Maz's Articles & Reviews

[Maz]

Ambassadors Part 6. You know the score by now, surely. Although I do think one thing bears repeating, our contributors that are picking their line, category, sub-category or era-specific ambassadors are not choosing one toy to represent the Transformers brand as a whole, or to turn a complete non-collector into a collector. Rather, they are choosing a toy from a particular area of Transformers to promote that area’s qualities, charm and character – as well as highlighting its shortcomings – to those of us who have never sampled that line, that category, that era. The contributors have admittedly set their own parameters on occasion, but the key thing here is we can enjoy the enthusiasm and justification of other collectors while being comfortable with the fact that our own choices would have been different. This week’s topics are Beast Wars, Cybertron, reissue exclusives and Transformers watches.

Our question, as before, was: ‘‘What toy would you choose to represent an entire toy line, if you had ONE choice, one toy you could pitch to a non-collector (and yes, I see where the confusion has arisen from) in order to sell the line?”. So, in no particular order…

Ambassadors – Part 6 | Source Blog <- CLICK TO DISAGREE/READ

I added my own choices for last week's Part 5 and this week's Part 6 categories on Square One Square One: Ambassadors Part 6 - and my picks for Parts 5 and 6





With thanks to:
- Fighbird
- The Last Autobot
- Specimen17
- Brr-Icy
- Ras
- TheSpacebridge

Part 1 can be found here:
Ambassadors – Part 1 | Source Blog

Part 2 can be found here:
Ambassadors – Part 2 | Source Blog

Part 3 can be found here:
Ambassadors – Part 3 | Source Blog

Part 4 can be found here:
Ambassadors – Part 4 | Source Blog

Part 5 can be found here:
Ambassadors – Part 5 | Source Blog

All the best
Maz

[Bidoofdude]

Ambassadors Part 6. You know the score by now, surely. Although I do think one thing bears repeating, our contributors that are picking their line, category, sub-category or era-specific ambassadors are not choosing one toy to represent the Transformers brand as a whole, or to turn a complete non-collector into a collector. Rather, they are choosing a toy from a particular area of Transformers to promote that area’s qualities, charm and character – as well as highlighting its shortcomings – to those of us who have never sampled that line, that category, that era. The contributors have admittedly set their own parameters on occasion, but the key thing here is we can enjoy the enthusiasm and justification of other collectors while being comfortable with the fact that our own choices would have been different. This week’s topics are Beast Wars, Cybertron, reissue exclusives and Transformers watches.

Our question, as before, was: ‘‘What toy would you choose to represent an entire toy line, if you had ONE choice, one toy you could pitch to a non-collector (and yes, I see where the confusion has arisen from) in order to sell the line?”. So, in no particular order…

Ambassadors – Part 6 | Source Blog <- CLICK TO DISAGREE/READ

I added my own choices for last week's Part 5 and this week's Part 6 categories on Square One Square One: Ambassadors Part 6 - and my picks for Parts 5 and 6





With thanks to:
- Fighbird
- The Last Autobot
- Specimen17
- Brr-Icy
- Ras
- TheSpacebridge

Part 1 can be found here:
Ambassadors – Part 1 | Source Blog

Part 2 can be found here:
Ambassadors – Part 2 | Source Blog

Part 3 can be found here:
Ambassadors – Part 3 | Source Blog

Part 4 can be found here:
Ambassadors – Part 4 | Source Blog

Part 5 can be found here:
Ambassadors – Part 5 | Source Blog

All the best
Maz

Nice article. I love my Vector Prime toy. I've had it since I was a kid and I absolutely love it to this day. The proportions, head, name and plenty of other things are perfect. Just need to whiten mine up a bit.

[Maz]

It's been a decade since the origin of the Finnish Diaclone Black Tracks was finally revealed and discovered by the community outside Finland, but even then pictures and stories about it existed for years before, so it wasn't a surprise.

Has there been anything discovered since that was based on established early vintage Generation 1 figures, but completely different? One example that comes to mind is the Japanese Diaclone "Black Sideswipe", that was actually all black, not like Deepcover. Again, another Diaclone example, but quite groundbreaking...although not to anyone who wasn't a G1 car or Diaclone aficionado. And it was still a black Countach, not that new.

This may not be quite as big as those two official releases, but it is good, and it will surprise. For something to make my jaw drop simply because it has gone undiscovered for so long is rare and hugely welcomed. There can't be too many of these moments left in this hobby.

Spanish KO Minibots Overview <- CLICK TO READ





This article collects together all the "Big Reveal" chapters from my Square One blog:

Square One: A Big Reveal......is coming
Square One: A Big Reveal (Part 1)
Square One: A Big Reveal (Part 2)
Square One: A Big Reveal (Part 3)
Square One: A Big Reveal (Part 4)
Square One: A Big Reveal (Part 5)
Square One: A Big Reveal (Part 6)
Square One: A Big Reveal (Finale)

All the best
Maz

[Maz]

So much for not writing article-length stuff for my blog, once I got started on this I couldn't stop. There were so many pictures and bits of info I'd wanted to put together for years and the result is a halfway-house between a very detailed blog post with good photos and the article I've always wanted to write. I ended up not including pictures of the prototype Powered Convoy, mock-up pics or detailed photos of all the other rare versions (Ceji Joustra, PCDX giftset). I'll save those for a TF-1 article one day. Anyway, hope you enjoy it:


Square One: Diaclone "Powered Convoy" (click me)





All the best
Maz

[Maz]

Another blog post "non-article" that got too long...

Square One: Diaclone "Black Tracks" (click me)



All the best
Maz

[Maz]

Minibots got everywhere. They were in Generation 1 in North America and Europe on cards, they came out in Japan in boxes and then cards, they originated in Japan in boxes with different colours to Transformers, they were available in a rainbow of new decos in a number of South American countries, moulds were re-purposed as new characters and painted as such in Mexico (with new colours thrown in for fun). There were vintage model kits and gumball kits in Japan too of certain moulds. More recently reissues have introduced new and interesting variants and interpretations, and there were also keychain versions with convention exclusive repaints. That’s a very general overview, but as if that wasn’t enough headache for the minibot completist, there are also vintage bootlegs, and they are something entirely different.

The Lost Tribe | Source Blog <- CLICK TO READ





All the best
Maz

[Maz]

We've looked at the yellow G1 Ceji Devastator and the variant G1 Ceji Starscream, now it's the turn of the 1986 Ceji G1 Decepticon jet Ramjet, made in France and sold in mainland Europe and Scandinavia. We'll briefly check out Thrust and Dirge too. Like Devastator and Starscream, Ceji's Ramjet is quite different to the Hasbro and Takara Generation 1 Transformers Ramjets that most of us will have grown used to in our childhoods and adult collecting. Here comes the breakdown

Square One: Ceji G1 Ramjet, Dirge and Thrust <- CLICK TO READ





All the best
Maz

[Maz]

Since Mijo of 20th Century Toy Collector confirmed the existence of the mainland European Generation 1 1985 Milton Bradley "Sunswipe" - a Sunstreaker in Sideswipe packaging - there's been a lot written about it by both himself as the remover of the veil of ignorance, and myself as the first owner of probably the best specimen ever found. I have since passed this diamond of a Euro variant onto Mijo, where it belongs to be fair, but here is the first dedicated write-up I've personally done on this variant.

Square One: Milton Bradley G1 "Sunswipe" <- CLICK TO READ





All the best
Maz

[janda the red]

I really enjoy reading your write ups Maz, thanks for sharing them on OTCA.

[Maz]

I really enjoy reading your write ups Maz, thanks for sharing them on OTCA.

An absolute pleasure mate, I'm thankful to your community for having them!

All the best
Maz