Transformers 3rd Party: MasterShooter Collectibles - Strangedog

I have a confession to make. I simply cannot keep up w/ the 3rd party Transformers scene anymore. Everytime I stop by a TF fan site or get a newsletter in my inbox from one of the big Transformers retailers, there are so many new 3rd party companies and toys that it makes my head want to explode. If you've followed my blog for long then you'll know I don't buy a lot of 3rd party items, but before it seems this segment of the hobby exploded I did pick up a few items here and there.

One of which was the 2013 Slagacon exclusive (limited to just 25 pieces!) from MasterShooter Collectibles - Strangedog. Strange name, yes, but when you realize it's a homage to the Generation 1 Headmaster Weirdwolf, then it makes more sense.

If you're not familiar w/ MasterShooter Collectibles, it's a really small company - like one person. I don't "know" the owner, but I've interacted with him on various social media platforms and he had a table set up behind me at Charticon 2013. His designs are rather simple, yet awesome. Strangedog is a simple recolor of a previous mold, but that doesn't detract from how awesome this little character/toy is.

G1 Weirdwolf was a Headmaster so why would one want a matching Targetmaster? Because Weirdwolf is the best Headmaster of all time so the real question is why wouldn't you want a Weirdwolf themed Targetmaster?!

The colors chosen match pretty well, although the yellow is a darker, more "spicy mustard" yellow. This little guy has plenty of articulation as well as the head, shoulders, elbows and knees are ball joints.

Transformation from robot to gun is very simple and G1-esque. Fold down the gun barrels, fold back the legs and affix the arms to each side of the robot.

All of MasterShooter Collectible targetmaster figures are compatible with both vintage and modern Transformers. At the time I took these pictures (which was years ago!) I only had the FansProject version of Weirdwolf handy. You can tell the colors aren't a 1:1 match, however at least for this fan there is no confusion over who Strangedog is meant to be partnered with.

This is a great toy, but due to it's limited nature be prepared to pay a pretty penny for it on the secondary market...and that is if you can find it. MasterShooter Collectibles put out some great figures, but according to their Facebook page it seems they are just about out of the 3rd party business. It's a real shame because everything of theirs that I've owned has been top notch.

Transformers Generations: Goshooter w/ Go Shuta (Million Publishing Exclusive)

Million Publishing has previously released two exclusive Transformers figures in the form of Stepper and Artfire. The mail-away tradition continues with the newly released Generations figure in Japan, Goshooter.

While in the Generation One series, Goshooter's toy was a redeco Headmaster Siren from the U.S. series. This time however, Goshooter's new figure is based on Generations Bumblebee/Goldfire/Nightbeat.

Being a mail-away, the figure could pose some difficulty purchasing at or near "retail" price. There are several large online Transformers dealers offering the figure as well, but a contact I've used in the past for Japanese exclusives (Arthur) came through yet again for me. In fact, this was one of those figures I paid for quite some time ago and nearly forgot about!

The packaging is done is a vertical style box in black and white. While the pictures may not make it look at that appealing, it really does look sharp in hand. However I feel the cardboard used this time around is rather thin. If it had not been for the form fitting cardboard insert, the box could easily be punctured it's so thin.

  

One side of the box gives you Goshooter's tech spec rankings, while the other side shows how Go Shuta's transector form is now that of a helicopter as opposed to a Headmaster. Not just a helicopter, Go Shuta can also transform into a Plasma Power Rifle for Goshooter to wield.

The aforementioned cardboard insert that helps give the box it's shape, not to mention protect this beauty of toy inside!

Right out of the box I knew I was going to like this toy. I was always fond of the vehicle mold to begin with and even though it's a departure from his G1 vehicle mode, it works. You see more and more Police groups using muscle cars these days so it seems fitting that Goshooter would receive this modern upgrade.

My only complaint in vehicle mode is the blue section of plastic located just behind the front quarter panel on each side. I really wish this piece could have been cast in white plastic as it tends to stick out too much. However, that aside I do think this is a beautiful vehicle form.

One of the first things I noticed are all the extra paint applications versus other versions of this mold. You'll see some comparison pics later on in the post. Obviously the lack of a light bar stands out the most as this is supposed to be a Police car of course. However Takara Tomy didn't let this go completely unnoticed. Check out the head lights. Red on one side and blue on the other. Awesome looking in my opinion.

In the G1 series, the original Goshooter toy had the number designation C-301. As a nod you see this tampographed onto the rear bumper and again on the roof of the car. The exhaust system also received a rich, semi-metallic looking gray paint.

The undercarriage of the car is pretty compact and flat. It does a good job at hiding most of the robot parts. You can see the lower portion of the arms and hands, but that is about it.

Like with previous releases of this mold, Goshooter comes with two flame shooting guns. They can attach to the sides of the car if you prefer that type of thing. I guess you could also reverse the direction of the guns to and use as a type of flame powered booster.

Transformation into robot mode is pretty straight forward and painless. Pull out the doors; separate the hood; flip back the hood/roof of the car; fold down the legs and flip the feet around; pull down the torso to reveal the head.

Believe it or not this is the first time I've transformed this mold. I own Goldfire, but never bothered to transform him as I opted to display him in car mode. Generations Nightbeat was still MOSC before this review as well. More on him later.

Goshooter looks awesome. This mold surprisingly fits the character to a T. Goshooter sports a good deal of articulation, basically what you've come to know and expect from a modern deluxe size Transformer. However if you've been reading my posts for awhile then you know by now that I'm not the best with dynamic poses and what not.

The headsculpt was reused from the Nightbeat release, however the eye color was changed from red to blue. They also went with a translucent blue in order to take advantage of some light piping. While I'm glad they went with the translucent plastic, it should have stayed red to better match his G1 self.

Go Shuta has gone through his own transformation of sorts. No longer is his Transector a Headmaster head, but now a Police helicopter. The toy used here is based on Blazemaster who was originally packaged with Bumblebee.

In true Transformers fashion there is more than meets the eye with this new upgraded version of Go Shuta. In addition to his robot mode, he can now transform into a Targetmaster style gun for Goshooter to wield in battle!

I never cared much for the robot mode of this mold. The new colors are an improvement over Blazemaster's in my opinion, but it doesn't help much. Perhaps if the robot head wasn't on the end of the helicopter's tail piece.

I plan to keep Go Shuta in gun mode, displayed as such. Goshooter looks pretty tough. I prefer Go Shuta as his weapon of choice over the flame guns he also comes packaged with.

Which weapon do you prefer?

Now of course this wouldn't be a proper review without some comparison pics, would it? We'll start with Go Shuta and Blazemaster.

I kinda like the look of a dual wielding Targetmaster Goshooter. I wonder how the Decepticons would feel about that?

I opted to use Generations Nightbeat as the main comparison piece for this post for a number of reasons, but if you look carefully at my Nightbeat you'll see he's a little different. Yep, he's pretty much a convertible! I mentioned earlier that I had not opened this toy until the other night when I took the pictures. Upon transforming him from his packaged bot mode to vehicle mode is when I discovered he was missing part of the car's roof. D'oh! Change of plans.

Now what's interesting here is that in the US G1 series, both Nightbeat and his fellow Headmaster, Siren, would be repainted into Minelba (Minerva) and Goshooter. However in the US Generations series, it would be Nightbeat that would be repainted into Goshooter. It works well obviously, I just find it a little ironic the way things worked out.

Goldfire (I still hate that name, can I please call him Goldbug?) works OK as a emergency fill in, but man had I wished I would've opened Nightbeat earlier. Of course now he's not as readily available at retail as he once was. At least he serves his purpose here. Great mold, but looks so much better as Nightbeat or Goshooter.

Thankfully Nightbeat looks alright in robot mode so we can continue to use him as we compare the two figures. As you can tell not much as really been changed here outside of the colors. Same head (minus the translucent versus solid plastic used for the eye visor). Goshooter just looks better in my opinion due to all of the extra paint apps. The headlights, chest piece, legs; even the rear painted windows stand out more and help make this figure just plain look better than other versions of this mold.

The burning question many may have left however is how does he compare to his original G1 self? Well I just happen to have myself a loose G1 Goshooter in my Ikea Detolf case so let me go and grab him real quick.

(this is a great time to remember to tell you that you can click on any picture for a larger view)

There we go. Nice. However upon taking these pictures I realized my vintage Goshooter is no where as white as the new Generations version. It's not yellowed, it's just not bleach white. That aside, the most glaring and noticeable difference is the lack of a light bar on the modern version. I really had wished Takara Tomy would have sculpted a new light bar piece for this release. Perhaps some 3rd party company will come to our rescue. Anyone?

Takara Tomy did a pretty good job at matching the original Police design for this release. From the door stylings, to the black bar across the rear quarter panel with the Police in silver paint. The windshield too has the matching silver stripe across the top. The hood emblem is very close to the original. Here, let's take a closer look at that.

  

On the left we have the Generations hood emblem while on the right we have the vintage G1 hood emblem. While there are very close to one another, you can spot the minor differences. The new emblem obviously features a tad more detail than the original.

All that is left is to look at the two robot modes. While the new Generations version is smaller than the original G1 toy, the similarities carry over into robot mode. The only thing that I didn't initially catch myself was the use of blue paint on the chest piece of the Generations figure. See how the blue paint helps recreate the white chest piece on the G1 toy? This piece of course reveals the Headmaster's tech specs on the G1 toy. Very nice, yet subtle use of paint there Takara Tomy.

Overall this is a beautiful piece and I can't recommend him enough...that is if you can get him for a decent price. I'll leave it up to you as to what is a decent price however. I may be a little late to the party when it comes to this particular Generations mold, but I find it to be one of the better molds I've messed around with. Great car mode, great robot mode. Slap on the new deco for Goshooter and we have ourselves a winner. No buyer's remorse here. I'm very satisfied with the latest Million Publishing mail-away release. If I have anything left to add is that I kinda wished I had held onto Generations Artfire and Stepper now. And one last thing...I should pulled out the black backdrop for this photo shoot. Oh well, live and learn. Thanks for stopping by everyone!

Transformers United: Artfire (Million Publishing Exclusive)

Let me preface today's post by saying this isn't my best work. The photos turned out so horrible that I almost just deleted them and moved on. However I no longer own the toy and I did take the time to photograph and "edit" the photos and I hate to think I wasted my time. So instead of scrapping them images I'm just going to present them gallery style. I feel like most Transformers fans are familiar with some version of this mold so instead of giving you my opinion, I present to you some sub-par images!

  

Targetmasters can attach to the ladder/crane arm


Sparks


Comparison with Arms Micron Firebolt

Nightstick


Comparison with Henkei! Henkei! Nightstick


Comparison with Henkei! Henkei! Nightstick




Alongside Million Publishing exclusive Targetmaster partner, Stepper