Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Masterpiece Bluestreak (2015)

One of the most persistent myths of the Transformers franchise was the existence of a "blue Bluestreak" among the original Transformers toys in 1984. Between a combination of Bluestreak's color-suggestive name, his box art, and the promotional images of the toy in Bluestreak's original instruction book and the catalog that came with that first run of toys (both of which used a Diaclone toy instead of the version eventually used for Transformers production), many fans were convinced that the original Bluestreak toy was indeed blue rather than the silver and red color scheme that was actually used (which, it should be noted, had no precise Diaclone equivalent, the closest Diaclone example having a black hood and top that the original Transformers version lacks). I myself remember seeing the silver-and-red toy in the '80s and thinking that the blue version used with all those packaging materials must have reflected some earlier variation that I had simply missed in the earliest days of the franchise. But, to this day, no legitimate sample of the toy in blue has ever surfaced in Transformers packaging.

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

BotCon 2016 Megatron

Once upon a time, the then-standard bearer for official Transformers conventions lost the convention license. In the aftermath of that final convention in 2004, the former convention-runners revealed plans for what they would have released at the 2005 convention. Chief among these revelations was a new form for Beast Wars Megatron, using the then-recent Robots in Disguise Megatron mold. Although this concept was extremely popular, it soon became clear that the new convention-runners had their own ideas for BotCon exclusives. Thus, Transformers fans had eventually come to accept that this idea would never become a reality....

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

BotCon 2016 Airazor

2016 marks the 20th anniversary of the Beast Wars franchise. While that era has certainly been popular (partly because it is often credited with saving the Transformers franchise from oblivion after a less-than-stellar revival attempt with Generation Two), attempts to tell new stories in and around the Beast Wars setting have tended to meet with controversy. Fun Publications' two attempts at pre-Beast Wars stories have proven no exception. In both cases, at least part of the controversy centers around the character of Airazor.

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Transformers Collectors' Club Krok (2015)

It has been observed that the Transformers Collectors' Club has made something of a mini-franchise out of taking old Action Master characters and giving them new life as transforming toys. Krok is certainly an example of this trend. As one of the "new" characters created for the Action Masters line back in 1990, this toy from the club is Krok's first transforming toy ever.

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