Tactical Officer (Hyper Mode) from Junkion Blacksmith (2010)

While it would certainly be a stretch to suggest that all transformable robots not made by either Hasbro or Takara try to take advantage of the popularity of the Transformers franchise, specifically, there are numerous examples of such toys that unmistakably attempt to either homage or replicate (some might say "steal") Transformers-specific characters and concepts. The "Tactical Officer" from Junkion Blacksmith is a toy that actually manages to homage two Transformers-specific concepts simultaneously.

Cyberverse Optimus Prime/Armored Weapons Platform (2011)

I have never made a secret of my disdain for the version of the Transformers franchise that started with the live-action movie of 2007. Even so, and while it will never be a major part of my collection, I do have a few movie-related toys. In particular, the "Cyberverse" line, which started in 2011 with the Dark of the Moon toyline, offered some interesting options for a comparatively low price.

BotCon 2016 Customizing Class Ratchet (or Medix)

I had actually lined up another figure to feature today, but the announcement earlier in the week that BotCon will be returning in 2021 suggested a change in plans. I just had  to do some kind of retrospective. So I'm taking the opportunity to discuss the Customizing Class toy from what had previously been understood to be the final BotCon, in 2016: Combiner Wars Ratchet.

Beast Wars II Thrust (1998)

While the advent of the Beast Wars line in 1996 signaled a radical change for the Transformers franchise away from mechanical forms to organic animal alternate modes, expansions to the concept felt free to go back to existing molds from the pre-Beast era. Thus, the Beast Wars II line in Japan, which started in 1998 and helped buy time between seasons of their translation of the American Beast Wars cartoon, created toys such as Dirge using a mold created for Generation Two (but which didn't come out until the Machine Wars line, even in the US). Thrust followed suit by using the other jet mold from that series.

Generations Thunderwing (2010)

When offering an update to a classic Transformers character, there is always a bit of give-and-take in determining just how faithful one should be to the original toy. After all, some of the realities of the original design were determined by technological limitations that have since been overcome, allowing designers to offer toys with far greater articulation and/or fidelity to fictional character models that were never restrained by such real-world limitations. In addition, some characters attained popularity through their fictional appearances that they almost certainly would never have achieved on the basis of their original toy alone. Should strict fidelity to an inferior toy be maintained when creating an homage to such a character? These kinds of questions were almost certainly considered when creating the Generations Thunderwing toy.

Fall of Cybertron Wreckers (2013) Part 3: Whirl, plus TCC Fisitron (2014) and Ruination (again!)

Like the Combaticon toys they shared molds with, five Fall of Cybertron Wrecker toys were released at retail. However, the following year, the Transformers Collectors' Club released a sixth member as part of their Figure Subscription Service, so this entry features Whirl, the last of the retail-released Wreckers (on the left of these images), alongside Fisitron, the TCC addition (on the right, based on an obscure character originally named Ironfist, featured among the Wreckers in the IDW comics and renamed anagrammatically for trademark reasons).

Fall of Cybertron Wreckers (2013) Part 2: Topspin and Twin Twist (plus Ruination)

Last time, I featured the Fall of Cybertron versions of "the Wreckers," by featuring the toys of Impactor and Roadbuster. Let's continue this time by featuring Topspin (seen in these photos on the left) and Twin Twist (seen on the right).