Early Takara Transformers giftsets: VSX, VSY, VSZ, Goodbye Convoy and Goodbye Megatron

These are the earliest of the Japanese giftsets and in my opinion, the best early Transformers giftsets out there. The main reason is that they are not just giftsets of combiners, toys that should have been sold together any way, but they are giftsets of individual characters, some which could be released together, but some that are surprising when grouped together.

So here we are in year order of release:

• 1985 (mid to late) - VSX: Convoy vs Megatron giftset
• 1985 (late) - VSY: Grimlock vs Soundwave & Frenzy giftset, with audio tape and storybook
• 1986 - VSZ: Sunstreaker & Skids vs Buzzsaw giftset
• 1986 (late) - Goodbye Convoy giftset (Convoy, Alert, Ligier)
• 1986 (late) - Goodbye Megatron giftset (Megatron, Starscream)

Photo grouping which shows all the above mentioned giftsets. This is a real milestone for me and perfectly rounds out my objective nearly 3 years ago of streamlining and collecting only the early Japanese TFs.

Takara Transformers VSZ: Sunstreaker & Skids versus Buzzsaw Giftset

I obtained this set a couple of years ago. It was only in the past 2-3 days that I had taken the time out to photograph it properly and also to write about it.

It would be the first in a series of articles involving the Generation 1 Japanese "VS" sets.

The post focuses on the "VSZ" giftset, which is Sunstreaker & Skids versus Buzzsaw. Notably, this is the first appearance of all three of them in the Japanese line. For Sunstreaker and Skids, the VSZ set was the only time they were released in Japanese packaging.

Below is a photo of each character with their US packaged counterpart. Buzzsaw was released in the US with Soundwave.


The key difference between the Takara Japanese release and US releases are: VSZ Sunstreaker has strong springs in each of his arms; VSZ Skids has a strong spring launcher; and VSZ Buzzsaw is stamped differently and have different numbers below the wings.



The above is a photo showing a further counterpart of Buzzsaw, as he was released as D-106: Buzzsaw as part of the D-101: Soundblaster release in 1987.

Takara Japanese giftsets VSX - VSY - VSZ!

Complete my trio of "VS" Japanese giftsets recently and am over the moon, yay!

From bottom to top:
VSX: Convoy vs Megatron giftset (1984)
VSY: Grimlock vs Soundwave & Frenzy giftset (1985)
VSZ: Sunstreaker & Skids vs Buzzsaw giftset (1986)





VSX: Convoy vs Megatron giftset (1984)
(this set is unused and comes with the poster)


VSY: Grimlock vs Soundwave & Frenzy giftset (1985)
(this set is unused and comes with the storybook)


VSZ: Sunstreaker & Skids vs Buzzsaw giftset (1986)
(this set is stickers applied and missing some catalogue papers, but it has no flap crease!)


Photo also showing the other 2 rare early giftsets:
Goodbye Convoy giftset: Convoy, Alert, Ligier (1986)
Goodbye Megatron giftset: Megatron, Starscream (1986)

MP-22: Ultra Magnus

Picked up MP-22: Ultra Magnus with some local collecting buddies yesterday.

Yeah, Magnus, I have not opened you yet other than to pose you with your vintage US and Japanese counterparts.

Don't sulk Magnus, 'deal with it'...

Today's arrivals - Takara C-64: Seaspray carded and boxed

Just got home from dinner and was handed two packages by concierge. The first was a bottle of wine from JW, a UK collector and friend (what a nice surprise!) and the second was a package from Japan.

Popped the wine below my tiny xmas tree for unwrapping on xmas day and then opened the package from Japan.

This is what's in it - boxed and carded versions of C-64: Seaspray. Will write more later.

Takara boxed Mail Away Overdrive MIB (#25 of 36)

This is piece #25 of 36 of the 36-piece mega-lot Japanese boxed Mail Away Overdrive.

There isn't really that much to say about this piece other than it's a mailaway "exclusive" in Japan, as can be seen by the words below. However, it is special in the sense that it came in a box and with styro inserts - the USA mailaway version came in a plastic bag.

The Japanese version came in a white box with blue line art.

Takara Mail Away Downshift MIB (#24 of 36)

This is piece #23 of 36 of the 36-piece mega-lot Japanese boxed Mail Away Ratchet.

There isn't really that much to say about this piece other than it's a mailaway "exclusive" in Japan, as can be seen by the words below. However, it is special in the sense that it came in a box and with styro inserts - the USA mailaway version came in a plastic bag.

White box with blue character line art, somewhat like the Japanese Mailaway Ratchet box.

Takara box Mailaway Camshaft MIB (#23 of 36)

This is piece #23 of 36 of the 36-piece mega-lot Japanese boxed Mail Away Ratchet.

 

There isn't really that much to say about this piece other than it's a mailaway "exclusive" in Japan, as can be seen by the words below. However, it is special in the sense that it came in a box and with styro inserts - the USA mailaway version came in a plastic bag.

The Japanese version came in a white box with blue line art.

Series 3 - Runamuck MOSC

I bought this near the end of June 2014... and only posting about it now, heh.

I have ever been fond of the Battlechargers since the 80s. I clearly remember one particular interaction, where I pointed to the 'white car' on the catalogue and asked my sister how to pronounce his name. Her answer was "This robot is called 'Runamuck'."

Years later, I acquired the vintage versions Runamuck and his partner in crime, Runabout both MOC.

This June, I finally got off my bee-hind and got myself a MOSC Runamuck!

Takara Transformers 2010, C-78: Rodimus Major MIB

I bought this back around October 2013. Wow, that is how long it's taken me to post about it... about a year late.

Bought it at the China Square flea markets when I was walking around with the Cave Collector and TCYE.

Group shots of Transformers Cassettes in Japanese Takara packaging

So I took some time to photograph cassettes that were released by Takara, all of them.

Ben Frey, appreciate that you have linked this on FB.

Since I was a boy, I've always really liked the cassettes, whether they were Autobots or Decepticons. I just thought they were so cool and the concept of them being spies just fit so well. Since the 80s, cassettes have become something of an anachronism, but that has not stopped Takara from releasing Masterpiece versions of various Decepticon cassettes. I'm sure there will be more than one 90s or post 2000-born kid that will ask their parents what a 'cassette' is!

 

Early Takara boxed Destrons (Decepticons) MIB within '01 to 49' (Fight! Super Robot Lifeform series)

Over the weekend, I've had to stay at home (many would know why). So I did a little light shelf re-arrangement and also took the opportunity to photograph some Transformers.

This series focuses on the Destrons (or Decepticons) that are within the numbering of '01 to 49' - remember my mission, here?

There were just too many boxes and I could not fit all of them onto my (tiny) table. So I took shots of the '1984' Destrons first (in truth, back in Japan all of '01 to 49' were released in 1985 as part of the Fight! Super Robot Lifeform series).

Top row: 18-Frenzy MIB; 19-Jarguar MIB (aka Ravage); 20-Condor MIB (aka Laserbeak)
Middle row: 16-Megatron MIB (more detailed pics here); 21-Reflector MIB; 17-Soundwave MIB
Bottom row: 22-Starscream MIB; 23-Skywarp MIB; 24-Thundercracker MIB

Transformers 2010, Takara boxed 48 - Astrotrain (regular colours) MIB unused

This is a beautiful piece.

It is not from the '36 piece mega lot', but was a gift from a good friend and Aussie collector, v......_76 (you know who you are).  Thanks a lot buddy!

It came at a time when I was actually looking for a regular coloured Astrotrain to complete my mission of getting Japanese boxed numbers 01 to 49. The white coloured Astrotrain can be seen here.

The box is in stunning condition. Still smooth and very glossy.

Complete and unused paperworks

Takara Transformers 2010, D-63: Dinosaurer MIB unused (aka Trypticon)

This was an opportunistic pick up (and, no, not one of the 36 pieces lot).

The idea was planted in my mind during the Fukuoka trip with E back in May this year - during the trip, E saw a Japanese boxed Trypticon for sale at a Mandarake and said "hey, you don't have that". Actually, I do have Trypticon, 2 loose pieces in fact. However, it's true I did not have a Japanese boxed Trypticon.

So when I saw one on sale online, I grabbed it.

When I was looking at the seller's photos, the most important thing to me was that the box had no rips and tears at the edges - pretty rare for a box the size of D-63: Dinosaurer's. Also, the box art looked beautiful and glossy.

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.

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).

A tiny acquisition - Japanese S.T.A.R.S. pin / badge

Sometime ago, I bought a very mint, unused Japanese S.T.A.R.S. set in mailer box.

Sadly, it was missing 2 things - (1) the badge and (2) the ID Card.

A buddy from OZ Formers, Mick, was kind enough to help me secure a pin direct from a Japanese lady seller to help with completing my S.T.A.R.S. set.

It was not cheap, but now that I see the beauty, I'd say its worth it.

Here it is:

For completeness, this is the S.T.A.R.S. set:

~ HD

Transformers Scramble City Stuntron D-50: Motormaster MIB unused

For some years I have been hearing about the rarity of a D-50: Motormaster. For some years, I have been struggling to understand why it is rare.

I mean, it's just Motormaster. It's 1/5 of Menasor. Most people would not even bother buying it individually without the other 5 Stunticons (or in Japan's case, Stuntrons). What in the world is it then?

The "rarity" of this piece really piqued my interest when such high powered collectors like Puffmarko and HighPrime appear to be looking for this piece. HighPrime has been looking for it on TFW2005, Seibertron and Shmax for sometime. And when a guy with a collection like Puffmarko's appears to be looking for this piece, I stand up and listen.

It is also noteworthy that on the Shmax collector's database, it shows that only 2 people own a D-50: Motormaster (one of them is me). Given, that Shmax is not representative of an item's rarity, that is still very little people owning this piece.

This is what Fred of Fred's Workshop, the ultimate guru of variants, has to say:

"D-50 Motormaster was the hardest of all the original four Scramble City leaders for me to find. It didn't matter if I was looking for a loose one or a sealed one, launcher equipped Motormasters were tremendously scarce... On top of that, a sealed or boxed D-50 is even rarer, and I've talked to dealers at Botcon and other collectors who have stated that Menasor giftsets are more common than sealed/boxed D-50s. And that's saying a lot!"

On my trips to Japan, I've actually seen D-50s, but being sold as a set with the other Stunticons and at stupid prices and not in good condition. So I've ignored those. So, one day, must be about a month ago, I was walking around the toy shops here and my usual shop had a set of unused Stunticons! Yup, they had D-50, D-51, D-52, D-53 and D-54. Obviously selling as a set.

I ordinarily would not be interested. However, work has been so busy at the time, I don't think I've bought much of anything for the month, so I thought, maybe here is a chance to buy something. It'd be a frolic, sure, but Menasor was my favourite childhood combiner and here is a chance to buy it unused and score a rare D-50 at the same time. At the back of my mind, I also know I'd never buy a Menasor giftset because I hate the damn ugly box art.

After chatting with Maz and VF1, I decided to buy the set... ta da!

G1 Transformers Scourge, assortment #1, painted top

I bought this sometime ago.

I bought this from one of my favourite online sellers, the legendary "Sector-17 Trading Post" ran by TF fan extrodinare, Specimen-17 (who also contributed to my Vanguard article).

There isn't that much to say about this piece that I have not already said online over the years, except that I love it and that I've always had a soft spot for Scourge, since young. I don't know why, but something about him just works. Perhaps the colour scheme, perhaps its the alternate mode? It could even be that beard!

Oh, and the fact that he is metamorphosed from the dead remains of Thundercracker really helps too. And then, to add another random fact, I edited his Targetmaster box art for Botch's Box Art Archive too.

And then we get to the toy - "this is such an awesomely pristine piece" was my first though when I got him. What's so special about this piece? Well, it's actually the 'rarer' first assortment release of Scourge that has the painted top, unlike later releases which has a stickered top.

I have one other painted top Scourge, so this piece will join the ranks, but its so awesome, I just might not remove it from its packaging....