My Transformers Collection
Transformers
I like to talk about Transformers and my collection of toys. My favorite character is Starscream and I unsurprisingly have a ton of his figures.
Figures I Like
Store Exclusives
Transformers 00s Store Exclusives
This page was created as an entry into the 32-Bit Cafe’s Codejam #5. While not necessarily a “complicated topic”, it is a topic I can ramble on about for hours.
The early- to mid-2000s period of the Transformers franchise had an interesting product strategy, one that Hasbro seemed to shift away from following the success of the first live-action movie. This era was the one I grew up with, so I wanted to dive into one aspect of the toyline I find particularly interesting about this period: retailer exclusive toys.
2022 Vintage Starscream Reissue
2022 Vintage Starscream Reissue
The recent Walmart exclusive Transformers: The Movie Vintage Generation 1 Starscream reissue is a new direction from Hasbro for reissues of old Generation 1 figures. In the past, G1 reissues were relatively unchanged from their original counterparts from the 1980s, sometimes with minor revisions, often related to US toy safety laws that had changed since the original release. Now, Hasbro is releasing repainted versions of G1 figures which more closely match the character's on-screen appearance in the cartoon. Starscream and Hot Rod were the first, but Thundercracker and Hound have also come since.
The Transformers Collection Starscream
While repainting G1 figures in a more show-accurate color scheme is relatively new to Hasbro, it has been done by Takara in Japanese releases for a long time, notably all the way back in 2003 with The Transformers Collection #9: Starscream. Interestingly, the Hasbro reissue of Starscream from this time period was a straight-up rerelase with the original color scheme, changing only the length of the included missiles to comply with US toy safety regulations.