Heroic Decepticon: Reissues

Showing posts with label Reissues. Show all posts

01 April 2012

Encore 23 is going to be Fortress Maximus (end 2012 release)

Perhaps the biggest TF news this year - Takara has announced that Transformers Encore #23 is going to be Fortress Maximus!!! It will come with all it's G1 accessories like the fabled Master Sword, master sword, Cog, Grommet and etc.

Like all Encores so far, its going to be released in a G1-styled box that is reminiscent of his 1987 release as C-114: Fortress Maximus in Japan. What a great time to be a Trans-fan.

Encore Fortress Maximus is slated for a November 2012 release, just in time to treat yourself to Xmas.

Rumour has it that eHobby, which has been silent for some years, is going to release an exclusive repaint of Fortress Maximus as Solar System Commander, C-311: Grand Maximus!

I've already pre-ordered 3 pieces to form a mega-humongous-gargantuar Autobot City with my existing C-114.

Regular Retail Price tentatively set as ¥35,000 (USD$430 approximately).

Pre-Order details and Source (originally reported by veteran Trans-Fan Goktimus Prime)

20 March 2012

Takara 2010 Special - Predaking

This is my third Predaking set. The first is the Takara Japanese boxed set from my childhood back in 1986; the second is the 2004 reissue Predaking; and this, the third.

Rather than leave it MISB like the 2004 reissue, I decided that I should open this set up. Secretly, I really wanted to experience the fun of applying the stickers, especially the 'eye' stickers that only this set has.

Here is the combined form with stickers applied.

Man, this is a really nice piece with perhaps 1 notable flaw - the arms of Predaking are too heavy and causes it to sag slightly. Perhaps the Japs had the right idea when they released their 1986 Predacons without die-cast metal parts.

This is a shot at 7am in the morning, yeah, pretty dark, but his colours go well with Black Zarak in the background.

Transformers Encore 21: Soundblaster and Encore 22: Twincast compared (reviewed) with vintage D-101: Soundblaster and C-116: Twincast

I bought Transformers Encore 21: Soundblaster and Encore 22: Twincast early this week, say about Tuesday. Was too busy to do anything about them until yesterday (photo taking) and today (posting).

As expected, these sold like hotcakes and had Ultra Magnus not reserved them at one of our frequent shops for me, I would have missed out entirely. These are not very enticing to me, to be honest, because I already own both vintage versions (D-101 and C-116), the TFC version of Soundblaster and the eHobby version of Twincast.

Takara, however, understood the psychology of the OCD type collector like me and (strategically) released each of these with new cassette recolours - which was the main and only reason I bought these Encore releases. Can't pass up another variation of cassettes, I love these things.

So how do these stack up against these vintage counterparts?

On holding them in hand, my preliminary thoughts were these - man, the quality looks crap even though I was just looking at them through the clear plastic window. Why crap? Well, plastic quality looks cheap (yea, plastic can look cheap, go figure); sticker placement was off (eg: the 'Scorponok weaknesses' sticker on Nightstalker is pasted slanted on the 3 pieces of Encore 22 that I inspected); tampographed 'stickers' look crap and slanted (I remember the time when these were cool, think TFC reissue Starscream, Sunstorm, etc, but then not for Encore 21 and 22).

Anyways, those were my initial bias. Let's get to the photographic comparisons.

First, an establishment shot of D-101: Soundblaster with Encore 21: Soundblaster and C-116: Twincast and Encore 22: Twincast. One of the obvious differences is of course the cassette(s) that each came with. The vintage release only came with 1 cassette each, which the Encore release came with 2 (repainted) cassettes each. Since the cassettes are all different anyways, there is really not much point in 'comparing' them.

D-101: Soundblaster (comes with Buzzsaw) side by side with Encore 21: Soundblaster (comes with Enemy and Wingthing). One question that popped into my mind - why is the Encore's box about 20% longer than the vintage release? What could be at the portion underneath the box art? A lot of air no doubt!

The key box differences that is worthwhile to compare is probably the box art. Here they are side by side. Aside from the overlaid cassette box art, can you spot the differences between the 2? No? Okay, vintage Soundblaster has golden/ yellow eyes while Encore Soundblaster has red eyes! Now, what did I say about Decepticons having red eyes...

Close up of the D-101: Soundblaster's box art

Close up of Encore 21: Soundblaster's box art. I know, right? Red eyes!

I think Enemy and Wingthing's colours are a little strange. They look almost like someone took Rumble and Ratbat's existing box art and then played with the hue/saturation function to come with the box art rather than actually re-colouring them from scratch. Also, vintage Soundblaster's box art appears to be more 'fine' in detail compared with Encore Soundblaster.

Now, let's take a look inside.

D-101: Soundblaster. Very sweet vintage type insert. Classy too. Missiles on sprue.

Encore 21: Soundblaster looks like that. Main difference is of course the plastic insert compared with the vintage's styrofoam insert. Now, we also see that the portion behind the box art is almost completely air and done just to make the box 'appear' bigger. In terms of the toys, the key differences are the stickers (stickered for the vintage version and tampographed for the Encore release) and also the presence of the large Decepticon symbol on the Encore version. The vintage version has no Decepticon symbol on its chest but only a tiny rub-sign on one shoulder.

Now, onto C-116: Twincast and Encore 22: Twincast

C-116: Twincast (comes with Steeljaw) side by side with Encore 22: Twincast (comes with Stripes and Nightstalker). Same question comes to mind - why is the Encore's box about 20% longer than the vintage release? What could be at the portion underneath the box art? A lot of air no doubt!

Similar with the Soundblaster situation, the key box difference lies with the box art.

Aside from the overlaid cassette box art, can you spot the differences between the 2? No? Okay, vintage Twincast has golden/ yellow eyes and Encore Twincast has blue eyes! Now, what did I say about Autobots having blue eyes...

Also, the entire face of Encore Twincast is coloured differently, to better match his anime colouration in the 1987 Headmasters series. Kudos to Takara for doing these!

Close up of C-116: Twincast's box art

Close up of Encore 22: Twincast's box art. Here you can see the recoloured face more clearly. I like the recoloured box art of Nightstalker and Stripes better than that of Enemy and Wingthing. Same comment as Soundblaster in that the vintage box art appears to be more 'fine' in detail compared with Encore release.

Now, let's take a look inside.

C-116: Twincast. Very sweet vintage type insert. Classy too.

Encore 22: Twincast looks like that. Main difference is of course the plastic insert compared with the vintage's styrofoam insert. Now, we also see that the portion behind the box art is almost completely air and done just to make the box 'appear' bigger. In terms of the toys, the key differences are the stickers (stickered for the vintage version and tampographed for the Encore release) and also the presence of the large Autobot symbol on the Encore version. The vintage version has a large Autobot symbol on its shoulder, but not the chest, presumably to distinguish it from C-38: Broadblast.

The location of the Autobot symbol on the vintage Twincast (this is a sticker).

Another key difference is that Encore Twincast lacks all the 'electronic' detail on its chest door portion, probably because of the presence of the Autobot logo. Here is what is missing...

Vintage C-116: Twincast paperworks.

I got 2 sets of paperworks for my Encore Twincast - 1 packet with only 2 bio cards and another package with 3 bio cards. Guess, they do QC these stuff after all?

A final shot to show both Encore 21 and 22 with their contents.

***

The Autobot Communicators - C-38: Broadblast and C-116: Twincast

15 February 2012

Post V-Day toy shopping and HK Market Watch

It's the day after V-day, but actually this post has no co-relation to V-day, heh.

My buddy from Singapore told me that he's now into the early year G1 Autobot cars, he'd only 'just' realised how awesome they were. Well, better late than never!

He requested that I try to hunt down some for him and didn't mind that they were reissues. Vintage would be difficult, but reissues is pretty easy to find in HK. So off I went to look for stuff.

In a day, I found the following...

From ToyZone16 a TFC reissue Prowl and a eHobby exclusive blackhooded 'Silverstreak', both MISB

From Sino Centre, Encore reissue Trailbreaker and Hoist

Later that night, I went toy hunting with UM from the Oz Boards and managed to snag myself 2 Junkheaps at an okay price - HKD$178 each. I want to army build these, so the cheaper the better.

This is a shot of all the acquisitions.

***

HK Market Watch

As many would know, TFC's Hercules (not Devastator) is now fully released. UM and I snapped a quick shot of the giant monstrosity at one of the shops.

Personally, I'm still not interested to fork out the cash for this piece and am adopting a wait and see attitude until the MakeToys Giant is out.

04 February 2012

My early G1 shelf!

As mentioned here, I was back in Singapore during CNY and had brought back to HK a fair chunk of my early G1 figures, which has been sitting in storage at my parents' place since 2003.

Early in the week, I spent a night taking them out and arranging them into my Teletraan-1 display. It's such a delight to see them displayed out in their full glory again, its like coming home to old friends and really a joy to see.

Among this batch, many of the 1984 pieces are pre-rub pieces, which to me are the nearest thing to their diaclone counterparts, still the best quality and molding among the early year TFs (some might disagree, but hey, this is my collection!).

I'm quite saddened by the fact that despite me sealing them in protective bags and keeping them in storage away from direct sunlight, some pieces have still yellowed. Wheeljack is slightly off white, Ratchet (cross version) is quite yellowed, the white parts of Tracks is yellowed. This yellowing phenomenon is really quite sickening from a collector's perspective. Anyway...

Here they are arranged out in Teletraan-1:

Very nice huh?

Close up shot of the left hand side of the display. Yes, I did sneak in some 1987 TFs... heh.

Close up shot of the right hand side of the display.

A shot of 3 different versions of Bluestreak. Left to right - Series 1, 1984, pre-rub Bluestreak; pre-Transformers CarRobots No.7: Fairlady Z blue version, aka 'blue' Bluestreak; eHobby exclusive 'black hood' Bluestreak.

Another close up

31 December 2011

Heroic's acquisition tally for 2011

At the end of every year, I traditionally try to cap the year off with a special post.

Usually, its a tally of some kind, or other. The year 2011 has been a 'big' year for me, where I acquired a number of rare items that I had been after for some time. It is also noteworthy because I finally managed to obtain the final Japanese exclusive (elusive) Transformer that I needed - Blue Bacchus MIB.

In terms of acquisitions, this year has been massive. I think I acquired more figures in 2010, but in 2011 I acquired more MIB pieces - almost every piece in the list below is either MI(S)B or MO(S)C.

(Re)introducing... the entirety of my acquisitions this year... (very impressive if I do say so myself, heh).

Here's wishing you a great new year's eve and a very happy New Year!

~ HD

***

THE TALLY FOR 2011

Pre-Transformers

Car Robots No. 3: Police Countach (aka “white Sunstreaker” or “police car Sunstreaker”)
Car Robots No. 7: Fairlady Z, blue edition (aka “blue Bluestreak”)
Car Robots No. 18: Lacia Stratos Malboro edition (aka “Malboor Wheeljack), unused - here + here
MC-05: MicroX Camera Robo (aka Reflector)

Lucky Draw

Transformers: Generations lucky draw God Primus MISB

G1 Autobots / Cybertrons (all MIB / MOC unless stated otherwise)

G1 Decepticons / Destrons (all MIB / MOC unless stated otherwise)

Henkei! Henkei! – all MISB / MOSC unless otherwise stated

Gentei! Gentei! (Henkei! Henkei! exclusives) – all MISB / MOSC unless otherwise stated

Transformers: United (Takara’s continuation of the Henkei! Henkei! Line; all MISB / MOSC unless otherwise stated)

UN-01: Cybertronian Optimus Prime
UN-02: Cybertronian Bumblebee
UN-03: Cybertronian Cliffjumper
UN-04: Cybertronian Megatron
UN-05: Cybertronian Soundwave
UN-08: Drift
UN-10: Straxus
UN-11: Autobot Grapple
UN-12: Autobot Jazz
UN-13: Autobot Tracks
UN-15: Perceptor
UN-16: Blurr
UN-17: Kup
UN-18: Wreck Gar x 02
UN-19: Wheeljack
UN-20: Rumble and Frenzy 2-pack
UN-21: Scourge
UN-22: Laser Optimus Prime
United exclusive Fracas and Haywire MISB - here + here

Transformers: Generations (Hasbro’s continuation of the Classics line; all MISB / MOSC unless otherwise stated)

Headhead, Universe version, WalMart exclusive
Kup
Scourge x 09
Solar Storm Grapple
Thundercracker x 03 (2 sold)
Wheeljack x 03 (2 sold) - here + here

Japanese Art Books / Books / Pocket Books

Other Transformers Toys / Merchandise

29 November 2011

Takara Transformers Encore 20: Devastator Giftset - quick review

Saw the news a few days ago that Encore 20: Devastator Giftset (from Takara) has been released. I was quite excited because this was the first reissue of a combiner team outside of the oft-repeated and incessantly released Bruticus.

Went down to In's Point after work to pick up a set. Not every shop has it, but I'd consider it is 'all over the place' and easy enough to get. Prices ranged from HKD$730-780 depending on which shop its from.

I heard from a Singapore source that there was some issue with the Mixmaster in this set - apparently "Asia sourced versions" as opposed to "Japan sourced versions" are "purported missing the Mixmaster head". Transformers releases in recent years are rife with QC issues, so its not really a big surprise there. What this meant for me is this - I needed to open it double quick time to check.

A quick note that the HK sourced 'version' (whatever that means), comes with an exclusive Devastator badge which states "2011-11, Devastator".

Close up

Then, some shots of the exterior.

Nice box exterior

The "Encore" label, clearly marking this as a reissue

Close up

Close up of box right

Back of box. Still looking very classic G1, but there is a distinct lack of any Tech Specs.

The box is made of tougher paper than the vintage version, but the printing is not as sharp and seems to be slightly off to me (could be lighting).

The insert (sadly, not styrofoam)

Insert with paperworks

The inserts - bio cards are a very welcomed inclusion into the set.

Mixmaster head? Check, it's there.

But look here, left to right we have Scavenger's gun, Hook's gun and Scavenger's gun again... Yup, 1 black gun is repeated, meaning another is missing - Mixmaster's gun is missing. QC issue, check!

As a person who owned all the Constructicons during childhood and having a very deep impression of each toy, I'm going to quickly review this set.

Overall, the green colouration of the reissue Constructicons are a little off. It's not the same rich green of their vintage predecessors. The green is lighter and each piece feels like its made of less dense, perhaps poorer quality, plastic? The pieces also feel 'lighter' than the vintage ones.

Bonecrusher - 2 QC issues. (1) Rub-sign not centered; and (2) chrome area around screw on right arm scraped.

(1)

(2)

Scavenger - No apparent QC issues, but again, this piece feels less dense and lighter than its vintage counterpart.

Scrapper - 2 QC issues. (1) left chest sticker not properly applied and already peeling right out of the package! (2) right chest sticker appears to have be taken out readjusted and reapplied, but is still slanted.

Hook - 1 QC issue. (1) chest and abdomen stickers are peeling, right out of the package.

Noticed something strange, the window colour for the crane operator booth is black instead of purple. Can't remember whether the G1 version is black as well though. Oddly, I actually think this mold has been improved on and transforms better than the G1 molding, which is prone to breakage, especially the legs.

Long Haul - no apparent QC issues. Like Hook, I think the molding is an improvement over the G1 version, transforms much better to robot mode. But like the others the plastic quality appears to be of lower quality.

Mixmaster - no apparent QC issues. Head is there unlike what my Singapore person says. One thing though - the rub-sign appears to have been applied in an inconvenient location (see photo). I suspect that the leg connector required to snap into Mixmaster for combining into Devastator would inevitably damage the rub-sign.

I'm going to try it now...

... yup, rub-sign damaged...

Takara Transformers Encore 20: Devastator giftset

Now to combine them into Devastator. Some noteworthy points. The connector pegs for Mixmaster and Scrapper feels much improved from the G1 versions. Also Hook comes together as the chest piece much better. The key difficulty is fitting the leg connector into Long Haul, man I took like 20 minutes.

The overall colouration of the combined Devastator makes it appear a little KO-ish for some reason. It's just the off shade of green, not rich enough but yet slightly too lime green. I can't put a finger on it, but it just does not sit right.

It's also a disappointment that the cement drum of Mixmaster is not painted grey like some of the promotional shots depicted. Also disappointing that Devastator's eyes are not red as per the cartoon, especially since Takara has taken some effort to 'correct' eye colour (think Encore Trailbreaker and Hoist for example).

Overall - This is a good set to have if you don't already have the vintage G1 pieces. It's good value for money too. There are some QC issues, for overall not fatal to enjoyment of the set as a whole. My key issue is the plastic colouration which I still, after about an hour of fiddling with the pieces, don't think is the right shade of green and makes it look KO-ish. 6.5/10 for me - good value, but if affordable, get the vintage G1 piece.