March 2005 Archives

So the Honda S2000 was introduced into the Hasbro Alternator / Takara Binaltech line recently.

Takara's choice of original 80s character was Overdrive (link), a minor non-anime appearing toy-only figure that was a free mail-order figure.

The S2000 was a perfect "modern" vehicle for Overdrive. Hell, I'm happy Takara even though to acknowledge an obscure, non-show character like this.

Minelba?

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Finally!!! Minerva is in the house!!! And so's Road Caesar and Fortress (I can't call him Cerebros anymore) too.

It took a helluva long time but they are mine.

I wish they'd make a Mega PVC of Minerva. She's a great design.

Hell... she should be a Binaltech figure too. I just think the name works perfectly for her.

Texas? Eeeewww....

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Well I certainly can't say that I'm thrilled that this year's Botcon is going to be in Frisco, Texas which is apparently north of Dallas.

Why they hell not just have it in the metropolitan area?

Now I don't know much about Dallas (other than Gary Ewing came from there) but perhaps the airport is out north.

At the moment airfare isn't cheap so I don't know if it is going to be worth going to or not.

Doesn't help that the thing has been moved from summer to late September when I'm usually in San Francisco either.

Trixter gave me some info on previous Master Collector conventions so I can't say I'm all that excited. But then again, we are talking something that is 6 months away.

Mr. E. had about as great a reaction ot the Texas news as I did.

Oh well.

More crack for the miserable addict!

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There's been quite a bit of crack added to the attic lately.

Some of it as gift given and some from ebay purchases.

A MIB Beast Machines Ultra Jetstorm and Takara Beast Wars Panther arrived. I find it funny that I can never seem to get the Hasbro Tripredicus Agent "Ravage" but I easily (and cheaply) got the Takara version. Doesn't matter though. At least that hole is filled.

Mr. E. bought me some awesome birthday presents while over in Japan.

It hit the shelves while he was there and he got me a Robot Masters #22 Lio Convoy. Man this figure has a beautiful sculpt for the small size. I'm tempted to open him to go with by Beast Convoy but you know me and imports. Plus, this isn't an "import" per se... this is a "purchased in Japan" figure so it is a bit more special.

He found me a Robot Mega PVC Megatron and Robot Mega PVC Starcream too. Really great additions. And the little Laserbeak that comes with Megatron is da bomb!!! Too bad they didn't release more of these posable Mega PVCs. A Shockwave, a Soundwave, and a Blaster would have been nice.

Knowing how much I love Car Robots, he ended up getting me a Car Robots X-Car too. And a Beast Wars Neo Bazooka.

Beautiful stuff. Thanks Mr. E!!!

Whoring? Or not?

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Whores.

They are everywhere.

And I'm not talking about bad mouthing prostitutes here. (I have no problems with prostitutes if that's what they want to do.)

I'm talking about the deceptive whoring that infiltrates most capitalist and day-to-day monetary transactions.

Politicians, by necessity of campaigning, are whores.

And even people selling on Ebay can be whores.

Case in point: this auction for Robot Masters Starscream.

Now he's not entirely rare but there isn't a whole lot of stock out there left in the eastern Pacific and there's barely anything left in the US at all.

At retail he's a $24.99 figure but has been going for up to $34.00 or so since supplies have dwindled to nothing.

Now this auction looks unassuming and a good deal at first glance. The starting bid is only a $1.00 and you'd think you'd have a chance at a deal by the way this seller has it set up.

But using the post office "calculate" I end up with $27.80 for shipping to Ohio. $27.80!!!

This figure is probably about a pound and the packaging is standard and can fit into a standard post office box that is easily sold and typically has shipping around $4.35-$7.00.

Why do I know this? Because I own them all and have gotten them from various places and never have been ripped off like $27.80.

This is what I call whoring.

It is deceptive and there's no way possible to justify $27.80 for this to come to Ohio from California other than to say "I want as much money as possible" from the sale.

Now it wouldn't be whoring if you plainly stated this in auction itself.

What the fuck?

Is this a mistake? I'm tempted to email.

I've just seen this so many times on ebay these days that it just pisses me off.

I wish the "Power Sellers" would all fade away, the sniping software could be permanently broken, and ebay might just become fun again.

I'll let ya know if I hear back on the "Is that really the shipping for this???" email.

Minelba? I love Engrish!

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Holy Shit!!! I finally won her!!! All all for $1.25 too!!!

Road Caesar and Fortress were also acquired on the cheap too.

So that leaves me hunting down a Chase Scorponok, Victory Saber, and Lio Kaiser in the PVC world.

Not bad.

Not bad at all.

Wow! There's some amazing crack on ebay right now.

Oh the humanity!

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To say that Matt went overboard for my birthday would be an understatement.

03-19-05-pres.jpg

Thirty-five presents for thirty-five years.

Toys 'R' Us bought for $6 Billion

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Three Firms Are Said to Buy Toys 'R' Us for $6 Billion (New York Times)

The prospects for toy retailing are gloomy. Pummeled by competition from Wal-Mart, the few toy stores left have been struggling. In 1993, Wal-Mart had only 11 percent of the nation's toy business, while Toys "R" Us had 21 percent, according to Sean McGowan, a retail analyst who covers toys for Harris Nesbitt. Last year, Wal-Mart's share was 25 percent, and Toys "R" Us had shrunk to 17 percent...

As for toys, "Wal-Mart so dominated the space they didn't have a chance," said William M. Smith, a managing partner at Global Reach Capital, a private equity firm in New York City.

When it came down to the wire, Kohlberg Kravis, Bain and Vornado were competing against Cerberus. "Both teams have real estate arms who put in an enormous amount of work on what the leases are worth," Mr. Smith said.

Toys "R" Us still holds the exclusive rights for a large variety of toys, Mr. Smith said, adding that the industry over all "doesn't have the rosiest long-term picture."

To a certain extent, Wal-Mart beat Toys "R" Us at its own game: negotiating through volume. But it was not just Wal-Mart, Mr. McGowan said.

Well at least it is still alive.

And Toys "R" Us usually carries a lot of stuff that Whore-Mart won't even touch.

I just have going to Whore-Mart. The stores are filthy and dirty and the toy section is always a total dump.

Even a new Whore-Mart will become a dump within 3-4 months and it pisses me off that they've become the #1 crack dealer.

Balls!!!

Big Daddy is in da haus!

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Big Daddy (image from TFU.info)cuz I couldn't find a better oneHoly Shit!!! What better birthday present could I have managed to snag for myself other than the highly sought after Big Daddy!!!

Yay!!! After so long he's mine!!! All 1.5 inches of his 1950's style transforming badness!!!

This has been a long time in coming.

Yay!!! I'm a happy loser now and Mr. E. can now fully enjoy his trip to Japan knowing that Big Daddy will soon be arriving for an extended stay in the Attic of Love.

You have no idea how long I've been trying to snag a Big Daddy.

And now I gotz one!!!

I want my BD!

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Five days until thirty-five.

And I'm bidding on something on ebay that may just be a special treat for myself.

That is unless I get sniped.

Argggggggggggggghhhh!!!

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This is what I get for paying $40 to join the Transformers Collectors Club?

I knew it was going to be some combiner but I had hopes that maybe it'd be something Hasbro/Takara had gotten the old molds from G1 out for. Something a collector, hence the "collector club", would really want to have. Even a retool of the an old G1 mold of something.

But no. A mediocre repaint of a merely adequate figure that combines into a piece of shit that can barely stand.

Yeah. It is my own fault for wasting the money. The collector magazine is worthless to me, the "original" comic useless, and now I get a figure that I wasn't all too thrilled with to begin with.

Hell... they could have at least painted it so it would look like the original Superion or something.

This sucks as much ballage as Hasbro naming Binaltech Dragstrip a lame name like Decepticharge! God that sucks. You could have just called him "Decepticon Dragstrip" people!

I think I'm getting to the point where I'm starting to really hate American plastic crack!!!

Dinoking!!! You rock!!!

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Dinoking!!!

One of the "holy grails" of my obsession. A mint-in-the-box never released in the US Takara Dinoking is up on Ebay and I find myself constantly coming back to this auction.

Grrrrr!!! He's so beautiful. So utterly amazing beautiful.

And he's up for sale too. If ever there was some kind of strange phallus envy in me it is most definitely brought out by God Fire Convoy and his Master Sword!

Anyway. I actually remembered to send out invites today. Sure it took me sending myself 3 emails to do it. But it is done. And thus another year passes.

Must get rid of stuff...

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Ok. I think it is time I reduce some of the items in the attic to make room for new things coming out this summer.

Perhaps it is time for my Armada/Energon duplicates, Built-To-Rules, and other miscellaneous bots I don't care too much about to find their way into a large Ebay lot.

And I need to get rid of 8,000 comic books too!!!

In other news, I'm frustrated at work, I feel sick again, and I'm really really really starving!!!

More crack for the lame-oh.

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So snagged an Energon Jetfire/Ironhide 2 Pack at Wally World for only $9 tonight.

While I hate the figures individually they could almost be tolerable combined (Jetfire being the top) and repainted in a consistent color scheme.

Someone kitbashed one with G1 Overlord as an inspiration and it totally makes a the figure palatable!

And it is really hard for me to like this Energon Ironhide when his frigg'n head just sits on top of this alt mode!!! What the hell was Hastak think??? Robots IN DISGUISE people!

Fodder for a future kitbash if I have my way.

Yeah. I'll get around to that some day.

And that General Devestatar kitbash from Transformers: Zone too.

Now I know that there are a small group of people that do stop by here every now and then to check up on me and I appreciate the fact that some of you comment and all.

After having a personal site/journal since 1995 you know I was ready to call it quits and to shut the site down about 6 months ago. I decided to to stick it out because of your emails and of course I ended up becoming even lamer because my stupid toy collection is pretty much the most interesting thing about me.

So. In a sense I'm apologizing to all of you that have to suffer from reading my utterly useless and pointless banter about my stupid hobby.

There's nothing more arrogant than thinking somebody finds my ranting of any interest but quite frankly without the occasional plastic crack excitement my blogging with be even more mundane and pointless than usual. I really am that boring of a person. Hell, sometimes I think I only ever had the illusion that I was even remotely interesting in the real world let alone online in the flotsam and jetsam that is the sludge of the internet.

And for my mindless bantering about totally useless things I apologize.

However, because he's started it I now have to be even more lamer and add a recent additions page.

Indeed.

I am this lame.

Minelba? Excellent Engrish!

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Masterforce MinervaI don't know why but no matter what I do I can never ever get a PVC of Masterforce Minerva.

I've taking a liking to the PCV version of this Headmaster Junior from the Japanese series Masterforce but no matter how many I manage to find in auctions I never ever win.

It is like I am cursed to never own one.

Now Minerva, or often butchered into Engrish as Minelba, is the first female Transformers character ever to have a toy made of her.

None of the G1 fembots, even Arcee with all of her screen time in the movie and Seasons 3 and 4, was ever made into a figure.

Hell... if they would have tried it would have been ugly as all hell so I suppose I should be glad they didn't.

But I just want my little Minerva PVC figure that I am destined never to have. Quite frankly my chances of ever acquiring a Minerva PVC are about as likely as me getting a Micromaster Big Daddy.

And those chances? Yup. Balls!

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This page is an archive of entries from March 2005 listed from newest to oldest.

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