Just been rewatching 'The Toys That Made Us' episode, and really curious about this guy.  

Was he an old Diaclone release I'm not aware of? A new unmade prototype? An up and coming slice of awesome Takara and Hideaki Yoke were teasing? I like him that much I actually think he would've made an equally cool (media/playback espionage-related) Autobot adversary to Soundwave as Blaster! Unless he's a 'con, naturally!   

I'm naming him "SPOOL", "HEAD-WRAP" or "BETABREAKER" until I hear otherwise.

 

I thought I read a while back that it was a Micro Change prototype.

If we are naming him, I'm calling him VHS Guardian or VC-Arbitrator  

 

He does look very Microchangey to me ... like their Reflector era stuff a little in the face sculpt?

I personally think he's fantastic and needs more of a cult following.

Yes, even with that flat-backed head!  


.

 

A pretty realistic looking video tape mode! As with these things the robot mode suffers a bit, but kinda cool for what it is.

 

Yeah I was wondering what the story was on that when I saw the episode...but I chalked it up to yet one more cool Japanese transforming robit I'll never know anything about...or have.

 

Not too shabby is it? I have a feeling that had this guy been included in the U.S. Hasbro rebrand and given a catchy name & comic bio by Bob Budiansky, he would've become a beloved member of the G1 team as we know it.

 

 
This totally reminded me of @KINGBOTZ custom VHS Laserbeak! I've linked his Radicon custom thread below!  
Heavy/Scratch: - VHS-Laserbeak (finished)

 

How did I miss this? Probably while trying not to be annoyed by the bloody narrator.

Great head sculpt.

He could have been a member of the Reel Gears...

Pity the names Eject and Rewind are taken.

 

Now that's commitment!  

Yes, it narrows the field somewhat doesn't it with the obvious names for something that operates in a device with Eject and RWD buttons, already taken! "Fast Forward" or "Pause" doesn't quite have the same ring to it!  

Even though we all know Pause (= Paws) for Ravage or Steeljaw would have arguably been the pun of the century  

 

I need that in my life.

 

Thanks for the shout-out!   It was actually that very VHS mystery-bot in this episode that inspired me to build the Laserbeak. To me, it would've been tragic not to explore the concept more. I do plan on continuing the line, and VHS-Ravage has already unofficially-begun.   I had a lot of questions about that guy in the episode myself since they don't mention anything about it......but from what I understand, he was a prototype (which appears to be broken) made for Takara's Microman/Microchange-line which featured other smaller household-objects that transformed, but never made it past the prototype-stage to retail during the Hasbro-acquisition & rebrand of other choice-molds like the cars, trucks & planes that would be rebranded as Transformers in U.S., and the VHS-bot was locked-away in the Takara-vault never to materialize. Very-little info out there for this guy, and it still perplexes me why they would tease the concept with brief-pictures but not speak a word of his existence otherwise.  

 

That is very cool. Would have loved one of those as a kid. As matter of fact, I would mind having one now.  

 

We need this right now, with a TFTM decal, shipped in a reproduction of this case! And I shall call him Movie Knight! Or Blockbuster Witwicky.

 

Excellent @DesertDog !

I shall be working this guy into my TFTM parody (see sig) somehow.

Maybe he has some dirt on some high-ranking Autobot in a compromising position ... on tape.  

 

What a terrific head sculpt, and the tape part behind the see-thru plastic looks so lifelike!

 

It does, but I think they've stuck on one of those early-1980's holograms (of a type you used to get as free gifts in cereal packets) rather than having faux spool/tape parts behind clear plastic?  

 

Ahh, that makes sense! Probably a lot more cost-effective than what I was suggesting. I remember reading somewhere the holo strickers for the Visionaries toy line being relatively expensive to produce, I wonder how much it cost to make the holograms on this VHS-bot by comparison.

 

I saw the episode but I must have missed this. I probably would not have batted an eye picking up a bot mode with a VHS tape alt mode since the robot mode looked decent. I could have seen him being an equivalent of being an Autobot spy to counteract Soundwave's tapes until the Autobot ones appeared in TFTM. Since Eject and Rewind are taken, I would have called him Playback.

 

In lieu of other tape fuctions being taken, I like Playback as a name a lot.   I'm only sticking with BETABREAKER because of the Betamax/VHS wars being as brutal almost as Autobot/Decepticon.

This is all only reinforcing the idea that Takara REALLY need to release this bad boy concurrent with a competition to name him. First prize winner wins a modern state-of-the-art VHS video cassette recor .... oh, wait.  

Loved those Visionary guys, but lost my whole collection in a garage sale.  

But yeah, def. a hologram sticker. No idea on production costs, but no doubt way cheaper than making faux-parts.

 

For those who missed the episode, the only clip I could find (which is admittedly quite low quality.) >>>

The hands belong to the gentle humble soul & visionary that is Hideaki Yoke (meeting who makes this episode worth watching alone!  
The legend we TF fans owe our cooler childhoods and so very much.  )