A Millennial Relationship with Generation One

- Ben Watson

I’m not a “geewunner”. Being born at the start of Generation Two, my nascent mind was only opened to the wonders of transforming robots through the Beast Wars cartoon. I didn’t know about “Transformers” until a few years later and suddenly all of my favourite toys (and my “ancient treasure” I later learned was called Blades) gained new perspective. I was intrigued by the concept of vehicle robots but was able to retain little information from a cursory segment about the franchise from a TV show called “I [heart] 1984”.

Pictured: Things To Insure

Years passed, Beast Machines came along and went with little notice from me and soon vehicle Transformers were everywhere from the Robots in Disguise line and I didn’t really like a lot of them, let alone get many. But the experience did set me up for what was to be my Transformers renaissance as Armada came into the world to usher in pure enlightenment. So popular was it at the time that callback material to the Time Before Time of (what was now called) “Generation One” also proliferated. A cartoon themed sticker book free with the UK Armada comic introduced me to the core concepts and characters and I started to pick out favourites. A viewing of the cheapest DVD version of the 1986 movie where Spike doesn’t swear and a handful of Dreamwave guidebooks and comics later and I felt relatively well versed on Transformers’ beginnings. I had much to learn…

1984 Optimus Prime

Of course, now in the internet age of wikis and eBay and getting to be mates with older fans who remember it all, it’s perfectly possible to almost vicariously experience G1. In the current climate of Masterpiece and Generations figures being the main focus of toy based effort along with the sterling work of IDW to hold up the comics front, it’s also possible to experience it through a modern lens utilising sensibilities I’m far more used to. In fact, there’s very little to ingest that isn’t G1 right now unless you dip into the devolved demographic the current Robots in Disguise line and cartoon have to offer. So what is it like for someone to be living G1 thirty years after the fact?

1984 Huffer and Brawn and 1986 Swerve

Well, for a start there’s not really an alternative. While I’m happy to accept G1 as the roots of the entire brand and the expression of it which is the purest description of “what Transformers is”; I would like a bit of choice in the matter. Every now and then homages to other eras appear and I snap them up – especially if they’re Armada ones (don't cry about Tidal Wave, don't...) – but the core meat and potatoes of every year of Generations and every comic series is G1. This is probably only fair but it forces me being a Transformers fan to partake in it, which at times is tough since that integral nostalgia factor playing on everyone a few years my senior simply doesn’t exist. Nothing is there to hammer home how cool a massive new Trypticon is. I’m stuck here in the perpetual 80’s and so are you. When that’s a time I wasn’t around for, it can sometimes feel like there’s a disconnect.

2015 Platinum Edition Insecticons

Despite this, there are elements of G1 I’ve come to totally embrace and enjoy. Maybe it’s Stockholm Syndrome but there’s got to be a reason everyone loves this stuff right? So it’s time to explore the qualities of G1 I’ve retroactively taken to heart and look at what it has to offer over the modern toys I’m so used to. While I’ve not got a great deal of this particular vintage in my collection, I feel I’ve got a choice selection of the figures that can really illustrate what you just don’t get these days.

1984 Ratchet and 2008 Encore Meister

Going with what hits my eyeballs first every time, let’s start with chrome. A visual touch that has been more recently replicated to a lukewarm response, vacuum metallisation really only feels at home with G1. Optimus’ glittering abs, Jazz’s shining solar plexus, Kickback’s mirror wings, Twin Twist’s blinged-out sidearm. Every figure that got a touch of the silver stuff instantly becomes so much more to appreciate in an aesthetic sense. The reflective surfaces make you want to keep them where the light will hit them just right; til you give in to the urge to pick them up and watch them glint as you turn them over in your hands. Chrome is a kind of dynamic visual addition, the lustre beckoning you in to make the most of it like you’re some kind of oversized magpie.

It’s undeniably eye catching and so very 80’s. Bringing to mind the far too polished surfaces popularised by the likes of Hajime Sorayama, chrome is an artefact from a different time. It’s a hallmark of the earliest years of G1 and therefore a qualifying factor for the status of the most iconic and venerable toys. To me that properly thick and chip free application of chrome is G1. No other line that’s tried has come close to recapturing the same visual quality of the substance which in reality, isn’t the best stuff to go coating the wear sustaining surfaces of kid’s toys with. Maybe I can only really appreciate chrome through a combination of sheer luck and buying reissues… If every figure I came across was as chipped to hell as thirty years of wear and tear would allow, I wouldn’t have the chance to hold it in such high regard.

1985 Twin Twist

Having a major visual factor covered, let’s move on to the most instantly appreciable tactile one, the lost art of die-cast. This particular quality certainly wasn’t unique to G1 either and the modern Masterpiece line carries it forward in fits and starts but it seems to be the first thing people old enough to remember 1985 complain about the lack of. Scroll through the comments section of a news piece talking about a new Transformers release from a non-Transformers specific site and there’s bound to be one saying “They used to be made of metal, not this cheap plastic crap.” While this is a sentiment I often scoff at, having had twenty years of purely plastic figures without issue, die-cast is still something I can see as a mark of quality. 

Of course it’s much more expensive and limiting to work with, pushing up paint budgets and existing as an ever present chipping risk but I can’t deny the heft and hand-heat-sapping feel of die-cast is something I enjoy. Much like chrome, it adds an extra dimension to the simulation of a set of metallic beings. Die-cast and toy cars go hand in hand still, so why not toy cars that turn into robots? It sparks the imagination, giving you the idea of how these trucks and cars and the robots they hide would feel to the touch. Also in the same vein as chrome, it’s very retro. Existing as a throwback to a particular stretch of time when toys were made this way. The incredible plastic sculpting Hasbro provides now thanks to computer aided design is more intricate than ever before but I can still admit there’s a primal charm to die-cast.

1986 Hot Rod

Rounding out a triplet of sensory qualities, I’ll move on to a perhaps unexpected one: the smell of rubber tyres. Ok, I’m not entirely sure the smell I’m experiencing is solely due to the use of rubber around the wheels, maybe it’s the chrome, maybe it’s the die-cast, maybe it’s the combination of all three but both reissues and ’84 pre-rub originals on my shelf share it. I’ll admit, I’m not like some wine connoisseur who knows how to write about smells, but there’s an undeniable bouquet of industrial aromas around Optimus for example. Returning to the idea of that simulation of realism beyond the visual, this is (while possibly being an emergent quality) pretty huge. The presence of the character is reinforced in your imagination. But rubber tyres not only affect the feel of the wheels or the kind of atoms that are coming off of them and entering my nostrils but how the vehicle behaves on a surface. G1 Jazz could roll on a road quite happily while RID Jazz probably couldn’t with his treadless plastic wheels. Once more production cost and durability enter into the equation to result in another quintessential G1 retro point of interest.

So much of my contemporary adult appreciation for G1 comes from the things that started and ended with it. It presents itself as a unique line to me despite having endless ancestor pieces cramping my shelves. Without being my personal genesis of Transformers, G1 can be just another line for me to dig through and earth up gems from. To me, these treasures are the ones that embody everything inimitable about Transformers’ earliest days. Chrome, die-cast and rubber are wonderful to have the chance to behold but they do of course exist in tandem with things like detaching hands and static legs that I really find it hard to appreciate.

I’ve sung the praises of 1984 with this article, but don’t get the wrong end of my stick, it’s still far from perfect. But we all know that don’t we? The flaws of the past are forgiven by way of their age, but even they continue to endear the toys to me. I think over the course of the past few years, taking their heritage and vintage into account, appreciating the qualities I’ve outlined along with each figure’s individual quirks, I’ve come to see G1 as a singular source of works of art. 

You might not describe Combiner Wars Optimus as a piece of art but you would G1 Optimus, wouldn’t you? I would too. These figures represent the iconography of the entire brand and thereby elevate themselves from just being old toys to being something worthy of a greater appreciation. Worthy of being tastefully lit on a dark wood shelf and treated with the kind of ornamental reverence mostly reserved to Kenner Star Wars figures or 70’s super robots. These are now cultural objects with all of the connotations usually attached to such pieces and for that reason – to me at least- Generation One holds so much more value than the monetary. 



Follow Ben on Twitter @Waspshot23

A Touch of Kultur

 - Dorian MacQuarrie

In a first for the Refined Robot Co. I'm going to try my hand at a toy review.......eh, maybe not a "review" but I'm definitely going to be focusing on a particular toy. I'm not going to point out which bits are red and which are blue, nor am I going to take you through the transformation and I definitely won't be pointing out that the toy has rolling wheels. I'm barely going even describe the toy. I'm mostly going to tell you why I bought it and why, try as I might I just can't tear my eyes away from it's sublime sculpted surfaces. 

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Tarn Mastermind Creations R19 Kultur.

Outside of the 3PMP toys there has never been a case where third party offerings have so closely resembled their source material than is the case with MMC's IDW inspired line of toys. They do not exist in their own world with their own aesthetic (although MMC do like to try) like those from say Fansproject which are often a departure from anything official from HasTak. 

With that in mind Kultur also represents the very core of the first toys to come out from the third party scene, that being toys Hasbro or Takara will never make and have no intention of making. Besides dabbling with the IDW look for a few releases in the past neither company has shown any interest in producing toys of comic only characters. Although I suppose in an age of combiners and headmasters it could happen one day (but it won't). So it then falls to the third party companies to give collectors what they want. Isn't that why Fansproject released City Commander? Because not only was there no trailer for Classics Ultra Magnus there was never going to be one! 

Moving on......

Kultur is irrevocably, unashamedly Tarn. Replicating Alex Milne's superb artwork as best as plastic will allow, MMC have given us one of the hottest third party releases in recent months. Once final renders were shown there was no doubt I'd be pre-ordering this baby ASAP and honestly, I was pretty lucky to even get one as most retailers were sold out within minutes. It was only thanks to the hard work of Kapow Toys that myself a few others were able to secure this toy on its first run.

What exactly drove me to be so assured that this would be a successful release? Well it wasn't necessarily due to a deep love for MMC as while yes, I like their work and own many MMC toys they're not my favourite company. Their toys are often a bit too blocky and brutish for my tastes, lacking the finesse seen in Maketoys' and Fansproject's releases. But based on their previous releases I did have faith that MMC would deliver and by the Gods deliver they did. That and I was just desperate for a figure of Tarn........

My primary driver, as you would expect was aesthetics. The super-robo style legs matched with an equally super chest plate, followed by bruiser shoulders, all topped with shoulder mounted tank treads provide Kultur with wonderful proportions. Bulky while not being cumbersome. I need to make special mention of the colour placement. True to the comics, MMC have coloured Tarn accurately but it's the hot pink that sets him off. It's such a lustrous colour in an otherwise dark palette. I'm glad they stuck to their guns to pull off what is a quintessential hallmark of IDW colouring. And finally the mask! The mask! Call him badge-face if you may but slapping a Decepticon badge on a character's face is quite a statement and I'm sure it caused a few nervous conversations among the MMC designers as to how they were going to cross this hurdle of outright IP infringement rather than the usual "homages" third party toys are supposed to exist within. I suppose when your entire line tries to be as close to IDW artwork is possible, IP infringement is an idea left behind at the bridge you just burned to the ground. 

Of course good looks can only get you so far in life and the icing on this black and purple cake is the character himself. Tarn the psychopathic, murderous, sadistic, ruthless leader of the Decepticon Justice Division. For a while he was the big bad boogeyman of IDW's More Than Meets The Eye comic (both in universe and among readers) and thanks to the writing of James Roberts, had attained a near legendary status among readers. This is no small feat for a brand new character and possibly the first to be wholeheartedly accepted by the fandom since Transformers Animated introduced Lockdown. 

There will be some buyers who jump on-board the Kultur train with little knowledge of the source material. For long time readers of MTMTE though, the anticipation of a well made and well designed toy of Roberts' and Milne's creation brought excitement of Kultur's release to a fever pitch. 

As with the comics, Kultur represents a shift in the status quo. With GCreation tackling their own IDW inspired line of toys, third party companies are replicating Hasbro sanctioned designs as best they can without any of the usual filters of a company's distinct style, only stopping at using licensed names and actually slapping faction logos on their toys (masks notwithstanding). They feel like the most official yet unofficial toys outside of "Masterpiece" style third party releases. This is a pretty big deal in my eyes. Could it lead to HasTak finally stepping in and taking on the third party scene? Unlikely. I don't think that day will ever come. If the release of several toys intended to replace your MP-10 didn't stir Hasbro or Takara to action, I doubt MMC's IDW toys will.  

Kultur also represents a change in my own collection, standing proudly as the leader of my Decepticon troops. Rioter Despotron it seems, has been deposed. And why not? Why shouldn't the purple and black guy with pink highlights be the leader a faction whose colours are rooted in such dark and subversive tones? (and I ain't talking about Skywarp) It also represents, albeit very mildly, the shift in my own collecting habits. That of moving away from branded set ups with Optimus Prime and Megatron as leaders but into a world of "who looks the best as leader". Now yes, this is very much informed by the comics but I like the idea of having a head-canon within a display. A story of some sorts, told through which bots are on a shelf and how they are grouped together. In this case, Tarn is very much the leader of my Decepticons and Kultur represents that as perfectly as I could hope for. 

Mastermind Creations must have known they were taking a gamble on releasing toys of new characters, restricted to a single comic title. I assume that's why they first drip fed us DJD members Vos and Kaon (Cynicus and Anarchus respectively) to ensure people would be in for the long haul rather than just getting off the train at Tarnville. The sell-out tour of pre-orders across multiple retailers has shown that gamble has paid off but whether people are willing to hang around to complete their Decepticon Justice Division remains to be seen. 

Until next time, keep it #Refined



 - Follow Dorian on Twitter @Vigadeath

Ride Height, Race Pedigree and Rubber Tires.

- Leigh Gregurke in collaboration with Drew Merkel.

I reflect now from a perspective fully engrossed in the transforming robot experience. I engage actively with the comics, the literature, the toys, the media, the characters, the places and the culture. It was not always the case though. My road to Transformers was directed through my early childhood love of cars.

 

Growing up in a low socioeconomic status, poverty line experience I rarely had the money for new toys. It was always thrifty finds from the local market or garage sale, charity shops or school yard trades. My dad worked in the motor industry and had a background in motocross and mechanics, unfortunately also dealing often with less than savory people and the cultures associated with them. I don't have a lot of good memories of my dad but the ones I do were often related working on cars or watching racing. My early interest in film sparks from movies we would watch together. Vanishing Point, Bullit, the French Connection, Cannonball Run, Blues Brothers... Not all classics but a common theme drives through each.

I displayed an eclectic selection of toy cars from scattered Micro-Machines excavated often from friends couches to scuffed and scratched Matchbox/Hot Wheels. Sometimes I managed to plunder better examples and my collection included an odd mix of better detailed 1:32 and 1:24 scale die cast cars from the European and Japanese markets although scale was never important to me, I could not afford to be picky. Finding the cars I saw on the streets, in magazines and film and at Australian racing events in toy form was near impossible so instead the toys drove me to learn more about the cars and events. I liked Transformers at the time and read the UK comics more so than I watched the cartoon but I wanted Wheeljack because he was a Lancia group 5 in a mostly correct Alitalia rally livery. He would fit perfectly with my Peugeot and Renault's when I threw them into the sand pit to emulate the incredible feats of control I saw on television. 

 

The series 1 Autobot cars I think hit two key markets, toy cars and robot action figures. We can sometimes dismiss the importance of licensing, realism and proportion but those were vital to me. Rubber tires, ride height, racing pedigree. Accurate team stickers and the avoidance of panel lines on windows, Those were more important than articulation or cartoon accuracy to me. As I feel lazier "Cybertronian" modes and generic cars infiltrated the lineups my interest waned though. Even then I could identify the design challenge of creating a robot from an existing real life model rather than working in two directions with the potential for very arbitrary generic forms.

I think back and reflect that my early transformers team line-ups consisted of maybe a third being non transforming substitutes, if everyone was kept in alt mode it wasn't ever an issue.

That connection to the alt modes of Transformers made them less of an alternative and sometimes a focus. I set out to complete a Menasor as it was a lineup of cars that I loved. I remember the first time I found a Tyrrell P34 in a motor-racing Annual and drew the connection to the six wheeled Dragstrip, it was the incredible connection between reality and my own ability to control and own objects on a level that I struggled to even dream of being able to interact with directly. 

As a more adult collector I took some time out of the hobby during the Alternators line and missed what a lot would consider a golden period for collectors like myself. I own a few but I admit weirdly that I prefer a slightly small scale ( now it has become something I consider more often), I have a tiny number of the Takara Alternity Line and if it was not for the cost to import and source I think I could find my bliss in that direction. I am incredibly grateful that the Takara Masterpiece line has shown a dedication in most directions to ensuring the value of licensed and accurate vehicles, there is little as pleasing to me as feeling like I own not just wonderful robot design but a car that connects back to a passion that once drove my interests.

 

I asked my friend Drew Merkel to contribute some final words to this article. Drew and I have collaborated a few times including a creator owned comic 'The Knockoffs" which tried to distil much of our passion to its essence, a noir action sci-fi transforming robot drama against a backdrop of Tokyo's street racing scene. The cars, the racing culture, the streets and sounds were all characters of equal importance to the giant robots.

-Drew Merkel

The first toy I can recall owning was a toy car. I still have it, a blue Ford station wagon with faux wood paneling made by Yatming in Hong Kong. I've even had dreams where I owned this particular car, its presence in my formative years was so strong.

I knew what a penny racer was before I got my first Transformers figure. His name was Cliffjumper and he was based on that penny racer design and he was yellow. I can't say I remember what was discussed when my stepfather bought me the tiny thing, but I knew even then that it was the single greatest thing in the entire universe. Honestly, it still is. I just picked up the amazing Maketoys Downbeat. While he's not an official Transformers™ Product, this is Jazz through and through. The Porsche 935 slant nose Martini race car is slightly flawed, but still great. The robot mode carries all the things I remember about the premium Autobot cars from the eighties, blended almost seamlessly with accuracy to the media tie-in. By now you might be asking yourself how these things are connected. It's simple really. I have collected all of the Masterpiece cars, and I have only collected a few non-automotive characters. 

My connection to Transformers stems from a love of cars as a primary force. Universe Classics Sideswipe (and by extension Sunstreaker) and Silverstreak (Bluestreak) got me started collecting representations of my childhood heroes with beautiful, almost realistic vehicle models. Alternators made me stick around. We've all joked about toy reviewers checking a figure for whether or not it rolls. Truth is, to a few of us at least, it matters. 

Further entering the car culture of customizing, Drew added third party stickers to capture a more accurate look.

Follow Leigh on twitter at @AmbushThem

Follow Drew on twitter at @DrewsiferxXx where you can also find more information about his voice over work, podcasting and toy robot band @Close_Countach

Sour Grapes : Transformers and the High-End Collectible Market

-mantis nine nines

We have never been more divided. This statement rings true in so many ways at present, and about things far more important than toys. For those weary of current events, don’t worry, I’m not here to discuss anything serious, or even use collecting as an allegory for the greater world. I just want to talk about the collision between Transformers and the high-end collectible market, and the collateral damage that has brought with it. No matter what forum you go to or which social media platform you choose, the tone sucks. Every thread, no matter how celebratory it starts, is spoiled as inevitably people show up to interject and ruin the fun. Why are we like this? To me it’s an indication of the youth of our fandom. We are experiencing a growth spurt as we catch up to all those OTHER robot franchises.

The problem as I see it is that Transformers have their heart and soul in being the everyman toy line, with success built on getting relatively cheap but cool robot puzzle toys into the hands of kids. Over the last decade Masterpiece, the TFCC, and Third Party have combined to create a whole new level of Transformer. Nothing wrong with that, I own some of all of these personally, but it has caused a rift in the fandom that has us shouting at each other from across an imaginary line. Both sides determined to convince the other that the objects of their affection are somehow unworthy. A damn shame since Transfans used to be defined by our common love of robot toys for kids.

Whether you are from the Geewonner, Beastie, Bayformer, or even (god help you) the Unicron Trilogy generation, you almost certainly got your start when someone put some affordable plastic in your hands at a young age. The shows were on TV, you had your little pocket bots to create your own adventures, and maybe, MAYBE you were lucky enough to get that Metroplex or Omega Prime or whatever the badass expensive torchbearer was in your time. The point is that being a Transformer fan has always put us in a different class than those who had more “serious” taste.

Gundam, Dougram, Macross, these were franchises that established a more somber tone. Post-apocalyptic, mecha-centric, and with complex toys full of tiny parts. If you were an adult collector in the early eighties, this is where you would find items worthy of purchase and display. For an American collector such as me, we were lucky to have a few of these gems licensed by Hasbro. Jetfire brought us the transcendent Takatoku VF-1 Valkyrie, and the same company made the mold for the 1/55 Mugen Calibur sold as Roadbuster. My family could not afford them, but my best friend had an older brother and rich parents who traveled a lot, so I was lucky enough to have access to a lot of these cool toys. In addition, Robotech had opened my eyes to the gorgeous designs of Mospeada and Macross. Many of the Japanese toys for these shows were imported, but many were not, and ALL were expensive. While I was playing with Gears, Bumblebee, and Huffer (and grateful for them), my well-off buddies had an incredible collection of Alpha Fighters and Space Fortresses.

Despite not being able to get them myself, my experience with those Japanese mecha gems led me to have a taste for complex, expensive bots. Even in my college years when I was busy chasing girls, parties, and gigs, I still kept an eye out for what graced the retail shelves. Didn’t buy much since I was spending all my money on booze and guitars, but I was still interested, and not just in Transformers. The Comic Shops I frequented often had Gunpla, Bandai Macross toys, and by the late 90’s; Soul Of Chogokin. By today’s standards these SOC figures were primitive and fragile, but at the time they were a revelation! The Combattler V was the first I bought, and I loved it. It brought me back to days spent drooling over the Shogun Warrior version in my friend’s basement. Over the years I picked up a few, and used the meager resources of the internet at the time to explore the world of high-end robot swag. Combattler V, Gunbuster, God Mars, I loved them.

On the retail side, Alternators captured my attention with their highly accurate 1:24 cars and G1 characters, and when Masterpiece Prime came out in 2004 I thought I was in heaven! This was as good as Transformers could get. Or so I thought.

Little did I know that Michael Bay would initiate an explosion in popularity and with it the start of a collectors market on steroids. As the distance between retail and specialty product widened, so did the divisions in the fandom. The brief flare-ups involving Beast Machines and Trukk not Munky have become a pissing contest over whether Despotron or Mightron is better than MP Megatron, or if people are dumb for having bought FansProject headmasters when the Titans Return versions are so good.

We are struggling to understand something that has been natural to the other robot fandoms; its okay to like both retail and collector grade product without hating the other side. We don’t need to even compare them. If you find yourself losing interest in retail “classics” scale product, no worries! Go enjoy the complexity and detail of the MP and 3P market. But please let go of the need to condescend to those who remain satisfied with buying off a peg. Likewise we need retail fans to allow for the fact that there's no use arguing about whether Third Party is wrong or a waste of money to those who support it. At this point we need to accept that this is our reality and return to the commonality of what united us in the first place.

Follow Dan on Twitter @mantisninenines

Collection Curation

 - Dorian MacQuarrie

I'm a bad collector, okay, maybe not "bad" but I'm......irresponsible? Yeah, let's go with that, I'm an irresponsible collector. Why? Well here's why. 

These pictures show an almost criminal negligence in maintaining my collection. Expensive third party toys lie scattered around my desk without any thought for their well-being, their place on a shelf denied to them by my own carelessness and apathy. Wondrous figures stand behind lesser toys, their beauty obscured by rank after rank of deluxes, voyagers and whatever plastic debris I have placed upon my shelves. I have given over control of my space to my collection and it has broken through the preset barriers I once had, occupying a space far beyond its due. 

And the dust! The dust! We all know dusting shelves can be considered the bane of collectors but this is inexcusable! 

How has it come to this!? I have made numerous videos concerning maintaining a collection, having purpose and direction and most importantly, a controlled space to fully appreciate toys but clearly I do not practice what I preach. The honest answer is I'm lazy. Lazy on a scale that would have celebrities flocking to take part in a charity appeal to just get me to dust my shelves. Were I to dig a little deeper I could tell you that my standards aren't high enough and I grow easily accustomed to mess and general disarray. Part of it comes from the miniature building side of my hobbies, where a desk full of parts and tools is an endless source of creativity but the more significant part is just shear laziness and irresponsibility. Now you can say they're just toys, do what you want, display them how you want but that sort of bottom feeder thinking does not fly in my books. I wouldn't get anywhere near the enjoyment out of collecting toy robots were I not able to indulge myself in top tier levels of irrational neuroticism. No, a collection needs to be controlled, it needs to be curated. When there are toys in a state as seen in the pictures above surely that is when the collection has taken control of the collector.  

People need control and when it's lacking in their work or personal lives collecting can be the go to solution. I myself struggle to maintain pockets of control to balance out those moments where my time is not my own and I am constantly going to and fro at the behest of those around me. So why would I let my collection further add to this problem rather than using it as an outlet for my need to dominate regain control?

On those rare occasions I do tidy my shelves there comes a moment where I might have a handful of toys on a shelf and it just feels nice, it feels better. Each figure can be appreciated fully as a stand alone piece or within the context of a display versus maybe being able to appreciate the head and shoulders of that £60 third party toy because the rest is blocked by four other figures. At that point I sigh and inevitably add all the other toys back onto the shelf, be it decided by faction alignment, release line or whatever head canon I may have applied to a few figures. That could lead us into why you display certain toys together but that's an article for another week. 

Toys deserving of space

Our own Leigh Gregurke has this to say on collection curation,

"A piece of advice provided by my first year sculpture lecturer many years ago has always remained with me informing arts practice,my critical analysis process and in the way I manage physical spaces. 

'Stop wedging your work against a gallery wall, resist tucking it into a corner. As a three dimensional form your work is denying the viewer all but a portion of its places if you disallow the viewer the access the form. Let them walk around it, engage the viewer on a physical level and understand the zone of space that a form occupies in a room.' 

I don't see it as a giant leap to also see the way that we as collectors are prone the chaotic rabble occupying a shelf where no form has room to breathe or be appreciated. How often can we appreciate and identify the negative space on a shelf? See the spaces between forms? More commonly our curation attempts resemble a school photographer desperately trying to surmise whom is taller to place at the back while managing the chaos of impatient children unwilling to stand or remain in place."

This "school picture" is often how you'll see a collection displayed. Toys standing to attention, arranged as dominoes in both layout and with the potential disaster which would befall them were one to fall over, dragging the rest down with them. In this way shelves are used as storage for toys rather than a tool for display.

I do think it is possible to have a shelf crammed full of toys and still have an attractive and appealing display though. It requires balance in size, colour, form and style to name a few of the myriad aspects which determine a good display. I'm quite pleased with my Season 3/IDW/Wreckers/Lost Light etc shelf. It works, I like it. Yes there are a lot of toys struggling for space but it puts me in mind of St. Pepper's style art work done for MTMTE. It's a group of friends all fighting for space to ensure they're in the shot.

Compare this to my Decepticon shelf and no, just no. This is awful. There is little cohesion from one group of toys to the next, too many "big guys" and not enough space for smaller toys to have their own place without feeling pushed aside or squeezed to the front. Fitting for Decepticons I suppose.  

I dream of shelves with but a handful of toys, each with enough space to be fully appreciated and make use of that mystical property scientists call negative space. Of course this dream can be easily realised, just pack up a load of toys, leaving plenty of shelf space for the survivors of the Great Boxing but then I'd just have cupboards full of toys which would result in the mental strain I sometimes feel when I consider what lies hidden away from sight. The groan and creak of wood as my cupboard doors strain against the tide of plastic yearning to break free and spill out across my flat. For someone who loves toys so much they definitely place a sort of stress on my mental space. I think about these things far too much to the point of obsession but thankfully there is a shred of rationality left in my mind which prevents me from thinking I need to sell everything to regain control of my living space.

As our collections grow we are faced with the problem of ever dwindling space. Do we buy more shelves onto which we cram yet more toys, resulting in a cramped and poorly laid out display? Do we make the decision to control our collection and cut back, put toys into storage, rotate displays and curate? I don't think there's one true answer but I do know I'm not quite in either camp yet. I fear that by year's end I will be faced with the prospect of culling the majority of my collection or send a lot of toys into storage from whence they will likely never return.

Until next time, keep it #Refined 


Follow Dorian on Twitter @Vigadeath

Legends of Cheap-O-Tron

- Ben Watson

It is the year 2005. Transformers Cybertron graces toy shelves and television screens and I could be paying it a lot more attention. Thundercracker and Vector Prime are ok, but aren’t doing it for me anywhere near as much as Energon’s previous picks. I’m a bit burned out on TFs; do we really need another new Optimus Prime? But one day coming home from school, I find my dad has got me shrunken versions of Hot Shot and Optimus. I could suddenly take a different tack with my Transformers habit as I was introduced to the Legends Class. 

The Beginning

Far from the first small scale figures to grace Transformers, they were however the first made to emulate the much larger, more expensive main characters of the line. 12-year-old collects-too-many-things-under-£5 me is instantly hooked. My eyes open. Instead of chucking three quid at [Trading Card Brand of Choice This Week] I could chuck it at Transformers? The things I’d really want to spend money on but can’t bring myself to like enough to part with long-saved multiple fivers? Providence. Pure blessings from the collectables gods. A mission (still ongoing) starts. I could actually “collect” some TFs and collect them I did. (But if you know of anyone with a MISB Series 4 black legs Optimus, could you hook a brother up?)

Being there for the genesis of what is now a Transformers assortment staple has allowed me to take a good long look down the years that make up the history of this often-overlooked price-point. I love Legends… Or Legions, whatever you want to call them now. The point is – pocket money TFs are wonderful; when they slid under the threshold of what you might call pocket money. Back at the start with “Series 1” of the “Legends of Cybertron”, I got my hands on a quartet of main characters which in their fully realised forms would have cost me around £140 for the princely sum of £12. I never wanted big Megatron or Starscream anyway, but with the gates to a promised land of a “complete” small-scale TF collection opened before me, how could I say no to their diminutive counterparts? I could sample larger designs I wasn’t sure about or quickly get my hands on representations of characters I knew I wanted. All without costing me much in terms of cash or space. Some even replicated their Planet Key gimmicks and had more than four points of articulation, but most importantly they were unique new toys that gave you a flavour of something that was inaccessible. And lo, on through the four “series” (more simply “waves”) Cybertron had to offer I snapped up almost each release in timely fashion and mostly from the same shop. Looking back, that feels like quite a feat for someone not constantly plugged in to internet news about releases and sightings. Not that that wouldn’t have helped with getting hold of the last few…

After failing to uphold my vow of completing a collection of the Cybertron Legends by the time they disapparated from shelves, a fallow period followed as Classics repackaged Cybertron releases and only offered new repaints of these to Toys ‘R’ Us, a store that remains an hour’s pilgrimage away. Some years later I managed to get hold of a Leo Prime from the line but as it stood at the time I wouldn’t get my hands on more little guys until 2007’s Movie line. Much negative emotion exists around the live-action films ranging from indifference to outright bile but to have been 14 and been in the position to see the build up towards the first of m’Bay’s efforts was simply intoxicating. As soon as toys hit Woolworth’s I had to have something to take home and so I once again took up the torch of Legends mania with the help of Barricade and yes, managed to get every single-packed £3 bugger there was and some twin packs besides.

Pictured: Needless Excess

While the day I finally saw the film remains the most excited collection of hours in my life, the Legends toys didn’t operate on this higher vibration. If I was going to look back and place a not-so-shiny ribbon on the worst Legends assortment of the lot, it would certainly be awarded to 2007’s Series 7 to 9. I mean, have you seen Jazz? And I ended up with two of that thing… To be fair, the challenge of translating the already untranslatable movie designs to toys let alone ones this simple was clearly difficult for Hasbro, so while you can scoff at Starscream, I think it’s possible to cut them some slack. This was after all, the first Movie Legends rodeo. We’ll be seeing a fair few better ones.

Hound, Jazz and G2 Megatron, Best of the Bunch?

Following the movie’s success, 2008’s Universe was a bit of a blowout. New product was pushed out there quick and repaints from older lines lay abundant in both regular and exclusive releases. Abandoning the previous “Series” identifier which I quite liked for some reason, the first wave of Universe Legends was made of three Cybertron repaints, the first widely available pocket G1 characters of the class. But then Onslaught was an all grey SWAT truck so… 2 out of 3 ain’t bad I guess? Whatever qualms anyone had about the integrity of the first wave as a solid foundation for the line were blown out of the water with the arrival of wave 2. All new sculpts, two ’84 Autobot Cars and a G2 muscleman? Nothing’s come close since and this point may well exist as the eternal zenith of the Legends Class. But man, the waves after didn’t exactly drop things down far. 

Offering some ensmallened Animated bots but best of all, a slick new selection of G1 Minibots, the price-point came into its own. Simultaneously giving good pocket content but also bots that were fine to fill out those appropriately tiny gaps in your Classics shelf. Just a shame that the final wave Universe had to offer remains the only one I’ve never seen hide nor hair of and I know full well why…

Testicles Not Included

Midway through 2009 anything really cool that was left for Universe to tease you with was suddenly bulldozed out of sight by the resurgence of the Bay Merch Machine generating unjust hype for Revenge of The Fallen. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but back then I firmly believed the film would be rightfully immense and when it came to the Legends figures – inexplicably rolling out with two waves at once – I ate them up. Clearly lessons were learned after 2007’s efforts and the ROTF Legends remain some of the best out there. Bumblebee was a genuine surprise, providing the exact kind of simple fun the size class was made for. I… might have bought a few of his repaints… 

But not only in-movie characters were featured, as was delightfully true of the wider ROTF line, new characters and original designs colourfully fleshed out the ranks. Tankor is probably the figurehead of toy-only Legends and he even got a story in the UK comic, beating up bots who were in reality 3 times his size! But wait, there’s more! Mild gimmickry beyond Cybertron’s smattering of fold-out weapons entered the fray thanks to combination. You could stick Jetfire on Optimus’ back in a totally undocumented and mostly awkward move! And then Devastator reared his ugly head not very far off the floor in the form of a 7-pack boxset to deliver what was possibly the best experience of the class up to that point. It was almost like you could have a self-contained play pattern at this small scale…

Much in the way the first movie was followed, 2010’s understatedly untitled Transformers (not all of them had Hunt For The Decepticons stickers on) was rife with repaints and this time I did not partake in most. I wish I had. By the time the second-year refresh of Reveal The Shield had delivered sublime G1 stylings, I had amassed a grand total of 3 2010 Legends. Two brand new non-combining Constructicons which prove highlights to this day and an incongruous Sandstorm from Universe’s Beachcomber. It’s my belief that 2010/11 offered the pinnacle of anything Transformers among its small plethora of separate lines and the RTS Legends only go further to reinforce this state of mind. Only a single wave but a solid set of diverse G1 names. A fitting high to end the Legends Class on as here is where we part company with the price-point as we’ve come to know it and usher in the Legion…

Dark of The Moon shook up the pocket bot scene in a big way. Finally offering a more diverse play pattern based on the smaller scale, the £3 (at this point £5) bots of old we’re joined by a downgrading of the Scout class and various playsets, a move which I always felt should have been acted upon earlier. How good would a Universe Ark with bonus Skywarp have been? Thus, Cyberverse was born. Essentially a subline of its own within the Transformers framework, it would outlast DOTM and become the benchmark for the cheapest TF line-ups for the next three years. Not only a greater diversity was brought to the fore with DOTM though, as this was another chance to get the movie designs done right at this scale. Third time’s the charm rings true here. Long standing characters like Bumblebee and Starscream were given properly accurate renditions while the likes of Optimus and Ironhide made gains to better scale and pose with their rightfully smaller brethren.

If Legions were like Deluxes then the new Commander Class was the Voyager equivalent and it worked well; it wasn’t a substitute for the now dead Scout Class but it worked well. Also, while seeing the conceptual appeal of playsets, I didn’t invest in any. Most were only to be found at that faraway Shangri-La of Toys ‘R’ Us unless you wanted a heavily reduced Ark. I didn’t. I did however come to be the repentant owner of a version of Optimus’ trailer. Essentially a mess of panels on hinges that could approximate a base or some kind of Power Loader, it wasn’t anything to write home about and certainly wasn’t substantial enough to provide a sense of setting for the smaller figures.

Once the world seemed to suddenly grow very tired with DOTM, Prime toys finally and to absolutely no fanfare or prior warning arrived on shelves. Bearing the Cyberverse mantle once more this assortment of Legions and Commanders seemed to make some improvements. Highlights such as the almost insanely posable Cliffjumper and totally kibble-free Megatron made a lot more people sit up and take notice of what the smaller scale had to offer. As a plus, each figure also had at least one 3mm port to allow their small weapons to be used. Did I forget to mention that was true for DOTM too? While this added playability, I always felt the lack of accessories lent a kind of purity to the previous Legends and this was sullied. The figures were already small enough, now kids had to keep track of guns for them too? Initially Legion weapons were mostly the same mold, limited to strawberry or blackcurrant jelly flavour depending on allegiance but later waves brought some zing with more citrus flavours. Cyberverse was possibly at its height here though was set to continue for one more push as Prime gained a sequel in Beast Hunters.

Mostly the same line as its predecessor, BH offered some superficial enhancements. Solid metallic weapons were included, Commanders even had firing missiles and more closely resembled the ghost of the Scout Class. The odd but sometimes visually striking feature of Prime’s Commanders having translucent torsos to work with light gimmicks on playsets was dropped to allow for (somehow) better looking figures. Beast Hunters’ general theme of grand retooling of the previous year’s figures carried over here too, improving many of the more lacklustre toys with the addition of missile launchers or Mad Max spikitude. Lovely. 

While releases like the only Shockwave to grace UK shores or his out-of-left-field retool, Bludgeon rode the high points of the line, the very top spot was left for one more (seemingly the last) foray into small scale combining. Abominus was an excellent – if slightly stunted – homage heavy piece assembled sporadically over the course of three waves. Woe betide you if you skipped on wave 1’s Twinstrike. Not because it was Abominus’ left arm but because it was a genuinely great little figure, as each of the five Predacons and their arguably more intriguing repaints were. Good then, for the line to end in an incandescence of interest as what followed was merely a charred husk of what had come before.

Assorted Oddities

The second half of 2014 essentially saw the smaller scale die. Cyberverse was no more and for the longest time the only Legion releases available were reworked RTS figures and some dreadful Age of Extinction Dinobots born of BH Predacons. I only got one AOE Legends figure, a Prime Knock Out repaint in Stinger. Pretty underwhelming, but not as much as the line in total. No tiny Drifts or Crosshairs were to be had, the only movie-esque Optimus was an ill-fitting ROTF repaint, and Strafe didn’t even have two heads. Say what you like about The Encheapening that AOE brought about across the length and breadth of TF merchandise, at least you could get One Step Changers of all the characters as they appeared on screen. Age of Extinction indeed.

In this dark time for dreams of Legends collections, I lost most of my attachment to the price-point. Nothing was on offer to entice me back in to the fold, not really even 2015’s RID releases. Yes, the Legion Class at least was back properly. 3mm hands and ports were retained but all weaponry was dropped. It’s nice to have back-compatibility but I felt that a lot of the draw for the size class was lost to me. Not only were a lot of the figures seemingly smaller than average (possibly due to the illusory effects of minimalist packaging) but they now cost more than twice the price of ten years previously. £7 was simply too much for me to throw at figures barely pushing 2 inches. Perhaps with the accounting of inflation, that’s about right, but as long as I hold dear the memory of those halcyon days of Cybertron’s Legends, it will always leave a bad taste in my mouth. That said, I have tried to reignite my love for the class once so dear to my pockets, but even interesting repaints like Ultra Magnus or Ratchet have so far left me cold. Is this the end of my love affair with the smaller scale?

Probably not as it turns out. After getting my hands on a couple of Generations themed Legions from the venerable RTS molds, I’d like to hold out a bit of hope for the Legion. Ultra Magnus and Cliffjumper, despite being versions of figures I already own twice over (thanks to rare previous Generations offerings) are without doubt what the doctor ordered. If we could see a return to cheapy lil’ G1 themed guys, I think I’d be set. Just don’t skip the Ark and Skywarp eh? At time of writing that’s honestly all a pipe dream. With figures for The Last Knight set to rush in from The Bay in a few months, we are set to receive a revamped Legion Class which I will look to in mild anticipation. At least until I see how bloody expensive they are in Tesco’s for myself. Maybe until then I can console my empty pockets and delve into the huge wealth of figures still untouched in these twelve years since the legend began. I’m just going to have to put up with a lot of repaints aren’t I? Ah well, it comes with the territory.

Follow Ben on Twitter @Waspshot23