Generation 1 Sunstreaker Knockoff

When the toys that later became known as TransFormers Generation 1 first hit the shelves, there were many larger toys that I was unable to obtain. They were plentiful enough in toy shops - I have fond memories of visiting toyshops in South Harrow and Ealing Broadway, as well as the massive Tesco superstore in Wembley/Neasden which was always very well-stocked - but, at the time, I just couldn't afford more than one of the Diaclone-derived figures every few months on my pocket money.

This has naturally led me, later in life, to seek out some of the figures I missed out on. Just as naturally, original G1 toys from those days are frequently in a poor state due to having been extensively played with - chipped paint and worn stickers, at the very least - and several were notorious for breaking, not least Mirage with his fragile waist joint. While some original figures have been re-released in Takara's TransFormers Collection/Encore or Hasbro's Commemorative Series and Platinum Edition, several molds are long known to have either gone missing, or become degraded beyond repair, meaning several key figures will never see a re-release.

However, Knockoffs have been springing up, including some of those supposedly missing or irretrievable molds. This one appeared on eBay mid-2019, listed as a genuine G1 toy but, since Sunstreaker is one of those that cannot be given an official re-release, and the chances of finding one still sealed in his box are beyond slim, the simple fact that this existed, and was priced at a mere £30 was enough to prove, sight unseen, that this was a knockoff. Since I already have a KO G1 Mirage, and its quality is impressive, I figured I may as well give this a spin...

Binaltech BT09 Swindle

If BT05 Dead End seemed like a weird - not to say controversial - choice for the first Decepticon to appear in the Binaltech ranks, the second provoked a reaction no less angry. When the photos emerged, fans expected this variation on the Jeep Wrangler to become Trailbreaker - which made a certain amount of sense - but the finished figure ended up instead as everyone's favourite Combaticon con-man. According to TFWiki, the change of character came as a result of trademark issues, and originated in the Alternators line, rather than being another example of Takara attempting to subvert expectations.

Swindle having originally been a military jeep, this actually works pretty well on the surface... but let's take a closer look.

Cybertron Hardtop

Hasbro's Cybertron line wasn't just their take on Takara Tomy's Galaxy Force toyline - it actually included a handful of figures that didn't appear in the TV show or the Japanese toyline.

Quite what the rationale was for this, I'm not sure anyone knows - it's not as if there was any shortage of Galaxy Force toys to repaint if Hasbro wanted new characters. It's entirely possible Hasbro's designers had simply been working away in the background, and needed a toyline - any toyline - to release their work into, and Galaxy Force/Cybertron was the best available option.

One such figure was Hardtop, who doesn't seem like a particularly good fit...

War for Cybertron: Siege Brunt

'Brunt' has to be one of the best names ever to grace the TransFormers toyline, right along with 'Scourge' and 'Dirge'. The word means "the worst part or chief impact of a specified thing" and is a very apt monkier for a tank with such an enormous cannon, which can split up to form additional components of the G1 Trypticon toy.

Pretty much my fondest desire, when the concept of Weaponisers turned out to be reimagined versions of all the partsformers packaged with the G1 city-bots, was for a Siege Brunt that paid worthwhile homage to the original. It didn't take long for the first pictures to emerge and, for me, Brunt became the real must-have of the line, even though there are already more than enough tanks in my collection, let alone the toyline as a whole.

Since I already have the G1 version, let's take a look at this newer, more elaborate homage to partsforming...

Beast Wars TransMetals 2 Blackarachnia

(Femme-Bot Friday #70)

I have a bit of a history of buying toys that I once professed to hate. Probably the best example of this is Lio Convoy, about whom my feelings changed very dramatically and for no reason I can readily recall. He - and his gorgeous black repaint - seemed to open the floodgates, though, leading to me buying BotCon 2001's Universe Arcee, a repaint of the Beast Wars TransMetals version that appeared a couple of years before.

That, naturally, led me to seek out the mainline original, a much-maligned toy in its own right, both because of its wasteful transformation and the ridiculously un-robotic looking, bikiki-wearing robot mode. TransMetals was, after all, the point in the Beast Wars toyline where it started to go completely crazy, in preparation for the nightmarish distortions of Beast Machines... But I think I've already proven that I consider Blackarachnia such a fun character that at least one of almost every iteration is worth acquiring... How bad could this one be?

Energon Omega Supreme

With a whole new version of G1 Omega Supreme coming out of Hasbro in the War for Cybertron line, I figured now was as good a time as any to look at one of the few non-G1 style TransFormers toys to bear that iconic name. Appearing as part of the Energon/Superlink line, this toy was the same size class as Armada Unicron... And I don't know a lot about him in terms of character because I still haven't been able to force myself to sit through the TV show.

But, where the original toy was a rocket base with a motorised tank that turned into a walking robot, brought by Hasbro from a company called Toybox and shoehorned into the US TransFormers line, while being made available in the UK as part of Grandstand's Converters line (putting the toy on a par with Tandy/Radio Shack's Galactic Man), the Energon toy took a very different tack, and presented two unique vehicle modes that combine into a single enormous robot (technically making him the largest Duocon - or Duobot, 'cos he's an Autobot - in TransFormers history, and a distinct variant of the line's Powerlinx/Superlink combiner concept), with the old G1 HeadMaster gimmick thrown in, just for larks.

Not sure what to make of it? Neither was I... so let's see how this fifteen-year-old, pre-Titans Return Titan measures up, and find out how many variations of 'Omega...' we can squeeze in.