20th Century Toy Collector

Yo Joe!

Archive for the 'Transformers' Category

Transformer G1: Thrust (MB)

“Decepticon Seeker Jets”
Not too long ago I scored this very nice looking, boxed MB (Milton Bradley) version of Thrust. Thrust is a Decepticon jet and part of the second series of jets that were released in 1985. The first set of Decepticon jets were released in 1984 in the US and consisted of Starscream, Thundercracker and Skywarp. All three robots transformed into a McDonnell Doulgas F-15 Eagle and were called Seekers by fans, a term which was eventually adopted officially by Hasbro.
“New Jets”
In 1985 Hasbro released three new jets in the US, that were all based on the 1984 Seeker jet moulds, but with some modifications, e.g. Thrust became a VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) jet and is the coolest looking one of the bunch if you ask me!! Besides Thrust, the new jets were Dirge and Ramjet.
“Coneheads”
Another interesting naming fact occurred with the release of the 1985 Decepticon Seeker jets. In the original Sunbow cartoon the new Seeker jets were drawn differently from the 1984 jets in that their heads were cone shaped. The 1985 jets were thusly dubbed ‘Coneheads’ by Transformers fandom. It’s actually quite funny that Sunbow drew them like that, because both the 1984 and 1985 jet toys had the same mould and both could either have a conehead or not, depending on how you transformed them. The toy itself, its box art and instructions did not feature a conehead transformation, so it was a cartoon thing only, but it stuck with most fans!
“European MB Releases”
In Europe, MB released the first wave of Transformers toys in late 1985. A total of four Decepticon jets were released, being all the Coneheads and Starscream. Below are some more pictures of my own collection. Enjoy!

“Decepticon Seeker Jets”

Not too long ago I scored this very nice looking, boxed MB (Milton Bradley) version of Thrust. Thrust is a Decepticon jet and part of the second series of jets that were released in 1985. The first set of Decepticon jets were released in 1984 in the US and consisted of Starscream, Thundercracker and Skywarp. All three robots transformed into a McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle and were called Seekers by fans, a term which was eventually adopted officially by Hasbro.

“New Jets”

In 1985 Hasbro released three new jets in the US, that were all based on the 1984 Seeker jet moulds, but with some modifications, e.g. Thrust became a VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) jet and is the coolest looking one of the bunch if you ask me!! Besides Thrust, the new jets were Dirge and Ramjet.

“Coneheads”

Another interesting naming fact occurred with the release of the 1985 Decepticon Seeker jets. In the original Sunbow cartoon the new Seeker jets were drawn differently from the 1984 jets in that their heads were cone shaped. The 1985 jets were thusly dubbed ‘Coneheads’ by Transformers fandom. It’s actually quite funny that Sunbow drew them like that, because both the 1984 and 1985 jet toys had the same mould and both could either have a conehead or not, depending on how you transformed them. The toy itself, its box art and instructions did not feature a conehead transformation, so it was a cartoon thing only, but it stuck with most fans!

“European MB Releases”

In Europe, MB released the first wave of Transformers toys in late 1985. A total of four Decepticon jets were released, being all the Coneheads and Starscream. Below are some more pictures of my own collection. Enjoy!

posted by 20th Century Toy Collector in MB Transformers,Transformers and have Comments (2)

Joustra Diaclone Optimus Prime sells for $1650

I like keeping tabs on what some of the more exotic vintage toys are doing in the collector’s market. Just two days ago a very, very rare item popped up on eBay: Joustra Diaclone Truck, the pre-Transformers version of our beloved Autobot leader Optimus Prime. I’m a sucker for Joustra Diaclones. After the Milton Bradley Transformers they are my favourite vintage toy line. Check out more info on Joustra Diaclones here.

The asking price of the Joustra Diaclone Optimus Prime was $2000. I remember that I thought to myself that was a bit steep and it was never going to sell. Much to my amazement in just a couple of hours someone had offered $1650 which was accepted as a winning offer. Quite the price, but then again, the Joustra Diaclone Optimus Prime is so freakin’ rare and comes with unique packaging artwork, that makes it a beautiful piece in any pre-Transformers collector’s collection. As coincidence would have it, I was planning on adding some new photographs of the Joustra Diaclone Optimus Prime from my personal collection soon. For now, please enjoy the photographs already available here!

posted by 20th Century Toy Collector in Joustra Diaclone,Transformers and have No Comments

Transformers G1: Beachcomber (MB)

Beachcombeis another one of those Autobot mini-vehicles who was endowed with a cool character. As a geologist, Beachcomber doesn’t really like warfare and prefers to just cruise around coast lines and deserts and simply chill out. Beachcomber is a laid-back Transformer that turns into one very laid-back dune buggy. Yeah. I remember one of my best buddies had his mother buy him Beachcomber somewhere in early 1986. It was probably one of the first Transformers that me or any of my friends got back then (the first official Transformers toys were introduced here in late 1985 by MB). I even remember that my buddy put Beachcomber inside his chest pocket just before we took our 1986 class school picture. I also remember we thought it was fucking awesome that Beachcomber ended up on our class photograph. I really should try and dig out that picture and post it here. UPDATE: I found the photograph during a recent visit to my parents! Check it out:But back to Beachcomber! Beachcomber was released as part of the second series of Autobot mini-vehicles in the US, and part of the first series in the European countries that were covered by MB. He suddenly, without any real explanation, made his first appearance in the second season of the Sunbow cartoon, voiced by Alan Oppenheimer, who also did Seaspray and perhaps more famously, Skeletor in Filmation’s Masters of the Universe. Here are a few screen caps of Beachcomber from the Sunbow cartoon. So because of all this, Beachcomber has a special little place in my heart. I finally got my own loose Beachcomber a couple of years ago. Being an MB (Milton Bradley) Transformers collector I also thankfully managed to track down a MOSC (mint-on-sealed-card) MB Beachcomber not too long ago which is pictured here. Enjoy the photos!
Beachcomber is another one of those Autobot mini-vehicles who was endowed with a cool character. As a geologist, Beachcomber doesn’t really like warfare and prefers to just cruise around coast lines and deserts and simply chill out. Beachcomber is a laid-back Transformer that turns into one very laid-back dune buggy. Yeah.
I remember one of my best buddies had his mother buy him Beachcomber somewhere in early 1986. It was probably one of the first Transformers that me or any of my friends got back then (the first official Transformers toys were introduced here in late 1985 by MB). I even remember that my buddy put Beachcomber inside his chest pocket just before we took our 1986 class school picture. I also remember we thought it was fucking awesome that Beachcomber ended up on our class photograph. I really should try and dig out that picture and post it here. UPDATE: I found the photograph during a recent visit to my parents! Check it out:
Looks like your average group of Dutch kids from 1986 having their class picture taken, right? Wrong!! This particular spring afternoon in 1986 is being blown away by the awesome presence of one Autobot mini-vehicle called Beachcomber inside the chest pocket of my best buddy. Check the close up:
But back to Beachcomber! Beachcomber was released as part of the second series of Autobot mini-vehicles in the US, and part of the first series in the European countries that were covered by MB. He suddenly, without any real explanation, made his first appearance in the second season of the Sunbow cartoon, voiced by Alan Oppenheimer, who also did Seaspray and perhaps more famously, Skeletor in Filmation’s Masters of the Universe. Here are a few screen caps of Beachcomber from the Sunbow cartoon.
Like all of the Autobot mini-vehicles the toy and its transformation were very simple. That doesn’t take away from the fact that Beachcomber looked very nice in both his robot mode as well as his vehicle mode! Most of the first waves of Transformers were based on Takara’s Diaclone and Microman/Microchange series molds. Beachcomber happens to be one of the first toys that were designed specifically for the Transformers toyline. As such, it’s quite a relief to see Beachcomber still having rubber tyres instead of the boring, all-plastic Transformers that followed later. Just check out some of these close ups of the toy. Doesn’t it look great?!
So because of all this, Beachcomber has a special little place in my heart. I finally got my own loose Beachcomber a couple of years ago. Being an MB (Milton Bradley) Transformers collector I also thankfully managed to track down a MOSC (mint-on-sealed-card) MB Beachcomber not too long ago which is pictured here. Enjoy the photos!

Beachcomber is another one of those Autobot mini-vehicles who was endowed with a cool character. As a geologist, Beachcomber doesn’t really like warfare and prefers to just cruise around coast lines and deserts and simply chill out. Beachcomber is a laid-back Transformer that turns into one very laid-back dune buggy. Yeah.

I remember one of my best buddies had his mother buy him Beachcomber somewhere in early 1986. It was probably one of the first Transformers that me or any of my friends got back then (the first official Transformers toys were introduced here in late 1985 by MB). I even remember that my buddy put Beachcomber inside his chest pocket just before we took our 1986 class school picture. I also remember we thought it was fucking awesome that Beachcomber ended up on our class photograph. I really should try and dig out that picture and post it here. UPDATE: I found the photograph during a recent visit to my parents! Check it out:

Looks like your average group of Dutch kids from 1986 having their class picture taken, right? Wrong!! This particular spring afternoon in 1986 is being blown away by the awesome presence of one Autobot mini-vehicle called Beachcomber inside the chest pocket of my best buddy. Check the close up:

But back to Beachcomber! Beachcomber was released as part of the second series of Autobot mini-vehicles in the US, and part of the first series in the European countries that were covered by MB. He suddenly, without any real explanation, made his first appearance in the second season of the Sunbow cartoon, voiced by Alan Oppenheimer, who also did Seaspray and perhaps more famously, Skeletor in Filmation’s Masters of the Universe. Here are a few screen caps of Beachcomber from the Sunbow cartoon.

Like all of the Autobot mini-vehicles the toy and its transformation were very simple. That doesn’t take away from the fact that Beachcomber looked very nice in both his robot mode as well as his vehicle mode! Most of the first waves of Transformers were based on Takara’s Diaclone and Microman/Microchange series molds. Beachcomber happens to be one of the first toys that were designed specifically for the Transformers toyline. As such, it’s quite a relief to see Beachcomber still having rubber tyres instead of the boring, all-plastic Transformers that followed later. Just check out some of these close ups of the toy. Doesn’t it look great?!

So because of all this, Beachcomber has a special little place in my heart. I finally got my own loose Beachcomber a couple of years ago. Being an MB (Milton Bradley) Transformers collector I also thankfully managed to track down a MOSC (mint-on-sealed-card) MB Beachcomber not too long ago which is pictured here. Enjoy the photos!

posted by 20th Century Toy Collector in MB Transformers,Transformers and have Comments (2)

Joustra Diaclone comic #8

Diaclone toys were the actual predecessors to the Transformers. Made by Japanese toy company Takara, the Diaclone toys were also exported outside of Japan in the first half of the 1980’s. In Europe a French company from Strasbourg, called Ceji Joustra, released the Diaclone toys in some countries, most notably in Germany, France and the Netherlands. The most interesting aspect of the Joustra Diaclone releases is that they went through the effort of creating new artwork and a back story to the Diaclone toys, instead of simply copying the Japanese packaging artwork. Joustra had special artwork created for the packaging of all their Diaclone releases and also had a mini-comic created that was included with all the boxed, series 1 Joustra Diaclones. All this artwork was created by artist twins Paul and Gaetan Brizzi.

I have most carded and boxed Joustra Diaclone items in my collection, but nearly all of them have their mini-comic missing, except for one. My Joustra Diaclone Robocolt has the original mini-comic still included, which I have scanned and posted here for you to enjoy! Judging by the text inside the comic this is the 8th and final part of the mini-comic series. It is not exactly clear to me which comic was included with which toy (if there was a pattern there at all), but this mini-comic happens to feature the robot it was included with, being Robocolt.

Wow! Very cool artwork, right? Another noteworthy fact is that this comic is in French, but I have seen scans of the same comic in German. Given that the languages on the Joustra Diaclone packaging were French, German and Dutch, I suspect that all 8 mini-comics must have been released in all 3 languages. I’ve never seen a Dutch Joustra Diaclone mini-comic, but would love to have one! As far as I know, there has never been an English Joustra Diaclone translation. I might try and post an English translation of the current comic one of these days, but for now please enjoy the great artwork of the Brizzi brothers and check out some more Joustra Diaclone here. More Joustra Diaclone pages and photographs from my personal collection are coming soon to this site! Check all the pages of the mini-comic included with my Joustra Diaclone Robocolt below!

posted by 20th Century Toy Collector in Joustra Diaclone,Transformers and have No Comments

Milton Bradley (MB) Red Tracks on eBay

Here’s something that won’t come up for sale very often. A collector acquaintance of mine is putting his Milton Bradley (MB) variant Red Tracks on the market. A rarity in any condition when complete with its original packaging, this specific Tracks though has never been removed from his box and is in absolute mint condition! At the time of writing the auction has already reached 650 US dollars and is probably going to keep on rising. This is one of those rare moments when a complete and boxed Milton Bradley Red Tracks is for sale in public, so if you’ve been waiting (and saving your cash), this might be your moment.. UPDATE: The auction ultimately ended at $935 US!

You can find more information about the Milton Bradley (MB) Red Tracks here.

 

posted by 20th Century Toy Collector in MB Transformers,Transformers and have No Comments