Alright, we admit it!  We're Transformers collecting nerds!  Most of us are grown adults, who you might otherwise think are actually just "normal" people. Guess again!  Since the very first time we saw them as young children in a "Hills" store near West Seneca, New York in 1984, we have been Transformers fans-for-life!  We have many fond memories growing-up with these robots in disguise, even though some of us were too young to remember the early years.  Jason, for example, gnawed on his first Transformer (Skywarp) to help the last of his second year molars come in!   You should see that mangled rubber nose-cone now!  It looks like a brunt out match stick!  Today, we're loving life and continue this "hobby" for the sheer fun and camaraderie of it all!

We started unicron.com on October 7, 1997 back when we were trying to figure out what the internet was! Originally, the site was created to show off Jason's toy alterations, but it quickly evolved into much more.  We were amazed to learn about how many other Transformers fans there are across the world; young and old, some even nuttier than us! What fun!

Today, we maintain this site to help spread our enjoyment of the mythology and collecting.  To this end, we provide a forum for fans to express their opinions through  toy reviews, help one another find the newest toys when they become available and keep fans informed of the latest news.  We also provide year, by year, by year... checklists, for fans (like us) who still are out there trying to, "collect them all!"  (Good luck with that!)

I think the internet has a lot to do with why Transformers fans and collectors are among the most passionate of any fan base, of any property.  We have a lot of fun being a part of the community and that's what it's all about!

Although our interest in Star Wars is quite cursory, we do subscribe to Rebelscum's 
"Collect to Collect, Code of Honor."

That's (2 of the 3 of) us, at the Hasbro factory Tour, Botcon 2007.

Through the years we have had a chance to meet Peter Cullen (G1/Movie, Optimus Prime), Michael Bay (Movie Director) and Brian Goldner (Hasbro CEO and film's Executive Producer), we've been interviewed by Toy Collector Magazine and on BBC radio affiliate in Ecuador, we've met the makers of Transformers toys, cartoons, comics and video games...  Who ever would have guessed that a simple web site could evolve into all this?!

Click either of the picture/links below to hear our interview on BBC World Radio (warning, it's partially in Spanish!) or the well written article on Transformers collecting from Toy Collector Magazine, June 2007, we are quoted at various points of the article starting on page. 47.

So who are we?  We thought a round of "20 questions" might provide some perspective, starting with the Lukis Bros. then moving on to other site administrators, the "Friends of Unicron(.com").

Screen Name: Jason
e-mail: obsidian@unicron.com  
Unicron.com contributor since: 
the beginning of time, I started Unicron.com!
Year of Birth: 1981 
Primary Residence: California, USA
First Transformer Ever bought: Skywarp/Sunstreaker (same purchase)
First series ever paid attention to: G1 (fan of all)

Favorite TF Cartoon: Beast Machines
Favorite Comic: 
Armada, and the unfinished 3rd War Within.
Least favorite TF persona/toy: 
Nightscream/Beast Wars Injector

Top 5 Favorite Toys of all time:
1.) Energon Hotshot
2.) Armada Megatron
3.) Masterpiece Optimus Prime
4.) Movie Bonecrusher
5.) R.I.D. (Car Robots) Combiner Train Team

Most rare TF collectible I own: Transformers Victory Overlord (found in a crowded shop window on a old toy store on an Island in Greece!

Lightning round! 
Coke or Pepsi:? Coke (of the Cherry variety!)

Mikela, Black Arachnia, Maggie or Arcee? 
Mikela (I prefer females to be human.)

Miller Time, Merlot Time, 2% milk time?
Tea time

Night owl or early bird? 
Night owl, but the times, they are a changin'!

Others will be surprised to know that:
I am an avid inline-skating, computer-nerd turned seminarian, guitar playing wilderness enthusiast, supporter of inter-religious dialog and can sing like Kermit the Frog.

Screen Name: Brian
e-mail:  stampy@unicron.com 
Unicron.com contributor since: 
Jason is lying.  I started Unicron.com!
Year of Birth: 1978
Primary Residence: Minnesota, USA
First Transformer Ever bought: Thundercracker/Trailbreaker (same purchase)
First series ever paid attention to: G1

Favorite TF Cartoon/Comic: Depends which one I'm watching/reading
Least favorite toy: Cybertron Demolisher

Top 5 Favorite Toys of all time:
1.) Beast Wars Ultra Optimus Primal
2.) G1 Wheeljack
3.) Cybertron Armorhide
4.) Classics Astrotrain
5.) Beast Wars Neo Stampy

Most rare TF collectible I own: What I lack in rarety, I make up in quantity!

Lightning round! 
Coke or Pepsi? Coke, all the way

Mikela, Black Arachnia, Maggie or Arcee: Nightbird

Miller Time, Merlot Time, 2% milk time?
Have to go with the most ultimate beverage, The Ultimate Meal(jTM).  It's gross, but good for you!  

Night owl or early bird?  night owl

Others will be surprised to know that: 
I collect Transformers.  Oh, wait.  That answer works everywhere but here!

Screen Name: Perceptor
e-mail:  Perceptor@unicron.com 
Unicron.com contributor since:
They're both lying.  I started Unicron.com!
Year of Birth: 1972
Primary Residence: Minnesota, USA
First Transformer Ever bought: Starscream/Sideswipe (same purchase)
First series ever paid attention to: G1

Favorite TF Cartoon: Beast Wars
Favorite TF Comic: Armada
Least favorite perrsona/toy: Kicker/RID Bruticus

Top 5 Favorite Toys of all time:
1.) Movie Leader Class Optimus Prime
2.) Armada Unicron
3.) Cybertron Primus
4.) Magnaboss (BW combiner)
5.) G1 Sideswipe

Most rare TF collectible I own: 2007 Movie poster autographed by Peter Cullen, Mark Ryan (Bumblebee) Michael Bay, Brian Goldner, Activision (video game) Team.  (Not knock-off) Constructicon gift set in Greek letter packaging (found in Greece)!

Lightning round! 
Coke or Pepsi? Coke, high-octane Vanilla

Mikela, Black Arachnia, Maggie or Arcee: Blackarachnia? (You ever seen Venus Terzo?!)

Miller Time, Merlot Time, 2% milk time?
Merlot time!

Night owl or early bird? Night owl

Others will be surprised to know that: 
I went to my first Botcon (1996) while my then fiancee (now-wife) had her bachelorette party and supposedly told her, "eh, don't worry, I probably won't go again!

 


( l i s t e d  i n   o r d e r   t h e y   j o i n e d )

Are you interested in being a contributing site administrator, "Friend of Unicron(.com)?  Please start by submitting news tip(s) (with news!) and include your e-mail so we can contact you if we're interested.  Here's what we're looking for:
-- upbeat, good writers (not a lot of grammatical/spelling errors) 
-- contributor to any of several relevant TF message boards who comes across TF news. 
-- or ebay auction searchers willing to spread the word about cool items being sold.
-- or comics guru who desires help us keep the fandom aware of what's going on in TF comics...
-- or other Transformers relevant contributions we haven't thought of 

Screen Name: Aaron Thomas
e-mail:  j
Unicron.com contributor since: 1999
Year of Birth: 1982
Primary Residence: India
First Transformer Ever bought: G1 Sunstreaker
First series ever paid attention to: G1

Favorite TF Cartoon: G1
Favorite TF Comic: War Within, 1st series
Least favorite perrsona/toy: Minicons

Top 5 Favorite Toys of all time:
1.) G1 Sunstreaker
2.) Movie Leader Prime
3.) Cybertron Primus
4.) Beast Wars Transmetal 2 Megatron
5.) Beast Machines Blackarachnia

Most rare TF collectible I own: 20th Anniversary Optimus Prime and Megatron, (rare for way over here in India!)

Lightning round! 
Coke or Pepsi? Pepsi

Mikela, Black Arachnia, Maggie or Arcee: Arcee!

Miller Time, Merlot Time, 2% milk time?
Mountain Dew time!

Night owl or early bird? night owl

Others will be surprised to know that: 
I have worked on a CG (computer generated animation) project with Mainframe Entertainment, the guys who did Beast Wars.

Screen Name: Byrerprime
e-mail:
Unicron.com contributor since: 2004
Year of Birth: 1971
Primary Residence: New Jersey, USA
First Transformer Ever bought: Air Raid
First series ever paid attention to: G1

Favorite TF Cartoon: G1 Season 3
Least favorite toy/persona: Any toy that transforms in less than 3 steps

Top 5 Favorite Toys of all time:
1.) G1 Air Raid - (always love your first!)
2.) G1 Sideswipe, my first non-combiner
3.) Energon Landmine -love the complexity
4.) Masterpiece Optimus Prime
5.) Alternators Mirage 

Most rare TF collectible I own: BW 2 Lio Convoy

Lightning round! 
Coke or Pepsi? Neither, I hate dark sodas

Mikela, Black Arachnia, Maggie or Arcee: Mikela

Miller Time, Merlot Time, 2% milk time?
Dew Time again! :)

Night owl or early bird? Early Bird

Others will be surprised to know that:
At one time, I liked GI Joe better than Transformers ('87-1990).  I repaired helicpoters and avionics in the National Guard (1989-1995 notice the overlap with them preceding item).  I once carved a 10 inch long carousel horse for my wife's christmas present -and it looks good too!  I actually like G1 season 4, Beast Machines and the IDW Universe, but not better than others. 

Screen Name: TriPredRavage
e-mail:
Unicron.com contributor since: 2005
Year of Birth: 1988
Primary Residence: Connecticut, USA
First Transformer Ever bought: G2 Terradive
First series ever paid attention to:  I watched G1 reruns when I was little, but I was too young to actually follow it.  Beast Wars was the first I had ever completely followed.

Favorite TF Cartoon: Beast Wars
Least Favorite TF persona/toy: Nightscream

Top 5 Favorite Toys of all time:
1.) Beast Wars Transmetal Ravage (BW Metals Jaguar)
2.) Universe Nemesis Prime
3.) Beast Machines Magmatron
4.) Beast Wars Snapper
5.) Classics Leo Prime 

Most rare TF collectible I own: Transmetal Ravage (Metals Jaguar) or BW2 Lio Convoy

Lightning round! 
Coke or Pepsi? Coke

Mikela, Black Arachnia, Maggie or Arcee: Blackarachnia 

Miller Time, Merlot Time, 2% milk time or Mountain Dew time? Mountain Dew 

Night owl or early bird? Both, I'm a morning person who stays up WAY too late!

Others will be surprised to know that: 
I actually do not have a sense of smell!

Screen Name: Knightwing
e-mail:
Unicron.com contributor since: 2006
Year of Birth: 1974
Primary Residence: Minnesota, USA
First Transformer Ever bought: 
No idea!  I sold all of my childhood transformers at grage sales when I was about 14.  I started re-collecting in winter of 2002/2003.  The first Transformer I bought at that time was the Super Class Optimus Prime
First series ever paid attention to: G1.  I turned 10 during it's first season on the air.

Favorite TF Cartoon: I would love to say G1 because of it getting the ball rolling, but I can't.  When looked at objectively it just isn't the best series ever.  It also isn't the worst that would be RID.  The best series in my opnion is Beast Wars, especially seasons 2 & 3. 

Least favorite toy/persona: Wheelie's an easy one to dislike, because he was utterly annoying.  But, I liked all of the human sidekicks even less (exept Kicker), mostly because they didn't even do anything related to the story.  But, my least favorite persona is the Cybertron Soundwave.  It's not that he was that bad a charactor.  It's that it was such a slap in the face to his G1 self, and agian his presense was completly unnecessary to the story line.

Top 5 Favorite Toys of all time:
1.) Leader Class Movie Optimus Prime
2.) Masterpiece Optimus Prime
3.) Classics Mirage
4.) Masterpiece Megatron
5.) T.H.S.-2 Optimus Prime 

Most rare TF collectible I own: Botcon '06 Dawn of Future's Past Megatron (alomst made the top 5 favorite toys)

Lightning round! 
Coke or Pepsi? Coke

Mikela, Black Arachnia, Maggie or Arcee: Maggie 

Miller Time, Merlot Time, 2% milk time?
Coffee Time! Starbucks White Mocca!

Night owl or early bird? Early Bird

Others will be surprised to know that: 
Like other fans, I collect because I love the shows and toys.  I wouldn't spend money on 'm if I didn't.  Another reason, is when I was a child I had real medical problems.  The kind that ultimately required me to be on one medication or another from ages 3-14.  The constant doses of meds had the net result of nearly wiping out my childhood memory.  Among the few things I can remember from, "when I was a kid" are Transformers. So when I found Armada on Cartoon Network, I fell right back into it.  And while I now do to some degree remember things, I will never remember them the way most people do.  Having children of my own has done more to bring back my memories than anything else ever did.

Screen Name: Blasten Blaster
e-mail: Blastenblaster@hotmail.com 
Unicron.com contributor since: 2006
Year of Birth: 1990
Primary Residence: Washington, USA
First Transformer Ever bought: BW Depth Charge
First series ever paid attention to: Generation 1

Favorite TF Cartoon: 2007 Movie
Least favorite perrsona/toy: Fortress Maximus (because I don't have'm yet!)

Top 5 Favorite Toys of all time:
1.) 2007 Movie Blackout
2.) Movie Optimus Prime
3.) Cybertron Downshift
4.) G1 Astrotrain
5.) Cybertron Wingsaber & Jetfire (tie!)

Most rare TF collectible I own: Train Bots (a.k.a.) Raiden

Lightning round! 
Coke or Pepsi? Coke

Mikela, Black Arachnia, Maggie or Arcee: Mikela

Miller Time, Merlot Time, 2% milk time? Mountain Dew time!

Night owl or early bird? both, I hate to sleep!

Others will be surprised to know that: 
Has been beaten up once for defending the good name of Transformers and loves playing on X-Box Live.

Screen Name: Human Error
e-mail:
Unicron.com contributor since: 2007
Year of Birth: 1982
Primary Residence: New Jersey, USA
First Transformer Ever bought: G1 Megatron
First series ever paid attention to: G1

Favorite TF Cartoon: G1
Favorite TF Comic: War Within, 1st series
Least favorite persona/toy: Grimlock/Wheelie

Top 5 Favorite Toys of all time:
1.) Masterpiece Optimus Prime
2.) Armada Unicron
3.) Music Label Spark Blue Soundwave
4.) G1 Soundwave
5.) G1 Devastator

Most rare TF collectible I own: Powermaster Optimus Prime

Lightning round! 
Coke or Pepsi? Coke

Mikela, Black Arachnia, Maggie or Arcee:
Mikela 

Miller Time, Merlot Time, 2% milk time?
Milk, it does a body good!

Night owl or early bird?  Night Owl

Others will be surprised to know that: 
I had a job as Bugs Bunny for a major theme park chain for six years.

Screen Name: Sabrblade
e-mail: sabrblade@yahoo.com 
Unicron.com contributor since: 2007
 Year of Birth: 1990
Primary Residence: Florida, USA

First Transformer Ever bought: Not sure the first I bought, but I remember the first I ever owned was a small gray & green robot that turned into "half a car."  Years later I discovered it was the G1 Pretender "innards" of Longtooth, minus all his accessories (including the back half of his car mode!)  Amazing what you can learn on the internet!

First series ever paid attention to: Beast Wars!
Favorite TF Cartoon: Beast Wars, (but "Animated" is catching up!
Favorite Comic: Don't really have one.
Least favorite TF persona/toy: 
Cerebros from Rebirth/any that lack pose-ability!

Top 5 Favorite Toys of all time:
1.) TRU 10th Anniversary Optimus Primal (the 1 packed w/ Megatron)
2.) Takara Music Label Soundwave
3.) Armada Unicron
4.) 20th Anniversary Optimus Prime
5.) RID Megatron/Galvatron (This thing has 10+ modes!) 

Most rare TF collectible I own: 1989 Autobot Pretender Longtooth (minus every accessory!)

Lightning round! 
Coke or Pepsi:? Orange/Strawberry Soda!

Mikela, Black Arachnia, Maggie or Arcee? 
Minerva from "Masterforce!"

Miller Time, Merlot Time, 2% milk time?
Gatoraid!

Night owl or early bird? 
Varies greatly!

Others will be surprised to know that:
Aside from Transformers, I'm one of the biggest Digimon fans out there. Ever since the first episode of the English dub aired way back in third grade. I've never stopped liking it, and I especially like the new series, Savers/Data Squad, best of all. I've seen every episode of each series (253 total) and all 9 movies, most dubbed, some subbed. To me, it's one of those franchises that's *almost* as awesome as Transformers.

 

So that's us!  The Lukis Bros. and other site administrators, the Friends of Unicron(.com).  Before we sign off, we thought we'd share a few photos of our collection.  Click the photos or text links below for higher rez images.

In our opinion there are 3 keys to a good "set-up":
1.) glass doors to keep dust out.
2.) Bright lights!
3.) Some measure of UV protection (especially if using fluorescent lights) so the plastic isn't damaged.

view from the right, straight on
view from the left2
top half, "close-up"
bottom half, "close-up"

Thanks for visiting unicron.com.  We're glad you found us and hope you enjoy your stay!  

All the best,

-Lukis Bros. and Friends