Toybox & Games Room

The Blu-ray Disc format is the latest technological advancement to enhance viewing and audio enjoyment with bigger and sharper pictures on HD LCD screens. Now that Blu-ray has been accepted as the standard industry format, market penetration has ramped up bringing an increased range of products and broader manufacturer product synergy. Samsung Electronics, for instance, is integrating its Blu-ray product line (players, home theatres, PC players) with its full-HD product line (TVs, camcorders and so on). Greater volumes and product competition will inevitably mean to the consumer that there will be greater availability of product and its accessories and the prices will come tumbling down.

The PC or laptop is ideally suited for a Blu-Ray drive as its built in internet connection and hard drive expands the Blu-Ray disc’s interactive content. Similarly the Sony Playstation 3 comes with built in internet connection and a hard drive. The Blu-ray disc player gives enhanced and faster game graphics and audio along with DVD movie playing functionality. (Upgrading the hard drive from the supplied hard drive capacity is probably an early requisite!) Sony’s website allows you to download game demos, online special movie features like actor interviews, sounds, screensavers and games,etc., Blu-Ray movie trailers, browse the internet on your TV and do online shopping.

The Blu-Ray disc (BD, as in BD-Video or BD-Rom) was established to store content in high definition TV format which has a significantly higher resolution and, therefore, requires much more storage space, i.e. 25GB on a single layer, and 50GB on dual-layer discs.

The Blu-ray Disc format utilises a blue-violet laser with a shorter wavelength to enable higher storage capacities. Compared to a CD with an infrared laser and a wavelength of 720nm or a DVD with a red laser and a wavelength of 650nm, the Blu-ray Disc format utilises a blue-violet laser with a wavelength of only 405nm.

Right now, it’s hard to see how home entertainment can get any better!

© 2008 Lee Porter an author and entrepreneur for HealthSufficiency, a continuing health, personal development and life dynamic education and business development company helping people to be meet their potential to lead healthy, prosperous and successful lives.

Do you enjoy your computer games?
If you do chances are you’ve checked out Sony’s Playstation 3 game console & Blu-ray Disc player (at least superficially).
Why would you be considering the Sony Playstation 3:

• It can play almost all disc formats (don’t try to force a vinyl, old laser or non-circular shaped disc into it, but otherwise…)
• It is up to true HD (1080p video/7.1 audio) compatible.
• It can upscale standard definition movies/games to High Definition (it’s not true 1080p but any improvements are worth it if you’ve got a big screen TV or have very good eyesight).
• Its compatible with most formats and popular codexs (the latest model doesn’t support Super Audio CD, and none of them support HD-DVD, but then even HD-DVD doesnt support that anymore).
• It can allow you to browse the net from your computer screen (at a lower definition than on a computer, but do you really want to ever have to get off that couch?).
• It is easy to upgrade the systems firmware to provide additional functionality.
• There are a huge number of PS3 Games and Blu-Ray movies for you to watch on it (well there aren’t yet, but since the extinction of HD-DVD you can expect a lot more)

1. 60gb - Super Audio CD reader, Memory Stick/SD/Compact Flash card readers, 4x USB ports, Backwardly compatible with many PS2/X/1, Ethernet cable included, 60 gigabyte internal hard disk drive (initial worldwide release - discontinued worldwide)
2. 20gb - same as 1 but with 20 gigabyte internal hard disk drive (available only in Japan/Korea - discontinued worldwide)
3. 80gb - same as 1 but with 80 gigabyte internal hard disk drive (available only in North America/Asia, discontinued worldwide)
4. 40gb - 2x USB ports, no Super Audio CD reader, no Memory Stick/SD/Compact Flash card readers, no Backwardly compatible with PS2/X/1, Ethernet cable excluded, 40 gigabyte internal hard disk drive (current worldwide model - available in Black, silver or white cases)

So if you don’t already own one of the first three models you may not be able to play your PS2/PSX/PS games on it - this isn’t really a bad thing since a fair number of pre-PS3 games suffered debilitating glitches when played on the PS3 - yes I know the PS3 was supposed to upscale the games to Hi-Def - but you can do the same thing by plugging your old PS2 console into a Hi-Def amplifier/receiver like the Yamaha RX1800 - and this is my recommendation.
Also if you’d made copies of your pre-PS3 games (to protect them from scratches/other natural wear & tear - never for any other reason) you can at least have your PS2 chipped to play them should said damage have occurred - this is not possible on the PS3 (yet).
The PS3 also lacks a memory card reader meaning you’d have to purchase a separate PS2 memory card reader if you wanted to play your saved PS2 games.
Super Audio CDs haven’t become a popular format and there are very few titles available so not a great loss - You can always buy an external USB multi-format card reader and plug it into one of the front ports and at least that way should one format get an update you can always purchase a new card reader that can cope with the new format.
Same with the USB ports, get a self powered (external mains adapter) USB HUB for recharging your Sixaxis/Dualshock 3/Logitech controllers/USB Dualshock 2 controller adapters or USB Keyboard/Playstation Eye/GT Driving Force set/HDTV Tuner/Flash or Thumb Drives etc. Lets face it, it is very unlikely that you’ll have all the above plugged in at once anyway.
The instruction manuals clearly tell you how to change the included Hard Disk Drive for a larger (, equal or smaller) capacity one - so if you need more capacity (and an upcoming HDTV tuner accessory means you probably will), you can D-I-Y upgrade.
The whole system has ‘wireless’ networking built in as standard, but wireless signals can drop out and aren’t especially fast - network cables are cheap and can easily plug into your preexisting 10/100/1000 network - if you’re worried about the game dropping out while you’re multi-playing over the net, get your own cable.
As far as the colour of the case goes - what do you watch? The TV or the console?

• Europe - PAL/Zone 2 DVD/Region B BD Movie Playback
• USA - NTSC/Zone 1 DVD/Region A BD Movie Playback
• Australia/New Zealand - PAL/Zone 4/Region B BD Movie Playback
• Asia - NTSC/Zone 3 Movie Playback
• Russia - PAL/Region C BD Movie Playback
• Japan - NTSC/Zone 0/Region Free BD Movie Playback

These are copy protection features, meant to stop people from taking a holiday in South East Asia/Meso America and buying a cheap pirated copy of a game or movie. They are not hardwired into the system, they are only programs stored in the systems permanent memory (BIOS), this makes manufacture of the consoles cheaper.
PAL vs. NTSC - it’s no lie that PAL has always been higher definition than NTSC, but it has a slower frame rate than NTSC thus giving NTSC smoother motion than PAL - with the advent of High Definition Televisions these differentiations basically become void since the TV sets contain their own firmware to recode PAL &/or NTSC into a worldwide standard digital signal that is then displayed on the television set - so don’t let it upset you.
When DVDs first came out they were all Zone 0 encoded (this is an unofficial name indicating the discs could be played on and DVD player anywhere) - not long after most DVDs were Zoned, meaning they could only be played on DVD players that correspond to that Zone - North America is Zone 1, Europe Zone 2, SE Asia Zone 3, Australia Zone 4 etc. Again to make manufacture cheaper the Zoning was Firmware and you can find instructions online to make most DVD players region free (allowing them to play any Zone)
Now we have BDs (Blu-ray Discs) and as with the first DVDs most of them are Region Free (meaning they’ll play on any player), now however the Blu-ray drives are already set up to be either Region Free (meaning they’ll play any region encoded/unencoded disc) or coded to a region (A - North America/Japan/China; B - Europe/Australia/New Zealand; C - Russia; etc).
Although it isn’t currently available I’m sure instructions for making your PS3 zone and region free will soon be available online - I do not recommend buying pirated games/movies, remember the PS3 is basically a computer and any pirated products may contain viruses that would seriously void your warranty - only ever create copies of disc you own the original print of if you’re concerned about them being scratched/damaged (I know several people with Parkinsons who have their relatives do this for them, since their infirm hands can’t guarantee a firm hold on their discs and they don’t want to have to buy a new copy every time they scratch one).
Further more Blu-ray is still under development as a format - if you have a standard Blu-ray player you will have to periodically upgrade the firmware to ensure it can play all those special features on the newer discs (this involves using a PC/MAC to download the firmware from the web and burn it onto a disc before inserting it into the player and installing it) - this is a good reason to get a PS3/Blu-ray player since its direct web connectivity makes it very easy to install firmware upgrades and it is the only drive currently in production confirmed as being capable of upgrading to Blu-ray 2.0 (web content/interactivity).
Although not mentioned above other important features are controlled by firmware, such as sound (the PS3 supports up to 7.1 audio channels), one of the latest firmware updates adds the new Dolby-HD decoding ability to the console (on top of DTS/Dolby Digital/etc.).
Firmware updates can be easily downloaded and installed via its built in wireless/broadband network connection.

The Transformers Classics series are up-dated version of popular characters from the 1980’s series. Until this run of toys came along, Bumblebee had been missing off the roster of characters for quite a while. The original toy was very simple in construction and therefore I think it is nice to see newly constructed figure for this classic character. Is he up to standard?

It always struck me as a bit odd that the cartoon gave Bumblebee a completely new face. It bore little resemblance to the original toy which I believe is a good thing, because the toy’s head was a little ugly. This Classics incarnation of Bumblebee is modelled on the cartoon character’s face really well. It has his horns, the right shape for the head, his chin and rounds it off with a cute little smile. I suspect it is one of the first Transformers to look happy. In his fore-head is a small moulded vent which has been coloured blue. It works well to break up the yellow in the helmet part and his face is painted silver. He has the usual ball joint for a neck and it seems a little stiff. His cheeks feel like they impede his head movement slightly.

His shoulders have the same blue highlights on them as his fore-head vent and breaks up the black of the upper arms and tire section well. The shoulders have quite a bit of movement available to them, as the tyres can swivel around and the arms themselves are connected via ball joints. One small difficulty with him is if you swivel the tyres about too much in robot mode, the plate that holds his head in place will pop up. Fore-arms are grey plastic which have the doors of the car joined onto at the wrists. The elbows are joined with ball joints and the doors can swivel around his wrists, so even though they are large, they can be manoeuvred out of the way easily enough. His hands are black and have a peg hole in each for weapon holding, but the toy doesn’t come with a gun. The chest, which is formed from the cars roof and windshield has an Autobot rub-sign sticker on it as well as some white paint decals. His thighs are covered by the backs of the chairs in vehicle mode and have ball joints, his shins are covered by the bonnet. Feet consist of the front bumper and wheel base of the car. The robot mode is very close to the make-up of the original toy in transformation and even closer to his cartoon representation.There are some nice details moulded into him. On his legs, just above his ankles, there are some shock absorbers, his groin has some detail, that although nothing exceptional is effective, as in robot mode it can only be seen through the windshield. One I really like is on the side of his upper arms are some stripes that look like rank stipes for the army. Although Bumblebee never really climbed the ranks, he was a reliable chap and it’s good to see that he may have progressed a little.

Even though he doesn’t some with a weapon, he is accompanied by his “Wave Crusher” (AKA a jet ski). This little addition can be towed behind the car in vehicle mode, or it can also transform into a Jet Pack and be mounted behind Bumblebee’s head. Although it looks a little small in vehicle mode (the scale is out, or perhaps it’s just a really, really small jet ski), it is mainly designed to clip into the back of Bumblebee, which it does well. It is easily and securely fastened and looks reminiscent of the old Action Master version of Bumblebee.

The vehicle mode is a two door compact sporty car with the jet ski mounted on the back. Although a very nice and sleek vehicle mode, I feel that it is not all that much suited to Bumblebee. His original form was a Volkswagen Beatle and not a sporty one at that. Personally, I feel this is more of a Cliffjumper suited vehicle. However, that is perhaps for another review.

Luckily some of the sporty feel can be removed by un-clipping the spoiler on the back of the car. I was informed of this by a friend and to my relief it is easily done with a no chance of damage. Once done, the car looks a lot more like Bumblebee’s car mode should. The main colour is of course yellow, with white decals. The boot area is painted white with red for the brake lights and the doors have a little bit of white with mostly yellow. The bonnet has a couple of stripes running up it and the lead onto the roof. The moulding of the car is good, with some air intake ports on the bonnet and the roof. Obviously this is a rally based car. The front grill has a nice radiator effect and the headlights are transparent plastic. From the side, it can be seen that the vehicle is very low to the ground.One touch that I really like is the seats. They form thigh covers for the robot mode, but the detail on them in vehicle mode is a very nice touch. However, aside from the seats, there are no other details. Overall, Bumblebee is an extremely well designed figure. The homage (is it homage if it’s the same guy?) is striking and it is obvious this is an update. Even though the articulation is let down by bits getting in the way, it doesn’t get in the way so much as to make the figure a brick. The detail is well done and I recommend this figure to all those who have been thinking of getting it. You won’t be disappointed. It’s also designed by an Australian!

This Longarm is a Mini-Con that belongs to the ‘Giant Planet Mini-Con Team’. This group seems to align on the side of destruction and the Decepticons, which is fairly fitting, considering how Longarm here is mainly green with a touch of purple as his main colours, much like the Constucticons of G1 fame (*).

As he is, Longarm here isn’t all that bad a figure. He has some decent paint applications on his feet, legs and chest and looks like a sturdy lad. Articulation is not bad for a toy of his size, (robot mode stands about 6 cm tall) as he has bending knees, swinging hips, a rotatable waist, rotatable shoulders and up down movement on his arms. Balance is very good, aided by his kneecaps, which can be form a walking pose. The downside of course being that if he was real, his kneecaps would scrape on the ground when he walked.

The cab of his truck forms his feet and knees, whilst the rear forms the rest. Transformation is simple and quick and although the whole figure is pretty basic, it seems to work together very well. The moulding of the figure is mainly details for the vehicle mode and it is well done, with little steps for a “driver” to get into the cab, doors, windows and fuel tanks to point out just a few.

His head is well done, with a nice no-nonsense face that has a serious mouth and a helmet styler reminiscent of cartoon G1 Megatron for some reason. I quite like the way that he has been given a nose, mouth and eyes, as opposed to the normal minicon face, which is usually some weird visor-looking thing. It’s effective and looks nice. The only facial paint apps is red which works ok and they would have been hard pressed to add more, as it is so small.

Longarm’s alternative mode is a double crane construction vehicle. I guess since most of the Galaxy Force/Cybertron toys were all futuristic vehicles then this fits well as the crane has two cranes on it. One is the standard hook to a pole type that one would normally imagine for a crane, and the other seems to be a shovel. The hook is on the back half of the vehicle and the shovel in the front, behind the cab. Interestingly, the instructions have the hook at the front with the shovel behind. They are both rotatable with a little bit of raising/lowering ability, but the hook can’t hook and the shovel can’t reach anywhere near the ground. However, no one is likely to want it to be that realistic, so imagination is the way to go here folks.

Details for the vehicle mode are again, pretty good and this is where they all come together nicely. The cab has windows, an engine grill and even windscreen wipers, moving back, the body of the truck has six wheels (which all roll), a nice bit of paint work and in the middle of the underside is a minicon attachment port. Overall, what we have is a very nice construction vehicle.

I must admit that I haven’t tried it, but I think this guy would look pretty good power-linked to one of the Transformer toys from Armada. The vehicle body is thin enough so as not to get in the way and the cranes look like they would make a good “enhancement” for one of the bigger fellers. Now I am going to have to dig out some of my armada figures to try it out.

In the end, Longarm is a pretty good minicon figure with some nice datiling and a cool vehicle mode. Coming from the Giant Planet (Gigalonia in Galaxy Force or Gigantia in Cybertron), one would expect a construction vehicle and he is the only one in the Giant Planet Minicon team, which are a good set of toys, only let down by Overcast.

* (Longarm’s construction vehicle mode is also reminiscent of the combined form of Stonecruncher and Excavator from the 1991 Decepticon Micromaster Combiner Construction Squad, although they were in yellow and red - a better colour match for Astro-Hook, the Master Collector’s Transformers Collector’s Club 2007 recolour of Longarm released as a part of the Astrotrain Set) - edits by Ark-Ivor

Originally I was going to pass Longarm by as I had inspected the package in the shops form afar and it just looked like a flat white tow truck. One day though, I went up close and had a good peer through the bubble in which Longarm was encased and saw two words, “Orson’s Towing.” That sold it for me! Having a nice little link to Orson Wells(*) was all it took and after spending 5 minutes in the checkout line, my wallet was lighter but my heart was full.

I am glad that I did get this now. The vehicle mode is a little flat and the paint work although interesting really doesn’t do it for me, however the robot mode is where all the love is. Starting from the ground of course we see his feet. What a good pair he has too. Since they have used the bonnet as his toes and the bonnet has to flex for transformation, he has a lot of movement in each foot.. Out of the grill of the vehicle mode, a heel spur comes out and together with the large toes, Longarm has an excellent base for balance. The ankles are a little bit thin looking, but they need to be to folded up for vehicle mode and an advantage is that they can rest right up next to his shins allowing for some solid crouch posing. His shins are solid looking and have some nice orange paint to break up the plainness of them and extend just slightly over the top of his thighs. In the middle of the thigh is a swivel join allowing for left-right turning and added with the hinge join for his knees, allows for a lot of movement. Considering how the swivel join in the thighs could have been left out, this is a nice addition. At the top of the thighs the usual ball joint.

His groin area is pretty thin, but at least it doesn’t get in the way of the leg movement and by no means detracts form the look of the figure. I really like how his chest has a galvanised look to it, like the steel that is used for floors with the little grip marks in it, looks very cool and industrial. Now we have his shoulders, his awesome awesome shoulders. Due to transformation, he has the ability to bring his shoulders forward where his collar bone would be. The arms are connected by ball joints and the chest has a snazzy looking swivel style joint to bring the arms in front of his chest. This gives him the ability to reach across his chest, which is something I get excited about, because not many Transformers can do this and it looks great when holding a big gun. Wreckage can do it, but his stomach gun gets in the way, none of that for Longarm! Just under where his pec “muscles” would be, there appears to be a ball joint connecting the torso to the waist. This is great, as the waist doesn’t move at all but the torso has a limited up/down/left/right movement, which can be just enough to add some more drama to a posed look. It doesn’t move a lot, but just enough. On his shoulders are the flat bits of the truck backing. One thing that is noticeable on Longarm is that the robot is kind of skinny looking and yet bulked up by the vehicles kibble. It’s a good look and reminds me of armour for him. As his arms are skinny, but the side and back panels make him appear armoured and tough.

Now for the head, I really like his noggin’. It’s done form black plastic with white paint and a sexy Autobot insignia stamped on his forehead. The back of his head is a large orange bit of plastic that makes for some excellent light piping into his eyes (Man I just love the light piping gimmick!!). It doesn’t need a lot of light to work well and if you do have strong light behind him it looks fantastic!! His face doesn’t have a lot of detail, yet there are lines moulded in, again giving the impression that it’s a helmet or a mask ( going back to the armour thing in my mind) but the way the eyes are angled, it looks like he has a bit of a frown going on and he is a serious Autobot.

Speaking of big guns, Longarm’s is a ripper! Made from the hook parts for the truck, the barrel is hidden underneath the vehicle. The barrel has some good moulded details to make it looks like a robot’s gun and the kibble of the crane actually adds to it. The lights form an aiming sight of sorts above the barrel and the crane section folds away nicely to not be noticeable. Oh and it’s REALLY HUGE! My only complaint was that it was screwed into his right hand, but a quick screw driving later and it is easily freed from its shackles. There is a peg to hold in the left side of the gun so he can easily hold it in his left hand and when in the vehicle mode, the screw doesn’t really add anything because the crane wiggles around a little bit with the screw in and both arms are connected to the handle to hold it. Why they didn’t just adjust his hand a little to allow for a larger peg from the gun I don’t know. If the left hand had been replicated for the right, it probably would have worked just fine.

Generally a really really cool figure the Vehicle mode may look a little drab, but the outstanding robot mode makes up for this in so many ways!! Obvious complaints? Well, I would have liked to see a little more moulding detail in the tires, but I have noticed that all the movie line seems suffer this problem and let’s face it, I am probably the only one who thought that. As stated before, the gun being attached to the hand by a screw, easily rectifiable, yet it could have been made redundant with a slight change of design.

* (Orson Well’s voiced the character of Unicron (a planetoid/robot, that devours enerything in its path) for most of the 1986 Transformers Animated Movie, after his death that same year, Leonard Nimoy almost seamlessly completed the recordings for the role - he also voiced Galvatron) - edits by Ark-Ivor

Takara has just announced two more general release Binaltech action figures due to hit toy shelves in June 2008 - BT-19 Bluestreak and BT-20 Meister (aka Jazz). It is as yet unclear whether they will be in Binaltech Metal or Alternator Plastic.

Bluestreak is a recolour of BT-03 Streak (featuring a Dark Blue and grey colour scheme similar to that of BT-07 Smokescreen, but without the sponsorship decals).

Meister is a silver & black recolour of BT-13 Laserwave, however the Head and Fists are those of BT-08 Meister, this upgrades Meister from the ‘Mazdaspeed’ version to the ‘Mazdaspeed Type II’ of their RX-8 line.

In one of the various Chinese mythologies the constellations in the sky are ruled over by 12 animals. As the legend goes, when the animals queued up to accept their places in the heavens from the Buddha the Ox (Cow/Buffalo/whatever) was first in line, but just as the Buddha approached the Rat ran up the back of the Ox and jumped off its nose, thus becoming the First of the animals in the stellar cycles.

There have been several rats in the Transformers mythology, and it is quite conceivable that both Rattrap and Packrat would also have the cheek to do the same trick off the nose of Tantrum in order to be first to join Primus in the heavens.

This Year of the Rat is also the new beginning of a twelve year stellar cycle (as recognised by Chinese Astrology), and we also see the release of a new Transformers line -Transformers: Animated, unfortunately according to Chinese astrology anything new started within this year is destined to be built on unstable foundations (due to the equally strong Water and Earth elements - in the form of an unstable Mountain on top of a lake). All the toys due out this year began their design last year, so it is unlikely that this instability will effect them, we can just hope that next years releases will not suffer from mis-designs this year.

It is considered lucky to display red and gold items at New Year, particularly new items. If you have a collection of Transformers, put those items on display which are red and/or gold, eg. Generation One Predacons, Optimus Prime, Rodimus Prime, Super Side Burn, Mutant Poison Bite, Transmetal Rattrap, Transmetal 2 Megatron, etc.

Gifts of fish or icons of fish when given during the 15 days of the Chinese New Year are associated with wishing the person they are given to the gift of success in business endevours for the coming year. Mutant Poison Bite is a very fortuitous Transformer being both Red and a Fish, there is only one other fish Transformers Skalor (Coelecanth) and the Collector’s Club exclusive this year is due to release a recoloured version incorporating a gold-orange in its colour scheme, making it also fortuitous as a gift.

Beast Wars (1996-7)

Rattrap - C-5 Spy

#1 Common Brown Norway Rat (1996 - Yellow Eyes)
#2 (1997 - Red Eyes, Jp Release)

Rattrap vs. Terrorsaur - VS-5 Spy vs. Aerial Combat

Common Brown Norway Rat (1997 - Red Eyes, Jp Release) vs. Pteranodon (1997 - Red & Grey with Yellow Beak & no spots, Jp Release)

Packrat vs. Fractyl - BCVS-1997 Thief vs. Geochemist

North American Packrat (1997 - Metallic Blue, White & Gold, BotCon Exclusive 600 produced) vs. Pteranodon (1997 - Metallic Green, White & Gold, BotCon Exclusive 570 produced)

Beast Wars: Transmetals (Metals) (1998-2006)

Rattrap - C-43 Spy

#1 Transmetal Rat/Hot Rod (1998 - Brown, Chrome Red, Silver & Grey)
#2 (1998 - Catch on Neck assembly)
#3 (1999 - Black, Crome Blue, Tan & Grey, Wal*Mart Exlusive, referred to by collectors as Transmetal Packrat)
#4 (1999 - White, Chrome Gold, Silver & Orange with Cybertron mark & Jigsaw Puzzle, Jp Release)
#5 (1999 - Brown, Chrome Burgundy, Silver & Grey with Cybertron mark, Jp Release)
#6 (2000 - Red, Grey, Gunmetal Grey & Chrome-Black Fox-Kids exclusive)
#7 (2006 - 10th Anniversary Wave 2 Release, Mainframe TV Show accurate colours with DVD & Transmutate Component)

Rattrap vs. Terrorsaur - VS-43 Spy vs. Aerial Combat

Transmetal Rat/Hot Rod (1999 - Brown, Chrome Burgundy, Silver & Grey with Cybertron mark, Jp Release) vs. Transmetal Ptereanodon/Dual Pontoon Jet (1999 - Purple, Chrome Gold, Brown & Tan with White Face & Destron mark, Jp Release)

Beast Machines (Beast Wars: Returns) (2000-2005)

Rattrap - Spy

#1 Techno-Organic Rat (2000 - Green, Grey & Transparent Red, McDonalds Exclusive)
#2 (2000 - Green, Grey & Red, Red Rooster Exclusive [Australian Fast Food Chain])
#3 (2000 - Red, Green & Grey, Red Rooster Exclusive)
#4 (2000 - Dark Blue, Light Blue & Grey, Red Rooster Exclusive)
#5 (2000 - Light Blue, Dark Blue & Grey, Red Rooster Exclusive)

Rattrap - BR-03 Spy

#1 Techno-Organic Rat/Wheeled Robot (2000 - Green, Grey & Transparent Orange)
#2 (2005 - Green, Grey & Transparent Orange, Jp Release)

Beast Wars figures were also occasionally released as store exclusive 2-packs, I don’t have details of which stores released what and in what combination, if anyone knows, please let me know

1984-5
(Wave 2 January-June 1985)
‘Fight! Super Robot Lifeform’
(Wave 1 reissued with Rub-Signs - except short release variants - Japanese store shelves stock Transformers for the first time)

Car-Robots (Diaclone Recolours/Remoulds)
(1:32 Scale Vehicles)

Grapple - C-47 Architect

#1 Yellow/Orange & Black Mitsubishi Fuso Crane Truck (Yellow Eyes)
#2 (Red Eyes, extra Helmet details & Footpads, Black & White Crane Base Stripe Decals - Mexican Release)

Hoist - C-46 Maintennance

#1 Green & Yellow Toyota Hilux 4WD Wrecker Truck
#2 (Trailbreaker Head, Mexican Release)
#3 (’Wrecker’ Decals on side of Truck, Jp Release)

Inferno - C-10 Search & Rescue

#1 Red, Black & White Mitsubishi Fuso Fire Engine (Yellow Eyes)
#2 (Red Eyes & extra Helmet Detail, Mexican Release)

Red Alert - C-05 Security Director

White, Red & Black Lamborghini Countach LP500S Fire Chief

Skids - VSZ Theoretician

Blue, Black & Red Honda City Turbo Minivan

Smokescreen - C-45 Diversionary Tactician

#1 Red, Blue & White Nissan/Datsun 280ZX Fairlady Stock Car
#2 (No Bumper or Spoiler add-on, Mexican Release)

Tracks - C-44 Warrior

#1 Blue, Black & White Chevrolet Corvette Stingray
#2 Red, Black, Dark Blue & White (Gig European Release)

International Variants of Wave 1

Jazz - C-06 Special Operations Agent

White & Black Porsche 935 Turbo ‘Moby Dick’ (No Martini Decals)

Optimus Prime; Combat Deck; Roller - C-01 Autobot Leader

Red, Dark Blue & Silver Freightliner Cab-Over-Engine Truck Cab & Trailer with Scout Car
#1 (Red Feet, Gig European Release)
#2 (Plastic Feet & Wheels, Windows tinted Blue, European Release)
#3 (Red Eyes, European Release)
#4 (Blue Eyes, European Release)

Prowl - C-09 Military Strategist

White, Black & Grey Nissan/Datsun 280 ZX Police Cruiser
#1 (Black Head, Arms & Feet, Policia Decal, Mexican Release)
#2 (Black Head, Arms & Feet, Policia Decal, No Black Hood paint, Mexican Release)

1985-6
(Wave 2 January-June 1986)
‘Movie/2010′
(1984-5 Wave 1 reissued - except short release variants)

Mini-Bots (Microman Recolours/Remoulds)
(Deformed Car Modes) - Note: Wheelie was the last unique Minibot Mold created until the 2001 ‘Key Chains’ which merely added a chain and a loop to the bumpers (Bumblebee, Cliffjumper, Windcharger, Brawn).
The Throttlebots and Sparkabots replaced the Minibots sub-group and in Europe they were even nicknamed Minibots, however they are not Minibots since they possess a ’special feature’ as most post-animated movie toys do.
Wheelie was also the last Minibot released until the Chromed 1992 Christmas Decorations (Bumblebee, Hubcap (mistakenly in Cliffjumper Red), Beachcomber & Seaspray) were issued to Hasbro Employees (these later saw full release as the Generation 2 Minibots).

Wheelie - C-80 Survivalist

Orange, Light Orange & Grey Cybertronian Car

1985-6
(Wave 1 July-December 1985)
‘Scramble-City’
(1984-5 Wave 2 reissued - except short release variants)

Mini-Bots (Microman Recolours/Remoulds)
(Deformed Car Modes)

Bumblebee - C-56 Espionage

Yellow & Black Volkswagen Beetle (Short Release Reissue)

Hubcap - C-57 Communications

Yellow & Black Toyota

Outback - C-59 Gunner

Tan & Brown Jeep Wrangler with Gun Turret

Pipes - C-60 Warrior

Blue, White & Chrome Silver Semi-Truck Cab

Swerve - C-58 Metalurgist

Red & White 4WD Fuoristrada

Tailgate - C-61 Scout

White, Blue & Black Pontiac Firebird Trans Am

Mini-Bots (Mexican/Netherlands Releases)
(Deformed Car Modes)

Camaro - Warrior

White & Blue Pontiac Firebird Trans Am
Yellow & Blue (European Release)

Carrera - Warrior

Blue & Black Porsche 924 Turbo
Silver & Black

Pick-Up - Transport & Recon.

Burgundy & White 4WD Fuoristrada (Swerve)

Huffer - Construction Engineer

Blue, White & Chrome Silver Semi-Truck Cab (Pipes)
Blue & Chrome Silver (Pipes)

Jipe - Demolitions

Light Tan & Maroon Jeep Wrangler (Outback)

Volks - Espionage

Blue & Black Volkswagen Beetle (Bumblebee)

Mini-Bots (Lynsa Peruvian/Chilean Release)
(Deformed Car Modes)

Cliffjumper - Warrior

Orange & Black