Commemorative Ultra Magnus

misb Ultra Magnus, c-9.5

Ultra Magnus, which was reissued in 2002 as a Toys "R" Us exclusive in the United States in the first wave of the Commemorative Series, is one of the few toys I owned from Hasbro, and I acquired it through the help of a friend. The story goes this way. My friend had happened to see about 30 or more boxes of Ultra Magnus sold at Carrefour, so he messaged me immediately to ask if I wanted one. At that time, Ultra Magnus was going at 110 SGD in specialised toy stores but the ones he saw was going at the retail price of only 60 SGD. As each customer was limited to only piece, he helped me reserve a piece. The amazing thing was the rate at which the item was sold out; my friend had a quick drink and when he came back, there was only one box left. I guess news travels fast where toy hunting is concerned. Anyway, I'm just glad I managed to secure a piece.

Great Singapore Toy Sale

I have just compiled a list of items from my toy collection for sale at reduced prices. Just click on the link 'Toys for Sale' on my website for the list of sale items.

Galvatron - City Commander

misb Galvatron, c-9

misb e-Hobby exclusive Galvatron, c-9.5

Galvatron and Galvatron II

Galvatron is the reincarnated form of Megatron, who was rescued and re-formated by Unicron after being thrown into space by Starscream (in Transformers : The Movie). In his new body, Megatron's power was increased and he was dubbed "Galvatron". Galvatron transforms into a Cybertronic treaded field artillery unit with an alternate hand-held gun mode. The ones you see in the pictures above are the reissued versions of the original release in 1986/87. In the reissued version (1st picture), Galvatron has been redecoed into a more show-like appearance, being primarily purple instead of the original gray. The same toy was later released as the e-Hobby exclusive Galvatron II (2nd picture).

I bought the reissue two years back from a friend who was willing to sell it at a reduced price. For the e-Hobby exclusive, I remembered it was bought at Falcon during one of its annual sales at its old location. It was going at a really good price, and there were around six pieces. I wished my friend, who was also at the sale, hadn't hesitated in getting it as it is now a rare piece selling at a very good price on the secondary market. Both boxes are in very good condition with minor shelfwear.

Bruticus - Who's the strongest of them all?

misb Bruticus, c-9.5

Bruticus, which possessed immense strength and can smash metal bridges with a single chop of his hand, is the combined form of the five Combaticons: Team Leader Onslaught, Brawl, Blast Off, Swindle and Vortex. Released in 1986, the Bruticus giftset was only available in Japan and Italy and as with all Scramble City-style combiner teams, his limbs can be rearranged into any slot. This giftset, which I purchased from an online seller, is in excellent shape with a box condition of c-9.5, sharp edges and no flap crease. It is kept in a custom-made acrylic case for extra protection.

Shockwave

The huge box containing Shockwave.

The smaller box within. Could this be the one?

Shockwave revealed!

mib Shockwave, c-9

The one item I have been waiting for since last week has finally arrived: Shockwave. Released in 1985, Shockwave transforms into a large Cybertronian handgun. He has light and sound electronics activated by his gun-mode trigger and is powered by a 9-volt battery. I bought this item online from an ebay seller two weeks ago and I must admit it was certainly worth the wait when the highly anticipated toy finally arrived this evening, having survived a long flight from Canada. I could hardly contain my excitement as I carefully opened the box, which had the label COLLECTABLE TOY on it, to reveal the gem within. It was truly a sight to behold to see Shockwave neatly packed in the small box inside. The box is definitely in the condition described by the seller, mib c-9 with no flap crease and minor shelfwear.

Browning

misb Browning, c-9.5

Browning transforms into a Browning M1910 pistol. In his realistic pistol mode, he can fire bullets from the muzzle thanks to a spring-loaded assembly attached to his trigger. I deliberated on getting this tiny terror at first, but was eventually tempted by the near perfect condition of the box, with no flap crease and very sharp edges. It is very rare to find Browning in the secondary market now, and as Browning's Japanese ID number comes right after Overlord, it didn't take me long to get him once the opportunity was presented.

God Ginrai giftsets

misb God Ginrai, c-9.5

misb Fire Guts God Ginrai, c-9

God Ginrai giftsets

The first photo shows a reissue of the God Ginrai giftset, released in 2002, with blue eyes for the small Ginrai robot and a slighty different shade of red paint on the cab. The original version was released in 1988. However, there was a case of over production of the reissue and currently, it is still readily available in the secondary market at highly affordable prices. In the same year, Fire Guts God Ginrai (2nd photo), a redeco of the God Ginrai giftset in red and orange, was also released as an eHobby exclusive. It was limited to 1600 pieces. Both pieces were bought separately from online sellers, and I managed to secure Fire Guts at a very good price way below the seller's 'buy it now price' placed on his auction after some negotiation. Both boxes are in good condition with minor shelfwear.

Stealth Bumblebee

mosc Stealth Bumblebee, c-9.5

Went to the toy bazaar at Takashimaya basement yesterday to see if I could get animated Transformers at discounted rate. I had only wanted to buy megatron as I thought it was one of the nicer ones released in the series so far. When I asked the salesperson, he initially told me that there was a 20% discount for the animated series, but as I was browsing to look for one in a better box condition, he came back and told me the discount applied only to the movie toys. Sigh. In the end, I bought the Stealth Bumblebee instead, which was going at the discounted price of 21.50 SGD. Figured it was a good deal paying this price for a bumblebee even though I'm not a collector of the movie series.

Raiden - The Robot Train

mib unused Raiden, c-9

Raiden is the combined form of the six Trainbots: Kaen, Getsuei, Seizan, Shouki, Suiken, and Yukikaze. It was released only in Japan in 1987. For Headmasters, the Trainbots were available individually or in a gift set. It is extremely rare to find Raiden in his gift set box, so when I chanced upon the opportunity to own this rare giftset at a good price, I acted on the advice on my friend and bought it without much hesitation. The box is in very good condition, with sharp edges and no flap creases. It is kept in a custom made acrylic case for extra protection. Another valued addition to my combiners collection.

Overlord - Ambassador of Destruction

mib unused Overlord, c-9

Overlord consists of Megajet and Gigatank, and transforms like any Powermaster, in that he is only able to do so when Giga and Mega are fixed in place. Released in 1988, Overlord was initially exclusive to Japan, but was later released in Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Overlord is one of the more popular characters in the Masterforce series and is highly sought after by collectors. Although mine came at a hefty price, I thought it was worth the money spent as the box condition was really good. Admittedly, I do have a soft spot for vintages with good box condition.

King Poseidon - King of the Deep Blue Sea

misb King Poseidon, c-9.5

Released in 1988, King Poseidon is one of the most impressive-looking combiners. It is made up of the following seacons; Team Leader Turtler, Overbite, Kraken, Lobclaw, Gulf and Tentakil. The seacons were essentially the last combiner team produced in the G1 line, apart from Dinoking (1989). This combiner is similar to the Hasbro version, which is known as Piranacon. I got King Poseidon from a fellow collector who was letting go of his vintage collection. With the box in such good condition; sharp edges and no flap crease, it was too good an opportunity to pass.

Cybertron Primus - Creator of the Transformers

misb Primus, c-9.5 (front)

misb Primus, c-9.5 (back)

This entry features my latest acquisition: Takara Primus C-00, otherwise known as the creator of all transformers, and whose body forms the planet Cybertron. I have seen this item a few times during my visits to CSC, but has never been tempted to buy it or even considered buying it because of the ridiculous price tags placed on it. I guess it is mainly due to the beautiful box artwork (both front and back) that has seen its value soar, compared to the dull hasbro version of the same item. I got this item from a seller from sgcollect, and I must admit the price is very reasonable in the current market. Although it is not on my wanted list, I still like it a lot. For such a huge box, the condition is very good with sharp edges and no box dents.

All the King's Men

misb Razorclaw, c-9.5

misb Rampage, c-9.5

misb Divebomb, c-9

mib unused Tantrum, c-9.5

mib unused Headstrong, c-8.5

misb Predaking, c-9.5

Group shot of Predaking and the Predacons

This entry features the individual predacons, and a cosy group shot with its combined form, Predaking. Released in 1986, the predacons, consisting of team leader Razorclaw, Rampage, Divebomb, Tantrum and Headstrong, were not only large and colourful robots that converted to fierce animals, they also functioned as a combiner team, merging to form the super warrior Predaking. Rarely would you find combiner team members working together and united in the way the Predacons do, with each member dedicated to the ultimate goal of its combiner; to seek and destroy all that stands in its way. I got the predacons and Predaking separately on the secondary market, and I think they look awesome when displayed as a set.

Lawson Exclusive Gold Bumblebee

mosc Bumblebee (Limited Colour), c-9.5

A redeco of the Japanese version of the Classic Camaro Bumblebee mold, this toy was exclusively available with the purchase of a ticket for the Transformers movie in Japanese Lawson stores. I got it one year ago from Falcon during the movie craze. There were very limited pieces available (rumoured to be 50) to Singapore and I was very fortunate to land a piece at a reasonable price. I remembered I made the preorder as soon as I saw it in the email sent by Falcon and rushed to collect it immediately after work as it was limited to one piece per customer. It was sold out on the day itself. I am not a collector of the movie line of toys as I dislike the haphazard release of its toys, most of which didn't even appear in the movie and probably never will; however, this is certainly one piece I will treasure a lot.

Kaiyodo Revoltech Ultra Magnus

Reissue vs Original Ultra Magnus

Just went to Falcon Hangar yesterday to collect my preorder for Kaiyodo Revoltech Ultra Magnus. Previously an exclusive which I had acquired at a hefty price, it has been made available again due to Falcon getting new stocks from one of their suppliers. I was a little disappointed at the beginning when I found out that it would be the same item as what I had purchased earlier, but upon comparison with the original piece when I reached home, there was one minor difference in the design on the paper wrapping around the boxes, which came as a pleasant surprise. On the same day, I also added to my vintage collection with the acquisition of D-308 Browning. I will be posting pictures of this toy soon.

Superion - Aerialbots combiner

mib unused Superion, c-9

Superion is the combined form of the Aerialbots, comprising of team leader Silverbolt, Air Raid, Fireflight, Skydive and Slingshot. In his combined form, his battle approach is reduced to two things: destroy the Decepticons and protect the humans. Superion is also a Scramble City-type combiner, meaning his limbs are interchangeable. Superion has very thin thighs, mainly due to Silverbolt, which has rather thin legs, forming its torso. For this combiner, I bought it from a fellow collector even though it is mib, simply because the condition of the box is really good. There is no flap crease and all the edges are sharp with no box dents.

Transformers Hybrid Style (THS) set completed finally...

My T.H.S set

I finally managed to complete my Transformer Hybrid Style (THS) set last month, when a visit to Falcon Hangar got me the last item of the set I was missing all along, T.H.S-01 Galaxy Convoy. It was actually a consignment item and after checking that it was within my budget, I promptly bought it. My first item from this set was T.H.S-02 Convoy, which I had bought from Jeff two years back and after I had gotten T.H.S-02B Black Convoy during one of my trips to CSC, I was quite determined to complete the entire set. The cover flaps can actually be lifted to show the intricate parts of the robots, but to prevent shelf wear and dust, I have decided to keep it wrapped in clear plastic.

Digressing a little, I recently bought two sets of the black Detolf display shelves from Ikea when they were having their Labour Day Sale. Each shelf costs only 55 SGD from the usual 99 SGD. It was such a steal that when I arrived at Ikea in the evening, the birch coloured ones were already sold out, with only 9 sets of white and 49 sets of black left. Thanks to my dad's help, we managed to carry them home after much effort. It was indeed Labour Day for us. I am intending to set up the shelves during the upcoming holidays so I can display more toys in them. Will have to do some serious tidying up of my study room to clear space before that though... :)

Black Zarak

mib unused Black Zarak, c-9

I shall feature one of my prized possessions here. Black Zarak is the Japanese-exclusive retool of Scorponok and redecoed in the brilliant colours of black, gold and red/orange. Black Zarak also comes with a new accessory - a red/orange two-piece spear that can be held in robot mode. I have learnt from fellow collectors that Black Zarak is very difficult to find complete, due to many of his accessories suffering from gold plastic syndrome and broken even in mint sealed boxes. This black beauty, which I bought from an online seller, is 100% complete and makes a marvellous addition to my collection. The box condition is really good, considering it is such a big box, and I shall make sure it remains so for a long time to come.

Predaking - The Fearless Decepticon Warrior

misb Predaking c-9.5

Predaking is the ferocious combination of the five Predacons: team leader Razorclaw, Divebomb, Headstrong, Rampage and Tantrum. Of all the combiner toys, Predaking is easily one of the most magnificent looking, however, its arms and legs are not interchangeable, unlike the Scramble City-style toys such as Bruticus and Defensor. In late 2004, Predaking was reissued as a giftset, using metal parts, with pieces that were originally soft plastic in the vintage version now using hard plastic. It was really great news to Transformer collectors who would have baulked at the current market prices of the vintage version. I bought mine from an online buyer, and I distinctly remembered that I kept admiring the beautiful artwork on the box when I reached home after collecting the toy. I still do, and it remains one of my favourite toys, mainly because it was the first combiner I acquired.

My Transformers Book Collection

My Transformers Book Collection

The Transformers Collection, also known as T/F Collection, was Takara's series of G1 reissues. Each toy is housed inside a "book-box"-style package that opens just like a book, complete with a small booklet containing profiles of the reissued character, a couple of random characters, episodes of the cartoon and a small portion of the Japanese catalogue. In total, twenty one sets have been reissued. Unfortunately, this particular line appears to have been discontinued after Takaratomy launched the encore series, which are essentially reissues of Transformers in G1 boxes. The twenty one sets consist of:

TFC-00 Convoy

TFC-01 Meister
TFC-02 Prowl
TFC-03 Skids
TFC-04 Tracks
TFC-05 Smokescreen
TFC-06 Megatron
TFC-07 Lambor
TFC-08 Inferno
TFC-09 Starscream

TFC-10 Soundwave
TFC-11 Astrotrain
TFC-12 Minibot Team

TFC-13 Hot Rodimus
TFC-14 Hound
TFC-15 Stepper
TFC-16 Insecticons

TFC-17 Blitzwing
TFC-18 Soundblaster
TFC-19 Perceptor
TFC-20 Kup & Wheelie
TFC-21 Blaster

Decepticon Headmasters Junior - Wilder, Bullhorn, Cancer

mib unused Wilder, c-9.5

misb Bullhorn, c-9.5

misb Cancer, c-9

The Headmaster Juniors are a group of Earth Humans selected by the Autobots and the Decepticons to fight by their side. They use a form of technology called Masterbraces to armor-up their bodies and allow themselves to transform into the heads of transtectors. The Decepticon Headmaster Juniors consisted of Wilder, Bullhorn and Cancer. I got my first Headmaster Junior Wilder at a toy sale organised by Falcon Hangar last year. I was browsing around and happened to pass by a section when I saw four boxes of wilder placed at the counter. Immediately, I took up a box and checked its condition. Just as I was doing this, the remaining three boxes were promptly snapped up by other customers in a flash. Fortunately, I managed to secure the piece I was holding on to, but I had wanted to get a piece for a friend as well. As for Bullhorn and Cancer, I got them from an online seller. All three boxes are in very good condition and still in their bright colours.

Blacker

misb Blacker c-9.5

Blacker, which transforms into a racing buggy with oversized studded tires, was actually the second vintage transformer I acquired. Together with Laster and Braver, these three brainmasters combined to form Road Caesar, a rare non-Scramble City style of combiner. Thanks to a friend, I received information about its availability and was in fact shocked by the quantity available at the shop when I arrived. Needless to say, I took my time to select one with the best possible box condition, and paid a reasonable 150 SGD for it. I shall be keeping a lookout for its buddies, Laster and Braver.

Sixshot - Solo Transformer Assault Group

misb Sixshot. c-9

Sixshot is one of my all time favourite Transformer characters, attributable to his status as a Solo Transformer Assault Group (“S.T.A.G.”), or basically, a one-robot army as he is famed for his near-unique ability to assume six different modes. Released in 1987, Sixshot’s number of alternate modes was unprecedented then, and his instruction leaflet was even sealed shut with a sticker, challenging buyers to figure out all six modes without aid. I have seen the vintage version before but with the reissued sixshot, I figured it's not worth paying so much for the vintage version. It actually took me some time to get the reissued one as the ones I saw were either too expensive or the box conditions were simply not what I wanted. With much luck, I finally chanced upon an misb Sixshot at U-toys during one of my weekend trips to CSC about a year ago selling at 18o SGD. I rate the box at c-9. The box artwork is simply awesome.

Toys for Sale

I have just started another blog, mainly to sell some of the toys I have. To access this blog, please click on the link Toys for Sale. Do feel free to check out the items I am putting up to sell, which are mainly toys from my Star Wars and Transformer collections.

My Masterpiece collection

My Masterpiece Collection

I started my transformers collection with the masterpiece series two years back, where I bought 2 pieces MP-01 Convoy and MP-04 Convoy with Trailer through a good pal, Jeff. The prices were reasonable back then, and I also managed to secure my MP-02 Ultra Magnus through an online seller at the really good price of 150SGD. It's easily double that now if anyone is planning to get it. Can't remember how I got my first MP-03 Starscream, but I remembered I bought my second piece at China Square Central during one of the sundays flea market, where one of the stallholders was selling at a fantastic price of 100SGD. Unfortunately, MP-04, which was going for only 200SGD at the same stall at that time, was quickly snapped up by another eagle-eyed customer just as I saw it. As for MP-05 Megatron and MP-06 Skywarp, I bought them at my favourite toy shop, The Falcon's Hangar, which doesn't charge sky high prices for their products, so I've almost always bought my stuff from them. I really hope the masterpiece series will continue for a long time to come, although I will soon have to think about storage given the relatively large sizes of the boxes.

Old is Gold...

I have recently acquired a few pieces of vintages, which I really liked a lot, though I must admit vintages nowadays come at a hefty price, in the aftermath of the Transformer movie. And even then, there is the factor of availability. Some of the vintages I have include a mib unused Black Zarak, mib unused Overlord and misb King Poseidon, three highly sought after toys by collectors. And I really like them a lot, especially the Black Zarak. For the smaller vintages, I own the set of Junior Decepticons Headmasters: Wilder, Bullhorn and Cancer. The artwork of the boxes is simply amazing. A personal goal is to collect all the combiners giftsets, though that would require lots of patience for the right deal to come along. Well, at least that is something that will definitely sustain my passion for Transformers for some time to come.

mib unused Black Zarak c-9

mib unused Overlord c-9

misb King Poseidon c-9

Welcome note...

A warm welcome to all reading the opening entry of my blog, which is dedicated to my transformers collection, and updates on my latest buys and craze. For a start, a short intro to how I became so fascinated with transformers. It's actually thanks to a good pal, Jeff, that I was introduced to get my first transformer toys from the Masterpiece series, and I must admit that I have been on a relentless toy hunting trail ever since. I have another friend, Chin Meng, who has been a great pal in helping me keep a lookout for toys I am interested in and who has been a great companion during my toy collection and toy hunting trips. In this blog,I will be focusing on my toy hunting escapades. I will also be posting photos of my latest acquisitions (hopefully on a regular basis). Thanks for viewing. :)