It's the colonel's own yardbird  

 

(I don't get it)

 

lol come on, you're not that far from Kentucky!

 

Okay. So Colonel means Colonel Sanders, but I've never heard the term yardbird besides the band. And then putting those two things together is a play on some expression? I'm pretty well-read but me no understand this one.

 

Yardbird is chicken   Colonel's own chicken... Squawkbox was from KFC.

 

Oh. Ohhhhh. Ohhhhhhhhhhhh. I get it now. That was a multi-layered joke at its finest - bravo.

I probably would have put that together but it doesn't look like a KFC/XTB design to me.

 

Sometimes these things sound funnier in our own heads  

 

Magic Square vs Fansproject

 

Yeah he probably shouldn’t have his bird head hanging out like that.

 

Does anyone have a picture of the Kingdom Ark next to Planet X Trypticon?

 

Blast Off (Fansproject Explorer, Warbotron Air Burst, ZETA Take Off)









Brawl (Universe, Warbotron Heavy Noise, ZETA Uproar)













Swindle (Fansproject Munitioner, Warbotron Sly Strike, ZETA Racket)











Vortex (Universe, Warbotron Whirlwind, ZETA Whirlblade)














Onslaught (Universe, Warbotron Fierce Attack, ZETA Blitzkrieg)

 

Bruticus (Universe w/Fansproject upgrade kit, Warbotron WB-01, ZETA Armageddon)

 

ZETA Armageddon, ZETA Kronos, Toyworld Constructor

 

Winners, in my (immensely important, and truly only relevant) opinion:

Blast -Off: Warbotron (but I like the black on FP)
Brawl: Warbotron
Swindle: Warbotron,, but only by a few degrees ahead of FP (burn Zeta Swindle, or at least keep him in leg mode)
Vortex: gotta go with Warbotron, again, but only if Zeta had a bit less arm and leg junk
Onslaught: dark horse victory here, Universe. Zeta has those Popeye forearms. And if you're not going to look like G1, you shouldn't go halfway like Warbotron did.

Bruticus; Zeta, because it's the toy deco, it's got more character than the toon version and while other have their good qualities, they loose too many points for the ancient thigh gap elbows

 

My newest G1 acquisition. If anybody is in the market for a G1 Jazz and you see the KO going around on eBay, I do not recommend it. The doors wouldn't open all the way, his shoulders wouldn't go out all the way, the paint had several chips right out of the box as well as the occasional painted over bits of dust and fuzz, and the stickers are shit - all the stickers, including the doors, are on silver paper, the paper quality isn't great nor is the print quality, they skipped his abdomen sticker altogether, and the doors lack the Martini logo. I had to shave down plastic to get the shoulders to open and I had to dremel the die cast hood piece to allow the doors to open. Only then could he actually transform. I also touched up the paint. I'll probably get a set of reprolabels for him from toyhax and replace the stickers. And then I will have a halfway decent G1 Jazz. Definitely not worth the money they're asking for him.

 

Got my toyhax stickers for G1 Jazz and he looks a lot better now. Also did the chrome vinyl wrap on Downbeat's shins. It's far from perfect but much better than the streaky mess the molotow turned into when I tried it.



Downbeat with his doors deployed to match the G1



Studio Series 86 and the toy deco of Newage's version.

 

Hot Rod (G1, Studio Series, FansToys Hoodlum)

 

FT Dinos with Cang Predacons




Cang MP with Legends and the reigning Predaking  

 

The Studio Series looks so much better decorated like that - it's so plain otherwise - but those enhancements really makes it pop !

 

Back in 84, the best we had was THIS. And thousands of kids were delighted if they were fortunate enough to have Santa Clause put one of these under their tree...



But imagine if the ghost of Christmas Future coordinated with Santy Clause and put THIS DS001 Crimson Wing under the tree!



Umm... in 1984, I think we got hosed!



But maybe Starscream was just a fluke. What about the exclusive, mail-order Reflector?!



Okay? and now... FansToys Spotter!



Ooof!! Times must've been tough in 1984!!



In 1984 we had no internet, no Netflix or HBOMAX... but one thing we did have was Jetfire!!



But instead of THAT Robotech knock-off, imagine if that Ghost of Christmas Future, conspired with Santy Clause to get THIS into the arms of little kids EVERYWHERE!!



FT-14 Phoenix kinda crushes the competition!! Hopefully he doesn't yellow like his predecessor.



The other Two Seekers (somehow, I don't recall calling them Seekers in 1984...)



...and their counterparts from about 25 - 30 years later!



Damn Santa!! You're a mystical being!! Timeless!! You couldn't have at least brought us a few figures from an age when Hasbro/Takara finally figured out how to make a realistic fighter jet?! I guess Reaganomics weren't helping you out either.

I can't believe I tried to SHOPLIFT these things!!



But maaaannn what I wouldn't do for a set like these? Are you hearing me Satan?!?



1984...



NOW!!



But hey... at least we had MTV! Right?! Are you feeling me on that one?!? The Bugles!! Blondie!! Twisted Sister Videos!! Dio's Holy Diver!! Micheal Jackson's Thriller!! That one animated video from Allan Parson's Project... and of course.. Duran Duran DURAN!!

Well... sure... its tough to beat all that... except that I DIDN'T HAVE MTV!!!

What can I say... my parents weren't into paying money for cable television. And I guess as timeless as ol' Chris Cringle is... he's NOT The Doctor! He doesn't have access to a Tardis!

But imagine if he did!




Cheers!