I’m 46 years old and had no idea this existed.

@Keverything99

23 күн бұрын

46 here and same

@bobdobalina8910

23 күн бұрын

#me2

@zevadprime

23 күн бұрын

45 year old here. Never heard of this either.

@steko9465

23 күн бұрын

I'm 51 so that makes me 5 years more ignorant.😅

@jasondwilliams972

23 күн бұрын

I am always fascinated by folks histories & experiences. I am 48, grew up in Texas, & spent my summers in Northeastern Alabama w/my grandparents. There were ZERO toys in any of the stores between the four little towns that my papaw did business. But the crazy thing? I found this Autobot base at one of those stores, & he got it for me. I still have it. The only other “scores” were a few random G.I. Joe Gear Packs, & the Gay Toys Army helicopter (y’all know which one)… But yeah; in all the places that this rarity would/could be found, was in a hillbilly country store in backwoods Alabama…

The "Activity Center" is where you drop off your Transformers when you go to work.

At least with the ones that originated in Diaclone, the figures WERE the playsets, as they included 1-inch pilots meant to drive them in both vehicle mode and robot mode. Omitting the pilots leaves vestigial features all over those figures, especially Prime's trailer.

@troubledturtle2332

23 күн бұрын

Ironhide is the biggest offender in my opinion since he turns into a battle station thing .

@KasumiKenshirou

23 күн бұрын

And with Microman / Microchange, your house was a playset, in a way. The mythology was that the toys were 1:1 scale and that they were beings hiding in your room and disguised as ordinary objects a child would have in their room like a microcassette recorder, microscope, or a toy Walther P-38 handgun.

@giantbonsai8950

22 күн бұрын

My Prime trailer always felt achingly empty without anyone to use the seats and vehicle. It's a great shame that the Diaclone drivers weren't included. They could have been the humans from the show.

@huwjennings2695

21 күн бұрын

You could substitute the pilots from the old ZOIDS toys.

@darkroom0716

20 күн бұрын

Even as a kid I noticed something weird was missing with my Transformers. Parts that looked like they had a purpose yet I couldn't discern what

I've been a Transformers fan and collector from day one. This is the first time I've heard of this thing.

@cyberius7042

16 күн бұрын

Same. When I saw the video thumbnail, I thought it was going to be about that small "command center" diorama.

"Three Optimi high"...that made me literally laugh out loud! Good one!

@nobodyuknow4911

23 күн бұрын

ANYTHING to not use the metric system! ^_^

@billrules8716

23 күн бұрын

@@nobodyuknow4911 Cybertronian system is the best measurement system to use.

@brandellswanson

19 күн бұрын

@@billrules8716 What about 3 Primes high? Sounds better 😏

Even in Japan they had playsets for robot toylines and tv shows. Bandai had multiple playsets based on the hangar bases for their robot toys in the 70s/80s. Why Takara didnt do this for TF or even Hasbro is such a letdown

@hthrun

23 күн бұрын

Gobots also had bases. I had the Guardian command center when I was young...

@KasumiKenshirou

23 күн бұрын

Beast Wars had some playsets (although Michael might not agree with the term). There was a killer whale and (I think) a spider that turned into bases, and came with little metal figurines of some of the characters. Like the subject of this video, I think these were made by a third party rather than Hasbro themselves. And Takara had one for Beast Wars II that had a working waterfall. But, again, way too small for the actual figures so smaller figurines are included.

@Newsystuffs

23 күн бұрын

@@KasumiKenshirou Actually Hasbro did make those sets, they were just under Galoob (which they bought out by that point); The same division who gave us the Titanium subline in the mid 2000s

@dubuyajay9964

21 күн бұрын

Link to a vid of them plz?

whatever you do...DON'T reenact the first time the Dinobots went online with that playset

Funny enough, cause we had many vhs tapes, those served as my Transformers playset. I could stack them in a way like a deck of cards. Flat at the front with sides and stacked as a lid with the back exposed and layered on top of each other. So I had like six empty rooms in the back to place figures with a flat wall in front. Did the job.

The 1986 catalogue directly mentions Metroplex as a "city playset" also all the photos of Metroplex and Trypticon have other cars placed onto them so they were supposed to be used as playsets for your trasformers - just some would not fit onto them, but many would. If you are going to talk about playsets for transformer you gotta mention the 1989 Micromaster series and their multiple stations, transprts, command centres and bases. Those were playsets that fit the micromaster transformers and adhered to the transformers theme of transformations - since these were stations hiding as regular gas stations, restaurants or workstations and transforming into battle stations - those were playsets as you could fit multiple micromasters into them and you could combine several playsets and form a micro "city" for your micromasters. I had the decepticon greaspit and it was quite fun, but I sure wish I had more. I couldn't afford many of the bigger transformers but even I could affort a set of 4 micromasters and 1 hidden stations to play.

@kba702

23 күн бұрын

The only figures Metroplex and Trypticon work with are the Combiners and the Autobot mini-cars. The rest of the line is too big. And Trypticon is essentially just a big ramp, having sacrificed any potential play features for the battery-powered walking gimmick.

@detpackman

23 күн бұрын

@@kba702 yeah just because some of the bigger figures couldn't interact with them doesn't make them "not playsets " there are things in other toy lines that wouldn't always fit in there playsets but those are seen as "playsets" for that line . Transformers main issue is there scale is all over the place due to how hasbro put together the line in the first place with this mix of toys from this JP lines . so while metroplex and the others scale well with the micro car line they didnt pair well with the larger figures

@MikeAshkewe

23 күн бұрын

@@mateuszkwietowicz2470 some of the micromaster sets looked cool but weren’t my thing. I seem to recall a commercial where they had all the micromasters in a playset like formation and combined

@mateuszkwietowicz2470

23 күн бұрын

@@kba702 some people seem to forget these were toys designed for children to play with... and children have different toys... would it be so impossible to see a kid playing with his metroplex, fortres maximus, trypticon or scorponok and his micro machines, hot wheels or lego? I sure can.... if it can be played with with other toys on it - it's a playset. Also, most playsets were too small to actually play with other toys - they were usually a display piece and a "home base" for your figures to stand in - all the while the "battlefield" would be your rug, or your local sandbox....

I loved learning about this playset. Much like you, my foray into Transformers with short lived, and I always wanted a playset/base for my Autobots. Ah, when toy companies built playsets (even small companies that made them out of cardboard) and didn't need to crowdfund them.

I had this playset in the 80s . All cardboard . We got it from Dollar General in Maryland for 15.00💯💯💯💯💯💯

Transformers fandom needs to pick a lane”….by that logic Scarlett is a play set.😂😂😂😂

@mrsamaritan6881

23 күн бұрын

Well, the logic is not wrong...

@chrisvainio

23 күн бұрын

I was doing chores and that line brought me back to the video😅

@beepster991

23 күн бұрын

With that logic, Baroness should include a whip, dungeon and own "1-976" number..

ive always loved this playset but have never seen anyone review it. So happy you got one to review.

The City Bots can be both and there's... no issue? I don't see the problem with saying they can be both playsets and bots themselves, that's the lines whole gimmick. As for scale, sure, some of the bigger carbots and up don't scale, but the mini bots and especially the Scramble City bots that were made to interact with Metroplex and Trypticon certainly do, and Transformers IN G1 would go on to do an entire line of playsets.

@retroblasting

22 күн бұрын

Whatever

@MikeAshkewe

20 күн бұрын

As cool as some of the mini bots & micro masters were, it’s not as cool as an in scale play set. Even the new Titans don’t totally do either ( maybe Metroplex & Fort Max with some of the new guys, Brunt / Slammer / Sixgun come to mind) Wonder how big a play set would have to be in good scale for deluxes / voyagers for Seige going forward. Just wondering

@danceswithcomicbooks7733

4 күн бұрын

​​@@retroblastingI agree with aviator. You're wrong.

I love the combination of positive and negative videos on this channel. Hearing Michael sincerely talk about something he appreciates is just as fun as seeing him rip a product a new one.

I received this play set as a kid. Thank you for bringing back some memories.

I used to collect transformers but never heard of this playset. Activity center always makes me think about a small kids coloring set with crayons, colored pencils, stickers and stamps.

I missed out on these cardboard playsets. I remember seeing the STARS and Warren Playsets, I never got them. Still, as a cardboard hobby enthusiast, I LOVE THESE! I really enjoyed this video. FANTASTIC WORK!

Oh man I remember this clearly years ago! At my Kmart! I wanted it so bad but my parents said no! So I made my own with cardboard and construction paper. Mine was a terrible parody of the factory printed and die cut pieces! Nice to see it again!

Should be golden color like the Ark.

@retroblasting

23 күн бұрын

What part of "This isn't a recreation of the Ark" did you miss? Get your brain checked.

@danceswithcomicbooks7733

4 күн бұрын

​​@@retroblastingsort of like your brain couldn't understand that the indy costume would change over 40 years and it would not look the same on a 78 year old man as I looked on a 38 year old man. I think your brain has been due for a check up for a about 12 years now. 😂

My brother and i actually owned this playset back then. And yes it was a fragile cardboard structure. Carelessness eventually led to it's demise when the moments of "cheap crap has another tear" was more often than "just use imagination". Really cool to see it again in this video after all these years. Thank you.

I literally just found out about this at BotCon last week when I saw someone selling one. I was tempted to pick it up but ultimately passed. Now thanks to Michael I'm realizing I kind of need it.

@treebotreviews

23 күн бұрын

DUDE SAME!!!!

As an avid and lifelong G1 collector, I've always wanted Hasbro to give us a playset for our Transformers. I used to imagine a Giant Unicron head as being a playset as an idea. I was never really into cardboard playsets. To me, a real playset is made of plastic and it's far more sturdy and durable than cardboard..

The logic of the city bots not being playsets just because some larger figures were too big for them is really strained. By that logic Most GI Joe bases failed because they couldn't accommodate all the vehicles. Optimus's trailer was technically a playset. I had an original Scorpinok and while it wasn't the most impressive base ever, it certainly had more play features than this thing.

@retroblasting

23 күн бұрын

Sorry you strained yourself.

@rorylumley4727

19 күн бұрын

i would argue fortress maximus acts as a playset for minibots and some other smaller figures. The other city bots might be streaching that.

I forgot about this because I never gave it much credit in the first place. I lumped it in with the non-Hasbro electric racetracks and and microphones. The STARS set seems so junky now, but I sure wanted it back then, because it was official. I still want a STARS shoulder patch, even now. And I also consider the goofy electric racecars legit too, just to make the G1 robot roster even bigger in my mind. My little brothers and I just built a fort in the living room and imagined it was the Ark. A lot of the fun was in the custom construction process anyway. Now they have made an actual Ark spaceship, admittedly at a very small scale, but they had to go and turn it into a transforming robot, too.

2:25 they could though,as could other figures from the minibot/combiner limb/throttlebot range,and they are playsets in there own right. Takara expanded on this in "car robots 2000" by giving there repaint of fort max a playmat

@retroblasting

22 күн бұрын

If it isn't compatible with the "Optimus Prime" scale vehicles, it's worthless. [Slow wanking motion with hand]

I have no memory of this. It looks more like something from GI Joe than Transformers. I feel this was repurposed from another toy line.

@retroblasting

23 күн бұрын

Your feelings are not facts. The autobot symbol is clearly designed on it.

This is pretty amazing! I had never heard of any of these before this, thanks for sharing!

i will always be there qwhen retroblasting posts transformers content

Interesting. I'll be honest, oddly, I didn't know there were toys until the 90s even though I saw the tv show in the 80s. Lol.

@retroblasting

22 күн бұрын

What was it like being raised by wolves?

Michael in Soundwave's voice: "Rumble, Frenzy, Laserbeak . . . eject. Operation: Playset Track Down." Very nice work, Michael. You always do really in-depth research for your videos--I very much appreciate it!

I was listening to the livestream which you and the others were talking about this. Thanks for making a video about it!

I didn’t have a lot of Transformers, but I did have this set and it got a ton of use - from the few TFs I did have, to the GI Joes I was more focused on primarily, to even my Matchbox/Hot Wheels/Stompers. I loved it, and despite the limited durability of the cardboard construction, I made it last throughout my childhood

I 1000% never heard of this. Sure, never knowing this existed as a kid makes sense because you’re barely coherent in life. But I’ve never come across this being a thing as an adult collector either.

@retroblasting

23 күн бұрын

Funny.... I must have been above average coherent.

Thanks, Michael. I never knew this thing existed. Entertaining and educational as always. 👍

Thank you for doing this video. I had this set as a kid, and it was so great. Haven't thought of it in many years until now.

Hasbro's attempt to give Transformers a playset is probably with the legends and then core class figures.

Excellent video! Never knew of this. I love learning about obscure, forgotten 80’s toys.

You're completely wrong, but I still enjoyed the video. Both Metroplex and Trypticon are playsets (scramble City line). And of Course Fortress Maximus is a huge playset for both minibots and most of the gimmick bot releases... Ah, and good joke about poseability of toys in the eighties (excepting GI Joe, most were bricks) Good to know about this rarity. :)

@timothyward8695

21 күн бұрын

"My name is Optimus Prime. I am leader of the Autobots. This is Metroplex, it is both a city and our headquarters. No, I can't fit in or on it, but I assure you these short little guys can, so that makes it our home."

When it came to building my own Autobot base I used my extra millennium falcon, and a couple of suitcases to make look like a mountain and took part of another playset That was supposed to be teletraan 1 that's how I compensated for them not making an Autobot playset

I cannot believe you put Scarlett in that position, mostly because I used to put her in that position (I was a weird kid) 🤣🤣🤣. Ok this was cool, I have only the Vaguest memory of this existing, and I remember people would tell me I was mistaken. But I also never realized it wasn't a Hasbro product. Now it all makes sense. Thank you, sir.

I remember seeing this exactly ONCE in a store. I didn't have any money at the time so I never bought it, and never saw it again until now. If my brother hadn't also been present, I wouldn't have even been sure I actually saw it.

I’ve heard about this set, but I’d quickly forget about it. Thanks for bringing attention to this set, more collectors need to know about this sets existence.

Very cool video Michael! I had never heard of that play set! It must of been hell for kids trying to keep it intact!

G1 figures were scaled for action figures, 1 inch Dianauts. Decepticons like Megatron and Soundwave were scaled for Microman action figures, the very inspiration for new GI Joe. 🤷 What you featured though? That is a for real playset and cool as hell. I wish more playsets, especially for set pieces from the show came out, like the oil rig that the Decepticons attacked where the Witwickys were introduced. A human city set would have been perfect. I cobbled stuff together as a kid from books and boxes, so the desire for playsets beyond just what the cityformers has was there. I think I started to notice third party accessories too late in the 80s (not to mention the competition - if you could only get ONE toy that might, are you going with the 3P from, like, Arco? Or are you going with the real deal? I always went with the real deal, though we a kid I wish I got the Mad Scientist toys that Arco put out to supplement the Mattel line.

Well if you argue that cityformers can't be playsets due to their size, there IS a third party Fortress Maximus that might be of interest to you regarding how ridiculously gargantuan it's going to be.

I made a playset for the Transformers as a child that was the mountain with the Ark crashed into it. Inside of it, it had control panels, a working elevator, and electric lights. It was made out of a school desk and parts of a Zenith VCR.

@originaluddite

22 күн бұрын

That's legendary.

The crowd boo'ing you was gold. I feel you're overlooked for your sense of humor. Wishing you the best!

Thank you so much for the nostalgia fix, Michael. I live in the UK and you have reminded me that I owned the Warren 3D Starscream as a kid. I had completely forgotten this item existed! Wonderful memories.

I never saw this. Looks interesting. However, I had many cardboard playsets. I made them myself. I had a cardboard USS Flag, Cobra command center (with a snake throne and a brainwave scanner) a space shuttle for GI Joe (that doubled as a Transformers ship and Klingon Bird of Prey), a Unicorn disembodied head (a feature in G1 Season 3), a swamp cabin base for Zartan, and lots of other gizmos and doohickys. A large long box on its end also substituted for the "Extensive Enterprises" tower. Oh yeah, I had probably a dozen Enterprise bridges, but I kept destroying them. Darn self destruct mechanisms and all that. Don't get me wrong, I had a lot of big toys too - the actual Joe command center, helicopters, tanks, and numerous Transformers. But the cardboard playset was usually either something I saw in a comic book, or something I couldn't wait for. I remember being so happy with my four foot long USS Flag substitute that I wasn't interested in the monster Hasbro was selling.

Fantastic video! I loved it.

@retroblasting

23 күн бұрын

Thank you!

The Jetfire hanger could also be the Dinobots chamber they would be kept in until a mission required the Autobots to reactivate them for battle:)

Awesome video, I know of this playset, but I've never got a good look at it till now. Thank you!

Good stuff as always!!

Oh wow, I had completely forgotten about this, I had one but it is long since gone, thank you for sharing this.

Retroblasting posting a new Transformers video. Never thought I'd see the day. Awesome!!

Excellent video Michael!

Wow. Thanks for teaching me something new

Great video!

Oh my gosh!!! I had this, but I had completely forgotten it. Wow! Thank you for this trip down memory lane! I remember getting mine shortly before Transformers: the Movie came out and continuing to use it through at least 1988 when I got Powermaster Optimus Prime.

Fort Max, Metroplex and other city bots were totally play sets……many smaller bots work with them, plus they were designed to interact with the Micromasters and the transforming Micromaster play sets. Including connectable ramps.

@retroblasting

21 күн бұрын

If it wasn't designed to work in scale with Optimus Prime and his original boys, it isn't a playset.

Is this playset available online for download like the old Cobra Playset? Can it be printed on card stock and laminated?

I never knew this existed! Thanks for doing this video.

I just assumed that kids would accumulate duplicates of Optimus Prime's trailer and arrange them in a grid pattern across their living room floor so they could allow the Transformers to inhabit a trailer park. I'll show myself out.

Cool! Thanks for this.

I love this channel!!!

Confirmation that a childhood fever dream was a reality. Like a Mandela effect in reverse.

I'm sure you've been asked this already, but do you have any opinions on the Missing Link Transformers, which revisit the original figures and give them modern articulation?

@retroblasting

10 күн бұрын

Too pricey for what they are

It’s good to see a retroblasting toy/playset review, feels like it’s been awhile.

@retroblasting

19 күн бұрын

Make sure you check the channel page because a lot of people miss videos because they rely on youtube "subscriptions" which are not at all reliable.

Funny enough Michael, I found out this existed at BotCon last week. Biggest mind f**k of my life finding out about it. They had it set up in a little space they had blocked off to look like a kids room in the 80s filled with TF memorabilia. This was one of them. Great video!

I didn't know this existed till I started to seriously collect Transformers. I've seen 1 boxed but never assembled. I had no idea of the size of this thing.

Very nicely done!!!

The Pedanticon faction is well represented in this channel.

@retroblasting

22 күн бұрын

Yeah, the people in the comments here are just cringe. Drew Lovely is one of the worst.

@danceswithcomicbooks7733

4 күн бұрын

​@@retroblastingdude read your comments sometimes. Lol

Metoplex is a play set to be used with scramble city/combiner teams. Originally intended for the Diaclone Jizai Gattai toyline, which consisted of Metroplex, and all the scramble city transformers. The combiner leaders actually have a third mode that connects to the playset.

Diaclone, the original Japanese Transformers had tiny 1/72 scale action figures that came with the robots and would fit inside of them in vehicle form.

@retroblasting

19 күн бұрын

yep...

Great stuff. Love the T-shirt too!

Wow! I actually first learned about this over 10 years ago from a now defunct KZread channel. At the time I thought they were talking about the mail away playset, until I saw this thing sitting next to Michael.

While I could totally see Omega Supreme not being considered a playset, I’d argue that Fortress Maximus and Metroplex are. Granted, they’re meant to work with the smaller figures like the minibots and combiner team members. Metroplex is also designed to directly interact with the combiner team members in both modes, since they were all initially designed for a subtheme of Diaclone.

I had this as a kid.I got it for Christmas.

Metroplex was meant for the smaller combiner limb characters, including ramps and launchers for those smaller cars, and Fortress Maximus is meant to interaction with the Headmaster minifigures, so they are playsets, just not for the standard Transformers figures like Optimus and Wheeljack.

I remembered getting a big playset for Christmas around 35 years ago, but i always thought it was a knockoff. You just unearthed a ton of great memories of my childhood!

I had both the STARS and the Activity Center. What a blast from the past to see it again.

I've never seen or heard about this playset. Thank you Michael for enlightening us all

You just unlocked a core memory. I saw the stairs and immediately remembered having this. Totally forgot I had it.

Props to Michael for dragging this playset out and putting it together for this video knowing you have to disassemble it in order to move it or put it away.

I actually still have mine. I played with this set a lot and the tabs you inset to put it together certainly show that. In one room i had my collection in, i had it set up with all my childhood transformers i got back in the day. Currently it sets on top of my G1 display case back in the box.

holy crap, that is a massive beast of a freaking playset. not as massive as the GI Joe aircraft carrier. I call that thing ridiculously over the top huge. it also sad that the transformers competitor. Go Bots had a decent playset but hasbro or anyone else could not find a way to make it work for transformers is pretty sad

I never expected Retroblasting would teach me something about Transformers. Great video! However... I may be in the minority in "the fandom" but I'm in absolute agreement with you that the G1 bots are not action figures, and the city bots do not count as playsets.

As a three time castle greyskull owner I endorse thise message . So muchhhh fun potential and room for imagination ...plus battle damage

I have no clue where my like and comment went from watching it the first time, but basically I said: I love it!! and now I need to get one!!

I was reading about this the other day! Very cool!

Wow, I remember having Transformers as a kid, and I don't ever recall seeing any playset for them! 😮

The moment you hold megatron in gun mode you become the play set

Great video Michael. Such a trip to see the Ark crew altogether in their homebase.

Well I'm 54 years old and I've stumbled across this before occasionally. I think I saw this back in 85 in a catalog somewhere. Maybe a JCPenney or a Sears catalog maybe even a Service Merchandise one. I think I've even seen this occasionally on eBay over the years. I think Hasbro could give this a modern update and make it more durable but change nothing else. I think I'm going to call Hasbro Monday and talk to them about this and suggest they do so.

Transformers being considered action figures really depends on the era, G1 and early G2, are very debatable, they were definitely “figures” but not in the tradional action figure sense, more modern transformers toys though are definitely action figures that just so happen to transform, with a majority having standardized articulation post 2018

Great stuff Michael. I had to laugh so hard at that cut in of Duke Scarlett and Snake Eyes! 🤣

Great coverage of an obscure but undeniably cool bit of TF history, Michael 😁👍 I vaguely recall hearing rumors about this piece swirling around the early collecting community back in the day. Its tab & slot panel construction reminds me of the not-nearly-as-obscure Super Gobot Guardian Headquarters, also by a third-party company, but made out of chipboard, IIRC. I guess the same scale issues brought about its creation as well, as Super Gobots couldn’t fit inside Thruster or the Command Center 😅

I loved this set. Could find them in the toy section of the supermarket. And they were cheap enough (only a few bucks) so that a child could likely leave the grocery store with one.

Jeez, I'd love one, even though I'm not collecting G1 that much, this playset would still fit the current Generations figures perfectly.