A History of Targetmaster Transformers
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- Äas pĆidĂĄn 26. 07. 2024
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#Transformers #EntertainmentEarth - ZĂĄbava
Precious Primus, you have no idea how much I want a Leader-priced, Voyager-scaled Soundwave that turns into a news van with a Targetmaster Laserbeak that acts as both a radio dish and a gun for his masterâŠ
I love the satellite dish for Laserbeak.
Ngl I think targetmasters are so much cooler than headmasters. Like, if you gave them compartments to ride in the transformers Iâd be hooked on that as a toyline
I think Cyclonus had that going on with Nightstick.
I personally like Powermasters
with the decepticon targetmasters fully represented in modern toys, it will be interesting to see the autobots completed.
YES. Landfill and Quickmix need some love
I'd also like to see goldbugs team. so far we have only gotten one. besides goldbug.
You know if they really want to capitalize and improve on the gimmick, they could mash the idea of targetmaster AND headmaster in, as in, have the base toy large enough or with a cockpit large enough so the robot mode of the targetmaster can become a pilot for the figure. The headmaster gimmick is my favorite next to minicons, but i understand the inherant issue of the possibility of losing the head, so making a targetmaster a pilot or base operator instead would be a good middle ground!
This is my all time favorite G1 gimmick. I was 8 when " Season 4" came out . I watched that 3 parter until my vhs broke So many great memories. Now where's my Sure Shot/Spoil Sport at Hasbro!?!
I think back in the 80s Hasbro and Takara thought the head master gimmick would be the best given that they were producing two massive figures using the gimmick but things didn't plan out that way as target masters took over though I expect in the future all non gun TFs that convert into weapons will be generally preferred to as battle masters!!
âLike we are all megaman now!â Hahahahahaahahhahaahaha good job TJ as always
The facial tissues Vs Kleenex example has to be one of the best clarity explanations I have heard in a while for Targetmasters. Nice work!
I do love when a bigger figure also comes with a lil' guy, and Targetmasters are a fun iteration of that
1:44 I may be a G2 kid, but this catalog was my childhood. My older brother grew up with G1 and I got his hand-me-downs including this catalog. I would stare at this thing for what a 5-6 year old would call hours (probably 10 minutes) at a time. I knew I'd likely never get any of it besides what my older brother already had, but I could still dream.
Same! My first Transformer was a hand-me-down Point Blank from my older brother! Target masters have been apart of my life from way early on.
Technically the first Targetmaster was Megatron, through his mass-shifting ability and gun mode. Also there was that animation error with Shockwave that had him wielding his own weapon mode in his hand. I'm guessing that was a prototype for cloning technology.
Love G1 Crosshairs. Those exposed ratcheting shoulders and his beer belly. Great toy. One of the first ones my stepdaughter proudly transformed without help.
Best Targetmasters outside the MP line were those that came with the Takara Legends figures, while the Autobot ones were decent (shoulders, hip and thigh articulation with a fused neck and hip rotation,) the ones that came with Triggerhappy, Misfire and Slugslinger though had head swivels that were completely unrelated to the transformation joints
G1 Megatron could technically be a target master too given how often Soundwave or Starscream would be the one using him when he transformed
2:09 - 2:15
Interesting. I wasn't aware of this until you had mentioned it. It makes a bit more sense now why Hasbro chose to go the direction they did with the Action Master line.
And now we are getting animal based Target masters thanks to Rise of the Beasts. And Iâm here for it
The one who technically paved the way for a target-master concept, was Megatron, in terms of a gun transformer tbh
Here in 2024 to say I think itâs super cool that Doom N Destruction Windsweeper will be a Triggercon and a Target Master Wielder at the same time since his guns got upgraded into full fledged robots đ
Here is something that will blow your mind Megatron is a Targetmaster using the term and
Definition, when he turns into his Walther PPK shrinks down and lets one of the other Deceptikon he trusts fire him.
I've always liked the Target Master concept. The Action Master partners who turned into weapons remind me of the bird partners of the Silverhawks. I was a bit put off when they were retconned as Target Masters in the comics, but it is all right I guess. I like to think of the Battle Masters as the evolution of the Target Masters, just as the Titan Masters are the evolution of the Head Masters. The concepts are still growing and refining, strange as it may seem, so who knows what the future will bring?
one of the female autobot team came with something like a target/battlemaster, Greenlight (the green and yellowish one) it's like a sword that turns into a robot dog or something like that. Even had a fire effect for an extra level of badass
And she was swiftly expensive and never re-released
Dazzlestrike, one of the most valuable battle masters, although itâs really just Lionizer with a green stripe. đ
You seemed to have missed out that Takara for their legends line equipped their versions of the figures not only with better paintjobs but given targetmasters to Hasbro's figures which did not.
So (for example) in Hasbro Misfire came with two guns and a headmaster. Takara came with a new Targetmaster mold and headmaster instead.
Yeah, a total miss.
The takara TR target master is the current best targetmaster. (non masterpiece)
I am looking at both nightstick and the Legend target masters. The legends one is like V2.0
Day 3 of asking Tj to make a petition for a leader class Skar so maybe Hasbro will make one
You forgot the one character who has kind of retroactively become an unofficial glorified Target Master... G1 Megatron. There was even that Legends Megatron that is specifically molded to fit into MP Starscream's hand. It kind of looks too big and out of proportion but any smaller and it wouldn't be able to Transform at all.
But yeah, I actually miss the days when Target Masters were actually being made with Articulation so they could function as little robots on their own. I feel like we've gone backwards when the most recent Target Masters we've gotten are essentially no different than the 80's versions. I can excuse the 80's toys not being articulated because no toy was at the time but to go from the fully articulated figures we had 10 years ago back to the more simplified 80's designs is just dumb. And the fact that they molded a gun into the gun's hand but didn't give him any shoulders so he can't even lift his arm up is rubbing salt in the wound. They might as well not even be transforming figures and just be permanently molded in gun mode.
"It kind of looks too big and out of proportion but any smaller and it wouldn't be able to Transform at all."
WST Megatron says hi xD
You could say G1 Megatron was just a target master⊠maybe with an inferiority complex?
Also throwing in the Thrilling Thirty Legends molds that had strangeeee mini-figures that turned into strangeeee weapons.
I did not have as big of an issue with the siege run at target/battle masters because they were readily available. Also, because of only 2 molds, parts swapping was relatively easy to make different combinations. It took very little paint to change the entire look of the figures and it was easy to fill my ranks with any missing characters I felt I needed for my collection. Excellent video
Collectors arenât that interested in Siege Battlemasters? Try to get a Dazzlestrike or a Trenchfoot! Even Pinpointer (a Targetmaster transplant) is hard to find or very expensive. I hope they do make a new Crosshairs and give him his own Pinpointer! đ
Targetmasters are a really interesting idea for Transformers, but I have to admit I've never been all that impressed by any era of them aside from the Masterpiece versions. Most of the time they have little to no articulation, less than even a Legion Class figure, and the gun mode tends to just look like a robot doing yoga while the gun barrels on their backpack do almost all the work as a weapon. I don't mean to sound like a hater, but I just think it's a concept that really could work super well if they put more effort into it, yet they so rarely do.
I wish they made like the arm replacement thingie on a modern figure
They could make it so figures have elbows that bend forwards and backwards but when going backwards it starts pulling the a peg in which the master can port and work as a forearm
Very enjoyable video
it's funny, I think the headmaster were the more popular ones in asia. I got the original G1 Mindwipe as a kid, and grown up watching the headmaster anime.
I kinda hope Takara does a Legacy Targetmaster 3pack based on their Headmasters designs (hopefully a new Crosshairs is made because the Siege Ironhide repaint doesn't do it for me).
Pretender is a superior gimmick, honestly.
If you run out of Beast Machines Iâd love for a review of Beast Wars Uprising, itâs such an interesting series thats talked about so little
Great video. More retrospectives please. :)
I like the concept but it often suffers from poor execution. The target masters should be color coordinated to their wielders probably a little lower so they don't stick out like sore thumbs.
The G1 gimmick "master" toys were really interesting developments for the line. Target Masters were probably the weakest of the three since the robot mode was basically a statue. Arm articulation would have made all the difference until they got downsized.
Two of my favorite Legacy figures are Needlenose and Pointblank, so revisiting the target master characters wasnât a bad move.
I'm surprised there was no mention of the Takara versions of the Titans Return characters with, from my understand, unique molds for their targetmasters
Great video
Headmaster
Targetmaster
Powermaster
Micromaster
Actionmaster
Idolmaster
One of these things is not like the others...
delete it before Takara gets ideas
I love the Targetmasters
Ngl I wish the Battlemasters continued into Kingdom and into Legacy as the Master Class is a fun small price point, but exclusives made them annoying partly because Pointblank kinda was made worse because of Peacemaker, but Needlenose is a good toy
I was expected to pay $25 for Legacy Pointblank, despite the sacrifices the larger figure's articulation for a TTRPG piece that only 1 good mode. Even with 10% off & free shipping, I still feel like i paid too much, and now I have to go buy about $20 worth of 3-party upgrades to get a passable Pointblank. Siege Spinister never had these problems. Just saying.
Yep; I swapped out Needlenose's two Targetmasters for Clampdown and Red Alert's guns (I had spare 3P weapons from other figures), and yet I still need to buy an upgrade kit to remove the Death Star trenches from his legs; at least Pointbreak's folded up into a neat little cube.
wonder if there will be action live movies that shows humans actively help the autobot as target master, powermaster or headmaster.
You forgot to talk about the Takara Legends Targetmasters
You missed like two generations of Targetmasters.
The T30 Targetmasters from the legends class where Spinister himself got turned into a Targetmaster as a redeco of Blaze Master that came with Bumblebee. Blaze Master being based on the Actionmaster helicopter partner of Bumblebee (named after the Micromaster helicopter) bringing that full circle. Then there's Reflector, Roller and a bunch of Micromasters who were turned into Targetmasters as well. My favorite is the Funpub Ginrai from the Optimus Prime Double Pretender set.
Then you're missing the almost complete set of (regular, not double) Targetmasters from Takara Legends. The only two missing are Nightstick and Fracas...who get the most toys anyway other than Firebolt. It really is strange that they didn't make them. There was even a perfectly good Scourge that could've used Fracas. It's not like Blurr came with Haywire either so it's not like they could use that as an excuse. Did they just run out of deluxe molds to add the Targetmasters to? I'm pretty sure that other than Blurr and Scourge there were at least one or two other Takara Legends releases that didn't come with something extra where they could've been added to.
There were. Sixshot, Soundwave, Blaster, Leo Prime, Astrotrain, Godbomber and the clone sets. Four leaders, two voyager and two sets with two legends in each. However only Sixshot and the clones came out after the Targetmasters were made though. I wish the clones came with Fracas and Nightstick.
And to anyone who's reading this and was wondering: The Funpub Double Targetmasters from CW Needlenose do not work in any meaningful way with Legacy Needlenose. Sure he can hold him in his hands or be plugged on his arms. But the only way to use them in jet mode is to take off the tail fin and plug them in there or to plug them in on the leg ports on the bottom of the jet making the guns pontoons. If you put the ones Legacy Needlenose comes with in the "Evo Fusion" position then you can plug the tailfin back into them but otherwise it can't be used if you plug the Funpub Targetmasters into the top of the jet mode. Also, the majority of the 5mm ports on Needlenose are hexagons. The 5mm pegs for the T30 Double Targetmaster are as well. Except that the hexagons don't like up properly and will have the guns stick out at an angle or horizontally from where you would want them pointed. You'd need to force them into a forward position and hope they don't just pop back into the position the hexagons normally sit in.
Spinister's work just fine with Siege Spinister though. Shame there were never any made for Quake.
I think Legends Fracas and Nightstick werenât made because either they ran out of money to produce the two, they exhausted whatever available TR deluxe tooling they had access to by then with the Krok Wave being made up of repaints or they scrapped them when brand unification came into effect.
Should Targetmasters get the Core Class treatment and paired with their larger partners (they'll be more articulated in the process)?
back in 88 i did have a few headmasters. 2 target master & the only power master i had was power master prime. but the toy's was a great concept for the time & i wish they did more with them. Hasbro could release a pretender target master or a headmaster or even a power master's toy' line.
I still consider target masters, head masters, and micro masters as minicons
Question that might and or will trigger most TF fans......
Is G1 Megatron "technically" a Targetmaster? đ
Like he transforms into a gun that is held by another transformer......guess the same could be said for Shockwave, Sixshot, and Quickswitch. đ€
I thought season 3 was the best and the toys were getting better and more interesting then the show ended which I thought was horrible was excited to see more about head and target masters. I love the battlemasters especially when u look at the crappy ones we getting back to in legacy
Weapon master is a lot better phrase. Letâs coin it now!
I'm surprised you didn't mention the legends targetmasters
Ironic, how one of the gimmicks with the least amount of lore and stories attached outlasted almost every other gimmick.
A random thought.... would G1 Megatron (cartoon/comic version anyway) qualify as a Targetmaster?
Itâs me, hi⊠Iâm the problem, itâs me! đ
I want them to rerelease the ones who were missing them last time with their targetmaster included.
Absolutely. I got lucky enough to get the Skywarp set so I could give the one Battlemaster that belonged to Spinister back to Spinister, so he's complete. That shouldn't be the standard though.
I always liked the Targetmasters over the headmasters
Thought: didn't it retroactively make G1 Megatron a targetmaster? Also, I always wondered if this came from Japan, originally? Given that it brings in the gimmick from Diaclone that Hasbro had previously excised. The small drive/partner figure, etc.
I would say no, Megatron could not be wielded by another figure, but instead was a role play weapon for you.
BUT if going by the cartoon he pretty much was ... though he wasn't paired with an exclusive partner like a targetmaster would.
I'm not as familiar with Weaponizers and Battle Masters beyond knowing they exist. What's the difference between them individually and with the Targetmasters?
Personally I prefer the US idea that the Master partner is an individual being, whether they're also robots, bionically enhanced humans, or humans in exosuits. (There's a case to be made for each one.) It makes for an extra character and makes the process a bit more useful to have two beings working together in battle and potentially other operations.
Battlemasters seem to be pretty much Targetmasters with a different name. Perhaps to account for not all of them turning into guns. Weaponizers are full sized Transformers than come apart to form weapons and armor to attach to other figures.
I honestly don't like the combiner power master gimmick; Just make Nautilator the lower torso and make him on par with Predaking.
You forgot legacy pointblankâs targetmaster
We're power master or tecnorganic transformers better? That both addressed the same problem in hostile environment survival!
spinister was slog to complete, had to go to ebay to see if Hairsbliter(Shrute) was being sold. weird that Hasbro did not make Quake's targetmaster buddies.
What's worse about Quake though is that Funpub didn't make his either.
Megatron was starscreams targetmaster
The commercials which art was done by Toei did more to sell the Toys that the show in 86 and 87. I was 9 when the 87 bots came out. I loved the diaclone molds the most. They were fun, spring loaded weapons, puzzle like transformations. When season 3 came out even as a young kid the Akom animation was awful. Bringing Optimus back didnt help cause the damaged had been done. By 87 it seems Hasbro was clueless. They lost touch with fans that had grown with them. Then it seemed they went with a younger demographic cause the toys were like diet transformers. Simple transformations, no spring loaded weapons, all the fun was gone. The 87 bot modes were cool, target masters, and headmasters were a cool concept just poorly executed in the toys. Scorponok in my opinion was the coolest bot in 87 imo.
Is Megatron the original target master?
Was G1 Megatron a targetmaster?
You can still get scoop pretty cheap. he's a very nice mold. Unfortunately between him being a nobody, and IDW doing their character assassination and making him completely unlikeably i don't think he's gotten the love he deserves. it's also weird to me that we got ALL of the decepticon target masters but we are still waiting on many of the autobot.
!