Time Flies

    I surprise myself once again at how fast time can fly. It's hard to believe it's been so long since I did the last update.
   It's been a slow year for the toy collecting. I've been focused on other things, and with attempting to downsize my collection skipped a lot of releases in the last year. This has been a good thing over all. It's forced me to focus the collection, and stop picking up cool things that don't really have any attachment appeal to them. But I'm still having the worst time trying to move items. I may have to resort to Ebay, but my last trip down that line was almost more trouble then it's worth.
  The small hauls I picked up have been cool. Springer, Blitzwing and Sandstorm were all nice figures. More so than I thought they would be. I'm waiting for replacement parts for Blitzwing from BBTS since he came with a broken pin in his elbow, and it just dropped off right out of the box. I finally got my Masterpiece Thundercracker. Feels cool to have the seekers complete. Even though they are not all the same mold. Got a First Edition Vehicon, and I have to say the RiD version is the nicer of the two. I'd like to have a second Jet Vehicon so I could have them in pairs. But I don't want to pay the price. I'm no longer looking at grabbing pieces in that price range on a whim. If only Hasbro would release him.
   I skipped Masterpiece Lambor and Red Alert. Going with my new collecting stance, wait for Hasbro. Not get sucked into the much higher prices generally for the Takara or over seas prices. Hasbro tends to release everything eventually. I'm glad I have my MP Megatron already. Because that is one I highly doubt will ever come out over here in his G1 form. But the Hasbro MP figures are damn hard to get where I am. I was very lucky to get Grimlock. Some work got my Rodimus, and some more luck got my an order in for Soundwave and Acid Storm. With these last two apparently they came and went in my neck of the woods (The closest store being almost 2 hrs away) 2 weeks ago and I only heard about it this weekend.
   Wave 2 of the Transformers Kreons were awesome, as were the Kreo combiners. I love these little guys. Hopefully they release GI Joe in blind bags. I'd be sorely tempted to get them as well.
   I got a new Hot Wheels car Magnum P.I. sports car. I wish these could be found at retail, I missed TCs chopper and van. As well as the white car from the A - Team.
   I'm missing 3 limbs for Abominus in the Prime Cyberverse line. I took my chances to wait for retail. And so far it's burning me. Although patience did pay off with Prime Smokescreen. Found him in store about a month ago. Nice figure. Wish he was painted like he was at the end of the show. But he still looks good.
   All I can say is this collecting things would be so much easier if I lived in the city where TRU is. With all the sales, and coupons they have. It would a great help. That's for sure.

New Toys for a New Year

It seems that Hasbro is getting set to release a fountain of new Transformers for the year.

There are a few that look to be quite interesting. Especially the new Kreo Combiners and of course FOC Metroplex. But if the past is anything to go by they are items I will never see at retail. I have yet to see a Vehicon at retail. And the Prime line has been pretty scarce. And the new Beast Hunter items
are already starting to show up. So, I can assume I will never see the rest of PRID.

With my reduced collecting, there are only a handful of items that I want from the listings, assuming I can find them. Not too mention MP10 was never spotted around here. Here's hoping for MP Soundwave and the flood of other G1 goodness this year when Hasbro gets around to making it available. If it ever lands on store shelves in more than a token amount.

Current Events

The last few months have left me pressed for time, and when I look at the date of my last post. It's hard to believe so much time has passed..

Downsizing

Still ongoing. I have several large boxes of items still to sell. Things have slowed down, and I still have items on my shelves I will probably add to the pile. But the house is old, and drafty. And I think I am done until spring. When I will do a re-inventory of everything that didn't sell. And make another drive to clear it all out.

As for collecting, I think I am mostly done with it. It never ends, and retail is just absurd. I have yet to see a Vehicon the shelf. Or anything from that wave. And having to buy online and the prices being higher with shipping. I am now in the camp of whether it is any cheaper on gas or time.. But when they don't even show up on shelves there isn't any real choice.

But so much of the new stuff just looks bad (Like the new Prime Smokescreen) and I bought so many pieces that looked interesting, but not good. And I had no real personal attachment too.

So I think I will be holding to my G1s, Beast Wars, and Car Robots items. And I have yet to decide on Prime and the 3rd Party items I still have.

Warhammer

My current hobby dollars have gone from Toy Collecting to getting back into Warhammer and tabletop wargaming. Having a local group makes a big difference. And getting out of the house is always a good thing (tm) and I can't support two expensive hobbies at once.

And already having a large Space Marine force in the basement for the better part of 14 years helps. Even when I didn't even end up playing with them much. Too many people still play Marines.

Battlestar Galactica

Just finished watching the new series for the second time. This time straight through, and what a fantastic job they did with this show. Holds up very well. And I dare say I feel like going back to the first episode and watching it all again. Except I have too much else to keep up with.

Comic Book Men

Another fantastic show, funny and entertaining for the geek crowd. Although I wish it was more of the banter among the cast in the store and their antics and less Geek Pawn Stars. But at least it's only a couple times an episode.

Highly Recommended

World of Warcraft: The Mists of Pandaria

So far looks like the best expansion to date. The commercials are telling the truth it seems. Very nice terrain, and lush environments. Blizzard continues to improve quests and presentation and mini game quests.

Haven t played the Monk much. Maybe it gets better later on, but so far doesn't impress me. But then I played a Monk in EQ1 and this is very different. But then a lot of classes don't get going until 30 or more.

So much has changed since I last played, its almost like starting over.


Guild Wars 2

Played the free weekend trial that just went by. A lot to like, but the graphics being nice, look so much like GW1. And like GW1 there is just that something that doesn't hook me. And I only play it less than casually. And that's not worth the price of admission right now.

Maybe down the road if I can pick it up for $30. But WoW MoP is much better at the moment.

One thing that sounded fantastic on paper was the Siege PvP warfare. Right out of Dark age of Camelot it sounded. If its true, and as good as it sounds. It should be awesome. And something Blizzard should be ripping off right this second.

Encore

News broke this week about the Encore we all wanted, but dared not believe would ever happen. Fortress Maximus. And not only that but apparently the Japanese version with the huge sword.

I admit I am a little tempted, between my downsizing still ongoing and already having a Brave Max with all
the goodies I won't be biting on this. And as much as I like having an original Takara version with all the original and repro goodies from Fort and Grand I'd be lying if I hadnt said where was this 7 months ago?? I'd rather have paid the $350 for this and kept the change than what BM cost me. But at least I have the satisfaction of a near mint original with all the add ons.

Adventures in Downsizing

I've been working on pruning my collection, and getting a sales list together. The heatwave here the last couple weeks has put a damper on that. I don't imagine anyone wants anything with bonus sweat. So, beyond my original list. I only pulled some of the larger pieces.

With those, according to Ebays completed auction listing they sometimes sell for stupid amounts. So instead of risking insulting my fellow collectors I decided to list them on Ebay and see how that goes.

Let us just say that Ebay has a reputation, and it is well earned. As a buyer things couldn't be better usually. But as a seller it is a whole other ballgame. After learning my way about the system having never sold anything on there before I listed a half dozen items.

Nothing has sold, I still have a few remaining. And no matter how many watchers I doubt they will either. And it's not that I didn't price them competitively because I did. But probably because shipping is just too high. Canada Post does me no favors in that regard. And neither does Paypal if I want to protect myself by adding some stipulations to how I can ship and keep that protection.

But, getting back to Ebay again. I was very careful in how I setup my auctions. Shipping only in North America. USA & Canada. I excluded everywhere else and PO Boxes. And stated it in the auction. And yet I still get bids from Chinese buyers with Ebay accounts only 2 months old and almost 1000 purchases (Insane) but in all fairness maybe legit. I cancel those bids, and find out I missed a loophole buried in my control panel. So I close that loophole. And said Chinese bidder still get though, so I cancel his bid again and ban him. And I have one remaining bidder. He wins, which was great. And when I get payment I find out from the Paypal info that he is another Chinese bidder, shipping through Los Angeles to an unconfirmed address.. Here we go again. Opening a case with Ebay, refunding the money through Paypal and several hours later I'm back where I started.

Almost a month into this, and the only sales I have made are a handful to my fellow Canadians through the TF Community. Which is very appreciated. But I have a lot more I want to get moved. Once these last auctions come down, I may cross post my sales over into TFW2005. Members in the community seem to be a lot more understanding of what shipping is like. And there a lot more US members than Canadian ones.

But in the end, Ebay seems like a great waste of time and aggravation. I agree with all the complaints I've ever heard about. And I don't know how anyone makes any money on there with small ticket items with all the fees.

In other regards at present I am mainly keeping my G1s, Beast Wars / Machines, CHUG, RiD, Prime and Animated stuff. So that means I am mainly clearing out all the doubles, and movies stuff I shouldn't have bought. And any figures I bought for the 'Coolness' factor but have no real attachement to. Which means some third party figures.

Going forward I'm not sure. I'm thinking about staying with G1 / Masterpiece. And filling a few holes I have missing. And finish Prime since I'm half done or better now anyway( And how is Hasbro messing that up??). But I know one thing, I feel better without the weight of all the new releases on my shoulders (I was far from a completist. But I liked too much of what was coming all the time) And the flood of items that never seemed to end. There has to be a limit somewhere. The hobby is too broad and deep otherwise. Or else you need very deep pockets. Because you can't afford to do anything else if you don't.

Once I get the bulk of items moved that I cleared in the first passes I will go back and decide what else is staying. I have duplicate Cyberverse, Deluxe and Voyager stuff. Clear out the Cyberverse versions?? Keep the voyager versions?? I will need to decide that once I've sold most of what is waiting to go now.

And too add to the aggravation.. Paypal is being a real pain.. I setup an account to link for selling purposes. And PP stated that if the account held too few funds to cover a purchase it would go to the CC attached instead. Well, for the record they don't. They like to overdraft the account and not go to the CC as they are supposed to. Something that needs to be watched carefully. I feel like changing my sales to EMT only.. But I know too many people use PP and have money in their accounts. But once I'm done selling, I will be closing that account and removing it from my PP account. I don't want to have to go into my accounts and transfer funds to cover purchases every time I buy something because PP doesn't go the CC when it's supposed to.

Refocusing & Downsizing

I find myself at a crossroads of sort, ever since I got my hands on RiD Brave Maximus and all the little accessories from most of his mold mates, authentic or repro I've been over the top of the mountain, and sliding down the steep slope of the other side.

I find other things attracting my attention, and I only have so many hobby dollars I can split up. So I find myself re-evaluating my collection. Unfortunately for my wallet, a lot of what comes out I find appealing. But that has become too expensive to maintain. And now I need to focus my collection on the items I really really like, rather than just everything that I like or looks cool.

Do you limit yourself to Masterpieces, G1 Characters (In my case, what I grew up on)etc etc..

I had already resigned myself to begin exiting the third party bandwagon, it has just exploded and become more and more expensive. iGears Miniwarriors were looking like the last of the 3rd Party for me along with Fans Project Assaulter.

And I find as much as the movie stuff had it's appealing designs, I'm eying up that shelf for liquidation. Which, isn't going to be easy when a large chunk of it is still shelf warming in most locations.

In the end when I look over all my shelves the pieces that I find I like the most, are the G1s, G1 inspired (Classics / Generations / Universe) and Robots in Disguise. Followed closely by Beast Wars / Beast Machines, Transformers Animated and Transformers Prime. With a little dash of Armada / Cybertron and Energon.

And when it comes to the new stuff, even though the Cyberverse stuff coming out is very cool, do I really need 3 different versions of Prime?? Cyberverse, Deluxe and Voyager?? No, not really. Not too mention I was looking forward to the Energon Driller and the 'Hammer. But as cool as the playsets look. I have The Ark from DOTM and it doesn't really fit in anywhere. So I have to look at the fact that here will be cool pieces that come out, but don't really fit into my collection.

I thought about scaling back all the way to Masterpiece alone. But as few as they are, and cheap on a yearly basis. The line doesn't represent much of the series as whole. And likely never will. Even though we are supposed to get like 5 this year.

So as I have read and heard from others over the years. Wait for deals, patience is key. Don't buy assortments of 4 figures just to get 2 you want. Because you will need to sell those other two, and that takes time and you probably will be lucky to get your cost back out.

Only collect the ones you really want. And you don't need to have every version of every character. Just get the best representation to you. And don't be afraid to downsize if it's needed. That cash can go back into the collection, or to some other hobby you've been neglecting. Which is what I plan to do now that there is a budding Warhammer league here. I always liked the modeling aspect of the hobby as well as playing. But I didn't like the idea of doing one, but not the other. And it's been almost 16 years since I was into that.