The Transformers hit their stride right as I was in my little-kid, cartoon-watching, action-and-adventure phase. And for a couple of years there, I was really into the animated TV series. If I'm remembering correctly, it was broadcast every Sunday around 10:00 a.m. on WPIX NY channel 11 here in New York, and I'd watch as often as I could with great interest. I also had a few of the action figures, used the red cellophane decoder on the back of the box to find out each one's strengths and weaknesses, and thought I knew the major characters pretty well.
However, at least one product escaped my knowledge until recently, when I saw it on Trading Card Database's "random card of the day" feature.
A trading card??
Yep, a trading card. I had a look at the checklist, and the set consists of a whopping 192 cards, plus 24 stickers. There are individual cards for all the major Auotbot and Decepticon players, plus a bunch of cards that are made up of animation stills taken straight from the original cartoon.
For the dose of nostalgia that these cards would bring, I thought I'd have a look around the internet to check prices and availability. Turns out these cards are somewhat rare, which might help explain why I never saw them in stores back in the '80s. Complete sets are a bit too pricey for me, and I don't need that much of a nostalgia hit, so I decided to search for a few singles.
A particular seller on eBay had quite a few listed, and I added a couple to my watch list. The seller soon noticed, and offered me 50% off each of the two cards. With such a generous offer, I asked if he'd provide that same deal if I were to grab a couple others that he was selling. Nice guy that he was, he said it would be fine.
So here are the four cards (two Autobots, two Decepticons) I decided to pick up:
First up is Brawn, resident Autobot tough guy and demolitions expert who transformed into a Land Rover Defender 4 x 4. In one episode he quipped at a fleeing Decepticon, Hey, come back! You didn't finish your nickel-plated knuckle sandwich!
Next is Huffer, a construction engineer who transformed into a semi-truck cab. His colors are quite bright. I wonder why the studio went with purple and orange like that.
Speaking of colors and design, you'll notice that the artwork on the card fronts is of a higher quality
than what you got in the animated series. The metal is more shiny and
chrome-like. There's more detail in the lines and depth.
Now we have Laserbeak, who I seem to remember had a role in just about every episode of the cartoon. How could he not? I mean, he was a rocket-powered robot bird who performed covert surveillance, shot lasers from his eyes, and transformed into an audio tape that fit inside the next guy's cassette deck.
Yes, for the fourth card I went with Soundwave, for obvious "coolness factor" reasons. A boom box who had a wicked digitally altered voice? Yep. That was a smart move by Hasbro/Takara. I'm sure Soundwave was a best seller at toy stores everywhere.
Now here are the card backs.
There's quite a bit of detail there, and I can imagine I would have gotten into the show even more had I owned some of these cards back then.
There's also a bit of a Cold War aspect to some of the text, don't you think? I guess you could say the same thing about the entire story line. It was the Autobots (Us) vs. the Decepticons (Them).
As for where you'd have gotten these cards back in the '80s, they seemed to be available as hanger packs sold in retail stores, as evidenced by this image I pulled from the internet.
There were 8 cards and 1 sticker per pack. At 192 total cards, it would have been pretty tough to complete the entire set!
So that's that. A few nice-looking cards for my collection, and a big dose of nostalgia.
Have any of you seen these cards before? Any Transformers fans? Favorite Autobot or Decepticon?
Share in the comment section, and thanks for reading!
I loved Transformers when I was a kid, but don't remember seeing these cards. It'd be kind of fun to build subsets of this product... like collect all of the Soundwave's tapes, or all of the Constructicons that form Devastator or StarScream and all of the other Decepticon jets.
ReplyDeleteThat's not a bad idea, Fuji, thank you! It would be much more affordable than trying to complete the entire set.
DeleteI do remember these being in stores as a kid, but my interest in Transformers was very short-lived, so I never got any.
ReplyDeleteGood to know someone who actually saw these cards in the wild!
DeleteIf I was a kid at this time, I know I'd be into them. But I was in college when Transformers were the rage. I used to see the show when I'd turn on the TV after coming back from classes ... and change the channel.
ReplyDelete"... and change the channel."
DeleteHah! Thanks for that bit of humor, Night Owl.
Nice, I feel like there is a Japanese version of these as well...I can't remember.
ReplyDeleteYou're likely correct about a Japanese version. Keep an eye out for them!
DeleteI was big into Transformers when I was a kid, and had a few of these cards. They're long gone unfortunately, they were really nice looking in person. Now I wish I still had them.
ReplyDeleteI basically forgot about them once the craze died down and was surprised to see how different they looked in the late-90's or so when I became aware of them. I have no interest in the "modern" transformers - the '80s look will always be the "right" one for me.
I don't remember these cards; the cards I remember were the ones later in the series that had scenes from the show.
It's surprising to me that the franchise has been as far-reaching as it has. Feature films, a few different animated series, and other things. But yes, I agree that the '80s look is the right one.
DeleteWow! That triggered a repressed memory - I'm almost positive I had a few of those cards back in the day. Toy-wise, I was more into GI Joe than Transformers, but I loved the cartoon - especially the dinobots!
ReplyDeleteGood to know yet another collector who had some of these cards back then! The Dinobot idea was one of the best the creators had. Back then, kids loved robots and kids loved dinosaurs. How could you go wrong combining the two?
DeleteBig fan of Transformers (if my Blogger icon doesn't give it away). The very first post of mine on A Pack To Be Named Later is my lone pack of these cards (The Bluestreak at the top of the post was in my pack). My brother and I each got a pack from a Toys R Us up in Canada; never saw them in the US. The backs of the character cards are the write-ups on the back of the package you'd use the red decoder for. The packs also came with a sticker of a character with his motto / saying. And that's probably way more info you wanted to know about this set :)
ReplyDeleteHeheh. Not at all, Jafronius. More info on cards like these is always appreciated. Just the mention of the red cellophane decoder is a huge nostalgia hit for me.
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