Gold Lucky Draw Prime and Sonar Microns

Original release date: August and December, 2003

When Micron collectors have worked their way through store and event exclusives, attention invariably turns to the very difficult to find lucky draw items. Out of the several distinct contest variations from the year, two of the Micron Legend figures were recolored in all gold chrome: Prime and Sonar (Sparkplug and Comettor), who accompanied the larger Convoy Super Mode and Jetfire gold chrome versions that were raffled through magazine and store contests. Though very typical contest recolors, both stand out in the Micron display of any collector who is willing to unseal a contest toy box in order to get at them. I had acquired these toys with the intent of placing them up for sale, but desperate to expand my Microns I ultimately added them to my personal collection.

Although the gold Prime has been described as being very similar to Corona Sparkplug, it is in fact immensely distinct, beginning with the fact that the mold is not of Corona but the original Sparkplug, which was never recolored in gold. Notice also that it is not just a Sparkplug dipped in gold paint: the base color of plastic is still yellow, but the formerly grey plastic areas are now solid gold plastic, as these regions could probably not be effectively chromed. However, even the tiny wheels and windshield have been fully plated in gold chrome.

I was not looking forward to transforming these two figures for the sake of this gallery, as these tiny chrome toys were obviously desgined purely with display in mind, and not ment to stand up to much handling. Despite my apprehension, the gold Prime was very easy to transform thanks to its simple and intuitive design. Sonar, on the other hand, was absolutely terrifying. Although probably no different than a normal Sonar/Comettor in this respect, the joints were excrutiatingly tight. I somehow managed to get through it without any gold-plated limbs being plucked off. If any collectors are lucky enough to own the toy, I would recommend you content yourself with this gallery and avoid trying to transform it excessively. For the truly fearless, the bodies of the gold Convoy/Jetfire themselves can be not only transformed but combined together. I haven't attempted that yet, as I'm certain it would shave years off my life.

Coupled with the larger toys that they accompanied, the gold Prime and Sonar have been found sporadically from anywhere near several hundred to over a thousand dollars each. Truly Microns for the die-hard collector. The other lucky draw Microns released during Micron Legend were the black/green Barrel with black Megatron, the blue Magnus that came with the blue Ultra Magnus lucky draw, and the recolored Emergency Microns that served as runner up prizes in the Micron Yearbook contest. Some comparison shots have shown the Bug accompanying the Shining Unicron from the same contest to have a slightly different shade of grey than the normal version, but this sppears to be an extremely minor and unintentional variation.