TF Pulp update Oct 20, 2012: United EX Story #4 - Racemaster, TF Pulp updates thread Rating Options

[Might Gaine]

Bump for update. I think that the end of this installment is pretty much where the OVA leaves off. It will be cool to see what happens next! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon-hotrod.gif)

This post has been edited by Might Gaine: Jul 14 2007, 12:29 AM

[Hydra]

More fun with Micromasters this month!
Anybody but me out there who thought the stations were cool?

Something surprising I spotted coming up in the July issue is that Akira actually has a last name, introduced because he is the son of a famous scientist. Oh, can you handle the suspense?!?! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon-fire.gif)

Apparently one prerequesite of chilling with the Cybertrons is that your father be a famous dead scientist. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon-fire.gif)

-Hydra

This post has been edited by Hydra: Jul 14 2007, 04:31 AM

[Black Bumblebee]

Excellent work there! It's great to see these rare oddities translated.

Thanks for all your hard work!

[Xaaron]

Here's a question: would you say Dai Atlas and the Powered Masters are similar to Energon Rodimus in terms of their original mission? A bunch of guys who started thinking beyond the Civil War and left Cybertron eons ago for the purpose of bringing greater peace and prosperity to the entire galaxy?

[DrSpengler]

More good stuff!

Though I STILL don't buy Victory Saber's reason for dumping leadership onto Dai Atlas. At least in the OVA he had the excuse that he was injured in battle and, despite being repaired, might not have been in enough good health to maintain leadership.

In this story page it's just "Dude, you organized all those Micromaster bases? TAKE MY LEADERSHIP, PLEASE!"

Still, I actually am excited for everything after this point, since it'll all be new to me. I've been dying to see the Zone story pages for years and now its finally gonna get to the stuff I haven't seen. Can't wait.

[Hydra]

Ah, the nuance of the translation was more that because Dai Atlas has mobilized this awesome defensive force, Victory Saber has no misgivings about having to pass off the seat of leader. The manga was published the previous month with TV Magazine, so it pretty much sticks with the OVA story.

Incidentally, Victory Saber also got some post-Zone action in the Robot Masters story, where after Dai Atlas assumed command he went chasing criminals such as Gigant Bomb.

My favorite part of RM was the details such as Star Saber's small talk with the newly-arrived Lio Convoy. "I heard you have children? My friend Dai Atlas also has a son."


BTW, as for Dai Atlas and the others, they're not quite the same as the rebels that Rodimus and is band were in Energon.

Despite being involved in the fight against the Destrons, the Powered Masters are portrayed as essentially ecologists. They travel from planet to planet in the galaxy helping to maintain the balance of life and providing assistance in the develoing culture of alien worlds. I guess they're almost like Cybertron missionaries?

But naturally, they also kick ass, as we get to see soon. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon-fire.gif)

-Hydra

This post has been edited by Hydra: Jul 15 2007, 06:10 AM

[Might Gaine]

Bump. New article basically explaining why Transformers with the Chinese sticker in the corner are real, and not bootlegs.

The Little Sticker in the Corner: The Truth about Early-1990's Chinese G1 Transformers Toys

This post has been edited by Might Gaine: Aug 11 2007, 09:14 PM

[Nevermore]

Two things:

First, if the "Chinese sticker" Transformers aren't bootlegs, then I have to wonder whether Beachcomber is a bootleg or not.

http://www.geocities.com/futuristgroup/vchina.html

The Beachcomber depicted on Fred's page seems to be a much earlier run than the one that started the whole "OMG bootlegs" bonanza, yet the photos of the back of the packaging depict the same errors present on the well-known one. So either
a) bootleg operations started with Beachcomber, but went on for a lot of years before we learned about it (and ONLY with Beachcomber)
b) Legitimate Chinese Beachcomber has glaring errors on his packaging
c) same as b), but bootleggers based their bootleg version on the legitimate Chinese version (because it was easier to come by?).

Then, there's these weird guys.
http://www.geocities.com/anacacho_firefly/...devlongMOSC.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/anacacho_firefly/...wdevmixMOSC.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/anacacho_firefly/yellowdevrubs.jpg

Supposedly they were released in France, but rumor has it they hail from China.

My theory would be they come from the same production run as the G2 Constructicons, but were put in European packaging for the same reason Chinese Soundwave came in "European" packaging.
http://www.geocities.com/soxerboxx2/1hksound1.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/soxerboxx2/1hksound2.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/soxerboxx2/1hksound3.jpg

Oddly enough, as far as I know Soundwave hasn't been released in Europea in that packaging (instead, he came in MB packaging with German instead of English as the fourth language).

[Might Gaine]

Two things:

First, if the "Chinese sticker" Transformers aren't bootlegs, then I have to wonder whether Beachcomber is a bootleg or not.

http://www.geocities.com/futuristgroup/vchina.html

The Beachcomber depicted on Fred's page seems to be a much earlier run than the one that started the whole "OMG bootlegs" bonanza, yet the photos of the back of the packaging depict the same errors present on the well-known one. So either
a) bootleg operations started with Beachcomber, but went on for a lot of years before we learned about it (and ONLY with Beachcomber)
b) Legitimate Chinese Beachcomber has glaring errors on his packaging
c) same as b), but bootleggers based their bootleg version on the legitimate Chinese version (because it was easier to come by?).

The internet wayback machine shows that Fred added that image to his site in 2005, around the same time the bootleg Beachcombers were first reported:
http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.ge...oup/vchina.html
It's just the the bootleg version, nothing else.

There almost definitely was a 1990's Chinese Beachcomber, but given that the packaging of the bootlegs and the 1990's Chinese version is totally unrelated (for example, Optimus), then Chinese Beachcomber would not have had the same weird errors that bootleg Beachcomber would have had.

Fred's page doesn't differentiate between the real toys released in the 1990's and the 2005+ bootlegs. It's probably the source of a lot of confusion about these toys, unfortunately. Great site otherwise, though (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon-hotrod.gif)

Then, there's these weird guys.
http://www.geocities.com/anacacho_firefly/...devlongMOSC.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/anacacho_firefly/...wdevmixMOSC.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/anacacho_firefly/yellowdevrubs.jpg

Supposedly they were released in France, but rumor has it they hail from China.

My theory would be they come from the same production run as the G2 Constructicons, but were put in European packaging for the same reason Chinese Soundwave came in "European" packaging.
http://www.geocities.com/soxerboxx2/1hksound1.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/soxerboxx2/1hksound2.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/soxerboxx2/1hksound3.jpg

Yeah, I thought about those toys as I was doing my research, but I never found any concrete connection. After all, the Constructicons were released in China in normal colors in U.S.-style packaging (see the pictures in the gallery section of my article).

This post has been edited by Might Gaine: Aug 12 2007, 08:10 AM

[JonT]

Ah, I so remember the days when I visited Singapore to find walls full of 1980s G1 Transformers well into 1992! There really can't be any doubt that China had a huge production run of G1 Transformers in the early 1990s; I'm more curious as to where they ended up. Some of them probably made it to the UK as I recall the odd Headmaster or two in pristine boxes well into the 1990s, and a friend recently informed me that a UK chain of toy stores, The Jolly Giant (which closed their branch near me ages ago), ended up with quite the bonanza of boxed/carded G1 Transformers, including quite a few that were never part of the original UK toyline, like Blaster's cassettes, etc.

Having said that, I myself recall Woolworths UK suddenly ending up with quite a few G1 TFs in the early 1990s, but my belief is that they were from a separate production run that the China releases. These particular carded Transformers consisted of the Constructicons (with the Devastator parts, and notably unavailable in the UK in the line's original run), and Bumbleblee, Hubcap, Beachcomber and Seaspray. These were all distributed by Hasbro UK as per the stickers on the back (and unlike the China releases mentioned above). It's clearly no coincidence that all of these smaller figures ended up in the first part of Generation 2, so there's obviously some sort of connection. However, given that the UK was later 'blessed' with late-end G1 Yellow Constructicons (specifically excluding the parts to make Devastator) a few months later, and not getting the official G2 Yellow Constructicons with all the parts, there's still quite a bit that doesn't quite make sense. I'm kind of used to it with Hasbro UK by now though!

There was definitely some mixing and matching going on with the official line of European 'exclusive' (also available in Asia and Australia) late-end G1 stuff in the golden boxes and the early G2 figures, as I also remember a Classics Optimus Prime (in the gold box), but with the black G2 trailer and accompanying sticker (although I doubt it had the voice box).

Also, regarding the Taiwanese Transformers, Ang Lee's 1994 "Eat Drink Man Woman" features one brief scene where characters walk past a wall full of G1 stuff!

[Might Gaine]

I just wanted to add something to my response to Nevermore's comment about the Beachcombers. I did some more digging and it appears that the KO Beachcombers are actually are based on the Chinese version's card! You can tell because, among other things, the Copyright string is abbreviated on the back just like Chinese releases. This helps explain the confusion on Fred's site a bit. He probably saw the abbreviated Copyright string and logically assumed he was looking at Chinese versions.

Interestingly, the recent Hubcap and Bumblebee bootlegs are also based on the Chinese version's card (look for the abbreviated copyright string). The Cliffjumper bootleg, however, is not. It looks like they're really using a hodgepodge of different versions to make these bootlegs.

[Specimen-17]

Ha. I told you bitches these were genuine years ago but nobodly listened. The UK definitely got all the Constructicons, Combaticons and Protectobots from that Chinese batch, as well the Minibots. They were being sold at Woolworths and some private toy shops I remember visiting had some too. Has anyone got pictures from the back? I recall the Combat/Protect teams' cards being significantly different from the 80's releases.

This post has been edited by Specimen-17: Aug 14 2007, 03:20 AM

[Powered Convoy]

Fantastic article!
http://www.allspark.com/content/stories/tf...differences.jpg
Is Rumble the red tape robot really called Frenzy in China? As it is, the red tape is always Rumble for the toy, the animation may be another thing, but the toy has always been Rumble.

Randy

[Might Gaine]

Fantastic article!
http://www.allspark.com/content/stories/tf...differences.jpg
Is Rumble the red tape robot really called Frenzy in China? As it is, the red tape is always Rumble for the toy, the animation may be another thing, but the toy has always been Rumble.

Randy

Nah, it's a typo. That's Rumble. Whoops!

[Might Gaine]

Bump for update with the 5th installment of TF Zone:

http://www.allspark.com/content/view/1955/37/

Note the resin prototype of Daiatlas with a fairly different face and other differences.

This post has been edited by Might Gaine: Sep 28 2007, 09:00 PM

[Might Gaine]

Bump for update---

Part 6 of Zone is up!
http://www.allspark.com/content/view/1965/37/

Overlord and Trypticon/Dinosaurer get their asses handed to them. And Sonic Bomber's head is very sharp! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon-waspy.gif)

[DrSpengler]

At last!


So, since Story Page #6 takes place after the events of the Zone OVA, I take it Trypticon somehow managed to survive having the Zodiac opened right in his face? ...Only to be defeated by Sonic Bomber's pointy head?

Man, Trypticon never wins anything.


Edit: Though upon closer inspection, it would also seem to indicate that Predaking survived getting chopped in two and blowing up. Interesting continuity, here.

This post has been edited by DrSpengler: Oct 1 2007, 11:00 AM

[Hydra]

At last!


So, since Story Page #6 takes place after the events of the Zone OVA, I take it Trypticon somehow managed to survive having the Zodiac opened right in his face? ...Only to be defeated by Sonic Bomber's pointy head?

Man, Trypticon never wins anything.


Edit: Though upon closer inspection, it would also seem to indicate that Predaking survived getting chopped in two and blowing up. Interesting continuity, here.

Hmm, it might be more correct to say that the Zone TV Magazine pages adhere to the manga version of the OVA? That didn't have scenes of Predaking and Trypticon getting trashed as badly, but probably the real reason is the same problem they had with Megatron/Galvatron double appearance continuity errors: the OVA itself hadn't been released yet, so there was some continuity oddness. Megatron/Galvatron appearing together was later explained as the appearance of Galvatron II, but I'm not sure what E-Hobby could dream up for an extra Predaking (or I should say they missed the boat on that already). But heck, a lot of people thought Devastator was dead after the Zone ova, who knows.

Actually, here's a little something that may surprise people: did you know that in the 8th issue, a character in fact does die (and stay dead?) I was surprised when I actually read through and spotted that.

-Hydra

This post has been edited by Hydra: Oct 1 2007, 11:31 AM

[Might Gaine]

Actually, here's a little something that may surprise people: did you know that in the 8th issue, a character in fact does die (and stay dead?) I was surprised when I actually read through and spotted that.

Oooh. Neat. And I get to find out who it is before everyone else (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon-fire.gif)

[Xaaron]

What's this about Megatron and Galvatron appearing together?