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krpalmerA store opened in the area mall I understood to offer "Japanese design"; that at least piqued my interest. Wandering though it to get an impression of lots of inexpensive housewares on display, I reached a shelf of toys and thought "sure, the Transformers were from Japan to start with." Then, even as an expected name was popping up from stacks of trivia, I looked that much closer and realised what was actually in green text at the bottom of the familiar-looking packages.
I'm familiar enough with bootleg Transformers. When young, I was given an "almost-Starscream" with stronger springs in the missile launcher pods than Hasbro would risk and, I recall, a little "Diaclone" pilot figure (although I'm afraid I lost it before thinking to try loading it into any of the other Transformers I had that derived from that Japanese toy line). Many years later, I spotted knockoff Constructicons in the local dollar store, and while I'd had just one of them when young, for six dollars I was able to combine them all at last (although an impression anything so cheap would fall apart pretty fast had me just sort of put them away right afterwards). The juxtaposition of one known quantity with a name known from another, if somewhat similar context (beyond undertone impressions a certain number of "Transformers fans" suppose giant robots piloted by mere humans simply can't match up to giant robots with onboard artificial intelligences) somehow had a fresh sort of amusement to it, though. There was even a strange sort of sense to it with the thought that Char Aznable was notable for piloting red "Mobile Suits" (except for spending a good part of one series piloting a gold model); however, the thought of "Powerglide" being a low-end Transformer did add to the skewed feeling. Anyway, I didn't go so far as to buy this particular bootleg, nor anything else in the store; needing the time to return with a camera in my pocket, though, meant some other bootlegs with what I recall as equally odd names (one impression is of one of the many Optimus Prime variants turned out for each new Transformers series, but labelled "Skywalker") had sold out.
I'm familiar enough with bootleg Transformers. When young, I was given an "almost-Starscream" with stronger springs in the missile launcher pods than Hasbro would risk and, I recall, a little "Diaclone" pilot figure (although I'm afraid I lost it before thinking to try loading it into any of the other Transformers I had that derived from that Japanese toy line). Many years later, I spotted knockoff Constructicons in the local dollar store, and while I'd had just one of them when young, for six dollars I was able to combine them all at last (although an impression anything so cheap would fall apart pretty fast had me just sort of put them away right afterwards). The juxtaposition of one known quantity with a name known from another, if somewhat similar context (beyond undertone impressions a certain number of "Transformers fans" suppose giant robots piloted by mere humans simply can't match up to giant robots with onboard artificial intelligences) somehow had a fresh sort of amusement to it, though. There was even a strange sort of sense to it with the thought that Char Aznable was notable for piloting red "Mobile Suits" (except for spending a good part of one series piloting a gold model); however, the thought of "Powerglide" being a low-end Transformer did add to the skewed feeling. Anyway, I didn't go so far as to buy this particular bootleg, nor anything else in the store; needing the time to return with a camera in my pocket, though, meant some other bootlegs with what I recall as equally odd names (one impression is of one of the many Optimus Prime variants turned out for each new Transformers series, but labelled "Skywalker") had sold out.