Cliffjumper - Red and Yellow

I spent way too much time trying to achieve this pose as a kid.  Pic from www.botchthecrab.com

Cliffjumper is one of those figures that I can't believe I didn't have in my collection until now.  Well, when I started dabbling with collecting G1 again, I did manage to snag the Cliffjumper key chain reissue that came out around 2004, but he was always just a placeholder.   He took a backseat since then as he fell down the chain of importance, but as I'm nearing the last 100 G1 figures I need to finish off the US run, I figured it was high time to get him - in both colors. 

Mustard and ketchup

That's right, Cliffjumper was released in two colors.  Only the red version seemed to be officially recognized, but the yellow was released on red card backs.  Confusing to me as a kid?  Sure, but I'm sure my mind would have been blown if knew about all of the colors available outside the US.  Perhaps one day I'll branch into minbot variants, but I kind of like my sanity at the moment.   

For the six of you out there that don't know, Cliffjumper transforms into a super deformed Penny Racer style Porsche.  I recall having a few Penny Racers as a kid and losing them almost immediately, usually under a couch or a drain.  I purchased these guys separately from two different sellers about a day apart.  I purchased the yellow version first since he was so cheap, and the next day a great red version came up.  The rubsign on ol' mustard paint is prety much gone, but for what I paid, I can't complain.

Red Cliffjumper is everyone's favorite, of course.  I think that this makes like the sixth one I've owned in my life, not counting the key chain version.  Bumblebee was always my Penny Racer styled figure, but I can understand Cliffjumper's appeal.  Especially considering the way Cliffjumper was portrayed in the show.  It didn't hurt that the immortal Casey Kasem voiced the little scamp.  It took me forever to find a Cliffjumper that had tight joints and tires that weren't cracked.  I had no idea it would be that hard.  When I wanted a blue-eared Cyclonus, it took me a day to find him.  Cliffjumper?  Try off and on for a year.  That's ridiculous.

As I mentioned earlier, the rubsign on the yellow Cliffjumper is shot.  The clear top of the sticker is completely removed.  Other than that, his joints are tight, and his tires are in great shape.  I'm very pleased with him.  This is only the second time I've owned a yellow Cliffjumper, the first coming to me in 1984.  I was seriously confused by the guy that was colored as Bumblebee, but was clearly Cliffjumper.  My explanation for that had something to do with Cliffjumper going undercover.  Look, I was 7, get off my back.  When Hubcap was released in 1986, I traded my yellow Cliffjumper for something else, a decision that I regret in retrospect.

Here they are together in robot mode.  As you can see, the only difference is the color in which they are molded.  There's a lesson in that for you youngsters.  There's a reason Cliffjumper survived the carnage that was The Transformers: The Movie to tell the tale, and it isn't solely because of Mr. Kasem. 

Triggerhappy

Decepticon Targetmasters have had a mystical aura for me over the last few years.  As a kid, they were always on the top of my list to get, but I never managed to snag any.  Once adult fueled nostalgia kicked in, Decepticon Targetmasters became expensive totems to me.  Yes, I wanted them, but I didn't want to really pay that much for them.  Finding one in great condition, sans yellowing or broken parts with an intact Nebulon is difficult enough.  Getting one without mortgaging the future is nigh impossible.  Then I had the heart attack and I started getting a different outlook on life.  The first purchase I made when I got home was Triggerhappy. 

As a kid, Triggerhappy always appealed to me in the catalog that came with every figure from that era.  Something about that space ship mode just stuck in my head.  I've read where others believe that he shares some aspects with an X-Wing fighter, but I don't really see it.  I really wish that Triggerhappy had been used as a Headmaster just so we could have the canopy open.  That is one sleek spaceship.
 

I want everyone to take a good look at Blowpipe when he's not in gun mode.  This will most likely be the last time he's in this mode.  While mine isn't cracked or showing super serious signs of stress, I want to make sure that he doesn't break.  For the life of me, I don't know why Hasbro decided on clips for the legs on the Decepticon weapons but went with pins for the Autobots.  Mr. Brr-Icy pointed out a mod that I can do to Blowpipe that will take the stress off the clips, and I may try that.  If I try it and it works, I'll spread the word, but I have no reason to not trust what I've been told.

This is how Blowpipe will remain until I try the mod.  Triggerhappy, well, he'll be swapping modes a lot.  Lighting proved to be problematic during this shoot.  My Triggerhappy is not nearly this color of cream.  I'm not sure what happened, but the whites look yellow here.  Perhaps I should switch back to white backgrounds.  Whatever the case, I did come out with a very nice Triggerhappy.

 Here's a closer shot of Blowpipe.  While I only have the one large Decepticon Targetmaster, I think I made a great decision in making him my first.  In my opinion, Blowpipe looks better than any of the Autobot Targetmaster Nebulons.  Blue and grey work well together in this instance.  I'm extremely happy with Blowpipe.

As lovely as Triggerhappy is in vehicle mode, I find his robot mode much more desirable.  Still, something seemed off when I transformed him into robot mode.  It took me awhile, but I was finally able to out my finger on it - Triggerhappy's head seemed...off.  I went to TFWiki.net and figured out why my memories of this guy were incongruous with what I was holding in my hands.

Image from TFWiki.net

 I should have known that the figures in the catalog rarely, if ever, completely resembled what we actually got.  Especially when the prototype is using a painted Blaster head.  Duh.

Triggerhappy seems to be full of surprises.  Not only did he feature some nice leg articulation, thanks to the transformation scheme, but Triggerhappy also has some nifty arm articualtion!  His arms move at the shoulder, plus at the elbow.  This is something that I'm not exactly familiar with in figures of this era.  If there was some head and waist articulation, I'd say he has ready for some dynamic posing!  Alas, that isn't to be, but that doesn't mean that Triggerhappy isn't a phenomenal figure.  That price, however, leaves so much to be desired.  Collectors that only get MISB must be forking out a small fortune for him.  That's one Decepticon Targetmaster down, and the rest to go! 

Triple Take Over Part I - Springer!

Image from www.botchthecrab.com

Welcome to part one of a three part series on Triple Changers I've acquired over the past couple of months.  We'll start off with Springer first, since I seem to have to most to say about him.

Image from TFWiki.net

I'm going to be completely honest and just say that I've never cared for Springer at all.  Something about him just put me off when I first saw him in The Transformers: The Movie, he just annoyed me.  That annoyance carried over into Season 3 of the show, unfortunately.  Thankfully, Springer wasn't featured in the Marvel comic, so I didn't have to deal with him.  Maybe that's why I loved the comic so much?  Even to this day, I'm not really sure what all the fuss is about with the guy.  After Last Stand of The Wreckers, I was worried that we'd be inundated with a metric ton of Springer appearances, but we were thankfully spared.  My dislike of Springer is hard to pinpoint, and I've never given it much thought, but I'm sure it has to do with the bravado.  I just don't get it; it's not like he's Grimlock or Omega Supreme.

Enough about my distaste for the character.  Let's onward to the actual figure.  We'll start with the Springer's most famous mode - the helicopter.  Out of the three modes, this is by far the superior one.  It would seem that most of the design time was used for the chopper.  The blades feature some of the best spinning of any helicopter in G1 that I can remember.  The arms sticking out of the sides don't really look too much like skids, but they're passable, I suppose.  At least he doesn't look like a brick.

Speaking of bricks, have you seen the "armored car" mode?  That's...that's a generous term, I think.  Actually, looking at him at this angle, Springer looks like he was designed using very early 1980's 3-D computer graphics.  I'm not entirely sure, but I believe that Floro Dery just sketched out his designs.  The most disappointing aspect of this mode is that Springer's gun won't even mount on the roof.  I'd probably be a bit more forgiving if that were an option.

I loved the helicopter mode, and I wasn't too impressed with the car, which now leads us to robot mode.  Robot mode, man I forgot how much I never liked that mode.  As a kid, I grew up with many a brick of a Transformer, but Springer seems to take the cake.  Yes, there's arm articulation, but it is horrendous.  Any kind of side-to-side movement makes the chest pop up.  If Springer is holding the sword, attempts to move that arm makes the sword fall over.  This could be the result of the helicopter blades being a bit loose, but I seem to remember this happening to me as a kid as well.  Yes, this is my second Springer.  I was so disappointed as a kid with my first one that I traded him for other Transformers. 

Maybe my childhood recollections of this figure have colored my perceptions.  Perhaps Springer is just an awful figure that should be best forgotten.  I know I'm in the minority, but I just don't like the guy. 

Groundbreaker

Last year, without realizing it, pretty much became the "Year of The Pretender" for me.  I bought more Pretenders than any other sub-line in 2015, with plenty left to get.  I've decided to spread out my coverage of Pretenders, even though I love them, just to give some variety.  In this installment, we'll look at Groundbreaker, a character I kept calling Groundshaker.  Because I get names mixed up.

Groundbreaker was released as part of the second wave of Large Pretenders in 1988, but I had never heard of the guy.  The only second wave Autobot Pretender I was aware of was Splashdown, and that was because I owned him.  Groundbreaker and Skyhigh might as well have been Thundercats for all I cared or knew.  Still, since he is a Pretender, and he's a G1 guy, I have to have him.  Being a second wave figure meant that he was going to command a pretty penny, which I didn't feel like paying.  Much like Action Masters, I think that Pretenders should be bought as cheaply as possible.  I lucked out on the price, but I was in such a hurry that I didn't look at the shell closely enough - I just pounced once I saw that he was available and he was cheap.  Lesson learned, I suppose.  The only real issues with my figure are with the shell.  The grey of the tiger nose and on the shell's feet are pretty scratched up. 

This is something that I really should have paid attention to, but I can easily buy another shell and still come out ahead on this one.

There are a few scratches on the face, but that's what the helmet is for.  By the way, I love the haircut.  Groundbreaker's shell looks like it came straight out of a 70's cop show.

The real star of the show for this guy is the inner robot.  I really love the inner 'bots.  Sure, they all have the exact same transformation scheme, and they are the very definition of a brick, but they're just so darned cool looking to me.  Groundshaker Groundbreaker transforms into a racing car, but it really doesn't matter.  He could be Cloudburst, just in different colors.  Where Cloudburst has wings, Groundbreaker has a spoiler.

The one thing I'm not fond of with Groundbreaker is the color scheme.  The grey's and black just really wash each other out.  Sure, there's more color here than on say Cloudburst (what's up with me and Cloudburst today?), but they all just blend together and nothing really stands out.  At least with Cloudburst (again?!) the red was really bright and just jumped out at you.

Image from TFWiki.net

Did you know that Groundbreaker was in the IDW comics?  He's there next to Cloudburst (!!).  I never realized it; Landmine, Waverider, and Cloudburst (!!!) were always the focal point of Pretenders in the IDW universe.  Speaking of, they really need to show back up.

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.

Painted Top Scourge

www.botchthecrab.com

I'm going to start off this review with an admission: I really didn't want Scourge.  You read that right.  Scourge, in my eyes is emblematic of most of the 1986 figures, what with the weird face and gangly design.  Thanks to Floro Dery, I nearly swore off getting anything that he designed.  Then I remembered about figures like Blurr.  Figures that, while not great, represent characters that I have greatly enjoyed.  Floro Dery just did a horrible, horrible job designing figures.

TFWiki.net

Here are the original designs for Scourge.  On the left, we have Floro's design, which is what the toy is kind of based on.  The one on the right is a redesign that was used for animation.  The original Dery Scourge looks like an old, broken man.  They should have given him a cane.  On to the toy.

Whenever I read about painted top Scourge or stickered Scourge, I really had no idea what they were talking about.  I knew that the painted version was released first, but I still couldn't spot any differences.  Being observant isn't really my thing.

I will admit that the hovercraft mode is pretty nifty looking, even if it invokes a flying ironing board.  Having never seen a Scourge in person until I got this one, I didn't realize that there was a little flap to cover Scourge's face while in this mode.  I had always imagined that it just pushed down, thanks to Scourge constantly using his head while in this mode in the movie and series.  It's odd that the rifle and head-mounted rocket (thruster?) aren't interchangeable. 

Scourge once owned a razor, but then he lost it.

Judging from the Scourge's box art, I'm wondering if Scourge was originally going to have a more complex transformation.  The wings are inverted on the box, which gives a different look and gives Scourge actual wings.  Instead, the toy version seems to have furled wings, at best.  Also, there's the knee joints, which I don't entirely understand.

Going for a stroll

Let's see if I can get this straight.  Scourge can't rotate his head, or bend at the hips, but he can look like he's about to kick a ball?  And really, the only way to get the knees to bend in any purposeful way is to fiddle with the rear kibble a bit and bend the foot back. 

I had a lot of reservations getting Scourge.  Floro Dery has tainted most of the 1986 line, in my mind.  Off looking faces, facial hair, it all added up to things that I just didn't care for.  Whatever reservations I had before, they're still there, but in a diminished capacity.  Having said that, Blurr will probably be my last Floro designed figure, sorry Wreck-Gar.  Well, I guess I'll be getting the Targetmaster versions of Scourge, Cyclonus, and Blurr since I really like Targetmasters.

Getaway

www.botchthecrab.com

I love Powermasters.  I currently do not have that many Powermasters.  Well, that's not true.  I'm currently only missing Joyride and Dreadwind thanks to my recent purchase of Getaway.

Sadly, this isn't the whitest Getaway, but I decided to get him for two reasons: price and box.  The price was too good to pass up, and I really wanted a Powermaster box.  I really only wanted to box for the art on the back.  I've sold off every G1 box I've had up to this point, but the Powermaster and Pretender box art is just something really special.

www.botchthecrab.com

It's certainly the best drawn of the US released stuff, and it's really the last of the epic battles depicted on the boxes.  After this, the box art kind of devolved into comic style art that, frankly, wasn't so great.  But the images of Skullgrin and Landmine phasing out of their shells, the look on Doubledealer's face, it all adds up to some striking art.  Back to Getaway.

One of the main reasons that I love Powermasters is the way they look with their engines attached.  Getaway is perhaps the best looking of the Autobots in vehicle mode.  With Rev attached, he looks like a powerful racing machine.

Speaking of Rev, here he is in non-engine mode.  He's a typical Powermaster Nebulan.

Getaway has one of the more complex transformations of the Autobot Powermasters.  He twists at the waist and roof of the car also rotates during transformation.  The twisting waist gives another option for posing since Getaway's legs are fused together and he has the barest of articulation with his arms.

Finally, a shot of Getaway and Rev together.  They make a nice pair.  Next week, I'll have yet another vintage figure!

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.

Head On! The Brainstorm Addition!

www.botchthecrab.com

Several months ago, after I had finally gotten a couple of Detolf shelves and was rearranging my collection, I noticed that the only Autobot Headmasters that I owned were Fortress Maximus, Encore Fort Max, and Siren.  By contrast, I owned Scorponok and Skullcruncher for the Decepticon side.  Thanks to flywheels at Random Toy Reviews and Heroic Decepticon at his eponymous blog, I was influenced into buying Apeface and Snapdragon, but it left my Autobot Headmasters woefully understaffed.  Well, as understaffed as having two 2-foot tall figures can be.  Throw in the fact that I was trying to force my way through just the first disc of the Japanese Headmasters series, and I felt the need to pull the trigger on an Autobot.  Enter Brainstorm.

Brainstorm is perhaps most famous now thanks to his being a member of the Lost Light in James Roberts' beyond excellent Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye series from IDW.  So much so that I'm not even going to talk about it.  Let's just say that I love his portrayal in the comic; it's so much better than the portrayal in Headmasters.  My only concern was that with an increase in popularity would come an increase in price.  I've actually been tracking Headmaster prices for a couple of years predating the release of More Than Meets The Eye and they've actually remained fairly stable, so I was glad for that.  After finding one in good condition, I placed an order and received him just before Christmas. 

This particular sample of Brainstorm that I bought came unstickered, which is my preference nowadays for older figures.  Most of the figures I've gotten in the past have had shoddy sticker placement or really rough ones, meaning that they had to be replaced.  Getting a "naked" figure just cuts down on all of the labor that goes into cleaning to prep for Reprolabels.  Which this guy already has as of this writing.  Since I had already taken these pictures before the new decals had arrived, I just decided to show Brainstorm as I received him.

Brainstorm's alt-mode is a jet fighter.  If the fins are positioned little differently, you can achieve an X-Wing look.  It's actually more pronounced in the 3rd party Smart Robin figure.  The light blue used for Brainstorm is appealing to the eye.  Mix in some grey and orange, and you have yourself a winner. 

Brainstorm is partnered with Arcana, at least in the American G1 series.  As everyone knows, in the Japanese series, Brainstorm is the head while the body is a transector.  I'm not a fan of that version for one reason: what does becoming a head do for the whole disguise theme that the Transformers name imply?  The Headmasters entire purpose in life is to become a head?  Makes no sense.  Sorry, rant over.

As with all Headmasters, Arcana gets to sit in the cockpit.  As you can see, Arcana looks pretty comfortable.  Almost as though he was looking to shoot womp rats...

Brainstorm combines with Arcana to form...Brainstorm.  I like robot mode more than I initially thought I would.  Just looking at pictures on the Internet, Brainstorm just seemed gangly and out of sorts.  Pictures don't really do him justice. 

Thanks to his transformation scheme, Brainstorm features a bit of leg articulation, allowing for semi-dynamic poses such as this.  At the very least, he won't be statically posed in my collection.  Another great feature that the Headmasters feature is the ability to swap heads.  The only part of the Japanese series that I truly enjoyed would be when they yelled "Head On!" and swapped heads.  Since the only other large Headmaster I own is Fort Max, I tried this feature out with Cerebros.

I must admit that Spike does not look good on Brainstorm's body.  The resulting figure looks a bit freaky.  Still, I think that once I get the rest of the large Autobot Headmasters, the resulting combinations will look pretty good.