Three Unofficial Transformers Brainstorm Headmasters . . . Really?
When I first started to think through a book about third party Transformers toys there were several releases, but we hadn’t yet reached the point where third party manufacturers were really falling over each other in attempts to revise and update classic characters in quite the same way they are today. Multiple Devastators were just the beginning, and now we’ve reached the point where I just kinda assume that at least two different manufacturers will compete to bring us new versions of the exact same classic character.
For example, we’re now waiting on the release of three different versions of the 1987 Transformers Headmaster, Brainstorm (see the TFWiki). FansProject, Mastermind Creations, and Toyworld have all announced — and released photos of — their own takes on the character and each design is different. How does this sort of thing even happen? With so many untapped segments of the Transformers history why do we see three different Brainstorm toys and not one Pretender shell/upgrade for a toy like Hasbro’s official Generations Thunderwing (review here) that was released a few years ago?
But you know what? Maybe there is room in the market, because for each design posted I see someone out there talking about how it is the best design of the three. I personally am a fan of Toyworld’s design more than the other two — especially after how awesome their Hardbone toy (review here) turned out — but I have read plenty of comments from people who hate the “X-Wing” and “blocky” look of the toy to know that my opinion isn’t shared by everyone.
And it’s this duplication of effort in such dramatically different ways that makes me jump right in and work my Transforming Expectations Kickstarter project. This is a strange time for Transformers fans — who would have ever imagined that so many eighties character designs would be updated to modern toys? — and the third party toys are too expensive for anyone to collect them all. So if a book like mine can help fans at least shelve images and info on these toys in their libraries then I’m contributing to this unexpected third party scene and, hopefully, helping everyone get a better idea of what’s out there.
And I simply love books. The internet is amazing — all of this information is right there when I need it — but nothing beats the feel of a hardcover book packed with color photos. I may not understand how or why we live in a world where three different Brainstorms are being created and released in the same year, but I can at least help document this era in Transformers history. I’ll be over here snapping photos and waiting on Brainstorm, Brainstorm, and Brainstorm if you need me.
Three Brainstorms, yes, but more worryingly three Predakings… It’s really making the market interesting, because there’s clearly market for all three of each.
Some people are die-hard FP fans, others MMC, and Toyworld made good in-roads with Hardbone & that’s paying off when it comes to their next headmasters. And both Unique & TFC have their fans too (the former because of their stricter adherence to G1 Predaking).
I’ll definitely be picking up the FP one (I’ve had it on pre-order for some time), and I have a lot of time for them as a company, though I don’t think he looks quite right as he seems to have a face, rather than a face-mask like MMC & Toyworld’s, so there’s always a chance I’ll pick up one of them – but MMC’s is more tempting as it has the svelte look of the original, where Toyworld’s is a bit too chunky in both forms for my liking 🙂
With the Brainstorms, it’s especially interesting though…. ToyWorld appears to be going much more for just translating the G1 design like they did with Hardbone, and FansProject’s designer is going for using some novel transformation steps to result in a fairly clean robot mode (the way the wings disappear into the legs is AMAZING). MMC’s meanwhile is currently an entirely different beast given it’s part of a larger concept – the Perceptor and Shockwave they teased as well are both built off this same base mold, so it’s entirely possible this is more of a “customizable Transformer” type thing.
Something really interesting to me anyway, when there’s multiple releases like this, is how different they are.
Not just in transformation engineering, but literally all 3 molds look nothing alike, so if you were one to collect all 3, color aside they look like a set of autobot seekers almost.