Lights! Camera! Action Masters!

Wow, nice... The G1 Action Master indeed are under appreciated...

Shockwave's an older gallery. Still it's nice to see these guys in poses and shown off. I was never too into AMs, but they were never really as bad as people made them out to be.

So does this mean AM Thundercracker will get the Seibertron gallery treatment?

They were abominations on their time because they REPLACED transformers with these. You couldn't find any real transformers back then, and all you got was these lousy replicas.

Imagine that the only thing you could buy for the next two years were only Robot Heroes and you'll get the picture of how sad was our life back then.

Bumblebeast wrote:They were abominations on their time because they REPLACED transformers with these. You couldn't find any real transformers back then, and all you got was these lousy replicas.

Imagine that the only thing you could buy for the next two years were only Robot Heroes and you'll get the picture of how sad was our life back then.

They were around the same time as micromasters, weren't they?

I wonder if the european actionmasters and elite AMs will have Seibertron galleries...

I never realized how cool those guys are! I can see how you'd be pissed back in the day if that's all they were making at the time. But I'd love to add a couple of these to my collection. Any tips on finding them? Are they easy to find on eBay? Are there any knock-offs or re-issues or anything like that? Any websites that I should check?

Chaoslock wrote:

Bumblebeast wrote:They were abominations on their time because they REPLACED transformers with these. You couldn't find any real transformers back then, and all you got was these lousy replicas.

Imagine that the only thing you could buy for the next two years were only Robot Heroes and you'll get the picture of how sad was our life back then.

They were around the same time as micromasters, weren't they?

I wonder if the european actionmasters and elite AMs will have Seibertron galleries...

Actually, Micromasters first came out in 1989, and Action Masters came out in 1990. The Action Masters dominated the toyline once the Micromasters got taken off the shelves.

But this only occured in America. The toyline continued with regualr transformers in Europe and Japan. Japan had the Zone toys in 1990, the Return of Convoy toys in 1991, and the Operation Combination toys in 1992. Europe had the same stuff we got in 1990, but had more Action Masters and Action Master Elites in 1991, and had the Turbomasters, Predators, yellow Constructicons, and Rescue Force in 1992.

They do indeed look great. The lack of arm and waist articulation is little surprising, since that is the only feature they had. G.I. Joe had better. I guess their partner was supposed to make up for that.

There's not enough Treadshot in the world today.

Bumblebeast wrote:They were abominations on their time because they REPLACED transformers with these. You couldn't find any real transformers back then, and all you got was these lousy replicas.

Imagine that the only thing you could buy for the next two years were only Robot Heroes and you'll get the picture of how sad was our life back then.

I feel the need to agree. I know some people really like the Actionmasters, but they really were a waste of sorts. Transforming robots that don't transform are lame from the get go. Then again, they are the closest representations of the cartoon characters at least, which is exactly what some collectors are really after. Honestly, we've had plenty of quirky things in the TF universe that the Actionmasters kinda fit right in on the different scale.

Dagon wrote: Transforming robots that don't transform are lame from the get go.

My gawd how true.

I recall clear walking into the toy section of the K-Mart close to my Great Aunt (we don't even have K-marts in the area any more I don't think, not for some years now), seeing these new Transformer things, grabbing like three or four (milking the prior mentioned Aunt during the visit ), then later being ticked they didn't actually transform. Just to appease my transforming-loving imagination during play I had to substitute alt modes with Reverse Actionmasters (Hot Wheels cars).

it was certainly an intersting time.

in a way i kinda regret we never got to see what furman was going to do with em in the comic as ironically they probably wouldve been really cool in comic form.

i echo the comment about treadshot. he had one REALLY cool bio and i always thought an "enemy at the gates" style story between him and sureshot (whom the bio said he was better than) couldve been a great little story.

yes the idea of a non transforming TF is on the nuts side but some of the characters are really cool on the design front and some of the "parnters" were great.

i loved the transforming exo suits for instance that thundercraker got (basically became a plane he rode which tranformed into a suit reminicient of his seeker bot mode) and sideswipe and tracka came with these little weapons platforms/tanks that became armour (really just covered their backs and heads). even grimlock got a cool mortar launcher he could ride. in fact for a basically naff toy i bought a fair number of em take off and screech was one of my fav's . a decepticon skyjocky who had a partner that turned from a vulture/bird thingy to an armoured jet pack that made him look vaguely like nemisis the warlock which he could use to fly about !

i kinda feel for you lads in america though as at the same time we got the predators, motivators, turbomasters and the last buy i got for over a decade - overlord. i never realy took to the micromasters but we got some great toys at the end and we werent as limited as you guys.

must admit its been a guilty pleasure to see the AM turn up in the IDW books, all the more fun as now you can actually give em alt modes. banzaitron and gutcruncher were actually portrayed as well up the command chain to boot.

so while im glad the bots are back in their transforming glory its still good to see these somewhat overlooked lads getting a bit of a light shone on em.

Biggest Tease of my Lifetime: Learning I finally was able to get a Devastator as a kid.

The Reality: Having an ActionMaster Devastator that was as tall as AM Inferno.

Those were the only 2 AMs I had, but it was cool seeing some long forgotten characters back in toy form, even if they didn't transform.....I still would like to find a Prowl to add to my collection.

The way I remember '89-'90, Transformers were kind of dead in the U.S., so I don't want to say the ActionMasters were the nail in the coffin for G1, but just the kind of "meh" product that seemed indicative of a toy line that was fading fast.

TV was barren of Transformers, the comic was losing patronage(thought it's quality was getting better and better, ironically enough) and we Americans enjoy our fads, but are quick to dispose of them when we lose interest. I was moving on to TMNT and found myself a foot soldier in the Nintendo/Sega wars.

By the time G2 came out in all its G1 repackaged goodness, I had moved on, occasionally watching a G2 cartoon, not really understanding what the transition screens were all about or that a new toy line had come out.