Viola's Figure Photography

[Princess Viola]

Hi, I like to collect action figures (mostly of the mecha and anime variety) and I like taking photos of my figures as well, so this thread is where I'll be sharing photos of my figures I've taken. Both older photos and new ones too (I've been doing this for quite a few years now)

I'm very much not a professional photographer and I use my phone as my camera (and I have a Moto G Stylus 2021, so I'm not rocking an expensive flagship with the best cameras on a phone either) but I still think my photos can sometimes come out pretty decently.

I also like to give information about the figures I take figures of and, while I will provide some information alongside the photographs, if y'all wanna comment to ask me something about a figure (or just give comments about my photography in general), feel free. Comments are always appreciated.

Anyways without further ado, here's a few figure photographs I've taken:

Spoiler: Transformers Hound

This is the 2023 reissue of the original 1984 Transformers Hound toy, released as part of the current Transformers Retro line of reissues. Unlike previous reissue lines, the figures released in this line are redecoed in colors based off of the character models from the original Transformers cartoon. This is also the first time that the G1 Hound mold has been reissued since the Japan-only 2004 Transformers Collection and the first Hasbro reissue of the mold in general.

Spoiler: VF1-A Valkyrie

This is the Yamato 1/60 scale VF-1A Valkrie from the Super Dimension Fortress Macross/Robotech originally released in Japan in 2002. Found it at a local toy store recently and just had to get it. The pictures depict the figure in all three modes: Fighter, Gerwalk (or Guardian in Robotech), and Battroid (or Battloid in Robotech).

Spoiler: Imperial Dalek

Not much to say here, tried my hand at a bit of forced perspective to make this Dalek appear like it's actually real-size and not just an action figure.

 

[Catz]

woahh, you are really good at taking photos, these look great!

 

[Princess Viola]

woahh, you are really good at taking photos, these look great!

Thanks! It's what happens when I've basically been doing this kind of stuff for almost 12 years now lol, you just get good at it naturally.

 

[Dubious Disc]

the perspective on that last one is spot-on, I completely thought it was some huge car-sized figure until I saw the caption lol

 

[Princess Viola]

It (eventually) became nice out yesterday (instead of unbearably hot, heat index of 92 frickin degrees [over 33 C] here for most of the day) so I went out and took some more figure photos for the first time in...actually nearly a month, believe it or not.

Spoiler: Transformers Shadow Striker

This figure is Shadow Striker from the Transformers Legacy line, which is Hasbro's current subline imprint (tl;dr partially rebranding a line to make it seem fresh [and keep retailers interested because they're fickle]) for the long-running Transformers Generation line of collector-aimed toys that are, as the name Generations implies, meant to celebrate the entire history of the brand (as opposed to something like the kid-aimed TV show tie-in lines that are obviously just producing toys based on the current cartoon series), although in practice, there is a pretty heavy focus on the original Generation 1 line with the Generations toyline.

But not this figure though! She's from the 2018-2021 Transformers Cyberverse franchise (and her design hybridizes both the Cyberverse incarnation of the character and a previous character named Shadow Striker who's toy was literally exclusive to the Official Transformers Collectors Convention in 2003).

I have never seen Transformers Cyberverse (heard it's good though), I just thought she looked neat and she is. Has a surprisingly complex transformation too, but not so complex that she's frustrating to transform.

Spoiler: Transformers Minerva

This is Minerva from the Transformers Legacy toyline (mostly, I'll explain a bit further later on) and I'm sorry, but I absolutely need to gush about this figure and why I love, love, love that she exists.

Minerva is from the 1988 Japan-only series Transformers: Super-God Masterforce and, while she wasn't the first female Transformer, she was the first female character in this franchise to have a toy released.

Super-God Masterforce is also my all-time favorite Transformers series and Minerva is literally my genuine fave Transformers character. One of my holy grails is getting hold of a vintage 1988 Minerva figure, but they are unfortunately 'fuck off' expensive. Like y'all need to understand how fuck off expensive this toy is: incomplete Minervas, missing all of their accessories and with damaged and worn stickers and in serious need of a good restoration due to having been played with by some Japanese kid back in the late 1980s will still sell for $400 to $500. Getting an actual complete Minerva, even with age wear? Yeah, expect to pay in the thousands of dollars for her. Hell there's even a KO of her that was released back in 2012-2013 in South Korea that is nigh-identical to the vintage toy (there's some color differences and a couple minor molding differences and it has different stickers) that itself sells for $400-500 because it's also rare and people want Minerva that damn badly. (The fact that there exist reproduction stickers so people with the KO can remove the stickers that came with it and sticker it up with accurate Minerva stickers also helps. It's what I did with my copy of the figure. Yes I own the $500 KO Minerva figure. I did not spend $500 on it, I got it for like $120-$130 but I own it and it satisfies me well enough that I don't totally hate the fact that I don't have an actual vintage Minerva figure.)

ANYWAYS Minerva. Favorite character and I would pretty much constantly wish for either Hasbro or TakaraTomy (company that co-owns Transformers with Hasbro and manages the brand in Japan) to release a Minerva figure in the Generations line (or its various Japanese counterpart lines) every goddamn year. And every year I would be disappointed whenever Hasbro would do announcements of new figures or we'd get leaks of what was coming out there'd be no damn Minerva.

BUT THAT LEADS TO WHAT I WAS TALKING ABOUT WHEN I SAID THIS FIGURE WAS MOSTLY FROM THE LEGACY TOYLINE. That little figure I got standing next to Minerva in her car mode? That is not from the Legacy line. One of Takara's previous Japanese counterpart lines to the Generations line was known as Transformers Legends and one of the figures that was released in the line in late 2016 was Super Ginrai - another character from Super-God Masterforce. This figure was a retooling of the American toy Powermaster Optimus Prime (because the OG toy from the 80s was also a modification of an Optimus Prime toy because Optimus Prime was fuckin dead in Japan lol) from the Titans Return line, where the whole 'gimmick' of the line were Titan Masters - a rebranding of the Headmaster gimmick from the original Transformers toyline where the heads of the robot detach, transform into small figures themselves (with the alternatemodes having cockpits or at least some form of place for them to go), and are interchangeble with all other figures in the line.

ANYWAYS a few months after Super Ginrai gets released, Takara releases Godbomber - basically a transformable drone partner for Super Ginrai who he can combine with to form God Ginrai. AND THEN at the end of 2017, they release an exclusive God Ginrai giftset and it's not just 'let's package these two toys together and sell them'. No, they spiced it up with a bit of transparent plastic for the windows and some shiny chromed bits.

AND ALSO AN EXCLUSIVE MINERVA HEADMASTER (and Cab, one of the other characters from Super-God Masterforce). ABSOLUTELY HAD TO GET IT (I mean I also love God Ginrai too but that made this set a must-get for me)

So yeah, that's what that figure I got standing next to Minerva in her vehicle mode is. Unfortunately, while the Minerva Headmaster is obviously capable of turning into a head and attaching to compatible figures - Legacy Minerva is not a Headmaster or Titan Master-compatible figure, her head is permanently attached so I just have to use my imagination instead.

Also as should go without saying, when Legacy Minerva got leaked and then later was officially announced? HOLY SHIT. THEY FINALLY GIVING ME A FULLY FLEDGED NEW TOY OF MY FAVE CHARACTER.

And hey if you read that whole mess in the spoiler above, that leads to the last thing I took pics of yesterday:

Spoiler: Transformers Minerva, but DIFFERENT

This is the CM's Corporation Gutto Kuru Figure Collection Minerva figure released in 2012.

Yup, Minerva is a human being. She's a 15 year old half-French (on her mother's side) girl who's father is the Republic of Mont Parta's ambassador to Japan.

Yes, she is also a Transformer*. She's a Headmaster Jr, which means she's bonded to a non-living Transformers body called a 'transtector' and thanks to the power of 'unexplained Transformers anime science BS that doesn't really matter, it's cool', her whole body transforms from flesh and blood into the mechanical head of her transtector's robot mode.

Masterforce was that kind of series, very unique as far as Transformers series goes.

*Well she was a Transformer but (spoilers for a 36 year old anime none of y'all are going to actually watch) at the end of the series, all of the transtectors that were bonded with humans in the series become living Transformers and Minerva (along with all the other humans who were bonded with transtectors) became regular humans again. At least until the Legends comic years later where they all regained the ability to become Headmasters again - even if they no longer had dedicated transtectors of their own lol.

 

[Princess Viola]

You know, I wasn't planning on going out and taking more figure photos today but then something pretty cool I ordered a couple days ago got delivered.

Spoiler: VF-1S Valkyrie

This is a knock-off of the 1/55 scale VF-1S Valkyrie from the Super Dimension Fortress Macross originally released by Takatoku Toys in Japan in February 1983, with this KO being manufactured by a company known as Happy Well International and has a copyright date of 2020. (They've actually been making these bootlegs since at least 2005 but this is their current one in slightly more 'accurate' colors). Just like the photos I posted on Sunday of my 1/60 scale VF-1A Valkyrie, the photos depict the figure in Fighter, Gerwalk/Guardian, and Battroid/Battloid mode.

The reason why I bought a KO instead of a legitimate figure is because getting any sort of legitimate 1/55 Valk (or 'Chunky Monkey', as they're known by fans), whether that's a vintage release from the 1980s or a reissue from the 2000s, is waaaaaaaaaaaay out of my price range right now. Cheapest complete one I could find on eBay was $200, meanwhile this KO was slightly over $30 on Amazon.

Anyways this KO features some different surface detailing compared to the legitimate 1/55 Valks and is entirely made of plastic (the legit figures are made of both plastic and diecast metal). The head lasers are also made of a rubbery plastic (arguably an improvement since the head lasers having snapped off is a pretty common piece of breakage you'll find on the secondary market for legit Valks).

Other than those changes (and the different deco), this KO is otherwise identical in size and functionality to the legit 1/55 scale Valkyrie toy. Transformation into all three modes is identical, features all the same articulation (even still has all the ratchet joints), and it even retains the spring-loaded landing gears. Also for a KO, the plastic quality is pretty good. IDK how the legit 1/55s feel in-hand, of course, but I'd say this isn't too far off what you'd get out of something like a Transformers toy for around the same price.

Also fun fact: despite Macross having been adapted as the first part of Robotech and despite some other Takatoku Macross toys (although at this point, Takatoku had gone bust and the rights to the toys and molds were owned by Bandai) being imported by Matchbox and released as part of the Robotech toyline in the 1980s, the 1/55 scale figure was never released as part of the line because Hasbro had already acquired international distribution rights to the toy and were selling it as the Transformers toy 'Jetfire'. (And the later reissues have never been officially released outside Japan because of the legal issues surrounding the international ownership of the Macross franchise, IIRC the most recent reissues in 2008-2009 were meant to be released outside Japan but Big West (who owns the rights to Macross in Japan)'s then-policy of 'you can't officially distribute Macross toys outside Japan' put the kibosh on it)

Spoiler: Miriya Sterling

This one is not going to be a huge essay explaining what something is lol (I am trying to avoid that but I have difficulties OK sorry lol). This is the Toynami action figure of Miriya Sterling from Robotech (AKA Milia Jenius/Miria Jenius/Millia Jenius/Look I've seen her first name written multiple ways and IDK what the actual canon spelling is from Macross) that came included with a 1/100 scale transformable figure of her Valkyrie. (It was also available standalone but I just got it with her mecha lol)

 

[Princess Viola]

Hey look more figure photos what I gone and took today:

Spoiler: VF-31C Siegfried

This is the VF-31C from Macross Delta, specifically this figure is from the Tiny Session line of small transformable super-deformed mecha + a small chibi figurine of a character from the series. In the case of this figure, it comes with a figurine of Makina Nakajima.

I've actually never seen Macross Delta because I didn't realize it was happening and, by the time I learned there was a Macross series airing, the general consensus I got was that it was kind of 'meh', so I never got around to watching it. Basically got this figure because I found it at Barnes & Noble.

Anyways as usual I photographed the figure in fighter, gerwalk, and battroid modes.

Spoiler: BlackZarak (First Set of Photos)

This is BlackZarak from the Transformers Generations Selects line (which is a line that's been running since 2019 of online-exclusive collector-aimed redecoes and retools of previously released figures that serves as a functional replacement for the previous Fun Publications [who managed the Transformers Collectors' Club and the BotCon Transformers fan convention and released exclusive figures as part of both] and e-Hobby [who did these types of exclusives for the Japanese market] operations) and was released in 2022.

The toy is a retooling and redeco of the Transformers Earthrise Scorponok toy that came out in 2020.

He's originally from 1988's Transformers: Super-God Masterforce and his vintage toy (Japanese-exclusive) is both very expensive and very fragile. See all those bits of gold all over him? Well the vintage toy from 1988 is a notorious sufferer of what's known as 'Gold Plastic Syndrome' (or GPS) which basically makes all the gold plastic extremely brittle and prone to breaking and shattering, even with minimal force applied. Hell there have been people who have bought BlackZaraks that have literally never been taken out of the box and the gold plastic has still broken.

Luckily this toy was not very expensive (I managed to snag him on sale for $130) and is not very fragile either.

But he is huge.

How huge is he?

21 inches tall.

Yes.

But this is a Transformer and I only posted photos of the robot mode, what does this massive nearly 2 foot tall Transformer turn into???

Spoiler: BlackZarak (Second Set of Photos)

This.

He transforms into a gigantic robot scorpion.

I mean what do you expect the guy who, if you're using the US names, was previously known as 'Scorponok' to turn into? A sports car? (And if you're using the Japanese names, his previous form was called MegaZarak but he's also a Headmaster and when he's detached from his transtector he's called 'Scorponok')

He actually has rolling wheels underneath him so you can roll him along the ground.

Spoiler: BlackZarak Third Set of Photos

He also has a base mode.

Yup.

The massive 21-inch tall Transformer is a triple-changer. Can be a giant robot, giant robot scorpion, or a base.

And if you're wondering 'Who's that little guy in the last pic?'. It's his Headmasters's Headmaster.

Yup.

He's a double Headmaster.

Not only does BlackZarak's own robot mode head detach and transform into a robot of its own, said robot's own head also detaches and transformers into a smaller robot as well.

Yup.

It's all pretty awesome.

 

[Princess Viola]

Back on my figure photography bullshit.

Spoiler: Transformers G1 Astrotrain

This is the 2019 reissue of the original Astrotrain toy from The Transformers, which was originally released in 1985. The toy is a triple changer and was one of the first two triple changers released in the line, along with his fellow Decepticon Blitzwing.

Astrotrain can transform into either a space shuttle or a JNR Class D51 steam locomotive (fun fact: there were a total of 1115 D51s built, the largest number of any individual class of locomotive built in Japan). He also possesses one of the earliest examples of ball joints in Transformers, featuring them in his shoulders which gives him pretty much completely unrestricted movement at the shoulders.

That is also the only movement you get. He's otherwise a complete brick as a robot.

I should mention that I deliberately have the robot mode partially mistransformed. Per the instructions, the tail fin of the shuttle mode is meant to split open and be slid down a railing slightly to become a chestplate in robot mode. HOWEVER doing so results in the arms being blocked and the arm articulation being restricted (like he literally cannot point his damn gun forward if you do that), so instead I slid the tail fin all the way down the railing and then rotated it up into the gap (also used to fold away the tail fin for locomotive mode) and then slid it down (because otherwise it was sticking more out of the top of the torso).

I should also mention that this is how he was depicted in the cartoon, as his character model was based off a photograph of a mistransformed prototype toy that didn't have tailfin chest plate. (I also didn't put on all the stickers - once again because of cartoon accuracy and also because I find a lot of the decals kind of gaudy)

Spoiler: Powered Convoy/Shattered Glass Ultra Magnus/Delta Magnus/Magna Convoy

HOO-BOY this one is gonna need some serious explanation, so bear with me here because it gets complicated.

At its very core, this figure is the Transformers Shattered Class Collection Ultra Magnus, a repaint of the Transformers War for Cybertron Kingdom Ultra Magnus toy. Shattered Glass being the Transformers mirrorverse where you have evil Autobots and heroic Decepticons.

But what about all the other stuff I mentioned in the spoiler title? Powered Convoy, Delta Magnus, Magna Convoy? What the fuck does any of that mean?

OK, well here is where it gets complicated:
The Transformers toyline originated as an importation and rebranding of two separate toylines by the Japanese company Takara: Diaclone and Micro Change. While Hasbro would source some toys for use in Transformers from other companies and toylines (as Hasbro would basically try and license up any changey robot toy that they thought looked cool (and so their competition, mainly Tonka with the GoBots line [itself an importation and rebranding of Bandai's Machine Robo line, couldn't have access to these toys for their own changey robot toylines]), Diaclone and Micro Change (along with development concepts for the two lines that got moved over to Transformers when Takara decided to forgoe Diaclone and Micro Change in favor of reverse importing the Transformers line) served as the ultimate source for the majority of Transformers toys released in 1984 and 1985.

When it came to the decos (that is the color schemes) used for these toys, many Transformers toys had identical decos to their Diaclone and Micro Change figures (only removing references to the Diaclone and Micro Change lines from the stickers), whereas others featured new color schemes specifically created for Transformers.

One figure that was released as part of the Diaclone line was known as 'Powered Convoy'. Powered Convoy was a repaint of an earlier toy known as 'Battle Convoy' (who was brought over to Transformers as Optimus Prime), with a car-carrier trailer instead of Battle Convoy's semi-trailer. The gimmick of Powered Convoy was that, in addition to having the semi-truck component transforming into a robot like Battle Convoy, it could combine with the trailer to form a super robot.

In 1986, Hasbro decided to bring over the Powered Convoy toy to Transformers and he become the character of Ultra Magnus and, while they were originally going to retain the Diaclone color scheme of dark blue, red, and black (a promotional trailer for Transformers: The Movie - which was later cut down to 90 seconds as the first theatrical trailer for the movie - depicts Ultra Magnus in Powered Convoy's colors), they decided instead to change his color scheme to red, white and blue BECAUSE ULTRA MAGNUS IS A TRUE AMERICAN PATRIOT WHO LOVES HIS COUNTRY. Transformers also ignored Ultra Magnus' smaller robot mode in the fiction and instead depicted the 'super' robot mode as his sole robot mode.

Cut to 15 years later in 2001 and Takara releases an exclusive 'Movie Preview' version of the Ultra Magnus toy in the Powered Convoy colors, referencing the whole 'first movie preview depicted him in these colors' thing.

At BotCon 2008, they introduce the Transformers: Shattered Glass franchise. As stated previously, Shattered Glass (which I am going to just abbreviate to SG) is the mirrorverse where the good guys are the evil ones and the bad guys are the heroic ones. Many, but not all, of the SG incarnations of characters feature decos that are homages to either other characters or things throughout Transformers history (examples being SG Starscream having a color scheme inspired by Generation 1 Jetfire or SG Megatron sporting a black helmet and silver face in homage to the prototype character model for G1 Megatron that was used in the first commercial for anything Transformers - issue 1 of the Marvel Comic in 1984).

In the case of SG Ultra Magnus (introduced later in 2008, although he wouldn't get a toy until BotCon 2012), they made the decision for him to have the color scheme of Powered Convoy.

CUT FORWARD ONCE MORE to the end of 2014 and Takara has just released Masterpiece Ultra Magnus. The Transformers: Masterpiece is TakaraTomy's collector-aimed line of high-end figures. Masterpiece Ultra Magnus is a cartoon-accurate figure that, just like in the show, transforms directly from the car-carrier mode to the large robot mode with no smaller robot mode in sight. Obviously being an expensive collector-aimed figure, Takara wants to reuse this mold because obviously they spent all this time designing and engineering it, so what do they do?

Well, a couple years later in 2016, they released Masterpiece Delta Magnus. A redeco of MP Ultra Magnus in Powered Convoy colors. Completely new character.

THEN in 2017, as an e-Hobby (online store affiliated with TakaraTomy that used to have lots of exclusive figures) exclusive, the figure Magna Convoy is released as part of the Transformers Legends toyline. This figure is a redeco of the 2006 Classics Optimus Prime toy in dark blue, as an homage to the semi-truck component of Powered Convoy.

In 2019, a new Ultra Magnus toy is released as part of the War for Cybertron: Siege line. This Ultra Magnus toy is notable for two reasons:
1. His vehicle mode is inspired by the vehicle mode of Ultra Magnus from the 2001 Robots in Disguise series
2. It is the first Ultra Magnus toy since the original figure to feature the smaller robot mode with the trailer forming the armor that the small robot combines with to form the super mode.

BUT THE 2019 figure isn't 100% relevant here but what is relevant is that in 2021, the Siege figure was retooled into the Kingdom Ultra Magnus figure, with the retooling done to make the figure more G1 cartoon accurate.

As I stated at the start of the explanation, this figure is the Shattered Glass Collection Ultra Magnus, who is a repaint of the Kingdom Ultra Magnus toy. However it is more than that, while I didn't use it - the figure comes with a different head installed out of the box (one that's much more skull-like in appearance as that's what SG Ultra Magnus looks like) but also comes with the original Kingdom Ultra Magnus head (the head I have installed on the toy) which, per the lead designer of the Transformers Generation brand, was included specifically so fans can repurpose the toy as Delta Magnus and he also consistently referred to the inner robot as being Magna Convoy.

So yes, this one figure technically represents three separate characters - SG Ultra Magnus, Magna Convoy, and Delta Magnus. (It's not specifically Powered Convoy but the color scheme certainly is Powered Convoy)

 

[Princess Viola]

We are so back (I actually took these photos over a week ago)

Spoiler: Transformers Robots in Disguise Scourge

This is Scourge from the 2001 Transformers Robots in Disguise toyline. Originally released as Black Convoy in Takara's Transformers Car Robots line in 2000, the figure was released by Hasbro as a Toys R Us exclusive when they imported and released the Car Robots franchise to their markets following the cancellation of Transtech, which was meant to be the 2001 Transformers franchise in Hasbro markets (as they, rather understandably, didn't want to have a gap year of no new Transformers toys on store shelves while they worked with Takara on developing the 2002 Transformers toyline).

Scourge himself is a redeco of the Laser Optimus Prime mold that was released as part of the Transformers Generation 2 line in 1995 and the figure is just completely loaded with gimmicky goodness. The truck transforms into Scourge's robot mode and the trailer opens up (via a spring-loaded auto-transformation that is REALLY powerful and I actually don't let it just slam the damn trailer open because I don't want to damage the shiny chrome sides of the trailer) and becomes a battle station that's just completely loaded with weaponry.

It's got a spring-loaded missile launcher that holds and fires FIVE missiles (one at a time, not all at once), a disc launcher that shoots out five discs (again, one at a time, although my figure is missing two discs + the disc launcher is also available in vehicle mode as it ends up on the roof of the trailer), and air-pressure rocket launcher (that really can shoot damn far if you slam the bellows as hard as you can). You also get five spare missiles for the missile launcher and a spare rocket for the rocket launcher.

The figure also includes a sword and double barrelled laser gun that Scourge can wield (or be attached to the base mode) and you can also detach and have him hold the missile launcher as well.