January 2008 Archives

Botcon got fingered.

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Got an email from the GRCthat registrations will be out later today.

It'll be interesting to see what the other figures are, as they are usually listed on the form.

At least I think they have been on the previous forms.

What's funny? The mad rush I wish I could witness tonight as TF geeks across the world rush to fill out and fax in their form to get a little metal cloisonné pin.

Bad craziness.

"Your cousin Marvin... Marvin Cobain!"

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Sadgasm.jpg

Did any of you catch "That 90's Show", this past weekend's Simpsons episode?

It was interesting because it pretty much retconned away vast chunks of past episodes, shifting Marge and Homer's dating period from the late 70s to the 90s.

Apparently, the Crisis on Infinite Earths finally hit Earth-Springfield.

As a stand alone episode I really loved it.

But man oh man... I've seen every episode of the show far too many times to just have so much continuity gone.

It is definitely one of those love it or hate it kind of things and I find myself really torn about it.

On one hand, the show's been going strong for almost 20 years without major internal continuity retcons. Sure the characters don't age, but they don't have to. It is a damn cartoon.

I basically said to Giga that if the show was actually created today, this would be exactly what Marge and Homer's pre-Bart life would have been like.

This could be a good move, or a bad move, or they may just totally forget about it and never reference it again.

But man... I'd probably listen to Sadgasm.

EBay slashes some fees as incentives for sellers

Items sold under $25 on EBay will see a commission rise from 5.25% to 8.25%...
Now it has been a while since I did any really crack buying or selling online but I have to believe that a sizeable portion of the plastic crack exchanging hands there falls in the under $25 category. Especially for a lot of stuff from the last 3 pre-movie lines.

I've always hated selling on EBay since you get nailed with the various fees and then, since I don't want to play the check or MO game, I get hit again with Paypal fees.

I haven't explored any other selling options since the Yahoo! auctions closed.

Any of you sell crap on anything other than EBay?

OHMYEFINGGOD!

Powerglide is perfection.

Tankor Octane is triple-changey awesome!

Onslaught is most definitely Onslaught!

And with Prowl I can hear Michael Bell!

But the funniest thing is, there's just so much detail in these guys in that simple basic grey plastic that gets lost later on.

I can only imagine the greatness that Jin Saotome might bring to these guy later down the road.

Of course, I'm betting odds that we'll get a SilverBluestreak or Smokescreen out of Prowl too and that's perfectly fine in my book.

Now I can't wait to watch all the people bitch that "Onslaught isn't a combiner!" or "Powerglide doesn't come with Michael Chain's leather jacket!" and so forth.

I still remember that fond September 2, 2005 post when Michael Chain visited PlasticCrack.com!

Michael_Chain.jpg

Ah... 2005.

So very long ago.

Die! Die! Die! Part 2

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Is it me or is the G1 Convoy mold like the figure that just will not die?

They must've made other molds for this figure.

I mean... they've chugged out so many Takara reissues, one or two Hasbro ones, countless e-Hobby ones... and now this.

At least the new sculpted head looks better.

That much is certain.

Die! Die! Die!

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Damn you sp@mmers!!!

Never use the subject line of "Blow them all away with your gigantic tank gun" ever again.

That could have been important news about a new Transformers Encore figure or something.

Cracktasia: From the makers of Dollcon.

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For some reason I must have accidentally had the Botcon forums update me on a thread about what people are looking to buy or sell during April's GRC.

The auto-email I received got me thinking.

There's not much I want anymore, especially in light of the fact that I still haven't had the time or space to go through all the old Attic of Love boxes and thin it all out.

However, there are a few things I'll be looking for and probably have about a 10% or less chance of finding them.

  • The 5 Takara JUSCO exclusive Car Robots spychangers I need

  • The 2 Takara exclusive translucent Movie Protoform figures
  • The original 2 Takara NIKE shoeformers (If I can get them cheap!)
  • Takara "Classics" Megatron in the grey color scheme
  • Revoltech Megatron
  • Takara Car Robots Crystal Super Fire Convoy (Seibu store exclusive )
  • Takara G1 Masterforce C-311 Grand Maximus
  • Takara G1 Masterforce C-303 Minelba/Minerva
  • Takara G1 Masterforce C-301 Go Shuta
  • Takara G1 Victory D-328 DinokingGiftset
  • Takara G1 Masterforce D-307 Overlord
  • Takara Robot Masters Black Lio Convoy
  • Takara G1 Silver Alloy Convoy PVC (chase)
  • Takara G1 Metallic Galvatron PVC (chase)
  • Takara G1 Metallic Ghost Starcream PVC (chase)
I probably wouldn't put back a Tako Tank if I found one either.

That's the problem with my collecting these days.

The remaining things I'd like to add are all fairly hard to find or way more than say $200 each.

Since I pretty much don't give a shit about 99% of G1 toys, there's not much for me to care about there at all.

I also noticed on the Botcon brochure that vendors now only have to have 50% Transformers merchandise.

That, along with Master Collector's hinted at "pop culture/science fiction" changes to Botcon lead me to believe that it will become less and less of a Transformers-centric thing.

Of course, that's the inherent problem with a profit-generating focus on Botcon versus the fan-focused convention: they are somewhat mutually exclusive.

I mean, there really are no new dealers or vendors for Transformers out there. Sure you end up with some people getting additional tables as well as the people who buy tables to surprisingly try and sell their non-licensed non-official wares such as Tshirts and paraphenilia, but a fan cannot judge "tables sold" as any indicator of how many actual dealers or vendors proper will be there.

Even though the TF-centric fans will revolt to some degree, I can see Master Collector trying to change Botcon into a less Transformers-ish event and a broader "toy robot" convention. Hell... that's easily done without changing the name at all.

They even passed out some questionairres on the matter 1 or 2 cons ago.

Regardless of any negative TF fan response, I'm willing to bet that the economics of it will result in it happening anyway.

I mean, I don't think anybody can delude themselves and think that the people who run Botcon do this out of any generosity. It is done to make money and that's pretty much what it has to do to survive. If it morphs into something else to make more money then it will.

What was I saying?

Oh. Yeah. I know I barely have a chance in hell of finding any of that stuff I'm looking for.

However, I'd gladly trade my likely future mint-in-box Botcon 2008 figure set for a fraction of the things I really want.

Anybody got an MIB Minerva they wanna part with?

Not that you care, but I'm extremely happy that Blu-Ray has pretty much trounced HD-DVD so we can get on with our high-def future.

As a consumer, I was extremely reluctant to dive into high def (HD) since at the time I saw absolutely no reason to upgrade.

Retailers such as Best Buy, HHGregg, Microcenter and others failed to show me any reason to upgrade with their various HD sets all looking like bad web video half of the time. Their staff members are also pretty much full of shit when it comes to straight talk about HD, especially ones that live off of commission.

I've actually had Microcenter staff tell me how great a given image's picture quality was when anybody viewing it would say that it was total shit! Of course, they live off of slapping their little name stickers on products so they can make a commission and I've found over the years they'll say anything (or often do anything) to get that sticker on a box!

Anyway, I was very happy that recently I found a very cheap DVD player that upsamples to 1080i on my new Samsung. It really made a difference in the DVD playback.

Now as a consumer, I wasn't going to touch the whole HD next generation Blu-Ray or HD-DVD players until one of the formats was dead. I don't care what anybody says, it was the whole Betamax versus VHS war from the early 80s all over again. I'm just old enough to remember the whole thing quite clearly as it played out with various family member's purchases.

As with HD televisions, I've sat on the side lines watching how the players would end up until I felt the time was right.

Thankfully, based on several recent major supports dropping HD-DVD support, the world can now be a better place because Blu-Ray will become the standard. (And don't let Paramount's HD DVD only policy fool you. They'll go wherever the dollars are to be made.)

Let's face it, technically, they are pretty much identical, with Blu Ray having shitloads more of capacity and HD DVD really only have Region Free players (which I wish Blue Ray had since that is my major DVD headache).

What's amazing is that HD DVD could have had a real competitive chance if the oh-so-great Microsoft, supporter and a major creator of HD DVD, would have thrown HD DVD players as standard in their XBox system like Sony threw Blu Ray in the Play Station.

That Sony move definitely gave Blu Ray the momentum and saturation needed to drive disc sales.

What's also nice is that Blu Ray also is driven internally by substantial amounts of a Java Virtual Machine, which of course has to piss Microsoft off.

It'll be awhile before I drop money down on a Blu Ray player. But it is nice to know that essentially all the pieces are in place for us to benefit from it, at least in the living room.

Now that Blu Ray has more or less been christened the winner of the format war, I can sit back and watch the flood of eventual cheaper and more affordable players hit the market and let vendor competition on price help me to find the player I'll own.

Who knows, by that time, I may even upgrade to an HDTV upstairs too. Though of course, there's not much point in doing that unless we have cable TV run upstairs as well. Though honestly we could live off a digital antenna if the quality was worth it.

Now that's something I need to explore further.

And I knew I had to have it.

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Oh.

Damn!

Yeah... I think I want the TakaraTomy version of Incinerator over the Hasbro one.

The basic black with minor blue trim and dark grey props is definitely me.

However, for every Japanese variation I love of a Transformer there's always a cosmic balance with one I find ugly as hell.

Such is the zen of "Nasza rzecz"!

The greatest Transformers review ever!

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Optimus Prime is "that motherfucker"!

One of the funniest Transformers movie reviews I've come across.

I think I need to watch more of this chick.

You need to listen to the whole thing since it is really funny.

Well. Maybe not.

To each his or her own.

So I'm extremely happy that BBC America has started to run at least one program only 1 week after it airs on BBC2.

And I can only hope that they do so with Series 4 of a certain 10 generation of a certain Gallifreyan Time Lord when he starts up again later this Spring.

But man oh man... the series debut of Torchwood was truly, as someone here commented about, totally gay.

***possible gay spoilers ahead***

You can fake it for a while...

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BEWARE: Train-of-thought rambling ahead. Then again, that's all I pretty much do anyway usually no?

Well... at least the Gay Robot Convention organizers put out a general brochure before the registration this year.

I have zero interest in the Botcon figures this year and even less than zero interest in Botcon as a convention. (Pretty much 90% or so the same as previous years. That'll never change even with a new con organizer I'm afraid.)

Just more repainted toys but this year with a theme that only the most serious hard core mom's basement-dwelling geek could muster a shit about.

And I already have 3 versions of the Classics Bumblee mold and multiple versions of the Classics Starscream mold. I can only imagine the Goldbug they mention will be gold Bumbleblee and yet another Starscream repaint.

Will they actually make a new fugly blue retooled Goldbug head though? I wonder.

Now the one thing that would be funny... and might actually (jokingly) pique my interest is if the "evil" Autobots all have goatees on them.

Obviously, I could paint that on myself but then it would be a custom and not an officially approved toy so I couldn't get it AFA graded and all.

They're kinda grasping at straws for the Wednesday tour too. Laser Tag? The toy mall? A grocery store? A comic store???

Ok. I can see if you aren't from the area that the toy mall might be remotely interesting but c'mon. Laser Tag and Queen City Comics???

And Jungle Jim's is totally scraping the bottom of the barrel to keep people occupied but I can't say it is remotely worth part of the $85 day fee.

Renting a car would be cheaper and you can do much of this for free without any tour charge.

The Air Force Museum is cool though. I've been there years ago and that I can see being worth it with the right people with me. (Actually, the trip to Dayton would probably be the most fun part of it.)

It is really going to be hard for me to find a real reason to do anything but walk-up for this con. But then again, Giga and I would really enjoy that 2-day course but probably only that.

Now maybe... and I can't believe I'm typing this... I can convince Zeta Convoy and my usual cronies to possibly form a... my god I can't believe I'm actually typing this... a team to compete in the boards wars thing.

The thing is I say that and yet I realize that not one bit of me really cares. (I'm actually grasping at straws of my own to find some reason to pay money to go to this aren't I?)

This may be my first GRC in which I just walk around, drink, bullshit, and not wait in lines.

What sucks the most though is I have to decide soon if I'm going to drop the cash on this or not.

I suppose I could sell the exclusive set for toys to some of the dealers. Thought I suspect this set will be easily parted from buyers hands unlike the past 2 years.

What would be really funny? If the attendee freebie is actually the missing Sunstorm seeker from last year's set.

Bwahahahahah.... that'd be the way to piss off people wouldn't it?

Well... those that actually care about having the supposed "perfect" seeker set.

Now one thing that I may be able to convince some people to do... is to head over into the scary northern southlands of Kentucky and go to a tittie bar!!!

I myself have never had the pleasure (or displeasure) of seeking Kentucky tail. And least I don't remember having had any before. Hmmm... oh the Dark Ages of my 20s sometimes make me forget stuff.

So... Spectorscott... JackOfAllGeeks... Despotes...RJ... Zeta C... Crazy Steve... what're your plans geeks?

Crazy from Powet... you going to be there again this year?

And for Kelmeister, JKNotRowling, and Max... here's the shit on general attendance.

I'd love you guys to come and chill and be The Lame with us but I won't force you to suffer through it since it isn't exactly free.

Hmmm.... I've still got my "Up Close and Personal With Crazy Steve" documentary to consider. I wonder... since he was in the military... does he get a discount at the Air Force museum if he flashes his tits or something?

Placebo's cover of "Bigmouth Strikes Again" is one of the best cover songs ever.

Ok. Time to look at the finances and see if a Primus package is really worth it or not.

Don't forget... The Hoont needs to be boarded during this time too. That's potential drinking money right out the door before we've set foot out of Cowtown.

Robots? Who needs 'em.

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I think I may finally order this one Japanese piece I've wanted for some time.

He's a bit pricey and he doesn't transform or anything but he's one of my favorite characters.

I'll post more if I break out the credit cards.

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My internal monologue and I have actually argued today about getting those two TarakaTomy "transcanning" figures. They are pretty different from your run of the mill movie shit and they're definitely something I'd keep for the pure uniqueness factor alone.

I doubt Hasbro will import either of them. Though c'mon Hasbro... think of the the Ultra Magnus, Nemesis Prime, Cliffjumper, and BugByte repaint action you could do!!! You know you wanna!!!

Off-The-Beaten-Takara path though, I really regret not buying those silly ass Nike figures last year at Botcon from the Japanese guys. When they dropped them to $80 or so for both that final Sunday I should have snagged them. Their shoe box packaging alone was brilliant.

And yes, I still want those translucent Takara movie protoform figures too. But man is that shit pricey!

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2008-01-24-arcee.jpg

Damn! The fugly ass mold looks pretty to me in the traditional G1 color palette. And you know... I think $30 would be worth it. I can give the other one away to someone's kid or something.

Maybe Wilhem's daughter would want her. Then again, she'd probably be like "What the hell is this???" or something. Kinda like Dawn Davenport on Christmas morning.

The kids... they loves the Bumblebee.

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Have any of you seen that Osprey Incinerator out yet?

I still may get that just because there's never been anything quite like that in modern lines.

I mean, you really can't count Beast Machines Obsidian or that one mini-con in the same light as a full on Voyager size figure with that kind of unique alt mode.

Though I'll admit, that blacker colored Takara version is actually a bit more pleasing to me.

Bah! Who knows.

Ya know, every day brings more movie repaints and/or repackagings.

I think this movie line of figures may be the most repackaged and repainted mainstream line of toys Hasbro has done with the TF brand.

Bad craziness.

I thank most of TF geekdom will go bonkers when those animated figures finally start hitting retail. Maybe even the kids too if they remember that they exist by that time.

Well... except those that really need the Special Battle Erectile Dysfunction exclusive of Optimus Prime.

With the addition of my 6" Titaniums to my cubicle o' doom at work, my plastic crack fetish has become completely obvious and it is impossible to deny or to really excuse.

I basically outted myself as one of these sick adults who collects toys.

People walk by and stare. Some occasionally make comments. Others look bewildered.

Quite frankly, I don't see much difference between this shit and the people here who have M&M toy shit or other stuff.

Now recently, one of my coworkers, we'll call him Wilhelm Niebieski, finally found his daughter the 2008 Bumblebee.

I've yet to open it so I really don't know how the plastic feels or how the thing moves but man oh man does Mr. Niebieski have a total mad on this this figure.

Apparently it keeps falling apart and won't lock quite back together in car mode.

I recently received this email...

I'm tellin ya man.... toys just aren't made like they used to be. I'm gonna buy my daughter the "ultimate" bumble bee and then have my film maker son do a movie of me going postal on that piece of shit we bought last weekend. It will forever be known as the "Transformer Incident of aught eight" I'm serious, I may go buy some ammo for my Thompson and run a clip through that abasement of a fucking toy. ;-)

Personally, since his son wants to be a film maker, I'd shoot an entire reenactment of Bumblebee getting his legs blown off by that rocket Starscream hit him with.

At least I think it was Starscream. That fucking battle was such a confusing mess I really don't know who hit who or what with how.

Any of you crack geeks have any problems with your Bumblebees?

Dead?

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Then I read...

subject Enormous shlong is the fact that all girl like.

Your wife shack up with your friend that's why you're alone.

For reason of the size of his male instrument drove her mad with him.

Enlarge your instrument and you'll forget about this troubles once for all .

A lot of men all over the world have lengthen. At present it is your turn.


To which I have to say... fuck you!

I have a complete Fortress Maximus, Brave Maximus, and every woman's desire the Lucky Draw Black Fire Convoy!

My instruments can't get any larger!!!

Anyway, none of the women I know want to touch my Black Fire Convoy anyway.

So I finally and honestly say that High Definition television, when properly setup with high def input signals and the right cables is really great!!!

Why the damn stores that sell any form of HDTV don't all put infrastructures in, even DVD-based, that show the true HD output of the HD wares they peddle is beyond me. I've been so unimpressed with these stores' products that I put off buying an HD tv for years!

The other day I watched several men beat the shit out of each other at a few UFC bouts on HD.net and there's something awesomely perverted about watching each sweat bead fly and the blood ooze. I am so loving MMA more and more!

Now what's kind of awesome, and frankly, not that unexpected, is that our local PBS channel, WOSU, has been all HD for some time and it really makes a difference in their output. My friend Cynned, is a producer/director for them and he'd keyed me in to this a long time ago but I wasn't really able to experience it until now.

HD.net, WOSU, and Discovery seem to be the only real channels that do a lot of HD. Well... and the ESPNs too but there's not much I really give a shit about on them.

I'm actually kind of shocked that other major producers and networks haven't just done the inevitable and converted over.

Transformers: Animated should have be done in HD from the moment it was conceived. Most modern animation, even those that are still somewhat cel-driven and based, can easily be planned out for the new format. And let's face it... most animation being generated is for television and DVD so why not make the investment now.

HD.net will be showing Series 2 of Torchwood in all of its HD glory and hopefully the show won't suck as much story and character balls as Series 1 did. (And yes, I know I said I liked the show when it debuted but in retrospect it really was a garbage mish-mash start!)

I can only hope Series 4 of Doctor Who also gets broadcast this way.

There's nothing quite as horrifying as watching SCI-FI Channel, and even BBC America, butcher these two programs with their commercial editing inserts! Talk about destroying a story beat. They may as well just create a random time generator to insert the commericals into the flow of any given story. It is just awful.

I'm also extremely excited and happy at all the channels that took the simple station ID ghosting in the bottom corner and throw in all that fucking animated advertising and bullshit! It does wonders for shows that are subtitled, or captioned, etc. Thank you so much marketing people! I love you!

And no NBC... having a constant reminder that your fucking American Gladiators is going to be on in can't really equate to people who wouldn't normally watching it actually watching it!!!

Anyway, what was I saying... oh yes.

HD rocks if you set it up right!

Oops I crapped my pants.

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And then he commented with this link and oops I crapped my pants.

Twice.

It is totally sunny as hell here in the Cowlands but it is 11°F that feels Like -3°F. So misleading when looking out a window.

That's balls freezingly cold.

I had planned to spend the rest of the day sorting all of my power tools, plaster tools, and everything related to the excitement that is my mad house remodeling skills but the basement is really cold... especially the tool room under the foyer.

I need to get the first real coat of plaster up on the new project tomorrow so I really gotsta get everything sorted.

Much like the Transformers, there are still many many many boxes and bins that haven't been unpacked here at The Domicile since October's move and I really hate having to buy things again but I can't find this or that trowel or bit when I need it.

I also don't have to work tomorrow and if I can get a plaster coat up today, I can do a first sanding and a 2nd coat tomorrow!

My favorite ruler of the land of all-day Iron Maiden triggered me once again to read some new online pablum that I'd never been to before.

Of course, that has caused a new episode of...

Tales From Nala's RSS Feeds!

Yes. There's a lot of geek shit here. I mean, the internets are pretty much my escape from the oh so exciting career I've chosen and home remodeling. Your own mileage may vary.

In no particular order:

I also read a lot of more personal-centric blogs. While a few of the above really would fall under that category, I suppose.

And my tech bloggers and such are just too numerous to list.

What's funny though is I don't really comment much any more on any blogs or sites I read. Less now that work blocks 99% of everything and at home there's too much stuff to do instead of sitting in front of the computer.

Such is the way of life.

Arcee is in da haus boyee!

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2008-01-19-arcee.jpgAnd there was much rejoicing for a few moments here at The Domicile when Arcee spoke today during "Thrill of the Hunt" on Transformers: Animated.

While she didn't say much, there was a certain fanwank awesomeness to the fact that Susan Blu reprised the role of Arcee she created back in 1986!

Since she's the voice director of the new series, a small part of me held hopes that when Arcee findally did appear she'd voice her.

And there was much rejoicing.

Both Giga and I were rather shocked at how melancholy and depressing this episode was. I figured that was unusual for a kid's show but then again, I really can't say I watch shows aimed at kids other than this one.

I'm hoping they do a proper Arcee finally. And by proper I just mean a non-motorcycle alt mode.

With this style, HasTak has to be able to design a decent Cybertronian car Arcee and finally give many of us the fan wank Arcee we've all wanted.

I also loved how Ratchet was rather svelte in his younger days and is now drawn with pretty much a gut.

Ratchet has fast become my favorite Autobot and I can't wait to see what his toy is like.

So far I think Bumblebee is just sort of annoying since he's aimed definitely at the kids. Prowl is too David Hyde Pierceish and I haven't quite warmed to him visually or character-wise yet. Megatron is head-tastically perfect and I loved the method of his recent christening of Grimlock last week. What little of Blitzwing I've seen is sorta fun. Bulkhead is a bit of the dumb ox stereotype that I could do without.

And Prime? Prime is quite frankly the most boring lame ass character on this show and for once I'm extremly happy with that. I hope that means more screen time for the others really.

The only thing that could possibly make Ratchet's past more Nala-fan-wanky for me would be to have him one day mention his having a co-paramedic named Minerva or maybe even mentoring a bot named First Aid.

Holy shit that would by like... like... giving me a geek handjob across the screen.

And I usually don't get that unless Battlestar Galactica is on!

Or I'm writing ancillary material for Splintered!

Saturday's this that and the other thing.

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So I'm definitely going to be getting the new Revoltech Starscream and especially Revoltech HotRodimus Hot Rod.

I still need to get Megs though.

2008-01-19-hotrod.jpgWhat's funny is this Hot Rod pose in the advert, done much like a Wachowski brothers' trademark slow-mo capture, reminds me of how I visualized this one scene in Splintered that I ended up cutting out. (Leave it to me to so far cut out almost all the traditional and cliche TF action scenes).

I suppose I should rework that back into the scene where Hot Rod refuses to fire a weapon again.

Who knows... maybe this posable crack will come in handy for me visually.

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I'm happy that someone posted some rear box picks of the fairly pointless filler Cybertron Jetfire and Cybertron Wing Saber repaints over at Tformers.

I'd be lying to you if I said that a part of me didn't call out for them when they were shown only from the actual alt mode top pics last week.

I am probably the only crack loser out there who would buy a ton of like-colored repaints and ditch the originals just to that they'd look like a consistent army on the shelf.

I'm not talking about the same figure over and over and over again (I'm looking at you Energon Terrorcons and Omnicons) but a paint palette that makes them look like they are part of a squad or team with a similar purpose or camoflauge.

Customing will be the only way I'll get that.

I still may get the Jetfire repaint and ditch the original Cybertron one.

Who knows. The thoughts between the moment I pick it up and put it into a cart and then to the checkout cashier are when all the actual decisions are made.

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I've pretty much decided to sell off or give away my various broken and/or piece meal Sky-Lynx figures and get a fully operational new Encore one from Captured Prey.

I could care less if it is "original G1" or not.

I'm wondering though, it they seem to be able to do the Encore line for Sky-Lynx and Omega Supreme, is a G1 Shockwave not to far behind?

That would do 3 out of the 4 non-Takara molds.

It is unlikely that a G1 Jetfire from a Macross Valkyrie will ever be done in an actual production run again.

I swear to you.

Based on this kind of thing, one day in the future some one wanting to make a profit will invent something like a Tleilaxu Axlotl tank.

And then eventually we may end up with Honored Matres thousands of years later.

And that last thing you want is a pissed off Honored Matre on your ass!

2010... why dost thou hatest me?

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I gotta get this up before I lose track of this shit.

So I've decided that before this shit gets crushed in the office and before I lose track of it into the mess that is the unremodeled office I may as well get a photo up of this shit so I can remember where it all falls into the collection.

Eventually I may get real photos done when there's more quality slacker time available. And I f'd up the count duplicating a layer since I was rushing this. There's no 2010.

Arthur C. Clarke would punch me in the balls for that.

Transformers Movie Bumbleblee (2008 version) 2008
Sector Seven Air Raid (I think) 2009
Sector Seven Elita-One 2011
Sector Seven Armorhide (I think) 2012
Hasbro Masterpiece Starscream 2013
Transformers Movie Landmine 2014
Transformers Movie Legends Rescue Ratchet 2015
Transformers Movie Legends Brawl 2016
Transformers Movie Cliffjumper 2017
Transformers Movie Evac 2018

Yeah. There's only 2017.

I'll fix it in the next few days... months... definitely by next year.

And then I came home to White Castle coffee!!!

Woohoo!!!

I came home this afternoon to some White Castle coffee sitting there on the counter.

Not sure where Giga found it but I'm happy.

I'm... how does one say in English... "Ich bin total das Kugelschaukeln glücklich."

It just may be better than Evac!

Well we knew we had the good things...

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So I've been thinking about the GRC and something that can be done there other than standing around waiting in lines, drinking, being retarded, and all around wasting valuable time.

At first I thought about video blogging or podcasting, but those are sorta of tired and quite frankly waste more of my time than I care to admit. (Note: When's the last time you actually saw me post a finished podcast or video blog? Exactly.)

I'd much rather shoot something stupid and edit and post later.

And that got me thinking... some of my favorite people will be there so maybe... just maybe... I can do a "Spotlight on..." feature.

Do a shitload of interviews of people I care about at the con and not necessarily what anybody else would give a shit about.

I honest to Teenage Jesus have more interest in a 30-minute interview/spotlight on say "Crazy Steve, the Battle hardened ruler of the Kingdom of Macrocrania" than I do of anyone from Hasbro or any actual guest of the con.

Perhaps he'll let me put that together.

You've not seen quality video camera work unless you've seen it done by someone who's just drank a bottle of Jack Daniels!!!

Being somewhat local to the con would allow me to bring the broadcast quality video camera and such without it being a pain-in-the-ass airline burden.

And maybe I can buy the rights to help develop Carbies, "the doll that turns into a car but you can't deny it is a doll" toyline!

2008-01-16-whitearcee.jpgI can't believe that TakaraTomy is doing a G1ish repaint of the Arcee movie bike for Wonder Festival 2008!

I'm a sucker for predominantly white and grey figures, and this looks a bit like that but it could be more pink than grey.

Who the phrock cares!!!

She's one I need to get. She can stand next to Masterpiece Ultra Magnus, Botcon Unit 2, and Botcon Ratchet.

Man. First Evac I swoon for and now this damn Arcee. Hell... I even like that black repaint of the damn thing too!

---

And damn if I'm not shocked as all shit that there will be a TakaraTomy Encore Omega Supreme release!

There goes the aftermarket small clip market.

I mean... why pay the same for a small 1cm yellow clip when you can buy an entire reissue for the same price with NO FLOPPY CLAW SYNDROME!!!

I still need to think about snagging one of those Sky-Lynx reissues too. I doub't know if I'll do OS though.

Quite frankly, he's just too big. I'd be a thousand times happier with a Revoltech Omega Supreme. These bigger figures are fun for kids to play with but other than sitting their ass on a shelf they just don't do much for me anymore.

So come and be my private dancer...

| 5 Comments

He's like Xmas 1977 all over again!!!

It is rare that I think a roboplastico looks good even in the box.

But there's something going on with the orange and white of the figure and then the red packaging with the blue "allspark power" shit that just makes Evac here pop!

He's like the 2015th or something I think.

I so gotta find that light box to get these damn bots in the database!!!

This one though?

Once he's out of the box he's staying on the desk with CR Build Boy, Botcon Ratchet, and Unit 2.

I can haz copter?

| 9 Comments

I left Evac at work.

:-(

Tomorrow Evac... tomorrow-morrow the world!

| 8 Comments

Yes!

Evebird found me an Evac... perhaps the Movie line figure I've most wanted out of this entire movie repaint morass!

Evac = love.

2008-01-13-starscream.jpg

I gotta admit I find it funny that every time a G1ish Starscream is done someone or group has to produce what has become the mandatory "crown" accessories.

It looks damn good actually, especially given Masterpiece Starscream's posability.

But ya know, there's zero difference between Starscream's crown and cape and Barbie's Dreamhouse and/or assorted other accessories.

I so long for the days of G1 Transformers commercials with the kids playing with the toys.

I can imagine the commercial for Masterpiece Starscream done in the old style with a little boy dressing up his Masterpiece Starscream doll in crown and cape while making "battle" noises all while Peter Cullen or Frank Welker do a voice over.

Think of the possibilities with accessories for the Starscream doll too?

All those TF chicks with their Starscream infatuations can now make him the true lover of Barbie even though we all know Starscream is totally faggier than Tracks!

And with your Masterpiece Starscream and Megatrons and a special not-yet-released "upgrade kit", you too can reenact all kinds of TF fan art!!!

Who's the top? Who's the bottom?

You can use your own imagination!!!

Yup.

When you scrape away the Sci-Fi trappings and then "action figure" angle all we are left with is a bunch of dolls.

Admit.

Dolls that turn into other forms.

Dolls!

Transformers = Almost Barbie.

You all buy Almost Barbies!!!

You can't deny it!!!

Time to put the ear goggles on!

| 2 Comments

FYI.

I'm totally in a Shins mood today.

Just so you know.

Oh, please dont you rock my boat...

| 4 Comments

Man oh man yesterday was an expensive day.

On top of finally dropping down major scratch for a new mattress set I found some new crack that I kinda wanted.

Snagged a Movie Cliffjumper, Movie Legends Rescue Ratchet and I think Brawl, and one of the Real Gear repaints. I'm not sure why I got the Real Gear one though. It can probably go back.

Since the money was flying out of my wallet yesterday, I also snagged Volume 3 of Futurama.

Giga used his xmas present from work and we got an HDMI upsampling to 1080i DVD player for the new HDTV I bought last December.

Holy shit did that, and the HDMI cable, make a helluva difference over the other DVD player!

At least I, image fidelity picky as I am, thought so.

It almost makes ya want to put in a wide range of DVDs just to see how much the've improved over the standard player. The Futurama's look practically like an actual cel might!

I see a Bose sound system for the living room in my future too.

I gotta find that light box today. I'm so far behind in documenting the recent smaller crack additions that I'm going to forget I even bought them.

Yes. That's still the frigg'n point of plasticcrack.com. It was always about knowing what the hell I have or do not have in the collection, though loss of interest since this summer definitely put a damper on that.

It doesn't really matter though since they all get immediately dumped into a box until the whole collection can get sorted and the room remodeled. You may recall I put off the shelving purchases while I remodeled the rest of the house.

And tomorrow, I'm starting the foyer/stairwell/hallway project which will eventually lead to the bedrooms.

I won't bore you with the details of house remodeling here. Those who have a fetish for that kind of thing know where my other blogs are.

naladahc said...

How did my comment for this post end up on the other one?

It is like I stumbled into a Filthy Sanchez party and wasn't even invited!

then Evil King Macrocranios said...
That's how I feel every time I go to Botcon as a walk-in.
Ah.

I loves the internets.

We here at PlasticCrack.com pity the loss of the Evil King's hair and hope that like some long lost member of the tribe of Dan, his powers will not be diminished at its passing.

When is a Tako Tank not a Tako Tank?

| 8 Comments

Not only does he love his Mister Potato Head... he loves his Optimash Prime potato head, though apparently he's lost the helmet in the tank somewhere.

2008-01-11-octopus.jpg

Well... and apparently the included "Peter Cullenish" mustache.

Speaking of Cullen, I wonder if he'll be at the GRC this year.

Not that I really care... but last year he called me a piece of shit so I'm wondering what it would take to get him to call me a cunt.

I wonder if I'm the only connoisseur of the roboplasticos that he's called a piece of shit?

Perhaps... in the end... that will be my only claim to fame.

And you know what.

I'm good with that.

I dig The Wig!

| No Comments

2008-01-11-wiggum.gif

Saw this posted about over at my favorite barrister's site.

I think I may have to print some of the posters and hang them outside my office at work.

A fictional child president?

Oh wait. We haven't had much different.

Then again, everything is as it should be.

Twintwist next?

| 4 Comments

2008-01-11-topspin.jpg

Wow! For a second there, the little picture over at Tformers.com's post about Topspin here really made me double-take. It looks like some kind of Convoy/Prime.

The plastic isn't final so I suppose we can expect the same level of translucent plastics here in like colors.

I never did sell the other 3. I always figured they'd be the first to go but for some reason, I find translucence appealing.

I suppose I've unconsciously set them aside into the "not for sale" boxes because I'm curious what they'll all look like combined.

Hopefully Barricade will be the center piece since he's very stable. If it is Storm Jet from Superion Maximus then regardless of translucence I gotta dump him. Without some new design for that shitastic tiny waist peg, he's a worthless center piece. (Then again, isn't Barricade being used for that Onslaught figure? If so I doubt it. Who knows.)

What do I love most of about these guys?

Thinking of how fast it takes Evebird to get this on Ebay the second he finds it in his mailbox!

I don't think he's ever had one of these longer than 24 hours.

C'mon! Gimme some Unit 2 love!

| 10 Comments

So I saw the two "Theft of the Golden Disks" videos over at Transformersclub.com.

Not bad at all.

Cool that David Kaye dropped some Beast Megs down too.

What's funny?

Comments on YouTube.

Stuff like "Still the animation was god awful. Honestly the original series looked and animated better and it was made in the mid 90s." blows my mind.

It isn't frigg'n Mainframe doing this.

This is fandom at its finest with people working their asses off on something like this.

Those are the kinds of comments where I want to punch people in the pussy.

Maybe they'll do some more and we'll get a little Unit 2.

Botcon 2006 Attendee Exclusive Unit 2 (Tigatron)

I loves me some Unit 2.

Oh. And he's love too. Love. Love. Love.

This that and the other thing.

| 6 Comments

So the new hamster cage liner arrived today.

I swear, there is most definitely something odd about their business model.

Paper newsletters like this, especially anything even remotely smelling of classified ads are basically dead in the water and are highly unlikely to become common again.

Major magazines have a few years let and certain large major newspapers but these little rags can usually barely justify their expenses.

The revenue streams from other geek shit must subsidize it.

Oh well.

There was no newsletter to even read so into the recycle bin it goes!

Then again, I could use it to cover the windows while I start the new house project.

---

In other news, according to this article ganked from a Tformers post, toy prices could very well go up 10% over the next year with all the hysteria over lead and such.

That'll be just another nail in the TF coffin for me, reducing what I actually buy to the barest essentials of only the coolest possible shit that doesn't stink.

Like this black Arcee that I have to have now.

---

I think my new goal should be to find a way to use the phrase "deus ex megatron" in other conversations about robots.

Then again, other than on here, I don't really talk robots in real life much. And that's a good thing.

---

Cool!

I ganked this from Ramen Junkie.

Too bad this film is going to totally flop.

I just don't see there being a big enough non-geek audience to maintain box office after maybe the opening weekend.

I seriously doubt the nongeektarded actually have any familiarity with Speed Racer.

Then again, I could be proven wrong.

---

I watched the latest episode of Transformers: Animated.

I hope the kids like it. Definitely a kids show.

I have no idea what the TF board people say. I'd imagine it has its many haters.

But man... Corey Burton kicks so much ass!!!

---

Oh. Snagged a Black Getter Revoltech figure at Chas' the other day for only $13.

2008-01-07-getter.gif

I can take or leave most sci-fi anime but I've been a fan of Getter Robo since I was 8 or so and the original series was dubbed and ran on Showtime.

Black Getter is purty.

A sign of the vagapocalypse?

| 6 Comments

Ummm...

Hmmm...

It is January 7.

This is Cowtown.

It is 68 degrees outside.

What's wrong with this picture?

Yes.

It is a sign of the vagapocalypse!

I had that Final Battle "legless Bumblebee being pulled by the Mike's Towing truck" pack in my cart until the very last second I got in line.

And then...

I gave it to Giga to put back on the shelf.

I continue to impress myself with my ability to put the crack back on the shelves.

I finally got something else that'll be a lot better instead!

So much for my simple retarded idea for Botcon's custom figure gay art thing.

Damn you Hasbro.

Now I'm going to have to do a custom figure gay art thing of this!

*sigh*

It is all your fault.

I pre-absolve myself of it!

Cincinnati will bow before the f'n awesomeness of it!

My art will me your new golden calf!

Where's your messiah now Moses?

Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

| 1 Comment

Of course, I want Knight Boat and now I get Nightbird!!!

I'm not winning here at all.

She's nice.

I don't know if she's $45.95 nice.

But she's nice.

---

Then again, after a link was posted earlier today to this, I don't think I can quite look at her the same way.

Hmmm...

If I buy her, can I convince one of you customizers to sculpt me a little set of nunchuck dildoes?

I was catching up blogcrack tonight and over at "A funny thing happened on the way down the road..." he has a post up about his Top 10 Headscratchers in Transformers.

1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7 were all things that had popped into my head during that late night Thursday back in Rhode Island but ya know... I never ever realize that Bumblebee voice thing.

I mean, sure I've knocked the fact that he has all of like 2 lines of actual dialogue but it never occurred to me that he actually was able to speak the moment he touched the Allspark.

Sucks to be me today.

| 10 Comments

So.

2008 brought major changes to the workplace frustrating me a little bit and frustrating others a shitload.

It seems that the powers that be have decided to block all streaming media services so that means no occasional video, radio, etc.

Now the radio part is what is killing me. I'm without my Sirius channels so that means no more Stern which will totally drive me crazy.

They've also blocked sites that remotely smell of Social Networking so that means no more Flickr and no more blogs, especially the ones that use the hosted software like Livejournal, Blogger, etc.

They've also also blocked all sites that remotely smell of "Entertainment" so that means no no TF crack sites, comic sites, or even Who while on the clock.

Even gmail no longer works, no doubt because of that goddamn embedded GoogleChat functionality.

At least I'm left with access to reading some RSS feeds. I can't comment anymore or post at my own sites while working but at least I can still catch up on some net craziness while I'm at lunch.

Barely.

2008-01-01-starscreamfloat.jpg

I apologise to everyone about our poor showing in the Rose Bowl Parade today.

I really thought the PlasticCrack.com float honoring Starscream and Megatron would come in 2nd at least. But 5th???

Perhaps next year.

I wonder what the naming rights for Botcon cost?

Hmmm....

Szczesliwego Nowego Roku!

| No Comments

Szczesliwego Nowego Roku!

May your 2008 be free from the ever present threat and danger of stinky meowy butt.

Behold! The Stinky Meowy Butt!

And may I find the motivation to take down all these damn decorations today.

Enough is enough.

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