KO Korner: Super Scramble Basebot G1 Transformers "Menasor"

If you know me very well then you should know that I like the older odd Generation 1 knock-off Transformers.  I'm not talking about knock-off toys where you can't tell the real deal from the fake.  I'm talking about the higher quality 80's Taiwanese toys.  I don't own many thanks in part to other collector's like myself swooping in and snatching them up or driving the price up higher than it should be.  That said today's post is one that I've been waiting to share for awhile now.

Back in the early days of the Internet...well at least early to me I ran across images of wildly colored G1 Transformer Stunticons.  I wasn't able to find any information about the toy for many many years, but the same image always popped up when doing a Google image search.  For me at least it was one of those items I thought I'd never see in person yet alone own.

When I was forced to move my collection to another room in the house it forced me to move a lot of items that had previously been buried away in my crowded closet.  I remember acquiring this item from another fellow Transformers fan for a decent price...much cheaper than I'd image it could fetch on eBay.  I don't think many people have seen this piece so I wanted to share him w/ the masses...or at least with the people that click on and read my humble blog.

Super Scramble Basebot.  I have no idea who made it and when it was released, but I'll go out on a limb and say its of Taiwan origin and probably circa the 90's.  Right off the bat and G1 TF fan should recognize this toy as the Stunticon combiner/gestalt Menasor.  Some may even get the use of Scramble in the name.

The Stunticons will always occupy a special place in my childhood memory...even though I never owned all 5.  Wildrider was the first Stunticon I owned followed by Drag Strip.  I believe I traded something (maybe a few lunches?) in elementary school for Breakdown and Dead End, but I never had Motormaster.  I also like this set for the outlandish colors.  I've been thinking about where to display him now that he is free of his box and I think I've decided the best place for him is to work him into my (crowded) G2 collection.  Why not?  He's got the requisite gaudy color scheme!

Notice the names?  Can we call those names?  What was this mystery company thinking?  I would have even preferred Engrish versions of the original names!

For a knock-off toy I've got to say that the packaging is pretty nice.  Not only does the box have a black plastic carrying strap on the top, but you get this pretty cool looking scene on the back of the box!

If you are familiar with the G1 Stunticons then there aren't any real surprises here outside of Motormaster...or Container truck as he is called here.  That said this will be more of a photo gallery than a traditional review although I will point out certain quality issues here and there.

Container truck (Motormaster) looks surprisingly good in these colors.  I'm a little surprised his trailer wasn't painted silver since he sports the red and blue on the cab of Optimus Prime.  Quality here is really well.  Notice the bull skull on the sides of the trailer?  All of these "Stunticons" feature it.  It replaces the Decepticon faction symbol.

 The base mode is still present and at first glance it doesn't look any different than Motormaster's.  The little "chest car" is even included.  Upon further inspection of the toy however you'll notice one small change...

...the inclusion of the spring loaded launcher!  One of the reasons the Japanese version of Motormaster is so sought after is this reason - the launcher.  For whatever reason Hasbro removed the spring loaded launcher feature for release outside of Japan.  I never understood this as it works really well with the little "chest car".  I was totally surprised to see that this KO had this feature.  I never knew this and I'm sure this comes as news to other fans as well.  I guess this mystery company was able to knock off the original Takara mold at some point in time.  The only quality issue I wanted to bring up are the arms.  I found it really difficult to free up one of the arms to fold down when transforming into base mode.  It could be just my specimen had this problem, but I felt I was going to break the toy trying to free this one side.  That said I don't plan on transforming him into base mode often if at all.

I never thought of this until now, but doesn't "Motormaster" almost look like some Shattered Glass version that the guys at Fun Publications & Botcon would dream up?!  He just looks heroic with these colors.  He comes with the same large gun and sword only the gun is now a purplish blue and the sword is black.

Next up is Tying up car (Dead End).  The dark burgundy color has been replaced with a brighter red.  The plastic seems to have a slightly cheaper feel than "Motormaster".  It's not bad, but it is noticeable.  The window paint apps aren't very sharp looking as they have a sprayed look.

I never was a fan of the vehicle guns, but for completionist sake I wanted to include a few pics w/ the gun attached.

See how shiny the plastic looks?  This is an indication of the quality of the plastic.  Again, it's not bad...it's not dollar store quality, but it isn't Hasbro quality either.  The joints are really good and the stickers applied very easily.  The only paint app in robot mode is the silver applied to the face.  I tried to get a close up, but the focus on my camera didn't want to cooperate with me.  The paint is a little sloppy, but almost expected.

Destroy car (Wildrider) is my favorite.  I love this mold -- even in these colors.  I like how the center of the hood is still a sticker like on the original.

You would think his vehicle gun would be yellow instead of red since he doesn't have red anywhere else on the toy...or maybe I'm just overthinking things too much.

A few quality issues here.  First and probably most obvious is the sloppy paint app on the face.  Horrible!  Also the fist peg on the gun is slightly undersized and just wants to wobble around in hand.

Poison gas car (Drag Strip).  Talk about a loud looking Transformer!  I always loved this toy as a kid and I still do.  The stickers are dead on for the originals, though I think I applied the "racing stripes" incorrectly.  Oh well.

At least his vehicle gun "blends" in with the other colors.  No issues with the gun, in fact it plugs in very tight in the back (no jokes here please).

Decent facial paint app here, but like with "Wildrider" the gun's peg is undersized for the fist.  I could barely get him to hold the gun to snap the picture.  It appears the fist hole may be too shallow.

And finally we have Cross county car (Breakdown).  I'm sure the likeness to the Generation 2 Botcon exclusive toy was not intentional...or was it?  You can see the silver paint on the windows has taken some abuse and started to scratch off.

Of all the silly vehicle guns I like this particular mold the best.  Not sure why so don't ask.

There may have been some similarities in vehicle mode to the Botcon G2 version of Breakdown, but those similarities end here in robot mode.

While there are some shortcomings with this set the group still looks pretty awesome.  Enough about the individual toys you want to see them combined, right?

Behold!  Super Scramble Basebot.  Not bad, eh?  I'm still getting that Shattered Glass vibe however...

Comparison time!  OK, there really isn't any comparison to the real deal.  Of course with this being a Scramble City combiner you can rearrange the 4 smaller TFs into any configuration that you want.  I just decided to assemble him like I had my G1 Menasor.  The combiner parts are very close in color to the original, although you can tell them apart when side by side.  I really like the fact that the sword is black instead of chrome.

You never know what kind of quality to expect when buying old knock-off toys such as this, but I'm happy to say that this is one of the better old school KO Transformers I've seen.  If you aren't turned off because it's a KO the colors may do it for you, but it's these eclectic things that make this piece so attractive and desirable to me.  I hope you enjoyed this look at a rarely seen piece of Transformers KO history.