New Galleries: Club Subscription Service 3.0 Nightracer with Shakar and BotCon 1995 Nightracer
Thursday, November 5th, 2015 2:48AM CST
Categories: Site News, Toy News, Collector's Club NewsPosted by: Va'al Views: 53,897
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Redecoed from the Generations Legend class Tailgate figure, Nightracer sports a black and blue paint scheme, as does tiny Shakar (with some added yellow). Also included in the gallery offerings below are comparison and full looks at BotCon 1995 Nightracer, and the Whiz-Bang variant homaging the Go-Bots of old. Take a look at a preview below, and click on any of the images to view the full galleries.
Convention & Club Exclusives Nightracer
Convention & Club Exclusives Shakar
BotCon Exclusives Nightracer
Convention & Club Exclusives Nightracer (Whiz-Bang variant)
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Posted by durroth on November 5th, 2015 @ 3:59am CST
Also, on the Seeker mold subject: They need to come out with a suitable updated mold, yeah. This one got alot of use but it's time to let them cook up a worthy successor.
Posted by Rated X on November 5th, 2015 @ 6:35am CST
But instead we got this...
Posted by Evil Eye on November 5th, 2015 @ 6:40am CST
Rated X wrote:We should have gotten Redwing...
But instead we got this...
Yes, because a generic who existed for all of ONE PANEL in a comic with no lines, characterization or anything else, and only got a name because of the nagging of an overly obsessed fan TOTALLY deserves a new toy more than one of the first ever female Transformers toys, who also happened to be the creation of Raksha, one of the organizers of BotCon 1995. You'd get on just fine; she's a major GEEWUNer who hates Beast Wars and everything that followed it.
Posted by Rated X on November 5th, 2015 @ 6:49am CST
Seibertron wrote:Rated X wrote:This mold is G.O.A.T. !!!
(Greatest of all time for the non hop hop fans)
Such a shame to see this mold go because the Armada Starscream mold doesn't hold a candle to this one. Cmon, TFCC give us a god damn Redwing (the character you created) and I wouldnt mind a G2 Sandstorm from the Ramjet version of the mold either...
How about a proper Sunstorm with white instead of black?
That would be nice. But I do give them a free pass on that because they did gang mold their sunstorm with the other 2. Maybe e hobby will pick up the mold and do its variants. Just because funpub made the incredibly poor decision to stop using the mold, doesnt mean hasbro or takara wont use it again. This mold is money in the bank. Personally, my proper Sunstorm itch was scratched by CHMS a long time ago. But I hope this mold makes a comeback. Funpub has gone against their word before like they did with "no more UT molds".
Posted by TF_JW on November 5th, 2015 @ 7:02am CST
Delta Magnus wrote:Rated X wrote:We should have gotten Redwing...
But instead we got this...
Yes, because a generic who existed for all of ONE PANEL in a comic with no lines, characterization or anything else, and only got a name because of the nagging of an overly obsessed fan TOTALLY deserves a new toy more than one of the first ever female Transformers toys, who also happened to be the creation of Raksha, one of the organizers of BotCon 1995. You'd get on just fine; she's a major GEEWUNer who hates Beast Wars and everything that followed it.
Don't forget that Red Wing was also shot in the back of the head and was not shown again after that.
Posted by Deathsanras on November 5th, 2015 @ 8:16am CST
Posted by RiddlerJ on November 5th, 2015 @ 8:18am CST
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on November 5th, 2015 @ 8:22am CST
Posted by ScottyP on November 5th, 2015 @ 8:39am CST
Posted by Mkall on November 5th, 2015 @ 11:51am CST
Posted by Seibertron on November 5th, 2015 @ 6:00pm CST
Posted by megatronus on November 5th, 2015 @ 9:57pm CST
Posted by Jelze Bunnycat on November 5th, 2015 @ 10:24pm CST
megatronus wrote:It's interesting that the Club chose that Nightracer not match Krok's color scheme. I guess they wanted her deco to match the comic rather than the original toy?
Why would Krok and Nightracer have to match, period?
Posted by Sabrblade on November 5th, 2015 @ 10:30pm CST
Her colors are based on the deco that the original 1995 Nightracer toy was intended to have, as its yellow parts were instead supposed to have been blue.megatronus wrote:It's interesting that the Club chose that Nightracer not match Krok's color scheme. I guess they wanted her deco to match the comic rather than the original toy?
Posted by megatronus on November 5th, 2015 @ 10:32pm CST
JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:megatronus wrote:It's interesting that the Club chose that Nightracer not match Krok's color scheme. I guess they wanted her deco to match the comic rather than the original toy?
Why would Krok and Nightracer have to match, period?
Who said they have to match, period?
Posted by megatronus on November 5th, 2015 @ 10:34pm CST
Sabrblade wrote:Her colors are based on the deco that the original 1995 Nightracer toy was intended to have, as its yellow parts were instead supposed to have been blue.megatronus wrote:It's interesting that the Club chose that Nightracer not match Krok's color scheme. I guess they wanted her deco to match the comic rather than the original toy?
Good to know. I still think it would have been fun for the set to match... but not bummed at all. Delivery #6 turned out real nice either way.
Posted by Seibertron on November 5th, 2015 @ 10:38pm CST
JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:megatronus wrote:It's interesting that the Club chose that Nightracer not match Krok's color scheme. I guess they wanted her deco to match the comic rather than the original toy?
Why would Krok and Nightracer have to match, period?
They should both have the yellowish green plastic, like Krok has. Instead, they went with the color scheme that Raksha apparently wanted originally for Nightracer, but Hasbro presented them with the yellowish green with black instead of blue and black like she had wanted.
With that said, I would have preferred to have the yellowish green myself because that's what the original toy was. I'm not sure I understand the point of doing it like Raksha originally wanted/intended for Nightracer to be because now the new toy doesn't really look like the original toy, which is all I care about and I'm assuming most of you would have preferred to have it look like the original toy as well. I also think it's odd to have made an anagram of Raksha's name for the Mini-Con/Micromaster figure. I'd get it more if Raksha was was still a prominent person in the Transformers community after the 90s or if Transformers names were commonly derived from prominent people involved with the Transformers brand.
Altogether, it strikes me as an homage that is a real big stretch with some very odd fandom ties to people who, to the best of my knowledge, aren't involved with Transformers much any more.
Though I will second someone's comment above that Raksha and Rated X have some similar views regarding their passion for G1, though Raksha's take on the Decepticons being the real good guys is definitely a different angle, one which I don't think Rated X would care much for.
If you aren't familiar with Raksha, check out this article she wrote for my Trans-Forum fanzine that I did pre-Seibertron.com during the late 90s. Her article from the June 13th, 1997 issue of Trans-Forum was titled "The Real Heroes of the Story".
http://www.seibertron.com/transformers/news/the-real-heroes-of-the-story/18267/
Posted by Jelze Bunnycat on November 5th, 2015 @ 10:49pm CST
That said, since she's the clone and therefore has not to match the template in color or form, maybe the original can be made after the colors of the original BotCon toy?
Posted by Sabrblade on November 5th, 2015 @ 10:52pm CST
I think it's neat that we finally have a toy of Nightracer in the deco she was meant to have instead of the one she got. Sure, it means that this character now has two decos to her name, but her new toy having the original planned deco gives her a look that we never got in toy form before and doesn't take away from the 1995 toy still having its deco.Seibertron wrote:With that said, I would have preferred to have the yellowish green myself because that's what the original toy was. I'm not sure I understand the point of doing it like Raksha originally wanted/intended for Nightracer to be because now the new toy doesn't really look like the original toy, which is all I care about and I'm assuming most of you would have preferred to have it look like the original toy as well.
I liken this situation to the Tripredacus Council toys we're getting for BotCon next year. Sure, they aren't in the decos of their original toys, but they are in a deco based on something else that we never got before and doesn't take away from the original toys having the decos they had.
And, well, there is the 2012-2014 TCC comic fiction that had her in the original planned deco, both in the G2 GoBot body and in the Tailgate body, so there is some fictional precedence:
Plus, Shakar's deco does pay some homage to the 1995 Nightracer toy deco with its yellow paint apps.
I'm told she's still friends with some of the Fun Pub Club staff and has been a dealer at the BotCons of recent years.Seibertron wrote:I also think it's odd to have made an anagram of Raksha's name for the Mini-Con/Micromaster figure. I'd get it more if Raksha was was still a prominent person in the Transformers community after the 90s.
Altogether, it strikes me as an homage that is a real big stretch with some very odd fandom ties to people who, to the best of my knowledge, aren't involved with Transformers much any more.
Posted by durroth on November 5th, 2015 @ 11:24pm CST
Posted by Jelze Bunnycat on November 5th, 2015 @ 11:36pm CST
durroth wrote:Wasn't the original yellow instead of blue because instead of actually molding new parts, hasbro just made nightracer out of extra parts from a bunch of other bots?
Exactly. The Japanese release of Go-Bots Optimus Prime, Megatron and Soundwave specifically is to blame here. Because they're gangmolded in pairs, those releases left Hasbro with a lot of unused parts, from which Nightracer is made:
- car shell is from Bumblebee
- the yellow parts were gangmolded with Soundwave's shell
- the wheels came from the Double Clutch mold
Posted by TF_JW on November 6th, 2015 @ 8:29am CST
Both color schemes were considered for this freebie, with the decision actually being rather painstaking. Ultimately since Matt Frank was insistent that she be blue back during A Flash Forward, it was agreed that it would be best to remain consistent.
Plus, despite being for yellow myself originally, the final blue deco that was mocked-up popped much better than any of the yellow decoes.
She's actually one of my favorites from this round (and there are A LOT of favorites in this one!). And now, thanks to the gallery here, I have to get an extra Jackpot gun to go with her! :p
Posted by Hellscream9999 on November 6th, 2015 @ 10:04am CST
TF_JW wrote:The freebie figure was never really "themed" with any of the rest of the subscription offering. Unlike the previous subscription where if you make a Rewind, it just makes sense to package him with Eject. Especially since they were two smaller scale figures and could fit into the same shipping box with ease.
Both color schemes were considered for this freebie, with the decision actually being rather painstaking. Ultimately since Matt Frank was insistent that she be blue back during A Flash Forward, it was agreed that it would be best to remain consistent.
Plus, despite being for yellow myself originally, the final blue deco that was mocked-up popped much better than any of the yellow decoes.
She's actually one of my favorites from this round (and there are A LOT of favorites in this one!). And now, thanks to the gallery here, I have to get an extra Jackpot gun to go with her! :p
Don't worry she's beautiful
Posted by Bumblevivisector on November 6th, 2015 @ 10:46pm CST
Deathsanras wrote:Nice. Wipe-Out looks good.
AH, so I'm NOT the only one! Totally thought that was him until I dug out her bio card.
I miss Raksha's old site. Hasn't come back up, has it? Great that she sorta' came out of retirement/semi-seclusion to contribute to this. Doesn't make sense to call her a geewunner though, since she was most active during G2, and her reasons for hating Beast Wars were at least substantive, whereas most BW haters I talk to in person dismiss it with, "They shouldn't have computer-animated Transformers" after only having watched about 30 seconds of it...or any TF show after 1986.
Jackpot's gun really works; did any of the Euro-exclusive Action-Mastes have yellow tommy-guns? Er, then again, moot point. We'll surely see a Shapways or 3rd party solution before long.
Posted by RK_Striker_JK_5 on November 11th, 2015 @ 7:08am CST
Seibertron wrote:JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:megatronus wrote:It's interesting that the Club chose that Nightracer not match Krok's color scheme. I guess they wanted her deco to match the comic rather than the original toy?
Why would Krok and Nightracer have to match, period?
They should both have the yellowish green plastic, like Krok has. Instead, they went with the color scheme that Raksha apparently wanted originally for Nightracer, but Hasbro presented them with the yellowish green with black instead of blue and black like she had wanted.
With that said, I would have preferred to have the yellowish green myself because that's what the original toy was. I'm not sure I understand the point of doing it like Raksha originally wanted/intended for Nightracer to be because now the new toy doesn't really look like the original toy, which is all I care about and I'm assuming most of you would have preferred to have it look like the original toy as well. I also think it's odd to have made an anagram of Raksha's name for the Mini-Con/Micromaster figure. I'd get it more if Raksha was was still a prominent person in the Transformers community after the 90s or if Transformers names were commonly derived from prominent people involved with the Transformers brand.
Altogether, it strikes me as an homage that is a real big stretch with some very odd fandom ties to people who, to the best of my knowledge, aren't involved with Transformers much any more.
Though I will second someone's comment above that Raksha and Rated X have some similar views regarding their passion for G1, though Raksha's take on the Decepticons being the real good guys is definitely a different angle, one which I don't think Rated X would care much for.
If you aren't familiar with Raksha, check out this article she wrote for my Trans-Forum fanzine that I did pre-Seibertron.com during the late 90s. Her article from the June 13th, 1997 issue of Trans-Forum was titled "The Real Heroes of the Story".
http://www.seibertron.com/transformers/news/the-real-heroes-of-the-story/18267/
Thanks for the link, but god... I'd forgotten how nuts and reaching her view point was.
Posted by Va'al on November 17th, 2015 @ 4:50pm CST
Convention & Club Exclusives Krok
Convention & Club Exclusives Gatoraider
Posted by Counterpunch on November 17th, 2015 @ 4:54pm CST
Posted by Sabrblade on November 17th, 2015 @ 6:12pm CST
Posted by welcometothedarksyde on November 17th, 2015 @ 11:34pm CST
Posted by Hellscream9999 on November 18th, 2015 @ 12:06am CST
Posted by RK_Striker_JK_5 on November 18th, 2015 @ 3:07pm CST
Posted by TF_JW on November 18th, 2015 @ 3:13pm CST
Posted by RK_Striker_JK_5 on November 18th, 2015 @ 3:34pm CST
Thank you very much. I got it, now!
Posted by Hellscream9999 on November 18th, 2015 @ 8:14pm CST
Still awesome, was that intentional, a different piece specially made for it, or something someone discovered along the way?
Posted by primalxconvoy on November 19th, 2015 @ 5:29am CST
Links don't work. Could you post them again somewhere else, please?
Posted by Sabrblade on November 19th, 2015 @ 8:01am CST
primalxconvoy wrote:
Links don't work. Could you post them again somewhere else, please?
Posted by primalxconvoy on November 19th, 2015 @ 8:06am CST
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on February 23rd, 2016 @ 4:13pm CST
We'd like to extend a Special thanks to the Transformers Collectors' Club and Pete Sinclair for the opportunity to photograph this exclusive figure in advance of its release!
Convention & Club Exclusives Ramjet
Posted by Sabrblade on February 23rd, 2016 @ 4:20pm CST
Posted by Deadput on February 23rd, 2016 @ 5:49pm CST
Just absolutely stunning Ramjet is.
Posted by Emerje on February 23rd, 2016 @ 6:05pm CST
Emerje
Posted by Autobot N on February 23rd, 2016 @ 8:20pm CST
Deadput wrote:I weep for that which I will never own this gorgeous figure.
Just absolutely stunning Ramjet is.
I'm a Club member, so I'll be getting him. If I don't really like him, I might be able to hook you up.
Posted by Mindmaster on February 23rd, 2016 @ 9:32pm CST
I'm curious as to how the head works for jet mode. I assume there's more empty space on the back of his head that would allow him to look all the way up as you fold the head down? That's the only way I can see him being able to transform, really.
Posted by Deadput on February 23rd, 2016 @ 11:29pm CST
Decepticon Sunstorm wrote:I'm a Club member, so I'll be getting him. If I don't really like him, I might be able to hook you up.
If I ever learn how to use paypal or get a real credit card soon I'll be interested.
My bet options currently is to either mail money or purchase a prepaid credit and put some money in it although I doubt it works outside Canada.
Posted by Jelze Bunnycat on February 24th, 2016 @ 12:01am CST
Deadput wrote:Decepticon Sunstorm wrote:I'm a Club member, so I'll be getting him. If I don't really like him, I might be able to hook you up.
If I ever learn how to use paypal or get a real credit card soon I'll be interested.
My bet options currently is to either mail money or purchase a prepaid credit and put some money in it although I doubt it works outside Canada.
If you have a current bank account, PayPal is quite easy to set up, even for international transactions. What you really need to worry about are shipping costs which can get quite high when crossing borders, and exchange rates.
Posted by Microraptor on February 24th, 2016 @ 6:51am CST
Posted by Evil Eye on February 24th, 2016 @ 6:53am CST
Posted by TF_JW on February 24th, 2016 @ 8:17am CST
Mindmaster wrote:I'm curious as to how the head works for jet mode. I assume there's more empty space on the back of his head that would allow him to look all the way up as you fold the head down? That's the only way I can see him being able to transform, really.
Do you have an Armada Starscream from Generations handy? That might be the easiest way to explain it, if you're looking at him.
The head was always designed on a ball joint, but the Starscream head was designed with a horizontal bar across the back of the socket. This little tiny bar is all that prevents Starscream from doing the same thing that Ramjet does.
So when designing the Ramjet head, Fun Pub made sure to keep that back of the socket with plenty of clearance, as well as angling the bottom of the helmet so that it wouldn't hit the neck or "collar bone".
This allowed for pretty much a full back-of-the-head to be sculpted without any really obtrusively ugly gaps or anything.
Posted by TF_JW on February 24th, 2016 @ 8:24am CST
Microraptor wrote:While this is a GORGEOUS figure, I don't understand why the swords are just clear plastic. Why not a fiery red translucence to make them more interesting?
Most of the clear plastic is all on the same tree/part of the same tool. Gray was chosen for a couple of reasons, but chiefly to make the translucent parts of the missile launchers match the look of the original figure's jet mode. (The launchers on the original were gray, white, and blue.) The original sword was also mostly white and silver (with a blue tip), so gray did seem to make some sense for the swords as well.
Posted by Microraptor on February 24th, 2016 @ 8:44am CST
TF_JW wrote:Microraptor wrote:While this is a GORGEOUS figure, I don't understand why the swords are just clear plastic. Why not a fiery red translucence to make them more interesting?
Most of the clear plastic is all on the same tree/part of the same tool. Gray was chosen for a couple of reasons, but chiefly to make the translucent parts of the missile launchers match the look of the original figure's jet mode. (The launchers on the original were gray, white, and blue.) The original sword was also mostly white and silver (with a blue tip), so gray did seem to make some sense for the swords as well.
I guess that makes sense. Though on the topic of weapons, I must ask: Have you ever thought about making a character a new weapon instead of a new head? Because I need more bots with chainsaw-swords.