Recently in collecting Category

Yes. I had a craving.

Yes. It was obviously filled lately.

Yes. I feel like a whore for buying those lame ass Transformers Club Seacons and that Nightbeat.

No. I don't feel bad about being a whore at the moment. That'll come tomorrow.

Yes. I still plan on getting rid of toys even though I've recently bought more.

No. I don't know when I'll have the time. The garage isn't going to get repaired and finished by itself.

Yes. The translation of the Bible into Lolcatspeak may just be the greatest thing ever.

Yes. The Crack Den is somehwhat cleaned up and has as many plastic robots as will likely fit.

Yes. It is barely 1/4 of the actual Attic of Love Collection.

Yes. It makes me sad I can't surround myself with years of wasted money.

Yes. I am a loser.

1. Have any of you ordered directly from e-Hobby?

2. If so, how the phrock did you do it if you don't read Japanese?!?!?!?!

Just got an email from BBTS that my Henkei Astrotrain is ready to ship.

Ugh!

I so have to finish the last bedroom project! I so want to setup my office/crack room and get this shit out!

Ah!

It is so nice to begin a vacation on a nice sunny day and just get up without the alarm and not feel like I really have to do anything other than pull my crap together for the con and run a few errands.

And no... I'm not going to work on Project 5 until Tuesday at the earliest. I'm in no mood to ruin a generally good mood heading into Botcon by getting covered in dust for hours.

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I saw that the TF SDCC exclusive this year will be another repaint of the Classics Prime mold, this time as the done-to-death Nemesis Prime deco.

So we get the same general idea done at Botcon and then again, only blacker, for SDCC.

Definitely time to retire the mold. I can accept the original, the Magnus, and even the Botcon repaint. And of course, the Henkei one isn't really for the American audience. But 5 of the same thing is 1 too much!

Speaking of the mold, the custom Ultra Magnus armor to Classics Magnus is really nice.

It still amazes me people will bitch about it and still go on and on about the use of a white Prime.

Be happy somebody is making something that will alter the figure... and selling it!

If you aren't going to kitbash and customize the shit out of it yourself then quit yer bitch'n!

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So we set up at Vets Memorial again to do the "toy and comic dealer" thing even though we really are "toy collectors trying to get rid of shit".

Nothing in our booth was new but was purely the stuff from the same bins we returned with last time.

I made one kid extremely happy with a boatload of Energon toys and gave away a few Tiny Tin Spychangers.

I'm always happy when kids get really excited about TFs.

There's some miscellaneous pics at my Flickr set.

I only bought Micronauts and an old Colonial Viper from the 70s. More on that later.

The real news, and something I'll be depressed about (for no logical reason) is that my comics all sold.

Of course, they sold for for 5 cents for every dollar spent on them over the past 30 years... but 95% or more of them are out of my my basement, my garage, and my life.

The 90s and 00s stuff didn't bother me... it was the stuff from my childhood that hurts.

More later. I'm tired.

So.

Is the Encore Omega Supreme worth it?

My internal monologue still doesn't know.

The new face is nice but not worth it.

Having a "new" toy with fully working electronics is worth it.

Not having Floppy Claw Syndrome™ is worth it.

But really... if I were to buy him... I should really get rid of my G1 versions.

I mean... that has to happen in the new space.

If something goes in then something must go out.

So Giga has a bunch of tables for the next Columbus Toy Show.

I've given up on using it as a venue to sell off Transformers.

The effort to lug the TF crack there and setup never pays off in the same way that Giga's DC superhero crap does.

However, since we have to get his shit out of storage plus the comics I'd like to unload at the show, it may be prudent to try and find the TF crap anyway and try to get rid of it at the GRC.

Thing is though... I really don't want people I don't know in my room.

I know that is silly, but I'm just not keen on it.

If it was one of those Embassy Suites again with the private bed room and public front room I wouldn't think twice since I wouldn't have to put stuff all over the bed or what have you.

Then again, if I only took MIB stuff it would be easier to track and I could setup a table or some such shit in the room.

Grrrr....

I still got a month to decide.

Got an email that my TakaraTomy Henkei Megatron (old school grey and black Classics Megs) and my two new Revoltechs are in at BBTS. I should probably release them as-is and not wait for my Henkei Astrotrain.

After TakaraTomy's reuse of the movie packaging, I was kind of surprised to see that their Classics version is actually back to their own type of packaging.

Ok. I must shower and get to work.

I figure it being a xristian holiday and all, nobody will bother me except the security guards doing their rounds and I can catch up on all kinds of shit.

Being home sick today was dangerous.

I kinda found myself perusing online stores and ended up droping a ton of scratch on some toys I had my eyes on for some time.

I snagged an Encore Sky-Lynx, the TakaraTomy black version of Movie Incinerator, and the WonderFest Exclusive Dai Atlas figure from last year that I've wanted forever.

The only thing that I feel the slightest bit guilty about dropping money down on is the Fusion Cluster Protoform Starscream.

While I hated the general Hasbro release I totally love the insanity of the translucence on this.

Yes. It cost and arm and a leg but I've been building up such a bad crazy niche on the translucent stuff that I'm having more fun with that then the general mainstream lines.

I'm more or less thinking of it as spending the money on one figure I really want instead of all the movie crap that my previous "gotta collect 'em all" mental illness used to drive me to do. I just need to find the Fusion Cluster Protoform Convoy at the GRC and I'll be set.

I'm hoping that Fumihiko has some of those, as well as some of the other crazy Takara shit that's been coming out.

Oh. Also preorded a couple of things too.

The Takara grey Classics Megs, the Takara Classics Astrotrain (in the purple and grey), and Revoltech Starscream and Hot Rod.

I'm actually surprised I'm not feeling the guilt right now.

So I was putz'n around the TFCC forums looking at the GRC chat and I saw something that actually got me thinking.

Well... thinking in a totally lame way but thinking nonetheless.

Let's draw the Earth 3 set out to the inevitable possible geek conclusion.

If you could have any character done under that theme, who would it be?

I'm thinking I'd drop scratch on:

• an incredibly pink happy Shockwave with super-hug action feature (he'd be almost Care Bearsish)
• a totally messed up entrail-encrusted evil Tako Tank
• an evil Heinlad with a clock that goes counter-clockwise
• a Minerva splattered in blood with all kinds of blade/scalpel weapons
• Little Daddy

I could go on...

I've been thinking lately about snagging an Encore Omega Supreme when he's released later this year.

I mean, I've got a beautiful one that really only needs new stickers to be visually impressive but his electronics are iffy at best. Plus I had to repair his FCS back in 2005.

My 2nd one, while still lovable as only Omega Supremes can be, has seen better days.

To have one with fully operational electronics, perfect stickers, and no FCS would be kind of nice in a "oh they'll never reissue that so I'll just keep repairing old ones" kind of way.

...The Crack Vault™.

And there was rejoicing in the domicile of the Internet's Most Beloved Polish-American™.

(Still no shelves though!)

I'll say this:

Walking up into the Domicile of Love's attic stairwell...

Sure as hell isn't as awesome as walking up into the Attic of Love's stairwell...

Even back in only 2005.

I liked the way the reissue looked in the package so much that I've never taken him out.

And ya know... after watching the video I'm inclined not to.

Still... life will never be complete without the brick that is Grandus.

(And a Tako Tank!)

Mister H. has a great post about him over at Shadowbot.

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%...

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?

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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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?

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.

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

I still need to get Megs though.

What'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.

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.

I 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!

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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.

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.

Yes!

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

Evac = love.

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!!!