Eighteenth Anniversary

Is being around for eighteen years as much of a milestone for Blogs as it supposedly is for people?

If so, this anniversary is certainly going to be a disappointing one. With Hasbro fully embracing the AI bubble and shedding more staff every so often, it's hard to find anything truly positive to say about them. The TransFormers brand is in a sorry state, with Age of the Primes limping on and set to be followed by another equally dull toyline that does precious little new.

On the upside, I've had far more important things to spend money on this last year or so. Courtney and I had a short holiday in Eastbourne for my birthday last year and then, just before the 2025 Anniversary, we took a trip to Iceland. This year, everything is rather closer to home. I bought my flat in July of the same year I started this blog and, due to a leaky roof, had to put off some of the renovations it needed. I've finally been able to replace the ceilings - some of which were seriously water-damaged - and, as of this very day, my complete bathroom refit will be underway. On top of that, having replaced my windows and front door last year, I'm having to replace the door already, following a fire safety assessment, which determined that the front doors of all the flats are not compliant. I'd say "it never rains, but it pours," but that would be rather too close to the bone, even though the roof has been secure and leak-free as of the spring/summer of 2024.

As a result of all this domestic work, both elective and necessary, I've bought just four 'proper' transforming figures since September of last year... I'd like to say they were all bangers, but one of them broke after I started customising it.

To bulk the list up, I'm going to cheat a little, and add a transforming toy that I bought for Courtney, which was delivered on 21st September 2025... and which will likely mark one of a few little changes this blog will require going forward, as I step away from collecting Hasbro's utter garbage output.

So... Away we go:

The dishonourable mention is obvious:

Retro G1 Brawn
I'm not a fan of any Brawn toy based on the animation model, and only reluctantly bought the
Titans Return toy, years ago. This is essentially a repaint of the Studio Series '86 figure with a
toy-accurate head sculpt and, while it may seem counterintuitive to prefer the original toy's bland
head, I maintain that it's leagues better than the hideous humanoid face applied to the animation
model and almost every toy since the original. It's a shame that the arms crumbled when I applied
some chrome paint, but I have to admit it's a pretty mediocre toy regardless.

And now, onto the good stuff... In which the Third Party contingent is very much dominant...

4. 52Toys BeastDrive BD-16 Fickle Step
Bought this for Courtney (kind of) but ended up building the kit myself. It's hugely fun, vehicle
mode is cool, and robo-kitty mode is absolutely adorable... As is the tiny cat figurine who acts
as its 'driver'. There's a good chance I'll pick up the other figures based on the BD-16 structure...
though, for some reason, 52Toys have elected to sell the body kits separately from
the inner robot structure.

3. Metal Cardbot W Tachy
While I've not been overly impressed by most of the Metal Cardbot figures I've seen reviewed
on YouTube, Tachy caught my attention, not just because it's a Femme-Bot, but because it's a
remarkably interesting figure, generally and very well-built. It comes across as an alternate
universe version of Cheetor, where he's a Femme-Bot who transforms into a car.

2. SXS R-04 Hot Flame
I figure if I'm going to be a Femme-Bot fan, I should at least entertain the possibility of acquiring
any 'sexualised' male-coded 'bots that might exist... And SXS's take on IDW Rodimus - as a
full-on Himbo - is easily the best place to start. While the version created by Mastermind Creations
is no doubt the more sturdy figure, it's also rather bland and flat, while this one nails the narrow
waist and protruding robo-pecs. A very cool figure, overall.

1. Classics/Masterpiece Starscream
Back when MP Starscream first appeared, I was content with the Takara Tomy figure and,
frankly, a little snobby about Hasbro's version in G1 toy colours. In the twenty years (!)
since it first went on sale, my opinion has changed a little. I put it down to MP-11 and MP-52
becoming increasingly slavish in their adherence to the G1 animation model and colourscheme,
so this figure, with its stark white plastic given a weathering treatment, is a relic of a bygone time
when Masterpiece could borrow from G1 without compromising the nigh-perfect F-15 jet alt mode.

The inclusion of one of 52Toys figures kind of opens the door for me to include more of their output on the TransForm-A-Blog... I've acquired three BeastBox figures so far and, in all likelihood, I'll be buying more in future. While I was initially put off by the fact that they literally just turn into boxes - something I am vociferously against in TransFormers toys - the engineering is truly marvellous. A puzzlebox that turns into a robotic creature is infinitely more interesting than a humanoid robot that folds into a box which may or may not have wings attached... and, yes, I'm looking at you, Siege Seekers and Soundwave.

So, disillusioned though I may now be with the TransFormers brand - with the exception of things like Takara Tomy's Overgear project and the Masterpiece Movie line - it seems there should be no shortage of transforming robot toys for me to examine in future. Between Metal Carbot, BeastBox/BeastDrive and the healthy Third Party scene, this blog may well slow down considerably, but it ain't going anywhere anytime soon.

As I write, I have just six more drafts to complete - most of them being Femme-Bot Fridays. The last one published - my write up of MPM Brawl - took almost a year and a half to finish, such is my sense of ennui about the TransFormers brand. I mean, granted, I haven't bought much in the last year... but it really says something that my biggest highlight of the year is a figure that was released 20 years ago - two years before I even launched this blog!

Perhaps opening this blog up to other brands of transforming robot toys, beyond the Third Party TransFormers-analogues, will help revitalise me in the coming months and years.