Deluxe Insecticon Chop Shop

Photo from www.botchthecrab.com

After a very extensive search, I have finally completed both my Deluxe Insecticons and the 1985 figures.  I don't know why it's been so difficult to find a good condition Chop Shop that wasn't going for an astronomical price, but it's taken a solid year of looking to get this guy.  Not only that, I managed to only pay $35 shipped for him, so I really can't complain about anything with this purchase.

Chop Shop transforms into a stag beetle, and he does a pretty good job of it.  As with the other Deluxe Insecticons, he is imported from the Takatoku line of Armored Insect Battalion Beetras figures.

Here's a closer look at the stag beetle mode.  As you can tell, the decals aren't in the best of shape, and I don't think I'm going to replace them.  I still have other figures to re-decal and I'm not really sure when I'll ever have time to do those figures.  No need to add to the pile.

Chop Shop has an odd robot mode.  The top half is fine, but his legs just look odd, what with the flaps on the sides.  However, I really like the face sculpt.  Looking at it, I get a sense of Darth Vader.  It most likely has to do with the mask over the mouth.  Yes, my particular figure happens to have a bit of a blemish on the white stripe on his chest, but again, for the price, I can't complain.

It's hard to tell in the photos, but Chop Shop comes with both a gun, and a trident.  The trident is extremely tiny.  This photo also manages to point out Chop Shop's limited articulation.  His arms move out to the sides as though he's attempting to become da Vinci's Vitruvian Man.  That is about the extent of articulation.  Well, his knees bend, but that's more for transformation than anything else.  Actually trying to any kind of pose with those legs is next to impossible.

Normally, I'd post a picture showing off all of my Deluxe Insecticons, but I was just too tired to do that, especially since I snap my photos at midnight or later.  Perhaps another day.  For now, here's another shot of Chop Shop's beetle mode.

Omnibot Downshift

This guy was a long, long time coming.  My search for Downshift has taken me quite a while because finding one that that wasn't yellowed or still bagged.  A bagged specimen would've been fine, but the prices I saw were almost too high to justify since he was going to be opened anyway.  After a bit, I finally found the Downshift for me.

My particular specimen of Downshift isn't perfectly white, but he's pretty close.  His wheels aren't cracked, and overall, he's in great shape.  His stickers are a little haphazardly applied, but that's a quick fix with some Reprolabels.  Well, it would be, but...

I evidently purchased one of the earlier versions of Downshift with the "Celica" license plate decal.  The repro set that I got comes with the blank license plate.  Since I take the opportunity to completely scrub (professionally clean?) my figures when I replace the decals, I think I'll just stick with the decals as they are.

Like all of the Omnibots, Downshift features a third mode.  Downshift's happens to be flying car, like Overdrive.  It's not a very convincing flying mode, but it's a third mode. 

Of all the Omnibots, Downshift is my favorite.  His robot mode his highly reminiscent of Wheeljack, in my opinion.  Their transformation schemes are similar and they share the same basic shape.  He's pretty short, however.  Then again, all of the Omnibots are short.  I always wondered why the Omnibots were never released at retail, and now I have my answer: oh so short.

Here's a shot that I've wanted to take for ages.  Looking at this picture, that I took over a month ago, I can't help but be amused by how short Downshift is.  He might as well be a Minibot.  One more subgroup and 1985 figure down.  So close to finishing off the year...

Overdrive

Picture from TFWiki.net

I've put off doing this post for a bit now.  When I originally planned on posting this, Heroic Decepticon posted his awesome Japanese Mail Away Omnibots.  There was no way I was going to post my common and modest Omnibots.  Since enough time has passed, I suppose this is a good time to post Overdrive.

My goal for this year has been to complete my collection of 1985 figures, and it's been challenging, more so with the remaining Omnibots.  Overdrive in particular was difficult to find a specimen that didn't feature a lot chrome damage on the legs.  Just about every instance that I found for sale had anywhere from minor to major chrome damage.  And I looked for an Overdrive for the vast majority of this year.  Price-wise, Overdrive was high on my list to get because he's pretty inexpensive.  After an exhaustive search, luck dropped one in my watch list.  And at a great price!  The only problem appeared to be some stickers that were put on incorrectly, but that's an easy fix.

Like the rest of the Omnibots, Overdrive features an attack mode for his vehicle form.  Overdrive's Ferrari Boxer has wings that flip up from under the body and guns that come from under the hood.  It's not unlike Track's attack mode.

Look!  I wasn't lying!  No chrome damage on the legs!  Overdrive comes with three handguns, but he can only hold two, so I went with the two that I liked best.  Overdrive's head is really small in proportion to the rest of his body.  I really hadn't anticipated that from photos I had seen online.  Articulation is restricted to the elbows and shoulders, which is par the course for most G1 figures, so I have no complaints there.  Those misplaced stickers on the door are still bothering me, but I do have in my possession a sticker sheet for all of the Omnibots that I got from the great people at Reprolabels.  I don't want to use them yet since I don't have a Downshift...yet.

Deluxe Insecticon Barrage

Image from www.botchthecrab.com

Well, 2014 is closing out pretty quickly, and I still have yet to fulfill my goal of finishing off the 1985 line of Transformers.  With just a couple of weeks left, I'm still short 4 figures - Barrage, Chop Shop, Downshift, and Overdrive.  Sadly, my time and purchasing power were used in other areas.  As such, I'm not entirely sure I'll make it to my stated goal.  Still, it's worth a try.

While searching for a suitable Barrage, I ran across an intriguing listing on eBay.  The seller wanted $20 less than what the average seller asks for Barrage, and he had the "Best Offer" option.  There was only a couple of things holding me back: he only had a feedback rating of 1, and when I asked him questions about the joints, he stated that he was pretty sure that they were tight, but he wouldn't transform Barrage to check because he had a habit of breaking Transformers.  Oh boy.  Nervously, I went ahead and sent him an offer for $10 cheaper than what he was asking and he accepted.  Meaning, that I got a great deal on Barrage.  The results?

Well, the results were pretty good, in my opinion.  Barrage's beetle mode, designed by the good people at Takatoku Toys, is in great shape.  The front insect limbs aren't as tight as I'd like, but they do the job. 

Here's something that I really enjoy about Barrage: his robot mode doesn't have freaking insect leg showing.  It's amazing!  Takatoku really did some ingenious stuff to get the legs completely hidden.  The insect theme is still present with the wings on the back, however.  Perhaps the only complaint that I might have would be the sword.  It looks like someone created it from a paperclip. 

I still need to do some cleaning on the figure, and add some new decals, but I think I really came out with a steal on this one.  Hopefully, I can find a Chop Shop in this fashion, but it's not likely.  Lightning usually doesn't strike twice, but I can always hold out hope.  Now, I only need to to track down three more of the 1985 figures to close out the year.  I...might be able to do that.  Maybe.

Roadbuster

www.botchthecrab.com

Here's a figure that I meant to cover awhile ago, but I completely forgot I had him!  Thankfully, I rediscovered the pictures on my memory card while I was doing some purging.  How could anyone forget that they own Roadbuster?  He's such a great figure.

I'll admit to a fair bit of trepidation before ordering this guy from eBay.  Thanks to the TFWiki, I was worried about making sure that every single piece was there.  When you think about it, this guy comes with a lot - five missiles, gun, all of the armor pieces, the little range finder.  That naturally means Roadbuster wasn't designed by Takara or Hasbro.  In fact, Roadbuster, like Whirl and Jetfire, was designed by Takatoku Toys and licensed to Hasbro.  Since Takatoku, and later Bandai who acquired Takatoku, was in direct competition to Takara, Roadbuster and friends never made it to the cartoon.  It's a shame, as I think Roadbuster would have been awesome.

Once I found a suitable looking Roadbuster, I had consider price.  Due to all of the little parts that come with Roadbuster, he can command a hefty tag.  Luckily, I found a seller with a good price on eBay that was willing to negotiate.  This was after I asked is he had every single little piece, of course.  The seller even threw in a couple of extra handles that were broken.  Why, I don't know.

I really like the vehicle mode.  It looks like it can traverse any terrain that it's presented.  The fact that it can only seat one person is funny. Then again, Roadbuster was originally a mech that was meant to be piloted, so I guess having one seat makes sense.  As you can see, the decals are shot on him.  Thank goodness Reprolabels is a place that exists.  Judging from the condition of the decals, there isn't one that's salvageable.

A couple of things stood out to me as I transformed Roadbuster for the first time.  The first was the transformation scheme with the legs.  I really thought that I had broken him, which would have not been very good.  Seriously, the legs just flopped about when I first tried.  Talk about frustration!

Second, the lack of articulation was surprising.  I don't know why I was expecting knee articulation, especially since I had gotten Whirl a couple of months before Roadbuster.  Still, for whatever reason, I was a bit disappointed.  Not that there's any real reason to be disappointed with a figure like this.  He's a very gorgeous figure.  The colors all go together beautifully.  The sorry state of the decals steal a bit of the focus, however.

Here's a shot of Roadbuster from behind.  Just look at all of the armor pieces that must be added to him.  Now I truly understand what the TFWiki was talking about when they mentioned all of the pieces.

Finally, here's a side view so the wheel covers can be seen a bit better.  Disgusting decals aside, I am really loving Roadbuster.  He's a fine addition to my collection.  If I'm counting correctly, this leaves me with just four figures from the 1985 releases left to get, and I still have 6 months!  Surely I can get this done.