Recently in binaltech Category

You know. This color combo and vehicle works as Arcee.

Binaltech Arcee is the 2104th Transformer that I've acquired.

And I gots the big ass gun now!!!

I think he's probably better than a Grandus.

TakaraTomy Binaltech Rijie is the the 2000th Transformer that I've acquired.

Yes. It is a gimmick.

Yes. My panties are sopping wet for a gimmick.

But c'mon... if you've got a character who possesses the ability to become invisible then I'm sure as hell not going to bitch about a transparent redeco version of him!

I gots to have me the e-hobby BT-18 Mirage.

These are the kinds of repaints and redecos or whathaveyou that I totally love!

My god is he heavy. If I accidentally dropped him I think I could take out at least 2 cats with him. He cost a pretty penny but I think in the long run he's totally worth it for my collection.

Even looking at him in the package you can tell he's a thousand times purtier than Alternator Nemesis Convoy!

But the weight! Insane! He's as heavy or heavier than MP-01 Convoy and MP-02 Ultra Magnus.

Binaltech Black Convoy is the 1858th Transformer that I've acquired.

$250?!?!?!?!

I doubt I'll ever have the Binaltech Black Convoy at those prices.

Sure... it is exclusive and all but do you know how much Spring plants and such $250 buy?

Lots.

I needs to get me one of these Wonder Festival 2007 Exclusive Binaltech Black Convoys soon.

There's something about the deco that looks nicer than the Hasbro Nemesis Prime exclusive from last year's San Diego Con.

Takara seems to have modified the Hasbro packaging too. I was wondering if this would come in a KISS Player box or old-school Binaltech box but ya know, I like it.

They typically have done very differently colored packaging for exclusives and this maintains that trend.

You know it doesn't belong to any mainstream line.

I like that.

I like that a lot.

Tformers.com has some finished deco'd Masterpiece Megatron images up.

I'm loving him but I certainly hope he can stand without the damn base he has. My initial concerns were that the weight of the viewfinder/fusion cannon would be way too heavy to make the figure stand.

And honestly, after getting MP Starscream and Autorooper yesterday, I'm kind of concerned about Tomy-Takara's product these days.

Oh. But I got to give kudos to the variation on the Kremzeek!

Sure.

Shockwave becomes a gun.

And Megatron becomes a gun.

And Browing becomes a gun.

(cover your kid's eyes)

He doesn't really fit in the light box.

And... I gotta put stickers on him too!!! Argh!!!!

Masterpiece Starscream is the 1823rd Transformer that I've acquired.

Autolooper has finally arrived!!!

Alas, Takara/Tomy has decided not to give him proper license plates out-of-the-box.

In fact, I have to put all his stickers on him.

I really really really hate putting stickers on toys. I always fuck them up and once you do you are damned for all time.

KISS Player Autolooper is the 1822nd Transformer that I've acquired.

I'm extremely happy that 2007 will see the release of a real Megatron.

Now this isn't a stab at the pointless ugliness of the movie Megatron but c'mon, in a year when you can get Masterpiece Megatron or that transforming creature dildonics Megatron, which one would you really rather have?

The new color images of MP Megs are great. I can't wait for this guy.

My only wish is that Takara had done the multiple-face gimmick option on Meg's face like they did for MP Starscream.

Megatron needs a smirk too.

(Oh. And there's going to be a Revoltech Megatron too!)

TakaraTomy KISS Player Hot Rod is the 1764th Transformer that I've acquired.

I think per square inch of plastic he's probably the most expensive too. Way too damn expensive for a non-die-cast figure.

But what's a loser to do.

There's a post over at Tfans.com by Fatguy with a pic of forthcoming TakaraTomy Kiss Play Hot Rod, a redeco of the Alternators Mirage mold with a new head.

Since Alternators are still on my collecting list I'll probably get this. I figure Hasbro will release this as well to take advantage of the new head sculpt. At least I hope they do.

I understand the basic economics of why redecos are done for Transformers. Most of them are understandable and Hasbro hits a few home runs every now and then when the repain a mold. Quite oftent he repaint is even superior to the orignals.

But with the Binaltech/Alternators line I never quite understood why the heads could not have been designed to be more component-based, allowing for at least simple head retools/swaps. The Reprolabels kitbash of Trailbreaker from a Swindle head and Alt Nemesis Prime is a good example where a new head and paint redeco truly makes you feel like you have a new figure.

A lot of fandom gets bent out of shape by redecos. I'm usually more apathetic and only get bent out of shape by really really poor redecos like a good chunk of the TF Universe line.

However, with that said, I gotta admit that the recently released Alternators Camshaft definitely falls into the "just called it in" kinda of redeco. He's just so boring and dull.

The pics posted by Fatjuy of this Kiss Play Hot Rod aren't great but I think the massive amount of red creates a definitely different looking figure. We'll have to see when better pics come out of the head.

But all in all I'm pretty sure I'll get him. I just don't think flames would look good on this car. In fact... they'd be like if Hollywood made Transformers and... oh... wait... nevermind.

I loves me some Masterpiece Ultra Magnus.

I just want some armor for him.

That would make me exceedingly geek-happy!

The strange short-lived Binaltech Asterisk line ended with the release of Binaltech Broadblast, a repaint of the Scion bBx mold originally used for Skids.

This time, the original G1 Blaster gets the BT treatment. No longer a boom box, he's now a full fledged vehicle and we here at plasticcrack.net will just imagine that Rewind, Eject, Ramhorn, and Steeljaw hang out inside!

It is rather strange that Takara released this as clearly an homage to a G1 character yet merged his Japanese name (Broadcast) with his American name (Blaster) to end up with Broadblast. Of course, Broadcast really doesn't work for the character in car mode does it?

He comes packed with a little chick figure called Lumina and I have no idea who the hell she's supposed to be.

The previous BTAs all shipped with these little chick figures of anime girls renamed as characters from Transformers. Alert came with one named AI (the artificial intelligence from Car Robots), Sunstreaker came with Junko (the ownder of the little red sportscar from Car Robots), and Broadblast comes with Lumina and I have no fucking clue who the hell she is! The now cancelled Binaltech Black Convoy was even supposed to come with Marissa Fairborn (GIJoes Flint and Lady Jaye's daugther) from Season 3 of the original series.

The whole inclusion of the little female PVC is some gimmick that I fail to grasp so I'll just chalk it up to being a "Japanese thing"!

Anyway, I'm pretty happy I got Broadblast. I don't see Hasbro releasing him.

As I've mentioned previously, I broke down the other day and bought Takara Binaltech Skids in a color palette more reminiscent of the original Skids released in 1985.

Binaltech Skids is a thousand times better than the Hasbro release. Where as Hasbro decided that Skids needed a totally gay flame deco, Takara took the more sensible route of just having a standard blue Scion and including stickers to make him look like the 80s Skids or a few flames. Why Hasbro couldn't do this simple thing is beyond me.

Number in Collection: 1554

My Binaltech Skids and Binaltech Broadblast should be delivered today.

Yeah. I broke down and bought the Binaltech version of Skids based on seeing Evebird's at work. Definitely nicer than the Hasbro versio with the paint flame deco.

Now there was that time when I was buying the Binaltech version of each figure but after Grimlock it just got to be too expensive. I decided at that time to only buy the Binaltech versions of figures that were not going to be released here by Hasbro and I'm happy I have yellow Tracks and Vroom-Vroom (the red Meister). Broadblast will probably never be released here by Hasbro so I picked him up due to this.

At least hope he won't be.

I mean, the Scion mold will probably get a repaint but I don't now if the Broadcast character would be it. I'm thinking even Hasbro realizes that doing a slightly retooled head and perhaps a few other minor changes to the mold will produce an Alternator Ironhide.

Unfortunately, with Takara-Tomy getting more distant from TF crap, I doubt we'll ever get Binaltech Wildrider now too.

Unfortunately, my aging digital camera can't do it justice at all. But Alert is one beautiful figure if you ask me.

I had wanted a Prowl from the Subaru WRX mold (previously used for Binaltech Smokescreen and Streak). Since back in the 80s the 3 characters shared the same Datsun mold it seemed to make sense.

Instead Takara redid Red Alert and left Prowl to the new Acura Integray Type-R mold. Which is unfortunate for Prowl.

However, Red Alert is what we'd call super mega balls awesome up here in the Attic of Love.

While I wish Prowl had been done from the Subaru mold, I'll settle for the Acura Integra Type-R.

And of course, Takara decided to use the Subara mold for Alert (aka Red Alert) and I've fine with that even though he looks more like a police car than a fire chief's vehicle. Needs more red instead of the black to get the right effect.

I assumed that Hasbro would not bother with introducing either of these stateside as Alternators so I figured I might as well add them to the collection if I could get them under $50

Numbers in Collection: 1472, 1473

There was an item I kind of forgot to mention that I finally acquired at Botcon for a pretty decent price from TFSource along with the E-Hobby Exclusive Victory Saber.

I finally got the unofficially produced Masterpiece Convoy Trailer. It is one helluva large item but I just had to have one to go with Convoy on the Binaltech/Alternator shelves.

Unfortunately, it really doesn't count as an addition to the collection because it is an accessory but it is pretty nice. Helluva nice box too.

Now if I can find a custom Roller to go with it! And here's hoping the make a trailer/carrier for Masterpiece Ultra Magnus too!