Hardtop (2005)

The realities of rising prices and increasing production costs have meant that some once-common size-classes of Transformers toys are now considered things of the past. One casualty of this phenomenon is the "Scout Class," once the go-to size to get a decent fully-featured character for under ten bucks. Coming out as part of the Cybertron line, Hardtop is a good example of this class.

Micromaster Sports Car Patrol (1989)

There is a sense in which, once you've talked about one of the Generation One Micromaster patrols, you've talked about them all. This is part of why I've only done so twice before in more than a decade on this blog (the Race Car Patrol and the Battle Patrol). That said, these are fun little Transformers that deserve more attention, especially now that Micromasters are making something of a comeback in the current War for Cybertron: Siege toyline. Having done two Autobot teams already, it's time to give some Decepticon Micromasters some love. While I could focus on a patrol that has a new release in that toyline (as has been the case with both of the aforementioned Autobot patrols, although only two members of each team have actually been released), I'm going to stick with these guys, who have yet to be announced for a modern update (a Combiner Wars release of Blackjack notwithstanding), but who hold a special place in my heart due to their role in a Marvel Comics storyline that brought both Ratchet and Megatron back to the limelight... if only for a moment.

Astrotrain (1985)

A few weeks ago, Hasbro conducted the latest of their Transformers fan polls. This time, the purpose was to determine which of four Generation One molds would be reissued in the Spring of 2020. The winner of that poll was Astrotrain, and since I've somehow yet to feature the original Astrotrain mold here, it seemed a good opportunity to do so now.

Dairu and Zauru (2018 reissues)

As the year 2018 comes to a close, it seems appropriate to comment on a pair of the most unexpected Transformers to come out of the year. Indeed, I would be so bold as to call these the most unexpected Generation One reissues of all time. I'm calling these two "Dairu" and "Zauru," as they were called in their recent reissues, but they are more commonly thought of as "Dial" and "Zaur" (allowing for a few alternative spellings). For all of the pictures in this entry, Dairu will be on the left, and Zauru will be on the right.

Masterpiece Bumblebee (2016)

In just another couple of weeks, the Bumblebee live-action movie will hit theaters. While I'm going to wait for reviews before committing to see it, myself, now seems an appropriate time to feature the definitive version of the original Bumblebee character, in the form of Masterpiece Bumble (as the character is called in Japan, and I do indeed have the Japanese version).

BotCon 2010 Slicer

It has been established that Fun Publications enjoyed creating homages to Action Master-original characters. It has also been established that the "Shattered Glass" concept they created was generally successful, if admittedly controversial. We've even seen an exclusive that managed to bridge these concepts. Slicer, the attendee-freebie from BotCon 2010, does so as well.

Titans Return Six Shot (2016)

At first glance, the Titans Return line is a revisitation of the Headmasters concept, first introduced in 1987. Robots with detachable heads, with the heads themselves transforming into little robots. Also like the Headmasters of old, Titans Return's transforming head partners were compatible with every other toy with the same feature in the line. But while the Titans Return line did indeed feature new toys for each of the classic 1987 Headmasters characters (except for Scorponok, [grumble, grumble...]), they went way beyond those characters, making many classic characters "Headmasters" (although they called them "Titan Masters," now) for the first time.