The Attic of Love: Rest In Peace - June 2003 - August 2007

So as you may know, I've been trying to get this damn house in a state of readiness to put on the market for sale.

I'm now months behind schedule and nobody knows when I'll be able to call up my realtor and tell her to finally plop that sign out front.

I was doing well, but the year I spent redoing the basement walls really took a physical toll on me that I'm only really starting to see now. My upper and lower back will never be the same. Hell... I'm in pain right now as I type this.

But anyway, over that year I ignored the Attic of Love something fierce, rarely doing more than coming up here daily to feed the fish, taking a quick photo of some new crack, or throwing some new toy in a "to be sorted" pile.

The Attic of Love devolved into the Attic of Disaster over that year.

If you happen to ever reach the insane level of having nearly 2000 toys, believe me, never ever let it get disorganized or out of hand.

But, as of 5:00pm, Eastern Standard Time, in the Central Cowlands...

Continue reading "The Attic of Love: Rest In Peace - June 2003 - August 2007" »

I'm conquering my "keep it mint in box" syndrome with exclusives.

After almost a year, I finally broke down and debagged the Botcon 2006 Attendee Exclusive figure of Tigatron in his Pre-Beast Wars mode.

I think he may be one of the most beautifully painted Transformers ever created.

"We are archivists of the useless, and we do not expect you to understand."

So I went out on the great internets and started reading recent commenter El Wang's blog and was immediately impressed with his most recent post about collecting.

Of course, my own personal bipolar love-hate mentality with collecting is well known but I've never put the whole "collecting thing" into such a great focused post like he did.

Collecting--being a "collector" (so much stigma in that word...)--it's not a hobby. It's a passion--sometimes, a curse. Yes, we know that that piece of plastic, molded in some other fashion, would not command nearly the price it does in its current form. We acknowledge that the price is entirely unreasonable. You know what?

We're gonna buy it anyway.

The simple truth is that--in terms of the commercial aspect of it--we've moved beyond the need to justify it to ourselves. Collecting is often human desire at its most basic--see, want, have. We understand that the price, that the waste of money, is unreasonable. We've addressed that issue. If it is unreasonable, we simply do not reason.

We will complain, as well. We will buy things we hate, just because they are necessary for completion. We will bitch about them endlessly, we will curse their makers for shoddy product, and we will eat it up just the same. We have mastered an ability few can--we channel fanaticism, we bring it to bear in a controlled, focused manner. We simply, all else aside, will complete that goal which we've set for ourselves.

You will mock us at times, you will insult us, and we will not respond. Why? Not because we think we are above you, and not to avoid conflict, but because every time you belittle our hobby, our curse, we secretly agree with you. We will not admit it, not even to ourselves, and so we will say nothing, we will ignore your distractions. We have focus to envy the most talented athletes.

Off to Botcon!

Off to Boston and then onwards to Providence for Botcon.

See you in a few days.

I'll be posting pictures, videos, and commentary over at plasticcrack.com.

Bringing fun back to Transformers!

Holy crap!

My Real Gear figures arrived!!!

These are the kind of figures that really are the kinds of Transformers I like. These are the kinds of figures kids will like... much more than the movie stuff.

Toys should be fun! These guys are.

My Real Gear Flickr gallery.

Botcon 2006 G-Rated Videos

So I took a lot of lame ass video at Botcon a couple of days back and I've tried to edit it into something that would be remotely coherent.

Suffice to say, there's no real "story" here.

Part I:

Part II:

I think the only guy we ended up really vocally (amongst ourselves) picking on was Melon-Eating Boy.

And anyway, Melon-Eating Boy, if you see this... what's up with the bad craziness man? Seriously.

UPDATE: Ack!!! I linked some titles in Part II and one referring to getting somebody laid accidentally switched with one about Greg's minicon collection. Do I rerender or just leave it?

Hmmm... I'm leaving it for now!

Bow down and worship at the glorious power!

The Takara Super God Fire Convoy Toys R Us Japanese Exclusive giftset is mine!

The Master-Fucking-God-Sword is in da haus baby!!!

Very plasticky. Very cracky.

It being Botcon time and all I think I'll do my next few days of postings over at Plastic Crack Dot Net,

Check out my other site for fun and excitement over there.

It'll be a geekstravaganza.

Almost there...

Only 5 or so hours of work and I'm on vacation! Then Thursday morning it is down to Lexington.

Lori wants to watch The Hoont so I'm going to cancel having him boarded. That'll definitely relive the horribly stress he feels at being sent to the kennel and also not being around me. He's quite the dependent dog when I'm remotely in the vicinity.

I'm so happy that Botcon is less than 200 miles away. My max is about 3 hours or so in a car (either driving or riding) and that's just about at the upper level of what I can tolerate.

Diffusion is a good thing.

I got a new light box and spotlights the other day.

Hopefully, my geek photography will improve.

Craziness for the plastic crack addicts.

It was a very bizarre day to be a TF geek today.

As the last last few entries over at Plasticcrack.net will show, there's no doubt quite a lot of pissed off fans around the country and probably around the globe.

Hasbro really misjudged this one.

Nope. I really don't care.

Ok. I'm going to make it official.

I don't care that there's a Transformers movie being made.

End of topic.

1600??? Holy shit! That's like totally the lame!

Well today I hit another lame ass milestone and a Takara Micron Densetsu Crystal Convoy became my 1600th Transformer ever purchased.

Ack! I am so lame.

So lame that I actually hit 1603 today.

The Columbus Toy Show was surprisingly large and while there wasn't a whole lotta TF stuff there, it was obviously a geektastic afternoon.

Most of the Transformers related items were pretty much the same old common stuff that all vendors with TF stuff have. If I see another Top Spin or Twin Twist I'll scream. And G1 jets. Ugh! Too many of those exist on dealer tables.

I did pick up a few things I normally would not have gotten such as Throttlebots, Sparkabots, and some miscellaneous other stuff. I mean, while I don't actively collect some of the post-1986 G1 stuff, if the price is right I might as well fill the gaps in the collection.

Quite frankly though, the gems of today weren't Transformers related at all.

I reacquired 2 toys I had as a kid. These were major parts of my childhood and I always knew I'd end up buying them again.

Yes. The inevitable acquisition of Micronauts has probably started. The Attic of Loveâ„¢ needs a few more vintage 70s Micronauts and now I happily own 2 that I really loved as a kid.

The guys I bought them from actually knew about plasticcrack.net and The Attic of Loveâ„¢ as well! I was shocked. I didn't think that many people stopped by here since I don't really look at my stats anymore. (Thanks guys!)

A milestone fast approacheth,

Here's a scary thought.

Today I'm at 1590 Transformers that I've ever purchased in the Attic of Love.

Tomorrow, with the Columbus Toy Show at hand, I will no doubt hit 1600 figures.

Pretty frigg'n insane!

I'm waiting for the Lion reunion tour.

And then I read...

The DVD also features a winning soundtrack featuring the iconic theme "The TRANSFORMERS" performed by Lion, and the popular "The Touch," performed by Stan Bush.

Let's face it.

That soundtrack is one of the single worst collections of music used in a film.

Ever.

Amazing photography!

I just need to share a Flickr photo set I've recently found.

Reignfire's TF: Litho set has what may be some of the finest Transformer photography I've ever encountered.

This guy makes the Alternator line look more dynamic and "alive" than I've ever seen.

Crack.

Not that you'd care or anything but there's been quite a few recent acquisitions to the currently messy and disorganized Attic of Love.

The blog who loved Powerglide.

Not sure if the comment was from the real Michael Chain or not but I approved it anyway.

Not sure who Michael Chain is? Here's my post from last year.

And while Mr. Palochi's comment on Mr. Chain's hair in that photo, all I have to say is many of us have had the hair.

Michael Chain's Red Alert is still da bomb! And while I'm not a huge fan of the character, you gotta admit Powerglide is far more memorable due to his voice acting in the role than a lot of characters in the old TF show.

1500 has been achieved and I feel like a dirty skanky whore.

Well it had to happen. Wasn't sure if it was going to or not since it all depended on UPS or the Post Office.

But the illness that is my transformer collecting officially took me over 1500 transformers today.

Quite sick indeed.

And due to an obvious accident on the part of MC I ended up with 2 of everything.

Now I wasn't charged and I do feel sort of guilty about it but it would be a pain in the ass to ship this all back and then try to get credit for the postage and all. I probably should call them though and explain what they did and see if they want the 2nd set back. (If not, I'm really at 1517!!!)

Can I get a Lucky Draw Black Fire Convoy Menorah?

Everybody knows that Optimus Prime is Jewish right?

So if you are Jewish as well why not have an Optimus Prime Menorah this year for Chanukah.

This and that.

I need to see what Time Warner is charging for Howard Stern In Demand and I do need to get my shit together on finding a Sirius satellite radio system and account.

I failed to find an Evac today. I swear I just can't seem to come across this damn Transformer anywhere.

Grrrr...

The pug drool is still warm...

Yup! They've got new hats!

The missile didn't shoot out though...

So I ripped out Cybertron Defense Red Alert out of his packaging but I've come to the conclusion that trying to touch him, let along transform him, is just way too disturbing!!!

I need to go wash my hands with bleach now.

Super mega bad crazyness. S'all I can say.

All kinds of bad craziness happened while I went home for lunch today.

Sick ain't it.

It must have been a Decepticon attack.

I swear that I had absolutely nothing to do with this

A Holy Grail item...

I must not buy this.

It would be a bad thing.

But it would make me very very happy.

Unclean! Unclean!

Amazing how I always feel unclean after doing this.

That gaping hole.

Surprisingly, it rarely is like this for me.

Well... at least the part about finding every toy.

And then the pug started humping the plastic crack...

The kind caring folk down in the hurricane-trashing lands of Juan Ponce de Leon have scored me some plastic cracky exclusive CostCo goodness!!!

Hopefully, I won't have to pay extra for the "special love" that Riley gave the box.

Thanks M and L!

The shit that boy finds.

And then Nala's panties got really moist.

I should have stayed in the car.

1463

Oh to be emancipated from cracky enslavement.

Went and had breakfast with Kelmeister and Mr. P. this morning. Was very good to see them.

Then went out on a toy run to the northwest side on tips from Evebird about new crack.

And yes! Scored!

KayBee had the Micromaster Trainbots exclusives and WeBeToys had the Starscream/Vector Prime exclusive 2 Pack in so I snagged me some goodness.

There were no Alternator Prowls anywhere to be found.

Sucks.

Man Amazon. That was fast!

Mudflap sorta cool. Leobreaker total the lame.

I don't feel guilty buying from Amazon.

I've given up trying to find new crack in the brick and mortar stores.

I just found Cybertron Mudflap and Leobreaker in-stock at Amazon.com and with free shipping so why bother driving around looking for these. Of course I ordered them.

Unfortunately, the Vector Prime-Starcream 2-Pack still isn't available nor are any new basics that are supposedly popping up. And the new Alternators are still AWOL.

I can't justify the crack pricing that the major online crack dealers (Big Bad, JRS, etc.) are charging for Alternators. They really are no more than $20 each so paying more for that + shipping on top is too much.

Yeah I might have it. But I'm still all about the value.

Botcon Ratchet roxxorz the ballz!

Oh Botcon 2005 Exclusive Ratchet... you are demanding top dollar (in the $180+ range) on Ebay and on the message boards so many people dislike you. "Too white" they say. "Not enough other colors" they say.

Haters! All of them! Haters!

I knew when Energon Tow-Line was released that eventually he would be redone as a Ratchet. I'm happy. Very happy.

You look so much more like your 1984 animation appearance. I'm happy Master Collector got Hasbro to create a new "accessory" for you that doubles as ambulance lights/sirens and I like your retooled head.

Let the haters hate. Me love you long time.

And you are so heads and tales above your original 1984 toy/robot form.

I still am amazed at what an eyesore you were back then.

Too bad Don Messick has passed away. He'll always make you sound like "you". But in lieu of Don Messick, I'll settle for for Tom Hardy being your new voice.

[crosslink]

It expands and grows.

Oh. From earlier, I realized there's also the "Transformers Fan By Proxy" which I'd say is pretty much what Giga is.

My internal monologue is also debating the existence of the "Been there. Done that. Bought the animation cel. Fan" too.

Not fully sure this is a valid category yet.

Introducing... the Transformer Victim.

I've decided that there are at least 4 types of Transformer fans. Perhaps more. But I will need to do more long term critical analysis on the subject.

I can definitely attest that there are the hardcore TF Fans, the nominal TF Fans, the occasional TF Fan, and I've decided based of reading TF message boards that there are the TF Victims.

Yes. The Victims appear to have real problems with both the collecting life and their real lives.

More later.

Just needed to announce this for posterity.

You heard it here first!

[Note: Of course, every "geekdom" has its victims. Every sport fan has its victims. This isn't anything new mind you. But I so want to turn the eyes of an anthropologist onto the subject. But by doing so, do I become a the fifth class of fan: the Super Loser TF Fan? There is no such thing as an impartial objective observation because the mere existence of the the observer and his/her actions affects the observed. And with TF fans, the laws of physics then break down and chaos unfolds in... well... a chaotic fashion.]

[crosslink]

You got the touch. You got the power. You got the shirt.

Hmmm. I typically don't wear emblematic shirts or clothing that isn't solid but this is kind of cool.

I mean. Few of the masses would recognize the Autobot Matrix of Leadership on a shirt now would they?

And since it is a black shirt I may just have to buy one of these.

Perhaps it'll help me finish writing Splintered, a novel in which said Autobot Matrix of Leadership plays a hideous and disgusting role.

Poor crack head addicts.

I feel very sorry for the crack addicts who couldn't find Alternator Tracks last year and ended up spending vast amounts of cash on Ebay to get one.

Hasbro has started producing more now and they are being released in the new round of Alternators packaging.

The rarity of this figure just nose-dived big time.

What I never could understand was the number of people who just didn't want to buy the Takara Binaltech version. Here's a die-cast metal version that rarely was more than $50 retail and the crack heads would spent $100 on the all-plastic Hasbro version but not just buy the better one. It made no sense.

Then again, that's why it is addiction.

[crosslink]

School Repaints Ahoy Crush.

I was going to write an in-depth commentary about how depressed I am that my favorite pr0n star was apparently underage when making movies and all the films are now illegal to own or somesuch but instead I think I'll just let you know that 4 more pieces of plastic crack arrived in the mail today.

Repaints ahoy!

Because I am the lame.

Because I am the lame.

Is there a documentary in here somewhere?

If you've read my daily blog for the past 10 years you know how I have this love-hate relationship with my toy collection addiction.

I fully acknowledge how depressing it is to be an adult collector of a 20 year old toy line. I full acknowledge that I have a problem in the sense that a whole lotta money goes to shit that just sits on a shelf either in or out of a box or card.

It is even more strange when I constantly try to justify the collecting habit in light of house repairs and other major important events that affect reality at large.

I'm really not a part of the typical Transformers fandom. I don't relate all that much to a lot of the people who attend cons or bitch/rant on message boards and I rarely can deal with individuals who eat, breathe, and shit their specific geek thing at the expense of other aspects of their lives.

Yes. The mere fact I blog about and document this silly collection of mine is sick and twisted but it is only a small part of my life and will one day fade into oblivion as such things do.

But I would really like to get back into the things I wanted to do when I was at university and while I never went into a career in animation and filmmaking, I still have some of those skills (though dated) and I still have the urges to do something there.

So I'm thinking about what it would take to do a small documentary about Transformer collectors . I'm thinking a 30 minute runtime and maybe 12 months of production in and out of my regular life.

I'm not talking about some spurious fan film but something with a bit more depth and focus.

I guess my own self-joking about my "plastic crack addiction" got me thinking about Transformers fandom. Recently attending Botcon in Texas also made me realize I need something substantial to keep me interested in my habit and something like this might be fun to do.

Costs would be minimal and hell, I could possibly apply for some small grants to try and start this. It would mostly end up involving some upgrades to my PC hardware and software, fixing and/or replacing my digital camcorder, and a whole lot of time over the course of the year to plan this.

There are some local Cowlanders who are TF collectors and perhaps they would be interested in being interviewed or being the focus on part of the documentary. There's a lot of background history/knowledge from some of the people that is quite vast and extensive going back to the first Botcons 10 years ago. I'd have to find a way to incorporate some non-Cowlanders and I can think of a few people that I met in Texas that would lend other valuable viewpoints.

Transformers also has some similarities with the Star Wars and GIJoe collector mentalities and I'd like to explore that. I don't seem much overlap between these types of groups which in itself is worth exploring.

I'm thinking something along the spirit of Trekkies but with my own take on "addiction" in the collector/fan geek scenes.

Plus it would give me a new goal to work towards and quite possibly help me get into the heads of the Transformer fans that I have previously never understood.

(original post)

---

I've even got real resources with producing and directing experience to draw upon for advice. Hell. I've got radio voices to draw upon for narration. I honestly and truly have the means to do this!!!

Plus Three

Of course, while I was away in Dallas, the always lucky Giger scored me some Transformers goodness too. This time in the form of basics Brakedown, Armorhide, and Undermine.

Cool little bots. Armorhide is fantastic.

Yes. More Transformers. Sue me. That's all I got to talk about right now.

In which Nala actually appears in a photo.

Ya know something. I think I look almost excited as Greg in this photo of Kristin's.

Yes. The awards dinner was so cool I almost crapped my pants.

Thank Shai-Hulud that I met these guys (and gal)!

My haul

You know I'm a loser, right?

Of course you did.

Continue reading "My haul" »

Botcon 2005 Recap

Good morning kids.

I am so damn tired today that I just decided to skip work. I had it scheduled off just in case and I'm glad I did. Feet hurt. Shoulder is still killing me from Thursday night. All in all. I'm a mess.

So. Botcon? You are wondering how was it perhaps?

Continue reading "Botcon 2005 Recap" »

Sunday Morning Sunday Morning

Ok. It is the morning and I've had another measley 5 hours or so of sleep.

But man I had fun last night.

There's something to be said about being 5 states and 1200 miles away from Cowtown and yet ending up at a Wal-Mart at 11pm looking for both toys and alcohol.

Good times. Definite good times.

I'll be leaving this afternoon and arriving in the greater Cowlands sometime around 9pm. As always, most of the day will be ruined by travel and such.

But I gotta say this: I did meet some great people and had a very fun time this weekend.

(And I only spilled my drinks twice!)

Can I go home now?

The awards dinner just let out and it is time to start drinking again. Heavily.

Been a good day and I've only spent about $380 so far. Unfortunately, the large suitcase I brought is already full so I can't really buy much more than PVCs and such.

So far I've gotten the Masterpiece Convoy trailer ($45... great deal), Robot Masters Thundercracker and Skywarp (only $40), Reissue Perceptor, the Jusco Exclusive Indy Heat and Wrecker Hook I came for, Botcon 2003's Sunstreaker, a ton of PVCs I needed, and the e-Hobby Black Victory Saber.

The dinner was fine but the "fandom" part sucked.

Met some really cool people from California and Buffalo that I've been hanging with.

We'll be leaving for the airport around 1:30 tomorrow.

And yes. I'm pretty sick of Botcon.

Update.

This is Nala with your "Botcon 2005 I'm Not As Pissed As When I Left" update.

Well there were no real delays with getting here and other than Evebird getting mad at Super Shuttle taking us like 90 minutes to the hotel everything was pretty easy.

The hurricane is definitely not something to worry about. Maybe some rain but it is no big deal here in Dallas.

The con? That's what you want to know about anyway so let me shoot the shit.

My attitude changed when I got here and was still able to cancel the loose set of exclusives. That was like $125 saved so it really made me happy that they allowed me to avoid buying it.

I've spent quite a bit of cash but I got some great deals and have filled a lot of my wish list, especially with PVCs and some Japanese exclusives.

I spent the night totally drunk with some guys down the hall but more on that later.

Anyway, I'll update later.

I am so angry. Really. I am. And it is all my fault.

I just lost over 10 paragraphs or so of me ranting due to anger at myself for falling under the expectation that I would enjoy myself this weekend. The obscene amount of money I spent on toys that I don't even want is an abomination and I think that this is a lesson to me that has been a long time coming.

I could have taken this money and gone to San Francisco and spent quality time with friends and new acquaintances and come back to Cowtown with memories for more valuable than useless toys that go on a shelf that I beat myself over buying anyway.

Alex B.? Remember what you said last Saturday night in the Attic about me one day just wanting to chuck it all?

Well. I think that day is coming sooner than I, or anyone else for that matter, ever expected.

I am so utterly angry at myself for allowing my values to become so corrupted by objects both real and imaginary.

This weekend will see exactly what kind of hypocrite I am.

I really need to get my priorities in order. They are so out of whack with reality.

In which I kneel at the obscene altar of the crack gods!

Yes. I'm flying to Dallas, Texas in little over 3 hours.

Yes. I know there's a hurricane that is probably going to come on shore in Texas and pound the eastern part and eastern coast of the state hard.

Yes. I know it will probably turn into torrential downpours in Dallas.

But I intend to make the best of this.

If I can find web access I'll blog and stuff. If I can find web access and USB access I'll upload pictures to my Flickr space for you all to stare at in awe of the plastic crackiness.

If something horrible happens and I die then just know that such an event would make me the ultimate loser. I mean really... going to the Transformers convention during a hurricane. How fuck'd up is that!?!?!

And I'm already fucking pissed that the "attendee exclusive" is another fucking repaint of Arcee!!! FUCK THAT SHIT MASTER COLLECTOR!

I will have a good time at Botcon.

I will have a good time at Botcon.

I will have a good time at Botcon.

I will have a good time at Botcon.

Rita won't piss me off.

Rita won't piss me off.

Rita won't piss me off.

The 8th exclusive figure won't be a 3rd Buzzclaw repaint.

The 8th exclusive figure won't be a 3rd Buzzclaw repaint.

The 8th exclusive figure won't be a 3rd Buzzclaw repaint.

I keep telling myself these things repeating them over and over and over hoping that this is true.

About 25 hours until Evebird and I board our jet to Dallas by way of a stop in Detroit. (Yeah. That's a great one if you ask me.)

Still gotta run to Target, snag some fruit for the flight, burn some music CDs (I still have no mp3 player), show Giga how to feed the Fishes of Love™, and pack.

Since I'll probably be up late tomorrow for the oh-so exciting Botcon Casino Night I'm thinking of maybe just sleeping in tomorrow. Would do my knee good too since I've been in pain all week.

Anybody want to take bets on how much weight I'll gain over the weekend? I'm at 240 or so right now.

I ain't got nothin'n!

To all you people that think The Attic of Love is insane I think you need to see this collection.

Shockwave... not frigg'n Shockblast!

Arghhhhh!!! Of course, Hasbro must have gotten back the Shockwave name since it now adorns a future mini-con repaint release.

That is like balls sucky since they named Alternator Shockwave frigg'n Alternator Shockblast due to the trademark having been lost. The trademarks of many many Transformer names from the 80s are now lost so we end up with the constant regurgitation of a select few over and over and over.

Balls! Balls! Balls!

But at least the main man's name is back where it belongs! Shockwave being my favoritest Transformer makes this good news for me.

I never called him Alternator Shockblast anyway. And oh.. he's Alternator Dragstrip too not that silly Decepticharge name. Bah!

I swear the apocalypse is upon me.

Of course, in my previous post, when I posted Hurricane Rita's path through Texas I failed to notice that it will be going right over Dallas!!!!

This trip just keeps getting more disappointing as the days go by.

No. I'm serious. What the hell is that?

What the hell is this?

Oh cracky day! Oh cracky day!

Giga, Evebird, Kelmeister, Kelmeister's Brother, Mr. and Mrs. B. and I went to the Columbus Toy Show today. All in all I didn't spend all of the cash I took. I did spend a lot of it but not all of it.

Continue reading "Oh cracky day! Oh cracky day!" »

Perhaps they'll release it on DVD. Yeah. Right.

So the mildly-not-as-annoying-as-the-previous-two-series Transformers Cybertron has been removed from Cartoon Network and will be going to Kids WB!. And of course, Cowtown doesn't get Kids WB! even though we are a a major 'Merican market.

And guess what? They are actually going to run the show starting with episode 1 instead of episode 4 like the fuck-ups at Cartoon Network. I still can't figure out why CN started in the middle of a story that needed to roll out as intended or else it wouldn't make any sense. Not that the previous Transformers Energon made a lick of sense anyway.

And to think I was kind of enjoying this not so shitty series.

Oh well.

New plastic crack for Nala.

My Takara PVC Ginrai arrived today from Great Britain.

You know it is kinda funny and kinda sad that I've had a hard time acquiring one of these and ended up finally winning one from a Great Britain ebay auction of all places. And it was even cheaper than he typicall goes for here in the colonies. Hell. Remember when I finally had to resort to getting an Energon Ultra Magnus from Australia? Bad craziness.

And no. Ginrai is not Optimus Prime. Yes. He looks like Optimus Prime but he isn't. He's actually a human with the cybertronic cock ring wrist bracelets that he bangs together and then he can merge with a transtector (Cybertronian spark-less body) that happens to have been a replacement body for Optimus Prime. Confusing yes. But not really if you are familiar with Transformer Masterforce's different direction for TFs in the 80s.

Of course, Ginrai merges with his trailer to become Super Ginrai and then mergers with God Bomber to become God Ginrai, my favorite PVC.

Michael Chain's jacket could destroy Unicron.

This is Michael Chain. He was the voice actor for Red Alert, Powerglide, Hoist, and Skids (for his only appearance) back in the 80s.

He'll be a guest panelist at Botcon 2005 where I'm headed at the end of September.

I am hoping that his jacket will also make a guest appearance.

In fact, I'm hoping that his jacket gets a panel all of its own.

All bow down before Michael Chain's jacket of eternal doom.

All hail Michael Chain's jacket of eternal doom.

Is it any wonder that the monkey's confused?

Hello. My name is I smoke crack.

$72??? While one of my favorite TFs of all time he's only a $30 at max. $50 for the Sam's Club Recolor.

I just don't get some people.

More than meets the Attic.

So I've been working on the Attic since I got home. Got some shelves reset and have been redoing everything. Nothing major. The Attic just looks more "lived in" with my toys up and fuck potential buyers if they can't deal with my geek-on.

I've added so much over the course of the summer. I had to move Armada all the way back (above) and I brought all my Cybertron stuff and merged it with my Galaxy Force figures.

The above image shows what I'm calling the "sell pile". It would be really nice to sell this stuff off before attempting to move. We didn't have much luck with Giga's ebay auctions but maybe I'll have time this week to get photos taken and get some of these on ebay. Unfortunately, some of this is still on retail shelves. Hell, WeBeToys on Morse has tons of Energon stuff.

And as promised, Frowny gets a RID Megatron.

Putting them away for a time gave new meaning.

Most of my plastic crack has been packed up since late May and I haven't been around them at all.

After pulling out all of my Transformers Armada and Energon figures I realized something that is extremely important.

In this instance, time does not make the heart fonder.

As I'm putting them on the shelves I realized how I really dislike the Armada design aesthetic. Sure, the smaller Optimus Prime (and even the larger one) is ok for what it is. Even some of the mini-cons are acceptable. But I really never realized how utterly boring the Starscream mold (and all other repaints/retools of it) are. It does nothing and is barely more than a statue.

I like Armada Jetfire too but he's so completely and utterly designed along a different aesthetic and vibe it baffles me. He doesn't share much at all with the rest of the line.

Energon fares a little better but there are some turds in the line.

All 3 combiners totally suck ass as combiners. I dissassembled the arms and legs to get them to fit into their bags and I cannot get a one back together to actually stand. Posability is nil. And Superion Maximus? Was the main component designed so poorly to cause kids to break the damn little plastic nib that serves as a waist? Grrr...

Roadblock is actually a really nice figure. I had opened him and put him on the shelf but never gave a real look at it. This mold should have been repainted as a G1 Grapple (or even Hauler) homage and included in the Master Collector "You stupid collector got suckered into buying this shit" exclusive set.

And the now happily gone Powerlinx gimmick? Ugh! The only figures that look half-ways decent are the Checkpoint and Prowl SWAT repaints of Rodimus and Prowl. And that's because they've been repainted in a like color scheme. All the other figures are up and down the color wheel here to actually make a decent combined figure. And man, they got worse "pieces" hanging off them than some Beast Wars figures. Give me "head on one shoulder, ass on the other" any day compared to this design style.

Ok. 9:30. Past my bedtime. Feet hurt. Calves hurt. Tired.

Gym-time at 5am comes really early.

Sleepies now.

And thus there came more plast crack...

So while going over my idea to use "molding" to hide various flaws around the vanity Giger wanted to go slightly different route so he's off to Lowes to check on slightly different wood.

But upon opening the front door to leave there was a package for me and in this package was... Beast Machines Blast Punch Optimus Primal.

At least he looks sort of like Primal did in the show. That other thing Hasbro released and called "Optimus Primal" is just so awful. Alas, Hasbro did a lot of bad design things with the Beast Machines toys. I can forgive a lot though (the poor design, totally out of scale, non-show colors, etc.) because they did release Air Attack Optimus Primal which pretty much nails the character from the show. (Of course, they released him under the RID brand name several years after Beast Machines was gone.)

This new bot is the 1361st Transformer that has been in my possession.

In which my Korean lust is satiated and crack abounds.

Robowang came over tonight and picked up some of Giga's Go-bots that he wanted to get rid of. I gotta say it is always nice to know that the plastic crack will find a good home with another crack addict.

Then we went to eat and my Korean lust was satiated.

Mr. E. You go girl!

Why look it that! Mr. E. getting on the A-List of plastic crack addicts listed there for all the world to see on a TFW2005 post.

(Hey. I never bust anybody's balls so today I've decided to bust me some Mr. E. balls!)

A plastic crack podcast?

I was thinking about starting a silly stupid 15-20 minute weekly podcast about Plastic Crack and stuff.

I'd get Mr.E. to stop by and we'd shoot the shit about stuff. Giga could stop by every now and then and who knows, maybe guest appearances by the ghost of Number Six Point Seven, Max Power, and others.

Or maybe I'll just borrow Mr. E.'s video camera or The Pickett's digital recorder and cover Botcon with a special podcast.

That's be an incredible waste of my time and something I'd lose interest in in about 3 weeks but it may happen.

In which I think I may have lost my entire Outlook address book...

Grrrrr!!!

In my recent rebuild I think I may have lost my entire Outlook address book. I so hate the way fucking Microsoft spreads out preferences all over the fucking place. Insane and useless this is!

At least I have the email addresses in the .pst archives. But man oh man... and those phone numbers and real world addresses. I sure hope I can recover them.

In other news, Giga found me Wave 1 of the smaller Legends of Cybertron PVCs. They are most definitely an upgrade over the Heroes of Cybertron non-transforming PVCs but hey... ya can't beat the G1 characters.

At least the news outta Japan is better than out of Texas.

Ack! While the state-side Botcon toys may suck the balls, I gotta say that the new stuff being shown at the Characters Hobby Expo 2005 in Japan has got me excited.

The Binaltech Red Alert (with something they are calling AI) is sweet and I'm thrilled they didn't use the Sideswipe or Prowl molds for this. The Red Alert color palette makes him look like a totally different character anyway.

Binaltech Sunstreaker finally debuts. This is what the mold released as Dead End was supposed to be. It was annoying to see Sunstreaker's head on a bot called Dead End. But this is one cool release and I'm so looking forward to this.

And it looks like there will be another Dengeki Hobby Magazine Exclusive figure in the form of a black Robotmasters Lio Convoy. Yay! At least the packaging is consistent with most of the RM exclusives. Still kind of miffed that the Star Saber exclusive and Thundercracker/Skywarp 2-Pack deviate so much from the original packaging design. Just will stick out like a sore thumb on the Robot Masters Shelf of Love.

Reissue G1 Galvatron, regardless of the minor retooling and new paint scheme, still looks like a turd. Ugly designs will inherently always be ugly.

The chick's outfit does rock.

Betcha never thought you'd see Nala get cornholed did ya?

Ok. I was upset at spending the money on the Botcon exclusives sight unseen.

I've ranted and beat up on myself weeks over this.

And after today's final "reveal" of the remaining two I can definitely say that "I've taken it fully up the ass by Master Collector!!!" and it is entirely my fault!!!

Chromia is a damn repaint of Energon Arcee (still sitting on toy store shelves as I type).

And the last one...Dirge A different mold? Something fantastic?

Hell no! It is the same fucking Beast Wars basic mold used as Buzzclaw, the first previewed figure! A figure that I have two of already that sit in a bag because I can't stand the non-show Beast Wars toys!!!

Man I totally fucked myself with these. I can't believe it.

Mr. E.'s email moments ago sums it up...

Five f***ing basics and a deluxe. And two are the same damn mold.

We took it up the @ss.

I am definitely going to cancel my extra loose set of these wastes of plastic.

Well... 5 out of 7 are wastes in my opinion. The Deathsaurus one is tolerable for what it is and Ironhide is the only real figure that is worth it.

No doubt the Ratchet figure... geez... a repaint from the same Towline figure that Ironhide is... will probably be the 8th "show attendee" figure.

So I'm gonna call and cancel.

Hell. I may as well just demote my entire registration and save a helluva lot of money at the same time.

Alpha Trion from Vector Prime? I never saw it!

Psst...

Master Collector and Hasbro...

Here's the kind of exclusive retool that plastic crack afficianados will moisten their painties over.

And this custom was created by a fan!!!

This is a very important lesson.

As expected, the larger Deszaurus Botcon exclusive is indeed a remolding/repaint of Car Robots Gigatron (or Robots In Disguise Megatron). The new head is ok but I already have 5 of this mold too (though one of them is for Frowny).

It isn't bad. It isn't exciting. It just is. But he really just looks like Gigatron to me. Much like I knew it would be since this was the only logical figure I thought they'd remold based off the price point.

So we'll end up with a probably 4 $6 figures, 2 $10 figures, and 1 $20 figure as the 7 $265 exclusive set with the 8th show attendee-only figure probably being another basic.

I have learned my lesson.

Always wait until the figures are unveiled before purchasing. This is a very important lesson.

There's not a whole lotta crack I want.

Man oh man I've lost all the plastic crack auctions I've been trying to get.

The Botcon 2003 Hotel Exclusive Sunstreaker ended up going for $77 which is about $40 more than I want to pay (for a repaint, no matter how rare it is). The Micromaster bases are going for more than I am willing to pay so I've lost all of those.

I should have raided Mr. E.'s PVCs for the ones I needed since I haven't had any luck winning an Alpha Trion, Devestator, or the other 2 conehead seekers I'm missing.

I've decided the September Botcon trip will be about completing my Takara PVCs, getting the Beast Machines show appearing characters, and maybe other miscellaneous things since there's not much I need. Perhaps I should just buy some of the E-Hobby exclusives too. I want a few of them.

Anyway, that's like 5 weeks away.

I've got to get more concerned about finishing the house and finalizing the entree menu for the potluck. I wanted something better than burgers and dogs.

Yay for Fire Guts Super God Ginrai PVCs for $5

Wow. I didn't even remember bidding on it but I won an Takara fairly rare chase Fire Guts God Ginrai PVC for only $5. I needed it and with it being a chase figure I'm shocked it went so low. Sure it is a gold repaint but hey... I'm a completist.

I only need 23 pieces to have all G1 PVCs and unfortunately most of these are the rare chase/bonus figures that are often a pain in the ass to find at a decent price.

But completing these are one of my goals for Botcon.

Yes. I'm going to have a good expensive time and have learned to say "fuck it". I'll try to recoup some of the costs later by reselling the exclusives I don't want (even if it means breaking up the set) and hopefully the 8th show-attending only figure will suck such balls that I can sell it to someone who is a completist.

I figure it that toy is good and special and not some shitty basic then the fans that can't attend will definitely want one of those and I'll be more than willing to part with it.

I think I'll need to get this.

Man oh man all I gotta say is I hate when I get my panties moist because of box art. And the new Takara G1 Perceptor reissue has some might pretty art.

But while he's a straight reissue from what I can tell by photos I wish they'd have remolded his "faceplate" to have a mouth like his animated version.

Perceptor without a mouth is just silly given the character's tendency to ramble techno-incoherently.

Still... nobody reissues like Takara reissues.

And this picture of Binaltech Shockwave posed like he is on the cover to Marvel Comics' Transformers #5 is great.

Another basic. How quaint.

Oh. I won't bore you (and upset myself more) over the fact that the 3rd Botcon exclusive is yet another simple basic repaint of a G2 Cyberjet (already repainted many times before) and the 4th exclusive is a repaint of Energon Tow-Line as an homage to G1 Ironhide.

At least this one I feel is substantial in the realm of my +$250 spent for the exclusives and this is the first one that I've no complaints about. When Tow-Line appeared I said to Giga in the truck "This would make a good Ironhide or Ratchet" and lo and behold that has happened.

I have no doubts that the Ratchet is also going to be released as an exlusive in the set since that means they even had to do less work.

I'm still totally upset at myself for buying these toys.

I will be for the rest of my life until that day, on my death bed, I make Mr. E. bend over and I whisper into his ear that "I still feel ripped off by the Botcon 2005 Exclusives".

It'll happen. You just wait and read.

Now if the 8th "show only" figure is a repaint of Victory Saber I'll quit my bitching.

I still like the name Nitro Convoy better.

FYI: Cybertron Overdrive (aka Galaxy Force Nitro Convoy) is a nice speed car-ish Transformer but man oh man does she/he have a totally shitty looking bot mode. The chest/torso/waste just doesn't work at all.

I haven't gotten Red Alert transformed yet but he's better than he was in Armada. That much I can definitely tell you.

And of course, with all the house drama, trying to get it on the market by the end of the month, and overall mental anquish over the cost of Botcon, I still have to deal with Wave 3.5 of Cybertron which includes Buzzsaw, Runamuck, Longrack, Blurr, Sideways, and Snarl. The first 4 are merely retools of 4 Armada molds so I don't know what I'm going to do about those. They look better now than they did but I don't know if I want to be a total whore and own them all or not.

And of course I still need to lose 20 more lbs by September 22.

Grrr...

AM SO FUCKING RETARDED IT ISN'T EVEN FUNNY ANYMORE!!!

To say that I'm feeling overwhelmed by the amount of money I've spent/am spending to attend Botcon in late September is putting it mildly.

At the core of my being I really do feel that it was a mistake to go to this year's con and last year's show should have been my first and last show.

Yes. I collect Transformers.

Yes. I have 1553+ of them.

But at the root of my collecting gene is the collecting itself and not really much of the peripheral "fandom" that most geek things have.

Hell. I barely read the geek message boards anymore because on any given day the same thing is being said that was said last year and the year before and the year before that. (The panels at these cons are pretty much the exact same thing year after year too with the same lame questions asked and the same stock answers given.)

It is all pretty much the same no matter what your "geek" thing is.

I knew I should have waited to see the actual exclusive toys before filling out the registration form. I failed in this. I failed in this royally and the "collector" retard in me ordered two sets. So that's $405 out the door.

Airfare ended up being $220 or therebouts.

It'll cost $50 to get from the airport to the hotel and then back on return day.

And the hotel will be $129.

I've already spent $804 and I haven't bought a single toy at the con or eaten a meal.

Where the FUCK has my internal sense of value gone?!?!?!

When it comes to this messed up addiction of mine I am usually extremely controlled by a sense of value and I will often compare and constrast every decision based on the implied value I see in something.

And buying these godforsaken exclusives sight-unseen was against every single personal rule I have for my collecting.

Hell... even on Ebay you most often have at least 1 photo of the item in question and a whole decription of it!

With these I didn't even have that to go on and I bought two sets of what is turning out to be figures I have absolutely no care in the world for that aren't worth a damn anything to me.

And while the rumor mill and leaked photos abound my gut feeling is that all these so-called rumors are actually true and I've paid this money for things that I have absolutely no real need or want for.

I AM SO FUCKING RETARDED IT ISN'T EVEN FUNNY ANYMORE!!! (And then it was only funny part of the time anyway!)

Perhaps I will get shit-faced drunk at the con. Why the hell not!

My god I am such a lame fool.

Ugh!

It is going to cost Mr. E. and I $100 ($50/each) to take the damn Super Shuttle to and from the Airport at Botcon. 50 fucking dollars!!!

Methinks we should explore car rentals for that weekend. If it costs less than $100 it'd be cheaper than paying Super Shuttle.

I'm definitely thinking this will be my last Transformers convention.

This is way too expensive.

Way too FUCKING expensive.

And yes, I'm a fucking RETARD for going.

All messed up and that's a fact!

So according to a post over at the TFW2005 boards somehow the original Convoy (Optimus Prime), Rodimus Convoy (Rodimus Prime), Ultra Magnus, and Jazz (for some reason) will make an appearance in a forthcoming episode of Galaxy Force and they are referred to as "ancient Transformers".

I certainly hope the characters from the 80s are not directly tied to the current series. It just wouldn't feel right. (And of course once Voicebox dubs this into Cybertron it'll be blemished forever.)

If indeed they do appear then I am proposing that Super God Fire Convoy (from Car Robots) breaks through the space-time continuum from a parallel universe and with the power of the Master Sword kicks every body's ass from G1 to Energon, all while Sky-Byte is making haikus of the battle.

Then again, that's just me.

To dream... perchance to sell sexual favors for plastic crack...

Someday. You will be mine.

Oh yes.

And you too but they already know that.

And there will be much rejoicing.

But there will not be much rejoicing regarding Mr. E.'s Fort Max. I've been outbid but it is good for Mr. E. since the winner is paying more than he did for this Max.

Man that Megalo Convoy gay porn sucked balls.

Ok. I've got to post about this because even though Mr. E. did, his language isn't as filthy as mine is since he's all decent and stuff and a dad and all. Me? I have no such responsibilities.

So Takara is releasing a figure called Megalo Convoy that is somewhat of a real thin homage to G1 Metroplex, the Autobot that was a city (don't ask).

Now rumor has it that Hasbro is even going to name the damn thing Metroplex which I think is just horribly wrong but I'm not a fan of reuse of the names unless it is for the actual G1 characters. Just the way I am and I also kind of want some new creativity in the lines too so new names would be cool.

Anyway. This ebay auction has some test shots of Megalo Convoy up and from what I've seen of some Galaxy Force model sheets he's a huge figure. No doubt in the $49.99 range like that big ass Starscream that I'm waiting to go on clearance before buying.

But Megalo Convoy's "alt" mode has got to be one of the dumbest simplest transformations ever and in effect, as you can see from the picture, essentially involves him bending over, getting on his knees, and preparing to take it up the ass.

Now perhaps he "merges" with Primus, Starscream, or some other large toy.

But man... it really does look like that to me. The transformation doesn't even remotely hide any aspect of the bot. He's just folded down and on his knees bend over.

And "Tak'n It Up The Pooter" Cybertron Metroplex can be yours for only $50.

I'll get him. But he is definitely staying in bot mode. Always in bot mode.

I just wish he had the sword.

My god I'm bidding on one of Mr. E.'s plastic crack auctions.

Yes. It is Fortress Maximus. And yes I need one.

But I can't believe that I'm bidding on this toy.

If I win him you know what that means right?

Oh yeah baby... Fortress Maximus with the G1 shelf and Brave Maximus with the Car Robots/RID shelf.

Cha-ching! (That being the sound of Mr. E. taking my money if I win this. And if I do and then find one cheaper at Botcon I can taunt him mercilessly, pant hoot, and throw feces at him for selling me this one!)

Yay! But where are the train bots?

I'm very happy that Hasbro will be releasing the early 90s Takara Micromaster combiner Sixwing in an homage to G1 Superion but this definitely has confirmed to me that Hasbro has only a core group of names that they are actively maintaining.

Ro-Tor? Storm Jet? These are RID and Beast Machine names. And Decepticon names at that!

Either I'm assuming that they've officially lost Slingshot, Vortex, Blast-Off, Onslaught, Blades, and probably a lot of the Technobot and Terrorcon names since none of them have really seen reuse since the early 90s.

Sucks.

Terrorcons is a great name as is Abominus and so many of the component bots.

But... dare I say it... it may be time to let the names Prowl and Hot Shot take a long nap.

Ok. Now where is Sixtrain's US release?!?!

And I've known Takara was going to re-issue G1 Galvatron for some time and had no excitement over it.

Galvatron is one of the worst designed figures ever and looked nothing like his animation model sheet counterpart.

Well Takara is trying to fix that by making him movie accurate colored and tweaking the mold. Unfortunately, it still doesn't do much for me and suffers from the general poor design of so many Season 3 and beyond figures.

Is it a brick? Or a Transformers?

Mr. E. has wanted me to get a Grandus for a long time.

I may just bid on it.

It is funny because it sucks.

The current poll at The All Spark is "I want the next stereotype character accent in Cybertron to be...".

Yes. The powers that be have found it necessary in Transformers Cybertron to use a lot of fake accents for characters. Jetfire is Australian, Red Alert is pseudo-Brit, and Thundercracker is white trash Tennessee.

It really is better to watch the Japanese version (Galaxy Force)even though one can't speak Japanese.

Build Boy is still one of my favorite bots ever!

Damn. I'm so looking forward to the new Alternator Skids when he debuts. Wish I could find me some Dragstrip and Prowl goodness.

In other great news, it looks like the HasbroToyShop.com is actually going to release the G1 Devestator homage of the RID Build Team!!!

There was fear that it would go into limbo.

Ok. It is 8:00pm. Time for Nala to crawl into bed and fall asleep to a Beast Machines episode. Yup! I borrowed the VCDs from Mr. E. again. I sooooo love this series.

Rampage has a leg!

Mad crack-props to Giger for the tip about the 99 cent Beast Wars Rampage at the Goodwill.

Rampage, while missing most of his parts, did indeed have his two bot legs so I can fix my near-mint one and now make him mint with the right leg!

Yay!

Now of course I have the carcass of a parts-only Rampage.

So sad really.

I don't think I know enough ways to say the word fuck.

Oh my god what a loser I am!!!

The 2nd exclusive figure for Botcon was unveiled and it was a fucking repaint of an Energon Basic!?!?!?!! A figure that even Wal-Marts couldn't get rid of fast enough even by doing 2 for 1 and such!

A figure worth at most $5!

Fucking fucking fuck!!!

I'm 0-2 in giving a fuck about these and I was a stupid fucking Transformers collecting idiot and have ordered 2 sets!!!!

Fucking fucking fuck!!!

My god I was stupid and gullible. So stupid and gullible!!!

So now we've seen 2 figures and while some fans may like these all I can say is FUCK!

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

My god for the money I spent I could have had a repro Master Sword!!!

That 8th figure that attendees to the con only receive better toss my salad or this will have been a very important lesson learned from Master Collector on my part.

And that's all I'm gonna bitch about these. Well... until the 3rd figure is shown.

Yay! More crack soon!

Trixter makes Allspark main page and since she's a Cowlander also confirms that Cybertron Wave 2 plastic crack is around our fair Cowtown even though I didn't find anything new at the brand spanking new Target yesterday.

A plastic crack update. Not that you care.

I'm kind of slacking this afternoon. I got home about 90 minutes ago and instead of changing clothes and painting and finishing the kitchen I came up to the attic and have been reading all of my favorite blogs and crack shit. And remember... just because I haven't been commenting on your site doesn't mean I don't read you. Now that I don't read sites at work I kind of have to play catch up once or twice a week so I don't have time to comment on everything I want to. Not that my comments really have any value or anything.

And Giga found me an Alternator Swerve the other day. That raises the crack total.

current figure acquired: 1353rd (Alternator Swerve)
current figures in attic: 1345
projected additions: 175
projected total: 1520
number sold: 9

I need to sell more and buy the ones I really want.

I can't say I'm thrilled with the first preview!

Not to sound like a plastic crack pissy pants but man I'm less than thrilled with the first preview image of one of the Botcon exclusives.

I can't say I'm much of a fan of any of the non-show appearing Beast Wars toys and I've got an entire box of these types of guys I won as a lot when I was trying to complete my Beast Wars needs. (You should see the Falcon/Hammerhead shark Airhammer fuzor piece of shit for how bad some of these designs are!

If the exclusives end up being a lot of these miscellaneous crappy Beast Wars figures I'm not only going to be super mega balls upset but I'll also feel as if I really got ripped off.

But it would of course be my own total fault.

I'm the one that pre-ordered the figures before seeing them. I'm the one that pre-ordered a 2nd set of the damn things.

Here's hoping that out of the 8 exclusives at least 4 will be something I'll really like and will be worth the cost.

I've a gut feeling that some of these will be smaller than Buzzclaw and at $20 each that will really make me mad as hell.

Hell. We still have NO FUCKING IDEA who the guests will be or which vendors will even be there. This show could be a massive waste of dinero for me. (But I'll always have Casino Night to share with Mr. E.)

He did what?

Yes. I broke 1350 today thanks to Giger's Sprawl-Mart adventure this afternoon. He found me some Cybertron Recon Minicons, Clocker, and Hardtop. They all rock the balls!

With Botcon this September and that local toy show sometime around then I will definitely break 1400 by the end of the year.

Three away from 1350.

Nassau stopped by last night and added a G1 Cosmos, G1 Windcharger, and a complete G1 Sideswipe to the collection of crack. Every time he goes home to Connecticut he always comes back with something for me. (And man... did he take care of his toys!!!)

With these guys, plus the exclusive give-away Skywarp that the Alex and Kristy picked up for me in San Diego, I've got a nice 1347 figures. So close to 1350 you can almost taste it.

Bad craziness. Bad bad craziness.

I wish I was done with the house.

The exterior work began today with the front porch being scraped and prepped for priming and painting.

I was able to get a dual 3-way switch on order so hopefully it'll be for me to pick up Friday and all the electric will be done in the living room.

I really over extended myself today at the gym but I really felt like I've hit a wall. I ran again but this time I pushed the speed up and man oh man are my knees feeling it. The aspirin hasn't kicked in yet at all.

Sucks to be me sometimes.

But... and super mega props go out to Mr and Mrs Boneyliscious who snagged a free Hasbro Skywarp give-away for me while they were out at the San Diego Comic Con this past week! I practically pant-hooted this morning when I got the email about it.

Speaking of plastic crack, behold the Alternator Sunstreaker goodness. Fina-fucking-ly!

In other news, Galaxy Force Blender is sort of a cement-mixerish thing. Can't say I like the "arm" much.

Galaxy Force Moledive is also just too non-descript for my tastes but he's quite large on the scale chart. But man oh man... look at that Megalo Convoy. He's going to be massive!!!

All the shit I'll never have.

Since it is summer in the Northern Hemisphere of this planet that means Takara is unveiling exclusives aplenty.

All the shit I'll never have.

*sigh*

Continue reading "All the shit I'll never have." »

Say, you don't happen to have those mudflaps do you?

Guess who's hiding under the tarp at the Hasbro booth at the big San Diego Con event?

Must have Elita-1 mudflaps for the Deluxe Luxury New Beetle.

He better have the right "voice" in his animated form. Or else!

So a CGI model sheet of the new Galaxy Force Soundwave has appeared on the net. And there's even a little Laserbeak or Buzzsaw perched up on his "wing".

So far he's a dead on homage to everybody's favorite cassette-bot spewing 80's walkman Decepticon and I while I'm not into jet-ish alt modes much I can't knock the mere fact he will exist. I mean so far his model sheet makes me definitely think "yeah, he could be Soundwave" and that's pretty rare with modern TFs. (What's funny is that even to this day I still consider the G1 versions the definitive version and all others are compared to those toys and/or animated model sheets.)

I like the fact that his chest definitely opens and can hold whatever it is Laserbeak/Buzzsaw will transform into. I'm assuming a missile or bomb-shape of some type since that'll go with the stealth jet-ish mode and drop from the bottom.

As long as I avoid the Voicebox-dubbed Transformers Cybertron and stick with the Japanese Transforms Galaxy Force I think I can like these far more than if the bad characters of Cybertron get in the way. (Yes. This is a specific geek where the toys and the animated version play major roles in if I like or don't like something!)

And rumor has it... Primus finally will appear and look like this. Will they retool the Unicron toy to make a Primus figure? Hmmm. At least he'll be cooler than that shitty glowing Energon Primus that looked like the protoculture matrix from the wreakage of the SDF-1.

My reward for painting. Well. I bought 'em for myself.

All the new Transformers have arrived and been open. Most are pretty good.

Some are just meh.

Move along. There's only text about plastic crack to read.

Only crack lovers need bother.

Continue reading "Move along. There's only text about plastic crack to read." »

Ok. So now my internalized geek guilt is really at maximum.

Ok. The damage is now complete and there's no going back on it no matter the internalized guilt.

Airfare was bought last night and registration was just submitted for the 'con. (Of course, hotel and that lovely $50 round-trip Super Shuttle charge from the airport to the hotel still isn't worked in yet!)

This had better be worth it. I've purchased the exclusives (plus an additional loose set) sight unseen and that's something that goes against my inner monologue. There's still no announcement of who the guests voice actors will be and there's still the issue of what I'll actually be able to buy at the show.

And I better be one of the people that gets the Deathsaurus cloisonné lapel pin. I don't know if I can live without it.

Let's just say that on top of all of the house-related items, September is going to be a very expensive month for me.

Here's hoping I can still find a way to go to San Francisco this year too. I soooooo need a couple of days out there.

Oh. And the Botcon info has this blurb...

With everything that is going on in the world today, you owe it to yourself and your family to take time out and attend this once-in-a-lifetime weekend of Transformers collecting.

And my family? They no doubt think I'm a total sick fuck!

It has been a very cracky day.

Well. It is done.

Mr. E. woke me up out of bed because Northwest Airlines tix dropped to $214 round-trip so he and I are heading to Botcon 2005 from September 23-25 in Dallas, TX.

I'll bite the bullet and register tomorrow for the Primus Package, the super-duper whopper expensive one. Hell. I may have to become a whore during the nights during that trip just to pay for this.

I think we've found a vein!

Hey kids... guess what time it is?

Continue reading "I think we've found a vein!" »

But can I make the DVD out of shit too?

So I had my problems with the first episode of Transformers: Cybertron that aired Saturday.

But I've come across perhaps the funniest way to describe it from message board post made by Solidus Prime.

The impression I get is that this is the cartoon equivalent of making a box out of poop, then crapping in it.

Then again, they did skip the first 3 episodes of the source material. Perhaps that should count for something?

Just another crack-related post.

Ok. Just another crack-related post.

Continue reading "Just another crack-related post." »

Regrets... I've had a few...

So I'm patiently waiting for the new plastic crack to arrive.

Continue reading "Regrets... I've had a few..." »

Ya know. I'd love NOT to have the plastic crack gene.

Yeah. With the debut of the already messed up Cybertron and the appearances of new toys in the retail chains I'll admit that the "plastic crack gene" kicked in the past few days.

I even went on my first pseudo toy run yesterday because I needed to see if TRU had Cybertron Jetfire since I saw Walky had one. (Of course, I think he probably got them online too since there's some Takara-only stuff there too.)

The Transformer collector compulsion is a cruel mistress. It makes one irrational beyond belief. Hell... it makes me feel dirty and ashamed a lot of the time when I think about the better things in reality that this money could be spent on. I mean, there's a lot of people that have nothing out there and here I am with a habit that costs quite a bit and yet I don't really need.

Anyway. Suffice to say the recent increase in my cybertrone (that's the hormone that the plastic crack gene activates) is pretty bad and it shouldn't be at all. I wasn't thrilled with much of the Galaxy Force stuff so why do I get excited about the possibility of acquiring the US release stuff? It truly is all about "finding something new".

*sigh*

When my cybertrone levels are high I feel like a dirty filthy stinking whore. Especially since I went online again and bought more toys today.

Unclean! Unclean!

Super Unhappy Gay Pride Galaxy Convoy?

Ugh. Some Japanese magazines get exclusive Transformers that are merely repaints. There's a trend in Japan of all solid gold metallic, all silver or pewter, and all black repaints. It looks good on some bots and bad on others.

However, Super Unhappy Gay Pride Galaxy Convoy is going to suck balls of such magnitude... well... just kidding.

The picture is just for the magazine to imply that it could be any color. It is a contest in which a winner will pick the color.

Yeah. Lame. But way better than Super Unhappy Gay Pride Galaxy Convoy!

Note To Reality: More than 3-4 colors, rainbow colors, and "tie-dye" style needs to be purged. There is such a thing as "colors all over the place" and nature itself doesn't even do this. Please see repto-avian Galaxy Force Terashaver for example of bad color choices.

Actually, that picture of Convoy actually reminds me of a trip I had back in college.

Man I miss "Turansuform!" from Galaxy Force

Ok Hasbro and the other powers that be.

I was giving you the benefit of the doubt on Transformers Cybertron both for toys and animation.

I already knew you'd altered some toys from their Takara releases and this was for the negative.

Now I've gone ahead and watched the premiere of Transformers: Cybertron, the supposed adapation of the original Takara Transformers Galaxy Force and it appears you've had to go and fuck this up too?

You start Cybertron with the fourth episode of Galaxy Force??? WHAT THE FUCK!?!?!?!

That's like giving someone an issue #7 comic book of an 12-part miniseries and saying "you'll figure it out".

And here all along I've been under the illusion that you'd done away with Voicebox as the producing company and went with someone else. But no. I mean, I love Gary Chalk and David Kaye but when they use these these voices they are just sounding like bad retreads of the great characters Optimus Primal and Beast Wars Megatron. Remember them? They were well written and well acted. Remember when that was possible in a Transformers cartoon?

And who the hell serious brought to the table the idea of giving Jetfire an Australian accent and Thundercracker and over the top redneck Texas accent? (No offense to the Australians. The Texans? Well...) I mean, one of the main problems with Energon was that having so few voice actors on the show made everybody eventually sound the same. So what do we do here? Give them accents??? Yeah, that worked for Energon Bulkhead!!! Ugh!!!

And Vector Prime? So you brought in TF vet Richard Newman. Great. That's cool. But does he have to use the Beast Wars Rhinox voice for a different character?!?!?!?!

NOTE: Accents can be distracting when you are producing this for an audience that speaks American English!!!!

And why change the name of Speedia? I mean... c'mon!!! At least it doesn't sound like a character and/or something generic TF from previous shows. Velocitron??? What the fuck!??!!?!?! The "tron" suffix is over-fucking-done to death.

The animation of course is still pretty decent. And the voice actors for the kids are really good. And the fact that the annoying voice reverb for 'bots is gone is a MAJOR improvement. And there was really only 1 or 2 bad lines of dialogue that were inappropriate because of the fact they couldn't fit into the original Japanese (but man oh man do the stick out)!

That being said I'm soooooooooooooo happy that Justice League Unlimited was on. Now there's a show that is written and produced for the adult fans.

1328 is a whole lot of wasted money.

This afternoon's indiscretion puts me at 1328 pieces of crack with today's haul counting as the 1333 through 1337th Transformers I've bought.

Yeah. The ones sold on ebay in May have introduced the discrepancy between the # in my collection and my overall total. But such is life. No doubt the total # will decrease over the next couple of months by even more since I have an entire stack of things I wouldn't mind getting rid of.

But my 1337th Transformer.

My god I am really retarded.

The God Master Sword is a phallic symbol even I would worship.

I just had a moment of weakness.

It has been a long long time since I've had one but I just ordered (via Amazon.com) some new plastic crack. Their retail pricing was way better than any specialty online crack stores and shipping and handling for the order was barely above what BBTS and others are.

So in a week or so Cybertron Optimus Prime, Hotshot, Overhaul, Crumplezone, Scattershot, and Thundercracker will arrive.

Of course, most of the crack is boxed and binned up for an eventual move.

But I really needed something new and when I saw the prices were what one would expect for retail it made sense to just order them online.

And at least 4 of them were figures I knew I would buy eventually and didn't care about having the Takara version.

Yeah. No doubt Prime will end up being a shelf clogger and reduced to $20 in six months but since he's sorta-kinda Super Ginrai/Fire Convoy-ish I figured I'd get him.

I'm also keeping watch on one of my holy grail pieces. If I could snag that for $200 total I probably will get it. Yeah, it has been opened, but I would probably do so anyway since I love this translucent version of the Super God Fire Convoy.

AND IT HAS THE GOD MASTER SWORD!!!

Ok. Have to attend a going away luncheon and that godawful Champs generican restaurant.

Dragstrip... where the hell are you?

Where the hell are you Alternator Dragstrip?

I've been patiently waiting for someone to report finding you on a shelf but you seem to be shy.

You really need to join your brethen because I need another yellow car on the shelf. Takara Binaltech Tracks is the only yellow car of his kind so far.

Are you AWOL with your fellow Alternator Swerve? He still hasn't appeared either. And Prowl? Where are you?

What gives.

Hasbro marketing? Huh?

Please Hasbro I need you so badly to explain something to me.

How the hell can you repackage shelf warmers and put them back out on the shelves yet again?!?!?

Now I don't know the truthfulness of these since the past few days showed Transformers Universe packaging that looks like the new Cybertron line and not this old design packaging.

Maybe these are just old photos for ideas that were scrapped since other old repaint shit is going to be released in Cybertron-like packages.

See. The marketing staff will use words like "consistency" and "on message" and possibly even "brand synergy" when they are really trying to mask the fact that old toys, some that have sat on the shelf for over a year, are now in the new line's packaging to confuse people. I mean, most people, especially parents buying their kids plastic crack aren't going to notice the difference and so the same old shit may get bought again.

Now I don't know if this is the intention but it smells like it.

I don't see Takara doing this kind of thing so the Asian toy market must be substantially different.

Then again, Takara doesn't typically repaint the hell out of the same molds over and over and over again and try to sell them over and over and over again.

Rodimus is made up Latin for crappy leader

A comment left by Hellopike says it all...

...Rodimus is made up Latin for crappy leader...

In which Hasbro once again doesn't make sense.

Ok. Remember the birth of SNATCH (Stupid Names of American Transformers Created by Hasbro) from a few days back? Well I'm broadening it to include "names applied to inappropriate Transformers by Hasbro".

Case in point, the first time ever issuing of the Takara-only Sixtrain to be known as Rail Racer.

Ok. So they reused the Team Bullet Train names from Robots In Disguise. Totally appropriate. No complaints.

And then they named the other 3 Overload, Tankorr, and Swindle???

Overload, Tankorr, and Swindle???

What the phrock!?!?!?!

Couldn't they have come up with new ones? Or even reuse some other G1 names that would make more sense for trains???

Arrrghhhhh!!! Hasbro... I know the kiddies don't care. But even the frigg'n name "Tankor" indicates the name was originally made for something tank-like. DOY!!!

But at least the damn things are going to be released. The Universe line looked dead and I don't care too much for anything Cybertron-related right now.

We may just see the Devestator-colored Landfill and the Seacons yet.

SNATCH: The birthing.

Ok.

Mr. E. said...

Why even call it Metroplex????

http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/thread76621.html

And it's even ugly too.

Ah, as the thread said, he's actually Megalo Convoy, which is ok with me. I'm done with Stupid Names of American Transformers. (SNAT).

I think you just coined a great acronymn. Should get lots of use in the future. But maybe we can add a couple letters: Stupid Names of American Transformers Created by Hasbro -- SNATCH.

What stupid American Transformer names can you think of? Let me know for the official SNATCH page here at naladahc.com.

*sigh*

And let me just tell you that the typical sick and pathetic life of a Transformer collecter isn't all shits and giggles.

If you stab us, do we not bleed?

*sniff*

The big question: Do I or Don't I?

So Mr. E. has decided to go to BotCon '05 and I'm thinking that I will probably end up going too.

Continue reading "The big question: Do I or Don't I?" »

Black Zarak in the house again?

So once upon a time, back in the yonder years of the 80s during what is now known as Generation 1, there was the Decepticon Headmaster Leader Scorponok (Mega Zarak in Japan).

Figure-wise he was actually pretty shitty visually and like the majority of the figures of that later G1 era was brick-like and clunky. At least in the Japanese Headmasters show he had a ton of screen time.

Now Takara retooled and repainted him into the much nicer Black Zarak who appeared in Masterforce.

Black Zarak kicks major ass and his PVC figure is one of my favorites.

Anyway... in 2004 in the Energon line they introduced that line's version of Scorponok and it was ok. A little too clunky in bot mode and a little too useless in the cartoon but overall ok.

Well rumors abounded and prototype pictures popped up that Takara had retooled the mold for Galaxy Force's force chip gimmick and it appears to be true.

There will be a "Black Zarak" version of Energon Scorponok released.

He looks better but he really needs the G1 Black Zarak's red spear. That to me added so much to the figure in the same way that my much beloved Master Sword adds to Fortress Maximus and God Fire Convoy.

Perhaps I'll end up getting him. I bought an extra Energon Scorponok to someday repaint as Black Zarak. Like that'll ever happen.

Holy plastic crack addicts Optimus!

Holy fucking shit!!! I can't believe how fucking expensive it'll be if I decide to go to Botcon 2005.

It is insane!

Ok. $129/night for room (so let's say $65 because I'd split it).

Now I can either pay $265 for registration which includes a ton of useless paper shit, the seven-figure exclusive set (repaints ahoy), the right to attend the seminars, and some special piece that can only be picked up in person.

If I don't want to attend but want the figures it'll still cost $265 and I won't get the special gift since I won't attend in person.

If I just want to go to the sales floor it'll cost $9 per day.

Airfare, at this moment, would be around $350-$400.

Ok. Now all dealers must get a Texas sales tax number and charge 8.25% sales tax!!!

It will cost me around $750 before tax is added to just fucking get to the convention!!! And I've got to do more than the sales floor because I'd lose my mind walking around there for 2 days looking at the same old plastic crack over and over and over again!

I spent about $800 on toys, travel, meals, and alcohol last year at the 'con in Chicago. It will cost me more just to get to this con than I spent on toys last year!!!

And thank god I paid $40 to be a club member because it'd cost closer to $950 just to get there!

And with my wallet already minus $800 I still haven't even puchased any toys in the display room!!!

So the way I see it, I'm be spending around $1600 just to go attend the Botcon this year.

And to top all of this off all of the brochure materials still look like they were produced by amateurs with no concept of kerning, leading, placement, etc. with Microsft Publisher. Kids with crayons have better sense of placement. Hell, I'd donate my design skills for all their materials if they'd give me the big package!!! (Ok. I'm really bitching now. But I need slick design to justify certain expenses.)

I so badly wanted to get out of Ohio, get Mr. E. drunk on shots at the hotel bar, meet some Cowtowner crack addicts, and just have a silly geeky loser time.

But now? Geesh!!! I just don't know.

---

Looks like I'm not the only one that freaked:

From tfw2005: Anyone want to buy my kidney so I can AFFORD BotCon? forum thread.
From Allspark: Registrations forms are up, And prices... are... thread

Need more info!

So I ran home for lunch and Master Collector was in the mail.

I'm very livid that it is now June and they are still being very vague over the details of the Botcon for this September.

I still will probably go even if it means charging it to plastic (which I rarely ever use) but I want details!!!

I want to know if it is going to be worth my money to get on a plane and go to frigg'n Dallas.

I'd love to meet some Cowland Crack Addicts and I can see myself going to the con purely to sit at the bar and watch geeks again.

Grrr... and the Master Collector TF insert?

Man they must have an amateur laying this out in MS Publisher or something. There's definitely not a whole lot of publishing and design skill going into these things.

Takara To Reissue Brick

So while there doesn't appear to be an official news release from Takara (or whatever it is called now) there's rumors aplenty that Star Convoy will be re-issued.

Do you like your bricks as reincarnated version of Convoy? Sure ya do!

Will I get this? Hmmm... hard to say.

I'd probably get it for the Micromaster Hot Rod more than the blocky Star Convoy.

I mean, if I get Star Convoy, I then have to get Mr. E.'s favorite Grandus.

$60.00? Bwhahahah!

Hah! The Transformers Club is selling the Skyfall figure online for $60.00!!!

Hahahahahah!

Skyfall arrived and Nala was not impressed.

So my Transformers Collectors' Club exclusive figure Skyfall arrived.

Quite frankly there's nothing to get excited about here. While I like the use of translucent plastics to evoke a specific "effect", like the 2000 Osaka Toy Show Car Robot Brothers, this just looks cheap to me.

I can't say I'm a fan of a combiner exclusive either. I mean... I have to wait 4 more frigg'n years to finish the damn figure! That like... how does one say... um... sucks the balls plastic!

Always something.

So strange.

Unicron vs. the Death Star: who would win?

Hitler

Coolness.

Mr. E. sent me this news article from Seibertron.com that was welcome news on the animated TF front.

"'Transformers The Movie - Reconstructed' will be released on 29th August 2005. We're going back to the original picture negative and doing a brand new telecine. It will be 16:9 Widesceen Anamorphic, but will have curtains as the viewable image is 1.33:1 and 1.78:1 and it changes scene by scene. We wanted to give the fans the maximum possible Transformer image. Everything the laminators drew will be visible and this will be the first time anyone, anywhere would have seen the whole movie in its original form. It should be quite something".

"'Transformers Takara Headmasters' will be released in a 4 disc box set on 26th September. This will have brand new English subtitles and the original English dub so you can watch it in whatever way you want."

And while they may market it as "cool" it is more than likely due to the fact that different groups were farmed out parts of the movie (hence why the animation style is all over the place) and their camera equipment was different for their in-house methodolgy.

But what is really cool news is the region 0 sub-titled Transformers: Headmasters release. That is frigg'n fantastic!!!

The horrible version available in bootlegs of the Hong Kong English dub is a nightmare to watch and this DVD is a welcome thing indeed.

Headmasters's isn't all that great mind you. It is a Japanese-produced but heavily American-styled which is kinda meh.

Now if they somehow can do this for Transformers: Chôjin Master Force and Transformers: Victory I will have the moistest panties in the world. Specially to see Star Saber all crystal clear and not all shitty.

This is why they call it plastic crack.

So while I'm more or less on hiatus on the Transformers side of things I've still been keeping an eye out for the missing PVCs to my collection.

Man oh man the recent ones on Ebay have been totally insane!!!

I was pretty much a doy and didn't bid on the Victory Saber PVC. It would have been worth the price.

However, the rare chase pieces went for totally insane prices. Ghost Starscream ended up selling for $58.51. Way too much if you ask me. And hell. It doesn't even look like someone tried to jack the price up with a fake account either.

The chase/bonus color Scorponok ended at $70.00. Now this one definitely seems to be pretty rare to come by but $70.00 rare? I don't know. Once again it all looks legitimate too.

Chase Cornonation Starscream ended at $57.00 which is pretty much as insane as the previous 2 figures.

The customs that people had made were also pretty high. Sludge went for $46.75, Blaster for $52.00, and Scourge for an unheard of $90.56.

Even I wouldn't pay more than $20-$25 for PVCs!!!

I noticed the all pretty much went to the same buyer who also happened to pay $99 for the Shockwave custom I blogged about last week or so.

Nala = Geek

Putz'n around a Something Awful Photoshop Phriday and noticed this submission for Acid Freakouts uses the Transformers Robots In Disguise Spychangers 2-Pack as a source.

See. If it wasn't for me and you happened to be looking at this you'd never have known this vital piece of information.

And the one Sci-Fi vs. Fantasy has a frigg'n Computron in it. Computron for chrissakes!!!

Actually. Many of the ones in this theme are excellent.

There's even one for Giger.

The comic book choas covers are great too (from here). I love this original O.M.A.C. cover and I'd buy The Poison Womb too.

And yeah. I'm bored at the moment.

Traitor Bear?

Ya know something. If I'd have known about this earlier I'd have bid on it.

I am that much of a loser.

Arghh!!!!

For the final fucking time there is NOTHING RARE about this fucking poster!!!

So much crack...

And the packing continues.

What the fuck is wrong with me???

Ok. So I've come to truly realize that nothing matters anymore.

And this is especially true in the realm of Transformers for me.

The club exclusive figure expected to ship at the end of May. Oh goody. My $40 repainted Energon basic exclusive will be coming. I can barely contain my excitement. I'm pretty sure that joing this "club" was the biggest waste of $40 I've spent in 2005.

---

IDW Publishing obtains the Transformers comic license. Yet another big fucking deal.

Practically every company that licenses stuff from Hasbro ends up failing. And the major reason is not because it is Transformers-related but that it is collector and bad business set-up related.

Dreamwave fucked up the TF license by having horrible business practices and putting out product that collectors really didn't want. I mean a Micromasters series that was practically unreadable about characters no fan knows??? What the fuck?

And not paying your creative talent didn't help.

It also didn't help that there was zero advertising and marketing for the Dreamwave product outside of comic shops. This of course is a comics industry problem more that only hurts everybody in the business.

And did they have to reprint the same issues over and over with different fucking covers??? This is what killed comics in the early 90s. Don't you fucking people learn??? Ever??? History is history. It is what happened! (Of course, a lot of dregs like to try and alter history and/or disregard any lesson that it teaches.)

---

And now that 1/2 of my collection is packed up I realize that I've really wasted a lot of money on an absolutely useless hobby. Totally and utterly useless. Boxes upon boxes of toys that serve no purpose other than for me to say "I have this!" or "I managed to get that!".

What the fuck is wrong with me???

I am not just a retard I should be known as the Retard!

Arghhh!!!

Oh my god I don't know if I can live without this!!!

A pack'n we will go...

Did you know that all show-appearing Beast Wars characters plus 2 G2 Megatrons can fit into an 18 gallon bin? Yup. With room to spare.

Now Giger was just watching one of those "How To Sell" shows on a Miscellaneous Home Improvement Network and the house they were prepping to sell was owned by a toy collector.

Upon entering the place the woman who's in charge of getting the house ready immediately demanded that he remove his toy collection of DC Direct figures.

Well doy! To the non-collector/fan toys are merely clutter and a waste of space.

That's why Nala's already got most of the Robot Masters/TFU shelves down and binned.

Of course I'm going to need a helluva lot more bins.

Spreading the love... one ebay auction at a time.

So the "Lot That I Accidentally Bid On Even Though I Own Every Single Bot Even Multiple Times" arrived today.

And with this, all outstanding ebay transactions are done.

I even sent out my old Scorponok to a new home in New Zealand today.

Spreading the love... one ebay auction at a time.

I wish I could have time to do this. Oh and skill too!

Awesomely cool stop motion TF animations. This guy's great!

This one great!

Pretty much sums up my thoughts on Energon Prime too.

Crack collecting hiatus.

Ok. The further acquistion of Transformers is now offically on hiatus.

Yup. There are more important real life matters to deal with at the moment.

However, I will no doubt be trying to sell off large parts, if not all, of my Armada and Energon runs with some Beast Wars and Robots In Disguise stuff thrown in too. Maybe some G1 as well.

I'll post to let you know.

This and that.

$500 for a Korean Brave Maximus is insane. Totally insane. The Japanese Brave Max comes with accessories and so much more that I might go $300 on that one. But $500??? Hell, I only paid $108 for mine.

This is the ugliest knock-off I've ever seen. It sure as hell isn't Galaxy Shuttle nor is it (lion) Voltron but some horrid Chinese bastardization of the two. Man the Chinese start these knock-offs and they just keep getting uglier.

I am very wet for this Deszarus.

Slammer!

So my tank component to Metroplex's Slammer arrived yesterday. This was the only piece I was missing so now I've got a complete beautiful Metroplex.

Yeah. I know. Exciting isn't it.

And I still don't have the Attic of Love cleaned yet. Total disaster.

Need to get the A/C installed to since the past few days have finally seen the weather change enough to make it a bit hot upstairs. The fish though haven't been affected.

Tell me why again?

So my standard copy of Master Collector came the other day.

Can someone tell me why I joined the Transformers Collectors Club again?

This Master Collector serves no purpose for me.

Kaboom.

And Mr. E. sent me the link that read...

Although it is opening ending, OOS with the sufficient state of a main part would like you to offer a bid, after consenting to the point which has some damages in the box which is not.

Pretty fucking sick isn't it.

Yeah. 1304 as of today.

Pretty fucking sick isn't it.

I broke the 1300 mark!

Holy shit there was a lot of crack activity today!

Car Robots God Magnus arrived today.

And John from work, who's become quite the crack dealer to my addict supplied me with major panties wetting goodness today.

I bought his practically complete G1 Scorponok and he had a Micromaster Combiner Patrol I needed.

Woohoo!!!

And... um... I hit 1304 figures. I broke the 1300 mark!

Please medicate me.

Well my Takara chase PVC figures arrived yesterday.

Rodimus Convoy and Grimlock look so much better in their chase exclusive colors and plastics. I'm glad I got 'em but they cost me more than I normally pay.

And John, who I work with, unloaded some G1 Actionsmasters on me that I hadn't really thought about ever buying. Hell, if he hadn't brought them in I probably would never have ever purchased Actionmasters.

But, these have all brought the crack total up to 1291. Just 9 shy of 1300.

Somebody. Please medicate me.

Transformers that don't transform.

Bought some Actionmasters and assorted accessories from John at work today.

They make nice little statues but that's about it.

Heck, I think when it comes down to it I like the modern PVCs better than the Action Masters.

I dont' have an exact count but this may just take me to 1300 or pretty close.

Black Super Fire Convoy

Holy shit!!!

The holiest of holiest holy grail Transformers for me is up on ebay with a Buy It Now of only $1,559.99.

Feel free to buy it for me as an birthday present.

*sigh*

One day... you will be mine.

Slammer? He'll, I'd even kiss her.

Yay! Snagged the Slammer piece to Metroplex. Now he's complete!

3 years later and 1222 figures later...

Remember the days in 2003 when I only had about 50 Transformers and they all fit on one shelf in the corner of the old House of Love II?

Continue reading "3 years later and 1222 figures later..." »

WooHoo!

Translucent Speedbreak, Mach Alert, and Wild Rider.

'Nuff said!

So much money for such a small little box.

Translucent Speedbreak, Mach Alert, and Wild Rider.

'Nuff said!

Siddhartha Gautama. Where are you?

In my car is the Osaka Exclusive I've been eagerly waiting to own for almost 4 years now.

And quite frankly it is a bit underwhelming being a small box and all.

Therin lies the main contradiction of the collector mentality and inherent flaw in being a collector: there's more satisfaction and excitment in tracking down an object than in actually having it.

No doubt Siddhartha Gautama would understand this.

Damn you post office!!!

I made it late to the Post Office today and wasn't able to obtain my Osaka Exclusive Car Brothers set that I bought the other week.

Maybe tomorrow.

And then all I have to wait on is two chase PVCs and Car Robots God Magnus and I'm set.

I'm trying to stay off Ebay too.

Yes. I talked about crack. Sue me!

So I've rethought the attic based on setting the filter in the tank and so forth.

I shall not destroy the G1 shelf but destroy the Energon shelf instead! See. It fits well with bots on each side. When the light is on it'll fill the entire attic with warming love too.

Now Number 6 will be incredibly jealous since I've decided to go with a small tropical community environment instead of goldfish. I'll probably start out and cycle the tank with 3 small long fin zebra danios, then after a few weeks add a small pleco or 2 small grey corydoras or other bottom scavengers. Then probably finish it off with some other hardy basic fish like Tetras or guppies (though they could get out of hand). Well, maybe a couple of ghost shrimp. We'll see how the tank and bio bed handles it once everthing is established. Who knows what'll change my mind between now and then.

But... I could go completely horridly unreal and go with black mollies with the black gravel with black everything else then put in some of those albino corydoras. That'd be practically an abonimation against nature.

And I learned something very important while cleaning up the attic shelves. I can no longer have the "buy one to open, buy one to save" mentality that often plagues toy collectors. There's just not enough room here. I separated out an entire pile of duplicate TF Energon figures. Thank god most of these were bought on clearance or substantially reduced prices. This'd even make a pretty decent lot on Ebay if one needed a wide range of Energon shit. Perhaps. It'd help pay for the aquarium stuff.

I'll probably be fairly picky with my Transformers Cybertron purchases too. There's just not a whole helluva lot of the Galaxy Force stuff that I like so I don't see bothering buying the domestic releases. I'll probably snag a few and the bots always get better as a line matures. Then again, I could probably part with much of my Armada and Energon line to make room for new things.

Collecting-wise I'm pretty much going to focus on Takara G1 releases from Masterforce and Victory and the ever fun to track down Micromasters stuff.

And I've decided to be picky too. I'd rather spend $300 for a mint figure with all accessories and box than spend $100 on 3 figures that may be rare but are missing pieces. You just can't find accessories to figures that were never released in the US. It is just too much of a pain in the ass. Poor Robowang's drama over a domestic released accessory is nothing compared to what it'd be like to track down a piece of a Japanese only figure. Not too mention if it never arrived once you bought it.

Anyway. Life goes on in the world of fishes and plastic crack and attics with too much shit in them.

Only 33 from 1300!!!

So I had been mildy concerned that my crack count was off by 8-10 figures.

However, I've spent the rest of today auditing and cleaning shelves and there were 2 boxes of PVCs that I had someone forgot to add to my spreadsheet... and this doesn't include the ones Mr. E. forgot to take yesterday. (And yes, I do count my PVCs into the total.)

According to my current inventory I have 1267 Transformers and direct Transformers-related figures in the attic.

That means I'm only 33 from 1300!!! Scared of that shit!

And on another note, I think Mr. E. should name his blog "Carnage in D-Minor".

Ugh!

That Robot Masters #24 Reverse Convoy really looks like a total turd. I mean if it was a G2 "tank" Megatron it'd be ok but the one Convoy (Optimus Prime) head and one Megatron head just makes it look shitastic. I may not buy this one after all.

And what the fuck is up with more repaints of Microns from Takara? 'Mericans bitch about Hasbro having repainted the Spychangers so many times and yet here's Takara, chugging out repaint after stupid repaint of the goddamn microns (minicons) from Micron Densetsu.

And these new ones are just frigg'n white plastic to boot. Not even any actual "re" to go with your "paint" on this one.

Reissue more G1 Micromasters for Hoontsake!!!!

Oh so rainy day.

So what do you do when it is cold and dreary outside?

Why you invite Mr. E. over to help clean and reorganize Transformer shelves. Duh.

Bwahahahah!

Umm... why is this filed under the category: Toys & Hobbies > Action Figures > Transformers > Beast Machines on ebay?

Drool...

Man oh man the things I could do with these shelves.

I never thought I'd see Starscream give head.

Trixter posted some links (link 1, link 2) to Japanese sites with some extremely culturally non-'Merican drawings of Transformers.

They really love that "super deformed cute" look for Transformers in Japan. Hell... it goes back to the bumpers on Transformers Victory back in 1989 from what I can tell. And the fans produce a lot of it as these sites show.

But then Trixter posted this image and I now realize I need to poke my eyes out.

I'm glad she posted that one link though. It had even more Japanese TF links from one of those old school web rings.

Thanks Trixter!

Guess what? More toys!

And the excitement never ends here at the Attic of Love in Cowtown.

More frigg'n Robots In Disguise Spychangers arrived as well as an extremely disappointing and major waste of money known as Galaxy Force Master Megatron from the new line. (I'm skipping the Hasbro version!)

And the meows fill all the spaces.

This is the danger you face in the Attic of Love when you clear any space on a shelf.

It is a wonder my Micromasters aren't more of a mess.

And the meows fill all the spaces.

This is the danger you face in the Attic of Love when you clear any space on a shelf.

It is a wonder my Micromasters aren't more of a mess.

1226 or 1235?

Several of Takara PVCs arrived today to fill the gaps in the collection.

Matt also found a new TF Universe Blastcharge while he was out on a geek run today.

And while entering these new figures into my spreadsheet I realized that I so badly need to do a full audit of the attic.

In an effort to make certain lines more manageable in Excel I pulled some areas out of their lines and gave them their own worksheets. By pulling out the PVCs and the Spychangers it just made it easier since there are so many of these individual groups to keep track of.

But somewhere along the way I've introduced a possible error. Now I was trying to clean up some data that I knew was downright incorrect and so I did move more than just those 2 lines out.

But now, I'm somehow showing total Transformers at 1235 but the manual assignment of new figures I'd been doing for my recent additions reads 1226. Somehow 9 are either real and should be added or phantoms and need to be eliminated.

Ugh. I so don't want to audit this stuff. I'm tending towards the spreadsheet count.

I wish they had window boxes.

Robot Masters Magazine Exclusives are in the house! Woah!

Sometimes normal conversation is too much for some.

When all is said and done, and the universe as we know it ends (either by natural process or some kind of magic supernatural god-on) the one thing that every being in existence will agree on is that Soundwave kicked an incredible amount of ass.

For those that don't know, Soundwave is the Decepticon that could transform into a walkman, carried a small army of soldiers in his chest who could transform into cassettes, and more or less never failed Megatron or the other 'cons.

He was so beloved by his troops (and no doubt fans) that even after he and Blaster, the Autobot boom box, fought each other to the death, his spark was given a new body and he returned to fight another day.

Now Soundwave was given life on tv by the great Frank Welker. Non-TF geeks will know him best as Freddie Jones from Scooby Doo. But if you stayed and watched movie credits you'd realize that Welker is hired for tons and tons of stuff every year just for his animal noise ability. He is that good!

And in 1984 he gave Soundwave, with the little help of some reverb, a voice that was unlike any other character. Soundwave said little but rarely needed to. He got his point across quite often in less than 6 words.

And this is was this post is all about.

Here are some great examples of Welker's Soundwave in MP3 format:

Example 1: "Free to go... to Cybertron"
Example 2: "Rumble...Laserbeak...Ravage... prepare for battle."
Example 3: "Eject..."
Example 4: "The Autobot jet is afaid to fight."

They are all excellent examples of why Soundwave rocks.

He's so memorable for the lack of words which practically borders on speech impediment for him.

But then, in one episode, they had to go and ruin it.

Here's Soundwave actually trying to say a real full line of dialogue about an Incan Legend.

It makes ya cry.

Oh well.

He still rocks.

As long as he keeps his words to less than 7 or so.

A very crack day. 21 in fact!

Nineteen Robots In Disguise Spychangers arrived today. I only spent $10 on 'em and that's one helluva deal since the tiny tins versions still retail for about $3.99 or so each.

However Matt snagged the new Alternators Shockwave and Wheeljack at a Target this afternoon.

WooHoo!

I am totally going into debt for the amount of crack I purchased this week. Thank god this coming Day of Odin is pay day.

Ruination awakens!

Ruination awakens!

Outta control but happy!

Ok. Effective today there has to be a curtailing of crack purchases and a moratorium from Ebay.

Yesterday presented me the opportunity to finally acquire the one exclusive I've wanted for years and later last night I got the other 4 exclusives I'd been trying to get.

Yup! I got the Robot Masters magazine "black" exclusives of Convoy, Beast Convoy, Beast Megatron, and Starscream for $60 cheaper than what they are retailing for in the online stores. That means I only need to snag the Victory Saber exclusives now and my Robot Masters line will be complete.

And... of course it isn't over yet... I snagged an auction of PVCs that included the non-Chase Deszarus that I needed, Star Saber, Lio Kaiser, a complete Star Convoy, and unfortunately the pewter version of the chase figure Scorponok.

The color Scorponok easily goes for $40+ and I figure this will be one I can repaint so I'll have my own custom Scorponok for about $4. Not ideal but that gap will more or less be closed. (I plan on repainting a clear Soundwave as his reborn Soundblaster persona too.)

So. Yesterday was an expensive night.

And all I can say is thank god the tax refund is coming!!! That is making this possible.

Normally I'd be horribly guilty the following morning after spending so much on plastic crack but these are all figures I need and some of them are figures I've wanted for ages. That Osaka seems to be emitting an anti-guilt/anti-depression aura around me.

So now I can rest for a few months and only need to find Alternator Shockwave and Wheeljack before being inundated with the Cybertron line.

Oy kolendy!!!!

I now own an Car Robots Super Car Brothers Osaka ToysLand Show Exclusive!!!

This set is one of my "holy grails" for my collection!!!

There were only 1500 pieces made for the Osaka ToysLand Show from September 2000 and now I am the proud owner (or will be when it arrives) from Singapore.

Tranformers Energon: RIP

Well it appears that the last episodes of the godawful pile of animated shit known as Transformers Energon will finally air in late May on Cartoon Network.

Now I thought the previous series Transformers Armada sucked pretty hard but the sequel series may have surpassed it.

Good riddance.

Let's see how badly they turn Galaxy Force into Cybertron.

More crack. Go figure.

A Chase/Bonus Gold Takara Victory Saber PVC and a Predaking Reissue Giftset have arrived and joined their brethen in the Attic.

A longshot by any means.

Should demons rise from the depths of hell and angels descend from the sky then you'll know that I have decided to get married.

But, if I do, these guys will definitely top my cake.

A Public Service Announcement

FYI:

Just because it is a "robot" and its parts appear to move and change shape does not necessarily mean that it is a Transformer.

Understand this important lesson and find enlightenment.

More but also frustrated.

So Takara's MP-2 Ultra Magnus arrived yesterday. I found him online the other day for only $99 and broke down and bought him. Of course I wasn't going to get him since he's just a repaint of the Masterpiece Convoy mold but something about his minimalist white and gray (not that that palette seems to appeal to me or anything) was nice and he and Convoy would make great bookends to the Binaltechs and Alternators. And I guess I had the money to burn too.

Also snagged a Robot Masters #23 Lio Convoy which really has a nice metallic paint job like RM #10. The Convoys, no matter the version, tend to look good accented with the metallic paint.

This post over on Tfans.com shows and advert that implies there will be 5 more Convoys added to the Robot Masters line. And thankfully one of them is God Fire Convoy, my favoritest Convoy of all time.

I can do without another reissue of the godawful "Super Pants" Armada version and even the Power Rangerish Energon one but I am most definitely looking forward to a Beast Machines Beast Convoy.

No Big Convoy though which kind of sucks. He'd have been a nice addition.

I've actually gone a bit overboard on the TFs lately. Especially with winning some auctions that were just plain stupid on my part.

This auction for the original RID Ruination will finally allow me to open one up. I have Rail Racer and Landfill on my RID shelf but needed a Ruination too. (I'd have rather found the Car Robots Baldigus gift set but this'll do.)

And then I fucked up and bought this auction for a Chase Deszarus PVC thinking I had the standard one when in fact I bought the chase figure at OTFCC2004 last year and need the standard one. Grrrr...

I can never seem to win the full color one so I settled for the Chase/Bonus gold Victory Saber PCV from here. Not great but needed.

And then I fucked up again winning this auction only for the chase/limited edition Convoy in Cab/Trailer mode when in fact I also seem to own that one too. I thought I had the shitty clear one but I have both. Grrrr...

What I really need to win is this auction of the 4 magazine exclusive Robot Master repaints that will complete the line. I've currently got it and I'm willing to go a bit more too for these.

Of course, the damn RM Victory Saber exclusive is now shipping.

Grrrr... fucking loser completist.

It isn't accurate but it would work...

Would you all still respect me if I built a new Windows PC from scratch using this case?

Or would you taunt me, call me names, all the while pant-hooting and throwing feces at me?

Updates and things.

There hasn't been much action on my part in regards to My So-Called Cracky Life and hence the few updates.

There's a Predaking giftset that should be arriving sometime this week. I wasn't going to buy it but an email from Mr. E. convinced me the seller's price was good so I went for it. Saved about $40 over Bigbadtoystore.com and the like so I don't feel too bad.

Also have Masterpiece Ultra Magnus and Robot Masters Lio Convoy w/DVD coming. (It sucks the balls that I'm being a completist on the RM line. Well... I still don't have the overly expensive black magazine exclusives yet.)

Oh, and if the rumors are true and Michael Bay ends up directing the live action Transformers movie my hopes for something kick ass and yet adult accessible have been thrown out the door.

Like the song says...

“Why does Michael Bay get to keep on making movies.
I guess Perl Harbor sucked,
Just a little bit more then I miss you.”

But they didn't say how many he has...

If this guy from tfans.com can have a Victory Saber then I really need to get one.

Windcharger has barrel envy about Overdrive.

So the Honda S2000 was introduced into the Hasbro Alternator / Takara Binaltech line recently.

Takara's choice of original 80s character was Overdrive (link), a minor non-anime appearing toy-only figure that was a free mail-order figure.

The S2000 was a perfect "modern" vehicle for Overdrive. Hell, I'm happy Takara even though to acknowledge an obscure, non-show character like this.

Continue reading "Windcharger has barrel envy about Overdrive." »

Minelba?

Finally!!! Minerva is in the house!!! And so's Road Caesar and Fortress (I can't call him Cerebros anymore) too.

It took a helluva long time but they are mine.

I wish they'd make a Mega PVC of Minerva. She's a great design.

Hell... she should be a Binaltech figure too. I just think the name works perfectly for her.

Texas? Eeeewww....

Well I certainly can't say that I'm thrilled that this year's Botcon is going to be in Frisco, Texas which is apparently north of Dallas.

Why they hell not just have it in the metropolitan area?

Now I don't know much about Dallas (other than Gary Ewing came from there) but perhaps the airport is out north.

At the moment airfare isn't cheap so I don't know if it is going to be worth going to or not.

Doesn't help that the thing has been moved from summer to late September when I'm usually in San Francisco either.

Trixter gave me some info on previous Master Collector conventions so I can't say I'm all that excited. But then again, we are talking something that is 6 months away.

Mr. E. had about as great a reaction ot the Texas news as I did.

Oh well.

More crack for the miserable addict!

There's been quite a bit of crack added to the attic lately.

Some of it as gift given and some from ebay purchases.

A MIB Beast Machines Ultra Jetstorm and Takara Beast Wars Panther arrived. I find it funny that I can never seem to get the Hasbro Tripredicus Agent "Ravage" but I easily (and cheaply) got the Takara version. Doesn't matter though. At least that hole is filled.

Mr. E. bought me some awesome birthday presents while over in Japan.

It hit the shelves while he was there and he got me a Robot Masters #22 Lio Convoy. Man this figure has a beautiful sculpt for the small size. I'm tempted to open him to go with by Beast Convoy but you know me and imports. Plus, this isn't an "import" per se... this is a "purchased in Japan" figure so it is a bit more special.

He found me a Robot Mega PVC Megatron and Robot Mega PVC Starcream too. Really great additions. And the little Laserbeak that comes with Megatron is da bomb!!! Too bad they didn't release more of these posable Mega PVCs. A Shockwave, a Soundwave, and a Blaster would have been nice.

Knowing how much I love Car Robots, he ended up getting me a Car Robots X-Car too. And a Beast Wars Neo Bazooka.

Beautiful stuff. Thanks Mr. E!!!

Whoring? Or not?

Whores.

They are everywhere.

And I'm not talking about bad mouthing prostitutes here. (I have no problems with prostitutes if that's what they want to do.)

I'm talking about the deceptive whoring that infiltrates most capitalist and day-to-day monetary transactions.

Politicians, by necessity of campaigning, are whores.

And even people selling on Ebay can be whores.

Case in point: this auction for Robot Masters Starscream.

Now he's not entirely rare but there isn't a whole lot of stock out there left in the eastern Pacific and there's barely anything left in the US at all.

At retail he's a $24.99 figure but has been going for up to $34.00 or so since supplies have dwindled to nothing.

Now this auction looks unassuming and a good deal at first glance. The starting bid is only a $1.00 and you'd think you'd have a chance at a deal by the way this seller has it set up.

But using the post office "calculate" I end up with $27.80 for shipping to Ohio. $27.80!!!

This figure is probably about a pound and the packaging is standard and can fit into a standard post office box that is easily sold and typically has shipping around $4.35-$7.00.

Why do I know this? Because I own them all and have gotten them from various places and never have been ripped off like $27.80.

This is what I call whoring.

It is deceptive and there's no way possible to justify $27.80 for this to come to Ohio from California other than to say "I want as much money as possible" from the sale.

Now it wouldn't be whoring if you plainly stated this in auction itself.

What the fuck?

Is this a mistake? I'm tempted to email.

I've just seen this so many times on ebay these days that it just pisses me off.

I wish the "Power Sellers" would all fade away, the sniping software could be permanently broken, and ebay might just become fun again.

I'll let ya know if I hear back on the "Is that really the shipping for this???" email.

Minelba? I love Engrish!

Holy Shit!!! I finally won her!!! All all for $1.25 too!!!

Road Caesar and Fortress were also acquired on the cheap too.

So that leaves me hunting down a Chase Scorponok, Victory Saber, and Lio Kaiser in the PVC world.

Not bad.

Not bad at all.

So much crack. So little money to spend on it.

Wow! There's some amazing crack on ebay right now.

Continue reading "So much crack. So little money to spend on it." »

Oh the humanity!

To say that Matt went overboard for my birthday would be an understatement.

Thirty-five presents for thirty-five years.

Continue reading "Oh the humanity!" »

Toys 'R' Us bought for $6 Billion

Three Firms Are Said to Buy Toys 'R' Us for $6 Billion (New York Times)

The prospects for toy retailing are gloomy. Pummeled by competition from Wal-Mart, the few toy stores left have been struggling. In 1993, Wal-Mart had only 11 percent of the nation's toy business, while Toys "R" Us had 21 percent, according to Sean McGowan, a retail analyst who covers toys for Harris Nesbitt. Last year, Wal-Mart's share was 25 percent, and Toys "R" Us had shrunk to 17 percent...

As for toys, "Wal-Mart so dominated the space they didn't have a chance," said William M. Smith, a managing partner at Global Reach Capital, a private equity firm in New York City.

When it came down to the wire, Kohlberg Kravis, Bain and Vornado were competing against Cerberus. "Both teams have real estate arms who put in an enormous amount of work on what the leases are worth," Mr. Smith said.

Toys "R" Us still holds the exclusive rights for a large variety of toys, Mr. Smith said, adding that the industry over all "doesn't have the rosiest long-term picture."

To a certain extent, Wal-Mart beat Toys "R" Us at its own game: negotiating through volume. But it was not just Wal-Mart, Mr. McGowan said.

And Toys "R" Us usually carries a lot of stuff that Whore-Mart won't even touch.

I just have going to Whore-Mart. The stores are filthy and dirty and the toy section is always a total dump.

Even a new Whore-Mart will become a dump within 3-4 months and it pisses me off that they've become the #1 crack dealer.

Balls!!!

Big Daddy is in da haus!

Holy Shit!!! What better birthday present could I have managed to snag for myself other than the highly sought after Big Daddy!!!

Yay!!! After so long he's mine!!! All 1.5 inches of his 1950's style transforming badness!!!

This has been a long time in coming.

Yay!!! I'm a happy loser now and Mr. E. can now fully enjoy his trip to Japan knowing that Big Daddy will soon be arriving for an extended stay in the Attic of Love.

You have no idea how long I've been trying to snag a Big Daddy.

And now I gotz one!!!

I want my BD!

Five days until thirty-five.

And I'm bidding on something on ebay that may just be a special treat for myself.

That is unless I get sniped.

Argggggggggggggghhhh!!!

This is what I get for paying $40 to join the Transformers Collectors Club?

I knew it was going to be some combiner but I had hopes that maybe it'd be something Hasbro/Takara had gotten the old molds from G1 out for. Something a collector, hence the "collector club", would really want to have. Even a retool of the an old G1 mold of something.

But no. A mediocre repaint of a merely adequate figure that combines into a piece of shit that can barely stand.

Yeah. It is my own fault for wasting the money. The collector magazine is worthless to me, the "original" comic useless, and now I get a figure that I wasn't all too thrilled with to begin with.

Hell... they could have at least painted it so it would look like the original Superion or something.

This sucks as much ballage as Hasbro naming Binaltech Dragstrip a lame name like Decepticharge! God that sucks. You could have just called him "Decepticon Dragstrip" people!

I think I'm getting to the point where I'm starting to really hate American plastic crack!!!

Dinoking!!! You rock!!!

One of the "holy grails" of my obsession. A mint-in-the-box never released in the US Takara Dinoking is up on Ebay and I find myself constantly coming back to this auction.

Grrrrr!!! He's so beautiful. So utterly amazing beautiful.

And he's up for sale too. If ever there was some kind of strange phallus envy in me it is most definitely brought out by God Fire Convoy and his Master Sword!

Anyway. I actually remembered to send out invites today. Sure it took me sending myself 3 emails to do it. But it is done. And thus another year passes.

Must get rid of stuff...

Ok. I think it is time I reduce some of the items in the attic to make room for new things coming out this summer.

Perhaps it is time for my Armada/Energon duplicates, Built-To-Rules, and other miscellaneous bots I don't care too much about to find their way into a large Ebay lot.

And I need to get rid of 8,000 comic books too!!!

In other news, I'm frustrated at work, I feel sick again, and I'm really really really starving!!!

More crack for the lame-oh.

So snagged an Energon Jetfire/Ironhide 2 Pack at Wally World for only $9 tonight.

While I hate the figures individually they could almost be tolerable combined (Jetfire being the top) and repainted in a consistent color scheme.

Someone kitbashed one with G1 Overlord as an inspiration and it totally makes a the figure palatable!

And it is really hard for me to like this Energon Ironhide when his frigg'n head just sits on top of this alt mode!!! What the hell was Hastak think??? Robots IN DISGUISE people!

Fodder for a future kitbash if I have my way.

Yeah. I'll get around to that some day.

And that General Devestatar kitbash from Transformers: Zone too.

Of course you know there's no real point to this site...

Now I know that there are a small group of people that do stop by here every now and then to check up on me and I appreciate the fact that some of you comment and all.

After having a personal site/journal since 1995 you know I was ready to call it quits and to shut the site down about 6 months ago. I decided to to stick it out because of your emails and of course I ended up becoming even lamer because my stupid toy collection is pretty much the most interesting thing about me.

So. In a sense I'm apologizing to all of you that have to suffer from reading my utterly useless and pointless banter about my stupid hobby.

There's nothing more arrogant than thinking somebody finds my ranting of any interest but quite frankly without the occasional plastic crack excitement my blogging with be even more mundane and pointless than usual. I really am that boring of a person. Hell, sometimes I think I only ever had the illusion that I was even remotely interesting in the real world let alone online in the flotsam and jetsam that is the sludge of the internet.

And for my mindless bantering about totally useless things I apologize.

However, because he's started it I now have to be even more lamer and add a recent additions page.

Indeed.

I am this lame.

Minelba? Excellent Engrish!

I don't know why but no matter what I do I can never ever get a PVC of Masterforce Minerva.

I've taking a liking to the PCV version of this Headmaster Junior from the Japanese series Masterforce but no matter how many I manage to find in auctions I never ever win.

It is like I am cursed to never own one.

Now Minerva, or often butchered into Engrish as Minelba, is the first female Transformers character ever to have a toy made of her.

None of the G1 fembots, even Arcee with all of her screen time in the movie and Seasons 3 and 4, was ever made into a figure.

Hell... if they would have tried it would have been ugly as all hell so I suppose I should be glad they didn't.

But I just want my little Minerva PVC figure that I am destined never to have. Quite frankly my chances of ever acquiring a Minerva PVC are about as likely as me getting a Micromaster Big Daddy.

And those chances? Yup. Balls!

The depths of my lameness...

I'm tempted to buy this purely to have to explain to people why I added it to my collection.

I mean c'mon!!! I can put TFs on papers at work!!!

The Bubonic Plague and good TF rumors...

So I got into the doctor's at 4:20 today and donated 6 large vials of blood to the "What the hell's wrong with Nala?" quest.

They ruled out influenza with this nasal swabbing test.

I've ruled out SARS and am leaning more towards tuberculosis, the Black Plague, or quite possibly a case of "the vapors".

And in other news, the Bird of Eve sent me a link that I somehow missed during today's net geeking that brought a small rush, of what might just well be joy, to my day.

(Hasbro) also mentioned that at the insistance of pretty much everyone involved, Voicebox will NOT be back for the regionization of Galaxy Force. It will be done in a studio in L.A. who already has begun casting. Susan Blu is already involved, but that was the only name the specified.

Some Armada/Energon actors will be back, though a couple have chosen not to sign back on. And we will hear a few familiar voices from previous TF shows as well. Mostly from RiD, with a couple of G1 vets. They're REALLY excited about who they got to play Scourge, but it's a surprise they don't want to get out till the episode actually airs.

After the past several years of Voicebox's shitastic work on the various Transformer shows this is oh so good news.

If the rumor about having Susan Blu involved is true this really sucks the balls of yumminess!!! (Hell, I'd become her personal love whore if she came to voice direct or act in a TF series again. Susan... email me if interested!)

She voice directed the entire run of Beast Wars and if she can bring just a bit of that quality to the dub of Galaxy Force then things are looking good. Mind you, voice dubbing is very different from original voice recording so there's always room for suckitude. But my oh my... did the past 2 shows wallow in voice acting nasty ballsness!

And some G1 and Robots In Disguise voice actors may be returning?

Did I just get a hard on?

I do think that is most definitely a honest to goodness woodie in my Jeans of Love!!!

I would so love to hear Neil Ross, Neil Kaplan, Michael Bell, Rob Paulsen (perhaps a Yakko Warner variation for the mini-con Hop?), Michael McConnohie, the great Corey Burton (how I love your G1 Shockwave), and Peter Spellos doing voices for TFs again.

These guys could turn shit to pure gold.

*sigh*

Now I'm all wet and moist. Sick and sore and in pain yes. But oh so moist!!!

Omega "Will Be" Supreme again

So several months ago back in late Summer or early Autumn Mr. T. found a fairly decent G1 Omega Supreme in the garage of a house he bought.

Omega eventually made it to the Attic of Love™ and as I started to take him apart to assess his condition.

This then is the story of the my first journey into the beginnings of repair to make this figure display-ready.

Continue reading "Omega "Will Be" Supreme again" »

The coffin is the best part!

Holy Shit!

I totally forgot to Tivo the new Robot Chicken show on Cartoon Network this past weekend.

This week Optimus Prime, Jazz, Ironhide, and Prowl kick the shit out of the Decepticons only to find out later that Optimus has prostate cancer.

It frick'n rocks!!!

A low res download in WMV format is available here.

Even Optimus has prostate troubles!

Only people with a true love of 80s Transformers could have done such a great skit!

Guess who came for dinner?

Arriving a day early, Galaxy Force Vector Prime and Starscream have made their debut in the Attic of Love this evening.

Were they worth the wait and the zlotys?

Continue reading "Guess who came for dinner?" »

See me? I'm a retard.

I wish I was Christian or something because then I could easily blame Satan for my stupid online purchases instead of only having my own lack of self-control to be ashamed of.

I made a real stupid purchase tonight and I'm totally consumed by horrible guilt now.

God I am so retarded sometimes.

Having someone to blame like Satan, queers, or Baath Party Members is so much easier than just being a total retard.

Which I am.

So I actually got something done this weekend.

I managed to actually get stuff done.

Got the bedroom cleaned and the bathtub scrubbed down, came up with 2 new possible designs for nassau.com that hopefully are in the right direction, and actually got a tiny bit of work done in the attic.

Continue reading "So I actually got something done this weekend." »

Overpriced ceramic crack for the masses!

I don't get off on ceramic crack at all. I just don't see the point in these extremely overpriced statues.

But I just know I'll end up with this one one day.

No doubt you all know why by now.

Holy Shit!!! 1100 is achieved!!!

Holy Shit!!!

Continue reading "Holy Shit!!! 1100 is achieved!!!" »

Transformers "I hope it doesn't suck" Cyberton!

Well Hasbro sent out a press release about the upcoming "Cybertron" line today since the big American International Toy Fair trade show is this weekend.

And Toy Fair is the place where plastic crack™ makers show their wares to prospective plastic crack™ dealers and make plastic crack™ addicts all moist in the panties with anticipation for the new year.

So Hasbro as usual has "co-developed" the new Transformers line with Takara in Japan and will be bringing over the Galaxy Force series rebranded as Transformers: Cybertron in both toy and animated show form.

Now they say they co-develop the brand but I really think that Takara does far more design than Hasbro does and also obviously contributed most if not all of the backstory that develops into the animated show. (I think this is also the case with the soon to be wrapped up Energon line and animation. The super shitty Armada though from 2002 is probably fully Hasbro's baby.)

Of course I could be wrong here but this line, especially certain characters like Master Megatron and Nitro Convoy just have too much "Japanese-anime-influence" to have been designed in the US.

And the television show completely smells of standard Japanese kid-anime fare in terms of writing and overall plot and story.

Now based off today's press release,Hasbro for some reason known only to gods and demons perhaps, is upscaling the phenomenally awesome Don Figueroa-design inspired Takara Galaxy Force Starscream, adding a crown, changing the colors, and adding more gimmicks that the kids'll just eat up (*snigger*).

The toy will retail for a shelf-warming $50 and from what I've been reading on the the bitch boards collectors just don't seem to really want this. And unfortunately, collectors are the ones that buy these really expensive pieces of shit anyway.

All I can say is that I'm extremly happy that I've got my Takara version somewhere on a UPS truck/plane as I type making its way from a store in Hawaii that I'll never buy from again. But that purchase is another story for another entry.

Now Galaxy Force Dreadrock looks to be one of the finest Transformers ever made. I think he's beautiful in all his modes and quite frankly I should break down and get an actual Takara one instead of waiting for the Hasbro one.

Hasbro of course is renaming this figure with the totally overused Jetfire moniker. Hopefully they won't make any significant changes to the mold or color palette. No idea why they fuck up Takara's perfectly good color schemes but Hasbro so often does it.

Another figure I just had to order from Japan, and coincidentally on the same UPS plane/jet that my Starscream on is Vector Prime.

Vector Prime's alt mode is an homage based more or less on the Axalon, the ship commanded by Optimus Primal in the opening moments of Beast Wars.

And Vector Prime is one kick ass figure from the looks of it. Hell, I don't even have one yet and I've been salivating for him. There's just something about the sword and worn ancient look that I'm just loving to the balls max with this one. Here's hoping Hasbro doesn't deviate too much either.

In a twist that makes no sense to fans, the press release spoiled the entire plot of the reworked cartoon as well. So "...as they have the power to unlock Cybertron itself, and make their home planet into the one Transformer robot powerful enough to shut down the black hole that threatens the entire universe!" basically means we'll be getting a supreme sized Primus figure finally and hopefully they'll do something other than retool the ok, but mediocre, Unicron figure from Armada.

The American dubs of the Transformer cartoons are guaranteed to suck such incredible balls that they really aren't worth mentioning.

It is bad enough that Hasbro continually reuses names over and over and over in the toy lines but it hurts even more to have these "characters" constantly reused in the animation and hearkening back to previous series when in fact they are often not the same character in the Japanese version.

The Japanese Chô robot seimeitai Transformer: Micron densetsu was dubbed into the awful pile of shit known as Transformers: Armada and Transformer: Super Link was dubbed into the completely incoherent mess known as Transformers: Enegon.

Now I would like to think Hasbro has learned something from these really poorly dubbed cartoons but somehow I just don't think so.

They don't seem to realize at all that story and coherency of plot are the key factors for everything regardless of the age of the watcher.

They don't realize... or they just don't care.

I'd imagine more of the latter than the former.

Oh well... at least there's new crack to be had soon and some of it may just be worth buying!

1095 plus 5 equals 1100

Just because you all care so much...

I'm 5 Transformers away from the big 1100.

Wanna donate to The Attic of Love™?

You know you want to see me get to 1100.

I know you do.

Ravage is in da haus!

Matt surprised me today when he got home from work and had a brand new Alternator Battle Ravage that he found at Target while doing a geek run at lunch.

Surprised was I.

While I do like having a new Alternator, even though it is just a retool of Tracks, I still don't know if I can get over the fact they used Ravage for this.

It is kinda weak if ya ask me.

I mean... I have no problems with using the Stunticons as Decepticon Alternators since they all had vehicle Alt modes to begin with. But Ravage? He's a robotic panther that turns into an audio cassette. That's kinda pushing it.

And I don't care that Hasbro lost the name "Ravage". I refuse to call him "Battle Ravage" in the same way I refuse to call Shockwave by the stupid moniker "Shockblast".

I think I need to lay off the plastic crack for awhile. Far too many crack-related conversations take up the day and night for me either face to face or on message boards.

Must... get... a... life...

Who disrupts my coronation!?!?!

Direct from Japan. In his first ever appearance in the Attic of Love.

Continue reading "Who disrupts my coronation!?!?!" »

'tis the most foul cruel and bad-tempered thing you ever set eyes on...

ARTHUR: Where?

TIM: There.

ARTHUR: Behind the rabbit?

TIM: It is the rabbit.

Continue reading "'tis the most foul cruel and bad-tempered thing you ever set eyes on..." »

The messy Attic of Love...

I really wanted to work on cleaning up the Attic of Love today but I didn't do shit.

Continue reading "The messy Attic of Love..." »

Not So Master Collector

Well my copy of Master Collector arrived today. This is the montly paper I get for joining the revamped Transformers Collectors' Club.

I as I expected. Totally lame.

And what's worse... it looks like it was typeset by two 14 year olds on a Mac Quadra using Aldus Pagemaker 3 with 2 fonts. (Which is the quivalent of using Microsoft Publisher for any form of professional layout.)

Oh well.

At least I'll get my exclusive toy in late Spring.

That's all I really wanted.

War Within Shockwave is in da haus!

All I gotta say is the 3D Transformer work over at 10 Figures Design is da bomb!!!

This guy's fantastic.

And his movies rock too!

Oh Jesu, Part Deux

Oy kolendy! At least I got paid today. It is the only thing that has been helping me assuage my recent crack-related guilt.

Recently, my second major crack dealer started a 15-20% off sale and lo and behold I found myself going in on an order with Evebird and Matt to feed the addiction.

Now with this splurging I completely and utterly went over any sense of a budget that I possibly could have set myself. Especially in light of the $ I paid to the bank to get in their good graces.

But man oh man and I am feeling the guilt over these purchases.

Sure Evebird finally got his Blue Tracks and Matt snagged some of his DC Direct figures, but I lost my mind that night.

Theoretically, I shouldn't be allowed to buy anything until June.

I mean, I usually budget about $30-$40 per month for my habit. I am way beyond that already for January alone.

To try and counter-balance the insanity I've put my first ever Ebay auction up. Depending on how this first one goes I've got about 5 other things I can put up. I'll be happy to break even on them and I'm not the kind of guy to screw people up the arse on shipping as I've been screwed.

Got an Energon Megatron, Landmine, Sam's Club Exclusive Prowl/Starscream, a box of loser non-show Beast Wars figures, and some other miscellaneous stuff I can probably put up.

The guilt though... that is what I want to go away.

I feel like Lady Macbeth wandering around trying to clean the spot that just won't come off.

Stupid stupid plastic crack addict.

One day I'll end up in therapy.

Geek 101

So Mr. E. Bird should be coming over soon to indulge his inner geek child and help me clean and sort TFs up in the Attic of Love.

Perhaps he'll have some insight into how to arrange the Beast Machines stuff into the collection without significantly having to move my Robots In Disguise stuff.

These things are important ya know.

I mean, if I don't find a way to properly merge these new figures into the collection the terrorists will win.

Um... he could have just changed to gun mode...

You think I'm the only loser?

Today's Fark Photoshop Theme: Unlikely hide-and-go-seek hiding spots has this entry.

See. I'm actually normal.

Then again if I had done an image it probably would have just been a screen cap of bots in their Alt modes (car, truck, gun, etc.) anyway since that's the whole point of having an Alt mode in G1!!!

And pssst... HasTak... that's what you should go back to!

Oh I wish...

You know what I want.

I want a device that can scan the visuals in my thoughts and transfer them to digital video.

I really really want that.

I came up with the most awesome idea for the opening of my retroactive continuity story that replaces the horrid Season 4 of the 80s Transformers cartoon.

But writing it down just can't do it justice.

I just don't possess the descriptive language skills necessary to write nor do I possess the artistic skills to storyboard and time this sequence for animation.

Then again I still think I have some scene/shot/timing sheets around from my old animation school days. I suppose I could drum up the 12 year old knowledge stored away in the depths of my brain to document this visual.

Of course, you'd need to be an animator to read the timing sheets to understand what I'm getting at.

Hell... no doubt the computer revolution in animation has made some of my old timing knowledge obsolete.

And my Splintered story in which I redeem the character of ultimate pussy Rodimus Prime has kind of stalled.

Since I'm not a serious writer I can't say I have writer's block. But I've more or less reached a point where it would become nothing more than 50 or so pages of dialogue between 2 individuals and the "ghosts" of about 10 others. Perhaps I can find a way to distill this down into something less talky. Then again, maybe not.

Skills. I lack so many.

Stuff...

I think I'll install a Shee Pee when I remodel the Bathroom of Love.

---

A Ford SYN would make a good modern alt mode for the original Ironhide. The "van" mode just doesn't cut it for a character who was totally kick ass and could take a helluva lot of damage. Here's hoping we get that $30 price point series of Alternators after all.

Here's hoping for a Hummer, Jeep Gladiator, and maybe a jet or two.

---

Yay!!! We went from the Axis of Evil to the new Outposts of Tyranny!!!

I just love how we are all like "Hey... we must defend freedom and all." now.

Distractions. Distractions. Distractions.

Like the US truly gives a damn about Belarus and Burma.

Then again I'm not sure of their oil reserves or other natural resources.

---

I think James Earl Jones should be hired to push the button on this one. Hell... he can even use his Darth Vader voice too while he's doing it.

---

I kind of broke down badly last night and ordered a whole ton of shit from Big Bad Toy Store because of a 15% off sale. No doubt they'll probably have a %20+ off sale next week in which I will get really depressed for having bought so much.

But I did snag Binaltech versions of Grimlock, Swindle, and another Zoom Zoom to open. I added several Robot Masters figures to the collection too. Oh. And a Takara Stepper.

I ended up not getting the Galaxy Force Vector Prime I wanted in lieu of the Stepper. Saved me a few bucks anyway.

Not that a "few bucks" mattered when considering the total I bought.

But hopefully Chico's Father will finally be able to get a Blue Tracks.

---

Oh. And I may be a grade A loser geek and all but at least I didn't do this.

Yet.

plastic crack addiction or merely a specialized collector?

Trixter managed to put into words the same things I was thinking about the new Transformers Collectors' Club that came into existence after the demise of 3H's horrible management of the previous club.

But then again, I actually paid money... on Dreamwave's sometimes-atrocious TF comics, so it clearly takes a massive amount of suck for me to not spend money on Transformers. The thing about this club is that it feels far too much to me like what they're really selling you is a subscription to their "indexed Toy and Doll trading newspaper with several thousand classified ads each month."

Trixter really nailed it though.

There's no such thing as a Transformers fan, just a legion of Transformers collectors out there for toy sellers to fleece! (And I do consider there to be a difference between the two, largely judgable by your concern about the "value" of your "collection"...

I guess I just wish it had gone to some people - even another professional company! - that didn't need a volunteer fan panel... because they understood the people who were here for the love of it as much as the people who were here for the bling.

Form of... a brick!

An elusive and rare Energon Ultra Magnus has arrived from the land down under and found a new home in the Attic Of Love.

So much drama for a total brick that is just a repaint of a previous brick.

But this redeco is soooooooo much better.

And almost impossible to find.

So... I suppose this should be a "Yay for Nala!" moment.

Ok. Now onto getting clothes packed, the Hoont bathed, and on the road to Glass City!

Beast Wars sorta-kinda organized!

So if you've read a previous post you know I've been trying to clean up and organize this Beast Wars shit I've acquired.

Suffice to say I've been fairly successful.

Continue reading "Beast Wars sorta-kinda organized!" »

A cracky experience...

So you may think it is easy and all being Nala but you gotta understand that being a plastic crack addict is quite a chore.

See...

You end up wasting countless hours (and dollars) with your major dealer looking for those specific things you need.

If you are lucky you can find a lot of them at a decent price but you truthfully never know the quality or condition of them.

Continue reading "A cracky experience..." »

Yes. I'm very boring and lame.

So I wonder if there is anything interesting at home on the porch today.

I'm expecting a variety of shit that none of you could care a single iota about but hey... I've rarely got anything worthwhile to write about.

Such is my life.

Finally...

So after almost 18 months I have finally acquired an Energon Ultra Magnus in an Ebay auction.

Now it isn't "mine" yet since I've had to resort to bidding on auctions from other countries and I managed to win this one from Australia.

I've never really considered seriously going after non-US auctions just because of the pain in the ass of currency exchange rates and all but in this instance I managed to snag this very very rare figure that was underproduced for only $41.00 total! Most of the US auctions I've bid on for this have ended up in the $70-$80 range so acquiring him, even overseas, was something I had to consider.

Of course I won't be happy with this transaction until Energon Ultra Magnus resides on the Energon shelves but hopefully this whole transaction will go smoothly.

My ones from Japan have all gone well.

The haul...

Nala's holiday haul of plastic crack goodness!

Merge to form Victory Saber!!!

So the always wonderful UPS man delivered Takara Robot Masters Star Saber and Victory Leo today.

These two Japanese-only characters from the series Tatakae! Chou Robot Seimei Tai Transformers Victory have grown on me immensley since I picked up the PVC versions of them.

Star Saber just litterly kicks a whole lot of ass around the attic of love. Perhaps I'll own the original 80s versions of them someday but 2004 toy design techniques have made the PVC and Robot Masters versions look a helluva lot more like the anime than the brick-like 80s toys.

Not a bad delivery today at all!

Hell. I may have to change my panties even.

Our own little UN...

So I had to run to get some cold meds and decided to hit BK to snag a sandwich.

I may go to BK once or twice a year and rarely do I go inside to order but for some reason I did today. Thank the gods I did!!!

Inside I noticed something remarkable, especially for a Cowlands BK.

The woman who took my order was most likely Malaysian. The woman working the drive-thru was African-American. The probable shift manager was sub-Saharan African of undeterminable origin. The one grill guy was Somali. The other grill guy appeared to be Indian or Pakistani. And there was another "floater" who looked Chinese.

The one monitor they use to prep orders was out and all of these people were arguing at each other about it in such wonderful accented English.

It was fantastic!!!

It was like a little version of the UN here in the Cowlands. And they were all yelling at each other too!!!

How cool is that?

And to top it off, while at the store, I found me an Energon Kicker/Highwire and Universe Air Raid and Windsheer taking me up to 924!!!

Cool beans on a frigidly cold Cowtown day!

Silverbolt is better than most...

Bad Spark

Which Transformers Episode Are You?

brought to you by Quizilla

Well... at least I rank with an excellent Beast Wars Silverbolt appearance.

Now I'm guilty for using sniping software.

Well I lost several much needed ebay auctions because people use sniping software.

So I decided last night, for the sake of my plastic crack addiction, to become an online auction dreg and get sniping software myself.

I really really really wanted this Micromaster Countdown set and so I used sniping software.

Now theoretically I suppose I lost because of my lack of experience with this sniping software. This sucks since the other sniper won by like $1.52 or so. (Most auctions I lose are within $.50 to $1.00 these days).

I am gonna learn to use this shit and I am going to win the things I need.

I hate that I have to resort to this but I don't have much choice anymore.

One has to react in kind.

On Ethiopian meals and Micromaster delivery!

So after Mr. Evebird and I were done with lunch I ran to the House of Love to snag some books I forgot and lo and behold the postal gods deemed me worthy to receive a package.

And let me tell you... there's nothing quite like opening up a package of 37 Micromasters and other assorted G1 bots to make your otherwise mundane Friday exciting!

So yay for the plastic crack addiction.

And in other news, I'm thinking eating Ethiopian two meals in a row may not have been a wise thing.

Ugh!

They are Transformers that don't transform?

Alas, Mid-Ohio Con kinda sucked the balls for me. Matt scored on the super hero crack side so I suppose it was good for him. I even bought him his birthday presents early there since at least it was some crack he wanted and needed.

I found some TF related shit too even though I wasn't expecting much.

Scored me a Heroes of Cybertron Seeker PVC Giftset that was an OTFFC 2003 exclusive for only $10 which is about $20-$30 cheaper than the going rate on the web.

Even found an OTFCC exclusive Sunstorm PVC for only $10 too.

Picked up the Hobby Magazine exlusive 2 pack of World's Smallest Optimus Prime and Megatron for $12 which saved me about $10 or so.

And last but not least the lovely Mega PVC of the Japanese-only character Star Saber to go along with the Victory Leo I got in the mail from BBTS the other day.

Goodies galore I tell you!

He could fit some Alternators in there too I think.

Man the internet brings such wonderful service.

Just last night I emailed Laser and asked her if there was a CostCo near by and she said "yes".

I then used an acient Ohio IM mind trick tought to me by my immigrant great-grandfather to convince her husband into going to CostCo on his lunch to buy me exclusive plastic crack not found here in the Cowlands.

And not only did M do it (along with hot dog acquisition and consumption I believe)... I get to see a photo of said plastic crack in the trunk of his car!!!

Oh internet... you rock.

Except when you don't and suck.

Laser and M are in my gratitude! And I've never even met 'em!

Hopefully, Riley won't chew 'em up!

Thanks and a "boo ya" go out to M down in the hurricane testing grounds for helping me to acquire 2 Optimus Urines and Overloads!

Thanks a million!!!

(For some odd reason I just think Riley speaks in a 70 year-old New York Jewish accent of the Jackie Mason variety.)

Stealth crack acquisition.

M & L, my agents in the land of hanging chads and shrub siblings is seeking out the CostCo exclusive Optimus Prime and Overload plastic crack for me.

Mwhahahahahahahahahhahahahaahha!!!

Oh Hasbro... you can hide the crack in other states and retail chains away from the Nala but you cannot keep it for hidden for long.

Even godawful crack such as this urine-inspired color palette.

My holy obscenity.

Ladies and gentlemen.

Readers of all ages.

May I present to you my fully reorganized holy obscenity.

Loser!

The Big Eight-Zero-Zero

Well it happened.

The Big Eight-Zero-Zero was reached at approximately 7:30pm on this Thursday, November 11, 2004.

Bad craziness.

Super mega bad craziness!

And if you think I'm quite the loser then I shan't tell you about the 6 I just ordered from BBTS since they knocked down a ton of stuff 60%!!!

Does this mean I have to put out tonight?

There's nothing quite like being at work when your partner-in-geekitude emails you from his Hiptop...

Beachcomber, grimlock/swoop, wingsaber anybody?

Omega sentinel too?

So let's see... 793 (adding the World's Smallest Thrust that I forgot about) plus 5 from the crack run puts me at 798... so close to 800!!!

As I recall Red Leader saying in Star Wars...

Almost there.

Almost there.

Microman! Microman! Does whatever a Microman can.

Woah kolendy!

Microman Comes To The United States!!!

Takara is actually going to release Microman stuff in the states!

Ya gots to understand this is cool news.

The Microman line, under the guise of Mego's Micronauts, haven't been stateside for almost 26 years. (And I don't count the half-ass shitty Palisades re-issues from 2 years ago.)

Now the original Microman line eventually evolved in the late 70s and early 80s into MicroChange and Diaclone, the source material that became everybody's favourite transforming robot brand.

The latest Microman stuff is heads and tails above the stuff from 25 years ago.

Why did I share this with you?

I have no idea.

From ye old naladahc.com mailbag...

From the mailbag Katie O'Leary writes...

Sidewipe.

Should I stop loving him? People say he's not real.

I love him and think he's real.

What should I do about it?

Sincerly,

Katie O

3 Book of Primus 15-20 says "Oh lo, though you shall love your Binaltech and therefore vicariously your Alternator Sideswipe, you shall despise your Armada Sideswipe and spit on him and cast him to the ground. But preserve he who was released in 1984 for he and his brother of yellow, mint, are rare indeed."

Perhaps therein lies your answer.

God Fire Sword... drool...

Ack!!! In about an hour this auction for a case fresh Japanese ToysRus exclusive Car Robots God Fire Convoy Giftset will end.

It stands at $222.60 right now.

Those in the know will notice that God Fire Convoy is holding the God Fire Sword, one of the most wished for items to hopefully be added to Nala's collection some day.

Oh. To have the God Fire Sword, or a Master Sword for that matter, would be a dream come true.

Now I already have 2 Hasbro versions of God Magnus (Ultra Magnus) and Fire Convoy (Optimus Prime) BUT I WANT THAT DAMN SWORD!!!!!!!!!!

And I want the exclusive clear Car Robots Autobot Brothers!!!

Someday... you will all be mine!!!

Muahahahahahahahhahahahahaahahaa!!!

A little octopus with my Transformers: Masterforce please!

So. I gots some new screws today to put the storm door back up.

Tommorow is projected to be in the high 50s/low 60s so hopefully I can not only get the door back up but the window seam caulked. And caulked better than the sucky ballsness of yesterday. I'll take a little Palochi advice as well as a brush technique that I read today online. Alas, here's hoping the brush technique works with this silicone based caulk.

In other news I watched that Revenge of The Sith trailer again and I really still don't care.

Oh. Omega Supreme finally made his appearance on Transformers: My God This Series Sucks today. Let's just say that this series has not only failed to improve but that it continues to drudge along, poorly translated and dubbed into something that I think may be English by Voicebox.

Pssst... Voicebox... you don't have to translate the idiosyncrasies of Japanese with just stupid "ehs" and "ohs" and "huhs". It was horrible 20 years ago when Harmony Gold did it in Robotech and it sure as hell doesn't need to be done now. Since when have you ever seen this in actual film or television created in English-speaking countries? Grrrr...

Speaking of anime, will the gods of Nippon please please please look down on us poor North American TF geeks and release region 1 English-subtitled DVDS of Car Robots, Headmasters, Chôjin Master Force, and Victory.

Please... Pretty please... with fresh tako on top...

Speaking of plastic crack related things (like that ever happens here), I'm 8 away from 800. Current projections based on my needs/wishes with existing or future bots project out at 906.

Of course, to get to that 906 that's a whole lotta dinero.

But man oh man the Galaxy Convoy is making me all wet.

I mean look at him... all Star Convoy/Super God Ginrai-esque in his 2005 Transformers glory!!!

You cannot deny his super mega awesome transforming power!

2005 is gonna be one helluva year. Well, that is if it doesn't suck.

But Matt and I have agents placed on various isles of Japan now and I sure as hell need to start taking advantage of that for my Takara fix!

Oh yes Galaxy Convoy. You will be mine.

You will be mine!

Oh. And if you are are husband who just gave your old laptop to your wife. One word of advice from old Nala here.

Delete the pr0n man. Delete the pr0n.

Meister is in da haus!!! BooYAH!

Guess what kids?

Yup!!!

Alternator Meister is in the house! Woohoo.

There's nothing quite as exciting as having raspy-voiced Brian D. show up knocking on your office bearing a prized Alternator Meister (he's a Mazda RX-8 ya know)!

So Meister will bring the plastic crack total to 791. I'll definitely make 800 by the end of the year now!!!

Why I remember just this past September thinking I wouldn't make it to 700 by the end of the year.

My how times have changed.

Unfortunately, I'm no farther on getting the attic cleaned up and organized so it just looks like a big mess.

And since this is probably going to be the last weekend where the temperature is above 50 during the day I have to get the back door frame primed which is the plan for tomorrow. The main window still has hours and hours of work on it so that's gonna get covered in heavy gauge plastic for the winter. Probably have to do the side window the same way and just focus on getting the back door primed (and maybe even painted) and the storm door reassembled.

S'all my fault though. I procrastinated before trying the heat gun and lost valuable autumn days because of it.

Now... I'm fighting to find a day above 50°s and this weekend will probably be the last of them.

Maybe I'll be able to get the Attic of Love cleaned by late November.

Yes. I want Chip Chase in it. Bite me!

Woah! 5 posts without a crack entry. Must change that.

Over at the boards on Donmurphy.net, Don Murphy, the producer for the forthcoming Dreamworks live action Transformers film, stated that they are confirming the core 7 Autobots and Decepticons that will be in the film.

Of course, every TF geek has their wish list.

Continue reading "Yes. I want Chip Chase in it. Bite me!" »

746!

T-Minus (insert some number less than 24) before we leave.

I found the bulb for the light after trying a few other places.

I got some clearance Target clothing cuz you know I'm all about the value and looking step above white trash.

I'm basically all packed except for a sweater or two.

Oh. And Matt returned from his evening sorjourn with new fresh crack for me.

I'm now at 746 Transformers!!! I don't think it will be possible to hit 800 by Christmas unless I get a whole shitload of Micromasters or something.

Holy shit! I also got a comment from The Cousin!!! Very rare but always brings a smile to my face.

I miss him lots.

Weekend cracky goodness

So let's see. What has this weekend brought to us here at the old House of Love™?

Friday say me, Matt, Kelly, The Pickett, Max Power, and Kelly's brother Eddie went to see Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. It was ok. Not fantastic. But ok. There are have been far worse films made over the years. And it was better than Alien vs. Predator.

Unfortunately, the story is very thin with only 3 main characters and mostly a few very minor supporting characters. Visually it is a feast to behold but it does wear thin on characterization due to the lack of characters, duh.

Saturday saw Matt and I, but this time joined by The Fabulous Jen™, Brian D., and Alex and Christie B., heading down to the

Got good deals on a Beast Wars Depth Charge,Optimal Optimus, and Magnaboss, a G2 Mirage, and a shit load of mint but loose G1 Micromasters from the early 90s.

I think the collector addiction is going to go crazy with trying to track down all Micromasters and their related items.

Oh. And I got an Energon Shockblast and a Universe Soundwave and Space Case too.

So all in all it was cracktastic!!!

And yes, I can officially announce that the Attic of Love™ now has 741 Transformers in it. And to think I was thinking it would be 2005 before I hit 700!!!

Today? Laundry, Hoont-bathing, some miscellaneous cleaning, and overall just being lame.

Happy Birthday!

On September 18, 2004 the Transformers debuted.

And because of that event my levels of loserness have reached all time highs.

But hey. Only one year to go and Optimus and company will be of legal age to drink.

One extreme loser!

Would you like to know how bad my addiction is?

Well I'm gonna tell you anyway.

Today consisted of the following:

1. Going for Gyro Salads at Tommy's Diner on Broad Street.
2. Picking up The Pickett and Kelmeister to abuse their Sam's Club card for exclusive plastic crack.
3. Hitting the West Broad Target for crack.
4. Hitting the West Broad Kohls for crack.
5. Hitting the West Broad ToysRus for crack.
6. Hitting the Georgesville Meijers for crack.
7. Hitting the Georgesville Wal-Mart for crack and finding an Alternator Hound!!!
8. Hitting the New Rome/Hilliard Wal-Mart for crack.
9. Hitting the New Rome/Hilliard Petsmart and petting dogs and cats and debating about the merits of an insane massive Habitrail set in the house.
10. Hitting the New Rome/Hilliard Meijers for crack.
11. Hitting the New Rome/Hilliard Sams Club for crack and scoring the exclusive and a gallon jar of kosher pickles!!!
12. Returning the Picketts to their lair and returning to the House of Love during the game just in time to feed and poop the Hoont.
13. Eating at Hong Kong Buffet with the Picketts and Kelmeister's parents.
14. Hitting the Sawmill Target Greatland for crack.
15. Hitting the Sawmill Meijers for crack.
16. Hitting the Sawmill ToysRus for crack.
17. Hitting the Sawmill Andersons for crack.
18. Hitting the Lewis-Center for crack.
19. Hitting the Lewis-Center Meijers for crack.
20. Spending an extra 40 minutes trying to get back to the House of Love dealing with after-game traffic making my neighborhood hell.

That was the day I spent!

I visited 3 Wal-Marts, 2 Targets, 2 WeBeToys, 4 Meijers, 1 Kohls, and 1 Sams Club all to feed the beast that is my addiction.

And do you know what this means after today?

Yup. I am now at 697 figures in the Attic Of Love.

Three figures shy of the magic 700!!!

And after all of this what does today prove?

I am one extreme loser in the grand scheme of life.

DVDmania

So I ordered a copy of Beast Wars The Complete 3rd Season and Transformers Season 3 Part 2 on DVD today.

I could have sworn my mother has said she got me Season 3 Part 2 in March so I held off buying it for 6 months now only to find out that in fact she only got me Season 2 of Beast Wars.

Grrrr...

At least I'll finally have them.

I was pretty tempted to buy the Staw Wars Trilogy on DVD but I really honest to god just want the 1977 releases and not all the funky Special Edition butchered versions. Especially now that Lucas has inserted Hayden Christiansen as the ghost of Anakin Skywalker at the end of Return Of The Jedi (pics of even more changes).

Ugh...

I feel so dirty.

I created a Wal-Mart gift registry since they actually have photos and order updates for crack.

*sigh*

I always feel dirty and ashamed when I go to Wal-Mart or Sam's Club.

Dirty and ashamed indeed.

CostCo Crack

Ok folks.

There aren't any that I know of in the Greater Cowlands so I'm asking all of you folks who read this blog...

Are you near a CostCo?

If so, would you be willing to look for and buy me 1 of the CostCo exlusive Transformer releases of this Optimus Prime and and Overload?

They are ugly and normally I would never buy them but since they are exclusive to a chain I'm not near I might as well try and see if someone can snag one for me and mail to me.

Please contact me or leave a comment if you are willing.

The "exclusive" shit is insane, with us crack addicts having to look and shop at places we'd never normally ever go to.

Exclusives include the Big Convoy repaint called Nemesis Primal at Target, a Sam's Club repaint 2-pack of Prowl and Starscream, KBToys' exclusive repaints of Armada Cyclonus and Demolisher, the KMart SWAT team Prowl/Checkpoint, and ToysRUs' exclusive Energon Megatron/Optimus 2-pack,

Totally insane.

The dope dealer stopped by...

So my dope dealer's product arrived today courtesty of the MIB.

A Beast Machines Rattrap, a TFU Nemesis Strika, a TFU Fireflight, and a TFU Autobot Whirl were delivered.

Rattrap sucks the proverbial balls as a bot but is a cool rat. Nemesis Strika looks like something out of Aliens. If you've ever seen the Director's Cut (which is the only way it should be watched by the way) Newt's dad drives this rover-vehicle thing out to the crashed spaceship. This thing looks just like that vehicle. Trippy.

Oh. And on the Cowtown P-Crack front Matt found me an Energon Bulkhead at The Andersons. Why oh why Hasbro didn't name him Springer since he's a G1 homage is beyond me.

At least Takara got it right. They called him "Sprung". Close enough.

WooHoo!

Man did it suck to be me.

I was so excited yesterday because of my BBTS package supposedly arriving I didn't think the UPS guy wouldn't just leave it like he normally does.

Instead there was just a note saying a signature was required!!! Ack!!! What's even more upsetting is that they often show up after 4pm or so and Matt or I are usually home by then.

Must be a big ass package.

However, even though I didn't get my Nippon goodness Eric Nassau stopped by and surprised me with a mint condition 1987 Headmaster Horrorcon Snapdragon and a mint condition 1986 Wreck-Gar. Both with the boxes too!!!

Eric rocks the balls when it comes to giving me his old yet beautifully maintained crack.

This puts the plastic crack total at 674. I'm edging ever closer to that magic 700!

Plastiksprung?

Hmmm. Does Plastic Crack™ become Plastiksprung™?

Or Fente en Plastique™? Crepa di Plastica™?

Or maybe Rachadura Plástica™? Or how about пластичный отказ™?

The great debate begins!

WooHOO!

Yay!!! My Takara Robot Masters will be arriving today!!!

Not that any of you care.

Perhaps I'll manage to come up with some non-crack entries later.

I know how much you all love my pointless obsession.

671 and 29 to go!

Ugh. Twenty-nine TFs away (including those in transit) before I join the 700 Club.

The Fabulous Jen™ wants me to throw a 700 party when that special moment arrives.

Theoretically, it'll happen sometime right before December 2004 or January 2005 pending Hasbro actually getting shit onto the shelves.

I am such a loser.

17 outta 17!

Woohoo!!!

M informed me by way of L moments ago on AIM of a quiz at BBspot!

Prescription Drug or Transformer?

I got 17 outta 17! Booyah!!!!

And you got how many? C'mon. Don't lie to Nala. I'll know if you are lying!

Binaltech Tracks is in da haus! Booyah!

There's nothing quite like having a totally shitty day at the old Job Of Love and then coming home to packages from Big Bad Toy Store and Amazon sitting on the porch beckoning you to open them.

And all I have to say is Binaltech Tracks is in da haus! Booyah!

Oh. And so is that sure to be shitfest Dune prequel that finally hit the shelves.

Oh Tracks... how I long to open your imported goodness.

Alas, since you found your way to my attic from the islands of Nippon you are not to be opened until your plastic Hasbro blue Tracks brother arrives soon.

Oh. Binaltech and Alternators. How I love thee. Let me count the many ways.

Primus grant me the serenity...

Here's an example of why I call it plastic crack™.

Note the price.

Now I'll admit this is quite frankly a plastic crack addict's total wet dream.

I'm moist even at the thought of this.

For $1,525.00 I could do a whole lotta repairs on the house!!! Ack!!!

Halloween 2004

I think I found my Halloween costume for this year.

Trypticon Crush!!!

Well... my being a Mister Impactiont and all finally paid off.

There's nothing quite like a large motorized Decepticon dinosaur to make your day.

Really... there isn't.

He's surprisingly in good shape and his electronics fully work. I'm only missing the small "car" which I will hopefully be able to pick up at a non-addict price.

It is true... Trypticon does indeed "crush".

First real ebay problem ever...

So on July 14 I won an auction on Ebay for a Trypticon, a large motorized Decepticon from way back in 1986.

I paid via Paypal within minutes of winning the auction, trying to be a good buyer.

The seller is listed as a "power seller", and had a decent rating, so I didn't hesitate to bid since this is the only kind of info one can go buy.

Two weeks went buy and I hadn't received any package or email. During that two weeks I sent several emails requesting a status of this via the Ebay system. No response from the seller.

On July 27, 13 days after I paid for the item, it still had not arrived and I sent an email via Yahoo account.

I received the following response...

it was shiped us mail some time a couple of weeks ago let me check my records and see if i can find out if my wife sent it ups or if she sent it usmail if it was ups ill see if she has a tracking number sorry i havent checked my email for a whlie ive been trying to catch up i get so much spam its annoy and a wasrte of time any whay ill let you know as soon as i see my wife this evening thanks

First off... I paid for an item that the seller sold. I don't need to hear excuses about spam or anything else. Once payment was sent, the seller had the full obligation to complete the transaction per Ebay's Terms of Service.

I didn't hear back from the seller again. I waited patiently as he clearly stated he would get back to me.

Last night, 27 days after I paid for the item, I sent another email stating that nothing had arrived and I was going to request a refund from Paypal.

I got this response this morning...

heres your tracking info sorry my wife went in to labor and there were cop[lications so i wasnt able to respond it shows rescudled for the 12th as pay pal for a refund all you what i can prove it shiped and status of delivery and if you refuse the package well have to see what they what to do from there good luck with pay pal they dont side well if your shiper proves the idem is shiped im willing to go thew thew the hoops mister impactiont

Now previously on July 27 the seller said it had been shipped and all.

Of course, looking up the tracking number that he finally provided to me shows it didn't leave until August 3, 20 days after I paid for the item.

I then get more excuses about a wife going into labor and such.

My favourite is how it ends with the "mister impactiont" part.

Now I ask you my loyal readers... am I out of bounds here in giving somebody several weeks to get to me something I paid for in the middle of July?

I am not the one that didn't respond to 3 emails between July 14 and July 24! I am not the one that didn't do the follow that I said I would do on July 27! I am not the one that implied the item shipped after July 14 when in fact it didn't ship until August 3!

I don't feel even remotely at fault here considering I paid for the item immediately after purchase.

I know there is always a risk of problems with Ebay. I had a minor problem with a G2 Megatron as well, but that seller ended up being much nicer, responsive, and then sending me the item 2-day shipping because it was clearly their fault.

God. If I ever sell stuff on Ebay, I promise I will be organized and clearly get items out within 2 days of payment clearance as well as communicate with the buyer of my crap. I'll also send everything, regardless of size, via UPS so that both I and the buyer have a true way of tracking the package.

I think that is the bare minimum that should be expected of an Ebay seller.

OTFCC: The ending

Ok. I promise this will be my last OTFCC 2004 post.

Just wanted to get the gallery of pictures up that I took.

And thus, this trip comes to an official close.

The Japanese always include the smokes for scale...

Who'da thunk Convoy was a Marlboro Menthol smoker.

OTFCC 2004: Day 2

Day 2 of OTFCC began with an overpriced breakfast buffet at the Holiday Inn and there wasn't even sausage on the damn thing! Cheese blintzes and Eggs Benedict does not a breakfast bar make.

But anyway, we headed back across the street and continued to go over the various dealer's wares.

I managed to score some amazing PVC finds, especially for Takara Japanese only figures. (In fact, I think if I count my PCVs, I'd have over 600 figures in the Attic of Love™ lists.)

PVC-wise, I snagged a Masterforce Overlord, a Masterforce Minerva, a Wheeljack that Brian D. gave me, a G1 Omega Supreme, and a Battlestar Convoy, the reborn Convoy (Optimus Prime) of the Japanese continuity. He rocks the balls I tell you!!!

Now I still had a few minor things I needed and spent the good portion of the day trying to find a vintage G1 Stunticon Wildrider, a missing leg to my mostly complete Menasor.

There was only 1 I found and it was $25. I looked and looked and looked and could just not find any.

On a whim, I went back to the guy that I got such great deals from the previous day and asked him if he happened to have a Wildrider since the guy had tons of stuff still in boxes under the table.

Low and behold... he had one and he only charged by $7!!! Alas, moistness overcame me because now Menasor has a proper leg.

Anyway, I originally wasn't going to buy one of the convention exclusives since I'm not much of a fan of the original mold (Armada Megatron), but I thought Matt seemed to like it so I purchased the 'con exclusive Megazarak for $50. He'll stay in the box.

I really should have gotten last year's exclusive Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, but I just don't want to spend the cash yet on them.

As Day 2 dragged on, there continued to be dealers who kept lowering prices or wanting to make deals.

I managed to get the Car Robots Spychangers so that kinda rocked since I have almost complete RID lines. I figure getting the Car Robots versions will allow me to have a new niche to collect so what the hell.

Finally getting a hold of the Fabulous Bethany Power, we agreed on meeting in an hour and I putzed around, looking for this or that.

And now... I can reveal to you what may just be the single greatest purchase of the show. The bot that I've wanted for years. The bot that I prophesized in March that I would one day finally own.

Yes. Omega Supreme now resides in the Attic of Love™ where he will spread goodness and joy for all the world to behold.

No doubt you are sitting at your computer or laptop and saying to yourself "Indeed. Nala is now blessed. Omega Supreme, in all of his massive glory, resides in the Attic of Love™. Great joy and happiness will now be experienced by all. And love will rule the Cowlands. Forever. And ever. And ever."

And thus OTFCC ended for Nala.

A bit over budget, but happy nonetheless.

I then traversed the sea of geeks and low and behold, awaiting me upon my return to the Holiday Inn was The Fabulous Bethany Power and her sister, Kate Power.

Those in the know are aware that these two are the sisters of frequent naladahc.com commenter and former nala-roomate Max Power.

We drove around for about 45 minutes in what I'd consider god-awful horrible traffic in and around Chicago suburbs looking for a pizza dive.

Alas, nothing.

I finally just said to go to the Outback Steakhouse that we drove past 40 minutes early and we had dinner.

It was great to be able to see Bethany P. prior to her leaving for graduate school in England.

Brian D. and I eventually returned to O'Hare and said our fond farewells to OTFCC 2004.

I am not sure if I'll go again.

OTFCC 2004: Day 1

Well, Matt and I picked up Brian D. at 5am Saturday and we headed to the Cowtown Air Transportation Vehicle Launching facility.

A couple of hours later and one time zone later, we made it to our hotel.

Unfortunately, with the hotel totally booked, we couldn't even check-in until after 3pm. At least were were able to leave the luggage and bags with the bellguy (I think bellboy sounds just too gay!) and head over to the 'con.

I'll admit that it was quite impressive to walk in and see 15 or so tables for Big Bad Toy Store (BBTS), my favourite online plastic crack acquisition site.

Actually, I'd have to say that BBTS had probably the best display and presentation of anyone, including Hasbro's rather spartan center booths.

Now we wandered around and checked out every dealer.

There was one guy, a rather young guy actually, that I actually got some of my best deals from. He sold me a practically mint vintage Protectobot Groove, a fair vintage Protectobot Streetwise, and a complete and near mint vintage Protectobot Hotspot, which allowed me to complete an one of my favourite combiners Defensor.

I picked up a cute Shockwave decoy, as well as an Actionmaster Shockwave.

Now Shockwave is of course one of my favourite, if not all-time favourite, characters in TF. And I decided I couldn't wait for Hasbro to get his damn modern incarnation of Shockblast out so I bought a Tarkara version... Laserwave. Sure he was a bit pricey, but he's an import and his packaging kicks the proverbial Hasbro ass!

Picked up a few other things here and there this day as well.

Also attended the Hasbro panel, in which Hasbro, purveyors of addictive plastic, discussed the future of the line for the remainder of the year, as well as what 2005 will hold.

Some cool shit, like the return of real gestalt combiners like in the 80s, as well as some news of licensing of new vehicles for the realistic, and quite frankly best ever, line called Alternators.

Of course, the Q & A session got out of hand when the extreme fans asked really stupid questions that have been asked over and over again from previous years.

While the director of marketing for the Transformers line tried to not be insulting, you could tell she just wants to come out and say "Look people... this is a toy line for boys... the decision making pretty much has to do with what will sell to kids... not you adult losers!!!".

They'd never say it of course. The addicts are probably 40%, maybe even 50%, of the sales of the crack Hasbro purveys.

But you know they want to just come out and pull a Shatner and say "Get a life!". (Well... even I do... and I'm a plastic crack whore!!!)

Alas, as Kelmeister had hoped, there was no Dr. Who geekage there.

But... *drumroll*... there was some totally awesome Shin Getter Robo 5" PVCs of my favourite 70s bots.

I picked up a Getter Dragon, Getter Ligur, and Getter Poseidon, my faves from the era. I even got a Mazinger and Grandizer too. For PVCs, they are sweetness and moisture creating. I do believe my panties got all in a bunch when I saw them.

Later that night, we had dinner at the hotel restaurant and it was actually very very good. I was shocked at how much better the food was here at this Holiday Inn than the other hotels I've stayed at.

Brian called it a night and went to watch a movie on Crack-Priced Hotel Movie Rental™ and I decided to head down to the bar.

I spent the later part of the evening consuming 4 Black & Tans (non-hoont variety), smoking massive amounts of cigarettes, and just people watching.

Not the best of evenings, but hey... it worked for me!

Do you have a vein you haven't shot all to hell?

Brian D., who was the primary motivating factor for me to go to OTFCC, just emailed me a link to an Ebay auction for the Hasbro give-away exclusives at the 'con.

Now understand all you had to do was fill out this survey and you got these items.

The exclusives in question are the cheapest possible item Hasbro could have done: Energon spears (Japanese sample? in translucent blue and purple.

At most, the cost to Hasbro for these things is about 2-3¢. Maybe a couple of pennies more for a simple bag and the dumb ass printed instructions, which could have been left out.

Now while I am clearly stating how lame these give-aways are, I consider it to be a smart tactic on Hasbro's part. Produce the simplest stupidest cheapest give-away, have your adoring captive audience at hand, do a marketing survey, and then make the captive geeks feel like they are getting something "special".

Now a repaint mini-con or G1 mini-bot would be "special". At least they represent something that actually transforms.

Anyway, my gripe with it that these attendees, myself included, spend thousands of dollars over time on Hasbro's products. Many people spent thousands of dollars just at the damn convention!!!

And the special sorta-kinda "thank you" to those who went out of their way to attend the 'con, spent money to get in, spent money to travel there, and will continue to spend money on Hasbro products, get the cheapest simplest possible freebie that Hasbro could do.

It just kind of pisses me off. Hasbro should have done something a little more substantial for the fan base.

Anyway, back to that auction which was the whole point of this entry but I had to get here with a bit more info for you non-plastic crack addict readers.

Many of the vendors/dealers startedoffering $10 for the two damn freebies if the geeks would just part with the things. I had packed up mine in the suitcase at the hotel, so unfortunately I couldn't sell 'em off.

Now already on Ebay there are auctions gouging collectors. This auction had a starting bid of $12.50 and ended up going for $38.77!!!

That is insane!!! We are talking 30¢ worth of product here folks! 30¢!!! And people are paying almost $40 for the shit!!!

Do you see why I call this shit plastic crack™?

TF geeks are willing to plop down insane amounts of money to get our fix, regardless of the true value of the dope we need!!!

Now I would never have paid for the things. I took 'em because they were "convention exclusives", but I understand that beyond the fact that they are not for sale in stores, the things have practically zero value.

Anybody in their right mind, of course I am excluding most TF geeks here, would look at these things, see how much people are willing to pay for them, and just realize what a sorry lot we are.

Insanity I tell you. Insanity!!!

OTFCC 2004 Summary: A Nala bitchfest session...

Well... I'm back from this year's OTFCC. I had 2 extremely long days of pretty much non-stop walking around and around and around the dealer rooms.

Yes. I spent more than I had planned. My rationale? Well, it isn't every day I can find obscure 20 year old items that I want so I basically said to myself "why the hell not?" and bought things. I shall be refraining from ebay for several months to balance out my crack budget.

I'd have to say that on the whole, the event was an ideal place to people watch and train my bitter and jaded eye on geekdom as a whole.

Yes. All the stereotypes were there, and in full force to boot.

Now one interesting thing was that not only was there the big Tranformers convention, there was an even bigger (probably 4000+ people) miniatures gaming convention going on. Talk about a visual geekstravaganza!!!

On the whole, the OTFCC con was a mediocre event, and I lay the fault for this directly at the feet of 3H, the company that ran this event.

Disorganized and unprofessional, many things gave me the feeling that these people are just fans who really don't have any concept of true event planning on the scale that this needs to be done.

Examples of this which utterly frustrated me and made me wish I was somehow involved in an official capacity to bring some sense of order and follow-up to missing details:

• Past 12 Months - lack of real information about events and schedule
• Past 12 Months - Useless website with no real organization or east to access information.
• Past 12 Months - Inability to respond in a timely manner to anything.
• Past 12 Months - Behaviour bordering on "fraudulent", considering hundreds of people have still not received exclusive merchandise that was paid for over a year ago.
• Con Day 1 - Absolutely no signage, professional or otherwise, indicating there was a show. Hell, we confused the gamer con lines for the TF con lines.
• Con Day 1 - An embarrassment of a registration/pass pick-up desk.
• Con Day 1 - The waiting line of early arriving geeks being allowed to camp out in front of the registration desks, thereby making people have to walk over and practically fall on these losers who were all sitting on the floor.
• Con Day 1 - Useless convention guidebook full of useless artwork from a comic book. The damn thing is supposed to be about events and where things can be found.
• Con Day 1 - Hard to read hand drawn signage when there was signage. A simple b&w laser printed sign would have been perfectly fine.
• General - No real information or advertising for some panel rooms.
• General - No information area where update info, such as room changes or other cancellations, is posted.
• General - No place to smack and shame extreme fan boys who ask stupid fan boy questions because they have no real life.
• General - No way to ship items you buy if you are from out of town.
• General - No decent maps or even clocks around.

Oh well, that's enough for a first rant.

More later on geek fanboy observations, the hotel, plastic crack acquisitions, and observations on the concept of "captive audience" and evilness, and The Fabulous Bethany Power and she-who-was-formerly Kate Power.

Oh, and pictures too so you can laugh and taunt me about being a geek.

A Spielberg Transformers film would suck balls!

All kinds of chatter around the net that don't involve terrorists trying to blow up US election and voting booths.

The current chatter, though officially unconfirmed, is that the live action Transformers film that has been in the works will be going to Dreamworks studio.

After a tug o' war between New Line Cinema and DreamWorks, the latter has reportedly won out after "Steven Spielberg got in a plane and flew out to Rhode Island to personally meet with Hasbro's team and to dangle the, if we have this, I may direct it, golden carrot. After which Hasbro agreed to Dreamworks getting the project."

IGN FilmForce checked with its own trusty Transformers source, however, who dismissed AICN's report. Still, what fanboy wouldn't want to see Spielberg direct this movie?!

Steven Spielberg on a Transformers film would suck levels of balls unseen before in any film.

While going to Dreamworks is totally within reason, Spielberg involved in it completely contradicts a recent CBS Sunday Morning interview I saw in which he said he doesn't want to make the kinds of films he did in the past, such as Jurassic Park, Jaws, etc.

There are far better directors for this.

Hell, and that is only a part of it.

The script is the key!

It can't be cheesy nor can it be aimed at children.

A Transformers live action film has to have the broad appeal and coolness factor that made the first Star Wars film the powerhouse it became.

And... it has to has to be based on the original 80s characters.

Sure... modernize their alt modes and all, but that Optimus Prime and Megatron are the ones fans want to see and who, 20 years later, still kick much major assage.

Hell, I'd love to see it still take place in 1984 if they are gonna do it. Or better yet, have the film take place in 2005 but have the Autobots and Decepticons still have been awaked in 1984.

If I am geek enough, and you know I am, I may just post my plot points and general story ideas for my ultimate Transformers film.

And yes, it involved an young adult Spike walking off on a pregnant Carly and the Autobots, searching for a reason for the insanity that has been following his family all these years and the effects it may have on his soon to be born child.

And Chip Chase will be in it too. Except a totally ass kicking wheel-chair bound Chip Chase!!!

My version would be slightly dark, only a few cliches would be there because this is about freak'n robots from outer space that turn into cars, and a viewer would not be annoyed at the humans.

Let's face it... they are the best point-of-view for this kind of story. And of course all my ideas kick major ass!

I don't need your life story...

So I was checking up on various ebay purchases from the other week. Some have arrived. Some haven't. So of course that means sending emails to the seller trying to get an idea of an arrival date.

To one seller, I sent the following:

Dear *seller*,

I am wondering when this item was mailed to me. I am trying to estimate when it will arrive.

Hi,

Honestly I haven't sent your item yet and I want to apologize for the
inconvinience, I went out on vacation on Wednesday and just came back
yesterday Sunday. I was going to send it before I left but I was bedsick with fevers of over 100 most of the week. So I didn't get really get to enjoy my trip either, I only went for the kids. And I didn't have anybody else send the items for me because I rather be sure the items that I sale are properly sent to the right buyer. I really don't trust anyone to do it besides me. I will sent your items by Wednesday the latest. I'll give you the tracking number as soon as I send them. I usually sent items regular parcel but I'll send them priority for faster delivery. Once again sory about the trouble and hope you'll understand.

I didn't need a sob story or need any knowledge about children, fevers, vacations, etc.

A quick, accurate, and short exchange of data and information will always suffice for such a simple request.

Good things come to those who buy crack...

Excellent Cowtown geek run today.

Meijers had Energon Unicron on sale and then a discount on top of that! $28 ain't bad of it! So of course, we got two... one to open and one to trade/sell in the years to come.

The Andersons still had that lonely Armada Megatron that has been on their poor shelves since 2002. I felt bad for him being solo and having no other real Decepticons to command there. So I picked him up too.

And then... Target actually had something new!!! I finally found an Energon Insecticon that I've been searching months for.

And then... mere moments ago... my Beast Wars Second Leo Convoy ebay win arrived, followed by my Energon Omega Supreme purchase off of KB online.

This is what you would call a "cracktastic" day for me.

It does piss me off that when you buy something online from say KB Toys they have no consideration for the collector mentality. The true online toy shops such as BigBadToyStore and Small Blue Planet go out of their way to not degrade the packages.

KB? They slap a huge frigg'n sticker right on Omega Supreme's window!

What the f*ck?!?!?!?!

Windows 95?!?! Ack!!!

So I spent the past two hours helping Dave B. get files off of his father's ancient and practically dead Windows 95 Compaq.

At 24MB of RAM, the little bugger was oh so speedy!

Let's just say... thank god Matt found some parallel port Zip drives at work to do the job.

No USB. No working floppy. No network card.

Without the Zip this'd been a pain in the ass!

And there was a surprise for me too! Seems that Mary Beth happened to find a rather yellowed, but physically complete G1 Jetfire in the trash that some neighbors were throwing away! Sure he's missing his armor, gun, and is yellowed, but we are talking on of the greatest 1980s figures ever released!!!

He's now a proud member of the Attic Of Love™, I'll have you know that updated and new pics are available in case you are just lame enough to check out my addiction.

And speaking of the Attic Of Love™, you'll be happy to know that there are now 556 Transformers in my attic.

Today's acquisitions, though not arrived yet to share their love, are a G1 Trypticon that I've been craving for years, as well as a Takara Lio Caesar figure, and... while I really didn't need it... the impossible to find anywhere K-Mart Exclusive Armada Optimus Prime and Jetfire Gift Set!

Then again... do I ever really need any of it?

Should I?

I've been thinking of starting up a special online site for the trading of old, possibly broken and dirty, but otherwise possibly useful Transformers from the 80s to the present. This will by-pass crack pricing at Ebay.

I think I'll call it "Rough Trade".

Rainy B-ville day...

So today found Nala sorjourning through the Extended Cowlands to the ancestral home of Matt as we delivered a new computer to his family.

Surprisingly, I managed to find vintage plastic crack at an antique store there and quickly picked it up. G2 Megatron and G1 Headmaster Hosehead now reside in the Attic of Love.

The drive back was horrid. Assholes aplenty on I-70, regardless of the torrential downpours and lack of visibility.

So much work... so many attempts to slack...

I think tonight will be delivered pizza and hours in the Attic of Love, working to put that floor in order.

Have I told you I have 496 Transformers?

Sick. Ain't it.

Uh-oh. It is 4:05pm and I'm still at work. I'm miss'n the Hoont's scheduled pooping.

Cracky goodness...

There is one thing gentle reader that you must understand implicitly about my relationship with you. That one thing is... Nala must be kept off of Ebay as much as possible.

Now I'll let you know that it has been 3 months since I made any bids on any auctions or really even looked at anything.

I held back strong in my convictions to not feed my habit.

However, a certain drug recently has left me with form of delerium tremens and I was forced to view page after page of plastic transforming goodness.

And... well...

I finally got found me a Generation 2 Megatron that I've always wanted.

And I even found those funky Robots In Disguise Christmas lights that I've wanted for much cheaper than the specialty stores had them. They'll look totally super mega tits hanging on the wall up the stairwell to the Attic of Love.

I have a ton of bids in on a ton of other auctions due in 5-6 days. I don't expect to win any of them really. Perhaps if people accidentally miss them and my low bids do ok then more crap will be added to the shelves. Then again, maybe not.

I'll be watching this auction closely. These are very rare specialty Takara versions of the Autobot brothers from Car Robots done in transparent plastic. To even see a set of these in the US is amazing.

Please... grant my wish...

Dear Hasbro:

I do not know what we have done to offend you here in the Greater Cowlands, but your lack of delivering new transforming plastic crack to the shelves of your many far flung vendors is beginning to have serious ramifications on those of us with this sad addiction to your drug.

Week after week and month after month has gone by and the Targets, Meijers, WeBeToys, Kay-Bee, K-Mart, and even the much dreaded and despised Wal-Mart have shelves clogged with Wave 1 and Wave 2 Energon figures that don't sell.

Armada Unicrons, Smokescreens, and Powerlinx Optimus Primes still litter the WeBeToys, even at 50+% off original retail.

Is it too much to ask for possibly a few Insecticons, Arcees,

You teased us with short packing Energon Ultra Magnus by short shipping him and now a $25 toy sells for $70+ crack pricing on E-Bay.

Where is the new Alternator Hound and Universe Battle Unicorn and Stockade?

I have spent thousands of dollars over the years to fill your coffers and bottom line.

Is it too much to ask for new product? Is it?

Am I being too demanding?

I was forced to buy a clearance Desert Camo Ruination just to have something new to open.

Is this what you are forcing me to? Why oh why?

Please get some Energon Omega Supremes, Sharkticons, and hell, dare I say it even Energon repaints out to these dark and humid Cowlands.

We may not survive for much longer.

Not quite the "ultimate" guide, but good...

After leaving the film this afternoon, I dragged Matt to the bookstore and managed to finally sucessfully acquire a copy of Transformers: The Ultimate Guide by Simon Furman.

Not a bad book really, though it was a little light on the Robots In Disguise section, much to my chagrin.

It tried to cover the past 20 years of Transformers geekdom and for the most part succeeds. It is definitely the kind of book my father could pick up and perhaps get some small inkling of my plastic crack addiction's origins and such.

I wish they'd have included a complete episode listing for each series, but that's what I have the internet for now isn't it?