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Thread: Timecapsule - February 2009

  1. #1
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    Default Timecapsule - February 2009

    At this time, the TF2 movie toys are being revealed and preview figures in at least one country, Animated is either preparing for its 3rd season or putting it off until after the TF2 movie, IDW continues with its All Hail Megatron, Maximum Dinobots and Movie prequel comics, and Universe/25th Anniversary is reaching its peak of release before it is put on a break for the Movie toyline season. TakaraTomy on the other hand are still sproradically releasing items for the older collector, with Alternity Convoy being the most significant item this month.

    1 year ago - February 2008
    -After Hasbro Australia had a shortage of new stock for the last 2 1/2 months, stores were finally starting to get in new toys in February. Some of the new stuff included the White Movie Ratchet, Thundercracker, Leader Nightwatch Optimus Prime, FAB Smokescreen, FAB Ramjet, FAB Ironhide (grey recolour), FAB Optimus (red recolour), Slammer Ironhide, Slammer Patrol Barricade, Legends 2-packs (Ironide Vs Desert Brawl, Nightwatch Optimus Vs Stealth Starscream), Stockade and Jungle Bonecrusher.
    -America were striding ahead with their toy releases during this time, with most of the above items already filling most stores, plus they had the store exclusvie Jolt, Big Daddy, Grindcore, Divebomb.
    -Animated Cartoon was up to around episode 10 in America at this time, which was still 2-4 months before the toys were to be released.
    -US and UK toyfair showed a number of the early wave Animated toys (including Soundwave and Oilslick), and first wave of the new Universe toys, including Powerglide, Onslaught, Blaster, Heavy Load, Sunstreaker, Tankor and Prowl.
    -BotCon registration forms were up, which was really late for a convention that was only 10 weeks away.
    -The BotCon pre-registrant pack of toys starts to be revealed officially at the BotCon website, but not until after all are sold out.
    -Club Exclusive figure Nightbeat revealed.
    -IDW Spotlight Wheelie is revealed and Spotlight Arcee is released.
    -IDW also announce a bridging comic for the Movie Universe, called 'Reign of Starscream'.
    -Transformers The Ride, announced for Asia and America for 2010.
    -The Aussie Dollar reached a record 95us cents, the highest it has been in 23 years, and made importing Transformers cheaper than buying them domestically. It managed to make an extra 3us cents mid-year, before dropping 40% in a matter of months, to its 2003 rate.

    5 years ago - February 2004
    -Energon was in full swing, with the second assortment making its way to stores in America this month. Toys being released include Megatron, Landmine, Prowl, Rodimus, Snowcat, and the new 'Perceptor' Minicons. Regular Universe was in it's fourth wave with King Atlas (homage to Dai Atlas), Skywarp (matching the BotCon 2002 character/toy) and Triceradon. Hasbro were into their seventh series of Reissues, covering Dirge and Rodimus. The second Alternator was released (Sideswipe), and US store exclusives included 20th Anniversary Optimus, Ruination, Sunstorm redeco of Thrust, Prowl and Sideburn (with Universe CDs), and several Spychanger recolours (some with names that don't match their colours).
    -In Australia, aside from the 20th Anniversary Optimus, we didn't get any new items for over a month after Christmas (bit of a pattern here). We had a four month delay with the launch of Energon here, so the only significant stuff in stores at this time were the remnants of Armada, Alternator Smokescreen and Sideswipe, and the fifth and final series of Hasbro HoC figurines.
    -Dreamwave comics at this time included Generation 1 Vol 3, Energon, and War Within Vol 2.
    -Future stuff being revealed at this time included the upcoming Energon Towline, Downshift (the one that looks like Wheeljack, but isn't Wheeljack), Bulkhead, Alt/BT Hound, Alt/BT Tracks (in its original yellow colour), Ehobby Astrotrain (in its cartoon colours), TCS Minibot set, JP Anniversary set for Transformers and Microman, and Universe Ramjet (white redeco of Armada Skywarp).
    -And the first images and details for BotCon 2004 were being revealed, with it being located in Pasadena California in June that year. It was being billed as the final BotCon to be hosted by the original Hartman Brothers, and would be up against the Official Convention, to be held a month later.

    10 years ago - February 1999
    -Season 2 of Beast Wars just ended its first airing on TV here, and we had to wait for Season 3 to resolve the huge time-storm cliffhanger.
    -Season 3 of Beast Wars was currently two thirds through screening, with plot reviews already online at places like BWTF.com
    -Season 4 was only just announced in America, and had a working title of 'Beast Hunters', then 'Beast Machines'. It is said that it might only be 13 episodes, and will have a new story editor team.
    -Techspec Mottos returned with the current assortment (which included Cybershark). Hasbro website mentions that the toy packaging for Transmetal II was changed to Transmetal 2 during the first wave, because Hasbro are afraid their target (American) demographic wouldn't be able to comprehend the Roman Numerals...
    -US Toyfair reveals images of Transmetal 2 toys, including a highly anticipated Megatron Dragon.
    -Hasbro during this era weren't releasing much toy product, and on shelves during this month you could find the last few Fuzors, and regular Transmetals. Airazor and Razorclaw redecos were released with videos, while in the UK, Clawjaw and Spittor redecos were also released with videos.
    -Takara were in the middle of BWII in Japan, and details were surfacing on the ATT newsgroup about the Japanese direction of Transformers in Beast Wars Neo, going back to basics with more realistic beast forms, including a mammoth, giraffe, penguin, horse, cobra, rabbit, ammonite, and a number of dinosaurs.
    -First part of the BotCon99 text story 'Reaching the Omega Point' is released, with the registration confirmation materials. Back then, BotCon was something announced and registered to, 9-12 months in advance, which allowed long distant fans enough time to organise time off work and book cheaper flights.
    -Ozformers had 36 members at this time, with our club newsletter up to issue 29 this month.

    15 years ago - February 1994
    -Generation 2 was in full swing, but still a bit before the internet fandom existed. Or at least, before any Australian fans were online to know about anything more than what each of us were individually exposed to.
    -The Generation 2 cartoon was probably still on TV at this time, and most of the Generation 2 toys had been released by now, with just Dreadwing/Smokescreen and Laser-rod Optimus being the only significant figures not released until sometime during this year. Toys that were currently in stores at this time here included the oddly coloured Dinobots at $30 (we only got 3 of the 9 G2 Dinobots - Blue Grimlock, Red Snarl, Green Slag), G2 Jets Ramjet and Starscream at $33, G2 Autobot cars Inferno, Jazz, Sideswipe at $28, G2 Optimus at $40, and Green Tank Megatron (at $60) was finally released a number of months after it was being advertised in Kmart catalogues.
    -Going by print date, the Marvel Gen2 comic was up to issue 4 - Featuring the Dinobots on the cover, but not inside. The theme of death and destruction continues in this issue with the deaths of Red Alert, Mirage, and thousands of humans as Bludgeon's Warworld ship destroys part of America to flush out Optimus. We get to see the re-introduction of Starscream, and further cementing of Furman's love for Grimlock, with him being given command of the Autobots again, over higher ranking or more reliable Autobots.

  2. #2
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    Just a question- Was Ozformers set up in the same format it is now as far as the forum (and the software used) is concerned? I didnt have anything to do with forums back then so i have no idea.
    -----------------------------------------------
    Collecting transformers- a good way to get poor
    Transformer count= too many

    Currently in search of:
    G1 goodness

  3. #3
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    OzFormers was originally called "AusTrans" and we used to pay an annual $2 membership fee which helped to fund a newsletter which griffin used to print and mail out to us.

    Here are some old fan meet pics...

    Here are some photos of some toys taken during a Sydney Fan Meet in 1998:


    The oldest photo I have of actual people at an AusTrans meet is this one from a Sydney meet in 2001:

    L-R: Lord Zed, OzPhoenix, dirge, Charlotte, megatron, Goktimus Prime & springah

    And there's also this one from a Melbourne meet in 2001:

    L-R: Armada Convoy, dirge, Goktimus Prime, Cylebe, Tiger Convoy, Cailan, Demonac, Rhinox (aka Paulbot) and Sofaman

  4. #4
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    So was there an internet presense of "AusTrans" or did everyone meet up via some other medium eg- an add in the paper or a magazine?
    -----------------------------------------------
    Collecting transformers- a good way to get poor
    Transformer count= too many

    Currently in search of:
    G1 goodness

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime View Post
    And there's also this one from a Melbourne meet in 2001:

    L-R: Armada Convoy, dirge, Goktimus Prime, Cybele, Tiger Convoy, Cailan, Demonac, Rhinox (aka Paulbot) and Sofaman
    OMG, that was so long ago! I remember that visit very fondly.
    SofaMan - Occasionally Battling Evil with his Mighty Powers of Indolence

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Vector Sigma 13 View Post
    So was there an internet presense of "AusTrans" or did everyone meet up via some other medium eg- an add in the paper or a magazine?
    Waaay back in 1995 I discovered the internet at my uni, and came across a very small online fandom, with probably no more than 100 fans, worldwide! At this time, only fellow Aussie dirge was already a net user, and probably a couple other Aussies who are 'no longer with us'. This was mid way through 1995, and by the middle of 96, a year later, I was starting to compile a list of fellow Australian online transfans (because I thought it would be fun to have a local network of fans to link us together amongst all the (mostly) American online fans). I identified about 12-15, but some had already disappeared by the time I started contacting each to see if they wanted to be part of a local mailing list, or even a newsletter. With more interest in a newsletter than an email mailing list, in September 96 I did up the first issue of our newsletter. We just didn't yet have a name for our group, so it was just an Australian Transformers Fan newsletter. We had 16 members for that premiere, printed issue, and several members weren't even online, so the printed newsletter was the only option.
    By issue 3, we had a name (Austrans), and we were calling ourselves a Club (which was even authorised by Hasbro Australia). I think it was about a year or two later that I changed the name to Ozformers, to distance ourselves from 'trannies', and a transport company with the same name.
    The newsletter started being emailed out in the 2nd or 3rd year, and by the time I stopped printing it (took too long to print/photocopy) at issue 48 (in 2000), we had about 70 odd members, and the newsletter was now online on our website. About a year later, there was interest in setting up a forum, but I didn't have the time or interest in setting one up. But within a year of that, I had no choice, as the online newsletter was like a monthly thing, and more people were getting online with a 'need' to interact daily (the live IRC channels were big at this time because of this).
    Four forums later, here we are.
    And since I still keep an archive of TFs info, sorted by months, and each month numbered - if the newsletter was still going today, we would be at issue 172 this month! And have probably had at between 300-500 actual Transformers Fans register with us throughout our 12 and a half years.

    And we are actually one of the longest running, surviving Transformers Fan communities, in the world!
    The Transmasters club would be the longest if it still exists (I don't think it does anymore) because it was started around 1990 and even mentioned in the Gen1 comic, while the ATT newsgroup was created in about 1993 I think. Every other current fan community that exists today, started after we did in 1996, and with ATT not having any moderator/admin structure to it, we would have to be the longest running, organised transfan community in the world!

  7. #7
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    And who could forget 2004 ? The year Roller decided to join the online community as an ongoing member instead of just a stalker/lurker/im dead from staying up so late watching tv zombie

  8. #8
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    I was trying to find Transformers on the net in 1995 too, but searches always just yielded results relating to electrical transformers. I continued my search and eventually found other Transfans. The first forum I went on was Transformers.Net - a Japanese BBS, whose admin (Naito Naonori) and server was located in Shiga Prefecture. I quickly then started talking to other international TF fans. In 1997 Ben Yee told me about AusTrans and passed on griffin's email address to me.

  9. #9
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    BWTF, Austrans and ATT were part of growing up. You know what's embarrassing though? Digging up old ATT posts and trying to work out what on EARTH was going on 10+ years ago. Barely makes any sense now. Btw does anyone remember Ian Hollis at all? Seemed like a nice bloke, from Port Macquarie.

  10. #10
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    Wow, really interesting reading!

    Griffin - I actually forgot when I first joined your mailing list (did I even join it? Can't remember). Do you have database records somewhere? Just curious. Thanks.

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