Grimlocks

I want the rest of the Diaclone repaints! Riggorus, Reboost, Loud Pedal and red Mirage. I think Reboost and Mirage have a certain likelihood on the basis of being red (potential Target exclusives). Loud Pedal and Reboost already had names so that helps their chances, and now Riggorus - yellow Trailbreaker has finally been named. Trailbreaker is an Earthrise mold so perhaps less likely to be released again (though Twintwist still happened), Reboost is a Legacy mold so perhaps more likely. 

Loud Pedal is an unpopular mold but has only been used twice, whereas the rest have been used multiple times. So which one (if any) gets a figure is far from obvious. My gut tells me Mirage is most likely, but my brain tells me Reboost (update: Mirage got mentioned by Hasbro at SDCC!).

If I was being really crazy, the Trailbreaker mold would be a good option for G1 Scorch, if they fancied doing more Turbomasters (though I suppose Hoist would technically be a better choice), they could do a Shattered Glass Ultra Magnus style release with two heads, or two backpacks, to cover both bases.

There’s also Diaclone Topspin, Insecticons, Dinobots and Constructicons, but I’m not so interested in them. A complete set of Diaclone cars would be something truly special. Omnibots (also mentioned at SDCC!) and an Overcharge would also be nice, surprised we haven’t had those. Blitzwing is a Legacy mold so still time I guess!

Got another Marvel Legends figure - Karnak. I like this pose I’ve got him in, but really, he’s nothing without his fellow Inhumans - where are Crystal, Gorgon, Triton and most importantly Lockjaw? Crystal and Lockjaw are on my most wanted list with Wolfsbane and classic (Ms. Marvel) Carol Danvers. If only there was a film with her coming out soon…….

I got the fourth Trainbot, I haven’t really messed with them much yet (I’m not a fan of Masterpiece complexity). I think once they’re all out I’ll decide how I’m going to display them. Choo choo.

Also got the new Guardians ship, just for the minifigs though:

Here come the Grimlocks. G2 Grimlock first, the colours are great! Between Bumblebee, Sunstreaker and the X-Men, dark yellow (‘gold’) is a great colour for toys. Need his other lost mates. Then Earthspark Grimlock, smaller than I was expecting and not great quality plastic but looks really good in both modes.

I remember when SDCC was the most exciting event of the year. MCU wise there wasn’t any particularly exciting news. The only Transformers reveal that I’m interested in was Nova Prime (which we already knew about), though some interesting stuff from the Q&Q. Marvel Legends, Mark II Iron Man was shown off (again, we already knew about that). Blade was a bit of a surprise and so I’ve immediately pre-ordered it. Other surprises were Marvel Selects Crimson Dynamo - looks good, and Mezco 3.75” TMNT - only 5 POA but look good. The next wave of of Jada’s Streetfighter has Guile (think will pass on Cammy), so a few decent bits at least.

I’ll get back to working on my Grimlock collection, the Robosen figure looks amazing but far too rich for my tastes.

Well that’s just Prime

Nova Prime is rumoured. Which got me thinking, maybe I need a Sentinel Prime….. Which got me thinking about my collection of leaders. Maybe I need an actual G2 Optimus Prime, or two. With stickers perhaps……. Bit if I’m using Netflix Prime as G2, maybe I need an extra G1 Prime….. Wow, Nova has cost me quite a bit.

And how better to celebrate falling off the wagon (or perhaps getting back on it) than to actually open the light box that I bought about a year ago. It was really fun messing around with it. It’s been a long time since I bought so many Transformers, but I think that’s the leaders part of my collection well and truly sorted now. I might also need the Car Robots leaders as well if they do them in Legacy. I really enjoyed this little burst of spending, it’s been quite exciting but also fairly well constrained.

I decided to try out the new Lego Hulkbuster. It’s a bit larger again than the last one but actually looks like the one in Infinity War. It feels like the missing link between regular Lego and technic, pretty impressive! The last two seem very generic in comparison. So much so that I swapped a few parts over from the now slightly rubbish original on to the second very generic one to make a better Age of Ultron version.

Legends Kraven came in, nothing too crazy exciting, apart from his expression. Just need a TAS Chameleon to complete my Spidey villains. I’m fairly sure I got a miniature TAS Chameleon figure in a box of cereal when I was a kid but didn’t really know who it was.

Legends Beachcomber also came in, wasn’t expecting much but it’s actually really nice. The old legends scale figures aren’t all that obvious for the ‘84 minibots since Bumblebee and Cliffjumper are still short, but for the ‘85 minibots, Powerglide and Seaspray seem very short.

Decided to give the new Jada Streetfighter figures a go. They’re 6” but they do look good and balances amazingly well. Chun-Li ordered!

And last but not least, Snarl! What a unit. I don’t find the flat gold and metallic gold as troubling as I thought I would. He’s great and chunky. Very happy!

DP Kart

Blob! That’s the Brotherhood complete. A bit like my X-Men lineup, it’s an amalgamation of TAS and the X-Men Evolution series and they never actually appeared in this lineup. Also they should have Mystique keeping an eye on them.

Built Lego Quinjet and picked up the GOTG3 Rocket set. The Quinjet is more interesting than I thought it would be given it’s all grey, and happy to have a Rocket minifig with the comic style uniform.

I was quite excited about the prospect of the Batcave but it’s not really for me, I think I was hoping for something a bit more expansive and possibly something above the cave - preferably Wayne Manor. Several hundred pounds saved anyway! Will get a Batwing though.

And now for something completely different. Still the most fun scale!

Legendary Villains

Saw a picture of Marvel Legends Spiral online which looked pretty cool. Saw a comment about her being in the Children of the Atom game and …….

I can’t help but want to get complete line ups! My aim is to get the important and favourite characters, but there’s something about getting the most interesting and colourful characters so adding Spiral, Silver Samurai and Omega Red to my Legends lineup is not too much of a stretch, and in the case of the latter two, a couple of extra Wolverine villains is all good.

It’s a tough call on where to stop with Spider-Man and X-Men villains,  could easily get them all but there’s some very obscure ones which aren’t necessarily all that interesting. Part of the reason for getting Spiral was that I don’t have a 3.75” version. Generally sticking to favourite and main characters, and minor characters only if they’re part of a team is a good plan.

Decided to get Lady Deathstrike as well after watching X2, and after a bit of thinking and googling Spider-Man villains, decided also need Sandman, Electro and Hobgoblin. Then preordered Kraven, plus Baron Strucker for good measure. Went through cast lists of my favourite cartoons and have got all the ‘main’ characters. Think all sorted now!

Preordered Beachcomber but otherwise quiet month for Transformers. Keeping a close eye on Lego as well, with the Avengers Tower rumours firming up, I might also need a Quinjet. And now I think about it, maybe a Batwing (especially if the Batcave rumours are true).

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Ordered a Lego Quinjet, and Baron Strucker and Ronan arrived. I’ve gone from X-Men villains, to Spider-Man villains, and finally on to Avengers villains (sort of, Ronan has been a villain for most Marvel heroes at some point). It’s been all about the Legends this month!

Sensible spending

Another month, another pair of voyagers. Twincast and Metalhawk are as expected, really good! I might have preferred Metalhawk at deluxe but pretty content. Might paint Rewind to be a solid colour rather than transparent.

Some very exciting Lego stuff happening, large Marvel and Batman sets, plus Guardians and Sonic sets, plus possibly a Zelda set (next year). To keep myself ticking over I bought the Benatar. Heavier than I was expecting, should be a good build.

Another wobble on Cosmic Legions (I think this is the third time!). The figures look great, and the variety of alien figures really appeal to me, but at £50 a pop, that’s Super 7 prices (which I’m willing to pay because they’re the only/best way to get some of my favourite characters). I can’t justify those prices for characters I don’t know. I’m hoping that Bossfight Studios put out some good sci-fi stuff at the 1/18th scale but they don’t have the different body types that Legions do.

Thinking about this caused me to think about the big purchases I’ve made over the years. I think Titan class Transformers (and more recently the Haslabs) have normalises spending big sums of money a little bit for me. At the same time Lego has also been partially responsible (the Ghostbusters Firehouse is still one of my biggest ever purchases).  But I think the various Haslabs are the real cause because although, I didn’t get Unicron, the Sentinel or Galactus, but I thought about it and that thinking has caused me to think spending several hundred is okay. There are potentially some really expensive Lego sets coming this year, and again, I’ve got some tough decisions to make.

I’m looking forward to the revived X-Men ‘97 cartoon later this year, and seeing some of the character models inspired me - I like the new look for Morph, and realised it was a simple head and hands swap to recreate.

Finally, new deluxes - Crosscut and Shrapnel. Did a hand swap with Skids, actually improves both of them - Crosscut no longer holds red weapons with red hands, and Skids looks more Skids-like. Shrapnel is great, glad I got two.

Spending for the year is going well, most sensible for years.

Team Dinobot

Got and opened Lio Convoy and Tarn, what a great pair of voyagers. Combined with Jhiaxus it’s been a great month for voyagers. Definitely the sort of niche stuff which I really appreciate now.

Speaking of which, Twincast and Metalhawk preordered for more Japanese voyager goodness. Shrapnel preordered for some Insecticon goodness and Crosscut for Diaclone. Yay! And Beachcomber on the way.

Because of all the leaked listings we pretty much know everything Transformers we’re getting this year, but there are still quite a lot of unknown exclusives and presumably we’ll get leaks for next year. Most of the figures I want could be repaints (at least four new molds needed!), so he’s a list of 25 figures I want, and I’ll see how I did by the end of the year (I’m assuming the deluxe Insecticons are a done deal since they’re on the artwork). The Omnibots could be repaints of existing molds but I wonder whether they could work as repaints of RID or Unicron Trilogy characters.

For deluxes, the Omnibots (3), the remaining Diaclone car repaints (4), Powerglide, remaining Throttlebots (5), Autobot car Powermasters (3), Sureshot and Hosehead. For voyager, just Sunstorm and Leozack. For leader, Thunderwing, Thunderclash, G1 Skyquake, Nova Prime and Swoop.

Found a Cyberverse Swoop (‘Bumbleswoop’) in a discount store to complete my Dinobots. Not sure whether I’ll keep the ones that aren’t Grimlock or Slug, but it’s nice to have the option. Speaking of Dinobots, Snarl looks good and chunky, hope the colours match.

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More leaked listings…… Sureshot and Swoop!!! Very happy. Hopefully we also get the Autobot Powermasters as repaints of Mirage, Pointblank and Sureshot, but most importantly of all I hope we get the Throttlebots.

Snarl preorder in!

Decepticon heavies

Happy New Year! Wow, 2023. This year will be my 20th year of collecting. Some interesting leaks for Transformers (excited about the prospect of a G1 Skyquake). I find myself in a similar place to where I was in 2020 (in the before times). That is, pretty determined not to be replacing any more figures, though I’m ready to make exceptions for Minibots.

I’m done with Power Rangers, Turtles and Thundercats (once the preorders come in). With Marvel Legends and Star Wars I seem to have a couple of preorders at any one time (Blob and Ronan at the moment). I’ve not got my eye on any specific Lego but will see what they do with the upcoming Guardians sets (do they look comic accurate-ish?). And there are some rumours about more Sonic Lego…..

Customs wise I’m making very slow progress on a Mortal Kombat project but have a few things lined up, including Transformers which generally I try to avoid as it’s so hard to do them well. So 2023 then, I expect my spending to continue to drop. Let’s see what tempts me!

I saved a couple of big parcels for Christmas. Firstly, Ben-Gali and Vultureman. Both look really good but I like Vultureman more. Ben needs a bit of a wash so he doesn’t look so cartoony.

I opened Dead End and Breakdown, and combined them with the other Stunticons. I had a bit of a wobble about even opening them, but Menasor is great. I definitely made the right decision!

I then combined Star Saber and Victory Leo (having previously checked them for defects). It’s an amazing set, I seemed to have done alright with the QC (the end of one of the guns looks like it was dipped in strong glue….). What a day of figures!

We are apparently getting video game figures in Studio Series. Which could therefore include Nova Prime. I’d sort of forgotten this but I really wanted a figure of him a few years ago. This got me thinking, where would it fit into my collection (answer: with my ‘leaders’), which then combined with seeing various peoples toy of the year selections, I also need a Jhiaxus. Luckily was able to get a good deal. It’s a really nice looking figure, maybe I need to re-read the G2 comics!

A couple of other Decepticons also have arrived in the last couple of months, Needlenose and Crankcase. Both fill fill out the ranks of some comic based groups - Mayhem Attack Squad and the Scavengers. It’s all feeling quite Decepticon heavy at the moment.