I'm writing this article from a very different perspective to what I originally planned. You see, when I acquired this giftset I was still a very keen Pre-Transformers toy collector and enthusiast. I was still running a very busy and successful online Transformers forum and was very much part of the fandom and contributed to many TF sites and forums. I never got around to writing the article for this Microchange Cassette DX giftset though, but I did take all the necessary photographs for a half-decent review. I'm finally writing the article now. However, a few things have changed. I no longer own this giftset.

Here it is, the 1983 Microchange giftset of the three cassettes that would become Frenzy, Ravage and Laserbeak in the Transformers line. These were released individually in the Microchange line also, but the individual pieces are infinitely easier to locate than the giftset. This item is most likely THE rarest Transformers-related full production giftset in existence.

There have been Japanese TF VSXs, VSYs and Goodbye sets recently, there have been MISB US Piranacon giftsets on eBay, there have even been a couple of Diaclone Powered Convoy DX giftsets for sale over the past 2 years. But, there has only been ONE of these giftsets available on eBay in the last few years, and that's because I auctioned mine on there. And it sold. For $675.

It was quite funny actually, I got so much stick on various newsgroups and forums where I advertised the set. I had it at a fixed price of $675, a figure I basically pulled out of thin air. I had purchased it myself for $300 about 7 months earlier, but that's one of the reasons I bought it. It was a great deal and the piece was one of the rarest in the TF/PreTF universe, possibly one of just three in the Western hemisphere (in other words, outside Japan... and there aren't even any on sale there!). Extremely bad reasons to make any toy purchase, which is why I never really had any love for this piece, just appreciation. Anyway, people said "they're just cassettes!", "we can get them in individual boxes for $40 each!" etc. Some didn't even know this set existed. Before last year there weren't even any decent pictures of it online, just the miniscule representations of it from the Takara SF Land book. When I listed the auction at the price I did, *I* knew exactly how rare it was, *I* knew exactly who owned one and who didn't, *I* knew there were collectors who were completists, giftset-hunters and cassette mega-enthusiasts, and I knew there were high-end collectors who would fall over themselves to own it. Unfortunately a number of those high-end collectors were currently going through some financial issues and weren't able to cash in, hence the auction going until the last day until it sold. But it did sell. I guess now it has a "market value"? Probably not. There aren't that many super collectors left in TFs, so the next guy who wants one may pay only as much as I did. I guess I was lucky this time. There were however many comments from collectors about how cool the set was, and it IS cool. The cassettes have always been favourites among TF fans.

Enough about markets and collectors, on to the piece itself. As you can imagine, it's a small giftset. Lovely artwork though, a combination of the boxart from the original individually packed MC-01, 02 and 03. Of course, in the MC line, these cassettes were released in alternative colours too. A black/red robot, another robot in red/blue trim, a blue/green condor and a blue jaguar. I guess that is one thing that makes this giftset a little less special than the Diaclone PCDX. The Diaclone set of the preTF Ultra Magnus, Black Sideswipe and Red Mirage contains toys with Diaclone-exclusive colour schemes, with the cars themselves being giftset-exclusive. This Cassette DX set however contains the colour schemes that were eventually used for TFs. You're really paying for the exclusive box, paperwork and rarity. To summarise, the set contains the blue MC-01 Cassette Robo + two chrome weapons + case, the black MC-02 Jaguar + two chrome weapons + case, the red/black MC-03 Condor + two chrome weapons + case, instruction sheet with all 3 cassettes on and catalog on the back.

Just like the individually packaged cassettes, the giftset has the somewhat flimsy plastic inner packaging. No styro. There is one nice feature though which you can see in the second insert pic; the third tape case is housed underneath the first two tape cases. Kinda looks like it only comes with 2 cases, but no, it's all there. The toys don't fit in their spaces all that snugly, especially the Jaguar.

Here are the individual figures with their respective tape cases:

All three are very intricate and enjoyable toys.

Obviously they are a lot more fun if you have a MC Cassette Man or TF Soundwave to go with them.

My favourite would probably be the Condor. Be careful with them though, they'll break and wear easily, but you don't need me to tell you about the toys, they're already well documented as TFs.

Now one day, a friend of mine who was supposed to buy this giftset came round to play. He is a massive cassette enthusiast, and this would basically have completed his TF/preTF cassette collection. It's a shame he turned it down in the end as his cassette collection would have made a magnificent display at a future TF show. However, he did bring some of his own MC cassettes up to my house and sure enough, a photoshoot took place.

Here is the Cassette DX giftset alongside three of the individually-packed variant-colour releases:

The similarity in packaging layout and design can be seen clearly, and it makes an overall display quite impressive. The MC Cassette Man (pre-Soundwave) has a similar scheme for its packaging. This is where it gets cool though. If you think the above is nice to look at, here are the variant-coloured cassettes in the giftset packaging:

Now had this been the actual format of the giftset release, it would have had much more mystique and glamour surrounding it, it would be more valuable and probably the stuff of TF legend just as the PCDX is. I think it looks fantastic this way, and I don't think it's just because the above is how it WASN'T released. I'm quite sure a PCDX set with a red Sideswipe, blue Mirage and regular coloured Magnus wouldn't have been even half as interesting as the actual PCDX. As it is though, the above is just a bit of fun. However, you're looking at a hefty bill if you want to reproduce that kind of 'fun'...

Overall, a P H E N O M E N A L L Y rare piece, very cool collection of very cool toys, lovely boxart and design, disappointing choice of insert material. In hindsight it probably wasn't the most interesting choice of colours for the figures in the set considering the way the TF line panned out and a great shame that this giftset idea was not somehow worked into the Transformers line. It's not really fair that this set is so rare and expensive as many fans would no doubt love to own something of this nature involving the ever-popular Transformers cassettes. Reissue idea maybe?

All the best
Maz