I know there are collectors here, so I think it’s worth a shot asking…
When my brother was six or eight (late 80s) he had this big transformer. In a move he’s regretted for years, he traded it to an elmentary school friend for a video game.
This is what I remember about the Transformer: It was two pieces. One was a white Spaceship that was at least a foot long - it was pretty realistic looking, and made me think of the Challenger, unfortunately. The thing it transformed into reminded me of a big bird, but that may not be what the maker had in mind since it might have had teeth (maybe it was a dinosaur?). Big head and long skinny neck anyway. The other was a blue base, and I think that it transformed into something too. I thought he said it was called Starscream, but I’ve looked at pictures, and it’s not it unless it’s gone under a radical transformation in later versions that made it much smaller.
Any idea which one this is? I’d like to find it for him for Christmas, but without a name to go on I’m not having much luck on Ebay - I keep coming up with the little transformer that’s shaped like a space shuttle instead. I know he knows the name, but if I ask him he’ll put two and two together.
Or does anyone know of a website with photos of 80s series transformers? I might find it that way, too.
A space shuttle, and carrier pad.
The space shuttle turned into a kind of dinosaur predatory bird, the carrier turned into a lynx.
They merged to become a dragon thing.
Sky Lynx is one of the transformers that was not designed by Takara, but borrowed from another company. Omega Supreme was also designed by the same people who designed Sky Lynx.
Other transformers that were borrowed from other companies: The Deluxe Insecticons, the Deluxe Autobots, Shockwave.
Don’t forget Jetfire, which caused a copyright bruhaha with Harmony Gold when they started showing Robotech in the US, and required Marvel/Hasbro to change the animation design and rename him “Skyfire” on the cartoon.
A toss-up between the Throttlebots, the Battlechargers, and the Sparkabots/Firecons.
But at least Goldbug, a key character, was a Throttlebot. I think the Jumpstarters were rather lame myself, considering they transformed merely by doing a sit-up. Gnaw, the Sharkticon, was pretty lame as well.
True, but the jump-up-and-transform gimmick was at least more interesting than the others. Just tweaking the control so they would jump up and transform properly (instead of falling down face-first) provided hours of cheap amusement.
I had Skylynx as a kid, too. I was one of the few among my friends who did. I thought he was cool, but I thought anything having to do with the space shuttle and/or dinosaurs was cool. So put together a Dinosaur, a space shuttle and a transforming robot (and throw in a big cat for kicks) and bam! coolness cubed.
The lamest Transformers ever were right at the very coffin-nail of the original run, when they introduced Transformers that couldn’t transform at all. Yeah, we have those already, they’re called GI Joe.
And there was a Go-Bots motorcycle (the evil leader, in fact, though I don’t remember his name), but he looked nothing like Groove. As a general rule, Transformers were significantly larger than Go-Bots, though each had a line of toys at the other one’s size.
“Action Masters,” yeah. Transforming accessories just didn’t cut it.
Cy-Kill. What was with the lame-ass puns for Go-Bot names?
(Transformers vs. Go-Bots? “Gee, the Go-Bots leaders are a dinky little jet and a dinky little motorcycle, while the Transformers leaders are a big-ass semi truck and a wickedly cool gun. No contest!” )
