Another rare opportunity for variant collectors has surfaced in the form of Yahoo Japan auctions. this time on the auction block are three Generation One molds with mostly clear plastic: Megatron, Sideswipe and Smokescreen! Check out the mirrored photos at left by clicking the thumbnail.
Infosaur
I wonder if a "Clear" Megatron would cause less issues with customs?
rattrap007
my thoughts exactly. I'd want them if they were 100% clear white. But piss colored yellow no thanks…
aurascope
yes, i concur, it will be easier to assume the yellow was intentional!
Backscatter
They make shining yellow Ultra Magnus look good.
Fighbird
I think it has something to do with the environment in general and how close to the equator you live (a personal theory of mine). I rarely get any reports of such things happening around here, but plenty from collectors in the US and Asia.
Dragonclaw
I don't think it happened with vintage, every example we've seen is one that has been reissued. It may be something they did with all the Encore figures.
As for the plastics I've seen plenty of examples of pieces that have yellowed despite never having seen sunlight. Especially with pieces like Minerva and Galaxy Shuttle. The blue plasic I've seen problems with is from the Diaclone era (I've seen several Trailbreaker & Hoists that suffer from this) as well as some vintage Bandai pieces (Sun Vulcan and MR blue Hans Cuff seem to be the biggest victims of this).
Fighbird
Erm, live somewhere else? I live in Northern Europe, and only those toys that were stored in direct sunlight (so sue me, I was 10 at the time… ) are yellowed. No bad blue plastics, no crumbling rubber tires and nice and white parts all over for me… and looking at Smokescreen, the "yellowing" seems intended (what with both the clear red and yellow sections).
Fighbird
This I find dubious, especially since this alludes to the fact that this has been done ever since G1 (and/or even as far back Diaclone/Microman). Only a very select few true G1 chromed items have ever surfaced — G1 Prime "statue" and gold Hot Rod — and absolutely no clear toys from that era.
Kickback
My favorite is still clear G1 Soundwave. He looked fucking amazing in 2003 when I saw him in person for the first time.
Fighbird
Which was…? (For those of us who didn't attend… )
Railguard
I don't really see the point to this but I guess someone will want them.
Dragonclaw
Nah, it's just the problem with plastic…clear will always get that smokey yellow look…white will always yellow…gold tends to crumble over time and blue from the early 80's discolors and becomes brittle…
Unfortunately there's very little that anyone can do about any of it
Runamuck
Likely? No. Possible? Yes.
saberconvoy
Wow how many are there.
but they don't look that good.
Vector Sigma
Nice. Far too pricey for me right now either way…
*EDIT* I'd particularly love the megatron, being a gun megs collector of sorts, but almost £300 for him is just stretching the budget way too far…
Jaguaratron
yeah, not likely to be one guy clearing his collection for other purposes is it…….
Runamuck
Yeah, no kidding. I don't like the colors. And these are showing up kind of fast all of a sudden to be lucky draws or happy meal time lunch kits, or whatever you call those.
Jaguaratron
or you know, what was said at botcon 2005
Megatronwp38
I want that megatron!
TF@TM
There'll almost certainly be others, as we posted on our news story this morning, which also included the four main "theories / stories" behind the figures. If you want to see robot mode images we have plenty in our Prototypes section.
The different stories behind the figures.
We got ours as a bulk lot way back when, and they worked out at about $125 a figure.