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Transformers Purchased in October 2012

October 31st, 2012 4 comments

When it rains, it pours. Like Cybertron Acid Rain! Or Hurricane Sandy. October was a downpour full of Transformers, I was finding newly released figures multiples times per week. This will be a long post. Prepare yourself.

  • Generations GDO Swerve, toysrus.com, $14.99
  • Generations GDO Springer, Toys R Us, $14.99
  • Generations GDO Wheelie, Toys R Us, $14.99
  • Generations GDO Cliffjumper, toysrus.com $14.99

  • Generations GDO Brawl, Toys R Us, $9.99
  • Generations GDO Laserbeak, toysrus.com $9.99

  • Transformers Prime Rumble, Walmart, $15.47

  • Transformers Prime Airachnid, Target, $15.49

  • Transformers Prime First Edition Terroron Cliffjumper, Toys R Us, $14.99
  • Transformers Prime First Edition Vehicon, Toys R Us, $14.99

  • Transformers Prime Voyager Dreadwing, Target, $21.99

  • Transformers Prime Kup, Walmart, $15.47
  • Transformers Prime Vehicon, Walmart, $15.47

  • Generations Fall of Cybertron Onslaught, hasbrotoyshop.com, $14.99
  • Generations Fall of Cybertron Blastoff, hasbrotoyshop.com, $14.99
  • Generations Fall of Cybertron Vortex, hasbrotoyshop.com, $14.99
  • Generations Fall of Cybertron Swindle, hasbrotoyshop.com, $14.99
  • Generations Fall of Cybertron Brawl, hasbrotoyshop.com, $14.99

  • Generations Ultimate Gift Set (Jazz, Combat Hero Optimus Prime, Motorbreath, Thundercracker), hasbrotoyshop.com, $29.99

  • Generations GDO legend Silverstreak, Toys R Us, $5.99
  • Generations GDO legend Thundercracker, Toys R Us, $5.99

Whew! That’s a lot of TFs! I knew October was gonna be special, when back in this post I said October is off to a great start. 24 TFs for the month. That’s gotta be a new single month record, even for me. 7 figures came out of TF Prime, and the other 17 all belong to Generations. And out of the 17 Generations, 5 are Fall of Cybertron, and the rest GDO. I guess this month more than makes up for the last few months, where I found virtually nothing in the stores.

Out of the 24 figs, 13 are repaints of molds I already have. Still, Hasbro made them different enough for me to want them. They sure know how to keep me interested.

Notice I bought the little legend GDO Thundercracker twice. First came with the Ultimate Gift set from hasbrotoyshop.com, and the second was a standalone purchase at Toys R Us. I guess I could’ve left the the 2nd one on the shelf, but these little guys are rare finds so I couldn’t help myself.

But yeah, so many TFs in such a short span. I’m barely able to process it all. The pic below shows the only figures that I opened so far. And believe me I plan to open them all (except for the 2nd Thundercracker).

I recommend all these figures that I opened. Well, maybe except for Airachnid. Her robot mode is pretty crappy. But the heli mode is cool and she is a rare fig, so there are still some reasons to get one.

Today is also Halloween. So I thought I do a shot of all my orange TFs with a stuff pumpkin that I have. Check it out below.

And speaking of orange, here’s a plug for a totally unrelated topic: San Francisco Giants are world champions! As a sports fan living in the SF Bay Area, it’s something I must mention. Their colors are orange and black, very fitting for Halloween. Coincidentally, the victory parade is also on this day. It will be crazy in the city! I wanted to take a pic of my orange TFs with some Giants memorabilia, but can’t find any. Earlier in the year I went to a Giants game, and I got a Brian Wilson gnome as a stadium give-away. I sold it on eBay for $50, which I’ve come to regret now for 3 reasons: 1) It’s a great piece to take a pic with my orange TFs, 2) Now that Giants are world champs, it’s probably worth way more than $50, and 3) It’s a great memento to keep around for a championship year. Though Brian Wilson has made no contribution to this championship run since he’s been hurt since May, so maybe it’s not a big deal.

Happy Halloween everyone! Transform and Roll Out!

Categories: On The Hunt, Pics

Decepticon Air Superiority!

October 19th, 2012 2 comments

Quick post on some of the TFs I have out displayed at the moment. I happen to have a bunch of Decepticon jets out in the open, for various reasons. So I put them together, as a not-so-gentle reminder to the Autobots that they will have a very tough time winning the battle in the skies.

This kinda feels like a rag tag bunch of Decepticon jets put together for no reason. Masterpiece Thundercracker and DOTM Hatchet was bought just last month, that’s why they’re still out and about. BTW, MP Thundercracker is pure awesomeness! I dug out MP Skywarp so the two MPs can be displayed together.

Earlier this month I bought GDO Laserbeak. I went into the Mindwipe and Laserbeak combination back in this post. I tried it too with Sunspot, that’s why these 3 figures are appear here. I also tried combining Sunspot with Strafe (not pictured), and that just looks plain weird.

In the middle of all the action is Airachnid. She would enjoy being the center of attention. I was lucky enough to find this figure earlier in the month. I like her helicopter mode, but her robot form leaves a lot to be desired.

Perhaps I need to dig out a Starscream to lead them all into battle. Or not. Starscream’s track record as a field commander is questionable at best.

Transform and Roll Out.

Categories: Pics

Transformers Roll Out Three Year Anniversary

October 10th, 2012 5 comments

Well here we are again! Another year of happy blogging has gone by. To me it certainly seemed like much less than a full year since the 2 year anniversary. I think when you get older, time just seems to go by much faster. When I was a kid, a whole year feels like forever. Now it passes in the blink of an eye, or maybe I should say the refresh of an optic sensor.

As I look back on the past year, I see various trends developing in the world of TF. Some good, some not so good:

  • Third party items seem to have caught on like wildfire. I think we saw more of this in the last year than any previous years. I can’t even keep track of them anymore!
  • Prices of all items skyrocketed. Even adjusting for inflation, prices have soared. Using official Hasbro Deluxe class figures as a benchmark, in the 2000s they were around $10 a fig. Now in 2012 they average about $15. A 50% price increase seems like a lot to me in such a short span. And I won’t even go into third party products.
  • 2012 was a non-Movie year. Toys are not produced in major quantities, like DOTM, which perhaps explain why they cost more.
  • Release through store exclusives seem to be on the rise. Don’t get me wrong, I prefer limited release over no release at all. But it’s kind of a problem when you have to be vigilant about every exclusive release, or risk them running out and you have to pay some scalper a markup to get them.
  • Hasbro are still releasing too many Bumblebees! The latest batch of TF Prime deluxes all come with a DVD. And I see deluxe Bumblebees in the DVD packaging, meaning they were just made. C’mon Hasbro, STOP THE BUMBLEBEES PLEASE!!!

As far as the blog stats go, I’m pretty happy on where it’s at. I have nearly 100,000 hits in the past year. Pretty modest by today’s standards, but not too shabby for a personal blog. The huge spike in July 2011 is from the release of Dark of the Moon. But after that, there appears to be a sustained momentum. Most of my visits come directly from Google. Sometimes I wish I knew how their search algorithm works (me along with everyone else).

It is amazing that the Transformers brand is still going strong after 28 years. Very few other toy lines can say the same. I was away from it for 16 years (1988 to 2004), but I’m happy I’m back. Will TFs ever stop? Will I have another hiatus? Your guess is as good as mine. I am proud to be a TransFan, and I will keep this blog going for as long as TFs are part of my life. Transform and Roll Out!

Categories: Uncategorized

Mindwipe and Sunspot/Laserbeak Combination

October 6th, 2012 4 comments

When people mention Transformers, my first thought always go to G1 and its derivatives (CHUG, MP, Binaltechs). Very often, it actually takes a sec or two for me to realize they mean Transformers of the Michael Bay variety. Movie TFs will forever be secondary priority for me, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any good figures from this line. In fact, one of my favorite figs from the past few years in any TF line is ROTF voyager Mindwipe. I don’t think Mindwipe made an appearance in the movies, but he’s an excellent figure that every TransFan should pick up. He’s a good update of the G1 Headmaster character for the modern era. The fact that he transforms into a stealth bomber is very fitting, and his color scheme certainly doesn’t disappoint those of us that can still recall the G1 character.

Some months ago, I stumbled upon a listing on Amazon for this G2 Dreadwind & Smokescreen Set. I’m aware of the Strafe repaint, but I did not know about this one. Anyway, at first glance this blue repaint didn’t seem all that cool. But upon closer inspection, I see that there’s a drone sitting on top of Dreadwind. Looking even closer, I see that the drone is actually a repaint of Sunspot! I bought Sunspot when I went to BotCon 2011. Sunspot is not a bad figure. But I had no idea that these 2 figures can be combined like that. I’m not sure if Hasbro advertised this feature anywhere.

So then I did come quick Googling and found that there was a Scout figure called Skystalker that was released at the time Mindwipe was released. I have seen Skystalker in the stores, but back then I paid little to no attention to Scout figures. Which is shame because Skystalker is now worth big bucks. Skystalker’s color scheme is designed to match well with that of Mindwipe’s, and the two combined looks pretty awesome. Lots of fans apparently knew about this combination gimmick. I guess I missed out for not paying attention.

I mentioned in my last post that I bought a bunch of GDO figures, including Laserbeak. Laserbeak is a repaint of Skystalker/Sunspot. Laserbeak arrived this week, so I thought it’s time to dig out Mindwipe and try this combo for myself. But first let’s see how this looks with Sunspot.

I got mixed feelings about this particular combo. I kinda like the black and white contrast, but it does look weird. Still, I now verified first hand that this can be done. Now I’m wondering if there are other figures out there meant to do this sort of thing.

But now let’s see how it looks with Laserbeak.

Much better in my opinion. The black on the 2 figures match real well. The red on Laserbeak is also a good match for Mindwipe’s cockpit. All in all I like this look quite a bit.

If you’re wondering how this is done, take a look at the pic below. There are pegs on the bottom of Laserbeak that are designed to go into holes on the top of Mindwipe.

I guess the Laserbeak mold is designed to perch on Mindwipe’s shoulder in robot mode, but I think it looks kinda goofy.

Below is a proposed Mindwipe and Laserbeak combination in robot mode. Some fan came up with this, I can’t take credit. The result is pretty cool, though it looks quite freaky too. Like some kind of Gerwalk/Alien thing. Definitely resembles something Michael Bay could cook up.

That’s all for now. Lots more TFs to come! Transform and Roll Out!

Categories: Pics, Toy Reviews

Transformers GDO Figures Found at TRU

October 2nd, 2012 9 comments

October is starting off right! Today I visited my local Toys R Us store and found me some GDO figures. These went up on toysrus.com last week. When I found out, Springer and Wheelie were already sold out. I did manage to order Swerve and Cliffjumper, but I was starting to worry that I missed out on the rest. This week they’re not even listed on the website anymore. So I was super happy when I saw them in store! Check out the pics I took on my phone.

I really like the look of the GDO packaging. The Chinese writing really adds that extra something. All these figures are repaints, but the Deluxe figures all have new head molds. The new paint schemes on some of the Scout figures look quite good as well. So even though I have every single one of these molds, I still wanted most of these. For a long time they were Asia only, and I’m glad TRU is able to bring them out here as exclusives.

For the Deluxe size figures, Wheelie appears to be the most rare. On the website, he was the first to be sold out, and in store there was only 1 of him and 2 or 3 of the rest. Same goes for Brawl of the Scout figures.

Anyway, I left the store with Brawl, Wheelie, and Springer (most bottom pic above, taken in the trunk of my car). Like I said, I got Swerve and Cliffjumper already. In that same order I also got Laserbeak. This means the only ones I decided against were Dead End and Sandstorm. I’m not too impressed with that Dead End mold (I have Oil Slick). And I already have 2 of the Sandstorm mold (as Dune Runner and Beachcomber).

It’s a good feeling to finally find some new TFs. That hasn’t happened for some time. Now I’m hoping to find some GDO Voyagers, and the US version of MP Optimus.

What does GDO stand for anyway? Girl’s Day Out? Garage Door Opener? We may never know. But know this… head to Toys R Us now before they disappear! Transform and Roll Out!

Categories: On The Hunt, Pics