Transform Squadron 26 - Accidental Micronauts

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Rob’s back in a post-Halloween hangover to tell you all about the Transformers. Well, Transformers SCF to be specific. He also talks about various Universal Studios stuff, the hidden Micronauts Kreon he discovered, and how he became a creepypasta by accident on Halloween night. There’s a lot to unpack here and don’t you just hate it when people say that? 

Seeing R.E.D Over MEGA SCF

The new Transformers R.E.D figures appearing on store shelves have been drawing a lot of comparisons to Action Masters due to the non-transforming nature of the figures. That's a fair comparison, but Action Masters aren't the only non-transforming Transformers toys (or even the first). I'd compare those more to the ReAction figures by Super7. While an Action Master has a little more articulation, they look similar. 

My mind instantly goes to MEGA SCF when looking at R.E.D figures. They're pretty similar in sculpting and honestly the R.E.D figures seem like an evolution of them more than anything. 

Super Collection Figure (SCF) was a blind box figurine line by Takara in the early 2000's that I was a very big fan of. Great little figurines that were perfect little representations of G1 Transformers based on their cartoon appearance. The line went from the early years to Victory before ending with Legends of the Microns (Armada). 

Hasbro brought the line to America as Heroes of Cybertron and was generally sold in smaller stores. I was in heaven with these figures and was pretty sad when it ended. They were very fun to buy and collect. I still  remember gathering around a table with a few others SCF fans at BotCon 2002 and talking about the different chase figures for what felt like hours. Shortly before the con, a local comic shop had a box of the Masterforce series and I bought the entire thing one Sunday morning. Having that Black Zarak build figure was something I was very proud of at the time.

As the line progressed the MEGA versions came out and they were a pretty big step up. Larger and featuring a good bit of articulation with extra parts for all sorts of scene recreations. Like regular SCF they ranged from various points in G1 and Armada. 

Some people make the comparisons to Revoltech when talking about the R.E.D figures. Those are nice, don't get me wrong, but their sculpting was very different. These look more in line with the sculpting style of R.E.D. Which admittedly is part of the draw to R.E.D for me. They seem like a continuation of a former line I liked a lot.

I'll just have to buy them too. 

Darn.

Hi-Q, meet Ginrai.

One thing that gets asked a lot is, "What's your favorite Transformer?". When we're talking about characters, I could go all day. But if we're talking toys, my number 1 has always been and will always be, Powermaster Optimus Prime (PMOP).

It's quite hard to put my finger on exactly what it is about good old PMOP that I love so much. The fun toy, it's amazing look, it's play features, the great way he was introduced in the comic. The reasons keep mounting, and I keep on loving this toy.

As an aside, when the Tommy Kennedy focused episodes of season 5 would come on (Sunday mornings here), a live action puppet of PMOP would host the episodes (repackaged reruns of the prior seasons) by telling a young Tommy Kennedy about his adventures fighting the Decepticons. I would get out my PMOP and have him next to me as I watched the show.

A little later in life, as a teenager learning how to use the internet, I learned about Transformers Masterforce, one of the Japanese Transformers cartoons. Masterforce featured Pretenders, Headmasters, and Powermasters (called Godmasters in Japan) in a fun and unique cartoon.

The eventual star of the show, Ginrai, was a reworking of the PMOP toy mold as a new character. He featured die cast parts, fancier arms in super mode, and a additional trailer. The additional trailer was a smaller Autobot named God Bomber, who not only had his trailer mode, also could become armor for the super mode, giving us God Ginrai.

As I was young and hardly had any money, I wasn't able to buy myself a Ginrai to match up with my PMOP until a few years later. Luckily, a commemorative reissue was released and I was able to get a God Ginrai of my own. Not terribly long after that, a reissue of PMOP was released as a Toys R Us exclusive. The toy was a straight repacking of the God Ginrai toy, changing God Bomber and God Ginrai to Apex Bomber and Apex Armor Optimus Prime. Needless to say, I was also an easy sell for that,

There has also been various merchandise of PMOP and Ginrai. Most notably from the SCF and Heroes of Cybertron lines I spoke of in an earlier article.

In early 2016 (this year), Hasbro unveiled the newest incarnation of PMOP to be released. Still carrying the classic name, PMOP is now a Titan Master in the upcoming Titans Reurn line, due for release in summer.

In this new toy, Optimus bares a striking resemblance to his Apex Armor form and is now a Titan Master (a gimmick similar to Headmasters, though with a throwback to Micromaster cities mixed in for good measure).

Personally, I'm very excited for this new figure and will most likely go crazy hunting one down. Takara has teased the idea of a Masterpiece PMOP/Ginrai, meaning a super high end version is eventually on it's way. I've always hoped for updates of this toy, and now they're constantly bringing out more PMOP. SOmething I'm more than happy to see.

These great little figures.

When these little pvc figurines of my favorite robots first came out, it was as a Japanese blind box line called 'SCF' (Super Collection Figures). They were great, each series payed homage to a different season or series in the G1 era cartoons. You could get them pretty easily online, at conventions, or sometimes local comic/anime shops. Each series would have an even number of fully painted or chrome/clear figures. There was chase figures that were hot commodities, and even build figures in some series.

It was a really fun little line to collect and it wasn't just the hardcore Transformers fans buying these. Toy collectors, cartoon fans, and general pop culture enthusiasts were hot on the trail of these great little figures.

It's not hard to imagine why Hasbro quickly brought them to the U.S. as Heroes of Cybertron. The figures were sold on traditional j card packaging with a trading card inside. Sold at specialty stores and smaller retailers (pharmacies, dollar stores, etc.) for a relatively low price, these little toys were a popular item. The fandom took time to locate what chains they could be found at and spread the information fast. In my area, the best place to get them was Walgreens.

Funnily enough, I had never stepped foot inside one before.

Walgreens had recently started popping up all over my area and had my interest, but of course it took the allure of Transformers to get me to walk in.

This turned out to be great. I loved the stores and many were 24 hours. At the time, one of my favorite pastimes was going on late night toy hunts to stores that were open 24 hours a day. Now I had another option and it had it's own type of toys to be found. I quickly learned that Walgreens generally splits up cases of merchandise across stores in each district. So to get an entire series, you really had to hunt.

Which wasn't so bad, as they were everywhere.

There was even some OTFCC exclusive Heroes of Cybertron figures available (that I snapped up!) and the line went on for a little while. It certainly was fun collecting these little bots in both Japanese and American assortments. There has been similar series since, but so far none have been nearly as fun to chase down.