Yeah eBay, around 10 year ago, was quick way to acquire the core group of 53 Decoys, only slight differences from those released on cards in rest of the world.
 

 

Just wondering... how do people feel about repair jobs on old figures?

I am normally mostly a CHUG collector, but while my enthusasim for that remains very high, over the holidays I brought up my old box of G1 / G2 figures I grew up up. I put them in bags and organized them years ago, but growing up, some got beat to hell. Others are in great shape. A lot of them have stickers peeling off, or stickers as you'd expect them to be like when applied by a 7 year old. You know what I'm talking about. You did it too!

So I got a few sets of Toyhax G1 reprolabels over the holiday, and I've been playing with this idea of taking all the old stickers off a few of them, starting with my G1 (actually G2) Prime cab, cleaning the figure, and then putting on new labels. But i"ve been putting it off for some time. I almost kind of feel it wouldn't be "authentic" anymore. Am I wrong for feeling that way? Buying "fresh" G1 figures, or figures that belonged to somebody else and displaying them is one thing. But isn't "retrofitting" and "repairing" the toys you grew up with a little different? Or is that silly?

 

To me, it depends on how damaged the original stickers are. For example, my childhood Hound and Sideswipe had stickers that were extremely faded among other damage, so I figured replacing them would look better than big patches of grey paper. It actually made them look really good, and gave them new life. Now, I wouldn't replace the stickers if they still looked OK because it wouldn't be authentic, but if the stickers look like crap anyway, why not? If you don't like the replacements, you can just take them off and have a "naked" figure, which still looks better than a figure with faded stickers.
Just my  

 

Not completely silly. I put off giving my G1 megs a fresh set of stickers for years for similar reasons. But I finally caved and did it and he looks amazing. It’s a wonder what a fresh set will do.

Of course, you mileage may vary. Putting repro labels on obviously would impact the resale value, but I’ll never part with my G1 megs, so to me, it didn’t factor into the decision.

 

Man I wish I had gotten the whole set when I was in Japan. I probably only have half of them.

 

God i love g1 bee hes great imo

 

MIB Smokescreen

 

If anybody has any plastic pieces to glue back together this stuff works wonders. (Repaired shipping damage)

 

This is a great question and one I’ve been struggling with too. I have a G1 Megatron that needs new deception logos but I can’t decide whether or not that’s the right thing to do.

 

Sometimes you can find an unused sticker sheet, but if it's a figure you would not ever think about reselling than I would do a Reprolabels set. Minor repairs is something that I will consider including buying a junker for parts. Like my above post, if I have trouble finding parts or they are astronomical, I will repair the busted part to the best of my ability (could not find an Overlord arm less than $100.00).

 

And I thought trying to find Magnus hands for less than $10 was bad. I hate the secondary market sometimes.

 

Yeah, overlord parts are crazy, some things like wings for grotesque are crazy priced and others that you think would be expensive are dirt cheap. I picked up a near complete Bomb-burst this weekend, was just missing the axe, for $20 and was able to pick up the ax for around $7, but was bracing myself for the $20 range.

 

I guess it makes sense for Euro/Japan exclusive figures. $7 for an axe is pretty good though.

 

For those of you having problems finding parts for less than a fortune, I think @brr-icy would be a good person to give some pointers. He seems to be the resident expert on the subject of saving a lot of $$$ by piecing together TFs instead of buying them 100% complete  

 

That is how all my G1 figures have been. I just picked up Sky Lynx for $60. His left rear foot is broken. I ordered a new foot from Wheeljacks Lab for $19. I've seen 100% complete Sky Lynx going for over $200. If you dont mind cleaning them up, fixing borken pieces, and waiting for good deals on missing parts it is definitely the cheaper way to go.

My G1 Jet Fire was missing a bunch of parts but the main jet was solid. I got him for $50 and spent another maybe $30 on the missing parts.

 

How does Overlord handle/feel transformation-wise? Part of why the figure has little appeal to me is it looked very blocky in photos, like large blocks of plastic that are just pieced together as a giant with only some transformations around the edges/parts.

 

MOSC

 

G1 portion of my Shockwave ramble.

Expect a lot of gushing. Shockwave may well be my all time favourite Transformer.

And of course, it’s Furman’s fault. Well, not just Furman’s fault. But mainly Furman’s fault.

So the first issue of the Marvel comics I ever read was the one where Jetfire is introduced. Megatron was lost in the snow, Optimus was just a disembodied head, and the Autobots were in complete disarray. And Shockwave ruled over all with a callous indifference.

He was magnificent.

And this is all pre-Furman (for me at least). Bob Budiansky should take all the credit for making Shockwave such a compelling monster. We’ve all seen that cover, with Shockwave – one of the most alien looking of the Transformers at that point – looking like the ultimate power in this universe. And his portrayal in those comics lived up to that hype. “Yes, I can take on all the Dinobots…Yes, I can kick the shit out of Megatron and utterly humiliate him…Yes, I am much, much smarter than everyone else too”.

Magnificent.

I usually try and offer some magnanimity towards the cartoon. I know people love it, and for many it was their primary fiction, so pissing on it seems pointless and mean spirited.

I simply loved the comics so much more. That’s all.

But I cannot maintain any sense of diplomacy or tact when I talk about how Shockwave was in the cartoon. He fucking sucked. Who’s this wee simpering kiss arse? This isn’t Shockwave!

But yeah, Furman.

Shockwave did have an arc in Furman’s stories. It’s possibly why he’s burned so brightly into my memory. Starting with Robot Buster, through the Special Teams issues, Distant Thunder, the future issues, to Time Wars I read a coherent story about one of the most brilliant, powerful, terrifying Decepticons losing his mind and coming back stronger. This idea, that the master manipulator…the supreme logician, was hanging onto his sanity by his gun barrel, was utterly compelling. To me at least. Megatron just seemed rabid and hopeless half the time, all bluster and hype. But Shockwave delivered!

And of course you couldn’t buy the toy in this country. Why did they always do this? These characters I went apeshit over, Swoop, Blaster, Fort Max, the Predacons, all unavailable in the U.K.

Except I had Shockwave. Well, a cheap knock off of Astro Magnum that I found in Tandy on a summer holiday in Blackpool. I knew it wasn’t the real thing, but I also knew this was definitely Shockwave. I honestly can’t remember if I had any concept of the knock off or if I was just totally oblivious. Either way I felt like the coolest kid. I had something that my friends couldn’t just walk into John Menzies and get for themselves (all the while praying that they wouldn’t go to Tandy’s in Blackpool). Of course it broke. In fact it broke so quickly that we went back to Tandy’s to get a replacement.

Much like Jetfire, the second you get your hands on a G1 Shockwave you can tell this wasn’t designed by Takara. The whole aesthetic seems just that bit different. And man, is the fucker tall! It often strikes me as odd that the animation model portrays Shockwave as a shorter, stocky dude. To be honest, that animation model image prejudiced me towards the toy. Why were his legs so skinny? Another thing that weirds me out, and perhaps one of the key things that sets him apart from his Takara brethren, is that little pink molded hand. It just looks puffy and odd and just plain not right for this menacing figure.

And all those weird quibbles aside, the ‘bot mode is menacing. I mean, I could be projecting, but to my eye the toy has always screamed ‘impassive, unknowable, alien menace (which is a nightmare when you’re trying to get to sleep at night). The headsculpt, such as it is, certainly does a lot of that work. That single, cyclopean eye peering out at you from that hexagon feels like it burns right through you. There’s nothing relatable about that figure at all. Even a ‘Con as evil looking as Soundwave had some facial features. The upper torso and remarkably well articulated arms are design classics too. That chest design is design fantasticness. You can see why the animation model sticks so closely to it.

But it’s not all good. The skinny legs are a nightmare and the moulding round his crotch is a breakage timebomb ticking down. Likewise his cannon hand and the tube leading to it.

I always loved the ‘Space Gun’ mode. Sure a realistic Walther is a cool looking toy gun to play with, but you can only pretend it shoots bullets. What any true little 1980’s sadist wanted was a space gun that disintegrate anyone that disagreed with you. And it is very cool. Even with the partsforming barrel. It’s kind of amazing how well both modes work independently from each other. Megatron was often a fiddley, easily broken nightmare, and his ‘bot mode really suffered the compromises. But Shockwave is an excellent gun and a (mostly) excellent robot. Also, who didn’t love a clear plastic viewfinder? ZEEEEEOOOOOT!