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The Variations Q and A
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It's Prime Time!
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Magnus Deals with it Now
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Super Mega Minibot Rampage |
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Everything Else Autobot
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The REAL Dinobots
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Let's Talk about Jets, Baby!
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Everything Else Decepticon |
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Combiners
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Japanese, European, and Worldwide Tfs
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Mold stampings and Rubsigns
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Beastwars |
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Machine Wars
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Beast Machines
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R. I. D.
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BotCon Exclusives
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Package Variants
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Fast Food Tfs |
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The Patent Pages
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Diaclone and Pre-Transformers!
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Armada Universe and Energon |
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Alternators, Cybertron, and Beyond
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Other Toy Lines
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Collecting Dangers
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Join the Variations Quest! |
Alternators, Cybertron, and Beyond
| Masterpiece Prime |Smokescreen, Silverstreak and Richochet| Sideswipe, DeadEnd and Sunstreaker|
Hound vs Swindle and Rollbar| Jazz and Shockwave| Windcharger and Dragstrip| Tracks vs Swerve| Alternators Prime| Prowl|
| Megatron vs Galvatron | Prime vs GF Prime | StreetSpeed Team and More Minicon Battles | 6 armada deluxe remolds | Cybertron Deluxe variants | Cybertron Basics variants | Vector Prime, Dark Scorponok, and other Megas and Ultras | Primus | More on Universe |
2006 and Beyond: the new lines, and the new movie toys
| Tf Classics | BW 10th | The Movie Toys | Tfs Animated |
The usa version of Takara's Binaltech series; the main difference being that Alternators are plactic, while Binaltech features die-cast metal. Frankly, the plastic is better....:-) These were released concurrently with the Energon series.
| Masterpiece Prime |Smokescreen, Silverstreak and Richochet| Sideswipe, DeadEnd and Sunstreaker|
Hound vs Swindle and Rollbar| Jazz and Shockwave| Windcharger and Dragstrip| Tracks vs Swerve| Alternators Prime| Prowl|
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Masterpiece Prime: As I consider him to be the same character as the original Optimus Prime, details on his variants will be found on the Prime page, so go there :-) The short version is that he comes with both black and grey guns in the US Hasbro packaging (initial release), then for 2006 he comes with a major blue color-change(and a matching blue gun) *and* a clear vs blue window tint variant! We love it. Go Prime.
This one, a dodge truck, fits in with the alternators theme. We're still waiting to see how the variant Nemesis Prime (black recolor) will be released.
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Smokescreen, Silverstreak and Richochet
The first alternator released in the USA, he sets the standard :-) A retooled, silver version of this mold has been released as Silverstreak; which features a shorter spoiler, different rims, different front lisence plate, etc :-) Note that several other versions of Smokescreen are available in the Binaltech section. Other than color and minimal retooling, the units are quite similar; it makes an excellent homage to the original PBS cars :-) Now bring on Prowl!
Smokescreen vs Silverstreak front end spoilers and guns Rims
One note of great interests: initial-versions of Silverstreak had 'right-side' steering(similar to Binaltech). Later versions were corrected to the standard usa left-side steer:
Silverstreak, right vs left steering
It is also interesting to note that a retooled-retooled version of the Subaru mold is slated to be released in the US as Richochet (unknown which mold this will be a recolor of....the american streak, american smoke, japanese retool 04 smoke, or the japanese retool bta alert)
Smoke, Streak, and Richochet (in-process)
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Sideswipe, DeadEnd and Sunstreaker
Or lambor, if you prefer. A nice piece, but modified by most collectors to transform differently(many prefer the trunk lid become the chest, but I digress). The mold has been tinkered with, and the Decepticon DeadEnd made. Note the different head sculpt(note also how it looks like sunstreaker's head:-)Deadend also features an actual roof, different rims, and a spoiler, when compared to Sideswipe:
Sideswipe vs DeadEnd Rims and front air dam Heads Guns
It took them almost a year later, but they did finally recolor the 'deadend' mold into Sunstreaker (yellow, tres cool!)
Sunstreaker (in-process)
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Hound started off as a green Jeep, and was later retooled, recolored, and re-released as Swindle. New features include a different head sculpt, fatter tires, and a reinforced bumper. Rollbar is a recolor of Swindle
| Hound vs Swindle | Heads | Rollbar |
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Yea, I know the packages say Meiser and shockblast, but I don't care :-) Here's another fun retool. Jazz has been recolored and remolded into Shockwave(purple instead of white, new head, and a cannon replacing the left hand).
Jazz vs Shockwave |
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The erstwhile Windcharger has been recolored into Dragstrip (Decepticharge). New color, new rims, new spoiler, but still not driveshaft barrel(still retained in the japanese version). Bums.
(pics in-process)
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Tracks, originally released in blue plastic, was remolded (the head) and re-released as Swerve in the Alt line. Included was the flame sticker from the blue Binaltech Tracks(japan).
(pics in-process)
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Niice. In-addition to a transitional package-change (red box to bubble), Prowl goes from a plain back end, to one having company logos tampo'd to the back end:
Prowl (boxed vs carded) | Trunk lid, logo vs none
| Megatron vs Galvatron | Prime vs GF Prime | StreetSpeed Team and More Minicon Battles | 6 armada deluxe remolds | Cybertron Deluxe variants | Cybertron Basics variants | Vector Prime, Dark Scorponok, and other Megas and Ultras | Primus | More on Universe |
A straight recolor, from Megatron (purple/yellow) to Galvatron (chrome/black)
(pics in-process)
Same premise as Megatron: Prime (red/blue) becomes 'Galaxy Force' Prime (red/black). Nice pun, considering the Cybertron line in Japan translates into Galaxy Force :-)
(pics in-process)
StreetSpeed Team and More Minicon Battles:
Everything minicon has been recolored ;-) Minicons started in the Armada line, and carried over to Energon. Some Cybertron tfs even come with minicon ports(talk about beating an idea to death.) The street-speed team is a recolor and remold from the original cars, while The Minicon battles were 2-pks recolors from previous lines. The teams were paired with their opposite opponent (so to complete the Energon Sabre you had to buy 3 packs of swords, which also let you complete the Destruction team, etc).
Pics in-process
6 armada deluxe remolds (Blurr, Runamuck, Longrack, Buzzsaw, Demolisher, and Prime):
Now here's an interesting set of remolds :-) Each of these was an Armada mold, retooled to be a different character. The homages run rampant. No-longer activated by minicons, you need the current Cyber-Planet Keys to push in and activate special features.
Runamuck was a Battlecharger in G1; they took Armada Sideswipe's mold(recycled 3 times already in the Universe line as Sideswipe, Oilslick vs BlackArachnia, and Magnus vs Treadshot), put on a new head, changed the gimmick (instead of a push-button, you have to insert a key to activate his gimmick) and replaced the minicon cycle with a gun. He's darn cool.
LongRack is a remold of the Armada Hoist mold. He's painted to look like the original japanese Beastwars Giraffe, with a robot head remolded to match the animal(nice). His shovel activation gimmick was changed(again, you have to insert a planet key to make his gimmick work).
Blurr is a remold of the Armada Blurr mold(which was recolored in the Universe line as Swerve previously ;-). Another remolded head, and this time, the head looks quite a bit like the anime face of the G1 character. In-addition, the missles are completely redesigned, the back end of the car is completely remolded (no need for a minicon to park back there anymore) and of all things, his guns were remolded; instead of snapping into his forearms, he can now hold them in his hands.
Buzzsaw is a remold of the Armada Cyclonus helicopter(which saw 2 recolors in the Armada and Energon lines before the remold). As far as I can tell, he's a homage to the japanese Beastwars Buzzsaw. New head, new colors, new front-end, and even new arm-launchers. They didn't leave this guy alone.
Demolisher is the only one that's still himself. The same name as the original Armada tank, but recolored (somewhat closer to the original colorscheme). No minicon this time around either, but like the others, a cyberkey. He's been thru the recolor wringer (Armada, Energon, Universe, Cybertron, Japanese...) Let's retire this poor fellow.
Prime: There can never be too-many Primes, apparently :-) There's already several versions of this mold in Armada (3 paint variants, and Nemesis Prime) plus the Universe Magnus recolor (white version in the Battle in a box sets and now we see him released in Cybertron. I like the mold, and maybe not having the minicon is an improvement, but geez my fingers are tired from all this recolor typing.
Anyways, there's three versions of Bendy Prime that we know of:
1) Prime with mis-assembled arms (came with Jungle map)
2) proper Prime (Giant map)
3) proper Prime with Planet Symbols tampos (Giant Map)
Art notes: "I've also heard there was a paint app change during the mis-assembled phase. Something around the shoulders changed colors. But I haven't seen any pics of this."
Blurr vs Blurr(heads) Blurr weapons Cyclonus vs Buzzsaw copters
Hoist vs LongRack Swipe vs Runabout(heads) Sideswipe vs Runabout
Demolisher(Cybertron) vs Demolisher (Armada, Energon, Universe) | Prime vs Armada Prime/Nemesis Prime/Universe Magnus
Well, it's a mess. The Cybertron line was promised to us as having less recolors than the previous line....we've actually ended up with *more*. Don't believe me? Count them. So much for trusting a Hasbro rep when they said there would be less. Anyways, Crosswise came with a slight paint variant on his spoiler; brown vs orange. Otherwise, he's the same basic car (this paint variant can be found on the early runs of crosswise.)
The rest of the fewllows are straight recolors(with name changes and bios to create 'different' characters, which is pretty sneaky....keeps him from being a liar, as the previous lines had them listed as upgraded or powerlinxed versions of the same character).
Crosswise paint variants | Hotshot vs Excillion | RedAlert vs Cannonball | Thundercracker vs Skywarp | OverRide vs OverRide GTS
(Pics in-process)
And speaking of my complaint about recolors.... darn near every basic in the line was recolored. Ugh.
Overhaul vs Brushguard | Clocker vs Swerve | Hardtop vs Swindle | Brakedown vs Brakedown GTS | Ransack vs Ransack GTS
In-process
Vector Prime, Dark Scorponok, and other Megas and Ultras:
Well, at least Vector Prime can claim a legitimate variant. There were two releases of the original white version; singly, then later on as a TRU exclusive 2-pk with a recolored mega Starscream(until that point, it was a japan-only mold...all we had was the unweildy supreme version). The 2-pk VectorPrime had remolded tabs on the shoulderpads; reinforcement that the original release lacked. Unfortunately, Vector Prime was also recolored in gold later on in the line, and renamed Gal;axy Force Vector Prime.
Dark Scorponok was another Energon escapee. Recolored from green to black, DS was also remolded in order to accept a cyber-planet key in order to activate his gimmick.
The LeoBreaker mold was given the evil black recolor treatment, and is now Nemesis Breaker. Scourge was recolored and rereleased as Cryotek(a nice homage name to the target-exclusive Cryotek, a recolored BW Megatron dragon mold.)
VectorPrime vs VectorPrime | Shoulderpads | Scorponok vs Dark Scorponok | Leo Breaker vs Nemesis Breaker | Scourge vs Cryotek |
The initial version was released with a silly little Unicron head, while the later version was not. A Third version came with samples of minicons from the upcoming Cybertron line.
(pics in-process)
There were several Tfs released in the Universe subline during Cybertron. These have been listed in the Universe section of the site.
2006 and Beyond: the new lines, and the new movie toys
| Tf Classics | The Movie Toys | BW 10th Anniversary | Tfs Animated |
The ultimate homage line. Classic sculpt tfs with modern posability.
(See also Botcon for the McBotcon recolors.)
Astrotrain: comes in two colors of purple(light, and dark).
Starscream: initial release had 4 'vent lines' on the inside of his vents (underneath in jet mode, visable on front in botmode) and came in two shades of blue (light blue, dark blue). The second release (and the recolor 'Skywarp' in the Classics 2-pk) were also of the 5-vent variety.
Optimus: is recolored into Magnus.
(Pics in-process)
The 2006 movie that was pushed to July 2007....prepare to see everything you love about tfs watered down for the masses. I mean it. Not only did they release a *lot* of toys in one shot, they also released them concurrently in sets, *and* pushed the new animated line 6 months so they could recolor these things endlessly. My childhood is gone, destroyed by the corporate beast that is hasbro (and people woner why I don't like beasts). It's bionicle on steriods, its... well, it's ok, actually. I saw the movie a couple of times. I'm still a gee wun fan, though.
In-addition to the multiple recolors (and repackaging) of movie molds at regular mass-retail, we saw Bestbuy and Target-specific recolors, and, we saw recolors of Energon and Cybertron basics at Target.