Category Archives: Reissues
(Not a) Vintage Year
Rare toy, battered bubble, what would you do?
Paint chips? Loose joints? Questionable paint application? Damaged packaging? This is all part of the territory when it comes to collecting vintage Transformers and pre-Transformers, whether we’re buying loose or boxed, rare or common. To hear such vociferous complaints from collectors of more recent toys about the same issues can sometimes be amusing, as …
Posted in Diaclone, European Transformers, Masterpiece, Minibots, Reissues, Source Articles, US Transformers
Tagged Autobot, Battle Convoy, Buzzsaw, Decepticon, Diaclone, Fairlady Racing, Frenzy, gold plastic syndrome, Headmaster, Huffer, Killbison, Liokaiser, Lynsa, Masterpiece, Milton Bradley, MP-16, Optimus Prime, Peru, Red Tracks, Skullcruncher, Smokescreen, Transformers
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Giftset Gallery – The Popular
Various Transformers giftsets
By definition, a giftset should be something that brings happiness. Not just one Transformer, but sometimes five or six, all of which interact with each other to create something more than the sum of their parts, expecially in the case of the combiner sets. Add in a reassuringly large box covered in artwork, a shedload of accessories, and a healthy dose of …
Is It Conceivable? – Part 5
Apparently, this IS conceivable
Some of us have dreams when it comes to toy collecting. Complete a collection of variant minibots, own a particular sub-line of pre-Transformers, have a graded sealed collection of G1 across a few years of release or a run of Japanese exclusive Transformers, those are serious ambitions but to some reasonable degree they are – according to and as defined by …
Posted in Action Masters, Beast Wars Neo, Diaclone, European Transformers, Generation 2, Japanese Transformers, Lucky Draw, Masterpiece, Mexican Transformers, Micro Change, Minibots, Paperwork, Prototypes, Reissues, Source Articles, US Transformers
Tagged Astrotrain, Defensor, G1, G2, Hasbro, Hot Rod, Hotspot, Menasor, Protectobots, Prototypes, Ramjet, Stunticons, Takara, Test Shots, Transformers
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2012 Highs & Surprise
Superior
You can’t keep a good thing down, and Transformers has continued to go from strength to strength in 2012. New offshoots of the brand were announced, and with a seemingly assured future for at least a couple more years, and well loved parts of the toy line being extended with very popular additions, Transformers enthusiasts have much to be excited about. On top …
Posted in Diaclone, European Transformers, Japanese Transformers, Masterpiece, Mexican Transformers, Minibots, Movie, Reissues, Source Articles, Transformers GT, Transformers GT
Tagged Alert, Calsonic, Fortress Maximus, Masterpiece, Megatron, Saber, Sideswipe, Soundwave, Takara Tomy, Transformers GT
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Transformers In Iceland
Transformers in Iceland
Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Mexico, Finland, it seems vintage Transformers had made their way to the most unexpected reaches of the world during their enormous popularity in the eighties. While it is expected that most countries in Europe had access to Transformers toys, it still came as a surprise to discover that the North Atlantic island nation of Iceland had a Transformers history …
Posted in European Transformers, Japanese Transformers, Movie, Reissues, Source Articles
Tagged Bot Shots, Cyberverse, Energon, Hasbro, Headmasters, Iceland, Movie, Nexus, Optimus Prime, Powermasters, Pretenders, Prime, Prowl, Reykjavik, Seacons, Takara, Targetmasters, Transformers, Waverider
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6 Is The Magic Number
The joy of six
There’s something incredibly Japanese about a small team of intricate and tiny transforming robots that combine to form a larger more powerful being, packaged in an attractive giftset depicting a soaring mechanical beast of battle. That is exactly what Takara started to market in Japan at the end of Battlestars: Return of Convoy with the above C-370 Sixliner, and then throughout 1992′s …
Posted in Japanese Transformers, Reissues, Source Articles
Tagged Battle Gaea, Guard City, Operation Combination, Sixbuilder, Sixliner, Sixtrain, Sixturbo, Sixwing, Takara
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Inspiration
The Transformers Red Tracks made famous by a Dutchman
The Internet has a lot to answer for. While a majority of what (and who) turns up online should be re-buried, there are some bastions of hope, intelligence, creativity and inspiration. Each of us found our own way into the online Transformers collecting community and discovered those early websites choc full of treasures we’d never seen or …
Posted in Diaclone, European Transformers, Japanese Transformers, Mexican Transformers, Micro Change, Paperwork, Reissues, Source Articles, Uncategorized, US Transformers
Tagged Artfire, Cliffjumper, Devvi, Lucky Draw, Marlboor Wheeljack, Mexican Transformers, Mijo, Milton Bradley, Minibots, Prowl, Red Tracks, Skywarp, Stepper
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Escalation – A Collector’s Story
European G1 Starscream
It’s 1984 and you’re too young to remember The Transformers. It’s 1986 and you’ve seen “Arrival from Cybertron” on television and VHS many times. You are moved by Starscream’s traitorous behaviour and Mirage’s heroism. Your parents take you, your older brother and cousin to the biggest Toys ‘R’ Us around. While you’re looking at Teddy Ruxpin bears your mother says “Your brother and cousin have …
Posted in Binaltech Alternators, Car Robots RiD, Diaclone, European Transformers, Generation 2, Japanese Transformers, Mexican Transformers, Micro Change, Minibots, Movie, Paperwork, Prototypes, Reissues, Shows, Source Articles, Uncategorized, US Transformers
Tagged artwork, Black Tracks, BotCon, Diaclone, Finland, Joustra, Mexican Transformers, Mirage, Movie, Optimus Prime, Prototype, Reissue, Starscream, Tracks, Transformers
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Best of 2011 / 2012 – A Year of Source Articles
Japanese Transformers - The first Source Article
When the TFsource blog project was started in 2011, we had a vision of a weekly series of articles that would aim to eventually touch many corners of the Transformers collecting universe, primarily G1, and be a valuable online resource for collectors. The idea was always to add more authors to the team to help cover more bases and …
Posted in Diaclone, European Transformers, Japanese Transformers, Minibots, Reissues, Source Articles, US Transformers
Tagged Black Tracks, Canadian Transformers, Diaclone, Lucky Draw, Masterforce, MB Jazz, Micro Change Series, Overlord, Police Sideswipe, Police Sunstreaker, Red Slag, Yellow Sideswipe
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Contentment
Diaclone 'Police Sunstreaker' - stickered, chrome worn
We take an interest in toys and buy Transformers to make ourselves happy, but it’s hard to be happy. More accurately, it is hard for some of us to stay happy. While some collectors are perfectly fine collecting whatever they come across that they like without any grand scheme in mind, others prefer to identify and chase ‘grails’ or …
Source Blog