Crazy month

I’ve got the last Trainbot - Kaen, or Ken as I think of him as. He comes with a giant lightsaber and looks pretty good. Now to work out how I’m going to display them all.

Grabbed some reprolabels for my second Earthrise Optimus, makes sense to go with my Diaclone repaints.

Finally dug my Mega Construx Turtles out for the lair, it’s moving in day!

Spending suddenly seems a bit out of control, I bought a lot of Lego (loose). Put in a couple of big preorders: a five set of Autobots, the Mayhem sets, and the Zabu Marvel legends series. And Omega Prime Haslab is coming. To top it all I bought some random Dinobots (made by Blokees). Apparently there’s also going to be a Lego GOTG Milano set later in the year. I must admit I wasn’t completely sold on the Benatar, so might swap it out. Or you know, buy the Bowie (again) and have all three, such is my collecting mindset.

I decided I was all in for the Mayhem (Attack Squad) exclusive figures, including the Triggercons. I’ve already got Crankcase, and the other two are pretty much in the squad. I have a collecting rule which is I can complete subgroups even if not every character is in a particular group that I collect (such as getting all of the Deluxe Insecticons since only two of them are in the Mayhems for instance). That got me thinking, really that’s me down for every single 1988 Decepticon. But then looking at the Autobots, because almost one from every subgroup is on the Lost Light, I’m down for all of them as well. Looking at 1989 and 1990, it’s all Pretenders and Action Masters, so they’re all fair game as well if they count as one big subgroup. And since the rescue patrol are in Victory, the Micromasters are all in as well.

Without realising it, I’m actually down for every regular US released G1 figure. Beyond that, looking at 1991 and 1992 for Japan and Europe (more Actionmasters, Turbomasters and Predators), with the same logic, the same is true. I then realised that ignoring Botcon/TFCC figures and a couple of others that I’m not keen on, there are only three standard characters I don’t actually have the modern version of (where it exists), plus perhaps the Micromasters. There’s no point having collection rules for G1, I might as well just go all out. Whoops! Obviously, it’s extremely important I get these as soon as possible.

This means that the likes of Metrotitan, Battle Gaia and Guard City, are fair game. Actually they were before, it just hadn’t occurred to me. It’s a fun thing, if not a good thing! And thinking about Battle Gaia and Guard City a bit too much I may have got some stand ins (and done some swapping at the same time).

Metrotitan has now been added to my most wanted figures list (though I already wanted a new Metroplex so it’s just an extra repaint). I then started thinking about G1.5 in 1993, from a European perspective they’re fair game as well. Looking at the Lost Light Crew again, two of them, Aquafend and Deftwing are in this group. They’re in as well then. Suddenly I’m kicking myself for not getting Botcon Pyro and Clench in 2010! (Swiftly followed by kicking myself for being an idiot.)

And then to finish up, I started wondering about G2. Actually, if you accept that they are largely the same characters as G1, there’s not that many new characters (I’m accepting everything TFWiki says), and quite a lot of them seem pretty cool. I’ve therefore decided to change my collecting rules slightly so that any characters in the original Marvel comics are included, which equates to all of G2 since they (could) constitute a group by themselves, and which further equates to everything before 1996. I’ve actually already got a Leadfoot (which I was going to use as G1 Slapdash). Found a cheap Road Rocket then happy when I remembered Roadpig has been mentioned for one of the upcoming exclusives as well. Yep, it’s G2. Cool!

My spending for this month has gone crazy but it has been quite exciting. Suddenly realising you have a gap in your collection then hyper focusing on resolving that is, unfortunately, one of the most exciting parts of collecting. Very unfortunate that had to pay for a Haslab this month. Also had a second (and third) round of buying Lego pieces to top it all off for my armoury! Pretty happy with how it’s going, I did a successful test of putting Avengers Tower on top. I’ve been doing a bit of reading about engineering with technic Lego. All looking really good, very happy with it. But also thinking about the next project……

Had a few arrivals, including the Autobot set. Not impressed with Hound, really don’t like the colours. Sunstreaker is good though, swapped the head despite the black/grey discrepancy. Looking good, really want some stickers to make the windows darker.

The Micromasters are actually really fun having messed with them a bit, they’re very coherent in vehicle mode. I’ve got most of the G1 bases so having modern Micromasters to go with them is quite cool. It’s all also nice to have updated versions of a few more of my childhood collection.

I built my Blokees Dinobots. They’re really cool, very clever parts reuse. I realised if I swap the thighs on the robots then it’s a better (and more accurate) look for both. I wasn’t so keen on the cartoon blue eyes though…..

Right, really need to calm down next month.

Lego Turtles Lair

Finally opened my remaining Ghostbusters, despite preferring ‘Real’ options, these will do just fine.

Carrying on with the Lego Turtles’ lair. I’ve split this into four sections, the initial structure, rest of the structure, furniture, and finally, detailing. I ended up pushing the back wall back a little to allow room for the sofa and mat. I had to raise the floor to allow the mat to sit a bit more flush with the rest of the floor and so raised the tunnel entrances (by one row) to compensate. Need to add some furniture next. I may have started a small Brickowl addiction.

It’s now been six months with no Hasbro Transformers (and apart from Legends Spider-Man figures and Giant Man, no Hasbro anything). Luckily Lego has been there. Bought a couple of bits of Sonic Lego, got Tails with his plane (wish he had his old style just black pupil eyes), and Knuckles with master emerald. He has coloured eyes also but it’s barely noticeable.

******************

Managed to make good progress with Turtles’ lair. Made use of builds for sofa, armchair and TV from looking up instructions for other sets. Also managed to pick up signs which work pretty well. Got sticker to work as mat and got custom ‘one way’ sign. Bit of trial and error with tables but think they look pretty good. Almost there, need to work out how can add pipes but I’m starting to get distracted by thinking about the bigger picture. What if I made sewers/basements for all my modulars?

The Omega Prime Haslab has funded, which is great but it’s at the same time as I’ve popped in preorders for the Autobot 5-pack, Marvel Legends Zabu (with Wolfsbane and Ka-Zar), and the Amazon Mayhem exclusives. Seems like a lot of money quite quickly even if it’s a few months before things actually get charged and come out.

And finally, Snarf is finally here! He’s actually pretty great, reminds me of a ToyBiz Marvel Legend. So that’s Thundercats done (unless Mega Construx get involved, and I’m also done with Super 7 unless they do Octopunch and Stranglehold. Pretty exciting to have all the Thundercats!