EDIT: I should start by stating that I posted this on Facebook first to friends who aren't as familiar with Transformers as we are here.
I would like to share with you, something that I've kept close to my chest. It's something I probably don't talk about a lot, and something I'm very sure not many of you know about.
I have a third nipple.
No wait, that's not it. I buy a lot of Transformers! that's it!
Moreover, I end up buying multiple figures of the same character. Often it's the case that I like the design of both versions, and want them both. In this instance I will focus on Windblade since both of her figures fell off the shelf when I damn near destroyed it with my fat butt as I entered my room.
With Windblade, the differences are visible in robot mode with the differing colour lay out, the proportions, and the articulation. Both figures also have different gimmickry, where the Titans Return Windblade (the one on the left in the first and second pictures) has two swords that turn into one big sword, and can remove her head to turn it into a littler robot. Meanwhile Generations Windblade (On the right in the first two pictures), has a fan. You know... for when she gets hot.
Once you get the two of them into vehicle mode, the differences are easy to spot. The red one looks like a smoother, more cohesive jet, while the black one is a bit of a mess. Other than them both having swiveling turbines on their wings, they are clearly different vehicles. Then you take a look at their undercarriages, that is where the similarities rear their ugly heads again. Just robot torsos, folded up legs, and a pair of arms chilling out on the sides. Hasbro seems to have trouble making robots that turn into planes.
Then there is the facial design. On the left is Titans Return Windblade. She has much softer features, and a style that reminds me more of a porcelain doll than a robot. Generations Windblade on the right is much more robotic and angular. Neither of them are bad designs. The Titans Return Windblade looks closer to how she appears in the comics, but sacrifices the head shape for having the gimmick of her head popping off and turning into a tiny robot. The Generations Windblade by comparison strays from the comic design (mind you, the toy came first before her appearance in the comic), and has a more "kabuki" face paint design. Also the fan on her head comes off which is a stupid thing to include, I would have much preferred light piping.
This malady of toy collecting doesn't just end at Windblade and her different design elements and gimmicks, of course. It's been an affliction for years! Another recent example is with the character Scorn, a Dinobot from the Age of Extinction movie who's design rocked my face off, along with my neck and the left side of my torso. When the toy came out I purchased it with all the haste of a man running from a flock of hangry bears. While I love the toy, I always wished it was just a bit larger. Then the newest Transformers movie bore more Dinobot fruit, including a do-over of Scorn! Once again I ran like a man pursued by ravenous ursines so that I may purchase this embiggened Scorn. Both toys are of the exact same character, but they are so different from each other that I don't feel dirty for owning two!
The other way this curse manifests it's self is when there are two versions of one character, but one version is far superior to the other, like with the Decepticon police car, Barricade. In the distant past of 2007, Barricade looked amazing, even though he had little articulation, little details, and no hands. I still bought the toy because there were literally no police car Decepticons before then (to my knowledge)! Fast forward to 2011 and with the new Transformers Dark of The Moon movie, a new version of Barricade was released. Though this figure is smaller (and at the same price point (*grumblegrumble*), it is much more articulated, and has much better details.
Then there is Bumblebee. The scourge of the toy isles because of how much Hasbro loves him and how much they make of him, and how they keep the shelves clogged, preventing stores from selling their aging stock and making them reluctant to purchase more, actually interesting transformers because they have too many bees!
but i digress
I told myself that I would purchase no more Bumblebees after the Dark of The Moon version. BUT THEN! Hasbro accidentally made an amazing figure with a simple repaint called "Cyberfire Bumblebee" The black and yellow repaint with lightning stripes all over it would have been easy to pass up, had it not been for one simple detail, the eyes. The blood-red evil eyes that seem to glow no matter where a light source comes from! This version of Bumblebee actually became quite sought after, even during an age when Bumblebee figures all across the land were gathering dust on store shelves and bedeviling department stores who had more Bumblebee stock than they could ever sell! So sometimes it's not even a new version of the same character, it could be the exact same one but with a different paint job. Thankfully I managed to get my hands on one.
The final reason that one (me) might get multiple versions of the same character, is because that character is awesome and the general design works so well that everyone wants it. Much like in the case of Soundwave. I have more than is pictured here, however I usually have many of them in storage. When strangers materialize in my room, they often say "Lord Tyler, why dost thou possess so many instances of Soundwave?" I then give them a corrective slap to the face, and firmly inform them that 5 is the optimum number of Soundwaves for any household! NO LESS! Duly educated, they then return to the aether from whence they came to spread the word so that their fellow ethereal beings may properly adorn their effervescent domiciles with Soundwave.
So with all of this stated, I believe I can properly justify buying a third Windblade figure that I don't have yet. Ulterior motives, hah!
