"The Racing Cars of Diaclone and Early G1" - article by Maz

Another week, another well written and well researched article by Maz over at TF Source.

This week, Maz writes about the early G1 Autobot cars, Jazz, Mirage, Wheeljack and Smokescreen and the actual race cars that inspired them.

A lot of history and a lot to learn there!

Head over to read Maz's article now!

"The Racing Cars of Diaclone and Early G1" - article by Maz

[Photos mirrored from TF Source]

And now, the Maximii - USA boxed Fortress Maximus, Japanese boxed C-114: Fortress Maximus, C-311: Grand Maximus, Japanese boxed C-27: Brave Maximus and Sonokong Korean boxed C-27: Brave Maximus

Almost exactly 4 years ago, I decided to obtain a MIB Fortress Maximus. Then, I struggled to decide which particular MIB version of Fortress Maximus to acquire. 

As it turned out, I eventually went for the acquired the Japanese boxed version C-114: Fortress Maximus. I would like to note that while I am in possession of C-114, I no longer have legal ownership of it, because it has been declared to belong to E! =)

Recently, as part of my Calm before the Storm series of acquisitions, I acquired a US box for Fortress Maximus from a TFW seller.

Here are some comparison shots.

Thankfully, both the US version and the Jap version, in a very rare instance, are the same size!

The Devastator giftset and Sixshot boxes are use to show just how large Fort Maxes are, don't mess with them!

Transformers Victory C-319: Landcross (multiforce) giftset MIB, unused

To start off, I want to say that this post is completely inspired by a Landcross post by Arkvander called "Landcross: Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations". With the number of times we both subconsciously post about the same subject matter over the past month, I thought I'd better properly attribute this to him, as is actually the case here. 

Oh, and his title is sexier than mine too. 

Go read his post. 

I'll wait here.

...

...

Ok, now onto mine.

I bought this from Hokkaido (Japan) in Feb 2011, more than a year ago. I visited Mandarake before going up to the mountains to ski and bought 2 things - my second Goodbye Convoy giftset and this C-319: Landcross giftset.

Why did I take so long to post about it?

The fantasy? I was waiting to be inspired and subsequently inspired by Arkvander! =)

The truth? I've just been too slack. There're loads of Japanese boxed acquisitions that I haven't even began to document on the site. And many of them are years and years stale.

Ok, onto Landcross.

This is the front of the box. Pretty C9, all sharp edges and unused. Light wear on the flap.

See, I told you the edge was sharp.

BotCon 2012, TFCC, Runamuck MISP

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.

Goes without saying that when TFCC announced that they were repainting the Generations: Wheeljack mold into Runamuck and Runabout that I just cannot resist. In fact, the 'free club figure' Runamuck was the only reason I decided to join TFCC for the first time ever.

On 10 May 2012, 'Classics' Runamuck arrived! Woohoo!

Runamuck MISP with bio card

Close up of bio card

"In Their Own Words" series of articles by Maz

I wanted to pen this since yesterday, after the release of Part 5 of Maz's trilogy called - In Their Own Words.

Wait, does the guy know how to count? Part 5, trilogy? What?

When I logged on today, I found out that Maz, who is also the webmaster of TF-1.com (one of the internet's crowning jewels for diaclone, Joustra and foreign variant information), has become a follower of my site. It is an honour for me and what better way to mark the occasion than introducing his trilogy of articles.

In the 'In Their Own Words' series of articles, Maz invited a number of well known, very experienced and well-read G1 collectors to talk about and showcase a variety of Transformers related items.

Part 1's theme is obscure and rare European and Japanese Transformers, with contributions from:

• Jon Krause (http://www.jonkrause.com/);
• Marco Salerno ("Puffmarko");
• Mijo (http://20thcenturytoycollector.com/);
• Martin Lund ("Fighbird");
• "HighPrime"; and
• me (heroic_decepticon).

Link to Part 1 - In Their Own Words - Part 1

Part 2's theme is obscure Transformers, with contributions from:

• Andrew Hall ("hydra");
• Paul Hitchens ("The Spacebridge");
• Eric Warren ("Arkvander"; Mostly Transformers Redux);
• Morgan Evans ("Genetic");
• "Ras"; and
• Jeff Stein ("Might Gaine"; HighEndTFs.com).

Link to Part 2 - In Their Own Words - Part 2

Part 3's theme is "unique packaging, 'sadistic' promotions", with contributions from:

• Eric Warren ("Arkvander"; Mostly Transformers Redux);
• "HighPrime";
• Dave Barry ("Bermuda Mohawk"; raretoyinfo.blogspot.com);
• Martin Lund ("Fighbird"); and
• Marco Salerno ("Puffmarko").

Link to Part 3 - In Their Own Words - Part 3

Part 4's theme is "odd peripheral and obscure" Diaclone and Micro Change toys, with contributions from:

• Gordon Yip ("vf1");
• Martin Lund ("Fighbird");
• Marco Salerno ("Puffmarko");
• "Ras";
• Paul Hitchens ("The Spacebridge"); and
• Francesco Ristori ("EVOLVE").

Link to Part 4 - In Their Own Words - Part 4

Part 5's theme is Lucky Draw Transformers toys, with contributions from:

• me (heroic_decepticon);
• "HighPrime";
• "Ras"; and
• Benjamin Davis.

Link to Part 5 - In Their Own Words - Part 5

Devastator giftset MIB (USA box)

This was part of item #6 in my Calm before the Storm post on 23 April. See, the deluge is still ongoing!

This is a great example of an item that 'piggy-backed' onto another item (ie: the Fortress Maximus box) that I bought from a TFW2005 seller.

This was just the box and foam for the USA released Devastator giftset and because of the reasonable asking price, I thought, why not just get it too. The seller was great and he even customised a shipping box that could fit both the Fortress Maximus box and the Devastator giftset box. 

When I received it, this was my first thought - 'wow, this box and foam is really mint, it looks so much better than I expected and looks even mintier than in the seller's photos.'

I was really impressed.

Since I had a carded and loose set of vintage Constructicons, the loose set now has a home and has transformed into my 'Devastator giftset'.

Some photos, which are pretty much self explanatory.

Close up. Hey, my Constructicons are mint too, yeah?

12-Year Anniversary on eBay... has it been that long?!?

Two days ago on Sunday, I received this in the (e)mail.

12 years?!? Has it been that long?

I did a quick check and yes, I have been on eBay for that long - heroic_decepticon has been supporting eBay for more than a decade. So where are my additional perks eBay? Where?

~ HD