OPERATION COMBINATION: GUARD CITY (ガードシティ )! MULTI-GELSTAT WRRIOR

11:25 AM in Exclusive Repaint, Guard City, Japanese G1, Multi-Gestalt Warrior, Protectobots, Rare, Scramble City

Hi folks, Just another update from me, WSX. This acquisition of Guard City has been in the pipeline for some time now. Glad and relieved that I finally settled the outstanding payment for this bad-boy. Should reach me in approx 2 weeks time. :D Pics linked and credited to the wonderfully understanding and awesome seller: 

Brief BIO: 

Guard City is an Autobot from the Operation Combination portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

Not a good day for cheap redecos.

Guard City (ガードシティ Gādo Shiti) is a high-ranking Autobot warrior, who commands the Micromaster Six-Teams in their defense ofEarth. His arch-nemesis is the Decepticon combiner Battle Gaia.

Guard City is composed of the following individual Autobots:

• Fire Chief
• Streetstar
• Fly-Up
• Sparkride
• Safety

As a Free-Combiner, the individual robots making up Guard City's limbs enjoy a certain level of autonomy, allowing them to consciously rearrange themselves to suit specific situations. With Streetstar and Sparkride forming his legs, Guard City can reach incredible speeds with his "Mach Formation". With Sparkride and Fly-Up forming his arms, Guard City can use their various abilities (such as Fly-Up's rotor blades) to aid him in battle with the "Attack Formation". With Safety and Streetstar forming his arms, he can use the lightbars of both vehicles to make himself highly visible and demand attention during emergency situations, creating the "Signal Formation". And with Safety forming one of his arms, Guard City can call upon the medic's skills to repair wounded soldiers via the "Repair Formation".

Operation Combination

• Guard City (Multi-pack, 1992)
  • Japanese ID number: TF-04

Guard City is a redeco of the original Defensor, a combination of five emergency-response vehicles. He is largely similar to Defensor, with only a handful of plastic colors changed, plus some but not all of the decals are changed.

Guard City's deco shares a lot in common with most Defensor knock-offs, with Streetwise's mould rendered in stark white (rather than off-white) and Hot Spot done in red. Fire Chief stands out from fakes, though, because he retains some of Hot Spot's powder blue plastic, on his fists and ladder. Knock-offs almost never render the helicopter in blue like Fly-Up, however. The only difference between Groove and Sparkride is their stickers, the same is true of the combiner parts — Only the chest plate stickers are different.

Since he uses the Scramble City-style of combination, he can be composed of any combination of limb-robots, so long as Fire Chief is the torso. He was only available as a complete box set.

• More information on Guard City at TFU.info

Notes

• As part of the very last Transformers series in Japan for several years, Guard City is remarkably hard to find on the secondary market, and demands some heavy prices, despite the similarities to Defensor.

Guard city, Transformers and Scramble City Copyright 1992 Takaratomy Japan. 

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WING SABER TOYZ SNEAK PEEK: D-310 Destron-Cross-Former, Black Shadow! (ブラックシャドー Burakku Shadō): Space Gangster! (宇宙ギャング)!!

8:54 PM in Blackshadow, Crossformer, expensive, Pretender, Rare, Space Vehicles, Transformers Victory, VINTAGE TRANSFORMERS VICTORY, Yet To Arrive

Another teaser post! Arriving, hopefully sometime next month! 

Box-Art linked and credited to the awesome botchthecrab.com

Hailing from somewhere beyond the Milky Way galaxy, Black Shadow (ブラックシャドー Burakku Shadō) is a vile gangster whose skills in robbery, extortion and murder are available to anyone who can meet his price. He is loyal only to the highest bidder; even the Decepticons are loath to work with him that often, as they can never be sure he won't betray them in mid-job if he gets a better offer. In jet mode, he can devastate buildings around him with powerful sonic shockwaves by breaking the sound barrier while flying at low altitudes, a technique he calls his "Sonic Boomer Attack".

His partner in crime is Blue Bacchus, a gunman with a similar personality and moral fiber who looks up to him. The pair's partnership has made them infamous throughout space, and there is a massive bounty on their heads, but Black Shadow would actually kill Blue Bacchus without remorse if the situation demanded it.

All Text Linked to tfwiki.net.

Toys

[edit]Victory

He may not be a mafioso, but he'll still cut off your horse's head.

• Black Shadow (Crossformer, 1989)
  • Japanese ID number: D-309
  • Accessories: Crossformer shell, 2 large rifles, small rifle

Black Shadow is a redeco of the Pretender Thunderwing, transforming into a Cybertronic jet. His outer Crossformer shell's chestplate/head piece is retooled from Thunderwing's to make it more robotic. However, it still transforms into a larger Cybertronic jet like the original version. The inner vehicle can be attached underneath the nose of the larger vehicle to create a combined starship mode. All three of his guns can be mounted on his shell's vehicle mode.

• More information on Black Shadow at TFU.info

[edit]

Difficult to obtain. And it did cost me a small fortune, especially in the condition which it came. Let's just say that a used stickered piece can fetch up to the region of $700! For hardcore fanatics...who are oblivious to paying crazy amounts of copious cash...lol

Pic of MISB Blackshadow linked to Gerrutcamero, ebay Seller

Blackshadow/ Transformers Victory Copyright 1989 Takara

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WING SABER TOYZ SPECIAL! = HEAVY SERIES-LINKED GESTALT WARRIOR: ライデン（雷電） C-131 RAIDEN (Giftset) !! GOD OF THUNDER!

10:13 AM in 1988 Headmaster, JUST BOUGHT, Multi-Gelstat Warrior, Raiden, Rare, Takara, Train Robots, Vintage

RAIDEN IS ONE OF A KIND!

A VERY WARM AND GOOD MONTH ONCE AGAIN TO THOSE WHO FOLLOW MY BLOG FROM AROUND THE WORLD! This blog post is truly and really outstanding if you are a fellow Transformer Vintage collector who is planning on really 'kicking up' a gear when it comes to adding a truly one-of- a kind piece of rare Giftset to be ever made to your burgeoning collection, especially those made in Japan exclusives that were released sometime in the late 80's . Once again, to my 'detractors' and jealous nonsensical individuals who are opposed or not really interested in following my blog-- please for your own sake-- turn away at once! -- least you turn even more green with envy with my latest coup' de' grace of finally-- (I say that in reference to waiting a whole SIX MONTHS) -- obtaining the current ''crowning piece'' in my humble and growing collection of Vintages gems: The Heavy Linked Gestalt Autobot/Cybertron Warrior: C-131 Raiden ( ライデン) !!  I got some ;street-dork' cred for managing to own this awesome giftset! Haha, not to brag, just an so stoked that my good patience and great help from a friend pulled through. 

TECH SPECS

Transports the Cybertron warriors. Destroys any who get in his way. Personality: Always punctual. Hates Devastator and wants to beat Predaking.

Strength:	10
Intelligence:	4
Speed:	10
Endurance:	7
Rank:	4
Courage:	8
Firepower:	6
Skill:	5
Total:	54

Toys

The Headmasters

Six Set of Trains that merge into a Super-Gestalt Warrior?! Awesome!

• Raiden (Trainbot, 1987, 1990)
  
  
  • Japanese ID number: C-131
  • Accessories: Left & right fists, chestplate, waist armor, back armor, 2 "Leg Beams", 2 "Wing Lasers", "Train Bazooka" rifle

Raiden began life as the Diaclone "Trainbot", released as part of the "Real and Robo" sub-line. One of the few Diaclone toys not initially ported over for release in Hasbro's Transformers line, the Trainbots eventually found their way into the Transformers universe a few years later when they were released by Takara, with the addition of waist and back armor panels for their combined mode, as part of the Headmasters line, available only in Japan.

The six Trainbots who form Raiden were available both individually and together in a giftset. Like his fellow Diaclone-born combiner Devastator, each of Raiden's components becomes a specific party of his body; they are not interchangeable, like the later-designed "Scramble City" combiners were. Raiden requires several additional parts to complete his combination, beyond the usual extremities-and-chestplate accessories of most other combiners, which take the form of various unique weapons: his shoulder-mounted "Wing Lasers", ankle-mounted "Leg Beams" and hand-held "Train Bazooka" gun, none of which are wielded by any of the smaller Trainbots. The Trainbots were later re-released in 1990 as part of the Zone toyline, but only in individual packaging, never as a giftset.

• More information on Raiden at TFU.info

Box art linked and credited to Heroic_Decepticon and Botchthecrab! 

MANDRAKE JAPAN: THE MOTHER OF ALL VINTAGE SHOPS!

If so ever one of you lucky folks have aver the opportunity to visit the Land of the Rising Sun aka Japan, please be very sure to take time off and effort to go about locating the most quintessential and most hard-core complex in the whole of the  toy hobby-mad country! It's literally a treasure trove of rows and floors upon floors of the most rare, sought after and DESIRABLE TOYS for as far as the limit can stretch! Prices for this super-rare set can sometimes reach ''astronomical'' value, of course depending on the state of the contents and the boxed specimen at hand. Generally, the uber-collector in some of you guys will want to find a COMPLETE paper-works/ stickers, individual guns/ weapon and those little 'green connector' pieces. Expect to pay a premium for an 'opened but unused' specimen say in the region of 90,000 Yen to a whopping  108,000 Yen! Talk about exorbitant! You might be even lucky to find a completely pristine and unopened set.  But of course, I shudder at the thought of just HOW much that set might be going for! LOL. 

Complex Mandarake

Transformers Takara G1 C-131 ( ライデン)

The box art is to say the least, very retro and nostalgic. The fact that there  is a huge character  art of Raiden in his combined mode on the front of the box makes it prominent and stand-out when one take a first glance. It's got the distinction one of the few if not only train-team combiner to grace the Transformers franchise. That's saying something, dontcha think?! . Heck, even these sets were pretty rare during my early childhood in the late 80's to  early 90's. I could  not for the life of me even remember seeing any or s sniff of the elusive Raiden set on those air-condition  Departmental Stores. Ever. I can only name only other ONE desirable toy, which do I have some very strong an vivid  memory of  is the other Autobot Gestalt Car team which was none other than Roadceaser. But that's it. No Trainbots or Raiden. 

' 

ONLY SIX TRAINS,  BUT WORTH EVERY PENNY!

The impressive Raiden combination consists of approximately 6 individually made toy trains and transformable robots, with their origins stretching back to their roots in the later part of the 1970's and early 80's. Any Vintage Transformer enthusiast out there worth his money will tell you that not only were these 'Trainbots' produced in limited quantity, they were and and are still considered to this day, truly rare and hard-to find, not least becoming one of the most sought after and much talked-about Combiner / Gestalt teams to ever grace the Transformers collecting fandom.  Be forewarned, that finding them will certainly cause some form of painstaking effort, more often than not a heavy toll on one's finances.  The fact that the transforming process for each of the individual train/ robot members are simplistic, beguiles the fact that when these six awesome toys merge into the mighty gestalt warrior Raiden,  the process is anything but! It requires some level of varying skill, to say the least!

The main function of the Trainbots is transport, but when an obstruction arises that prevents them from delivering their passengers, they won't hesitate to combine into the mighty Raiden (ライデン) to clear the tracks. And no obstacle is too big for Raiden's matchless ambition: he is, after all, the guy who maintains an active rivalry with Devastator, and plans on challenging Predaking next! Fittingly enough, his other great personality trait is his peerless punctuality. This is one Robot Train that always runs on time!

Raiden is the combined form of all six Trainbots: 

• Shōki (leader, torso)
• Getsuei (right leg)
• Kaen (pelvis)
• Seizan (right arm)
• Suiken (left arm)
• Yukikaze (left leg)

Raiden made his first brief appearance fighting alongside Superion and Defensor against the Decepticon combiners when the villains invaded Cybertron in 2011. They were very nearly crushed to death when Bruticus collapsed a building on them with his sonic stun-gun, but the tide of the fight was turned when the Autobot Headmasters arrived to join the battle. The Mystery of Planet Master. Pics of Raiden are linked and credited to Seibertron.com. / Mandrake Co.Jp./  

Any yes, I am only using 3 to 5 shots! So be it!

THE NAME IS BODHAR2000!

Okay folks, time for a confession: I would not have managed to obtain this super-rare piece of vintage toys if it were not for the high and huge generosity of a really cool and understanding seller and internet buddy, the one and only: Bodhar2000! Seriously, man this blog post is dedicated to your cool arrangements for payments and of course your willingness to let me bide my time to receive this beautiful box. MAJOR UPDATE! : THE PACKAGE ARRIVED SAFELY AND SOUNDLY ON 7th October 2010,  AND IT CAME IN WRAPPED TIGHT WITH BUBBLE-WRAP TO MINIMIZE THE DAMAGE FROM THE AIR TRAVEL.  If you guys are thinking of getting anything super- rare or hard to find Transformers, I can't recommend this super seller enough! 

FINAL THOUGHTS: 

Raiden and it's individual Trainbots are a true defining piece in Transformers collection history. I challenge those detractors and harsh critics of mine to obtain them if you can or if you are able to! As for my loyal and committed followers, I told you guys and have promised not to mentioned delivered when it matters the most. Last but not least, here is a small treat as to what yours truly looks like! LOL. Haters tot he left, please! The proof is in the pudding, so the saying goes! This is Wing_Saber-X signing off for the time-being! Peace! 

Raiden, Shōki / Getsuei / Kaen  / Seizan  / Suiken  & Yukikaze are all Copyright 1989 Takara Japan. 

MEET THE MEMBERS OF TEAM RAIDEN!

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