I've made the transition from Jedi (and Sith) to troopers! I got the Episode II Clone Trooper. I've never really taken the time before to appreciate the evolution of the clone/storm troopers. It's fairly obvious when you look at them side by side. Still find the various colours on the clones quite confusing (which given the significance of colour changed from being rank based to division based is not surprising). I don't think I've ever had a figure with a removable helmet with headsculpt underneath. I tried to buy three 3.75" (phase 1) clone troopers, I got sent a Black series (6") figure. Guess might as well keep it.
I got some ARC troopers from back in the day, they look the business but possibility is lacking. Also got Depa Billaba, she's pretty much five POA. I can put together pretty much any Jedi Council lineup together now. I also got the Eta Jedi Starfighter for Mace Windu. It looks amazing. I've rewatched Episodes I and II. It's been ages since I last saw them - Episode I especially. I enjoyed watching for the Quinlan Vos appearance, I also noticed Aurra Sing. Which is weird because I didn't know I even knew who she was - I saw her and the name popped into my head. Subconscious thought and memory is a strange thing. I enjoyed them both, particularly trying to identify the background Jedi. I think with a few tweaks they could be the films I really want (introduce Dooku earlier, his relationship with Qui-Gon, perhaps mention Plagueis - who apparently paid for the clone army in the books). I opened 6" Dooku and Obi-Wan after finishing Episode II. Great likenesses.
My appreciation for Star Wars vehicles came from collecting Star Wars Transformers - my collecting is becoming strange last self-referential as I want to get 3.75" versions of my favourite Transformers. I'll be keeping an eye on what vehicles are released in the Vintage line. I did get the Tigershark deco of the Republic Gunship though. What a beast! It’s a solid old toy, and huge. I’m not quite sure whether collecting 3.75” vehicles is a good idea but will go with it for the time being.
My ARC Commander turned up to command said gunship. He’s great, I like the flexibility of phase 1 or 2 helmets. Shame they didn’t do the troopers in the same way. The new Rex figure is close so maybe we’ll see something. I also got Darth Plagueis, the main villain of the piece (in my mind at least). I also gave in and got an Anakin (mostly so I had an excuse to get another Starfighter). He's from The Clone Wars (yes, that one), but I like the deco and given I'm getting Episode II and III Anakin in Black series, it's nice to have him be different.
I opened Tigertrack and Exhaust, they’re both great molds so happy to have an excuse to get them again. I’d really like some reprolabels for Exhaust, he just needs a bit more decoration. I like Tigertrack more than I expected, but you can’t go wrong with a yellow Lambo (unless they use cheese coloured plastic). Thinking about the other Diaclone decos, I could happily take a blue Bluestreak and a black Ironhide but would be grateful for whatever they give us. Orange and red Trailbreaker and Hoist perhaps?!
There have been more leaks/reveals/nonsense about upcoming Transformers releases. Sounds like a mix of things I want and stuff I don't really care about. The frustrating thing about leaks is when the thing you want isn't mentioned you know you've got a really long wait. There are some figures I want which are straight up recolours of existing toys, Sunstorm, Diaclone releases. Then there are opportunistic recolours/remolds for characters which aren't import enough for their own mold - Omnibots, Throttlebots and Autobot Targetmasters. Then there are the big asks, but I don’t think there’s many left. Star Saber and Deszaras are top of my list, they need big dedicated molds. I hope with the move from one titan and one commander to two commanders we could see them - it would make sense to have them with opposing factions. I also hope we see commander Fortress Maximus and Scorponok, I don’t want those characters mind, I want Grand and Black Zarak.
I started looking at some scans of old Argos catalogues, I remember in particular one of the four Dinobots (no Swoop in the UK). Turns out it was from 1986 which makes sense but I’m surprised I remember it so well. I also remember when I got Powermaster Optimus Prime thinking about different it was to ‘proper’ Optimus and that must be an even earlier memory. Anyway, I’ve always thought (if money were no object) how cool it would be to have multiples of each figure like they had in the catalogues. (Can you see where this is going?) The WFC Trilogy really lends itself to this because you have multiple versions of the main characters with slightly different altmodes.
For a couple of days I went a bit crazy working out all of the different (or same) versions of figure I was going to get. It did feel like madness. I’m going to get doubles of the Dinobots, and I think I will get doubles of some others but only where it’s cool or economical. I bought Reflector so will display him next to the combined toy deco set I already have. I finally bought in and got Siege Jetfire - it’s oversized, but the ‘Jetfire’ (rather than Skyfire) robot mode looks great and I’ll have the old 30th anniversary figure in jet mode. I already have the Siege and Earthrise versions of Prowl and Ironhide (and Soundwave if WFC counts as Earthrise). I might pick up Earthrise Ratchet if I can. I particularly like the idea of doubling up on Optimus and Magnus, and also the seekers, so I might get another Starscream from Kingdom - I figure getting the same figure from different lines is fair game. Phew.......
Smyths have Kingdom figures in stock so.... I ordered Blackarachnia, Cheetor, Primal and Cyclonus. I'm not sure about the colours on Cheetor and Cyclonus but figure I might as well see what I think along with Primal who I'm not sure about.
And now for something completely different, Battle Cat from Masters of the Universe Origins. I want to see how I feel about the scale. I'm not a huge He-Man fan but like the idea of having He-Man and Skeletor (the latter mostly for my villains collection), and their cats.
