Encore 5 and 6 headless chickens

[Mr Ed]

I just purchased Encore 5 and 6 Ironhide and Ratchet from BBTS.

At the time of purchase, I didnt notice their heads were missing. I am amazed they were like that in the 1980's They look like headless chickens.



However, there is a cardboard cut out of their heads in the Tomy Takara Box.



I noticed on EBAY you can get a third party head but it is quite expensive.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Transformers-G1-...item3f093e2489

So for people who own either the G1 original or Encore reissue, what did you do?

Did the original G1 have the cardboard cut outs?

[gdmetro]

Yeah... the originals were headless- I think only the reissues had the cardboard heads.

The custom heads you are referring to- I bought a set and haven't opened em'.

They basically clip on and are okay, but don't fix the issue of the arms/ with lacking shoulders. A nice thing is that they do store in vehicle mode.

Recently there was a set from gear4toys:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcwpOj8EWUE
Here is a review.

The latter set also includes the arms and makes the fig look really nice in bot mode- although it does not store in vehicle mode. I wish they also did some upgrade parts for the legs...

[Hursticon]

Actually, the originals did have faces, in the form of a Black sticker with a Silver face that was identical for both Ratchet and Ironhide - I'll try and find some pics but they were used in the artwork for the original Marvel Comics, well, the first couple of issues anyway.

[Mr Ed]

Actually, the originals did have faces, in the form of a Black sticker with a Silver face that was identical for both Ratchet and Ironhide - I'll try and find some pics but they were used in the artwork for the original Marvel Comics, well, the first couple of issues anyway.

Yeah Dave, the sticker set has black faces! Havent gotten around to putting them on yet.

But I do like them.

Will try and buy Skids, Trailbreak and Hoist next as Encore Re-issues

[Mr Ed]

Recently there was a set from gear4toys:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcwpOj8EWUE
Here is a review.

The latter set also includes the arms and makes the fig look really nice in bot mode- although it does not store in vehicle mode. I wish they also did some upgrade parts for the legs...

Thanks, I just checked out the video.

The helmet for both was $20 $USD from BBTS and the shoulder upgrade was $57 USD.

Unfortunately both sold out! So cardboard heads will have to do for the time being.

[Hursticon]

Yeah Dave, the sticker set has black faces! Havent gotten around to putting them on yet.
But I do like them.

Ah ok, sorry, wasn't sure if you knew or not as I took it as Head & Face being the same thing.

[Paulbot]

So for people who own either the G1 original or Encore reissue, what did you do?

Did the original G1 have the cardboard cut outs?

I own the original Ratchet and the Encore. I don't use the cardboard cut outs (that weren't around in G1, so either came in reissues or Encore) and am not interested in the third-party heads.

Maybe it's because I have had the Ratchet toy for 25 years now, but it does not bother me in the slightest. That's just how the toys look.

If you want something a bit more model-like, that's what the BotCon and Universe/Henkei toys are for.

[Autocon]

Really? They never came with heads lol

[GoktimusPrime]

As Hursticon said, the original Ironhide and Ratchet did have heads -- they were the stickers on the seats. And he's also right about early G1 art being more toy accurate... it was only later on that they changed it to what became the standard way of drawing Ratchet and Ironhide with more visible heads. The BotCon Japan exclusive comic "Cybertron Chronicles" (by Ichikawa Hirofumi) featured toy-accurate art.

The reason why their heads are like that, for those who may not know, is because in the original Diaclone toy line where they originated from, Ironhide and Ratchet weren't so much piloted "mecha" in the sense that most of the other Diaclones were, but more like big power armours (more like what Ripley used in Aliens)... they were operated by Diaclone pilots as ancillary mecha for the main fighting mecha -- carrying munitions and what not for the others. Here is what "Ironhide" originally looked like piloted by Diaclones.

Here's a comparison between G1 Ironhide and Movie Ironhide's faces:


Same comparison with Ratchet


Comparison between G1 Ironhide and Ichikawa's toy-accurate art:


Toy-accurate art used in early G1:
http://tfwiki.net/w2/images2/3/33/Ratchetg1first.jpg
http://tfwiki.net/w2/images2/e/e3/Ir...appearance.jpg

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I have original G1 and Encore reissue Ironhide and Ratchet (as well as Rescue Ratchet and Protect Ironhide) -- I don't use the cardboard heads... they look silly IMO (heads are too high and the shoulders end up sitting too low). But like Paulbot, the original heads don't bother me as that's what I grew up with. And quite frankly, the toys came first so they're more accurate anyway.

But I did try the heads on when I first got my Encores (and didn't like it) -- but here's what they look like with the heads on:

[Gutsman Heavy]

I like the g1 faces, reminds me of tron for some reason.