Jojo symbols you must put.
Menacing this is. EGGGGMMMM

 

It sure is, isn't it? Funny story... about a year before the Titanium Ark was released, one of our very own TFW2005 members created a custom Ark in Radicons using an old StarBird model from the eighties. It struck me as a little strange using such a different model for an abstract representation, but each to their own. When the Titanium toy was shown the member made a thread here pointing out the similarities, suggesting that the concept had been copied. He was basically ridiculed despite having some compelling evidence.

Perhaps the Galoob team were suggestible or ignorant?

During release many people pointed out the bow essentially looked like a squished cartoon Ark if you squinted properly. Not nearly enough for my interest though.

 

Not a clue, I'm afraid  

All the best
Maz

 

I know this one! It is a purposeful homage. One of the designers of the toy really loves the Starbird and thought it would be awesome to have an Ark that homaged it. That's really the long and short of it, I'm sure he'd be tickled to know someone else has noticed its Starbird-like design.

 

If I remember correctly, Milton Bradley distributed some of Hasbro's toys here in Ireland so there is a connection.

My best friend who was my next door neighbour had an uncle who worked in the Milton Bradley factory in Waterford in the south east of Ireland.

I remember he came home from a company Christmas party back in 1985 with a black Perceptor/Magnificus though it wasn't in official Transformers packaging.

Sounds like one of the old Kabaya kits. They were model kits you assembled that were scaled down versions of G1 Transformers.

I have Kabaya Weirdwolf, Mindwipe and Highbrow. You can see them in these photos...



I painted Weirdwolf and a friend painted Highbrow for me.

 

Kabaya trypticon

and the brown one is a KO of the kabaya

 

Dam ?! When the heck did this thing come out ? He looks amazing !

 

2014, I think?

 

It still amazes me how long it took for this version of the Japanese Devastator to surface, leading to discussion about whether it was a mailaway, store exclusive etc...



All the best
Maz

 

That's pure sexiness there. First time seeing a pic of the giftset.

 

Another thing that took me massively by surprise was the single-packed, Diaclone black Sideswipe. Not the Deepcover-a-like, but just a straight up black version of the regular Diaclone Sideswipe release. One and only specimen I have ever seen.



All the best
Maz

 

Really old example, but I honestly did not know G1 was still going on over in Japan after the line ended and went on brief hiatus here in the US after Action Masters. It wasn't until I got my first computer and was able to go online around 2000 that I discovered the Japanese G1 series and toys we never got here.

 

I never knew about the Machine Wars line from '97 until just a few years ago. They seemed like good figures, too.

Another smaller group I never knew about at the time was the Cyberjets from G2. They're nice representations of how surprisingly good the articulation and engineering had gotten by late G2 that not many people seem to remember.

 

yup.. I didn't know about Machine war as that line never made it here. The internet was stating and eBay was still in diapers then, but I managed to get a few... much higher prices that I was used to in those days but still within reason.

But they do absolutely represent a phase that the engineering was amazing, the plastic was probably at it's best.. I have my Cyberjets and the Towing Truck Hoist (MW) at my desk right now, and they are solid figures in every way. Every line that followed ended up being random for both the plastic that started changing to the harder brittle stuff on many, and also the articulation was mixed from one line to another.

 

That was 1999 for me. Of all the things I’ve ever discovered as a toy collector, nothing blew my mind more than discovering that the Transformers cartoon continued for 3 more years in Japan and they had all kinds of figures we didn’t get. And then to discover that Headmasters, Masterforce, and Victory had been dubbed into English was the icing on the cake. Me and a friend pooled our money together to buy bootleg VHS copies of Headmasters, Masterforce, and Victory. (I think I still have them packed away in a box somewhere.) I know the Omni dub gets a lot of flak. But for me, just being able to watch the continuation of my favorite cartoon series was like experiencing a 2nd childhood. I’m still obsessed with this era of Transformers more than any other.

 

Let's see, things I didn't know existed till very recently:
-Kaba candy figures
-Robot Masters Cartoon
-Victory Dub
-3H Botcon
-Euro-G1.5
-Scrapmetal
-Machine Wars
-TFA Trial and Error comic (first 3 quarters is great)
-Micromaster bases
-Micromaster Combiners
-EHobby

 

When Action Masters were released, I guess Hasbro decided to use M.A.S.K. vehicles to go with some of there figures. They must have thought it would have caught on better.