The Energon Pub

I bought a Four Star brand figure. Has anyone heard of this before? I was wondering how much this could sell for and what is it called? Pics:

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Four Star is/was notorious if making High quality KO's of Transformers. Some of their best efforts were three different coloured versions of the seekers. As well as all three of the basic Instecticons were KO'd.

I'm at work, but when I get home, I can look for the website that describes them pretty good.

This is the first time I have seen a Four Star KO of a Jumpstarter, however, it doesn't surprise me. They also made a KO of Devestator that was sh!tty, called Mr Hardhat (or something like that).

By the way, those pix are really poor, I would be interested in a higher quality pic, if you have one. Four Star makes slight mould changes that normally look decent.

It's a knockoff of Topspin or Twintwist...kind of a hybrid.

The figure is actually from 1985 not recent. I will post non cellphone pics later tonight hopefully.

Toptwist or Twinspin? Hee Hee Hee

I think they stopped producing toys in the late '80's.

Speaking of identifying figures, a month or so ago I won an eBay auction for two seekers: Ramjet and Starscream. Both of them are all black but have stickers and wings to identify them as Ramjet and Starscream. They are both stamped Takara and I think the year is either 84 or 85. They are not repaints, they are seekers molded in black, even Ramjets' wings. Any knowledge on those?

Never heard of it. Pix may help. Are you sure soemone didn't custom them?

Here's the link to Four Star's KO page http://toyarchive.com/Transformers/Knockoffs/FourStar/FourStar.html They had some unique stuff.

wow...four star ain't bad for KOs

DJDrew&ScoobyDoo wrote:Never heard of it. Pix may help. Are you sure soemone didn't custom them?

Here's the link to Four Star's KO page http://toyarchive.com/Transformers/Knockoffs/FourStar/FourStar.html They had some unique stuff.

I'm fairly certain these weren't custom jobs, they are pretty much indistinguishable from G1 Seekers except that they're all black. They are stamped Takara and all that. I can't post pictures because I have no way of doing so, but they are just all balck Ramjet, even the wings, and Starscream, essentially Skywarp without any of the purple. Even the tailfins on Starscream are black, and it seems to be a deeper black than Skywarp, like a jet black as opposed to just 'black'. They're shiney kind of, like the paint is fairly reflective, and they don't feel any different than normal Seekers, not like they've been repainted because sometimes you can feel a difference in the paint.


They have stickers but I think those are reprolabels or something because they are the regular Seekers sticker colors and patterns but they appear to be printed on a shiney silver label. Let me see if the eBay link is still around, becuase that's about as good as I can do for a picture.

Here, I don't know if this will work, but here goes::

Ramjet
http://i5.ebayimg.com/03/i/000/95/e7/0f40_1.JPG
Robot mode:
http://i13.ebayimg.com/06/i/000/95/e7/0f9d_1.JPG
Starscream:
http://i13.ebayimg.com/04/i/000/95/e6/5c5c_1.JPG
Robot mode:
http://i8.ebayimg.com/01/i/000/95/e6/5ce3_1.JPG

Is this the Ramjet in question? http://www.cobraislandtoys.com/tf/1992/ramjetg2.html

No idea about the Starscream. Unless it has a different mould like the Fourstar Phantom jets.

No, that's the G2. I posted some links to pictures in a previous post, if those help any.

Sorry, missed it.

Honestly, it looks like someone got creative with some left-over seeker parts. If the stickers seem like repo's, maybe they took the wings from G2 Ramjet with G1 stabalizers and put them on Skywarp's body. I dunno. I mean, if they went through the effort to get Repo stickers maybe they did more customizing?

Can you tell if the metal Chassis has been painted? I really have never seen anything like those two.

'S cool, I didn't know if the links were going to work anyway.

As far as the chasis go and being repainted in general, they don't seem like it. My manufacturing knowledge is very limited, but they don't feel like they've been repainted, and the chasis are all black anyhow, not like Skywarp who I think has silver intake ports up by the head. If they were repainted, as the seller insisted they were not, then they were done so painstakingly becuase they seem to have been cast that way. As for the Ramjet wings, they are missing the stamp with the logo and 'Decepticon' written on them. The labels are most certainly reproductions, but the rest of the figures don't seem to have been altered in anyway by repainting or whathaveyou. Even Starscreams' launchers are completely black. In contrast, Black Starscream from eHobby has black rings around the tip of the launcher but the rest of the apparatus is grey.
I'm starting to wonder if they are not pre-Transformers figures, because my knowledge of Diaclone and stuff is real slim too. I've never seen these before either, and they caught my attention becuase I love the Seekers and their molds, and was intrigued by these all black ones. Got them for about $50 a piece, and there wasn't much of a bid war for them, so I'd hesitate to think they're really special, but if they are in fact repaints they must have been done at a factory or something. I've never kitbashed or whatnot, but a job like the way these turned out would have been too massive to sell or too time consuming to let go of for cheap. Let me see if I can get a hold of the seller and get some clarification as to their origins, and hopefully Getter Dragun or Cyber Bishop or Ryan reads this thread and with their vaster knowledge can add some enlightenment.

Well, if you have them now, the only thing is to fill your ranks of Seekers! The Autobots haven't got a chance! Bwahaahaahaaaaaaa!

Yeah, I feel the same way. I've had them for almost a month now and they are very cool, and in my mind few things are cooler than a shelf full of Seekers. I'm just curious if there's anything special about them outside of personal reasons, and had thought about starting a thread to attempt to find out before I usurped this one. The pictures may not do them justice, but having had them for a while I can say with some modicum of truth that they aren't just repainted. They do swell the Seeker ranks without extra costly eHaobbies like Sunstorm, and they are nice in contrast with the eHobby black Starscream. Would still like to know more about them though, and I emailed the eBay seller hopefully for clarification.

DJDrew&ScoobyDoo wrote:No idea about the Starscream. Unless it has a different mould like the Fourstar Phantom jets.

Just to make sure, this is one of 'em right?:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Transformers-1985-FOUR-STAR-Seeker-Jet-100-complete_W0QQitemZ180098497943QQihZ008QQcategoryZ4696QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem

Other than the white face, that thing looks fantastic!

This one too:



Maybe it's just the pic, but I swear the wings come closer to the body than the G1's do, and that makes a lot of difference to me. But it's not worth $100 by any means.

Nope, they are not those. There are links to pictures in the first page of this post.

Dagon wrote:Nope, they are not those. There are links to pictures in the first page of this post.

I was referring to the 4 Star Phantom Jets. I think they look awsome.

Those KO triple changers are very creative/unusual.

And those black seekers are really nice.

Wasn't there an exclusive black repaint of Starscream?

Isn't that a Jumpstarter?

To Duke of Luns. Yes, those are the Fourstar Phantoms. They are very similar to the G1 seeker mould. With the exception of a)remoulded wings, rudders, and stablizers, b)the metal chassis has some minor changes, c)the face (looks akin to a Macross VF-1S face, without the double dual lasers on the side of the head), d)the feet are different, e)different missles, f)canopy colour and mould g)and of course the colouring (body). ...other than that exactly the same...hee hee hee

The Fourstar Phamtoms came in three variations (that I know of) Black, White (both pictured earlier), and a Grey. The Grey one is without chrome and has a handgun. I've only seen it pictured once or twice. If I find it later, I'll post a link. I think it's on Prime Saber's variations page, but not sure.

To Caelus: Yeah, I had the Plane/Damsel Fly/Robot as a kid. I didn't like it back then and I think I traded it for some G.I. Joes. However, hind sight 20/20, I would rather have kept it. I also remember the other one, the spider's legs were the helocopters blades, but I don't think I had it.

To Lord Crump: Yes, it's a KO of a Jumpstarter.

All in all, there is actully quite a market for Fourstar KO's. Even though they were KO's they had just enough mould changes to make them new characters. Currently, I only have the Black Phamtom Jet and he is missing some parts. If I ever find the other ones (cheap) i'll get them.

http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/showthread.php?t=94932

Looks like I didn't have to take pics after all. Mine is the same except it doesn't have the little antennae. [/url]