Gold Prime has recently listed another "lunchtime special" clear Soundwave auction on ebay, although this time it's in clear G1 colours (so clear and blue).

The clear Lunchime figures were pretty popular, but highly controversial, a few years back - we own several of them, although more recent enquiries into the toys have moved the figures far closer to the "non official" status and away from clear testshots.

Following on from the Clear Ramjet auction which ended this morning, for over $550, eToysHunter / HeroToysMaker has now posted a new auction for a Clear Dirge Lunchtime Special.

This follows up the known Starscream, Thundercracker, Sunstorm and Ramjet toys.

As a Christmas present to all the visitors to Transformers At The Moon we've uploaded a new Transformers toy gallery to the site.  The new gallery is of the Transformers Henkei Chrome Silver Convoy figure, a few of which have recently appeared on ebay.

Sharbric is back again on Yahoo Japan auctions with more of the Clear testshots from the Transformers Collectors Edition line, often referred to as Lunchtime Specials.

In addition to the Targetmaster Hot Rodimus auction you will now find Sideswipe, with hands and weapons from the clear Starscream toy (2nd mold) as well as a clear Matrix (from the later re-issue Convoy set).  The second auction is for a clear Smokescreen with the same Starscream parts and Convoy hand.

This is the first time that we have seen a clear matrix, indicating that a clear version of Convoy was made for both the original and later releases in the Collectors Edition line.

You can see full image galleries of the clear Sideswipe, Smokescreen and Starscream (with Megatron gun) in our Transformers Toy Image Gallery.

We have updated the Transformers Prototypes section of the website with mirrored image galleries of the various clear Transformers Collectors Edition Mini-bots that were sold on Yahoo Auction Japan last month.  The image galleries are of:

• Clear Bumblebee
• Clear Cosmos
• Clear Gears
• Clear Huffer
• Clear Powerglide
• Clear Warpath

 These galleries join the image galleries of our own clear testshots.

• Astrotrain
• Inferno
• Jazz
• Megatron
• Nebulon
• Armada STD Convoy
• Optimus Prime
• Prowl
• Armada Sideswipe
• Sideswipe
• Skids
• Soundwave
• Starscream
• Stepper
• Sunstorm
• Tracks (Blue)
• Tracks (Red)
• Tracks (White)
  

Following up from his auction for the Clear Collectors Edition Mini-bots and the Chrome Soundwave, Yahoo Japan Auctions seller Sharbicc has now listed some more of these "Lunchtime special" toys for sale. The latest auctions are for clear versions of Smokescreen, Megaplex and Sideswipe. The figures have somewhat yellowed from their original clear colour, probably due to the conditions in which they have been kept.

If you want to see more images of these, as well as other clear Collectors Edition figures then you can find lots of them within the prototype Transformers area of the website. The seller will probably have more clears for sale over the coming weeks, so you may be interested in knowing who they could be. Here is a list of the known clear toys many of which you cna find galleries within the prototype Transformers area. Optimus Prime, Megatron, Soundwave, Starscream, Sunstorm, Smokescreen, Prowl, Jazz, Sideswipe, Inferno, Grapple, Tracks, Skids, Astrotrain, Hotrod, Hound, Stepper, The Minibots, Aramda STD Prime, Armada Sideswipe.

Some readers may not have heard of the term "Lunchtime specials" before so we will give you a brief history. The term Lunchtime Special was coined by the Autocon group during the Transformers Collectors Edition period of releases and was used to attach to any figure that the group did not know about and believed was fake. Most of these figures were clear,some where chrome, and others have been proved as Lucky Draw campaign prize toys. The story they used was that the figures were being put together at the Takara factories by workers during their lunch breaks and after hours. These figures, they went on to claim, were then being sold to local stores and direct to oversea collectors via auction sites such as Ebay. One of the best known sellers of these toys went by the eBay username of TinTinHappy.

There are, however, at least three other explanations that have been given for the existence of these toys which have come from fans/collectors who have later gone on to be connected to Hasbro, the Transformers Collectors Club and other Transformers Conventions.

The second story is that the items are simply testshot which have been produced in clear or chrome plastic, in varying colours, in order to highlight any flaws within the mould. It has been suggested that every toy, or recent toy, goes through this process.

The third story suggest that the items are produced as "Staff Items" by Takara and given to their employees as rewards. The items are never intended for the general public.

The final story is that the toys are produced as samples by Takara / Hasbro and offered to stores / magazines as potential exclusives / prizes. The figures are said to be produced in clear and chrome and if true, would explain the origin of the Lucky Draw Transformers.

The one thing that hasn't helped is the production of higher quality fake Transformers in clear and alternative colour schemes. One of the most well known of these was the clear Optimus Prime that was producd in 2007. You can find a gallery of that figure, along with comparison images to the "Lunchtime" clear Optimus Prime on this website.

Box and loose versions of many of the toys have been seen, along with variations on the amount of clear plastic that was used.

Which of these stories, if any, is the genuine origin of these toys no body can say for sure. Until Hasbro or Takara come forward and make an official statement regarding these figures you simply have to make up your own mind.

Digging through some old images we had yesterday we realised that we'd not put these bad-boys up on the site before. So the latest two image galleries on Transformers At The Moon consist of a Chrome Silver Collectors Edition Soundwave testshot as well as a Chrome Silver Alternators Smokescreen testshot.

You've probably not seen them before so it's worth taking a look.

TFWorld2005 are running a story on the latest Knock-Off Generation One Transformers toy to be produced, an all clear Optimus Prime figure.

This toy comes complete with trailer and roller, along with featuring yellow eyes (which look a little odd) and clear plastic wheels. The figure is by the same company behind the clear, black and various other coloured G1 Mirage knock-offs.

This isn't the first time a Clear Generation One Optimus Prime toy has been made. The infamous Lunchtime Specials (Takara Staff items, Factory items, Testshots) including a clear Convoy toy (in some areas complete with trailer.

You can find lots of images of these clear Transformers on our Transformers Prototype page or by selecting Lunchtime Specials as a Subgroup on our Transformers Toy Gallery.

Many of you will know these types of Transformers Collectors Edition Testshots as Lunchtime Specials, and their true nature is still that of speculation and arguments. However there is little denying how cool some of the Clear Transformers testshots are.

You would have already found a vast collection of these "Lunchtime Specials" on our site, and as a few others recently turned up on ebay, we thought it was about time that you got to see some more of our Clear Transformers toy collection. So we present to you the following galleries.

1. Transformers Collectors Edition - Clear Blue Tracks Testshot
2. Transformers Collectors Edition - Clear Red Tracks Testshot
3. Transformers Collectors Edition - Clear Blue Stepper Testshot
4. Transformers Collectors Edition - Clear Blue Nebulon Testshot