Death's Head
31-08-11, 03:01 PM
The Transformers Collection launched in 2002, capitalising on the growing renaissance of Transformers at the time. Whilst concepts like Beast Wars and Car Robots had revitalised the brand and Armada had engaged a whole new generation of fans, there was a healthy demand for the original Transformers toys. In part helped along by the nostalgia boom and Dreamwave Comics phenomenal success with a new Transformers comic, as well as the growth in fandom as more and more fan-sites sprang up around the globe. Takara had tested the waters over the last two years with a potted release of ‘Collector’s Edition’ reissues, largely offered through the Japanese online retailer E-Hobby. Demand on the secondary market for these new pressings soon started to match the original figures in terms of value and so in 2002, a wider release for some of the classic characters of days of yore began.
Takara hit upon a neat concept for their reissue series. As well as representing figures from the lines hey day including all those glorious eye poking missiles (these being Japanese releases, most of the firing mechanisms are not neutered in any way as they were for their western releases), the figures came in new packaging utilising new artwork – some of which was cribbed from Dreamwave – that smartly presented the toy. These ‘book box’ style packs also contained pages of a beautifully designed collectable part works encyclopedia that would build up to tell the story of the toyline and it’s supporting media – notably the original cartoon. The packs also included catalogue pages detailing the Japanese release schedule and figures made available as exclusives in Japan or items that were simply not sold in Japan. The inner sleeve of the box could be taken out and folded into a plinth for neatly displaying the toy and its accessories. Each of the releases came with a character card, unique to Japanese collectors, which featured the original toy artwork and a break down of the character’s technical specifications. Although a relatively pricy purchase at the time, getting a pristine, brand new version of a toy packed with such great extras made the Transformers Collection seem like manna from Heaven.
The first release out of the gate was Meister, known in the western hemisphere as Jazz of course. The front of the box has a piece of artwork by Pat Lee, on one of the rare days his figures didn’t look like enormous marshmallows with poor proportions. This particular image was lifted from a poster featuring Prowl and Mirage. Opening up the box (on a nice Velcro tab) revealed ‘Data File’ cards on Meister and Convoy. The back of these had detailed shots of the toy and it’s accessories as well as some trivia and a history of the toys’ release. So Meister here gets a mention for his first release being in the US line, and then subsequent re-releases as part of the European Classics line, as well as Generation 2 and beyond. A catalogue of the initial 17 Autobots released in 1985 in Japan then follows. The back of the box features a nice breakdown of the enclosed contents as well as a peak at future releases.
Meister is a Porsche 935. It’s a pretty boxy and fat arsed take on the actual vehicle, which is much more streamlined than this in real life. However, it’s a passable take and looks very nice. If you can be bothered, the figure comes with a label sheet so you can properly dress him up in his racing stripes and sponsor logos although these no longer say ‘Martini’ on them having been changed to ‘Meister’ for the door logos and ‘Agent Meister’ for the windscreen. Some mould degradation appears to have occurred in the intervening years since the toys last outing in 1993 – the roof and rear windscreen parts don’t fit together very well anymore. On my version, the windscreen half on the right constantly drops down. Transforming Meister is pretty straight forward, although the midrift and torso arrangement is a bit of clumsy mess compared to the likes of Prowl whom use a similar sequence. The rear section of the car pulls back and splits apart to form the legs. The rear car parts rotate through ninety degrees to form the feet and those metal flaps form an attempt at feet and shins. They don’t line up with the actual legs though which is a bit of a poor show. The arms fold out from under the bonnet and the head pops out from just in front of the windscreen. Having never owned an original Jazz figure, I was surprised by how loose the whole toy feels when handling him. He doesn’t feel quite as sturdy as he should. The robot mode is a decent effort. He has arms that can move a fair bit and rotating fists. His head does look a little bit sunken but part of that is owing to the large part of car that forms his chest, but overall he’s a pretty cool little toy. It’s just a shame that the mould hasn’t been retooled to correct some of the flaws it has – chief among them the slightly melted looking face that makes poor Meister look like he’s having a stroke.
If I am honest, I was overjoyed at the time to own a new version of Meister so his obvious flaws passed me by as I didn’t know any better. I just liked having a nice shiny new version of a toy I’d never owned before with some cool extra features. If you already have an original Jazz figure, or even the Generation 2 version, then picking up this reissue with its attendant faults would be a questionable purchase. Although the overall package is nice, you’re far better off picking up the ‘tidied up’ (and cheaper) Encore figure if it’s just the toy you’re after.
516517518519520
Takara hit upon a neat concept for their reissue series. As well as representing figures from the lines hey day including all those glorious eye poking missiles (these being Japanese releases, most of the firing mechanisms are not neutered in any way as they were for their western releases), the figures came in new packaging utilising new artwork – some of which was cribbed from Dreamwave – that smartly presented the toy. These ‘book box’ style packs also contained pages of a beautifully designed collectable part works encyclopedia that would build up to tell the story of the toyline and it’s supporting media – notably the original cartoon. The packs also included catalogue pages detailing the Japanese release schedule and figures made available as exclusives in Japan or items that were simply not sold in Japan. The inner sleeve of the box could be taken out and folded into a plinth for neatly displaying the toy and its accessories. Each of the releases came with a character card, unique to Japanese collectors, which featured the original toy artwork and a break down of the character’s technical specifications. Although a relatively pricy purchase at the time, getting a pristine, brand new version of a toy packed with such great extras made the Transformers Collection seem like manna from Heaven.
The first release out of the gate was Meister, known in the western hemisphere as Jazz of course. The front of the box has a piece of artwork by Pat Lee, on one of the rare days his figures didn’t look like enormous marshmallows with poor proportions. This particular image was lifted from a poster featuring Prowl and Mirage. Opening up the box (on a nice Velcro tab) revealed ‘Data File’ cards on Meister and Convoy. The back of these had detailed shots of the toy and it’s accessories as well as some trivia and a history of the toys’ release. So Meister here gets a mention for his first release being in the US line, and then subsequent re-releases as part of the European Classics line, as well as Generation 2 and beyond. A catalogue of the initial 17 Autobots released in 1985 in Japan then follows. The back of the box features a nice breakdown of the enclosed contents as well as a peak at future releases.
Meister is a Porsche 935. It’s a pretty boxy and fat arsed take on the actual vehicle, which is much more streamlined than this in real life. However, it’s a passable take and looks very nice. If you can be bothered, the figure comes with a label sheet so you can properly dress him up in his racing stripes and sponsor logos although these no longer say ‘Martini’ on them having been changed to ‘Meister’ for the door logos and ‘Agent Meister’ for the windscreen. Some mould degradation appears to have occurred in the intervening years since the toys last outing in 1993 – the roof and rear windscreen parts don’t fit together very well anymore. On my version, the windscreen half on the right constantly drops down. Transforming Meister is pretty straight forward, although the midrift and torso arrangement is a bit of clumsy mess compared to the likes of Prowl whom use a similar sequence. The rear section of the car pulls back and splits apart to form the legs. The rear car parts rotate through ninety degrees to form the feet and those metal flaps form an attempt at feet and shins. They don’t line up with the actual legs though which is a bit of a poor show. The arms fold out from under the bonnet and the head pops out from just in front of the windscreen. Having never owned an original Jazz figure, I was surprised by how loose the whole toy feels when handling him. He doesn’t feel quite as sturdy as he should. The robot mode is a decent effort. He has arms that can move a fair bit and rotating fists. His head does look a little bit sunken but part of that is owing to the large part of car that forms his chest, but overall he’s a pretty cool little toy. It’s just a shame that the mould hasn’t been retooled to correct some of the flaws it has – chief among them the slightly melted looking face that makes poor Meister look like he’s having a stroke.
If I am honest, I was overjoyed at the time to own a new version of Meister so his obvious flaws passed me by as I didn’t know any better. I just liked having a nice shiny new version of a toy I’d never owned before with some cool extra features. If you already have an original Jazz figure, or even the Generation 2 version, then picking up this reissue with its attendant faults would be a questionable purchase. Although the overall package is nice, you’re far better off picking up the ‘tidied up’ (and cheaper) Encore figure if it’s just the toy you’re after.
516517518519520