Targetmaster Scourge

Picture from www.botchthecrab.com

Man, these Decepticon Targetmasters just keep coming fast and furious, don't they?  I'm on a quest to knock these out as quickly as possible.  My goal is to have every US Master figure in the next couple of months.  Since I'm so behind on posts, I'm only actually missing two of the small Headmasters.  At any rate, lets get on to the abomination that is Scourge.

I'm not really sure which I like the least - Cyclonus or Scourge.  In terms of being "Decepticon Jets", they're both major letdowns compared to the Seeker's that came before them.  I'm tempted to declare Scourge my favorite of the two just because Cyclonus looks so frakking hideous.  Scourge does have more articulation than Cyclonus, and seems to have better proportions.  The Targetmaster version features widened fist holes to allow Scourge to hold Fracas.  These widened fist holes also allow the rocket booster on Scourge's head to be held as well, but it looks funny.

Speaking of Fracas, here he is.  He looks just like Nightstick.  Kind of.  Since we're talking about Decepticon Nebulons, I would be remiss if I didn't mention how much the clip holding him together frightens me.  I've only transformed him a couple of times, and I was sweating bullets each time.

This is how Scourge normally looks without the addition of Fracas.  The regular Scourge that I own is a painted top, so seeing the stickered top is a bit of a treat.  Ugly, but a treat.  The painted top is so much better looking.

Attack mode Scourge!  All I had to do was remove the rocket and replace it with Fracas.  It's almost like they planned it!  Those guys are smart.  I don't know if I really like the look of it, frankly; it looks shoehorned on.  And yeah, I know that Scourge wasn't originally designed to accommodate the Targetmaster.  It just doesn't look right.

Here's a shot of my painted top Scourge with Targetmaster Scourge.  Man, I really need to get some new decals for Targetmaster Scourge.  But now I'm having a crisis of faith over this, however.  Should I try to track down an unused sticker sheet or just go with some Reprolabels?  Decisions, decisions.

Targetmaster Cyclonus

Photo from www.botchthecrab.com

This guy.  This freaking guy.  I just really don't like Cyclonus.  Well, let me backtrack that statement a bit.  I love Cyclonus the stalwart second-in-command of the Decepticons as shown in season 3 of the series.  I love the honor bound non affiliated warrior as depicted in IDW's More Than Meets The Eye
series.  The figure designed by Floro Dery?  I can't stand it.  It's so freaking ugly and it just epitomizes the horrible designs from that year.  However, I have to get the Targetmaster version so I can say that I completed the Targetmasters.

The thing that I do like about Cyclonus is his vehicle mode.  Dery did a really good job with this.  By adding Nightstick to this mode, Cyclonus looks incredibly formidable.  Very nice looking.

I just wish that Nightstick could pilot Cyclonus.  That would be so freaking nice.  Nightstick is the best part of Cyclonus, even if he sports the oh-so-boring black/grey scheme that a lot of the large Nebulons for the Targetmasters had.  I mean, that color scheme was only used for the existing characters that were drafted into becoming Targetmasters, but you get what I mean.

Here's a shot of Nightstick all by his lonesome.  Or is it Haywire?  Maybe it's Fracas?  Perhaps I like beating a dead horse?

Robot mode is where Cyclonus has always left a bitter taste in my mouth.  Look, I appreciate all that Floro Dery has done for the Transformers and their designs.  Without him, the Coneheads wouldn't have their distinctive look, but damn do the 1986 guys look horrible.  Gah.

Here's Targetmaster Cyclonus with my blue-eared variant.  It's hard to tell from this picture (because I'm a horrible photographer), but aside from the new port on the spaceship mode, Cyclonus had his fist holes widened to accommodate Nightstick.

 Seriously, I can't think of a better looking jet.  Hey, that's another Decepticon Targetmaster down!  I just need...a lot of them to finish off the crew!  Huh, I wonder if I can do that?

Misfire!

Photo from www.botchthecrab.com

I've been putting off getting the Decepticon Targetmasters for a long time.  Unlike their Autobot counterparts, the Decepticons are far more expensive.  From what people tell me, it all has to do with the Nebulon.  As far as the Nebulons go, the Autobot ones have a pin connecting their torsos to the legs and the Decepticons have pegs.  The pegs on the Decepticon Nebulons tend to break the clips on the legs.  Broken Nebulons means higher prices.  Hence my hesitation.

After a ton of deliberation, I decided that it was time for me to pull the trigger on Mifire.  Misfire has one of my favorite box art poses in the history of G1.  Every time I see it, I'm instantly reminded of Nick Roche art for some reason.

Misfire's vehicle mode is some sort of Cybertonian jet.  Spaceship maybe?  Some sort of super-duper bumper car?  Whatever it is, it's kind of magenta in color.  Not a fan of magenta.  Still, it looks cool.

Misfire is one of the most articulated late period G1 figures.  He has movement in his shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees.  The specimen that I got is in really great shape.

I don't know why, but every time I look at Misfire, I can't help but notice just how much he looks like Nick Roche had a hand in designing him.  I don't know him, but I think that maybe Nick Roche is a time traveler.  Or perhaps he felt that the design for Misfire was so great that it didn't need to be changed.  I'm good either way.

I decided to transform Aimless because I like to live dangerously.  There's a fix that can be done to the Decepticon Targetmasters where the protrusions on the body are shaved off using an X-acto knife, but I can't bring myself to do that.  I'll need to at some point if I want to transform him more often.

Aimless is perhaps my second favorite of the Decepticon Nebulon Targetmasters.  He looks bulky and mean.  The light blue and gray work well together.

As nice as the figure was, the box that came with Misfire could use a little upgrading.  There's a large stain on the lower corner, and I'm not sure if it's oil or wood stain.  Still, it's a box.  I've never been a fan of keeping or collecting G1 boxes, but it just seemed right to keep this one.  I even bought a reproduction bubble and insert to display Misfire and Aimless.  It looks great sitting on top of my Detolf shelves.  Now I see why MIB and MISB collectors get out of collecting that way.  Still, I'm a take-it-out-of-the-box kinda guy, so I don't think this will become a habit for me.

eHobby Ghost Starscream

Stupid eHobby.  Here I am, getting close to my goal of finishing the US G1 run, and my mind gets stuck on eHobby releases.  The solution?  Why, getting Ghost Starscream, of course.  Besides, it's a Seeker mold, and I love those.

There really isn't much to know about this version of Starscream.  He was released in 2001, over 15 freaking years ago,  I remember seeing him on BigBadToyStore's site for what seemed like the longest time and I just kept passing on him.  There was a point in time where I didn't believe that eHobby figures were real Transformers.  Even though they were released by Takara, I just felt like they were non-entities.  Time and experience eroded that view, so I've some catching up to do.

I really like this iteration of Starscream.  He's just so cool looking, and he reminds me of one of those fabled "Lunchtime Specials" that I keep hearing about on the Internets.  And that nosecone!  The color is so light, yet it looks perfect next to the translucent plastic.  Look at those tail fins!

Look!  You can see through Starscream's wings!  So sexy.

Know the great thing about Takara Seekers?  Working missile launchers!  Know what's great about Ghost Starscream?  Everything! Man, check out those translucent fists!  Check out the translucent...everything!  This is a true piece of beauty.

Here's a profile shot. Starscream is so ghost-like.  I love how that orange canopy just stands out.  If you have to chance to grab one of these, pick one up.  Prices are all over the place on eBay.  I've seen these posted at prices ranging from $100-$200, all MISB.  I've also seen loose or MIB specimens going for $100.  With enough patience and luck, you should be able to get one at a decent price.  I got mine for $100, which I felt was a decent price.

Finally here's a shot of some Seekers, but not all that I own.  Don't pay any attention to the other eHobby Starscream.  We'll talk about him later...

Here they are in alt-mode.  I like Seekers, and I cannot lie.

Masterpiece Thrust

Look, another Seeker.  Man, Takara is really getting their money's worth out of this mold, not that I can blame them.  Thrust was always my favorite of the Coneheads, so surely he'll be my favorite of the Masterpiece Coneheads, right?

This is how Thrust was supposed to look, thanks to design by Floro Dery.  To be honest, I never really paid attention to the character model when I thought about Thrust beyond the head.  Until Masterpiece Ramjet, I hadn't realized that the bulky knees were a thing.  I don't even flip the nosecone up on the original figure.

Until now, I didn't realize just how close to the animation this guy was.  That actually adds a nice level of appreciation to Thrust and Ramjet now.  At any rate, articulation is pretty much what one would expect from this mold that's about 10 years old.  There appears to be a loose waist situation with a lot of these guys now, most likely from mold degradation.  Still, Thrust looks great in robot mode.

My, does Thrust look spectacular in jet mode.  Those VTOL wings look great in Masterpiece scale.

While Ramjet had shells that could fit over the null rays to give him a more cartoon accurate look, Thrust comes with null rays that fold up in this mode and extra missile pods that attach to the wings.  Very cool look.  This is how I wanted Thrust as a kid.  Man, those reds, grays, and blacks are just so gorgeous.  Just based on jet modes, Thrust is my favorite Masterpiece Seeker so far.

As much as I love Thrust, I do a have a minor quibble with the way the wings attach to the body in jet mode.  The right wing, left as you look at the picture, doesn't really want to tab in.  Every attempt to keep the wing in is momentary at best.  It doesn't look so bad in the picture, but it's annoying.  Thrust always looks like he's leaning.

Here's Masterpiece Thrust with his G1 version.  As you can see, they look just alike!

Thrust and Ramjet, together again, at last.  It's amazing what a set of wings can do to a figure.  I didn't really care for Ramjet mainly because of the bulky wings.

And now Thrust gets to live out his fantasy of taking out Prime.

I'm Back! What Am I Doing To Myself?!

Man, it's been awhile since I've posted anything on here.  Checking my posts, I haven't posted anything since sometime in May, which is a long time ago. What have I been up to?  There's all of the usual stuff - work, life, family, all of that, but it really came down to two things - rapid collection expansion and not enough time to document it.  From December 2015 until now, my collection has grown at an incredible (for me) rate.

Me.  This is to scale.

This exponential, unplanned growth meant that I had to spend a lot of time reworking my collection and display conditions.  I have very limited space, so that meant trimming even more.  Binlatechs, CHUGs, and others have been removed.  I still own them, for now, but they're in storage.  I also had to add more Detolf cabinets.

These are older pics, from July, when I was still setting things up and I added even more figures.  But you can judge just how limited my space is.  Still, this is better than the garage.

To make things even more difficult, since I only have about 30 figures left to get to complete my US G1 journey, I decided to up my game a little by going after MIB Action Master vehicles and MOSC Action Master single figures.

I figured that since no one but me seems to like Action Masters that this would be an easy proposition.  Guess who was wrong?  I've only been able to get Wheeljack MIB, and I'm about halfway through the single figures.  This has been an arduous process, and I'm not entirely sure that I have the willpower to finish that particular journey.

Well, thanks for being patient, all three readers.  Starting next week, I'll start cataloging all of my new(-ish) figures here.  Stay tuned!

Joyride

Image from www.botchthecrab.com

Look!  Yet another subset of Autobots completed!  I should have completed the Powermasters much, much earlier, but I took my sweet time.  The Powermasters are some of my favorite figures in the G1 line, and it pleases me to no end to finally have them all.  Well, all of the U.S. releases, that is.  Japanese exclusives will have to wait.  For now, let's just celebrate the newest addition to my collection.

I think that one of the reasons I waited so long to get Joyride is that his alt-mode is just a dune buggy, and the only dune buggy that I care about is Beachcomber.  That is, until I found out that Beachcomber isn't a dune buggy.  Geez.  However, once Joyride was in hand, I was duly impressed with this mode.  Garish neon colors aside, the dune buggy mode is much better looking than pictures had me believe.  Maybe it was the joy of getting that last Autobot Powermaster making me love the mode more than I should.

Joyride's robot mode is pretty much what one would expect for a later era G1 figure.  His arms move at the shoulder and elbow...and that's pretty much it.  The legs are fused together because this is what many in the toy industry figured would help them pass safety laws.  In short, Joyride is just a brick.

But what's this?  Joyride is moving at the waist!  How is that even possible?  Could it be because of Joyride's transformation scheme? 

Pictured here we have my childhood Slapdash, Getaway, and Joyride.  Seeing them together like this, I'm a tad surprised at the varying heights of the figures.  I'm not complaining, as this just makes them a little more diverse.  Still, I can't believe that Getaway is taller than Slapdash.  I just realized that I've mentioned completing the Autobot Powermasters quite often in this post, but I haven't included Powermaster Optimus Prime.  He was...camera shy.  Or I didn't feel like pulling him out the overly complicated display case that he's in.  You be the judge.

Here we have Rev, Lube, and Hotwire all together in a get together of all of the basic Powermaster engines. 

What I'm most excited about is that getting Joyride allowed me to take this picture - every U.S. released Nebulon in one nice shot.  Eventually, I'll have one of the Decepticon Nebulons.

-FIN