Today's haul: The Versaulter was a bit smaller than I expected, I thought it would be approximately Deluxe-sized (or Deluxes shrunk since the last time I bought one - which would be over a decade ago ). And now for the continuation of my Diaclone Headcannon farce (all names purely random): --- Location: Diaclone High Command Headquarters General Bob wa staring hard at the screen, intently watching some scene in front of his eyes with a very serious frown. The door opened. General Andy entered. General Bob gestured that General Andy must come sit next to him. With a grave voice, he ejected: "Do you remember that wimpy little Power Suit pilot whose name is not worth remembering or mentioning?" Andy replied: "The one that was always dreaming of having his own rescue team, or the other one that you had disappeared via a little accident involving a Big Powered making a wrong step?" "The former one. He sent me this picture." "That can't be. I personally verified that his Power Suit had been rendered into the flattest thing imaginable, and filed the report about his 'accidental' death." General Andy made sure he makes the quote marks around the 'accidental' almost physical. You always had to be careful around General Bob, the man had a temper problem that even the most violent Waruder would be scared by. "NOT THAT ONE! The Rescue one, vocal little bastard couldn't be removed via such an efficient event, otherwise questions would have been asked! The little runt was quite popular with people that should not matter, but unfortunately do!" Little speckles of spit ended up on the screen, as General Bob was almost foaming at the mouth while he gesticulated in more and more grotesque manners. General Andy bows closer to the screen, all while making sure he stays out of the line of fire of General Bob's threatening mouth. The man continues: "You remember, we came up with the scheme where we set him up to fail, sending him a Carrier Expansion Set and that new-fangled Option Set, expecting he could not come up with a working configuration. But that stupid little brat from accounting was too dumb to understand the chassis could be put into reverse!" "Yes...I understand you have dealt with the man from accounting in a manner most efficient." "Indeed. That former Dianaut now knows what it means to be put into reverse. In Hell." "Yes, I spotted the dark red stain underneath the new black Carrier prototype." General Andy made a mental note to have all potentially lethal 'toys' put away next time General Bob visited the hangar. He looked at the picture again: General Bob paused. General Andy made use of the pause to enumerate what he sees on the picture. "Let's see, this is that guy, Flower Mick, who was dismissed dishonourably because he healed everyone, including Waruders...wait, is that Major D. Struction? Ain't that a very bad idea?" "Yes, Rescue guy is not allowed to succeed! So I'm sending him the worst of the worst our forces contain, troops that would be off too well if I just had them executed for some petty reason!" "uh...yeah..." "But look! At! Them! D. Struction seems to be best buds with that medic hippie! I can't believe it!" General Andy looked at the others in the picture, while taking worried glances in General Bob's direction, who seemed to be approaching a major eruption and started to have a worryingly dark red color. There was this one guy, dismissed for driving too fast everywhere, some utterly lunatic mechanics...all people General Bob hated with all his guts...wait, there might be a pattern there. General Bob continued raging. "But you know what REALLY PISSES ME OFF? It's THIS!!!" General Bob jammed his finger so hard at the screen there was a worryingly loud crack. General Andy tried not to worry about it and wasn't sure it was the screen giving the ghost, or that general Bob had just broken his own index finger and not noticed it due to the adrenaline. "Where the **** did they get that Tread Versaulter?!? How?!? Where?!? WHAT?!?" "Sir, don't they have a Argo Versaulter on pre-order at the factory? I didn't think Versaulters were forbidden..." "Yes, that Argo Versaulter. I can let that pass for two reasons! One. Its delivery is multiple months in the future! They might die beforehand! Two. It's a submarine." General Andy tried and succeeded to suppress a disapproving look. He knew General Bob thought naval warfare was just nonsense, but this was approaching anti-underwater discrimination. He tried: "The Argo Versaulters are much needed to hunt down the Waruders hiding underwater. There are rumours of a new aquatic type..." "I know that! Three. I was planning to sick Ty Manic, the Terror of the Seven Seas, onto that Rescue guy as a pilot. That would solve two problems at once, he would sink them all and then we'd just need to have a little accident featuring that new Grand Dion stepping on it. And by 'It' I mean the Argo Versaulter!" General Andy shuddered. Ty Manic, also nicknamed "Ty Tanic", was both known as an excellent captain and someone who had led several regular navy armadas to their demise. Notably, he was never onboard the ships hitting the icebergs. Perhaps that was a bit too much. Besides, there was a risk of it backfiring, what with this little army of eccentrics that General Bob had unwittingly assembled. "Do we still have FZ Fusion bombs? I'm gonna drop one on their heads and finish them off before things get out of hand!" "No, Sir, I'm afraid I can't let you do that. Besides, the United Nations did not particularly appreciate your little stunt with the previous bomb and the swimming pool, and we wouldn't want them to send one of their commissions over here to investigate. They might discover embarrassing things, like our little get-rich scheme involving second hand units sold for astronomical prices and we both want to retire safely, don't we?" "Well, they should all shut up!" With that, General Bob went to mope in a corner. General Andy sighed. Fortunately he had managed to defuse this before things went very wrong. It was especially fortunate that General Bob had not spotted the thing lurking in the shadow behind that group in the picture...that would have sent him ballistic for sure. Although General Andy would have to explain to accounting why their much-valued coworker had disappeared without a trace overnight...and clean up the stain. Can't have that show up in a publicity shoot, after all. --- See you next time (I get stuff in the mail)!
Is TM11 (the wings part specifically) supposed to match the colour scheme of the Tread versaulter? The Tread looks grey in the images, but almost blueish in photos.
They should color match the Tread and Gamma respectively, but nobody has it in-hand to confirm yet. The Tread (and Charriot) are odd colors that change under lighting.
How big a bag have you got?! Boxed it's 60cm long by 25cm square. In trousers mode it's much smaller, 45cm tall by 25cm wide and negligible depth, i.e. I don't know the depth lol
As a recent graduate from Hasbro to Takara, I will absolutely emphasize this. Prior to the "Power of the Primes" product line of Transformers, Takara Legends Transformers had a NOTICEABLE quality/material/deco difference from Hasbro equivalents, including a handful of Takara-only exclusives (Slipstream, God Bomber, Big Powered, Grand Maximus, etc). Since then, it seems Takara has redirected that quality from Takara Legends into Diaclone Reboot. (Due to Hasbro's "brand unification" mission for TF.) As for the quality of Diaclone, I was completely floored: I regard Diaclone at a quality level of excellence that surpasses even the best 3P products based in what I've already collected in my brief 4 weeks (yeesh!) Diaclone has scratched an itch that I didnt even know I still had. It rekindled the 1984 spark and magic of my first exposure to Diaclone through Chogokin and Transformers. Nothing since 1984 has produced that same level of dopamine rush and brand obsession as DR has - and the upcoming Grand Dion is what pushed me over the edge from observer to collector. It's 1986's Metroplex/Scramble City all over again. (Though Coleco's 1987 Starcom came close.) Now I wait patiently for Grand Dion(s) while I restore my budgeting. Diaclone Reboot has also prompted me to reevaluate my other collections, including retiring and/or selling off some duplicates (TF) or brands entirely.
It needs its own ticket, for its own seat in first class ONLY. While we all sit in coach, our GD's will be pampered with hot towels, the finest of liquors, and plenty of leg stretching room.
Honestly I couldn't agree with this sentiment more. Planning to part with a lot of my TF collection soon because Diaclone has just been a joy to pick up and mess around with.
I don’t have any Iron Factory stuff, but if you’ve got a G1 Headmaster, WFC Micromaster, or Titan Master, this should give you a pretty good idea.
I was thinking of getting some of the versaulters with the upgrades, but are there any issues/quality control problems/design flaws i should know about before getting gamma airborne unit, tread chariot unit, and the upcoming hawk and Argo? Thanks!
It was the first set I opened, assembled (as it is fully built like a model kit), and played with. I fell in love with it. It is still probably my favorite. I think I have 10 regular, and 3 of the CM olive green version... Alas, I've doted on it so many times before. Here was a neat custom build I came up with using 2 of them a long time ago... Bradley C. Sugg on Instagram
I think the only issue has been that the center peg in the Tread Versaulter head is thin and can break if the head isn’t fully seated when moved. Well, one of my Versaulters had a loose knee joint and two of my Gammas were missing the paint app on the head. That’s out of a couple dozen Versaulters in my collection. Aside from that, the Tactical Mover line has been very solid from a quality standpoint.
My new Tactical Carrier has a mismolded part on one of the thrusters on the bottom of the cab. Barely noticeable, but one of the segments of the circle is round while the others are squared off. I also discovered you can pop off* the circular mount for the bike on the rear hatch and there's detail underneath (which I totally did not expect). * Press a 3mm peg into the hole from the outside.
Just bog-standard (well...slightly exaggerated ...) office politics by bored and/or incompetent up-promoted managers (any resemblance to real managers I have met or read about is not purely fortuitous and if you find the described antics resemble you shame on you ).
Just uploaded my two galleries for the Cosmo Marines Versaulters to TFSource - I'm so in love with these guys. I pray we get Cosmo Orbithopter and Argo Versaulters too. All the best Maz
Yeah, I think Titan's Return and that trilogy were the spark of rediscovering that scale of play for me. But Diaclone hits in a way that no other toy line really ever has. Mighty Max etc were too small, Zoids got close, but the pilots were static. I would argue the Tactical Movers really hit a homerun with homaging the feel of 'armored up mecha meant for combat' that Dia Battles (and Buffalo) didn't quite get to. The fact that everything just works is also refreshing. No QC issues that I've noticed. As others have mentioned, be careful with Tread/Chariot's head... but that's about it. Once again, making me second guess my plan to skip Cosmo Marines (at this point).
