Monday, January 27, 2014

KO Korner: Transistor Robots: Insect Robot

There was a company back in the day called Four Star.  They had a series of transformable toys called Transistor Robots.  Trying to find more solid information on the Four Star company can be tough.  Originally I had labeled many of their toys as KOs as they had some clever takes on Transformer molds, especially G1 molds.  They would take a G1 mold and alter it heavily to create a new character, yet still retained some of the G1 characteristics.  As I've searched out more info on the toys and even acquired a few, I've really grown fond of what they did with the molds.

Four Star Bombshell photo 016_zps66fe6508.jpg

One of the first Four Star molds I acquired was of the Transformers G1 Insecticon, Bombshell.  Originally Bombshell's insect mode was that of a boll weevil.  Four Star took the mold and added a few extra parts and turned him into a elephant beetle...or so I'm told that is what this new insect mode is supposed to be modeled after.  Looks more like a scorpion to me.

Take a look at the purple and blue areas.  Look familiar?  Those are the shoulder/arm joints on the G1 toy.  You can see the horn section has been replaced with what appears to be a scorpion like tail and the arms are newly casted pieces.  The legs are now large gold chrome die-cast metal pieces with antennae and pincher claws.

Four Star Bombshell photo 015_zps6fe462b3.jpg

Somewhere in the shuffling around of some items I was taking to Charticon last year, one of his antennae fell off and I lost it.  Bummer.  For a off brand toy I really didn't expect to see so much die-cast metal used.  In fact, this version features more die-cast than the original Takara version!

Four Star Bombshell photo 018_zpsa3819884.jpg

Even with all the new casted pieces and parts, this version of "Bombshell" transformers very much like the original.  Here in robot mode you get a better look at the original mold and how it was altered.  Four Star even elected to to paint the torso purple keeping in line with the Insecticon colors...kind of.

Four Star Bombshell photo 019_zpsc760e255.jpg

A new robot head was given to the character as well.  Gone is the lower face plate, replaced with a mouth and what appears to be a blue goatee.  Notice the gold panel on the chest?  This opens up just like the original translucent yellow "cockpit" door that harkens back to the Microchange days of Takara.

Four Star Bombshell photo 017_zps975a37a4.jpg

Four Star Bombshell photo 020_zps7e156d70.jpg

After getting my hands on this toy I found a new appreciation for Four Star's "Transformers" and sought to find more.  Since selling this guy a few months back, I seem to find him popping up on eBay quite frequently. Maybe he always did and I just didn't notice?  If I can find another one, complete, for a decent price I may just have to snap him up as he's a pretty cool take on the original Bombshell mold.

15 comments:

  1. I had a really beat up one of these when I was a kid that I got from another kid. I could've sworn that he was a scorpion as well. Guess we learn something new every day.

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  2. Never heard of these before but how very cool.

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    1. I really wasn't sure if I should post this under my KO Korner or under my Other Robots tab. I opted for the latter, but I can see how it fits both as Four Star KO'd and used several G1 TF bodies (albeit heavily altered) to create their releases.

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  3. Holy crap, I had that guy as a kid. Those antenna must fall off rather easily, because I don't remember mine having them at all.

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    1. They fall off very easily. When I bought the thing it had both antenna. When I sold it at Charticon last August one of them had fallen off and I never could find it. I was bidding on a MOSC version the other day, but got outbid. If I can find another one loose and complete, I'd buy it again. Very nice, quirky toy.

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  4. nice, four star jets are pretty sought after, i haven't seen this one before though

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    1. I'm actually working on restoring one of the Four Star jets as we speak! Still needs more work though before I can show it off.

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  5. I saw chrome parts and that itself is AWESOME!!

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    1. Oh yeah! All the chromed parts and the purple chest piece are die-cast metal!

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  6. I know this is old but I was just cleaning out some old stuff and I ran across my old one. Would you still be interested? It's missing the left antenna.

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  7. Fourstar is back! Check out their pretty cool new toy line Final Faction. There's even a cartoon to go along with it!
    www.final-faction.com
    IG: final.faction

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    1. Oh I'm familiar with the Final Faction line, in fact I hope to get a whole section dedicated to the line open here on the blog in 2023. Are you saying the same people behind Four Star are the same behind FF?

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  8. My professor at art school was the designer and it’s a scorpion. He also designed the praying mantis that this company also came out with.

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