June 2006 Archives
I'd rather have a full actual transforming version of this version of Prime but I'll have to settle for this little static version.
Hell. It is an amazing thing that fandom even gets a tiny version of a Prime that only appeared in the Dreamwave comic series "The War Within".
This is what Prime looked like prior to crashing on Earth and being reformatted into a semi-truck by Teletran-One.
Number in Collection: 1612
Thanks to a $10 off coupon from Mr. E. I got a Primus today. That $10 made it feel at least a little bit better.
Of course, I probably should have waited for him to be clearanced. He inevitably will be.
This is the version that doesn't have the little ugly Unicron head as a freebie. This of course is ok with me.
Number in Collection: 1611
Ugh!
A quick run to WeBeToys at lunch with Mr. E. resulted in me now owning a Primus, Titanium Bowling Unicron, Titanium Beast Megatron, and Titanium 'Rhoids Within Optimus Prime.
Mr. E. had a $10 off coupon which makes me feel a little less guilty about buying Primus.
I am so lame.
Ok. I'm going to make it official.
I don't care that there's a Transformers movie being made.
End of topic.
Ok. I'm going to make it official.
I don't care that there's a Transformers movie being made.
End of topic.
Well the world of plastic crack addiction has more or less been pretty slow since that toy show a few weeks back.
There's just nothing on the shelves here in Cowtown and I'm sick of wasting time and precious gasoline on aimless toy trips.
Hell, Graceland Target hasn't had a new Transformers in probably 4 months now! And I don't even bother going in when I'm up in that general area of town any more.
At least there's only two weeks until Iacon One over in another bordering Cowland state.
Initially I wasn't thinking of going due to my complete hatred of long duration car trips but the adult TF geek in me realized I do need to support these smaller shows whenever possible. The mere fact that people are organizing and doing these non-official shows is more important than any official Hasbro-backed show. These are fan-focused shows by fans and from the looks of it, the people running Iacon One are doing a fantastic job!
Hell. The Iacon One website beats the Botcon website to hell and back. I really would have thought that Master Collector would have a more modern professional website (with clear navigation) since they also run other conventions. The don't. The Botcon site is kind of messy, disorganized, and I try to pretty much get info from other sources than there.
And I was able to register and pay online for Iacon One. Botcon needs to get its shit together in this regard. It is 2006. It isn't new or complicated anymore to integrate simple shopping cart/mercantile systems into a site.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to the next few weeks.
So Botcon Rhinox was revealed and I called this one right. I figured that Cybertron Landmine would probably be the most logical choice for Rhinox and he is.
That leaves us with Rattrap. And if the "leaked" factory bot is true then that means he's based on Cybertron Ransack.
That'll make the figures:
The Boxed Set:
Optimus Primal - retooled from Cybertron Dark Crumplezone
Cheetor - retooled from Cybertron Clocker
Dinobot - from Cybertron Longgrack (retooled from Armada Hoist)
Rhinox - from Cybertron Landmine
Rattrap - probably from Cybertron Ransack
Additional:
Likely Tigatron (attendee exclusive ?)- from the same retooled Cybertron Clocker that Cheetor is based on (even though Tigatron doesn't really exist prior to having a beast mode)
Likely Waspinator (attendee exclusive ?) - from Machine Wars Skywarp
??? Speculative Airrazor - repainted from Energon Divebomb
??? Speculative Tigatron - repainted from the
??? Speculative Terrasaur - Machine Wars Megatron or repainted from Energon Divebomb
??? Speculative Scorponok - repainted from ?
??? Speculative Tarantulus - repainted from ?
That's about it from what I can think of. I can't find a recent (last 6-7 years) mold that would work for Scorponk or Tarantulus that remotely evokes their beast modes.
You know what would be really cool but is so far beyond a long shot that I shouldn't even bring it up?
Wouldn't it be something if Botcon actually decided to spend a little money on truly something special as the attendee-only exclusive and found a way to do a very limited run of a larger-sized Megatron?
It would piss off a lot of non-attendees but man, that would be something special!
Hmmm... but what mold would he be from? There aren't any Cybertron ones that would be appropriate at that size. Energon?
Someone over at TFW2005 posted some photos of a repainted G2 jet that looks like it could be Botcon repaint of Beast Wars Waspinator.
Of course, I never know what to believe when random things like these are posted on message boards. Hell, this could be somebody doing a custom.
But I have to say that if this is released as a Botcon-only non-set figure I'll probably pick it up while I'm there.
I didn't expect to see any Predacons but if this is in fact legit it'll be pretty cool.
I'm no huge fan of the G2 "flip" jets and Baby Jesus knows the damn things have been repainted enough over the years but this works.
It'll probably run in the $20-$30 range which may be the breaker on this for me.
The other flip jet may just end up as a Terrorsaur figure too. Personally, I can't think of anything more boring than Terrorsaur and Scorponok from the first season of Beast Wars but it makes sense they'd possibly be considered for Botcon figures.
At least the theme to this con's figures is more exciting than the previous one.
Personally, I'd rather have the $100 answer to why they are called Maximals and Predacons prior to taking organic animal forms.
I'm just say'n...
I have no idea if I'll ever find the time to get around to learning how to repaint TFs and make custom figures.
However, for $4, this mini knock-off Devestator will be a good base for the General Devestar that I've always wanted to custom create.
General Devestar is the non-separable resurrected form of the Constructicons that appears in Transformers: Zone who Dai Atlas promply kicks the shit out of.
He's got a flowing cape and has never been a figure.
Since he doesn't break apart into his component Constructicons I can just glue this little bad boy into a solid bot.
I wasn't expecting much from these releases and I was surprised at how much I like them.
Snowcat's dark navy/purple combination works well for the mold and the light orange/peach trim works well against it.
Downshift's yellow "body" parts in bot mode are bold and striking!
I'm shocked I liked them this much.
Of course, since they were released only to Kay-Bee I ended up getting 2 of each since these'll disappear soon and will probably be somewhat rare, though I can't imagine they'll be highly sought after by anyone.
Numbers in Collection: 1606-1609
Yay! Found the Grindor/Scrap Iron minicon repaints this afternoon!
I can now complete the set along with the Blastcharge, High Wire, Blackblast, and Sureshock I got last week!
W00t!
I am the lame!
Do you see James Raiz's cover for IDW's Transformers Spotlight: Shockwave?
Alas, you cannot see how wet the front of my pants are now.
Shockwave is why I have this sick and disgusting habit.
Shockwave is why I spend entirely too much money on plastic crack when it should be going to far more important things.
Shockwave is joy.
If you have $44,000 to plop down on an Ebay toy auction you should seriously consider therapy.
I realized something when I was at the toy show yesterday.
There's so little I actually want or need anymore that it is hard to get excited about finding toys at shows.
I mean look at what I ended up getting. Sparkabots? Throttlebots? Next thing you know I'll be rummaging through those under-the-table bins for Pretender shells.
Maybe with Iacon and Botcon approaching I really need to look at the Attic of Love and think about thinning things out finally. Maybe the wishlist items should be the only focus and no money should be wasted on miscellaneous older items "just because" I find them.
There may be a definite benefit to setting up a table at the next show in September. I could maybe clear out a ton of things I don't want anymore. Giga has got some action figure stuff to get rid of as well and no doubt Evebird and Mr. B. could contribute.
It'd be worth it and with a 1 day only show it would be fairly convenient to man the table.
I also realized how negligent I've been in keeping up my spreadsheets and the various collection pages here. If I don't get back on track with updating those I'll never know what I have or don't have. That's how bad the size of my collection has gotten!
Surprisingly, documenting what I buy here in the blog actually gives me a record to go back and follow. Blogging the collection actually serves as a decent data backup and taking the photos helps me to remember some of the more obscure G1/G2 shit that I'd never remember otherwise.
Like I'll remember Fizzle and Guzzle in 2 weeks.
Maybe when the house repair work gets done I'll have 3 days to spend in the attic. It definitely has to happen before Botcon.
Well today I hit another lame ass milestone and a Takara Micron Densetsu Crystal Convoy became my 1600th Transformer ever purchased.
Ack! I am so lame.
So lame that I actually hit 1603 today.
The Columbus Toy Show was surprisingly large and while there wasn't a whole lotta TF stuff there, it was obviously a geektastic afternoon.
Most of the Transformers related items were pretty much the same old common stuff that all vendors with TF stuff have. If I see another Top Spin or Twin Twist I'll scream. And G1 jets. Ugh! Too many of those exist on dealer tables.
I did pick up a few things I normally would not have gotten such as Throttlebots, Sparkabots, and some miscellaneous other stuff. I mean, while I don't actively collect some of the post-1986 G1 stuff, if the price is right I might as well fill the gaps in the collection.
Quite frankly though, the gems of today weren't Transformers related at all.
I reacquired 2 toys I had as a kid. These were major parts of my childhood and I always knew I'd end up buying them again.
Yes. The inevitable acquisition of Micronauts has probably started. The Attic of Love™ needs a few more vintage 70s Micronauts and now I happily own 2 that I really loved as a kid.
The guys I bought them from actually knew about plasticcrack.net and The Attic of Love™ as well! I was shocked. I didn't think that many people stopped by here since I don't really look at my stats anymore. (Thanks guys!)
Spent a few hours at the Columbus Toy Show today.
Alas, most of the Transformers related items were pretty much the same old common stuff that all vendors with TF stuff have. There's just a helluva lot of the same common items out there.
However, I did pick up a few things I normally would not have gotten such as Throttlebots, Sparkabots, and some miscellaneous other stuff. I mean, while I don't actively collect some of the post-1986 G1 stuff, if the price is right I might as well fill the gaps in the collection.
Quite frankly though, the gems of today weren't Transformers related at all.
I reacquired 2 toys I had as a kid. These were major parts of my childhood and I always knew I'd end up buying them again.
Yes. The inevitable acquisition of Micronauts has probably started. The Attic of Love™ needs a few more vintage 70s Micronauts and now I happily own 2 that I really loved as a kid.
The guys I bought them from actually knew about plasticcrack.net and The Attic of Love™ as well! I was shocked. I didn't think that many people stopped by here since I don't really look at my stats anymore. (Thanks guys!)
I'll be damn glad when the Cybertron line is done.
My damn Cybertron/Galaxy Force collection now encroaches upon the clearly staked out and demarcated territory of The World's Most Beloved Goldfish.
I don't even think opening up others from their pacaging would help.
I am litterally out of space for more crack.
Here's a scary thought.
Today I'm at 1590 Transformers that I've ever purchased in the Attic of Love.
Tomorrow, with the Columbus Toy Show at hand, I will no doubt hit 1600 figures.
Pretty frigg'n insane!
Here's a scary thought.
Today I'm at 1590 Transformers that I've ever purchased.
Tomorrow, with the Columbus Toy Show at hand, I will no doubt hit 1600 figures.
Pretty frigg'n insane!
Of course, a chunk of fandom is whining and bitching about the Botcon figures and I just can't partake in any of it anymore.
The pre-beast mode Cheetor was unveilled yesterday. Sure I'd have liked him to have been larger and been retooled/redeco'd from the Nitro Convoy mold but man, credit has to be given for a top notch Cheetor-out-of-Clocker figure.
That paint application is bright and fun and silly and totally works for me. And the new head is really nice.
Botcon's go'n 2 for 3 on the figures so far. There was no hope of me liking any figure from the Armada Hoist mold so Dinobot was a lost cause.
I'm thinking the attendee exclusive will be a Tigertron since that's the easiest reuse of this retool.
If ever there was a figure that I was truly unexcited about... and I'm counting Cybertron Unicron here... it'd have to be Transformers Collectors Club Landquake.
Hell. In 3 more years I'll have a shitty Energon combiner out of them! Yay!
And is "unexcitement" a word or did I just invent it?
Numbers in Collection: 1586
I need to decide where this damn collection of plastic crack is going.
Do I continue to go for a sense of completeness and allow myself to be duped by Hasbro into buying the Armada Demolisher mold again for the 4th time?
These are the lame ass questions I continually have to ask myself when it comes to these useless toys of mine.
I should let my "like or dislike" of a mold to govern my decision-making but the damn collector nature, and the inherent "completeness" that overcomes me ends up making the decisions.
The Cryo Scourge repaint of the Flame Convoy mold is fantastic! I totally love the dark blue/purples/yellow going through this redeco. This is actually the superior paint palette for the figure and way better than the original or rare Luck Draw version.
I do like the Armada Optimus Prime so I'll get the repaint of that. The figure is simple, is definitely a "Convoy", and even though I own 3 versions of the mold (original, Nemesis Prime, and Ultra Magnus) I really like this color palette.
I totally hate the new Unicron figure and honestly, it'll take one helluva discount for me to probably get that.
I need to find some of the Takara Galaxy Force redecos too. Yes. I'm lame and like the dark colored ones.
Saw this link to a clip from Transformers: The Movie (the real one) in Spanish over at Shortpacked!.
Ya know something?
Outta all those different voices there Megatron's kinda actually works for me.
And you call this a transformation? I could pull a better transformation outta my ass!