Like with Soundblaster, I bought Twincast for the two new Recordicons he comes with.  Neither were previously as high up on my want list as Enemy, but mostly because neither of these guys I didn't expect to ever be made.

Take Nightstalker, for example.  He originates from the Marvel UK text story "State Games."  He was a peer of Ravage's before the war, another black cat.  Well, sort of.  We think Nightstalker may have been based on a Marvel UK character submission.  There was this wolf-like tape beast vaguely modeled after Ravage called "Night Stalker," submitted by a little kid named Jason Yeo.  (That kid is probably 35 now.)  But a Ravage clone named Nightstalker showed up in a text story later, so there may be some connection.

Despite the incredible obscurity of the character, the problem with making a toy of Nightstalker is he's a black cat Recordicon.  Ravage already exists.  But TakaraTomy got around this by redecoing another Recordicon feline, Steeljaw the lion, in Ravage colors and giving him Ravage's weapons.  Well played, Japan!  Well played!

Of course, an added almost-benefit of Nightstalker is that he's not far from Shattered Glass Steeljaw.  SG Steeljaw is Steeljaw in Voltron Black Lion colors, and so while Nightstalker has the black coloring down, he's missing a whoooooole lotta deco, not to mention the red wings.  On the moments I decide my SG Ravage needs his bestest friend, my Nightstalker will be borrowing my Steeljaw wings.  They're gold and not red, but oh wells.  (For some reasons Stripes' wings don't fit?)

Speaking of Stripes, he's the other new tape dude!  And oh what a dude he is.  What a fantastic world we live in, where a bright orange Ravage is something I can own.  But who is Stripes?  What dark corner of the Transformers mythos is he from?  ...the darkest.  By far the darkest.  He is perhaps the most obscure Transformers character ever made into plastic.

Previously, he only existed in an early draft of The Transformers: The Movie.  Originally, Blaster had a whole different set of Recordicons.  Instead of popping Eject, Rewind, Ramhorn, and Steeljaw out of his chest, there were these other guys.  Stripes was one of them, and he was a tiger.  And so Stripes, until now, never technically existed.  He's from an abandoned draft of the 1986 Animated movie rescued from a trash bin.  That is how obscure he is.

Seriously.  Try to find a more obscure character.  TakaraTomy already has it beat.  Stripes is it.  You can't do it.  Any other character you can think of actually existed, thus is by default less obscure.

And, as previously established, he's amazing.  He's a bright orange Ravage with Steeljaw's wings.  He's an orange Ravage WHO CAN FLY.

Best Recordicon ever.

Within the past couple days, TakaraTomy, the folks who do Transformers over in Japan, have been doing crazy, crazy things.  Crazy things that I love.  Let me list you toys that we are getting early next year:

Enemy

"Enemy" was what some Hasbro licensee called their Rumble's-head-shaped electronic voice changer back in the 80s.  It was red,  unlike Rumble or Frenzy, which was also the color of Rumble/Frenzy's toy back in pre-Transformers Microchange.  We are getting that toy in red as Enemy.

Wingthing

Wingthing was Soundwave's Action Master partner.  He transformed from a bat to a gun.  Now he's going to be a redeco of Ratbat, just like Animated Wingthing was.

Nightstalker

Nightstalker was a Micro-Cassette kitty similar to Ravage that featured only in a Marvel UK text story.  He was likely based on a contest design that a British kid submitted to the magazine.  He is now going to be a redeco of Steeljaw in Ravage colors.

Wipe-Out

Wipe-Out was Trypticon's little sycophantic buddy in one issue of the American Marvel comics.  Until now, he was a toyless character, visually based on Tailgate's toy.  He's going to be a redeco of Windcharger, who in G1 shared some tooling with Tailgate.

Stripes

Stripes was a Mini-Cassette of Blaster's that was only mentioned in an early draft of The Transformers: The Movie.  He's going to be a redeco of Ravage as a tiger.  This is absolutely as obscure as one can get, even counting the UK text story cat and the guy who was just a head.

Seriously, you guys.  Whatever it is TakaraTomy's smoking over there, I want them to keep at it.  I'm rapidly running out of hypothetical Transformers holy grails.  I really think Stripes is absolutely untoppable when it comes to obscurity.  I mean, to get more obscure than him you'd have to start referencing Transformers fanfiction.

Pardon me, geekspasming out over here.