and desirability of that piece, it would be a very difficult one to top - but I believe the items 2 and 3 in this post could top 'blue Bluestreak' casefresh.

So what would be in this Part 2 of my birthday post?

Here it is...

Item #2: On the left is a 'box flat', which was a sample made by the factory (in the 80s) then sent to Takara or Hasbro to be approved. In the words of The Spacebridge, 'some box flats are different to production boxes, others are identical.  Differences can be very slight even as far as the internal flap shape. Copyright text may also be different'.

Item #3: On the right is something so rare, I never thought I'd ever own something like that - the original hand-painted, hand-air-brushed artwork for Skullcruncher.

I will no doubt write more about these, but here is the story in brief first ....

 I owe thanks to these 2 birthday items to a very special veteran collector, a gentleman and an all round great guy - The Spacebridge (his FaceBook page is here - https://www.facebook.com/TheSpacebridge?ref=br_tf). Thank you so much for letting me purchase these from you!


The package.

A vintage Transformers birthday card from The Spacebridge.

This is the one... the original box artwork. This is the godfather of the artwork that are on US boxed Skullcrunchers and Takara boxed D-85: Skull.

The detail and the paint work is truely a marvel to behold. Just look at the fine line work and finesse.

Here is a shot with as many Skullcruncher items I could get my hands on at this time of night - a money shot no doubt.

Alright, have to apologise that I have not said too much here. I would have loved to, but its late in the night and my brain is not working properly any more. I still wanted to pen this so that I could post it and get it out there. Will certainly write more later on...