Cybertronian Artifacts

[amargasaurus cazaui]

Had a kid brother that was ten years younger than I am, he was born in 1975 so at the age of seven he was right in the middle of it when the first waves of transformers toys began coming out. I used to get them at the stores and share them with him, as a way of bonding with him,
  Over the years, I saved the transformers I had gotten myself, and in the nineties found myself buying, selling and restoring a lot of them on Ebay. At one time I have owned perhaps all of the generation one toys a dozen times over.....in the heyday buying restoring and selling for instance.

  Nowdays I have gotten rid of a lot of the collection but kept the ones I consider my gems. So, thought I would share them. Opening post will have something like thirty images which isnt even a good start for my collection, but will post more soon.

     First up is the holy grail of transformer collectors . This was the largest, most sophisticated transformer released in the US for commerical sale. Standing three feet tall, and transforming into an entire city or rolling base....Fortress maximus. His head transformers into a robot called Cerebros, and his head transforms into Spike. This city has it all, rotating radar piece, working elevator, jail cell within one leg, etc. These bad boys generally sell for prices over a thousand complete , in nice shape, or boxed. Mine, while complete, could use a serious cleaning. Still just the small Spike head generally sells for over 150 dollars and Cerebros about the same. Expensive toy to complete, with a ton of acessories..including two recon vehicles, several large and small lasers, ramps, etc.
This shot gives you some idea of the size of the thing..its like having a small child in the house. IN fact, this is a toy that will likely never be produced again within the US ....current toy laws state it as being far too heavy and tall, and is considered a crushing hazard for children. So, don't be sitting there waiting for the reissue.

Fort max scale shot



Recon vehicles with Cerebros and Spike


Cerebros and the Recon vehicle bot



Spike Witwicky, headmaster for Cerebros




My favorite transformers character...Soundwave. Various little figures, including an Action master soundwave with its weapon and sidekick. Notice the tiny pencil eraser as well


Shrapnel, the insecticon.......box and paperwork and weapon. I noticed the new insecticons being released have no chrome pieces......generation one was truly the glory days.



bombshell transformed
Most of my bots are like this, new, clean and very tight.


Sunstreaker, original generation one metal autotbot.......there was also a red version of sunstreaker, and at one time I had two of those. Most people will think I am referring to Sideswipe, however there was a twin to Sunstreaker that was red, but otherwise identical, that was made by Diaclone, the forerunner to many of the transformer toys.



I remembered to include this one in the first batch of shots for Tyrannt queen, because her quote used to always make me think of this guy. Soundwave, Decepticon communications expert.
While the cartoon always focused on Lazerbeak the condor, the toy itself came with Buzzsaw...odd.
Make note mine is a pre-rub sign version , which is quite rare.





Loose and out of the box, like new



Original chrome weapons on the original trees, as well as unused decal sheet.



Transformed


Buzzsaw



In the generation one series there were five dinobots. Of them....three would have generation two figures done for them, which were just recolored versions of the original toy. The other two dinobots were so plagued with complaints and broke so often they were never redone for Generation two.
Of the two, by far the rarest, as it is was never offered outside the US, is Swoop the pterosaur. You could break his head off without much effort , and there were so many complaints the toy was canceled after limited US release.Mine is still sealed within his factory card and bubble.
Spendy.










Gotta love all that clean chrome !!!


swoop box


Most of the figures and toys used for the original transformers were toys produced by other companies that were languishing on toyroom shelves, but were transformable. Toy box for instance was producing a figure that would become Omega Supreme, just as Matsushiro was producing a Valkyrie Veritech fighter that would soon become Jetfire the autobot air guardian. Optimus prime himself was originally a truck base, made by Diacron, that utilized small magnetic figures shaped like robots to operate the vehicles .
   In selecting the Optimus Prime I wanted for my collection, I could have gone with the classic common North American release of the toy with the small blue roller. However, most people do not know the first wave of Optimus prime trucks that came to the US, were quite different than later models.  The cab has subtle differences in the feet and radiator, mostly, however the roller car, and missiles are grey in the original version. Even more intriguing and a throw-back to his beginnings as a Diacron figure, is the fact the trailer has metal plates along the sides, rather than decals. Their purpose was to give the robots, with magnets in their feet, a place to stand and "crew" the battle deck. The trailer has tabs on the outside that are visible to hold the plates in place. Also make note the sculpts for the missiles, fists, gun, and gas pump, even the hose are all different than a standard toy. Of course this is about as pre rub sign as it gets,

Somewhere in that packet is the decal sheet, unused.


Notice the grey roller


Battle station, note the metal plates.


transformed



metal plates



brackets on trailer side


acessories


Got these two out first because Tyrannt queen had posted a reissue set of these, course these are the originals.
Slugest and Overkills, decepticon dinosaurs !!!



Pricing on the corner of the retail card for these two tapes.....

[amargasaurus cazaui]

placeholder for more pictures

[amargasaurus cazaui]

Placeholder for more pictures

[suspsy]

Nice. I really liked Overkill and Slugfest as a kid, although I was annoyed at how Hasbro didn't release a new pair of Autobot cassettes to counter them.

I still have a few of my original G1 toys lying around, including Grimlock. There's currently a rumour going around that Hasbro is finally going to reissue all five Dinobots. Kind of hoping they don't, since I'm already strapped for toy cash as it is. :p

[CityRaptor]

Oh, nice collection. Also lots of Cheetors.

As for Buzz-Saw, he was so rarely used since the production bible said he should only "be used occasionally", likely because he did not need extra advertisement since he already came with Soundwave.

As for Fortress Maximus: Actually this might be less of an issue, given that Hasbro released an even bigger Metroplex in 2013:
http://www.tfw2005.com/transformers-news/generations-classics-44/generations-titan-metroplex-in-hand-and-review-177673/

[suspsy]

Generation Metroplex is slightly taller than Fort Max, but Max is still a lot heavier.

[amargasaurus cazaui]

Generation Metroplex is slightly taller than Fort Max, but Max is still a lot heavier.

Interesting about that Metroplex figure, who manufactured it? I know that was the basis given for never reissuing Fort Max so, must be based on weight. I can tell you fort max is heavy for sure.

     More pictures to come soon, but for now this was alot of work.

[CityRaptor]

Hasbro.

Generation Metroplex is slightly taller than Fort Max, but Max is still a lot heavier.

Interesting. Makes sense since Max looks bulkier. I think the only TFs I had as a kid were a team of 6 Decepticon Construction vehicles...Not the ones most have in mind either, but these guys: http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Constructor_Squad

[suspsy]

Generation Metroplex is slightly taller than Fort Max, but Max is still a lot heavier.

Interesting about that Metroplex figure, who manufactured it? I know that was the basis given for never reissuing Fort Max so, must be based on weight. I can tell you fort max is heavy for sure

Generations Metroplex is an official Hasbro/Takara toy, released in 2013. Like the original G1 Metroplex, it transforms into a city and a battle station. It's taller than the Fort Max toy by only about 2 inches. Has way more articulation as well. But again, Fort Max easily wins out for sheer mass.

http://www.seibertron.com/transformers-toys/view/generations/metroplex/2980/1/532/

[joossa]

Very nice! Looks like the boxes are in good condition too. That Fort max scale shot is huge!!

Barchiosaurus wants in on the fun, it seems. 

[EmperorDinobot]

Nice collection! Mine's made up of mostly modern crap and dinobots... LOTS of dinobots.

[ITdactyl]

so that's where all the cheetors went....

... I now miss my slugfest and overkill....

... and a swoop... an original swoop....

[Dinomike]

I had that Optimus prime! Oh, it's so cool! Too bad I sold it some 15 years ago.

[amargasaurus cazaui]

The cheetors are a funny story themselves....they transform into a robot that at that time they were released was closest in height to Fort Max. They came in a box that had places where you could pull the various tabs and test the sounds and lights.....I remember walking down a display of them in wal mart and noticing how many of the boxes and toys were virtually destroyed just sitting there....either the toy had been broken from constant "testing" or the boxes had been badly damaged from the constant yanking and pulling. I think it likely as time passes this will be a toy that is hard to find in perfect mint shape in the box still. I purchased quite a few, by the case from an online toy store, that were sent to me in factory cases. I never got rid of them, so they sit downstairs quietly, waiting for their day. I believe I have something like 14 of them, give or take. Never opened, factory case stored.

[suspsy]

Supreme Cheetor was an extremely ambitious toy that didn't live up to many fans' expectations. I never owned one myself, but I played with a friend's and didn't feel my socks blow off.

Supreme Air Attack Optimus Primal, OTOH, was an awesome toy. I still have mine in good condition, and it's been autographed by voice actor Garry Chalk.

Oh, and AAOP also had a window in his box for you to check out his features. Back in the day, I came across quite a few in stores where the articulated fingers had been posed into a rude gesture. :p

[CityRaptor]

The cheetors are a funny story themselves....they transform into a robot that at that time they were released was closest in height to Fort Max. They came in a box that had places where you could pull the various tabs and test the sounds and lights.....I remember walking down a display of them in wal mart and noticing how many of the boxes and toys were virtually destroyed just sitting there....either the toy had been broken from constant "testing" or the boxes had been badly damaged from the constant yanking and pulling. I think it likely as time passes this will be a toy that is hard to find in perfect mint shape in the box still. I purchased quite a few, by the case from an online toy store, that were sent to me in factory cases. I never got rid of them, so they sit downstairs quietly, waiting for their day. I believe I have something like 14 of them, give or take. Never opened, factory case stored.

So, you paid he original price or did you get them for around 75% off?

[amargasaurus cazaui]

I bought a few at full retail that were not beat up, but the majority were ordered through the online toy store and ran about right what you said....75-80 percent of retail price.