COUNTDOWN: 10 curious things to see in classic Generation 1 toy catalogues

Toy catalogues are fun, aren’t they? Little folded pamphlets of joy that never fail to inspire desire, and few could claim to be quite as enticing as those the Transformers toyline put out during the 1980s.

Well, another thing that’s quite curious about those catalogues of yore is that they frequently featured some rather bizarre little tidbits along the way. It wasn’t uncommon to see images of prototypes that looked vastly different to the final product, or even just random mistransformations and other mistakes.

Still think about that pink Hot Rod prototype like *all the time*. 💖 pic.twitter.com/8HppSQwKE8

— Sixo | Transformers (@SixoTF) November 1, 2020

Such curiosities certainly piqued my pondering at the time, but even now there’s a lot of fun to be had in pouring over these pages to find the most perplexing examples. So today, we’re counting down 10 of the best!

 

#10: Astrotrain

First up is a well-known example that still manages to cause some interest – it’s Astrotrain looking rather different to his typical colour scheme! In stark contrast to the Hasbro retail version’s white body and shins with purple wings, this one looks significantly more on-point to the character’s animation appearance, presenting very differently overall. It was certainly one example I remember being baffled about as a kid, but the reality is quite simple – it’s a prototype used for the product photography before the paint job was changed prior to release. Quite why it was altered is unknown, but what’s even stranger is that neither colour scheme bears any resemblance to the Takara release, which was primarily white and black! Fortunately for collectors, all three versions of the character have since been reissued in one format or another. The more familiar Hasbro version has of course just seen re-release as a Walmart exclusive, whilst the Takara deco was brought back for a Transformers Collection release in 2004, along with the purple prototype colours as a heavily-sought-after Collector’s Edition variant the same year.

 

#9: Perceptor

Next up is another prototype that managed to remain part of the 1980s toy catalogues for some time – it’s red-headed Perceptor! Unlike his retail release, which has a black head, black feet, black shoulders, black hips, black hands and blue forearms, this one dialled up the primary colours somewhat. What’s really interesting here is that unlike Astrotrain, Perceptor’s proto colour scheme made it onto his box too. This same unreleased version was also found in the packaging photography and was even used as the basis for his box art! Presumably this late change was as a result of the toy’s Transformers release varying greatly from its original Micro Change colours, where it was only ever known in black. Clearly someone at Hasbro liked it better in red!

 

#8: The Monsterbots

A few things to talk about here, though none of them are particularly obvious. At first glance all three of these lads look relatively similar to their eventual retail releases, but it’s on closer inspection that the differences start to pop out. Grotusque is of course posed in a peculiar position for his monster mode, having been stood on all-fours and not featuring his wings at all. Doublecross has grey monster legs, arms and wings instead of the black found on the final version, but also seems to have two eyes in robot mode instead of his typical singular visor. Then there’s Repugnus who seems to be sporting a very different set of monster wings to what we eventually received, as these are significantly longer and fan out at a wider angle. I’ll be honest, it actually makes sense versus the version we saw at retail, but perhaps it was deemed to not meet safety standards and needed to be changed.

 

#7: Broadside

Here’s one that caused a lot of complications during the early years of Transformers! The Autobot known as Broadside often became heavily associated with the prototype of the toy shown in the catalogue above, with that version of the character model even making it into the Marvel comic and the Sunbow cartoon at the time. The only problem was that it isn’t at all what the final retail release of the toy looks like! The changes here are so numerous that it’s immediately obvious they’re not the same, with the final version having non-articulated grey arms, an entirely different chest, a new head, redesigned legs and feet… look, they’re just entirely separate toys ok? It’s especially confusing when you consider the cartoon also showcased a version of the character much closer to the real toy, meaning that depending on which episode you were watching, Broadside completely changed his appearance. Of all the many prototypes found in these catalogues, this is one that definitely raised the most questions, and even today it’s not known what the reasons behind the last-minute change were.

It's prototype G1 Broadside! pic.twitter.com/99EiTaYMmC

— Transformers Wiki (@tfwiki) July 22, 2015

 

#6: Powermaster Optimus Prime

I have to be honest, I don’t think I even clocked this one until I was doing some research for this very article, so imperceptible are the minor variances between this prototype and the retail release of good old PMOP. Yet have a gander at the cab section in particular and you might notice that it appears to be slightly off versus the toy we received in-hand, including different wheels and some variance to the proportions, too. The bumper doesn’t appear to be quite as shiny and there is also a second red section to it just underneath. You might also notice that the panels on the sides of the robot mode legs are significantly larger to the final version’s. Overall, there’s enough going on here to show that Optimus went through some revisions before making his big comeback to the line.

 

#5: Micromaster bases

The most obvious error here is that both Hot House and Skystalker have been swapped out for different Micromasters in this catalogue! Yes, the fire station is now accompanied by Hot House’s mould-mate, Tailwind, and the shuttle is shown here with Roadhandler. Yet there are some further curiosities to be found with the fire station’s stickers, too, which are hugely changed from the eventual release of the toy.

 

#4: Hot Rod

Oh mama, this is the big one! As I already alluded to in the intro, this pink prototype of the classic Hot Rod toy is one that dominated several toy catalogues of the time, and frankly is nothing shy of breathtaking. A world away from the darker maroon colour of the eventual retail release, this unproduced version arguably leans in closer to the character’s vidid depiction in the big screen animated movie of the same year, and looks about as striking as you might expect! I’ve seen it suggested that it isn’t actually all that pink at all, and it’s just a trick of the lighting in the catalogue, but behold that very same prototype below to see just how wonderful it is. Now, I *love* the Hot Rod toy with all my heart, so I have no problem in saying I would do unspeakable things to see a version in this hot pink styling make it to fruition some day. Sadly it hasn’t happened so far, which is a shame given that the mould has been re-released many times over the years and could have been an excellent candidate for the e-HOBBY treatment during the mid-2000s. One lives in hope!

 

#3: Slag

Red-headed Slag is one of those classic variants that have become quite well-known over the years. It’s a very different look for the character from the actual retail release, and features in the packaging photography too, even going on to serve as the inspiration for his animation model. What’s interesting about this one is that it did actually get a retail release during the 1980s, as a Canadian variant of the final paint job. We even featured it back in a previous Vintage View article!

 

#2: Action Masters

Woof, so many variances in this one! Let’s start with the more minor examples, such as guys like Inferno, Snarl or Shockwave, all of whom feature some changes to how they eventually looked upon release. Inferno has red and black thighs and a wholly black face here, instead of the retail version’s white thighs and white face. Snarl is lacking the yellow face and head crest of the final toy, and has black sections instead of grey on both his forearms and legs. Shockwave looks arguably a lot closer to his original toy with grey thighs instead of black, a more uniform purple body and a blue chest and laser-hand instead of the final version’s orange.

However, it’s the newly-created characters for the Action Master line that bear the most changes here. Skyfall is an entirely different colour scheme altogether, going for a predominantly red look with blue feet instead of the purple and white he ended up being. Kick Off was a mix of black, white, red and orange but is shown here with much more blue and red that that. Really though, it’s Banzai-Tron that takes the biscuit for having a much more OTT paint job than even the striking retail release could claim, and even appears to feature a differently-moulded head and much-spikier shoulders.

 

#1: Thunderwing

And finally, here’s another example that could easily be passed by without clocking that there was much different about it at all. However, once you zoom in closer and give this Thunderwing prototype a thorough once-over, you’ll note that there are many important details changed from what we eventually saw released in 1989. This version has some colour differences, including purple arms on the shell and grey forearms and purple thighs on the inner robot, but really, it’s the moulding that is most noteworthy. The face on this proto Pretender bears a much closer resemblance to the character’s appearance in the Marvel comic, looking less “monsterish” that the toy we actually received. It’s a small but important variance in terms of how it portrays the character, and arguably would have been fantastic to see realised.

Nice eBay get: a transparency of Thunderwing intended for packaging, print etc. A prototype that looks nothing like the final. Not sure if this image was actually used in the wild. pic.twitter.com/GavwjafVDp

— John DeLuna (@ThatJohnD) May 18, 2020

 

So that’s our list. There are plenty more examples just like this from those original catalogues, so maybe we’ll do some more in a future article!

TTFN