Heroes of Cybertron (toyline)
From Transformers Wiki
| The name or term "Heroes of Cybertron" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Heroes of Cybertron (disambiguation). |
Heroes of Cybertron, first sold in Japan under the Super Collection Figure: Transformers banner ("SCF" for short), is a series of non-transformable PVC figurines based on the animation models from various older Transformers cartoon series, mostly Generation 1. The standard figure stands a mighty three inches tall, and features limited posability thanks to their pop-off limbs.
Being cartoon-based figures of popular Generation 1 characters, and being just about the only merchandise on the market based on said characters at the time, they were "tha bomb" until we started getting full-sized, transformable iterations of said characters.
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Super Collection Figure
Starting life in Japan, each SCF was sold blind-packed in a case of twelve, and came with a clear-plastic stand. There were ten "Acts" in all starting in late 2000 and ultimately ending in 2003. The first eight Acts featured characters from the Generation 1 continuity, whereas Acts 9 and 10 were based solely on Legends of the Microns characters.
Sold in cases of twelve, each of the six figures in a case was available in both the character's original animation colors as well as a second deco: in Acts 1 through 3, this was colorless-clear plastic (with their insignia tampographed on in white); Acts 4 through 10 featured a metallic "pewter" finish. Unfortunately, with the pewter versions the connector pegs had often been painted as well before being plugged into the sockets, which could result in stuck limbs and snapped pegs if too much pressure was applied attempting to move them. Shaving the interior of the sockets slightly with a hobby knife is usually sufficient to relieve the issue.
Two "Secret Figures" were found randomly dispersed in each wave; typically, one in every five cases would have one of the two. All of them are redecoes of existing molds, usually as simple variations of "common" characters, though many added new parts to the mix, plus the occasional unique character. Act 3 through Act 8 added pieces to construct larger-scale characters to the mix. Yes, pieces: each of these large figures was split up into six sets of parts, packed in with half the figures in the case, one per character (whether they were packed with the color or clear/pewter versions varied from Act to Act). Assembling an entire large figure took luck, and as all of these build-a-figure pieces could come in both full-color and clear/pewter versions, sometimes in varying ratios of color to otherwise... wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
Additionally, there were exclusive figures available only at conventions, and one Lucky Draw prize that may or may not have ever seen actual release.
And a metric buttload of Optimus Prime variations.
Retail releases
| Act 1 (12–2000) Sortie! Cybertrons chapter[1] |
Act 2 (3–2001) 2010 chapter[2] |
Act 3 (6–2001) The Headmasters chapter[3] |
Act 4 (9–2001) Resurrection of Convoy chapter[4]
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| Act 5 (12–2001) Super-God Masterforce chapter[5]
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Act 6 (2–2002) Road to Earth chapter[6]
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Act 7 (5–2002) Victory chapter[7]
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Act 8 (8–2002) Overseers of Justice chapter[8]
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| Act 9 (12-27-2002) Legends of the Microns Series 1 chapter[9] |
Act 10 (3–2003) Legends of the Microns Series 2 chapter[10]
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Exclusives
Wonder Festival
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Tokyo Game Show
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Transformers Generations
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Mega SCF
Mega SCF figures are five-inch versions of popular Transformers characters, seemingly inspired by Bandai's concurrent line of Mobile Suits in Action Gundam action figures. Each came with an assortment of accessories, alternately posed hands, and were more marginally poseable than their three-inch counterparts. Thanks to their universal balljoint/clip system for jointing, parts can be swapped between figures for some freaky combinations.
Like the smaller SCFs, the figures were initially based on characters from the original Transformers series, while later figures were characters from Legends of the Microns.
Of note is the hilariously mauled back-translation of "More Than Meets the Eye" seen on the packaging of these figures.
Retail releases
- 01 Convoy TV Version (February 2002)
- 01 Convoy Metallic Version (February 2002)
- 02 Star Saber (May 2002)
- 03 Megatron w/ Condor (June 2002)
- 04 Hot Rodimus (July 2002)
- 05 Victory Leo (August 2002)
- 06 Rodimus Convoy (September 2002)
- 07 Starscream (November 2002)
- 08 Convoy Super Mode with Prime (December 2002)
- 09 Megatron with Barrel (December 2002)
- 10 Ironhide with Search (February 2003)
- 11 Hot Rod with Jolt (March 2003)
- 12 Convoy Normal Mode (August 2003)
- 13 Starscream with Grid (August 2003)
Exclusives
- Convoy Damage Version — Robot Station 2002, May 2002
- 03-X1 Megatron Metallic Version w/ Buzzsaw — Wonder Festival 2002, July 2002
Heroes of Cybertron
The Hasbro version of the line, starting life in 2002, was considerably smaller, released in a total of five waves (at first). They were typically sold in smaller "market six" outlets like drug stores and media stores.
There are quite a few notable differences between the Heroes releases and the SCF originals:
- Figures were sold on blister cards instead of blindpacked boxes.
- Each figure included a collector card depicting the character, with Tech Specs and a bio on the back.
- Figures did not have the clear plastic stand included with the SCF versions.
- Figures were made of blue or red translucent plastic, and then painted over save their eyes and a spot on the back of the head to simulate light-piped eyes (in theory).
- Figures were available only as full-color versions; no clear or pewter variants were produced.
Several "chase" figures from SCF were released in the HOC line as normal figures. This was either great or terrible, depending on how much money you sunk into SCF chases.
In 2006, a new selection of five figures was released to coincide with the 2006 DVD release of the original The Transformers: The Movie. The figures are very similar to the previous Heroes of Cybertron releases at first glance, but there are significant differences. These are cast in solid plastic rather than translucent, more in keeping with the SCF originals. How different they ultimately ended up from the SCF versions varies, but for the most part the changes are minimal. The cards are mostly identical from the front (a "transformers.com" callout has been added just under the bubble), but the backs have a severely truncated "cross-sell" with only the five toys in the 2006 assortment.
Retail releases
| Wave 1 | Wave 2
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Wave 3 | Wave 4
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| Wave 5 | 2006 wave |
Exclusives
OTFCC 2003
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Keychains
Oddly, the Heroes of Cybertron branding would also be used in 2007 for re-releases of the Basic Fun keychain Minibots that were first put out in 2001 and 2003. As far as can be told, the toys themselves are identical to their prior releases, they just have a new card with new branding, rather than the "looks a lot like the original card" design of the prior versions.
| Keychains |
Legends of Cybertron
- Skywarp (2004, unreleased)
- A redeco of Mega Super Figure Collection G1 Starscream (minus the extra coronation accessories), Skywarp was to be among the first of the fan club exclusives offered by OTFCC as well as the first in their Legends of Cybertron line. The figure was delayed and never saw a full release due to 3H Enterprises losing the license to run the official Transformers fan club. At least a couple of sample versions were produced, of those most (but not all) had the open-palm hands and the hand wielding Megatron in gun mode painted blue rather than the correct purple.
 Proceed on your way to oblivion. |
Notes
- Every individual Super Collection Figure box had a clip-out "SCF Points" section on the back, akin to the old Robot Points from the original toyline, each one worth 0.5 Points. As far as can be told, these points were never redeemable for anything.
- About the same time as the Transformers Super Collection Figure series was rolling out, Takara also released SCF: Takara Sci-Fi Worlds, a two-Act series of basically the same thing, only based on various other old-school Takara sci-fi toylines, including Henshin Cyborg, Microman, and Diaclone.
References
External links
- Heroes of Cybertron tech-specs at TFW2005.com
