New York heavy

Bagging up my collection has caused me to think about the history of my collection. (I'm on to Titans Return now.) To start with I was collecting reissues, keeping all of the boxes and so I left the instructions and spare parts in the boxes. The vintage toys I bought generally didn’t have instructions and most pieces were stored on the figures. Eventually as Classics started I just kept all of the parts loose in a big box. As I started selling things off I realised how difficult it was to find things again and so started sorting things by which ‘faction’ they were in (according to Dreamwave). As new things came out and it got increasingly tedious to even find the right bag for the faction, I realised storing things by toyline made more sense. I’m now storing them with the actual figure, even more straight forward! It would have made life easier to have adopted a system earlier, but when I started I was only going to get a ‘few’.

Bagging up Combiner Wars feels different to most of the older figures, I feel sad. They’re such great figures. I remember my initial reaction as ‘I’m happy with my third party stuff’ which turned into ‘these are great’, and eventually, ‘hope they do Computron and Abominus’. Which they did! I remember getting the Aerialbots in TRU before they were released in the US. I remember the disappointment of Wave 2 not getting an (official) UK release (and the panic of getting the Stunticons online). Then the happiness of finding the Protectobots at Tesco. I didn’t mind the way the 5th members of the team were handled - it was really exciting getting them as exclusives. What a great line. I didn’t get burnt out on the molds until Power of the Primes with Darkwing and Dreadwind - I got the Liokaiser around the same time, and only then felt fed up with the Aerialbot mold(s).

Talking of Abominus, I’ve never actually bothered combining them before, and I've not used the Perfect Effect upgrade set I bought. The bits all turn into separate weapons which is great, but I'd rather just have really good hands and feet. (Purple versions of the Computron parts.) I don't think they're too compromised and the feet are a very similar size. I like the idea of Computron and Abominus being a later generation of combiner, and therefore improved. He looks pretty great on my desk, though I've always wondered whether they would look better with a unified colour scheme - light grey, purple and blue perhaps? It wouldn't actually mean too much change - just make Rippersnapper and Sinnertwin grey rather than beige and yellow respectively, then it's just a matter of making them all the same shade of purple and blue.

I've opened Wheeljack, he's a little bit great. I'm so happy I've decide to upgrade my 84/85 Autobots. He's less of a bright white than Siege Prowl and Ratchet, but he really makes the old Generations mold look a bit chunky in the legs (it was a good figure though). A very pleasing transformation. Bring on the rest of them!

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I went for a walk today and found myself wondering why I was packing up my collection. I realised there are some good reasons. I find my display stressful, there's not enough space to display everything and what's not on display is hard to get to so I never rotate it. What is on display I can't see very well as most of it is up high on shelves. It means I know exactly where the accessories and instructions are for everything, and finally it's a chance to review my collection - do I need everything? Everything should serve a purpose, even if that purpose is recreate a scene from a comic. But to recreate that scene, are multiple versions of characters justified? I do feel sad packing things up, but overall it feels like a positive thing to be doing - to feel like I'm in control of my collection and not the other way round.

If everything should serve a purpose, what should say, Optimus Prime do? What do I want from it? I want him to look like he does in my mind - a sort of toy/cartoon/comic hybrid. I want him to display well with the other '84 Autobots, I want him to display well with Megatron, and I want him to display well with the other Autobot leaders. Earthrise Optimus does all of those things, the G1 and Classics figures do not (given I have WFC versions of the other '84 cast).

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Some interesting Marvel Legends preorders have popped up - tempted by Spider-Man, Green Goblin and War Machine, but have just popped in a preorder for Moonknight for the time being. Initial shots of Green Goblin show him having super crazy eyes, but the more recent images look much more sensible. The Strong Guy BAF wave has also gone up, expensive.

Sky Lynx is on his way! Wasn't expecting him until August. I've pretty much packed away all of my Transformers now, but have left most of Siege plus Abominus and Predaking out (so I can see how they look with Sky Lynx). I felt really sad putting the Dinobots away. So far I think I'm up to about 10 large IKEA boxes of toys (including Marvel but excluding the Titan and Leader Transformers). All that remains now is Lego/mini figures and Thunderbirds. Despite having bagged pretty much everything up it's amazing all of the leftover stuff - stands, parts, booklets. Haven't quite worked out where it will go in this brave new world.

I think I’ve realised the problem with my collection - too many things that look awesome by themselves. I made a bucket list over 10 years ago which included ‘getting my collection organised’, only now do I am doing that.

With my Lego figures I think I might position it to being more of a New York theme. I have the Ghostbusters firehouse, I have the Mega Bloks Turtles hanging out on (and hanging off of) it. The only Marvel Lego figure I really want to keep is Spider-Man, perhaps because he has such an iconic look, but it's starting to feel very New York heavy, which makes sense since so of my favourite cartoons were set there growing up. I might get the Lego Friends set and Statue of Liberty to really finish it. Maybe exceptions for Deadpool and Batman. I like my Lego Star Wars, Thundercats Minimates, Mega Bloks Power Rangers. But otherwise I think I'm going to get rid of everything else (I don't really have much else - Avengers and Justice League figures really). I quite like the idea of a Turtles lair as well, might be a project for some point.