Team Dinobot!

Jada are killing it with Streetfighter, I’ve got Ryu, Ken and Chun Li, and now I’ve got Dhalsim, M. Bison, Guile, Sagat, Vega and Blanka preordered. Not only that, they’ve shown off E. Honda, Balrog, Zangief and Akuma! Amazing.

SDCC has been pretty amazing for Marvel Legends, Lockjaw and Crystal!!! My two most wanted figures! I’m tempted by Wong, and the Deadpool and Wolverine figures of the same name (hoping to see the film soon). Some other exciting reveals although nothing really for me. With Wolfsbane in hand and Odin on the way, and dark Ms. Marvel now rumoured (might need some parts swapping to make an A:EMH Carol version), my remaining Legends wants are almost non-existent.

Hasbro showed off some Transformers at SDCC…… fascinating……. When most of the excitement seems to be about how much a Crossover figure looks like an Omnibot you know they’re scraping the barrel. There is a rumour of an Ironfist Carnivac set next year which got me thinking about the Wreckers. One visit to TF Wiki later and I decided to get HFTD Seaspray and Breacher (again, I miss owning them) and Strongarm. Seaspray will need whitening so ordered some peroxide as well. I think out of all the rumours for next year it’s the Wrecker-Mayhem sets which I’m looking forward to the most - the potential for Octopunch, Stranglehold, and even Thunderwing, Thunderclash and Skyquake is exciting. Octopunch in particular makes sense since they’ve been using the Mayhems logo with the octopus arms.

Some of the post SDCC stuff interviews are very encouraging though - mentions of Road Caesar, Grandus, Wreckers, Nautica, Riptide (and Lost Light generally) all mentioned is exciting. With mentions of Lost Light and Wreckers, surely ‘he’ must be coming! (Combined with reports of various previous interviews given by the Hasbro team.) I predict if he’s not in the Wreckers Mayhems capsule next year then he’ll get his own mold.

The Mondo Ghostbusters look really good, just really expensive. So really that just leaves Transformers as the one franchise where I’ve got a large number of wants. (Could be tempted by a 6” Mortal Kombat line though!) Currently Throttlebots and Thunderclash top the list, but I’m feeling like the 1988 Autobots generally need some attention, particularly the Triggerbots to go with their Decepticon counterparts that we’ve now got.

I’ve popped in preorders for Marvel Legends Venom (again), Wong, D&W Deadpool and Wolverine, and Takara 40th Lio Convoy. So much for not replacing figures!

Some of the new Streetfighter figures arrived - Dhalsim and M. Bison. Dhalsim is great, I think he looks really good sitting cross legged on my desk. Bison does the job but with the slightly larger size perhaps seems a bit plain? Looking forward to the next lot.

Also got another Cosmic Legions figure - Olaf Thygar, the colours on the spacesuit are very sharp. I’m content just getting a few figures - I might get a couple from Wave 4 but there is part of me that feels like I’m missing out as I can’t take advantage of the interchangeability of parts. It did make me think about my ‘cosmic’ figures (Cosmic Marvel, Star Wars and Legions), and so realised I needed Beta Ray Bill. Not his classic costume but given I only really know him from A:EMH, I’m okay with it. That said, I’ll probably be tempted when Hasbro do a classic version. I also got tempted by the updated Luke Cage. Dammit, looks good though.

I’ve got the new Blokees Snarl figures. All good! Naturally had to paint the eyes red. Shortly after, Swoop turned up! He’s a bit simpler and shorter than the other Dinobots (which is fine). I wish he could turn his pterodactyl head but very happy to have a complete set, feels like quite the milestone. I look forward to a version with the red chest (hope it still has a gold beak though).

I’ve decided to set myself a collecting goal for the last third (ish) of the year - no buying things on the secondhand market (so, eBay). Except Baldigus if I see one for a decent price. Anything else will have to wait until at least December.

Halfway Point

Halfway point for the year! Got Deszaras! Will be getting deluxe Insecticons, Swoop, various cassettes, and Sureshot (eventually). Got Snarf and Ki-Adi Mundi, will get Yoda. Have got Legends Wolfsbane, will be getting Odin and a Lego X-Mansion. Real Ghostbusters figures expected. Not a bad year for the stuff I really want. What’s up next?!

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Having finally got a Cosmic Legions figure, I really like it and…… I’ve ordered more! Time and time again I’ve looked at the pictures and struggled to make a decision - they’re expensive and the characters don’t mean anything but wow, they’re amazing looking figures! It’s quite liberating just getting the figures I want and not needing to complete any teams. I decided I can justify them on the basis that I can have a generic ‘cosmic’ display with them, Star Wars and some Marvel. Soooo expensive though. I’m going to try and restrict myself to one use per mold.

Got Squeezeplay, he’s great. He’s mostly great because it’s exactly the sort of character I want to be getting. It’s funny how we almost have all the Decepticon headmasters, Targetmasters, powermasters and pretenders that appeared in Headmasters and Masterforce (is it just Horri-Bull?), we don’t even have all the Autobot Targetmasters yet.

The deluxe Insecticons and Windsweeper turned up a little earlier than expected. This is the sort of stuff I want, I guess as time goes on it’s going to mostly be about exclusives and not so much mainstream. Looking forward to Ruckus and hope that Venom rumour is true.

I’ve spent less time thinking about toys this month, but somehow that hasn’t translated to spending less. Hopefully next month will be a little calmer!

Amazing desk toys

Lego X-Mansion seems to be virtually assured now and to add to the excitement, a Lego Legend of Zelda set has been confirmed. The great Deku tree specifically, cool! I think I might also get the Guardians Milano set as I like the colours a little more than the Benetar. I’m also a little tempted by Lego Bumblebee, certainly more than I was Optimus Prime.

Takara’s doing a Mainframe in toy colours. Finally! I’m actually really excited, it’s got a really unique altmode, preordered straight away. Also put in preorders for Xaaron, Buzzsaw, Frenzy and Quake. The Soundwave pack is pretty annoying but there are at least two cassettes I want from it. Decided to swap the old TR Quake out, looks pretty good. My Nonnef weapons arrived for Snarl, very solid!

My 4H Cosmic Legions figure finally arrived, looks amazing. I’m going to use it as a steampunk Iron Man. Just need to try and find a suitable headsculpt for it. Morbius also arrived, looks like Eric Draven from the Crow. Speaking of crow(s), Marvel Legends Odin looks great (preordered).

Received Ki-Adi, looks really solid. Also got Zabu, Ka-Xar and Wolfsbane. I wonder if the Zabu body could be reused for Lockjaw? Obviously will need a Shanna now. Wolfsbane is the final X-Men figure I need, great to complete X-Factor though didn’t quite have the energy to get all the figures out for a group photo.

Put in a cheeky order for a few 3.75” bits from Bossfight, I’ve got a few more customs planned now I’ve decided to collect heroes in 6” and villains in 3.75”. (Think will pass on Marvel Legends Dracula.) Also had a Dogpool and Ecto-1 arrive. Pretty impressed with Ecto-1, at a time when I’m trying to reduce the volume of things I own it’s a bit indulgent but it is like a grown up version of the old real Ghostbusters toy. Just need some Ghostbusters to go in it, these guys might do though…..

They’re absolutely amazing desk toys, I wasn’t sure about them but they are perfect. Great fun!

Preorder Season

Calm again, after a couple of crazy months. I’m going to have a dry(ish) month, although might allow myself some Lego if I get back into it. Time to actually start getting rid of some things - simplifying my collection a little. I actually did something similar a couple of years ago so really it’s carrying on with that process. I’m feeling really happy with the various bits that are coming out on the non-Transformers side, black series Yoda, Mondo Real Ghostbusters, Marvel Legends Wolfsbane and Odin, and a Lego X-Mansion. I’d like a Carol Danvers Ms. Marvel but the Warbird figure looks good so I’ve preordered that as well (just a repaint away!).

Have popped in a fair few preorders, Black series Yoda and Ki-Adi (finally), Plasma Ecto-1, SS ‘86 Steeljaw, Straxus and Hulkbuster. Some good stuff coming.

Transformers generally feels like I’m still waiting though. There is some ground for optimism though, slightly obscure G1 tends to be limited to exclusives, but am hoping we might get a Thunderwing in the comic line (I reckon Soundwave and Blaster could be candidates). Then if the Amazon exclusives are Wreckers v Mayhems, surely, surely, we need a Thunderclash and Skyquake? And failing that, Octopunch? Wouldn’t mind a Circuit/Axer 2-pack though if they are still aiming for 2019 IDW characters. Apparently Axer was under consideration before Road Rocket was selected as an exclusive previously so could perhaps happen.

I’m not quite sure why I want Thunderclash so much, but it’s my most wanted figure now across all toylines. I guess because he was made out to be so cool in MTMTE/Lost Light, because he was a Euro G1 figure, because he’s a leader, but also because white is just a good colour for Transformers. That said, Skyquake is second on my list of most wanted so I guess just being a Euro G1 leader character with a cool colour scheme counts for a lot (see: Pyro and Clench). I want a Thunderclash!

I finally got round to opening the trio of Pretenders I’ve had stashed away. It’s a great shame they’re not the same size but they’re really cool. I wasn’t expecting to like the new Skullgrin but I think he edges out the old Darkmount (Straxus) repaint from Generations, bring on the rest!

I have also finally opened Magmatron. First impression is that he’s big but that’s possibly as a consequence of leaders not being as large as they used to be (and so they had to do it at a Commander price point). I like the headsculpts on each of the beasts.

I started thinking about my Marvel collection, I’ve got four IKEA boxes full of figures - two for 3.75” and two for Legends. Mostly duplicates, but a wider character selection in 3.75”. How can I simplify it? I initially had the plan to get almost all characters as 3.75” and a select few as Legends but it’s passed the point of a ‘select few’. Then it struck me, unlike Transformers, I don’t really care for Marvel villains all that much, I could keep the heroes as Legends and villains as 3.75”. This is actually the approach I took with Turtles and Power Rangers (and sort of Ghostbusters). I would extend it a little to include vehicles, and a few exceptions - keep the villains from X-Men COTA as Legends, and as well as being reasonably fluid with the definition of ‘anti-hero’, as well as sticking with my original approach in a few cases. This makes sense on many levels - many of my customs that I put a lot of effort into are villains (because they’re less likely to get made). I’ve got the Marvel Universe Sentinel and Galactus, and have backed (the bigger) Legends Giant Man. There are some heroes that I don’t have as Legends yet so would slowly replace as (if) they get made. Yes. I’ve decided to swap out my Marvel Legends Ghost Rider for the retro release since I have the bike at 3.75” scale, and since I’m getting rid of my 3.75” Black Panthers I decided to get the Legends figure with gold details. I can’t decide which Panther costume I like best so will have both. They both look really good. I’ve been going through my villain Legends to decide what I should keep, and similarly with my heroic Universe figures. I’ve gone and forth quite a few times on them but have come to some sort of decision on them now.

Am going to have a big old move round of stuff in my office, I’ve got a couple of towers of IKEA boxes so would be really nice to have the space, as well as having things be a bit more accessible. Time to give it a go! As a consequence of this I got all my Lego out of storage and restored them (put all the bits that had fallen off back on). I think a new rule will be that Lego has to be very easily accessible and not in boxes - more than most things it really defeats the object.

Doing well this year

My Reprolabels to make G1 Fire Chief arrived so put them on and put my new combiner teams together. Looking good! I might also paint Fire Chief’s chest at some point.

Decided to get a senator Ratbat for my leader collection. It might have been a step too far as found myself thinking about what I would rebuy if was starting again. If I wouldn’t re-buy something again then maybe I shouldn’t have it? My Diaclone recolours are quite a good example - I don’t think I would try to recollect them but I do still really like them. I will hold off doing anything drastic but I have set myself the objective of making my study less cluttered (I have a stack of IKEA boxes in the corner).

My collection has always been a collection of collections and so I’ve spent some time thinking about how to integrate it all together. I’ve decided that (theoretically) I will display it year by year - ‘83 to 2000. (‘83 being the pre Transformers/Diaclone recolours.) Some characters that didn’t originally have toys can slot in based on when they appeared in fiction (Arcee is ‘86 for instance). But what about the IDW/Animated/Cyberverse characters? I’ve mostly put them into ‘85 as I like keeping the ‘84 gang as it actually was, plus Nautica and Windblade make sense with Chromia (who appeared in the cartoon in ‘85), the extra seekers make sense as they’re deluxes (similarly to my coneheads). The Animated (did I mention I got Bulkhead?) and Cyberverse characters also make sense as there are characters such as the Dinobots in that year. I’ve put Drift into ‘86 as he’s on the Lost Light with Hot Rod and Ultra Magnus, I’ve put Magnificus into ‘87 as there are several recolours in the Japanese line that year (Twincast, Soundblaster, Stepper and Artfire). I’ve put Tarn into ‘89 as that was a good year for Decepticon nutters (Deszaras, Thunderwing and Bludgeon), plus he shares a mold with Bludgeon. Lastly, I put Flame Convoy (Scourge) into 2000. He fits thematically as a Predacon. I’ve now got a few figures to get rid of - mostly Masterpiece and Kabaya. I also ended up ordering Selects G2 Megatron (as decided didn’t want Megastorm to do double duty), and Magnificus (because he was cheap). I’m slightly tempted to swap Maggie’s head with Perceptor’s.

I’ve put everything into a spreadsheet and I have in the region of 500 (Transformers) figures. Well, sort of. I thought I had about 500 figures but after going through a load of storage boxes, it turns out it’s a bit more like 700! I have a few collectibles rather than proper Transformers but still. I’m going to spend a bit of time thinking about whether to keep everything. It’s helped me identify things I could get rid of but also that I need a proper Sunstorm. Doh. (I would like Sunstorm to have less black and more white as well as being a brighter orange but otherwise, I still like the mold.)

However, I now have nothing on my want list and am absolutely convinced there’s nothing that’s been released that I might want to go back and get (unless I start a new cartoon or comic). Transformers wise though, nothing. Peace at last! I think the slight madness of the last couple of months is done. I wonder whether X-Men ‘97 could change my mind on some more Marvel Legends. It did finally inspire me to build my X-jet. Speaking of X-Men media, I’m super excited about Deadpool and Wolverine. Feels like a while since I’ve been so excited about any film. I’ve found with quite a few of the recent films that I’ve enjoyed them in the cinema but really struggled with the rewatch.

Having had them for a while I finally opened Silverbolt and Sandstorm. Both really good figures, three great headsculpts and altmodes between them (although a little dubious initially), very happy with them both. Sandstorm is a good level of complexity, and although I like the old T30 mold (mostly for Rodimus) this fits much better. More of the same please!

Some good news! Hasbro are making 3.75” Ghostbusters figures and Mondo are making 6.5” Real Ghostbusters figures. Feels like I’ve waited for such a long time for this. Shame Hasbro dropped the ball with Real Ghostbusters but Mondo look decent. Equally exciting news, prequel Yoda is finally getting a Black series figure. Combined with Legends Wolfsbane and Odin, and the Lego X-Mansion looking likely, I’m doing well with my wish list so far this year!

Also, I got a Ken. He’s just Ken……

Old Age

Finished my Lego armoury! I tiled the entire floor, added a few decorative bits and details and made sure the engineering was up to scratch.

I think this is the final stage of my ever evolving  armoury, until we get a Baxter Building at least. I’ve also started adding extra floors to my Turtles’ lair, I gave it a test and it can hold Avengers Tower so it’ll be able to hold pretty much any building. I might just add a couple more supports though.

My Transformers collecting is now pretty simple - every character from ‘84 to ‘95. One toy per character. There are five sub-collections as well - Diaclone repaints, certain comics characters (Impactor, Rack’n’Ruin, Jhiaxus, Sunstorm, Drift, Rung, Nautica, etc), the main cartoons cast (which is essentially a catch all collection for Beast Wars and new evergreen characters), Dinobots/cassettes, and leaders. That’s most of it, there’s a few exceptions here and there.

I got the new Sabretooth, he looks great. The old figure was the character I most wanted a new version of so got what I wanted.

Have developed my upstairs for the Turtles’ lair a bit further. I’ve added a staircase! It’s funny, I started the year really focused on the Lego, had a brief stop where I spent a stupid amount of money in a small amount of time on Transformers and now have gone back to Lego. Put in a another load of orders for parts.

Squeezeplay! Really wasn’t expecting him to get a figure. Good to get another ‘88 figure though as I think that’s the year with the most gaps. Got a preorder in as well as for Swoop. The 2025 lineup has been further confirmed as well. Think Sureshot, Overcharge, Venom and possibly Alchemist Prime are the ones I’m excited about. I’ll get the combiners but really not as exciting.

Got me some Gears, wasn’t too bothered about him but I like him in person a lot more than I was expecting. Makes the old one look very undersized, especially the head. I would like a new Windcharger, but I think Powerglide needs an update more.

Been spending quite a lot of time thinking about my ‘leaders’ collection, I went through all the releases for each year (‘84 - ‘95) and identified the leaders (plus gave some consideration to Beast Wars and the comics). Decided to get Legacy Transmetal Megatron, then Power of the Primes Optimal Optimus. Potentially Hero G2 and the original Transmetals versions of Prime, Megatron, Primal and the other Megatron are fair game. There are a few versions of Hero Megatron but whilst a Prime version doesn’t exist, as well as trying not to be too crazy about my spending, I’ll pass. I did think about the Unicron trilogy leaders (and beyond), but at that point it’s constant Optimus and Megatron - essentially it just turns into collections of those characters and I’m keen to avoid that.

I’ve also thought about what cartoons I need the main cast of (currently G1/Beast Wars/II/Neo/Car Robots/Cyberverse). I decided to include Animated as well so picked up Legacy Bulkhead - I don’t need them to be Animated style (similarly to I like X-Men Evolution but I don’t need figures of those characters to be in the same style). I think really I’m picking which ‘continuity families’ I follow - G1, Animated and Cyberverse are all good. Unicron Trilogy, Movie and Aligned are out. (G1 includes Beast Wars, Car Robots and IDW). Rumours for 2025 suggest that we’re getting figures of the ‘13’ so will need to do some thinking about that, as I said before, could be down for an Alchemist Prime.

I have bought several slightly expensive things but my to get list is almost crossed off now. I got Botcon figures!!! Pyro and Clench. I really like that they’re old molds that I used to have and was fairly reluctant to replace. I also got a Unite Warriors Baldigus. Whoops. Right, I really am going to stop now. There isn’t too much stuff coming out for the rest of the year so really really need to stay away from eBay. In the process of writing this I bought and then cancelled again a deluxe Combiner Wars Groove…… Right, deep breath……

I’ve come up with a couple of (Transformers) collecting rules for myself: only replacing a figure if the size/scale doesn’t work for me, or the gimmick is wrong (has a gimmick when it shouldn’t or should have a gimmick and doesn’t). I’ve got a spreadsheet of characters I want to replace or add so I can only buy new figures if they’re on that list. The only way I can add more characters to the list is if I start watching a new cartoon or read a new comic with that character in. Otherwise I need to get rid of a figure for any new one.

I’ve finished watching Ahsoka and Echo, have to admit put off watching them both as a bit bored of both franchises but glad gave them a go, both really good. Definitely enjoyed Asoka more than the other Star Wars series - I find the Jedi more interesting than bounty hunters. Am wondering now whether to give some of the cartoons a go. Will watch X-Men ‘97 first though. It’s great! All the characters are great, I’m enjoying Morph. Weirdly I find myself agreeing with Cyclops more and finding Wolverine the more annoying. Must be old age.