Carn
Powermaster
Posts: 836
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Post by Carn on Dec 19, 2007 0:07:22 GMT
Hey, was just playing about with G1 Blaster and I remembered that he wasn't originally released in the UK but the US did get him, right? Does anyone know why? And does everyone have a full list of G1 toys the US got but the UK didn't?
The ones I can name from memory (may not be accurate)
- Blaster (and his cassettes)
- Fortress Maximus (something about a safety drop test was it?)
- Swoop (odd when we got all the other Dinobots)
- Omega Supreme (my folks searched tons of places in UK for this one after I'd seen it in an American TF leaflet that came with a TF my grandad sent me from Canada and wanted it for christmas)
- Shockwave (I had a cheap knock off one)
- the other three per side of regular Pretenders: Groundbreaker, Splashdown, Sky High, Bugly, Iguanus and Finback
- Trypticon
Am sure I've forgotten plenty. Just curious as to why certain characters weren't released here when similar ones were. To get Soundwave, Metroplex and Scorponok but not their rivals, and only four out of the five Dinobots did use to annoy me as a kid.
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Post by timban on Dec 19, 2007 2:11:39 GMT
1984
Reflector
Camshaft
Overdirve
Downshift
All three Power Dashers
1985
Swoop
Blaster
Road Buster
Whirl
Omega Supreme
Perceptor
Devastator - no 100% sure about this one
Chopshop
Ransack
Barrage
Venom
Shockwave
1986
Ramhorn
Steeljaw
Eject
Rewind
Sky Lynx
Trypitcon
Predaking
Ratbat
1987
Fortress Maximus
Fastlane
Cloudreaker
Wingspan
Pounce
Slugfest
Overkill
1988
Grandslam
Raindance
Squarktalk
Beastbox
must be loads after that......we was robbed!!
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Carn
Powermaster
Posts: 836
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Post by Carn on Dec 19, 2007 10:33:42 GMT
Ugh, can't believe I forgot Sky Lynx (had even been discussing his toy with a friend on MSN a couple hours before I did this topic, just looked like a real fun TF toy) and Predaking (the most beautifully done combiner in my opinion).
Yeah Devastator I'm not sure about. I know I did end up with a Hook bought from the local market which turned out to be one of those chinese ones with lead paint or something, so my mom got rid of it, so that would suggest to me they weren't easily available officially else she would have replaced it with a real one or just bought the real one to begin with.
I should have remembered Ratbat. Very prominent character in the Marvel US stories (how a cassette ended up leading the 'cons for a while always puzzled me... Soundwave should have put him in his place)
Perceptor I should have remembered too as I do recall looking for him at the same time as Blaster again due to the US stories published in the UK magazine that had them in the same squad with the mini-bots Warpath, Seaspray, Beachcomber and Powerglide, all of which I did have and was frustrated I couldn't get the two big ones.
Hm, so yeah. A lot of cool TF toys we missed out on. Still would like to know the reasons why. Even difficult getting some of these on ebay due to the fact they weren't out here so a lot of UK collectors nab them. I'm currently bidding on Roadbuster but I'm bound to get outbid easily.
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Claymore
Powermaster
Stuff That For A Barrel Of Monkeys
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Post by Claymore on Dec 19, 2007 16:36:04 GMT
I remember seeing individual construticons in a toymaster in Elgin (northish scotland) and my cousin had a Shockwave....dunno if it was a legit one though
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Post by Jim tHM on Dec 19, 2007 23:14:05 GMT
Proper Constructicons showed up in Woolworths in 1989. At a whopping £6.50 each!
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Post by timban on Dec 20, 2007 0:27:18 GMT
£6.50 !!!! "rip-off woolies"
My mum got me the Mexican Gift set from some dodgy shop in Victoria - thankfully I was old enough not the want to eat the lead paint!!!
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Post by Phill on Dec 20, 2007 6:40:14 GMT
Are you sure the 1989 ones weren't the Gen 1.5 ones?
They came without the combining pieces. I got a set recently and thought I'd been ripped off, until I investigated them.
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Carn
Powermaster
Posts: 836
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Post by Carn on Dec 20, 2007 17:33:10 GMT
Well that Roadbuster I was bidding on is currently £83.99 with 3 hours to go... I think I'm way past outbid. My initial max bit of £3 was a bit crap then...
No complete Wreckers for me this year.
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Post by Jim tHM on Dec 22, 2007 2:04:31 GMT
Are you sure the 1989 ones weren't the Gen 1.5 ones? They came without the combining pieces. I got a set recently and thought I'd been ripped off, until I investigated them. Very sure. It's when I got Hook, still have it and the backing card [and the price label on it is £6.13, not £6.50 as I previously thought...] |
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Carn
Powermaster
Posts: 836
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Post by Carn on Dec 29, 2007 14:41:45 GMT
They came without the combining pieces. I got a set recently and thought I'd been ripped off, until I investigated them. What's the point of Constructicons unable to combine? That was the only real draw of the original toys in my opinion. They certainly weren't very good as individuals in toy form or characters. Their sole purpose was to combine and look all menacing and seemingly invincible but then turn out to be easily defeated usually. The later combiners like the Stunticons and Combaticons at least looked cooler as toys. |
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Post by simond on Jan 8, 2008 17:00:47 GMT
Just as a note, I did get myself a Tripticon in the UK when I was a kid, obviously it must not have been completely official, but (as far as I remember) was in the proper packaging
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Post by Transformers At The Moon on Jan 8, 2008 18:21:44 GMT
I seem to remember a report in the UK Marvel comics on the letters page that someone found a Tripticon for sale in a UK store, so it could be that somewhere imported a few.
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Post by phantomfish on Jan 8, 2008 22:00:42 GMT
Yup I was re-reading my Transformers Comics collection a few weeks back and someone definitely did mention that there was a few Trypticon's available in the UK. I think it was in Scotland from what I can remember.
I do remember one Christmas was I was a lad there was a guy selling imported toys at our local school Christmas Fete. There was definitely Sky Lynx, Blaster, The Decepticon Clones, Swoop and a few others. I had to wait for my mum to get back from work before we could go and see if she would get me any for Christmas. By the time we got there the guy had packed up and left.......I still remember staring at the Sky Lynx for hours thinking "you will be mine!"
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Post by Gruff on Jan 10, 2008 21:43:42 GMT
i dont ever remember seeing the Constructicons available here until they were released with the classic heroes in 1991. Always remember looking at the toy catologues and being upset cuz there were loads of TF's out there to get and in the comic but u couldnt get them in the shop. And when you did see them and asked ur parents for them it was always "we'll see". b@ztard parents  |
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Prime
Throttlebot
Posts: 94
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Post by Prime on Jan 21, 2008 9:18:41 GMT
Hey, was just playing about with G1 Blaster and I remembered that he wasn't originally released in the UK but the US did get him, right? Does anyone know why? And does everyone have a full list of G1 toys the US got but the UK didn't? The ones I can name from memory (may not be accurate) - Blaster (and his cassettes) - Fortress Maximus (something about a safety drop test was it?) - Swoop (odd when we got all the other Dinobots) - Omega Supreme (my folks searched tons of places in UK for this one after I'd seen it in an American TF leaflet that came with a TF my grandad sent me from Canada and wanted it for christmas) - Shockwave (I had a cheap knock off one) - the other three per side of regular Pretenders: Groundbreaker, Splashdown, Sky High, Bugly, Iguanus and Finback - Trypticon Am sure I've forgotten plenty. Just curious as to why certain characters weren't released here when similar ones were. To get Soundwave, Metroplex and Scorponok but not their rivals, and only four out of the five Dinobots did use to annoy me as a kid. I saw all of your list in the UK, var the pretenders although I think Tesco had them iirc. Several local toyshops had the biggies like fortress and omega. Boots had swoop in, saw shockwave in tescos. |
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