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.

Hotwheels - Another collection..

So not too long ago, maybe a month or so I was browsing the isles at Walmart and seeing nothing new for Transformers like usual. We're still stuck on wave 1 of PRID. And not every store here even has that.

I walked past the Hotwheels section, and the 1966 Batmobile just jumped out at me. I'm not entirely sure why that was. But I took it down to look at it, and I remembed that as a kid I had a much larger metal version of this one that came with little Batman and Robin figures that sat in the seats. It also had a red plastic flame in the back and a movable metal saw on the front bumper.

Anyway, I ended up leaving Walmart with like 5 versions of the Batmobile and the A - Team truck. And when I got home I checked out Ebay and picked up a Ghostbusters Ecto-1, Back to the Future Time Machine and another Batmobile.

Now, I don't have much of an interest in cars in general. I don't know much about them. And I don't see that changing much anytime soon. But there are some cool looking Hotwheels cars outside of the TV and Movie ones. But the ones that really interest me are those. And the majority seem to be Batman. But I find myself eying up some of the others. Like the Breakfast cereal ones of Count Chockula, The Flintstones and the new SDCC 2012 Scooby Doo Mystery Machine. I would really like that Mystery Machine, but I don't yet see myself paying $50 it seems to be asking for on Ebay for a little Hotwheels car. But this is the same thing I said about Transformers when I started that. And now I have some very expensive pieces.

So it would seem that that one little 1966 Batman Batmobile, has managed to slightly spark onto something I remember from being a kid much farther back than my mid 80s transformers days. The sub 10 year old days of playing in the dirt with my 'Dinky', 'Matchbox' and 'Hotwheels' cars.

Now unlike the Transformers, which unfortunately has sprawled more than my Wallet would like. I favor quite a few different lines. I think I should be able to keep the Hotwheels limited to the Movie and TV varieties. And coming in at about $1.33 here when I see them. They are absolutely cheap. Even with Ebay they are usually only been a few bucks.

Of course the dark side of the coin is that in almost 5 years of TF collecting I have only run into other 'mature' collectors a few times. And none were clearing the pegs like I heard about. In the last three weeks or so since I bought that first Batmobile I've seen it twice with Hotwheels.. in two different cities. Men older than I am, just going through the pegs and dumping stuff into the cart at their feet. So I guess it's true and this does happen.

And when I think about it, I guess it should be all the more common with little Die Cast cars. Since so many are licenced and exact little duplicates of real world cars. Which makes me wonder if the in-laws and such would be so different in their outlook if I had a large miniature car collection, or of military planes and vehicles instead of robots. I think every TF collector knows the answer to that one.

RiD BRAVE MAXIMUS

Well, a little over a month ago after a year of watching prices and even twice I tried to bid one for a decent price on Ebay I finally sprung for and bought a Robots in Disguise Brave Maximus.

None of the two Ebay attempts panned out for me. They always ended up getting bid up too high for my blood. Certainly with the nature of Ebay I wasn't comfortable with such an expensive purchase should there be anything wrong with it, or not as described. I could only imagine the nightmare of having to try and return something of that size and weight. And the headaches increase.

So I got a line on one from a reputable source. And he was supposed to be in very good condition and complete. Box and all accessories. The price was a little more than I would have liked. But the shipping was good, and the security and peace of mind was worth it.

So he came with his box, insert and all of RiD BM original accessories. And since he was such a crown piece for my collection. I decided to hunt down some repro parts from Fortress Maximus to kit him out. So I managed to get FM two guns. The FM Twin Blaster and FM large Photon Rifle. As well as Cog who forms two small tanks and a larger robot. So all I am missing is the repro gun for Cog. I find when it comes to the FM guns the dark blue color seems to go well with BM. Rather than the more appropriate repro color matched to BM. Although I do think that Cog would look better if he was color matched to BM in red and black. I'm thinking about painting him myself but I haven't yet. And I even grabbed the Crazy Devy Massive Sword since it was on clearance. And it's just about as tall as BM himself is.

The last thing I picked up was the Headrobots Courageous Headmaster kit. It was also a little pricier than I would like. But it was supposed to be limited to 200 pieces. Not that that made it any cheaper. But, that gave me two nicely detailed Headmaster heads and a nice translucent blue sword.

Over all BM was somewhat dusty when he arrived. Nothing that a dry cloth and a can of air didn't mostly fix. And to my surprise it seems that all of his stickers are in excellent shape. None seemed to be faded, scratched to coming loose at all. I found that to be amazing really. I've transformed him once, from robot to city mode and back again. His joints seem to be tight and in good shape. All in all I couldn't be happier with him. It's fun just to look at him. And being the largest transformer ever made is a fun fact. And I prefer this color version of Fortress Maximus to the other two version. The colors as was mentioned somewhere else, looks fantastic as a city at night with the lit up windows.

And a reminder of him being from a bygone age in toys, the plastic he is made of, is of just a better quality than you see with Hasbro today. And maybe even Takara. It just feels sturdy, and not cheap or fragile at all. The heft of the whole figure is surprising. This thing is heavy.

And one last surprise I had when I got looking at the box and little details. It seems that I ended up with a Takara release of Brave Maximus. I had assumed that it would have been the Korean release. So that was a nice cherry on top. From everything I checked out it definitely seems to be the Takara version.

RiD is becoming one of my favorite continuities in Transformers. And is starting to rank up there with G1 as far as I am concerned. There just seems to be a lot of nice figures, and good quality materials in the line. And there is a handful of figures I still want to get from the line. It's too bad it didn't go on even one more season than it did.

iGear Rager and Spray

I'm kinda doing these comments / reviews in reverse order. Or maybe I should have done one big one.

I got my Spray last week, and Rager after him. iGear has had some things I was interested in before. Namely the Masterpiece Seekers but I wasn't going to pay those prices. And I really don't have the space. I already have the Hasbro MP Starscream and Skywarp. And I would rather have Takara Thundercracker or by some miracle a Hasbro one. But with the prices of the Takara Tcracker and the new mold coming I doubt we'll see a Hasbro TCracker, but that's another story.. Not too mention I'm not as attached to the Coneheads as the original Seekers..

But on to Spray..

I'm quite happy with him. I love the shade of blue they used for him. And he just seems to be the right size. Not too big, but not too small either. Transformation was simple. No problems. He's nicely posable. And his plastic quality seems to be good. He has a small amount of paint, his face and hovercraft windows. And he even comes with a spear gun. Which was fantastic. And I was impressed with the laminated sparkly bio card he came with. And unlike the Maketoys version he did not come with any instructions. If I had to complain about anything with him, it would be he suffer a little bit of having large pontoon feet. And some rather obvious gaps in alt mode. But it's not enough to bother me.

Over all I am quite pleased with Spray.

Rager..

Much the same as Spray. Transformation was simple, no popping out of place ball joints. Nice colors, and good pose ability. He comes with two pistols, which was cool to have some accessories. And his head even seems posable, but I can't quite reach in to move his head. As with Spray he's just the right size. And his quality seems good. He also comes with a nice laminated sparkly bio card. But no instructions.

If this is what we can look forward to with iGears Miniwarrior line. Than sign me up. At around $18 to $20 each depending on where you buy them, won't break the bank like a lot of third party items unfortunately. I can't wait to see Cosmos and the rest of the line.

It's kind of sad when I think about it, but it seems more and more these days third party are making more exciting products than Hasbro and Takara themselves are. And I am very interested in the Prime line. Maybe it was the over saturation of the movie toys for the last 5 years or so. But then they release the Prime FE and we find out they get cancelled. And the main RID line with duplicate molds are inferior in some respects.. Come on Hasbro. Maybe it's my nostalgia. But it's kind of sad when I look back to toys from 30 years ago and I still like them better, and they have better quality than modern designed stuff. And it takes third party to give these stuff back to us with faithful modern adaptions. Not to get too long winded on this, thankfully we got the Classics, Generations and those lines. Those were fantastic. Then I see FOC Bruticus and hope he's mistransformed =)

Anyway..

iGear Miniwarriors

Spray 3.5 out of 5
Rager 3.5 out of 5

Maketoys Hover & Bomber

Ok, so I finally got my box with Maketoys version of the minibots Hover (Seaspray) and Bomber (Powerglide) this morning.

And I have to say, that over all I'm not all that impressed with them. And I will be looking forward to iGears forthcoming Cosmos and the rest of their line predominantly.

The design of Hover and Bomber just seem to be off. Visually they look nice, in both modes. I find that Hovers blue is a little too dark. And I Also find him and Bomber to be a little bit on the short side. Just a little bit taller would have been nice. Rager and Spray aren't that much bigger. But I like their size better.

But my problem with how they were designed I guess mostly applies to bomber more than hover. With bomber the transformation was simple enough, but even so they seem to have some ball joint problems. His fore arms like to pop off, and in 'bot mode he can't raise his fists up without turning them palms up to do it with how they were designed. And the small flaps on the back of the engines on his legs like to pop out of their notches. And they don't like to clip back in place too well. They just fit into little notches. It seems like the friction will hold them into place. Unless they get worn over time by transforming. But I don't tend to transform my figures very often. So it probably won't be much of a problem for me. I've also had some minor problem trying to pose them, as their joints like to slide back to their original positions. And neither of them come with any accessories. A few spots on Bombers ball joints look to be thin plastic, so I would be careful with him transforming.

As mentioned though, they both look nice in robot and alt mode. I almost like Hovers face better than Spray. And they have a little bit of paint. But it seems to accentuate them well. Bomber with yellow eyes and some black on his chest. And Spray with his face, chest and Hovercraft windows.

So, in the end I guess I am a little disappointed in them. The iGear Spray and Rager are much nicer. A little bit bigger, and both came with accessories. Not too mention a cool sparkly, laminated bio card. And were sold separately for around $18 about. Where Hover and Bomber came as a two piece set. I only wanted to get Bomber, but had to get the pair. Figuring I would sell off Spray. And I may do that still.

So I would say go for iGears Rager and Spray and try and get a loose Bomber if you want Powerglide for the new minibots. Unless iGear releases him down the line. The only one I know of coming up is Cosmos. And I'm looking forward to him. I love the minibots, and had a bunch of them when I was a kid. And it looks like iGear really has something I like going with their line.

Maketoys Bomber and Spray

Bomber 2 out of 5
Hover 2.5 out of 5

DOTM Autobot Guzzle & Extras

Finally managed to find one at the local grocery chain of all places. First and only time I ever managed to see one in person. And the price wasn't so bad either.

He is a fantastic little figure. Alt mode is a great looking little battle tank, with removable guns on the roof. Too bad that the turret doesn't move. But no surprise seeing how he transforms.

In robot mode, he has kind of a wide stance with large shoulders and long arms, almost a ape like stance which doesn't look bad. The green and yellow colors seem to work well, and a metallic blue face.

I'm quite pleased with him.

Today I also got in the mail an ebay purchase from the U.K. a set of black and grey guns as well as the large robot head to complete my G1 Powermaster Optimus Prime. And a animation cell of Lio Jr from Beast Wars 2 that looks great in a glass frame I picked up for it.

Transformers Prime Wave 1 and 1.5

In probably the easiest launch for me to date. I was able to get all of the Prime wave one items at retail. Even Voyager Bulkhead. And right through the holidays I seen them all on the shelves.

I am quite pleased with them. They look fantastic, reminds me a lot of Animated. The figures look very much like the on screen characters that they represent. I know that there are some small details with the figures that don't quite match up. But over all they look great.

There is one exception, however. Deluxe Bumblebee.. He looks good in both modes, but transforming him into robot mode was 'fussy' and his chest and upper torso just seems to be a floppy, jointed mess going on. And I have a difficult time getting him to pose half decently. If memory serves both him and Cliffjumper are getting a new mold in the main line this year. So I hope they get him fixed up.

Megatron and Starscream look like they walked out of the screen. Very nice. Voyager Prime is far and away much nicer looking than the deluxe version. And Cliffjumper as well looks awesome. I especially like the dual hidden blasters in his arms. I wish Prime and 'Bee would have come with two guns. As well as a set of guns would have been nice for Arcee.

Overall, a fantastic start. And I look forward to seeing the Vehicons, Soundwave, Wheeljack and the others. Hopefully with staggered release. After 2011 my wallet could certainly use a break.

Update..

I figured out Bumblebees mess of a chest.. The two sections do clip and become a lot more solid. But you end up covering up the Autobot symbol on his chest when everything is clipped together right. And this way the doors on his back fold out properly as well. He is much more stable this way, but you can't really see his Autobot symbol on his chest any longer.