Maz's Articles & Reviews

Some collector interviews I have been waiting for patiently for a long time, knowing the content and imagery would be worth it. When I returned to the hobby in 2011 I noticed a few vintage enthusiasts who had managed to assemble exquisite collections and get themselves quite well known for it in the community, as well as becoming an inspiration for others in their quest for perfection. Hyperoptic is one of those collectors, and in addition to his G1 collection, he has a lovely story or two to tell from his time working on Transformers videogames. It also goes to show that differing opinions on the merits of various Transformers eras need not cause a lack of kinship, as my own friendship with Hyperoptic has proven. While it is a shame that my return to increased involvement in the hobby coincides with his 'retirement' from active collecting, it is my pleasure to bring you his interview...

Collector Interview 38 – Hyperoptic | Source Blog <- CLICK TO READ

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All the best
Maz

wow, those displays, are just wow!!

About 3 years ago we interviewed 3 very active and community-involved Transformers collectors’ wives to find out How The Other Half Live. For my 200th TFSource Blog Article (not counting interviews), I decided to once again ask those closest to me how they viewed my collection of robots. I’ve asked my wife. my three year old daughter, and for a bit of distance, the partner of a very close friend. I’d like to say I am not concerned about how others see my hobby, but having recently discussed the implications of what happens to our toys when we die, I feel as though I have a greater responsibility to those around me to know where they stand with respect to my toys and how it affects them. The growing feeling that I own too many toys that cannot be adequately housed also weighs heavily on my mind, as the pictures in this article will demonstrate with how my place looks currently. Admittedly I asked my daughter for comic value, but I still respect what she had to say.

What Do They Think? | Source Blog <- CLICK TO READ

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All the best
Maz

For a while there it seemed that we’d had our last Generation 1 reissues from Hasbro and Takara, Encore Fortress Maximus being quite the final hurrah, but 2015 has seen the return of G1 reissues under Hasbro’s Platinum Edition banner. While most of the toys have already been released, G1 Trypticon was a hugely welcome addition to the reissue ranks and the Decepticon Triplechangers Blitzwing and Astrotrain were recoloured into…well, anyway, we got more reissues! Let’s have a look at what the Platinum Edition releases have brought us so far.

Reissue Redux | Source Blog <- CLICK TO READ

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All the best
Maz

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Maz

About 3 years ago we interviewed 3 very active and community-involved Transformers collectors’ wives to find out How The Other Half Live. For my 200th TFSource Blog Article (not counting interviews), I decided to once again ask those closest to me how they viewed my collection of robots. I’ve asked my wife. my three year old daughter, and for a bit of distance, the partner of a very close friend. I’d like to say I am not concerned about how others see my hobby, but having recently discussed the implications of what happens to our toys when we die, I feel as though I have a greater responsibility to those around me to know where they stand with respect to my toys and how it affects them. The growing feeling that I own too many toys that cannot be adequately housed also weighs heavily on my mind, as the pictures in this article will demonstrate with how my place looks currently. Admittedly I asked my daughter for comic value, but I still respect what she had to say.

What Do They Think? | Source Blog <- CLICK TO READ

http://tfsource.com/blog/wp-content/.../07/WDDT04.jpg

All the best
Maz

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What a great article, it really made me think about how my Wife would answer, and I have almost 2000 figures and 4 kids. :D

Thanks Maz

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Originally Posted by MayzaPrime

What a great article, it really made me think about how my Wife would answer, and I have almost 2000 figures and 4 kids. :D

Thanks Maz

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Awesome! Well if you ever ask her, please post the responses!

All the best
Maz

For your reading/viewing pleasure :)

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All the best
Maz

Four years into the TFSource Blog project and we’re still finding topics to write about weekly. If that in itself is not something to celebrate within Transfandom, then how about taking time in this article to thank all of our loyal readers, supporters and especially the contributors who have made so much of what we do on the site possible. From the ever-popular collector interviews to informative articles on different sections of Transformers history, from brand new official and unofficial product to opinion pieces on the state and mentality of collecting Transformers, here are the top 5 most viewed, read and shared articles from the last 12 months, our fourth year.

Best of 2014 / 2015 - Four Years Of Source Articles | Source Blog <- CLICK TO READ

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All the best
Maz

There are those that specialise in Transformers of a particular era, and others that specialise in figures from particular geographic regions. Some collectors don’t specialise at all, and then you have the ones who specialise primarily in a single character and collect as many versions of the bot as possible. Ben Harpold is one such collector, or at least has become one. His dedication to Bumblebee and all of its incarnations, not to mention merchandise, is staggering. Maybe even more surprising is that once you remove the Bumblebees, what’s left is equally incredible and a stunning collection by itself. Just as there’s more to Ben’s collection than Bumblebee, there’s more to his enjoyment of the hobby than just toys also. Get ready to witness something quite extraordinary…

Collector Interview 39 – Ben Harpold | Source Blog <- CLICK TO READ

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All the best
Maz

A number of articles to catch up on! Couldn;t access Ozformers on my mobile while abroad for 2 weeks sadly..

The nature of Transformers collecting is such that the collections themselves inevitably take some kind of shape, and when we recognise where that shape is headed we might try and complete it. Every area of Transformers has its toughies, or ‘grails’ but as our contributors suggest this week, a grail need not always be a rare or expensive figure. These types of figures and targets change and shift over time as our interests do, and what I consider a grail today is quite different to my description of it a decade and a half ago. The whole concept of it changes as we capture some of these milestone Transformers or realise an achievement.

Grail | Source Blog <- CLICK TO READ

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Hasbro and Takara populated the first two years of the globally successful Transformers toy line with moulds previously used in Takaras Diaclone and Micro Change Series lines, as well as drafting in moulds with Takatoku, Toybox and Toyco origins as well. For 1986, the year of the Transformers animated movie, we got our first Transformers-only toys and sculpts with a much more futuristic aesthetic. Post-movie, we had season 3 of the cartoon and then the 3-part finale to the animated show called Rebirth or season 4. It was through this 3-part show (not to mention the Marvel Transformers Comics) that Hasbro promoted their new gimmick-driven Transformers known as Headmasters and Targetmasters. This week we look at the four standard-sized non-base Autobot Headmasters Brainstorm, Chromedome, Hardhead and Highbrow. The titanic Fortress Maximus will be saved for a future chapter.

1987 Autobot Headmasters | Source Blog <- CLICK TO READ

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Following on from last week’s look at 1987 Autobot Headmasters, this week we are concentrating on the three non-Movie Decepticon Targetmasters Misfire, Triggerhappy and Slugslinger. These Decepticon jets continue the futuristic post-movie look and the marked move away from realistic Earth-based vehicles for Transformers alternate modes. While the Headmasters were incredibly blocky due to the forced aesthetic of the Headmaster companions, the 1987 Targetmasters were much more well-proportioned figures in robot mode but still featured a number of uniform design choices across the range. As with last week’s Autobot Headmasters, these Targetmaster Decepticons are Transformers-only moulds as Hasbro and Takara were no longer exclusively sticking to pre-Transformers sculpts from Diaclone, Micro Change Series and the like.

1987 Decepticon Targetmasters | Source Blog <- CLICK TO READ

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All the best
Maz