Marvel/Grandreams TransFormers Annual 1985

Back in my youth, publishers of comics and teen-oriented magazines habitually ended the year with a hardbacked book featuring either retrospectives or - frequently, in the case of the comics - some wholly new material. In those days, I would always get such annuals for Christmas, and amassed quite a selection over the years, from The Beano to The Eagle (shared with my sister) to TransFormers, all of which ended up in the loft at my parents' place.

Cut to just before Christmas 2021, and my mother mentioned that she wanted to do a massive clear-out of the loft. Earlier this month, I popped over there a little earlier than I normally would when attending a local computer club, and assisted with the sorting effort. While most of my time was spent identifying toys/toy parts and grouping them together by type, we did find a couple of bags of annuals, so I grabbed the four TransFormers ones just for fun...

But then I figured I may as well take the opportunity to write about them, as they're as much a piece of TransFormers history as the toys. Here's the first...

TransFormers Collection #21 - Broadcast & Steeljaw

Another of Generation 1's MIAs, Blaster got a US release, but never came to the UK. While it was understandable with the likes of Perceptor, it was strange, disappointing and downright annoying that Blaster didn't get an official UK release - he was basically Soundwave's counterpart, and played quite a major role in many of the Marvel UK comics.

That said, while Soundwave had a fairly subdued and complementary colourscheme, Blaster's seems to have been decided upon by a five year old, and was designed to fit his robot mode at the expense of his alternate mode.

TransFormers Collection #19 - Perceptor

The sad fact about Generation 1 is that, while it was mostly based on existing molds from Takara's Diaclone and Microchange lines, some of the toys never made it over to the UK, even if they were released in the US. Perceptor is one such model. In many ways, you have to wonder about the thinking behind bringing Perceptor into the TransFormers brand - sure, he transforms... but into a microscope (and, loosely speaking, into a kind of tank thing). Great disguise, certainly, and one that was re-used for Scalpel (aka The Doctor) in Revenge of the Fallen... but in a line of toys that transform from robots into cars, planes, etc, Perceptor stands out as something quite irregular.

Naturally, Soundwave also originated from the Microchange line, as did Blaster... but they worked somehow... A Microscope just seems incongruous.

As a character, Perceptor was fond of big words. His big moment in the animated movie came when, having seen the Decepticon forces approaching Autobot City, he announced "A cursory evaluation of Decepticon capabilities indicates a distinct tactical deficiency," quickly translated by Springer to "We're outnumbered." You could almost see him getting on very well with Shockwave, in other circumstances.

TransFormers Collection #11 - Astrotrain

While every other reissue I've picked up is to supplement a lack in my original G1 collection, I felt compelled to buy this reissue, even though I own an original, for two reasons:

• My original has exceptionally weak legs, and can't stand
• This one has a far superior colourscheme in both modes

There's also the fact that it comes in the usual (excellent) TFC presentation box with Filofax pages...


While actually quite basic, these packages were always very effective - it must be be amazing to have the full set lined up on a bookshelf. I only have four of these and a further six in the US/UK packaging, which was styled after the original G1 packaging, but in a box similar to these. Of course, in many instances, the US/UK versions were cut-down or in some way different (read: inferior) to the Japanese reissues. Most of the time it was just lost chrome (one of my favourite things about the original G1 toys - chromed weapons looked brilliant!), but sometimes the overall paint job seemed somehow lacking.