October 2007 Archives

No toys, but lots of Play-Doh!

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Hallowe'en 2007: Gravestone

I couldn't find much in the way of toys to hand out and that was fine.

The Play-Doh was quite popular and went over well.

In the end, we passed out about 10lbs of candy, there were a lot of 13 year old girls that looked like they basically dressed as slutty whores, and I ended up drinking 2-6 more beers than I should have.

Oh.

Someone from The Domicile had to dress up and it sure as hell wasn't going to be me or Giga!

This and that...

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So I finally was able to repair a SD card and get a few photos off from when I was moving.

From moving day - some of the plastic crack.

Some of the crack is in the basement but I have no idea when I'll ever touch it again. There's just so little time right now for toys.

From moving day - The Hoont dead after the insanity of moving day.

I had forgotten how stressed out Hensley got from all the moving and all the people in and out of both houses last month.

He, much like his owner, was a total mess.

And unlike his owner, he's actually adjusted quicker to everything.

Of course the demands placed upon him by the powers that be, which is pretty much to eat, go for walkies, and poop, really don't require too much effort.

I snapped this photo late at night after he was completely and utterly dead tired and pretty much passed out in this big dog bed that he never used before.

It was all we had available since his normal bed was buried.

I'm still not sure why the data corrupted on so much of that SD card.

Anyway, time to get ready for costumed frogs at my door.

Oh. If while I know most of you could care less, some of you have followed my other little hobby over the past few years and it is in full swing already.

I'll be trying to consolidate The Domicile renovation posts over at "Domicile: A Story of a House in Clintonville".

It also will be serving as a test bed for some different site structure testing for MovableType 4.

Happy Hallowe'en!

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2007-10-31-pumpkin.jpg

I thought about doing something like this but it would require me to actually exert some effort.

When repaints matter. At least to me.

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2007-10-31-minerva.jpg

Maldroth sent me a link to a custom movie Minerva someone did out of movie Arcee.

I love it!!!

She'd be a great partner to Rescue Ratchet. She's Doctor Chapel to his Bones McCoy.

I like the fact that the gun barrel looks like a huge ass syringe too.

Most people have no idea who Minerva is. And rightly so.

She plays a huge role towards the end of the never to be released Splintered and I've grown quite fond of her.

Takara Minerva PVCHasbro needs to officially introduce her into the new American canon.

Her G1 PVC totally fits in with the design of the new TF animated series.

I know female, let alone male, non-sexually reproducing robots make no sense but that's our human template and I demand more female Transformers kicking ass and not bothering to take names!

Oh-So Supreme - 208/365

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I don't know.

I kinda think everyone who owns an Omega Supreme should kind of pose for a pic like this with him.

Oh well.

I can be lame like that.

They still make toys for this line?

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Because you all know your non-TF lives will not be complete without a vaguely matronly maternity outfit-adorned Brando Jor-El figure.

A must for any collector of utter crap.

Funny. But not really funny.

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One of the blogs I lurk at is Tokyo Hunter and he recently posted some pics from the Tokyo Toy Festival.

2007-10-29-ryan.jpg

I find it so funny that that Mark Ryan guy, who did absolutely nothing of acting merit in the Transformers movie, is out signing autographs on the international toy show circuit.

The guy spent what, 2 minutes recording 2 lines of for Bumblebee?

Fandom.

So silly.

And yet if they drag this guy to the GRC fanboys will be all over him.

I can't stop laughing.

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I love when old people write about pop culture and don't seem to have any true grasp that everything, and I mean everything, is designed to sell something and make a profit regardless of some minor past origin.

Case in point: this article on GI Joe.

It is basically a reaction to the fact that Hasbro, now becoming a media company (once again to sell product) realizes it needs to alter the concept of GI Joe to become something less "fabricated Americana" and something more international to sell the brand properly.

This ties into the future film.

What I just love is the fact that this writer uses that as a trigger to spend the rest of the article basically continuing the American delusion that corporate products have patriotic value.

My favorite part though is this comment...

Where will it stop? We turned our backs on returning Viet Nam Soldiers, we have allowed the Government to (from all outward appearances)to remove GOD from the USA. We allow our Government to run rampant and many seek to seize more control. Now we allow the movie companies to deface and defame GI Joe and with it our "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness". Where does it stop fellow Americans? Lets stand up for our Values, Principles and hold our Way of Life as a standard for others to follow. Let us start by keeping God and Prayer available to all. I do not wish to force anyone to believe in my God, but I will not let anyone take my right to believe in God. Only by standing together can we stop this "crazed movement". Each day that we do nothing, we reinforce the stripping of our rights and freedoms. Are we going to continue to stand by and do nothing? I for one am not!
Oh Homo sapiens sapiens americanus.


I so truly love you all.

Visitors

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Professor Bobo and Brain Guy

Professor Bobo (Kelmeister) and Brain Guy (Kelmeister's Husband) stopped by tonight on the way to a Halloween party.

Brain Guy

He almost looks creepily nun-like.

Professor Bobo and Hensley

Surprisingly, Hensley did not react any differently than normal.

I r not suprized...

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lolcats and funny pictures

Help a brother out.

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Any of you geeks got any high-res high-quality scans of some of those pages from Dreamwave's TF book where Shockwave is standing in front of monitors and/or the Vector Sigma screens?

I really need one.

It'll be years until I figure out where the Dreamwave TF shit is buried.

The Good Doctor - 206/365

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I haven't been a good internet friend lately to anybody.

I barely every look at people's Flickr galleries and haven't contributed a meaningful comment on any of my fellow bloggers' sites in ages.

Hell. Over the past 18 months, and especially since the movie, the Flickr Transformer groups have become innundated with so many people basically retreading the same style and technique of other people that I don't bother even posting my pics there anymore or even looking at the galleries. (Not that mine were really ever any good.)

I decided to do a crash-update for my Flickr peeps and I gotta say that Ben Grimm's Doc Ock here is fantastic!

He's become a great photographer and I really think his non toy photos are his best.

His color saturation on this one is just perfect.

And this one?

If that's not indicative of a healthy geek attitude then I don't know what is.

You can't take any of this shit too seriously and that's the way to go.

And The Chocolate Wonder? Damn... I'm still trying to determine if this is the pure personification of Transformers apathy or not?

If ever there was a pop culture franchise that needed 10 bullets right in the head it would have been James Bond for me.

Sure, I'd like to see Star Trek put out of its misery but James Bond has trudged along regurgitating the same shit movie after movie for almost 40 years.

Now when I was a kid, I used to eat them up, especially when they'd play on ABC's Friday Night Movies. I remember various babysitters and such letting me, ass firmly planted on a pillow, stay up late to watch whatever Bond flick was on.

I was too young to understand the awesomeness of hating Alex Trebek and was too early-age geek gullible to not get sucked into the gimmicky Roger Moore era.

Hell... I recall watching that cheeseball awful Moonraker probably close to 30 times as it was run into the ground on Showtime.

But by the time of View To A Kill, I was now 14 and my growing sense of appreciation for cinema and my tastes in general made me realize that I'd been watching the same movie over and over and over for the past decade.

And yet that same formulaic James Bond film kept getting churned out every few years, going from Moore to Timothy Dalton to Pierce Brosnan and yet it was basically the exact same script with the exact same acting with the exact same gimmicks.

Not only could I never bring myself to suffer through them again, I honestly couldn't inflict anything Bond on myself even on home video or via movie channels.

I'm all for a little regurgitation every now and then but folks, the entire James Bond franchise should have died in the 60s.

Well... after coming back from a wine party last night, Giga remembered he at a Bond film to take back that was already going to be late so we stayed up and watched it.

Of geeks and shelf drama.

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So yesterday we met up with now out-of-towners and future parents Mr. and Mrs. B. for breakfast which was great.

I miss them. I hadn't realized I how much I enjoyed our conversations, especially since it is rare I can share geek shit with two PhDs. Because of our general academic natures, the conversations often go off on tangents that normally would not be pursued by the usual geek suspects.

Still not sure what sacrifices he's got in store for himself when the baby arrives. He'll no doubt have to cut back on all his bad crazy shit, especially the DCU stuff.

Out of all of the Cowlands geekae, I have to admit I'm extremely proud of the fact that my geek is pure. Extremely pure.

Transformers.

Transformers toys!

That's it!

I'd guess that over 90% of the other geeks I associate with such as Giga, Mr. and Mrs. JoAG, The Bs, Spectroscott, and even a those of you who shoot the shit here are collectors of much varied crap. Even Evebird crosses over into areas I don't, though I think he's become even more niche than he was even last year.)

It all seems to go hand-in-hand but I'm extremely happy it never effected me. (And I don't count my occasional purchase of rare and hard to find Micronauts toys really part of a cross-collection. More on that another day. Oh. And the Doctor Who stuff is Giga's!)

DC Direct, JLU Marvel, GI Joe, Star Wars, Doctor Who, Kubrick, Star Trek, this, that, Lego, and on and on.

And out of all of us, I'm pretty pure with only the Transformers geek-on directing my wasting of finances.

Anyway, what was I saying?

Bah! I barely remember!

Anyway, so after breakfast, we parted ways and while I'm still pretty much a mess, I was in an oxycodone soulless stupor and of course that means it was an ideal time to head out on Shelf Quest 2007!

I have been to so many places it is unbelievable how little quality and stylish shelving is out there. I've gone from places where the shelves/curios are in the $3000 range to frigg'n particle board shit laying around thrift stores and there is so little.

This one guy, surprisingly not too salesmanny and annoying, was a real help out at this place in Reynoldsburg and pretty much said that there's not a lot of that kind of stuff in stores, especially if contemporary was what I wanted. It is all ugly ass entertainment centers here or there or what I call "Busia shelves" that are hideously overly ornate and would be packed full of a grandma's collected old-school knick-knack geek crap!

I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be able to affordably do single whole wall shelf like I wanted to do to maximage what crackage I can.

World Market has these shelves in their "Tao" line that may work. They are not as tall but they've got a style that is consistent with my intended goal for the room. Here's the table version (no pic of the full shelf).

They are on sale this week too so I can snag 'em for $300 each and maybe a another more vertical shelf for office use.

At least these are solid wood too. They could be used elsewhere in the house if needed and wouldn't conflict too much with our now-brewing Arts and Crafts/Mission style redesign for the house.

I had Giga snag a cell pic but it sounds like he doesn't have the plan anymore to send the thing off the phone without insanely stupid cost. If he does, I'll post it and you can all chime in and bitch about it.

---

Update:

">

2007-10-28-taoshelf.jpg

Here's the shelf.

Thoughts?

A solution to a problem, no?

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2007-10-27-dentist.jpg

Actually, not a bad idea at all.

Of course, then I'd feel like I was giving out dirty violent comics to kids which would then make me feel just as bad as keeping the damn things around in the first place.

Vworp!!! Vworp!!! Vworp!!!

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2007-10-26-shirtjpg.jpg

I'm not much into emblematics or anything other than solid shirts but I think I may need to buy this one.

It is true though. You never forget your first Doctor. The one you really fell in love with for whatever reason.

Would I wear it?

Unlikely.

But... one never knows.

2007-10-26-swbust.jpgOK. Throw a few hypocrite points my way for this one.

While I was berating plastic crap in a previous post I was simultaneously thinking that this new Shockwave bust isn't all that bad.

I'd pay $10 for it. Maybe $15.

$60? Hell no.

But I guess what it comes down to is there's not much in the way of G1 Shockwave out there so I suppose I can't be too picky when something is released, no matter how lame.

I crush your headmaster

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Well... s'why he's called Loco Esteban no?

Like, you want these here gay robots, eh?

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So I was thinking.

There's a good chance that I'll have the NalaKickAssConversionVanForTraveling™ by next spring and that would make attending something like Transformers Con up in a Toronto a possibility.

Obviously, I need to make sure my passport is in order and all but I think it'd be kind of cool to head up north and see how the Canadian geekae do gay robot conventions.

Maybe even a stop off at Niagra Falls and then possibly round trip back through Windsor, Motor City, and then a stop over in Glass City.


View Larger Map

Maybe.

We'll see.

I need to get my head back on straight and all by then.

Non-TF related so kiss my big Polish ass!

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Holy shit!

I was over reading Branded in the 80s! and I think my life just took a turn for the better.

I've been internally bemoaning the fact that all of the Halloween decorations that are available totally suck and are now mere copies of Christmas decorations done up in black and orange.

I really missed the stuff I grew up with in the 70s and really wanted to find some of those exact decorations to put up.

Not for other people. But for me!

Well Smurfwreck posted a link to The Beistle Company that made a lot of the stuff I had as a kid and I really want to buy a ton of it for next year!

2007-10-25-a.jpg

2007-10-25-b.jpg

These are just totally what I think of when I think of Halloween!

Not Christmas trees with purple and orange lights with pumpkin ornaments!

Not black bat Christmas tree garland!

These are the real decorations of my youth!

I even remember the faintly musty smell when we would pull them out of the basement every year.

A few were ruined in 1976 or so due to some water in the basement and I always felt bad about that for some reason.

But now... I can have them again!

Thank you Smurfwreck! Thank you thank you thank you!

Site Stuff

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Looking at the most recent search terms that lead here:

108 plastic crack
91 plasticcrack
69 crack transformers
33 oops i dropped my pants
27 crack do transformers
23 crack
20 transformers blog
16 transformers hentai
11 transformers crack
10 dirk dinobot

I think the "oops i dropped my pants" one is hilarious, likely coming from here.

But what the hell is up with searching for Dirk Dinobot there kids? The only reference comes from this post and the subsequent Hoop comment.

From the looks of it, most hits come from Google and many are still tilted in favor of the images when I had the time to really do a lot of heavy photography.

There's a couple of MySpace bitches stealing my images too. That's a dozy twunt tactic if you ask me!

Ok.

taken from tformersYou all know that on the whole, I'm not into peripheral TF crap that doesn't transform.

The busts and statues are just overpriced junk to me.

I can let the Robot Heroes and PVCs and even Revoltechs sneak by because on the whole, they are all pretty much accurate anime representations of the characters or cheap enough to justify buying without impact quality full Transformer purchases.

But man oh man, this shit is just lame

$57.99???

I'll never understand this kind of peripheral crap.

Of course, one of you is probably "Oh my god I has to have me that! Two even! One to keep in the box and one to display!"

And I hope the jam is gonna last.

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WTF?!?!

Lovely.

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Um... do you think asswipe has stolen enough of my photos for his Flickr gallery?

I wouldn't mind it if I was credited.

I always try to link back to any source for a photo I may use or at least make mention in the post or site, though I rarely use other people's stuff.

Asswipe.

Twunt isn't even good enough for the likes of you.

I recognize some of the others. I think their Jin's or Pairadoc's photos.

Not to put too fine a point on it...

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So I have no idea what box they could be in, but I was thinking of trying to find a bunch of my extra Car Robots and RID Spychangers and give them to kids on Halloween along with the candy.

I mean, only the cool kids with decent costumes would get them.

I'm a dick like that.

And the kids I don't like?

Rocks of course!

Charles Schulz taught me that.

I don't read Shortpacked! much anymore but I happened to look at the RSS feed just now and I gotta admit, sometimes it hits too close to home.

Well... 'cept I don't really do hand-me-down shelves anymore.

However, I seem to recall moments like this with Mr. B., Giga, and a few others who shall remain nameless.

I'm still in 2nd-tier toy shelf drama mode but the literal pain in my neck is more important these days.

But... the 2008 Ikea catalogue arrived today!

*schwing*

And there are a few potential shelves at Pier One (their site is shit so I won't link).

Maybe after dinner (I'm making special nalasausageburgergrilledsammiches) we can run up there.

That is if the oxycodone doesn't have me all trippy again.

I had to leave a meeting today because I kept staring at the speaker and his mouth wasn't moving to what he was saying. Balls trippy I tell ya!

So I was going back through Kelmeister's blog entries and found this post that blew me away.

You gotta understand, for the longest time Nala was to comics as Kelmeister was to X-Files.

She's more of a paper crack addict than anything. I recall fondly when she and the husband had that like 5 foot tall pile of books and miscellaneous geekage in the basement.

Comics and books in general can be such a pain in the ass.

Even Mrs. JoAG basically said to JoAG, in regards to his comics, "Why don't you just pitch or recycle them. You throw away your magazines don't you! They cost just as much!"

And quite frankly, what takes us geeks so long to break the evil cycle of stashing shit away, especially if we view it, or have been convinced, that they are "collectibles"?

That word "collectible" is en evil loaded concept isn't it. So much baggage involved with it.

I've got 25+ boxes of comics in a storage unit not to mention some in the garage.

Sure I need them out of my life, and sure I would love to recoup the literally thousands and thousands of dollars I spent on them, but being rid of them right now is far more important to me then having to deal with selling them, shipping them, etc.

Maybe just recycling would be the way to go.

He's very Menasory.

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I avoid TF message board forums and rarely go into any of them other than around GRC time to see what people bought.

Anyway, because of that, there's all kinds of peripheral toy shit that I miss and if it wasn't for people sending me the links to this or that I'd never know about some pretty cool custom stuff the TF geek masses produce out there in the wilds.

Pulse sent me to the TFW2005 boards this morning for this guy Redline's "Classics Menasor" project and I gotta say I'm always impressed by the creativity out there.

funny cat picture

So Dumbledore was a big old queen?

I mean I know he had that flaming bird and all.

It should have been totally obvious from the flowing robes and hats and shit.

Maybe it was.

I've only seen the first couple of movies and never read the books.

No doubt there's plenty of Dumbledore and Harry daddy/son slash fiction out there in the sick world of geekage.

Omen

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Of course, the damn TF movie DVD I bought is skipping left and right in the upstairs DVD player.

Sure it plays all kinds or copied pron DVDs, Doctor Who, and everything else fine.

Most definitely an omen that I really shouldn't have bought the movie.

It is because he rocks so much.

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And then I read...

I confess to Optimus Prime, and to C-3P0 and Twiki from Buck Rogers,
that I have sinned through my own lack of buying toy robots,
and by not thinking of toy robots every second,
and not talking about toy robots to everyone I meet.
And by not buying multiple versions of the toy robots movie the day it came out on DVD,
and by repeatedly failing to buy enough toy robots.
And I ask blessed Sam Witwicky, ever virgin,
all the Autobots and Decepticons,
and you, my fellow Roboholics,
to pray for me to the Lord Darth Vader.
And I realized that's the best modern version of the Catholic confiteor I've ever read.

Leave it to Loco Estaban to remind me of something from the deep dark recesses of my past worshiping the great Lord Cathol.

Well... except with robots in it now.

Where's the spotlight on Billy!

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10-23-07-blaster.jpg

I don't read the IDW comics but damn, that cover (above) to their Blaster issue has to be the best Blaster & Company have looked on the comics page ever.

Apparently, he's going to have a new personality that blends the Marvel comics one with the animated one which I suppose is a good thing.

My question is... non-comic reader that I am... who the hell are those 2 cassette bots on either side of Slamdance uptop on guitar?

Creations of the new comic? I don't recall Blaster ever having any other distinct "bot" cassettes other than Eject, Rewind, and the combiner Slamdance.

Was that the year I was on heroin and missed something?

Now I've wanted some form of upgrade in MP3 player over my current limited 1GB Rio S10.

There's just something appealing to having more and varied music when I'm working out at the gym since I've learned that having decent playlists is so important when on the treadmills or ellipticals.

Having enough different music throughout the week just doesn't happen with a 1GB player.

Now I'm an iTunes user and an iTunes store user, through I only buy a few tracks here or there when something on Sirius 21 has sparked my curiosity.

But $199 for an 8GB iPod new model Nano just was not money I wanted to spend when so many other pressing matters are of a concern to me.

Well, Microsoft partnered with a couple of sites and began selling new and refurb 30GB Zunes for only $99.

When I saw that, the simple economics of $99 for 30 gigs, the larger screen, video capabilities, and a radio tuner all kind of made sense at the moment so I snagged one.

My new Zune...(and yes, I'd rather have had an iPod)

And for my needs, it isn't too bad at all.

Now I wish these fucking companies (yeah I'm looking at you Apple and Microsoft and all you record labels) would just get over their anti-consumer attitudes and just allow all this shit to work across the board.

You should be able to buy a song at any store and play it on any player.

Yes, the iPod track record so far has been solid but believe me, there's no f'n reason why their music should not play in any other player without all the questionable hurdles the consumer has to do to make it work.

I buy the music legitimately, and then I have to burn it to CD then reimport it to MP3 just to play on standard formats.

And no, the proprietary DRM formats of Apple and even other stores do not offer any suffiecient sound quality over anything else when listened to over stupid little speakers. All you fucking marketing people should be shot on site over the shit you spew about these things to shy away from the price issue.

Anyway, so far the Zune is fine for my needs. I'll continue using iTunes and just use the awful Zune software just to synch music and files to the Zune. That's about all it is good for. It is a piece of shit and seems like it was a cheap piece of freebie MP3 player software MS just bought and worked on for a week and renamed. I get that feeling with a lot of consumer Windows software, especially things for media.

What does this have to do with Transformers?

Absolutely nothing!

Best Buy Exclusive Robot Heroes Cliffjumper and Battle-Damaged Prime

I can't knock small toys.

They both look ok.

And they were the best likely DVD-extra I'd have wanted, with the possible exception of seeing that mini-movie on the Wal-Mart DVD. I figure that'll make it online someday anyway.

Transformers Robot Heroes Movie Cliffjumper and Battle-Damaged Movie Optimus Prime are the 2006th and 2007th Transformers that I've acquired.

So I'm off today knocked up on oxycodone for my back. Found out yesterday I have a herniated cervical disk that's been causing a lot of my problems. The pain was unbearable this weekend but at least I can move on the drugs right now.

They've messed me up pretty bad though and thanks to that evil conglomeration of Combaticon's comment here I got suckered into looking at this DivX site Stage 6 and the next thing I know I'm suckered into watching Part 2 of Frank Herbert's Children of Dune. It is a Leto thing... I doubt you'd understand.

So I finally made my way into bed around 12:30am. Me! I'm the guy that goes to bed around 8am or so!

So there I was zoned out on opiate derivatives staring mindlessly at the computer screen for hours at something that I 1) own on DVD, and 2) whose source material I've read oh maybe 50 times in my life!

Drugs're bad!

Anyway, I though I'd take this time on my beloved Plastic Crack toy blog in which due to circumstances beyond my control (well... actually they are all under my control really) to find out a little about you, visitors and readers of one of the most pointless blogs on the internets.

Now I know most of you obviously from your emails and comments. I infer things over the years from this about who you are but alas, I know more about your stupid toy habits than probably anything else. That's kind of sick and pathetic don't ya think?

So.

This post is all about finding a little bit more about you. Not one of those repeating memes or shit just you and me and our keyboards.

So...

Utter total shit.

I was trying to find that metallic Megatron but the Best Buy at Polaris Fashion Mall (awful name) never got him or the Ratchet.

However, I was in the mood for some kind of fix to quench my relatively crack-free past few months and ended up buying the DVD release that came with the Robot Heroes repaints.

I mean... let's face it, first and foremost I'm always a TF toy loser.

The fiction, be it movie, cartoon, or comic will always come 2nd place.

And I figured I'd end up wanting the 2 toys anyway since they are so small and the New and Improved Plastic Crack Collection will pretty much have to be a small thing indeed.

I may watch the movie again tomorrow.

Well... maybe certain scenes.

There are quite a few scenes that were just awful to watch.

Maybe slow down some of the insanely too fast battles.

5 and 10

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2007-12-07%20whos.jpg

Yay for promo pictures!!!

Of course the only way I'll be able to see the Children in Need short is from somebody posting it on the internets but I can't wait until this appears!!! Damn you intellectual property rights peoples!!!

Now I'm no huge fan of the 5th Doctor, being he's a part of the early 80s stuff I find so hard to watch. (And yes, I'm sorta kinda haphazardly paying attention to the Snakedance tape I found at the libary the other day.) But I gots ta admit I'm a sucker for fanwank shit like various Doctors meeting up!

I wish they'd recreate a CGI 1st or 2nd Doctor to serve as the TARDIS' hologram warnings!

If the chameleon circuit can be stuck as a 50s police box there's no reason that other systems can't be malfunctioning.

If they can bring Jor-El back in that boring ass Superman Returns flick they should be able to bring Hartnell or Troughton back in the TARDIS somehow.

Just don't bring back the 6th Doctor. That would hurt.

I was handed a new word today from a Brit and it is my destiny to spread it far and wide from the Cowlands and beyond.

That word?

Twunt!

Say it loud!

Say it proud!

A Spychanger repaint in movie Prime colors???

I'm there!

And he's small and won't take up space.

Movie Easter Egg

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So yeah. There's all kinds of easter eggs in the new DVD if you get the Family Dollar Exclusive version.

If you click on Shia LaBeouf's package from the easter egg menu for the Michael Bay interview on the 7th inner menu under Special Features you'll find a deleted scene that they so should have left in the movie.

Instead of Bumblebee pissing all over John Turturro's Agent Simmons, he turns around and takes a huge roboshit all over him!!!

I laughed and laughed and rewatched it like 15 times!

Robots shitting!

So funny.

So very very funny.

Copter McCopsalot

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Grrr.

If this is indeed the TakaraTomy exclusive repaint of Movie Blackout then I'm mad.

Mad as hell in fact!

Mad as hell but unfortunately I'm still going to have to take it!!!

I totally love him!

Sally Sparrow. Duck now!

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2007-10-19-who-angel.jpg

Cool!

Most of you probably have no idea what the hell this Weeping Angel is.

The Weeping Angels are essentially the villains of "Blink", one of my favorite creepiest and bestest episodes of Doctor Who of all time!

I never thought they'd make toys of them!

2007-10-19-who-angel2.jpg

The weeping angels are a quantum-locked species that appears frozen like stone when viewed by an outside observer but they can move when not observed.

Some pretty freaky shit if you saw the episode.

Holy Crap!

Now the only one of any obvious importance is Classic Megs. The Hasbro release of the other figures were pretty much dead-on color wise.

I've seen some great custom repaints and even photobashes of Classic Megs done in a grey pallette and even they were panties wetting!

I suppose one could say that this has been fandom's denerfication of the original Hasbro release?

Oh. And I was also looking at what comes with that Best Buy movie DVD set.

I think it is pretty much guaranteed that Bumblebee has replaced Hot Shot fully and that no matter what line Hasbro does, from now on there will be a Bumblebee.

And just as the sun sets every day, and just as every Optimus Prime is repainted as white as Ultra Magnus, so be it that Bumblebee will constantly be repainted red as Cliffjumper.

Thus the universe turns. Turns along Hasbro's skewed version of The Golden Path.

So Tformers has a post that says that Hasbro will be releasing "More ''Metallic'' Figures Coming Our Way 1st Half of '08".

The Hasbro regurgitation machine blows my mind.

The thing is, as a now-recovering completist collector (thanks TF movie) I can't imagine the amount of money hardcore completists will waste in buying up all of these.

There was a time not long ago that I would have likely been up there with them.

Now I can understand the metallic thing for vehicles. Some of them (Lawson's Concept Camaro Bumblebee) just look more realistic in a proper metallic but let's face it, this is the kind of activity that has got to make collectors question their habits.

First Hasbro releases the figures separately.

Then the release the same figures in multi-packs, etc.

Then they release additional waves of figures, many of which don't seem to even remotely make it to most US regions.

Then they repaint the same figures, releasing them individually or as multi-packs.

Then they release the same figures yet again repainted again with a metallic paint they they would have probably looked best in the first time around.

I suppose there's a small chance they'll release a Hasbro version of the Japanese Lawson's exclusive but my gut feeling here is that they'll continue the Voyager-class sizing for these. I could be wrong, but the first 2 are that size.

So much shelf-filler.

I just don't see the target kid market giving too much of a shit about any repaints. They end up getting what their parents pretty much buy them.

This strikes right at the collector mentality.

Man the new Classics 2.0 figures and the Animated figures can't get here fast enough!

Purty Crack Maker Saotome!

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2007-10-15-movprowl.jpg

Damn that boy cranks the custom crack out like there's no tomorrow!

He's like a veritable custom factory.

I need to hire him to come to Cowtown and give me a weekend's worth of lessons.

That is when I get done remodeling the house and painting walls.

Then I'll finally paint plastic.

(pic above swiped without permission, he can berate me later)

Damn! That Japanese Lawson's chain has got a 2nd decent repaint coming out!!!

I still want that metallic 2008 Bumblebee from them!

Grrr...

Why do all the really cool repaints originate elsewhere?!?!

At least the totally great Evac retool will be coming out!

Now that's the way to do a repaint! Add a little sugar with a retooled head and life raft!

Transformers + Doctor Who + Cosplay = ?

TF 2007, 4: Part Deux, and 300

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With the imminent release of the Transformers movie on DVD I find myself really apathetic to watching it again.

I can't say I'm in any hurry to go out and buy it and spend 2 hours watching it again.

Once at Botcon and once with Max Power, Kelmeister, and Kelmeister's Husband was plenty enough.

And what's even funnier?

2007-10-15-ss.jpg

We rented Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer this weekend and while I went into it expecting nothing at all I was totally shocked at how entertaining it was for the most part.

I really expected pointless action and what I got was an actual character-driven comic book movie!

Sure the ending was utterly lame and Jessica Alba is still totally miscast as Sue Sorm, but for the most part they totally nailed the interaction between the 4 main leads. That was really surprising.

Doctor Doom, due to the pointless alterations to his character from the first film is just as weak here, but it would have been hard to redeem him in any major fashion.

The Surfer was ok. After watching the featurettes on the 2nd DVD I'd really rather have had the actor who did the motion capture than the CGI insert. He pretty much is a cypher that doesn't really do all that much.

All in all, it was far more entertaining than I thought it would be.

---

And 300?

I had avoided it not in the hopes of avoiding another comic book-to-film adaptation gone possibly wrong but because I'm still too close to the source event.

Longtime readers will know I've got one of those useless degrees in Classics and I focused primarily on Ancient History.

The Battle of Thermopylae has been an interest of mine since I was 7 and one has to be extremely careful in fictional adaptations of primary interests. Some of you may even remember that King Leonidas of Spart was even incorporated into a design of naladahc.com back in 2002 for quite some time.

Now Frank Miller's 300 novel is OK and is saved by Lynne Varley's phenomenal painting/colors. And this transfers to the film.

It is a remarkable piece of visual imagery. Truly beautiful to behold and a part of me regrets not having seen it on a big screen.

The film also does a remarkable job of showing the likely savagery of hand-to-hand combat, especially with the Spartans. They were indeed literally bred as fighting machines and I think the movie conveys it very well.

Of course, it works best when viewed as a Spartan telling other soldiers of the last stand of the 300 Spartans at Thermoplylae, wrapping it up in an almost ethereal fantasy. It makes the savagery much more potent when viewed through this lens.

Sure it isn't historically accurate. Though there were 300 Spartans at the battle, in reality there were quite a few other soldiers from other city-states who were also instrumental in the battle. That is totally missed here. The fact that Sparta enslaved an entire people and that pederasty was ingrained in their military culture is totally overlooked here as well, funny since much of the ancient history is about enslaving others and specific forms of homosexuality were institutionalized in much of Greece.

Using the lens of the soldier reiterating the story makes this barely palatable that that is pushing it.

Now one thing that kind of irked me was the portrayal of all non-Greeks as basically monstrous creatures. In fact, some of them, even Greek traitor Ephialtes, are portrayed visually as if they come from Mordor instead of the Greek highlands or the Middle East.

Of course, once again, if viewed through the lens of a storyteller making the enemy and traitor disgustingly monstrous actually makes a certain amount of sense.

I recall that some critics were all up in arms over the portrayal of Xerxes and all but really, just look at how any culture portrays its enemies and any argument can quickly fall apart.

Overall, it is one hell of a beautiful film.

A garage full of crack!

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IMG_9797

About 2/3 of the crack is on the premises, most of it in bins and boxes in the garage.

I want to get it all into the basement by winter at least. I want to be able to park in my garage for once!

I need to replace some electric exterior lights today and I'd like to tackle the office which I can't seem to organize.

Ugh

Without those decent shelves, I have no idea what to do with the toys in here.

Losing the attic space sucks.

Behold! Repaints a plenty!

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So I've refrained from getting any version of Movie Megatron so far.

I just don't think there's any value in the Leader class one and quite honestly, I didn't even know they were releasing the Voyager class version.

I read today that the Best Buy exclusive Metallic Movie Megatron and metallic Ratchet are shipping and I think I may just get that Megs.

Rescue Ratchet is the official version I'll keep and sell off the original green release. I can't say a metallic version of that original color scheme gets me even remotely excited.

I'd have been all over a metallic version of Rescue Ratchet though!

I'm waiting for a turd brown UPS delivery truck Transformer though. I really wanted UPS to get with Hasbro on that!

No pictures at the moment.

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So I'm trying to set up some semblance of a crack room / office and I just realized I have absolutely no idea how I can set up the light box and lights here.

I may have to do that in the basement.

Balls!

I wanted to shoot those Sector 7 basics I snagged the other day.

Wow! It is true!

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So according to Tformers that G1 Sky-Lynx will indeed be reissued!

I honestly never thought we'd see a reissue of any of the larger battery-operated non-Takara created 80s figured ever again.

$89.99 isn't too steep when you consider how few are likley made and will actually sell!

I'll likely pass.

He's just too big of a figure for me right now.

Though come to think of it, it they come up with a cool new box he'd stack better.

They'll probably do that retread old G1-style box that I can't say I'm a fan of anymore.

Is it morally reprehensible act to have spent a long time avoiding so-called sequel books to a book that you consider on par with the the Dhamapadda and or even the parts of the Torah, Mahabharata, and possibly even the New Testament if you only take the book out of the library to see truly how bad it is because what you've accidentally read on the internets made you laugh so hard that you know it can't possibly tarnish in any shape way or form what the author originally intended regardless of the fact that the author's son says he is using notes supposedly left by the author when you know that the author probably would never have written something so laughable or something so childish and basic when compared with everything he wrote before?

If you don't give the hack writers any actual money and you read it just "for a laugh" will you be forced to read more of the hack writers' works if you end up in an afterlife?

Did you know that when it comes down to it, Target would rather not take your money and sell you something that you really want?

Yup!

Apparently the almighty big red concentric circle logo people have haphazard policies from store-to-store about not selling display units that are already assembled.

Giga and I drove around to a ton of Targets, even driving up to Delaware, Ahiya, trying to find one of those perfect damn shelves!

Hell... I'd even have bought the one that was missing the two top shelves since then I still could have put the Maximii twins up there and my purty Takara boxed shit.

But noooooo!

Get this... Spectroscott even found some display units up in the general Cleveburg area and they refused to sell to him!

So.

I still don't have any remotely decent shelving to try and have some type of collection of crack in the new house.

I'm almost to the point I just want to get rid of everything other than a few Car Robots figures and my PVCs and call it a day as a crack collector!

Maybe this IKEA shelf will work.

2007-10-10-shelf.jpg

I'm not a fan of light birch and my plans for the room were not along colors like that.

I suppose I could strip and restain the damn thing but man, all I want is a frigg'n decent looking shelf and not all this goddamn drama!

I never would have thought it would be so hard to find a decent quality wood shelf this large.

Goddamn I hate toys!

No shelf for Nala.

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Target Lennox doesn't have their display unit anymore for the shelf.

Balls!

Super mega nasty balls!

And I even put back the 2-pack Movie Bumbleebee pack I found even though it is likely the only way I'll find a 2008 Bumblebee.

Actually, I'm more included to drop the $70 on that Japanese Lawson's exclusive metallic gold one than any of the US ones.

But the mere fact I'm putting toys back is a good and healthy thing.

In come circles it might even be construed of as a virtuous act.

I can't get it anywhere...

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2007-10-08-shelf.jpg

So the perfect simple shelf unit that Target carriesied doesn't seem to be found anywhere.

Understand... this is the perfect and so far only shelf that will allow me to have any controlled collection in the new house.

If you are a regular reader you know the Attic of Love was formally laid to rest on September 29 and I've been trying to figure out what the phrock to do with 2000+ toys.

This Target shelf was perfect and I liked it when I first saw it and I so regret not buying one then. There was just no place in the House of Love III for it.

They are all clearanced and gone and no Target in the city has any left.

I'm going to run to Lennox to try and try to buy their display unit today.

Funny.

I've gone from driving around to 10 Targets to find a single toy to driving around to 10 Targets to find a goddamn shelf!

On the road of plastic recovery...

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You'll be happy to know that I picked up and then immediately put back Recon Barricade and Dropkick.

See.

I'm getting better.

Mmmm... I'd love a Silk Cut...

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S'funny.

Some days I really just want to have a cigarette again.

Long live the Monoptera!

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Found some of the remaining Sector 7 basics and snagged 'em the other day.

I'm in love with Air Raid as much as I am with Skyblast.

That camo deco is just awesome!

Unfortunately, the shelf that I want to buy, the shelf that will be the replacement for an entire attic, was out of stock.

Still living out of boxes.

Giga's been getting the kitchen unpacked but quite frankly, this new kitchen is utterly non-functional compared to the House of Love III's long kitchen.

The cabinets suck such balls that I shall not even go into it. We still can barely fit anything into this old refrigerator.

So much work.

So very much work to do and money to spend.

Waitaminute!

Where are all of the other apologies to China from toy companies like Mattel did?

The lead is not a flaw but a feature. C'mon!

I find it kind of funny though that a good chunk of items listed here all end up at Dollar General, the home of quality merchandise!

Broadband's back!

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I finally have the internets again at the new house.

The new N router is working well.

Alas, I haven't been able to set up my desktop PC or even anything remotely looking like an office.

Boxes. Boxes. And more boxes.

That's life.

Here's a hint!

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2007-10-05-gatchaman.jpg

I am eagerly awaiting Gatchaman!

It'll be interesting to see if this is true Japanese Gatchaman or ends up a hybrid (name-wise) with Battle of the Planets.

Unfortunately, the characters will forever be associated with their Battle of the Planets names for me.

And so it goes...

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Ka'Plah! Die beast!

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Ka'Plah!
Originally uploaded by KenekeB
Um.

I guess we'll have to wait for Klingons vs. Furries: Requiem to see how it all ends.

Oh.

There was a special appearance by certain luchadores as well.

Now if that Stormtrooper legion had been available too...

Anyway, here's a shitload of video from the thing.

I'm actually kind of shocked that bowling is still common.

It just screams 1950s-1970s to me. I can't think of anyone I know that bowls.

Hell... I know more adults on kick ball and dodge ball leagues than I do that bowl! That's a change in the pattern of adult living there!

New House: Day 4

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Greetings!

Well, I'm having to post this from the Cup O Joe in Clintonville since there were all kinds of problems installing our broadband last Friday once I took possession of the house. TW tried 3 different modems and there was nothing so this is the best I can do.

---

I have to offer up the greatest thanks in the world to the following people who made this insane "less than 24 hour" move possible: Kelmeister, Kelmeister's Husband, MaxPower, Cynned, JayK, the NalaOjciec and NalaMatka, Evebird, and PamA.

The amount of time... not to mention backbreaking labor that was exerted from Friday night to Saturday night to move the entire contents of the house is appreciated beyond any words I could say or type.

I can only imagine the swearing and cursing that everyone had to be saying under their breath, especially at the attic shit.

---

80% or more of the toys will have to go. There's no doubting that now. I just can't see having these with the lack of a 4th bedroom. Target has this nice, though overly priced, shelf that will fit well in my office and will probably be the control space for toys for here on out.

---

Hensley has adapted. The first night there put him off but he's getting better.

Ziggy has spent most of the past 2 days hiding in the basement. Chester, annoying alpha male that he is, pretty much wanders the house screaming out his general displeasure with the world.

---

Boxes! My life is literally just boxes and boxes and more boxes. They are in every room, the basement, and are also completely filling the garage!

As soon as I leave here I'm heading back to try and set up my office and the front bedroom so I can get the clothes in drawers and the aquariums set back up. Neither has had the filter operational in the past few days and I hope it doesn't have too much of a negative effect on the danio/cory tank. Number Six will survive a nuclear apocalypse so I don't worry too much about him.

----

Unfortunately, my laptop will not read my SD cards. I don't know if the camera is in fact damaged (my mother dropped it) or if it is a data issue caused by not reformatting the card in-camera.

Not that I have anything other than pictures of boxes shoved into spaces, rooms, and crevices.

----

The worst thing that happened is that my glasses broke so I'm without my extra eyes.

----

Ok. I'm heading back home to start working. At the moment I couldn't tell you where anything is if you asked!

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This page is an archive of entries from October 2007 listed from newest to oldest.

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