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Matchbox Connectors Grumo! (Aka Ertl Socket Poppers Swamp Monster). Stick Swamp Thing, Toxie and Muckman in a blender then add a load of random other arms and legs and you’ve got ol’ Grumo here. He’s got great detailing, particularly on his back #vintagetoytuesday

Matchbox Connectors Grumo - a green swamp monster with splashes of florescent orange detailing. His body his made up of random junk & detritus

A side view of Geino show up even more interesting parts (jutting bones & a tyre in one foot)

Not content with his own random parts he adds a few bits from others

A rear view of Grumo showing a boot and tv lodged in his back and a banana peel on his head (a detail he shares with Muckman)

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Robo Machines Scooter! The only 93 rerelease that has the Gobots name, probably down to the genericness of it rather than nostalgia. Scooter himself is far from generic though & is a lovely lil toy with great articulation (even better if you slightly mistransform him to have hips) #vintagetoytuesday

Robo Machines Scooter on an Italian card (sold in the UK for £1.25)

Scooter in robot mode. The RM 93 release has a very slightly different tummy sticker (looks like it was slightly redrawn) but is otherwise identical to the 80s release

Scooter mode! Again, really nice. Thankfully it doesn’t have the robot face on the front like the cartoon but you can see how they came to that design decision

Scooter goes to bed. The bed is actually Road Ranger’s truck bed but it still looks comfy (this pic demonstrates the extra hip articulation you get if you don’t collapse his legs in robot mode

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If I had a nickel for every time a weirdly designed off-screen Kenner The Lost World toy made a strange design choice that was supported by later discoveries (beaked Sauropod and Spinosaurus with disproportionately stumpy legs) I’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot but it’s weird it happened twice

Kenner The Lost World Jurassic Park Series 2 Brachiosaurus hatchling with a beak

Lost Word Spinosaurus with her short legs

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Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles Mutant Bubble Bath & Turtle Shell Soap! I spent most of 1990 bathing with this stuff so it is ridiculously evocative. Still smells the same. Tempted to use a lil bubble bath though fear it might actually mutate me after 36 years of festering in there #vintagetoytuesday

Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles Mutant Bubble Bath & Turtle Shell Soap - a window box showing the bubble bath & soap whilst Bebop informs Donatello that he’d be better as soup

Back of the box explains the origins of the Turtles

The mutant bubble bath bottle, green with a Leonardo-coloured Donatello on it

The shell soap, appropriately shell-shaped

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Beast Machines McDonald’s Happy Meal Thrust! Yet again the fast food toy runs rings around the mainline ones in terms of accuracy (even the Motorcycle Drone). The dust cloud stand is a lovely touch even if there probably isn’t much dust on Cybertron

Beast Machines McDonald’s Happy Meal Thrust - a simple yet show accurate depiction of the motorcycle Vehicon with translucent blue blast effects coming from the exhaust pipes

Robot mode. The exhaust plumes become laser blast effects and the dust cloud becomes a handy stand

Thrust goes batty trying to blast Nightscream

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Matchbox Connectors Sergent! (sic). Aka Ertl Socket Poppers Soldier. The Sarge obviously can’t beat all these monster freaks so decides to join them… quite literally! The big fat cigar is a very unusual sight on an action figure

Matchbox Connectors Sergent - a slightly battered purple Italian box

Sergent - an army guy in slightly torn fatigues chonmps down on a big fat cigar whilst holding a pistol

A trio of fantastic freaks advance on the Sarge

The Sarge defeats his enemies and gains a few upgrades!

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Robo Machine Casmodon & Machine Men Vamp! Robo Machine card uses the Japanese name whilst the Australian Machine Men card uses the Gobots name. Whatever she’s called, she’s lovely! Very underrated design. Vamps are very cheap & you should own one though watch her toes as they are often broken

Robo Machine Casmodon - the European release of the design better known as the Gobot Vamp. The card has a space background and illustration of Casmodon in both modes

The Australian Machine Men is very similar to the RM though less fuzzy, oddly

Here comes Casmodon! A creepy green insectoid robot with angry eyes. The antennae are often broken, as are the many toes

Vehicle mode is very Batmobile-ish, complete with fins

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Robo Machine Shooting Stars Character Marbles by Peter Pan Playthings! The packaging allows you to “transform” these double sided marbles from robot to vehicle mode. There’s also a Transformers set in this series (they were packed in the same case!) so you could have a TF vs RM marble battle!

Robo Machine Shooting Stars Character Marbles / a black & red card showing art of Fitor in both modes (though the Zodiac Toys reduced 49p sticker obscures his face!). This is a a pre-Gobots co-branding release

The marbles in robot mode - Cy-Kill, Spay-C, Fitor, Leader-1 and Hans-Cuff (or rather, since this is pre-Gobots rebrand, Motobike (sic), Space Shuttle, Jet, F-15 Eagle and Police Car)

The marbles are now “transformed” to vehicle mode

The back of the card offers some games to play with your marbles (plus a nice look at the back where is it open to spin them). “Just one of a great series for you to collect” - the other brands packed in the same case were Transformers, Secret Wars and the A-Team

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Beast Machines McDonald’s Nightscream! Again, very impressive how accurate this is. In scale with more things than the Ultra and a lot less breaky. The translucent wings are lovely and nice that they end up on his legs. Not sure about the begging puppy pose in robot mode

Beast Machines McDonald’s Nightscream - a brown, yellow & blue technorganic bat

Nightscream hopes that this fruit isn’t as forbidden as his last

Showing Mirage how much he sucks (literally!)

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Revell Diaclone F.1 Robot! The best model kit of a future Powerdasher £1.00 can buy. This kit is fully transformable once built and has the same pull-back motor as the standard release and an articulated Dianaut pilot

Revell Diaclone F.1 Robot - a model kit version of the design that would become the Transformers Powerdasher car. Gorgeous art in both modes

A sticker showing that this was once sold for £1. The Revell kits were sold in the UK though I’m not sure if it was officially or if they were imported

Cross-sells showing the other two future Powerdashers

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Matchbox Connectors Saurus! (Aka Ertl Socket Poppers Dinosaur). Has a great B-movie suit look and is a wonderful source of parts

Matchbox Connectors Saurus in the standard Italian purple box

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Robo Machine Zarios! Aka Gobots Scorp! RM initially had the Monster Renegades as a separate faction like in 🇯🇵 & kept their 🇯🇵 names (though changed “Devil Invaders” to “Enemy”). Early Zarios/Scorp have bronze thighs, late are black. Great toy though goes floppy easily (that’s what Vamp said! *snap*)

Robo Machine Zarios carded - a card with an outer space background with two planets and art of Zarios in both modes

Zarios in scorpion tank mode. Zarios has one of the most convincing vehicles modes, it looks sharp and sleek. This is an early bronze thigh variant

Black thighs and bronze thighs. All Zarios/Scorps worldwide have the early/late colour change. Unlike Scorp Zarios isn’t an individual, there’s a whole army of them, so it’s actually accurate to have more than one. Yay!

Robot mode! The toon needs to be *mint* or else standing and posing the arms is a real problem

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Jurassic Park pencil set by Copywrite! The Rex is decidedly retro styled compared to the movie model though it does put me in mind of some of the early novel covers

Jurassic Park Pencil Set - a carded set of stationery (JP-branded pencil, ruler, eraser + generic yellow pencil sharpener) on a classic JP red & black card. The art is a very retro Tyrannosaurus Rex

Back of the card which has the standard manufacturing guff

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Special Armoured Battalion Dorvack Ovelon Gazzette - or Pre-Transformers Whirl if you prefer! Featuring a darker colour scheme than TF, pointier pointy bits and a human pilot figure. I prefer the Dorvack colours but would choose Whirl because he’s Whirl (who doesn’t love a baby blue cycloptic jerk?)

Special Armoured Battalion Dorvack Ovelon Gazzette boxes - the toy that would become Transformers Whirl

The helicopter mode is a handsome dark blue with vivid yellow cockpit. Not the human pilot figure.

Robot mode! Note the pointier head antenna. You’re on supposed to mount two of the weapons in this mode though I like to leave the other leg weapon and have it hold the minigun

The Dorvack and Yransformers toys side by side

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Robo Machines P-51/ Gobots Ace! A smart P-51 Mustang. V.hard to find with unbroken props. Gobots/Robo Machine has lighter matte blue/bigger stickers whilst 1993 Robo MachineS is gloss with partially unpainted canopy. Really liked this one as a kid & devised a Cybertronian helicopter 3rd mode for it

Robo Machines P-51 - a European exclusive 1993 reissue of the Gobot Ace. This is a continental European card but was sold in UK as the (bargain) price sticker of £1.25 shows

Plane modes! Left is the Gobot Ace - note the lighter matte blue with all cockpit glass sections painted. Right is the 1993 Robo MachineS release which has darker glossy blue plastic, smaller stickers in different factory-applied positions and the front sections of the cockpit glass are unpainted

Robot modes! The yellow paper by us brighter on the Robo MachineS release

My childhood Cybertronian helicopter mode (because of course all my Gobots were Transformers). He was an ancient Autobot found crashed at the bottom of a pit by Wheelie & reactivated. When he moved to Earth he decided to adopt an equally antiquated Earth mode to fit in but could still triple-change to his original form (which was more manoeuvrable though the P-51 was faster)

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The Lost World Jurassic Park D.A.R.T. & Roland Tembo! The Dino Auto Restraint Transport is a cool little tricycle for transporting captured Pachycephalosaurus (will also take various Raptors etc). The Tembo likeness is great! Sadly the trike trailer has Gold Plastic Syndrome (hence no outside pics)

The Lost World Jurassic Park D.A.R.T. (Dino Auto Restraint Transport ) Roland Tembo boxed. The box shows Roland riding the trike with a captured pachycephalosaurus strapped to the back

A picture of the D.A.R.T. From the side of the box. Since I’m scared to assemble to you this is the best shot you’re getting of it. Notice they Roland has unique bending knees to allow him to ride the vehicle

Back of the box featuring a toy pic and cross-sell

A closeup of Roland’s excellent headsculpt

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Rik @slightlyonfire.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Beast Machines McDonald’s Happy Meal Blackarachnia! By far the most accurate version of the character & a hell of a lot cheaper than Beast Wars Returns if you want her pink. Pretty much the only thing in scale with Silverbolt. Obviously very simple but it’s impressive that spider mode has all 8 legs

Beast Machines McDonald’s Happy Meal Blackarachnia - a slightly thicc but nonetheless very accurate version of Beast Machines BA

Blackarachnia and Silverbolt, together at last!

Spider mode! It tries, ok? I am a bug fan of how the robot legs split

Blackarachnia has caught Scavenger in her web

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Schoolbot! Take the robot back to school! No mention of Macross or Robotech but the toy/complete desktop stationery experience seems to be licensed. I like how it prioritises the flimsy educational aspect by labelling the modes “Pencil Robot” (bot) “Eraser Robot” (gerwalk) & “Sharpener Robot” (jet)

Schoolbot - a small Macross Valkyrie with a pencil lance & eraser shield on a blue card that implores you to “take the robot back to school!!”

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Rik @slightlyonfire.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

The Lost World Jurassic Park High Hide! You go you high & you hide. High Hide *mimes hiding*. Clamps onto furniture! Nick Van Owen never uses the High Hide so his inclusion seems a bit random but it did allow for the creation of a more accurate head (more accurate Eddie would’ve been better, but eh)

The Lost World Jurassic Park High Hide - a rectangular green box with a window showing the figure. The art shows Nick escaping from a Tyrannosaurus Rex

Back of the box showing cross-sells & a picture of the toy

Ian Malcolm & Nick Van Owen have gone high & hidden. High Hide. Perhaps realising the platform wasn’t the most exciting of toys Kenner strapped a missile launcher to it

The High High comes with a fast-retract grappling hook backpack that can be used to get up and down from the hide. This is very handy as a hungry Bull T.rex is passing by. Ian was worried that the hide would put them at a convenient biting height and Nick is about to test that theory!

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Rik @slightlyonfire.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Jurassic Park Triceratops Pencil Case by Copywrite! The Trike is a bit wonky (not sure what is going on with those brow horns - seems to be doing this 🤨 with ‘em) but it is still pretty cool. Check out the Woolworths price sticker (awww). £1.49!

Jurassic Park Triceratops Pencil Case by Copywrite - a long lozenge-shapes metal pencil case featuring the classic JP red & black deco over the park gates and a triceratops with a very large drill and wonky brow horns. £1.49 from Woolworths

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So those were the Beast Machines Beast Riders. I really like ‘em & if nothing else they are unique. Non-sentient vehicles released without a driver & pretty much the only mainline (ie not merch/sidelines) TF items ever released with 0 transforming element (even Action Masters had transforming stuff)

Beast Machines Beast Riders - two colours of Che and two deco-trons of Mechatron

The chariots are mounted! Longhorn and Quickstrike crew the Ches whilst Scavenger and Mirage man the Mechatrons

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Robo Machine Robot Helicopter! Terrible name but easily a top-5 80s transforming robot. Looks badass+ walks in robot mode, rolls & spins rotors AND has a working winch & a string to climb. Weirdly in 🇺🇸/🇨🇦 it was released by Mattel as Flybot (c’mon Tonka, shoulda locked that shit down for Gobots!)

Robo Machine Robot Helicopter - a red & light grey robot. It has a stern-looking head and two awesome-looking rifles. There is a hook hanging from the crotch

Helicopter mode! The rotors are motorised and spin. The handle in the middle of the robots pulls out and then the helicopter can climb it into the sky (cool but it doesn’t half scare me)

Robot Helicopter is joined by its smaller brothers, Twister (grey & red highlights) and Helicopter (white & chrome highlights) - bet you can’t guess which was the Gobot name and which was Euro Bandai

Group hug! Robot Helicopter is a DX version of the design that was release as Twister/Helicopter. Basically it is the same design but larger with more details and features

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Matchbox Connectors Trilor! (aka Ertl Socket Poppers Cyclops). Amazing looking figure just on his own, never mind when you add a load of other weird bits to him!

Matchbox Connectors Trilor in his Italian box

Trilor, a pot-bellied spotty purple cyclops with horns, a big-lipped toothy grin, long arms and digitigrade legs

Trilor finds some body parts and faces the eternal dilemma - food or upgrade?

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Beast Machines McDonald’s Happy Meal Jetstorm! Both the Deluxe & Ultra versions are great toys though neither of them look anything like the show. Fans of show accuracy can take some comfort in McJetstorm who is *astonishingly* accurate (& fun!). The use of clear plastic to thin his waist is clever

Beast Machines McDonald’s Happy Meal Jetstorm - a sleek blue & yellow futuristic jet fighter

McJetstorm even manages to have the moving head & neck gimmicks of his big brothers which is really impressive

Robot mode, which manages a quite frankly amazing level of show accuracy. Hes only really missing the cowling around his lower body and defined claws. As mentioned the use of clear plastic to thin his waist with compromising his jet mode is inspired.

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How do you like your eggs? Full of slightly shitty glow in the dark dinosaur skeletons and candy eggs that were inedible even before they were 27 years old! - The Lost World Jurassic Park Dinosaur Egg Candy Containers! I love stuff like this so much.

Topps The Lost World Jurassic Park Dinosaur Egg Candy Containers - a trade box of 12 egg-shaped candy containers. It is the trademark Lost World green

Side of the box showing off the stock Rex head image

On of the eggs. The base is hinged allowing you to get at the contents

The dinosaur skeleton kit. You could get Eleuthera velociraptor, triceratops, Tyrannosaurus rex or stegosaurus. They honestly weren’t very good but points for effort

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Beast Machines Mechatron Redeco! Sumptuous colours on this running change redeco. Looks a bit like Impactor borrowed it. The paint patterns are exactly the same as the first version but the new colours make it look a million times nicer. I especially like the pattern on the “shoulder” bits

Beast Machines Mechatron- a disembodied translucent dragon head with yellow, lighter purple and copper detailing

Armed for battle (quite literally with the arms swung out)

Scavenger mans the cannons as the chariot roars into battle

A top view showing the state n whinging through the plastic and giving a good view of the targeting screen

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Robo Machine Winchers Helicopter! This release of the toy that was used for Gobots Secret Rider Twister doesn’t have a very exciting name (“Helicoper” - really Bandai? Really?) but *is* a very exciting toy! Sadly it is prone to yellowing & suffers from BLUE Plastic Syndrome & will shatter like glass

Robo Machine Winchers Helicopter - a brown/yellow/orange window box featuring photos of the toy. The toy itself is posed really strangely in the styrofoam in a sort of running position which makes it hard to get back into the box

The back of the box explains the toy’s many features - a working winch, pull-back action as a helicopter AND walking action as a robot

The side of the box. Promises double transformation!

Two shattered Helicopters. I have a sideline in chopshopping these together from broken examples (using good bits from differently broken examples to assemble unbroken ones) but it’s hard as disassembling them often leads to them exploding further. When it pays off it’s so satisfying

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Beast Machines McDonald’s Happy Meal Rattrap! Scale is a lost cause in BM but this nifty lil Fast Foodformer really helps in cobbling together a lineup you can be sorta happy with if you really, really squint. A tad more detail & if the rat head folded over the back+a proper tail he’d be perfect

Beast Machines McDonald’s Happy Meal Rattrap - a simplified version of the show design that manages to be more accurate than the Mega class version. He looks a bit startled

Rat mode! The head sculpt is really good. The toy doesn’t have proper tail though does at least try with a sculpted tail draped over the body

In a group shot with fellow McDonald’s toy Nightscream, Titanium Cheetor and Blast Punch Primal. Deluxe Blackarachnia works too though I’ve stupid left myself without one due to various misadventures

Robot mode group shot. It so nearly works…

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This place is crawling with Micromasters! Not content with cutting Galoob’s Micro Machine grass Hasbro decided to take a swing at Matchbox Con-Nect-Ables with Combiners! Boring folk may think a jet nose on a dump truck isn’t much use but I always imagined they gained the super powers of both halves

Transformers Micromaster Combiners - the full set!

The Micromasters Combiners in robot mode

Mixed and matched vehicle modes! I imagined that either half of a jet would grant the ability to fly, Astro Squad members granted space flight, etc etc. my logic has always been that it isn’t just half a dump truck, it’s a highly advanced alien war machine *disguised* as half a dump truck

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Some rather lovely Italian variants of Monster in My Pocket pack-in cards (and the packs they were packed into along with a monster). I’m not sure what the story is with the T-Rex (top left) having two different cards, one looking like a small child’s recreation of the other

Italian Monster In My Pocket pack in cards plus the packs they were packed in. I opening all of these was a fun day

Some beautiful art … and whatever the hell ishoing on with the second Rex there

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Beast Machines Che redeco! A running change that lacks an official upgrade name though I tend to tend to refer to it as Night Slash Che as it (kinda) matches Night Slash Cheetor. It is very, very pretty & looks far more suited to cruising along the cold metal streets of Cybertron than the yellow one

Beast Machines Che - dark mode! A dark blue, black & yellow redeco with silver spots

Night Slash Cheetor goes for a spin! Really he’s outgrown his ride but he’s no longer listening to his dad

Geckobot is a much more suitably-sized rider who can actually use the cannons and harness as intended

Night Slash Cheetor is starting to wish his spots were silver too as it looks much sharper

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Good Knight, sweet Gobot! He’s a Studebaker Excalibur (hence the 🏰🗡️name) which was a 1960s Neoclassic car. Appropriately enough Good Knight is a bit of classic himself! Thanks to Robo Machine, imported Gobots stock & a 1993 rerelease he is SO common in the UK. You should own one! #vintagetoytuesday

Gobots Good Knight on a Canadian card. It has a free holographic sticker. Though it has lost the price sticker this was sold in the UK as imported stock

Good Knihht in his handsome red Excalibur mode

Robot mode! Gobots often have very clever, involved transformations for their size and GK’s is very satisfying, making a stock robot for a sleek car

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Revell Diaclone Drill Robot! A kit version of the design better known as the Transformers Powerdasher drill. Fully transformable AND motorised once built! Often tempted to build it as I don’t have it loose. Blue & red rather than black & yellow. Even has an articulated Dianaut! #vintagetoytuesday

Revell Diaclone Drill Robot - a model kit in a grey box with glorious art of the toy in both robot and drill mode

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Matchbox Connectors Gozo! (Aka Ertl Socket Poppers Pterodactyl). Usually known as simply “Pterodactyl” this Italian release actually gave it a name. Connectors was a sadly shortlived line but the figures are an absolute blast! Wonderfully retro look, feathers are odd but pretty #vintagetoytuesday

Matchbox Connectors Gozo in a purple Italian window box. Not sure what the significance of the castle is

Gozo flies through the air on feathered wings!

Before stealing some of his body parts to go for a ride!

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Oh Lord, he comin’- McDonald’s Happy Meal Cheetor! This chonky cheets is high on his own supply. Lesson learned- NEVER leave a kitty unattended in a box with burgers & fries. Amazingly this is one of the more show accurate Beast Machines Cheetors, even has the purple spots (from all the grease)

Beast Machines McDonald’s Happy Meal Cheetor - a yellow & green technorganic cubby cheetah with purple spots

Cheetor’s skinny legs struggle to hold his weight

Robot mode. Despite the chub this is one of the closest toys to the show, even has the weird leg deelies

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Last year I was in A&E due to my autoimmune meds leaving me open to a horrific c.diff infection. Told I was on the verge of death (they later upgraded my condition to alive). Taught me even if life is crap value EVERY second & if you know something is wrong NEVER take “you’re fine” as an answer-PUSH

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Gobots Fright Face! Funny name for someone who hasn’t actually got a face (unless you count the Monsterous head inside of him). According to his bio “few can look upon his frightening face and not quake in utter terror” which leads me to headcannon that his blank face projects his enemy’s worst fear

Gobots Fright Face - a blue Monster Renegade with silver & orange detailing and claws. His horned head has a blank orb for a face which is actually quite creepy

Vehicle mode is a very alien fighter with an orange cockpit

Fright Face frightens Spy Eye (who also hasn’t got a face, you’d think there’d be some solidarity)

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So how do the various Cheetors look riding Che? Let’s do a Che-Tour to find out! (See what I did there?) Every official Beast Machines transforming Cheetor mould is represented. Commentary in the alt text!

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Beast Machines Beast Riders Che! Cheetor was an arrogant dick in BM so naturally created a Thundertank with his face that, per the bio, only he can operate properly. Hilariously his 3 mainline toys are all too big to operate it as designed. McDonald’s fits & guess Supreme could use 2 as rollerskates

Beast Machines Beast Riders Che - a vehicle with vague technorganic stylings in the shape of a kitty cat head with Cheetor’s shoulder ornaments strapped to the side. The yellow & green are quite attractive

Ready for battle! Che has equipped its mouth missiles and swung out some rotating paws with wicked claws

Cheetor hops on his ride! A dual cannon flips out, opening up a space for a small figure to stand, attached with a geared claw. Like Mechatron the claw can flip forwards to act as a spark extractor which doesn’t seem very Maximal but I guess it is useful for retrieving the sparks from Vehicon drones

Che clashes with Mechatron!the speed of Che gets the best of the brute force of Mechatron

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Gobots Stallion! Another great lil Gobot that wasn’t released in Robo Machine (booo) but still handily ended up on sale in the the UK thanks to imported stock. Smart-looking bot with a clever inside-out leg transformation. “Stallion” sounds like a cool & heroic name but he’s actually a Renegade

Gobots Stallion card - features the blue deco of the Renegades and nice art of Stallion in both modes. Stallion cos £1.99 which is quite expensive for an imported Gobot at the time (worth it though)

Back of the card featuring instructions and cross-sells

Stallion in car mode. Very handsome blue with an unusual hood sticker

In robot mode Stallion is solid if perhaps a lil generic but I guess that makes him a good goon. Lovely head design though

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Jurassic Park Weetabix Action Stickers & Stand-up cards! Back when even the most boring breakfast cereals came with cool stuff. You could peel off the stickers & put them on the scenes on the back of the box then turn the card into a lil stand-up dinosaur display. Starting your day the Jurassic way!

A Weetabix box from 1993 with the free Jurassic Park sticker offer

The cards - Dilophosaurus, brachiosaurus, explorer, triceratops, humans, gallimimus , tyrannosaurus, velociraptor- lil bit cheap that it’s all the sane art as the stickers

Two of the four backgrounds. I do actually have the other two but can I find pictures? Noooo

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