Plus the secret identities of HiQ and Mutant Master revealed in my look at STILL LIFE PART 2!
Also, if you're going to TFNation and want to pick up either of the books for Transformation for £10 each, signed!, let me know in the comments.
The Solar Pool |
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This week, what's the brand new cool toy all the kids want? Action Master Grimlock of course! Plus the secret identities of HiQ and Mutant Master revealed in my look at STILL LIFE PART 2! Also, if you're going to TFNation and want to pick up either of the books for Transformation for £10 each, signed!, let me know in the comments.
11 Comments
27/7/2018 11:10:49 pm
I think that final page is the only time in the series that the Action Masters' inability to transform is even mentioned. Given how much story is an important part of the toy appeal and the western market hadn't yet gone in for figure representations, I doubt Hasbro could have made the Action Masters work without explanation (although Takara might have had more success in Japan). Furman's gone on record as hating the concept, resisting it as much as possible, hoping it would have gone by the time he brought back Prime and of course he took the opportunity with Marvel UK to undo the effect even before this issue was published (having a transforming Grimlock re-released this year must have helped).
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Ryan F
28/7/2018 06:35:54 pm
Hi Tim,
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Jon Talpur
31/7/2018 05:52:50 pm
I also recall the Action Masters not being quite as prominent in the UK as some of the other figures released in 1990-1991. That being said, they must still have been slightly been more popular over here than in the US since we received a second year's worth of figures the US never saw (including Tracks, Bombshell, etc.). Even then, I was never able to find the Action Master Elites at retail. The larger gold-boxed and carded Classics were far more prominent, at least in my area.
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31/7/2018 08:39:43 pm
The current opinion seems to be that the Action Master Elites weren't released in the UK. Action Masters had more prominence on the continent - I remember them being the focus of a huge display in a southern French hypermarket in the summer of 1991.
Simon Tilley
22/10/2019 05:39:25 pm
I had never really linked together the Constructicons and mini-autobots with the last surge for the UK comic and never considered any alignment with marketing, but makes perfect sense.
Chris Chapman
27/7/2018 11:24:49 pm
And yet... and yet... Furman may have been reluctant to advertise the Action Master concept, but I'd argue that the whole Grimlock/nucleon/new body arc is one of the most inventive, satisfying ways a new TF toy has ever been introduced. Furman takes it all with a pinch of salt and really hones in on the drama he can extract - and just walks away from all the other stuff. For me, it's the perfect approach to the eternal Hasbro obligation!
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I am struggling to remember any Action Master ads. I think "poseable figures" would have been a hard sell for kids back then. Furman deserves a lot of credit for the way he laid foundations and introduce the concept. As a concept, I think it was rubbish. It would have been nice to have figures with kibble removed, or finally own for example Shockwave or a Jazz who looked a lot more like the animation model, but who wants Transformers who can't transform! I only saw a few Action Masters in John Menzies, I think TF toys were well on their way out by then and hard to find. Does Overlord explain why Fort Max was made really big (and is a much bigger toy than Scorponok)? I am still really confused by the Galen/Spike/Cerebros thing, somebody must have been writing the Headmasters mini-series without having all the details..
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Ryan F
31/7/2018 02:07:26 pm
I wouldn’t read too much into the lack of Action Master ads. They did get TV spots, and besides, there are many other sub-groups who didn’t get ads in the UK comic (Constructicons, Throttlebots, Seacons etc).
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31/7/2018 08:48:49 pm
None of those groups were central core parts of the toyline, instead they were each a single team (and in the case of the Constructions they may not have been released here in the mid 1980s). Plus they got some advertising in the strips fairly early on. By contrast the Action Masters were a major part of the US 1990 line - I think it was just them and the Micromasters - and so would normally have got a bigger boost.
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Uraael
31/7/2018 09:47:58 pm
I've always loved Grimlock's metamorphosis in this issue. Furman handles it beautifully and Wildman doesn't disappoint. I've always loved that version of Grimlock's head best, too. The angled mouthpiece suits him so much.
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Felicity
31/12/2019 07:10:04 am
So I guess we’re to take it that these demons were the first creations of Primus, who decided to lock them away and try again, and then we got the Transformers. This was not mentioned in previous origins, for example by the Keeper in “Primal Scream.” And it’s another thing to make us doubt what Primus says about himself.
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AuthorStuart Webb. Who knows everything about nothing and not a lot about that. Archives
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