I know my Transformers. I was wondering why the last three or four Easter seasons, I've been seeing Easter Egg gift baskets that come with what are very clearly the Aerialbot combat team from Transformers. Of course they aren't labeled as Transformers, the packaging says they are "jets that turn into robots". The sets even have the extra equipment to merge the five aerialbots to form Superion. But none of it is labeled in any way as Transformers. Can any of you shed some light on this?
I wasn't a Transformers fan in the 80s and didn't plan on seeing the movie. I just saw one of those spots, though, and changed my mind.
Bootlegs. Been around since the original generation Transformers in '85. I actually liked the flea market bootleg cassette transformers better than the store ones. The bootlegs were exactly the same, but they came inside micro-cassette cases, and their painting and tech specs were in the lining sheet. The bootleg dinobots were fucked up though. The brontosaur had a pointy bird mouth, and pegasus wings. Yeah, there were bootleg Transformers, Voltrons, you name it. A local dollar store had a set of bootleg Constructicons with the stuff to form them into Devastator. Exactly the same, but they were orange instead of green. Only 20 bucks, I shoulda snagged 'em.
Well, the Transformers were actually (by and large) imported versions of Japanese toylines called "Diaclone" and "Microman". Hasbro just licensed the likenesses of the toys from Takara (the Japanese company) and called them "Transformers". Diacanu, the ones you think were "bootlegs" might have been nothing more than the original Diaclone or Microman toys, and therefore far from being "bootlegs" are actually more "authentic" than even Transformers. Diaclone commercial for "Battle Convoy" (aka Optimus Prime in the US) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_590CkmWJ7I Diaclone commercial for "Construction Robo" (aka Constructicons/Devastator in the US) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uI36Gtk2vbg Diaclone commercial for "Dinosaur Robo" (aka Dinobots in the US) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udBat-ovIsg
Yeah Dayton, what Diacanu and Chaos said. Bootlegs have been around forever. It's what happens when a chinese toy factory takes a real Transformer apart, uses the part to make a new mold, then manufactures a bunch of them to be sold. These are almost always of lesser quality, but they are super cheap, so sometimes they are worth it just to open them and play with for five minutes or cheap kiddie prizes at birthday parties or classrooms. Diacanu, I think we've had this conversation before in chat or something, but your Ravage is most likely not a bootleg, but a Takara version that even predates the official Transformers. Recently a cousin bought a Laserbeak in it's original Japanese packaging, and the bottom of it said Takara 1976. We were like, WTF?!? This thing is older than some of us? It also had the little cassette case like you mentioned.
I thought bootlegs were one time knockoffs ususally. Not something that comes out for sale year after year after year. I've been seeing this aerialbot set from before the resurgence of interest in Transformers began a few years ago.
Sometimes the chinese factory keeps the same molds for years and years, manufacturing more to meet demand. What is worse, however, is when they use the bootleged toy to recast new molds if the first ones start to degrade. (I think you can make a copy of the toy with the same mold 10,000 times, then it starts to degrade.) When they start making a copy of a copy, that's when the toy becomes of much less quality. Those Aerialbots have been around forever. You used to be able to get the Stunticons, Combaticons, and Protectobots for $5 off Ebay too, but now that the movie is coming out, I think Hasbro is cracking down on bootlegs more seriously.
They evidently came on market much earlier in the U.S. I'm 4 years younger than Dayton, and I remember transformers as far back as the age of 10, so he would have been no more than 14 when they became popular, assuming that they don't predate when I first noticed them.
That's one of the reasons I wasn't into them during their initial popularity. I was at least in high school, possibly even college (1985 was the first time I remember seeing the show on teevee). To me, it was a kid's thing and, for the most part, Japanimation has never appealed to me (Battle of the Planets being one of the few exceptions).
I started getting interested in Transformers my senior year in high school. After football season, I had returned to the band and several of the younger band members were into them. I watched the Transformer cartoons then and through college when they finally petered out with the whole "headmaster/targetmaster" thing. The comic books kept going a few more years (the original comic run was 80 issues, more than six years) and I was interested in them. My favorite story in the Transformers comic was the Underbase Saga.
Ok, maybe I'm looking down my nose too much. For me Transformers was something I was just into when I was a young kid and by the time I was 14-15 I was pretty much past it. Still enjoyed the animated movie from 87, but the rest was past me by then so maybe it's just a little strange for me to see a man in his forties still into it.
^ True, but Star Trek wasn't made for kids, no? Besides I rarely watch it these days. The gf largely controls the TV, which bothers me not, and we prefer to watch movies together on my home cinema system than episodes of Star Trek. Besides, my TV domination nights generally come in the form of football, which is a better option than Star Trek.
Sad fuckers, including the adult ones. It's basic and badly written dross and each book is just a loosely re-written clone of the previous one. Harry sees something bad. Harry goes off to school. Harry gets involved in some shit. Harry saves the day. It's all Voldemort's fault.Harry and Co deal with raging hormones throughout. Boooooring.
Woosh! Though I could describe my viewing habits with nearly the same words, that's not the point. The point is that what is childish or silly to some can just the same be strongly entertaining to others.
I totally disagree and wearing my Superman outfit when the other half goes to work is perfectly mature.
Interesting take. I am 30 now, and Transformers was something I was very into as a kid, so it still holds a place in my heart all these years later. I would have been about 10 at the time. About four or five years ago, I started heavily collecting them again off Ebay, and I was surprised by how many people my age still loved them and collected them. Nowadays, I rarely collect them anymore. (Only getting one or two vintage ones at comic conventions each year.) What new ones come to me are gifts from friends who STILL think I am hardcore into them. I guess it's a testament to how cool the Transformers are that they got the attention of late-teens, even though they were meant for kids. If you ever go to a sci-fi convention or a big comic book convention, most of the people buying these up are certainly not kids.
