Transformers: Unite Warriors Grand Galvatron

  

Here’s something that’s pretty interesting.

Unite Warriors is the Takara version of Combiner Wars, and is responsible for bringing us in the US the left out combiner team members like Slingshot, Wildrider and Groove. Essentially, Unite Warriors is only releasing box sets of full combiner teams, generally with improved or ‘more accurate’ paint schemes. The general release schedule has been following the US releases or announcements of teams, so there is something of a 1 to 1 ratio between Combiner Wars and Unite Warriors. Hasbro does Superion; Takara does Superion. Hasbro does Defensor; Takara does Defensor. Hasbro released a seemingly random and superfluous Cyclonus, serving as the torso of a limbless, teamless combiner called “Galvatronous”; Takara releases….Grand Galvatron, the Cybertronian Haunt Commander.

What?

Transformers: Combiner Wars Defensor and Protectobots

Heavily armed to protect the shit out of you.

This set has been a long time coming. Two days before my wedding almost one year ago, I bought Streetwise and Blades. One of the only times I saw Hot Spot in a store was last August on my honeymoon, in Germany. I don’t remember when I got First Aid, and didn’t find Rook until September. Groove – real Groove, Deluxe Groove- arrived Tuesday. So it took a year, but I’m finally making time to talk about Combiner Wars Defensor. He’s been on my to-do list, but I kept putting him off for reasons unknown, and then when preorders for Groove went up, I figured I’d wait until he came in, so I could do an overall Defensor entry. 

Transformers: Combiner Wars Groove

"Never."

 

One thing that I absolutely love about toy-based fandoms is the quickness with which some members rush to yell from the highest mountains that a figure will never, ever be released because the producing company says that they aren’t releasing one right now. As an unrelated reminder, there is still plenty of time to decide which of the two Combiner Wars Computrons you want, and . . . . wait, is that a Deluxe class Combiner Wars Groove? As in, original G1 Protectobot Groove?

It certainly is. Preorders for it went up like a month ago, all from overseas dealers, as Groove is some kind of Asian exlcusive. Then, not long after that, news leaked that Hasbro would be releasing Groove domestically at some point in May, but orders for that have yet to go up online.

Transformers: Reveal the Shield Special Ops Jazz

Here’s another figure I never saw in stores, and wound up tracking down on eBay.

Reveal the Shield was an effort to restart the Generations or Universe 2.0 line after the Revenge of the Fallen toyline, releasing Classics styled toys with the ol’ Generation 1 rubsigns. The line overall was comprised of a number of smaller toys, Legends essentially but pretty simple and cheap. A few of these toys were clearly Classics versions of characters, and so we got excellent toys like Tracks.

Transformers: Generations Drift

 

I know that I’ve been writing on some older toys recently, but these are mainly focusing on figures that are somehow new to me: either I’ve never experienced the mold before, or it’s a new character to me, or something like that. 

Drift is from 2010 I think, and this is/was the very first figure he ever had. Drift was introduced in the (I think) excellent “All Hail Megatron” miniseries that IDW Comics ran in 2008. He was introduced to much auto-disdain: Drift is a street race car armed with a very samurai sword and shows up to eradicate a swarm of Insecticons that had been running rough shod all over Cybertron, besting the ragtag group of Autobots (actually comprised of some heavyweights. . . ), basically instantly establishing himself as a Marty Stu (right? That’s what you kids are calling a male Mary Sue character these days, right?). 

Transformers: Adventures Roadblock

Adventures is the Japanese name for the current Robots in Disguise line, and includes some of those figures alongside repaints of older toys. One such repaint is Roadblock, a repaint of Generations Scoop and a reference to the G2 toy of the same name.

Transformers Universe: Stormcloud

 The repaint is an integral part of most major toylines. Here’s the boring reason: each toy is made through an expensive process of design and steel molds and boredom, apparently. The repaint is the companies’ opportunity to make extra profit on the existing mold(s) by reusing them. Since the initial investment has been made, theoretically all the money made on repaints should be profit. Repaints are usually different characters of similar type to the original. The Transformers brand has counted the repaint as part of its backbone dating all the way back to 1984 and the first wave of toys. The Seekers, the Autobot Datsuns, Ironhide and Ratchet, Soundwave’s cassettes. Later waves would bring the Coneheads, and retools like Hoist and Grapple, modified versions of the existing Trailbreaker and Inferno.