- Dorian MacQuarrie
Several years ago I received a Generation 1 Powermaster Prime, boxed and sealed. It was a wonderful surprise at the time (it was a birthday present from my father) and ever since then has remained one of my more prized possessions. I have since opened the toy, had a bit of a play on occasion but largely, kept it tucked away, cosy in its polystyrene and cardboard home, unblemished and unaltered from the day it left the factory, paperwork and all.
Recently however, I decided to abandon this previously held mindset and took the step to sticker-up my Powermaster Prime. It wasn't a decision taken lightly and with this article I will take you through my step by step process of making this once sealed, Powermaster Optimus Prime, irrevocably, mine.
For the years in which I have owned this toy, I always liked how box-fresh it was. Stickers still on their sheet, all paperwork accounted for and of course, absolutely mint condition. As bland as it seemed without the factory applied stickers, it had a certain purity, completely untouched but for my hands. I had always considered applying the stickers, recreating the experience children would have gone through back in the day with their newly released G1 toys but it always felt very final. Once they're applied, that's it, I can't really go back and restore this toy to its pre-stickered state plus, the sticker sheet itself would no longer have its freshly printed finish, instead being nothing more than a yellow sheet of paper with but a few scant reminders of the glorious lustre it once possessed.
Through all this, I felt a slight nagging at the back of my mind, a question of why I was so loathe to sticker up this amazing toy. It all revolved around keeping a certain snap-shot in time preserved and perfect, a faithful example of "how it was back in the day" as it were. The counter to this was a feeling that I lacked real ownership, that I was just looking after this specimen until one day, in some far flung future it was passed on to the next owner. The feelings of being the first to open a MISB toy ran counter to the later feelings of wanting to preserve its sealed-condition.
With all of this in mind, I grabbed a pair of tweezers (for precision stickering of course) and set about completing the journey I began when I first cut open the tape on this sealed vintage toy. Of course I could have fired ahead and just rushed the process like many a child would have years ago but I wanted to savour every single peel, every placement, every moment of confusion as the guide failed to clearly show where a sticker went leaving me to consult the box's images which in turn caused more confusion as they weren't consistent with the instructions........
The sheet itself. It is, well was, glorious. Packed with mechanical detail, directional arrows (for the all important ramps) and metallic finishes, it was a wonder to behold and was largely the main driver in my earlier decisions to not apply these stickers. To spoil such a sheet seemed to be out of the question. Seeing all the various stickers together on one sheet, from the smallest and most simplistic to the largest and most detailed, it was clear a lot of love and effort had gone into the design of this sheet. But still, I pressed on, intent on seeing this through to the end.
My Powermaster Prime, sans stickers, naked as the day he was first forged. Before this, I hadn't really noticed how bland and poorly detailed the toy was. Besides a very early childhood memory, the bulk of my experience in handling this toy was with this particular copy so its seas of plain blue, red and grey plastic felt perfectly natural to me. Thinking back I can barely remember my childhood copy having the blue window stickers and maybe the Autobot insignia but certainly nothing close to what was to come.
I started at what I felt was the most logical place, the truck cab itself. The difference a few stickers made was remarkable, particularly the blue chest and silver leg stickers. Immediately it brought the figure to life, further enhanced with the wrist, crotch and knee details. While evocative of the original Generation 1 Prime, these first rumblings of change implied a different beast altogether. Also, as you can see, this barely made a dent in the sticker sheet itself.
Next came the trailer's stickers. While not as stark a difference as the smaller robot, they still added, in hindsight, a much needed finish to the alt mode. The rear door stickers are filled with great details but sadly, due to their smaller size, lose a lot of the effect they aim to create. As for the forward-most blue stripe stickers on the trailer, a lack of definite moulding to accommodate them made it difficult to get a best fit. In the end I tried to focus on lining up the silver stripe and hoped the rest would follow. As it is I'm not very happy with their placement but luckily they're mostly covered up in all modes.
Knowing the bulk of the stickers were intended for the base mode, I pressed ahead with those for the super-mode. I had considered saving this, ensuring the main-event for last but at the time it felt more natural to continue in this way. Again, the stickers are both Optimus Prime focused details such as truck windows and Autobot insignias but also a wonderful array of technical details, evocative of those seen on the original Optimus Prime's interior trailer details.
And so we come to the base mode, truly where the sticker sheet puts in the bulk of its work, turning a bland and unconvincing tertiary mode into a rather legitimate command post. It was here more than anywhere else that I noticed a lack of consistency in the instructions as compared to the box's images. The particular stickers were correct (well they have to be, there's no room for that sort of error) but their orientation seemed to be mixed up. Nothing serious and I'm sure the source of many cases of various sticker alignments in copies of this toy across the years. Maybe it was a printing error on the instructions or possibly the photo-sample used for the box was stickered incorrectly. Far be it from Hasbro to not faithfully represent their product in their official photography...
The difference is utterly remarkable. Beyond the plethora of brilliant technical detailing, the stickers draw the dark blue of the rear section/super-robot legs down into the grey flaps, bringing a much greater feeling of cohesion and intent that yes, this is a legitimate command base and not just a giant robot doing the splits. I honestly can't remember if my childhood copy of this toy had the base-mode stickers in place (the perils of a car-boot purchase) but even if it did, it couldn't have been even half as glorious as this freshly stickered up piece.
And there we have it, one stickered up, Generation 1, Powermaster Prime, in all his glory. The experience, from breaking the precious seal on that first sticker, to seeing the final product was nothing but pure joy. I was intent on not using any online resources as a reference when I wasn't sure of a sticker's correct placement or orientation and instead relied only on the instruction manual and the box photography which, as mentioned earlier, created its own issues. I wanted to fully recreate the childhood experience as best I could and I can safely say I succeeded in this particular endeavour.
Beyond this, I also learned a valuable lesson which I would urge others to take on board. Don't be so precious about your toys. Sure, look after them, maintain and even repair them if need be but play with them. Pose them, transform them, apply the factory issued stickers! Yes as time goes on many Transformers toys hold their own as collector items but in years to come, I doubt many of us would look back and think 'oh boy, I sure enjoyed looking at that boxed toy for all those years' (well, some of us might). I was sort of like that with this particular toy. I valued it's pristine, untouched condition above my own personal enjoyment of handling and playing with the toy and eventually, that didn't sit too well with me.
Until next time, keep it #Refined.
You can follow Dorian @Vigadeath
