E-Hobby Exclusive 48 "New Year's Special Proto Colour Version Astrotrain" (And The Continuing History of Astrotrain)

E-HOBBY EXCLUSIVE 48 "NEW YEAR'S SPECIAL PROTO COLOUR VERSION ASTROTRAIN" (AND THE CONTINUING HISTORY OF ASTROTRAIN)

The 2004 E-Hobby exclusive "Anime" or cartoon-accurate Astrotrain reissue has become the most desireable, sought-after, 'rare' and pretty much the most expensive of all the non-prize reissue Transformers released. The reason for this is that when this release was announced by E-Hobby, there was no rush for orders and they interpreted that as a general lack of interest for this recolour. As a result, production numbers were reduced and the run of Anime Astrotrains did not go as high as other exclusives. As soon as the fandom cottoned on to this small fact, demand for this piece absolutely sky-rocketed, and has not abated since. There is certainly a degree of artificial price-heightening going on with sellers for this item nowadays, but even auctions that start low end up in the multiple hundreds.

One of the most attractive features of this toy comes from the fact that the colours are based on the very first Transformers G1 prototypes of Astrotrain seen in catalogs back in 1984/5. The boxart and cartoon colour scheme for Astrotrain were also based on the grey/purple motif and that is how this version of Astrotrain has become so desireable and sometimes referred to as 'Anime' Astrotrain by some collectors. The official designation is 'Proto Colour Version' Astrotrain. More on the subject of roots later.

It was magnificent to finally have access (albeit limited) to an Astrotrain that matched the one we had seen on screen for years. You may notice from the insert and contents pictures above that the purple on the E-Hobby version is quite a bit lighter, almost pink, compared to the original Astrotrains. This release comes with the instruction sheet, stickersheet and collector's card. The artwork for the collector's card did not need altering for the E-Hobby release seeing as how the original G1 boxart was this colour anyway!

The card back shows stock photos of a purple and grey Astrotrain, however they are not photographs of this particular toy. You can tell by how dark the purple is. They must be altered photos of the regular Astrotrain stock photos. The stickersheet is for all intents and purposes the same as the original Astrotrain stickersheet minus the E-Hobby and '48' designations that would not have been on original sheets. You might also notice that the collector's card clips into place in the plastic insert, and I haven't seen that with a majority of the other reissue exclusives.

Despite the slightly brighter purple sections, the shuttle mode is breathtaking and easily close enough to the animated and proto versions to be immediately accepted into any willing collector's heart. Seeing Astrotrain in these colours makes me wonder why it was ever even considered in the colours we actually got in the US and the UK. It is easily as striking as the wonderful white Japanese Astrotrain.

One thing you may notice from the front and rear shots of the shuttle mode is that the wings are not perfectly aligned, but that's not a big issue. It is a quality control consideration, but otherwise the toy feels, and is, excellently put together in this mode.

The toy displays gorgeously in this mode, probably the strongest mode of all three available. Notice the bronze-coloured rear wheels, the silver rockets and the tremendous "Not A Step" stickers on the wings. Attractive from any angle and supremely photogenic, it is absolute pain for any collector who hasn't got one and needs it, for they don't appear too often on auction sites and when they do, there's a furious battle over them. There could well be people holding on to cases, but for the time being, it's very difficult to acquire one without spending a lot of money. I feel that if the purple was as dark as regular Astrotrain's, then this would be the absolute perfect Astrotrain. As it is, the toy has a flavour of its own that sets it apart from the original proto, the US release and of course the first Japanese release.

Here's a look at some of the standout shuttle-mode features of the E-Hobby Astrotrain:

Again, impressive in robot mode in these colours as in shuttle mode, and equally reminiscent of the cartoon version Astrotrain we all grew up with. The nice features such as the stickers and bronze wheels are visible in this mode and give him such a distinct character compared to the other Astrotrains. Just like before, there is a resounding feeling of "this is what we should have got". One thing I will mention, and I have found this with the white reissue as well, the right leg extends a little further than the left leg making it just slightly difficult to get the perfect pose out of him in robot mode, but due to the tightness of a new toy it can be achieved somewhat.

The addition of the handgun gives a much more complete look to the figure, making him seem a little less plain due to the lack of stickers applied. The addition of the stickers wouldn't have as much of a positive effect as they would on the white Astrotrain though, so I think it's best to keep him this way, plain and simple. There is no doubt that the arms and gun are out of proportion with the rest of his body, but I've always been a huge fan of the mould and it's never bothered me too much. It's an excellent toy to transform and has significant displayability in every mode.

While not a perfect match for the cartoon head by any means, it is closer than any other version has been so far...well, RELEASED version anyway! Still, he looks evil enough and his overall colour scheme is very Decepticon indeed.

While being the least favourite of the modes for me, I still think it looks the part. The colour is right, but the bright purple really shows up most of all here. Maybe the regular Astrotrain's train mode is the closest to the cartoon. Having said this, it's far from a let-down and by no means drags down the overall quality and package as a whole. In fact the boosters look superb in silver and the hint of grey visible from some angles is nothing short of perfect. The bronze wheels are never more visible than in train mode also, so plenty of positives.

Seeing as how my last article about Astrotrain involved the history of the G1 figure as well as a review of the Collection #11 White Astrotrain (seen here), I'm going to take a little sidestep from the E-Hobby release momentarily and focus on the Hasbro Commemorative reissue Astrotrain made available online in the US in 2005/6:

The packaging is of course in the American reissue style but contains the same artwork as the Japanese Collection #11 release. The stickersheet is the same as the Japanese release of the white Astrotrain as well. I found the toy to be of absolutely equal quality (if not slightly better) than the Japanese version I had. There was no problem getting the wings to clip down for train mode as with my last white reissue. So that leaves only the regular coloured original Astrotrain release to be reissued, which it probably never will be. That could be a shame because finding a mint original one out of box can be extremely difficult, especially without Astrotrain leg syndrome.

Even though I have been going on about how I prefer this or that, you can't deny how spectacular these toys look as a set of three. Unfortunately, as with almost all 'sets' of variants in G1 Transformers collecting, it's quite difficult for a collector to successfully track down all the necessary pieces in the desired condition. The E-Hobby Astrotrain appears on almost all wants lists these days. The thing that makes it so desireable is not that it's just another repaint, it's a very significant and historic colour scheme for this mould. The first in fact. Most collectors will wait and wait until the price becomes reasonable again, rueing the day they passed it up for $40.

Just to finish up before the grand finale, here's the copyright on the E-Hobby Proto Colour Version Astrotrain:

If you've managed to come this far, then you've got something very special coming your way. I've been mentioning the original colours of the prototype grey Astrotrain from catalogs and such all the way through this article. Here it is featured in a huge 1985 US catalog, followed by a scan from the 1985 MB dealer's catalog:

You can see the original had a very different head, it had Blitzwing weapons blue-tacked on to the hands (Diaclone Blitzwing missile in the MB catalog!), the grey is in evidence but the purple was darker (like the regular version) and in robot mode the "Not A Step" stickers are there. The arms look extendable as well.

The thing is, why strain your eyes on a magnified scan of a tatty old catalog when you can have a look at the real thing side-by-side with the E-Hobby homage...

Worth the wait I am sure you will agree!! There are so many differences to note, and so many things to connect the reissue with the original, the REAL original. Look at the extendable arms, the super-dark grey and dark purple, the different head, the moulding on the legs, wings etc, the smaller bronze wheels, the different font on "Not A Step", the rubsign! The resin hand-painted hardcopy original grey Astrotrain prototype doesn't transform so there are no doubt more of these out there (I hope) in different modes, made specifically to be displayed IN those modes. That could explain the differences between the three modes pictured in catalogs in early 1985. Utterly breathtaking, and probably the find of the decade so far.

So where does that leave us in summing up the worth of this E-Hobby reissue? Well, how many of us can boast access to the original prototype grey Astrotrain? Not very many I can assure you, so we all have to be content with the superb reissue, even if there are many noticeable differences just in colour from the original. It is however the only anime-correct Astrotrain ever released for our purchase so it will have to do, and it does. Emphatically. Yes it's rare, yes it's tremendously over-priced on the second-hand market, but for now there's no other way to acquire this piece in these colours without breaking the bank unless you get really lucky. Any fan of the Astrotrain mould will love it as I do.

In fact, I'd go so far as to not even call this thing "Anime" Astrotrain or "Proto" Astrotrain. Instead I will call it what it really is and what it should have been, simply, "Astrotrain".

Many kind thanks to Paul Hitchens for his catalog scan of the 1985 MB dealer's catalog, and to Ras who has provided pictures of the stunning and extraordinarily significant original prototype hardcopy grey Astrotrain. The value of both contributions makes the article much more interesting and relevant than it otherwise would have been.