Transformers Vintage Japanese Headmaster heads…and SHUFFLER FINALLY!

Mid last year, i managed to acquire these Japanese Headmasters through my good friend.

But there were only 5 MIB headmasters missing the rare shuffler.

Price-wise for Shuffler, it is sometimes said that the price of shuffler can exceed the price of the other 5 headmasters combined!

Nevertheless, here they are…in MIB goodness.

Lione…i've done a review and comparison to the KO Lione. (Here)

The lion transforms into...

quite a nice face/head…i think Lione is the most good looking of the lot.

Toraizer

 Kirk

 Rodney

 Loafer

For the next few months to close to a year, i have been trying to find Shuffler. Going through TF groups and ebay, Yahoo Japan….and another important factor is that there are the KOs out there, which makes the search even more difficult. Found a couple of MIB Shufflers on YHJ but the prices are just crazy! went way about how much i paid for the 5 MIB heads. Just can't bring myself to throw big numbers for much a small figure. (But it would be different if they are the White Japanese Headamster heads, which are even more difficult to find)

Guess my patience eventfully paid off and i managed to find a loose piece. and at a really good price. The next thing is its authenticity…pretty straight forward for these heads, stamping = original; no stamping = KO.

So, now…..The Elusive SHUFFLER!!!

Another happy day for a collector….

Headmaster Head: Lione comparison with knockoff Lione

And i recently managed to get my hands on the headmaster heads….

Afterwhich, i went to get myself a knockoff Lione…reason being i want to see for myself the differences between the KO and the real deal.

and here are the comparison pictures…

Original is the top piece…the view from the right shows not much of a difference…frightening similarities...

From this side, the KO piece showed through the inferior pins...

Front view does not show any significant differences...

Nor does the headmaster face view…but fortunately there are no takara stamping on the KO...

Head mode views are similar...

Closeup of the headmaster face…here you can see the original on the left has a Takara 87 stamping right below the chin whereas the KO does not…solely based on this, one can differentiate.

Some other differences, the KO has an additional flash point whereas the original does not.

I don't really know how many versions of KO are there, so i can't confirm if all the KO does not come with the takara stamping. but if some of them do, then it would be very difficult to tell them apart. Unlike other bigger sized KOs, these headmasters heads have very little differences, even the details, lines, edges are terrifying similar. Just by looking at a KO piece, it is very very difficult to tell.

My suggestion for all those who intend to get these headmasters heads is to get them from a reliable source, try not to get them loose (not foolproof as the KO can be put into a box as decoy) and do a lot of homework before getting them especially off ebay.

My experience, didn't do enough homework and was too lazy to check when getting a set of Vintage Insecticons…a couple of weeks later, after i have the time, i took out the toys and realized that the bubbles were all KO and the toys after checking…seemed KO too…fortunately the seller refunded me after i went through all the evidence with him…it's good luck on my part but i learnt a lesson as well..