A couple of new additions to my collection that I’d like to quickly share with you today. First up is an upgrade for my MB Jetfire. I’ve had an MB Jetfire for about a year or so I guess. It wasn’t in bad shape, but the packaging was pretty worn. But that was OK, because I only paid about 120 euros for it. The opportunity presented itself a couple of weeks ago for me to purchase an upgrade, so I did! Here it is:

Jetfire (MB) – 1985

Much better! I did need to plunk down around 320 euros for the privilege of owning this one, but Jetfires with sturdy and structurally still solid packaging don’t come around that often, let alone specimens inside MB packaging. Boxes often show lots of wear and tear, especially at the bottom left where the MB or Hasbro logo is located. I’ve seen so many examples of Jetfire boxes with a tear right at that spot.

“Jetfire – Leader of the Autobots”

As has often been discussed on this website Jetfire was originally billed as leader of the Autobots in continental Europe when Transformers were introduced here in 1985. The reason why MB made Jetfire leader was that the exclusive rights to the Optimus Prime toy were held by a French toy company called Ceji, so MB couldn’t release Optimus Prime as a Transformer. Not too long after the launch of Transformers in Europe a deal was worked out with Ceji, which allowed MB to release Optimus Prime after all. An interesting piece of historical trivia and if you’re really interested in the dirty details you can read about that story here.

Jetfire depicted as leader in various catalogs (MB) – 1985

“MB version and Hasbro version”

In 1986, only a couple of months after the launch of Transformers in continental Europe, it was decided to switch the branding of Transformers from MB to Hasbro. Many Transformers that were available in 1985 were re-released in 1986, but now with a Hasbro logo on the box. Because I’m such a nerd I own both versions. And I love it! Just look how great they look together:

Jetfire (Hasbro EU) – 1986 / Jetfire (MB) – 1985

Read more on this 1986 European re-release in an article I wrote about it last year here.

“MB Sunswipe”

About a month ago I published the 6th chapter in an on-going series of articles on MB Transformers (of what will hopefully become a 10-part series). One major find discussed in this article was the discovery of the “MB Sunswipe”, a Sunstreaker that was sold inside Sideswipe packaging by MB. Crazy, right?

Sunswipe (MB) – 1985

While I had seen three examples of Sunswipes in the wild I did not have this packaging variant in my collection myself. And it wasn’t for lack of trying, because I had been searching for one for almost a year. The problem is you can’t just put any old Sunstreaker inside an MB Sideswipe box and call it an MB Sunswipe (well, not without it being historically inaccurate that is). Because of its special origin (it was meant to be a Ceji Joustra Diaclone Countach) they come with a specific combination of copyright stamp and rubsign. Well, in an almost poetic fashion I got my hands on one. You see, after the article was published, someone on the TFW2005 boards recognized his loose Sunstreaker with Sideswipe stickers as being an MB Sunswipe! That was pretty cool. What was even cooler is that my friend Maz knew how desperately I wanted one and persuaded the owner to sell him this Sunswipe. Maz then sent it to me as a gift! Free of charge! For naught!

It’s times like that, that I can get a little choked up inside. It’s heart warming to be on the receiving end of such sincere generosity. Maz, buddy, you rule! Thanks for this one.

My own nice and shiny MB Sunswipe!!

That’s it for now. Loads more acquisitions I made in the past few months that I’d like to feature here as soon as I get the time to properly photograph them, so stay tuned!!