Happy Friday the 13th! You might think you will be plagued by some bad luck and run into some freaky stuff, but the only horrors you can potentially experience today is if you don’t act quickly on these Amazon Exclusive TFs, and they run out!

G2 Bruticus

First up is a G2 redeco of the upcoming Fall of Cybertron Bruticus figure. This team of 5 Combatcions combines to form the mighty Bruticus.

Apparently there are three versions of this set. There is the standard mass retail set that I covered in this post. Then there is the San Diego Comic Con Exclusive G1 colored set. Now Amazon is offering a G2 colored set. Hasbro sure knows how to milk it. Long time readers know that I have repeatedly mentioned that the Combaticons are my favorite combiner group, both in this post and in this post. And for that reason alone, I’ll probably buy all 3 sets. Will Hasbro put out a 4th redeco? Wouldn’t surprise me.

Click here to order your G2 Bruticus from Amazon. Pre-order went up last Friday morning, then it stopped after a few hours. It finally went up again yesterday, which is when I got mine. Gets yours while they last!

Optimus Prime Jetwing Movie Deco

This is a redeco of a Optimus Prime figure that was previously only available in Japan. I think MSRP of the Japanese version was something in the range of $250. I thought of buying it then, but the price was too much of a turnoff. Glad I waited, since this is like half as cheap!

Many fans consider the Japanese version of this to be the best transformable Movie Optimus Prime figure made. I think the base figure is from the ROTF leader mold, but it’s modified slightly to accommodate the Jetwing. This redeco does look a little different from the Japanese version. Personally, I like the G1 blue stripes on the wings, but not sure if I’m feeling the gold and blue on the Jetwing guns. Still, the only other Jetwing OP I have is a tiny commander-sized figure. So I don’t mind finally getting a leader-sized one.

Get the Amazon Jetwing Optimus Prime here.

Get yours now before they’re gone! Transform and Roll Out!

I can’t believe it’s already the end of June. This month seems to have gone by in a flash. I don’t even know where all the time went. And come to think of it, half the year is over. That’s kinda scary. I can’t quite place how I feel about 2012 so far. When I try to think about some events that occurred this year, I can think of quite a bit. But it feels like nothing really happened. I don’t know. It’s late and I’m rambling. Time to get down to business: my TFs in June. Below I proudly present my acquisitions for the month.

• DOTM Dualor, Tuesday Morning, $2.99

• TF Prime FE Bulkhead, eBay, $69.99 shipped

• Cybertron Unicron, Amazon, $30.72 shipped

• TF Prime RID Dead End, Walmart, $12.88
• TF Prime Cyberverse Ironhide, Walmart, $9.47

First up is Dualor. I found him very early in the month, I think on June 2nd. Anyway, right before that, I stumbled upon a YouTube vid where one guy was totally going nuts over these little Dinos in the DOTM legend line. Can’t remember who that was. I think there’s like 5 of these little Dinos, all repaints in the DOTM line that are obvious homages to the original G1 Dinobots. Anyway, the YouTube guy really liked them, even tho they look like they suck. I was just in awe that I’ve never seen them before anywhere. And wouldn’t you know it, a few days later I see this Dualor at Tuesday Morning. This Tuesday Morning is like 5 min walking distance to my apt. I go there every now and then because I have found good stuff there, like legend Megatron. And once again I find another rare-ish legend figure in Dualor. I got him simply out of curiosity from the YouTube review, and the fact that he’s cheap, kinda rare, and reminds me of Grimlock. My hunch was right. He suck.

Next is FE Bulkhead, which I got from eBay. I already mentioned how cool he is in my last post, so I won’t do it again. Just get him if you can. He’s awesome. Trust me.

Sometime last month, this Unicron caught my attention. I think he looks kinda cool, so I started doing research on the figure. He’s a Japanese only figure in the United line, and most online dealers have him for about $50 to $55. Some dealers advertise him to be deluxe, while others say it’s voyager. I did more research, and turns out, this is a repaint from the Cybertron line. On Amazon, I found a dealer selling the original Cybertron version of this figure for about $30 shipped. So I got this version instead. I have opened Cybertron Unicron, and he’s very definitely deluxe size. I would have felt very ripped off if I paid $50+ for this. But that aside, this is a very cool figure. I’m glad I got him. I remember back in 2006, I bought some other deluxe Cybertron figures. It’s very possible I could have got this Unicron back then for $10. But I only wanted TFs that were G1 insipred at that time, so I paid little attention to Cybertron figures. That is one TF perspective I’ve come to regret. I plan on doing a full review of this figure. Stay tuned.

Last but not least, we have TF Prime Dead End and Ironhide. I found them on the same trip to Walmart. Dead End is a repaint of Wheeljack with a different head. I think out of all the deluxe TF Prime figures, Wheeljack is my favorite. So even tho I have not opened Dead End yet, I already know I will like him. As for Ironhide, I just had to get this figure after I saw him, despite the fact I rarely buy Cyberverse figs. That G1 head and G1 redness has me convinced immediately. I opened Ironhide, and I quite like this figure. I like both the robot and alt modes. Transformation is simple, but doesn’t feel dated. Only turn off is the price. $9.50 is total ripoff for commander class, considering that Movie deluxe figs only cost about $10. Still, I plan to review Ironhide, because he’s so cool.

So that’s 5 TFs for June. 3 from TF Prime, 1 from DOTM, and 1 from Cybertron. I was really hoping I can find some Vehicons in June, but no luck. I better find some in July, or I might have to unleash some pent up TF fury on some of the many unsold Bumblebees you see hanging off the racks. Message to Hasbro: NO MORE BUMBLEBEES!

Let the shopping continue. Transform and Roll Out!

I knew this day was coming. One purchase here, another one there, and before you knew it, I have amassed an army of 500 Transformers.

As of 8/13/2010, the TF count was 300. Almost 22 months later, I bought 200 more TFs. Doing the math and rounding down, that’s about 9 figures a month in this time span. That also translates to about 2 figures a week, or roughly 105 figures for a year.

9 TFs a month in about the last 2 years is definitely more than 4 a month in the 6+ years prior to that. What exactly accounted for this increase? I’m trying to draw some conclusions by looking at my TF List. It’s too bad I didn’t keep records of the dates of my purchases until this year, but I can still determine approximately what were the figures bought since August of 2010. There were about 43 DOTM figures, 23 TF Prime figures, 16 PCCs, 34 Reveal the Shields, and 31 Generations. All these I’m pretty certain came at or after Aug 2010. That brings the total to almost 150. Add in some misc purchases here and there, such as Star Wars and Marvel crossovers, the later figures from ROTF, some newer MPs, and 3rd party products, it’s easy to see how that brings the total to 200.

So what does this all mean? Well for one thing, it means that Hasbro released a freakin’ boatload of Transformers in this time span. The 3rd Transformers movie probably has something to do with that. And it also means I decided to buy many of the figures released. But looking back, I can’t think of that many TFs that I regret buying during this stretch. Sure there are some figures here and there that I wish I can return to the store, like some PCCs and some Star Wars stuff. But for the most part, I’m glad I bought most of these 200. In the last 22 months, it was rare for me to be sorely disappointed with a purchase. The logical conclusion to draw here is that the quality of the figures have really gone up.

Another big reason for all these TFs is I started hunting for them at discount stores (eg. Ross, Marshalls, TJMaxx, etc). Generally speaking, deluxes are usually $6 or $7 at these places, while Voyagers typically run for $10. Scouts or smaller are at $5 or less. At these prices, I don’t even blink and just grab the figure to checkout whenever I see something I want. And I found just about everything that was in mass retail at the discount stores, like the Movie figures, PCCs, Generations, the Crossovers, and Reveal the Shields (RtS). In fact, for RtS, very often I only found them at discount stores. At such low prices, I bought multiples of many figures, mostly from the CHUG-verse. Movie figures are generally very affordable regardless of where you buy them. However, with some TFs, there’s no getting around paying full MSRP. This is the case with TF Prime figures, the MPs, and of course the 3rd party products.

Still, 500 TFs is a lot. So this year I’m making an effort to not buy as many. As a rule, I stopped buying multiples (unless there’s a good reason, like for example the Vehicons, which sadly I still haven’t found any as of this writing). However, there are some good stuff on the horizon, such as the upcoming FOC figures, more TF Prime toys, and some Asia only exclusives. Keeping that count from growing will be difficult.

In the comments for the 300 post, Gemini said it won’t be long before I have 400, and danbugman said 300 won’t be nearly enough. Oh how right they were. 500 and growing… Long Live TFs! Transform and Roll Out!

The end of the month is upon us once again. The time has come to count up the TFs my friends. What kind of damage did I do in May? Let’s find out…

• TF Prime RID Hot Shot, Target, $12.99

• Alternity Megatron, Craigslist, $45

• PCC Searchlight, CVS Pharmacy, $8.29

• TF Prime RID Bulkhead, Walmart, $19.96
• TF Prime RID Starscream, Target, $19.99

• TF Prime RID Knock Out, Target, $12.89

• TF Prime Zombie Cliffjumper, about $35

This feels like a typical month as far as TF purchases go, not too many and not too few. 5 figs come from Transformers Prime, which is what I would expect at this point in time. 1 PCC and 1 Alternity rounds out the rest. As of this writing, I opened all of these except the 2 Japanese releases: Alternity Megatron and TF Prime Zombie Cliffjumper.

I bought Alternity Megatron off some dude that posted an ad on Craigslist. For this fig, Takara also made a blue one and a black one. But being the G1-er that I am, I had to get the silver, no exceptions. The asking price was $50. I offered $45 and the dude took it. I remember at Wondercon in 2010, a dealer had the same fig for $50. I thought about buying it, but couldn’t make up my mind. This was around lunch time. I said to my friend Gemini that we’ll go to lunch, and if the figure was still there when we return, I’ll take that as a sign and buy it. So we go eat at the nearby Jollibee, and when we came back to the con, Megatron was gone. I was not destined to have Megatron that day. But finding it 2 years later for cheaper is what fate had in stored for me. Just goes to show, sometimes when things don’t work out, it just isn’t meant to be and something better will come along later. Who says life lessons can’t apply to TFs? 🙂

As for the Japanese TF Prime Zombie CJ, Gemini ordered this from a online retailer. We both had to have this since we both missed out on a First Edition CJ. Zombie CJ is the same mold, just all zombified. Most fans seem to suggest that the FE CJ mold is so much better than the RID mold, so I look forward to opening this soon. Another CJ figure for my Cliffjumper collection.

I opened the remaining figures. RID Hot Shot is a repaint of RID Bumblebee with a different head. I like his colors, and I think his goggle gimmick is pretty cool. RID Knock Out is also a very good figure. I like both his car mode and robot mode, and his transformation is quite refreshing. I think Knock Out is actually one of the harder figures from the TF Prime RID deluxe line, but I only transformed him once so far so this assessment may change.

As for the TF Prime RID Voyager figures, I like Bulkhead. I like his alt mode, no issues here. As for his robot mode, overall it’s not too bad. Some fans complain about his wings on the back, but I don’t think it’s that big of a deal. The only thing that really bug me about Bulkhead is his weapon. It has a cool MechTech feature where pulling the switch back moves the spinning ball forward, but the weapon just looks awful when placed on either the vehicle or the robot. Hasbro really believes that we fans love MechTech. Personally, I could do without MechTech if it means getting a better figure (which is basically what First Editions are). Speaking of First Editions, I bought a FE Bulkhead on eBay and it should arrive next month. As for Voyager Starscream, I can’t really recommend this figure. This is hard to explain in words, but something about this figure just seems off. Maybe it’s because the FE was so impressive. A lot of fans complain about the scale too. If you can only get one, definitely get the FE.

That only leaves the 1 PCC figure, Searchlight. I got this near the middle of the month around Mothers Day. I only got Searchlight because there wasn’t any other new TFs to buy at the time. Plus I had a bunch of coins that I needed to take to Coinstar. With that voucher, I had more than enough for Searchlight. I’m really glad I decided to buy him. He’s one of the better PCCs in my opinion. Also, I don’t have that many helicopter TFs, so I’m happy to add more. I only have one gripe where in robot mode his shoulders don’t really lock into place, but that’s a small complaint.

That about covers it. TFs in the month of May. Will I ever have a month where I don’t buy any TFs? Not something I wanna think about.

Transform and Roll Out!

Back in August of 2011, I reviewed the Kre-O Starscream set in jet mode. Now I’m gonna review the robot mode, 9 months later. As I mentioned in the jet mode review, Kre-O figures do not transform, which is a shame. In December of last year, I took apart the jet mode and built the robot mode. Here we go with the review.

Starscream looks quite nice in robot mode. I like the level of detail. His appearance in this mode is obviously G1 inspired, with the intake on the shoulders, the cockpit down the chest, and the wings on the back. The overall shade of grey with red and blue touches here and there is also very G1. And if you still need further evidence of his G1 roots, just check out the head. With the exception of Masterpiece and CHUG Starscreams, the Kre-O has the most G1-looking head of all the Starscreams made. I like the weapons on each arm. They don’t really resemble his G1 null rays, but they got a charm of their own. On his right arm there appear to be twin machine guns, and on the left arm there are a cluster of 4 missiles. Don’t mess with Screamer!

The robot mode uses a lot less pieces than the jet mode. I’m just estimating here, but I would say there are around 30 unused pieces in robot mode.

Starscream in robot mode is quite poseable. He’s got joints at the shoulders, elbows, hips, knees, ankles, and neck. With the exception of the elbows and knees, all joints I listed are on ball joints. For a building block toy, the level of poseability is impressive. Check out some pics below.

Here are some pics of the back. The wings can be moved forward and back. The thrusters on the upper back can also be raised and lowered.

Here is a shot for size comparison. As you can see, the Kre-O figure is pretty large.

For the robot mode, I do have a gripe about the joints. Like I mentioned already, I had this in robot mode since December. At first the joints felt really tight, and the figure can hold poses well. I didn’t play with him all that much between now and then, just had him posed on the shelf this whole time. Now the hip joints feels quite loose. Kre-O Starscream does weigh a little more than your average TF, and over time it does feel like the joints won’t support the weight. If you decide to build the robot mode, I would recommend that you don’t have him posed in robot mode for too long. I’m going to take this apart soon and store it in the box. Maybe in the future when I build the robot again, the joints would be ok. But this is not something I can confirm at this time.

Also, the quality of the head piece feels poor. I mentioned how I like that it’s G1, but the detail on the face looks pretty bad. The helmet portion also looks like it could be sharper. I know it’s hard to see from my pics, but believe me that the head could look better. This is nowhere near the quality of Masterpiece head molds, which is about the same size for Starscream. Perhaps a customizer can swap a Masterpiece head onto the Kre-O.

Between the robot mode and jet mode, I definitely like the jet mode better. Overall it feels more solid, and uses more pieces. The robot mode’s not bad, but if I can only pick one I would build the jet mode.

The Kre-O Starscream set can be found fairly cheap now at many places. I’ve seen it for about $20 at Walmart. My friend Gemini said he found his for $10. At these prices I would definitely recommend the set if you like building block toys. It doesn’t transform, but you got two modes to build, and all pieces are fully compatible with other building block toys out there, like Legos and Megabloks. I’m hoping in the future, Hasbro will come out with Kre-Os that can really transform. Perhaps I will design a Starscream figure that can transform, using these Kre-O pieces with Legos. That sounds like a fun project. I might try that when I have some time. Transform and Roll Out!

I am a big fan of War For Cybertron. Later this year, perhaps around fall, the sequel Fall of Cybertron will be released. But what’s even better is that there will be figures from FOC! Just like WFC, figures from the sequel will be released in the Generations line.

The following pics are previews of all the deluxe figures planned for FOC. While we only got 5 figures from WFC (Optimus, Megatron, Bumblebee, Soundwave, Cliffjumper), we’re gonna get so much more for FOC! That’s right TransFans. Hasbro loves you. They’re even doing a combiner team that really combines! No release dates are given yet, but most likely the 1st wave will hit store shelves around the same time as the game. Fall of 2012 will be the Fall of Cybertron! Hey, that makes me wonder if there are seasons on Cybertron.

All pics are courtesy of the Transformers Facebook page.

Jazz

Optimus Prime

Shockwave

Blast Off

Brawl

Onslaught

Swindle

Vortex

Bruticus

Kickback

Starscream

Sideswipe

Ultra Magnus

Fireflight

Fireflight doesn’t look right to me. I think this figure makes a better Strafe, with that head mold, alt mode, and the colors. But I like Aerialbots too, so I can live with it.

I don’t know about you, but I’m getting all of them. Transform and Roll Out!

April seems to have gone by in a flash. As far as shopping for Transformers goes, we seem to be in a dry spell. For the hardcore TransFan, not a whole lot new stuff hit the shelves this month. Below I present the TFs that I bought in April

• TF Prime RID Soundwave, Walmart, $12.88
• TF Prime RID Arcee, Target, $12.99

• DOTM Deluxe Darksteel, Kohl’s, $3.90

I first bought Soundwave in March. But like I mentioned in the March post, I wanted to see if I can find it cheaper. On April 1st I found him at Walmart (and returned the 1st one to TRU). Also on the same day I got Arcee at Target. Both of these figures are excellent. This particular Soundwave is a very refreshing take on the character, and both alt mode and robot mode are accurate to his show appearance. RID Arcee is also a solid figure that will give the FE version a run for her money. In fact, I can’t decide which is the better Arcee. They both have their pros and cons. TF Prime figures as a whole have been nothing short of spectacular. There’s not a single one thus far that I would not recommend.

As for Darksteel, the $3,90 price is not a mistake. Regular price is $16.99 as you can see in the pic, but they were having a sale. I also had one of those $10 Kohl’s gift cards that I frequently get in the mail. So final price after tax was $3.90. Not a bad deal at all. I already bought Darksteel last year, but I broke one of the foot pieces so I thought I buy it again.

Only 3 TFs for April… that’s very unlike me. Hopefully there will be more TFs in May. Transform and Roll Out!

As the first combiner team in the TF Universe, the Constructicons are the most recognizable gestalt group among hardcore TransFans. Many combiner teams have come since their appearance, but no other unit has had the legacy that is claimed by this platoon of six Decepticon construction vehicles. They made their first appearance in 1984 in the G1 episode “Heavy Metal War”, one of my favorite G1 eps of all time. The six evil builders sneaked into the Ark for some mischief, not expecting to be overpowered individually by the Dinobots. And just when it looked like the Dinos were gonna turn them to slag, the Constructicons combined to form the fearsome Devastator!

Since the introduction of Classic figures in 2006, hardcore G1-ers such as myself have been crying for an update of the Constructicons that would fit well into the Classic-verse. We all knew that the chance of it really happening was small. Hasbro has not made a true combiner team since god knows when. Their recent approach to gestalts, such as the ROTF Constructicons and PCCs, are nothing short of disappointing. A true combiner team in the G1 spirit does indeed feel like a heavy undertaking, something Hasbro was not prepared to invest in.

Enter TFC Toys, a third party in the same vein as FansProject or iGear. I don’t have any background information on this company. But they were willing to give us what Hasbro will not. Similar to the 2010 FansProject homage to Combaticons, TFC Toys is giving us “Hercules”, a team of six constructions vehicles that can each transform into a robot and combine to form the giant Hercules. Since TFC Toys is not affiliated with Hasbro in any shape or form, they cannot use official Hasbro names to the characters. But it’s obvious that this team of 6 is an homage to the original Constructicons.

This set is not cheap. Each figure is about $100. I’ll let you do the math for how much it cost for the entire set. Clearly this is for hardcore collectors only. Each figure is about Voyager size. I bought the first one back in Oct of 2011, and I completed the set in Feb of this year. Each is packaged in robot mode. A group shot of them individually appears below.

Top row (left to right): Exgraver (Scavenger), Heavy Labor (Long Haul), Neckbreaker (Bonecrusher).
Bottom row (left to right): Madblender (Mixmaster), Dr. Crank (Hook), Structor (Scrapper).

And here is a group shot of them individually in their alt modes.

Each figure in the set is well constructed and feels solid and robust. From a pure aesthetics perspective, these figures draw heavy influences from G1 and the Classic-verse (no weird Movie designs here). Transformation for each figure is also not difficult, and should be obvious to anyone who has played with enough G1 or CHUG toys. I won’t go too much into each figure individually. Just know that I am impressed with each of the 6.

I should point out however that there are 2 constructions issues. The first one has to do with Heavy Labor’s hip joints. TFC was willing to acknowledge the issue and has included a replacement part with Neckbreaker. This post goes into the fix in good detail. The other issue has to do with Neckbreaker itself. It’s a pretty easy fix that I did in about 5 min. Check out this post for the fix. I realize that at $100 a piece, they should be issue-free. However this is TFC Toy’s first attempt, and they were responsible enough to provide fixes, so I don’t see it as a big deal.

Ok, now onto the real reason I bought this set, the giant Hercules. This figure is awesome when combined! Check it out!

Hercules is such a towering giant of a robot that you can’t help but be impressed when the figure is witnessed in person. Transformation of each of the individual components is not difficult, but putting them together to form Hercules does require some work. The joints that connect each component is super tight! I really had to apply force to get the pieces to combine. That’s probably a good thing, considering that each figure is Voyager size, so the tight connection will help Hercules stay combined.

Neckbreaker also comes with a visor that you can put over the eyes of the head of Hercules. This is so you can decide between how you want Hercules to look, either more like the G1 toy (no visor) or more like the G1 show (with visor). The picture above is the only one here where I did not put on the visor. Personally I like how he looks in the G1 cartoons, so the visor is included in all shots below.

One thing that I really like about this set is the fact that extraneous pieces are not required for combining. With the G1 toys, merging into the mighty Devastator required a extra head piece, a extra chest piece, a extra hip piece, 2 extra forearms, and 2 extra fists. Many of these pieces had no where to go when the Constructicons are separated, in either or both alt and robot modes. Combining the toys were impossible without the head and hip piece. The Hercules set has no such issues. Extraneous pieces are not required for combination. Almost everything needed is built into the figures. Take Hercules’ head for example. It is built into Dr. Crank’s back. All connectors are also built into each component. The only pieces that can be argued as add-ons are the fists and chest shield. However, there are places to store these in both individual alt and robot modes, so they are accounted for. Even the guns used by individual figures are accounted for when combined (more on this later). I give TFC Toys high praise for engineering a combination mechanism where add-on pieces are very minimally used.

Below are some size comparisons pics. See for yourself what a massive figure Hercules really is.

For a gestalt, Hercules is quite poseable. There are pivot points at the neck, shoulder, elbows, fists, fingers, hips, and feet. The only key places absent of articulation are the knees. The gestalts made by Hasbro are not articulated at all, so I feel TFC Toys has given us more than enough.

One last thing that I wanted to show is the giant rifle used by Hercules. Take a careful look at the picture below. The rifle is formed by taking the six pistols used by each figure and combining them. Very very cool. I did not know of this until I bought the set. TFC Toys really put a lot of thought into the design of Hercules.

To summarize, I cannot say enough good things about Hercules. I give this set the highest possible recommendation. Yes I know the price is gonna be a turnoff for many, but it is so worth it. As of this writing, BBTS has a sale on third party figures, which may alleviate some of the financial burden of owning something so awesome. If you like combining transforming robots, you owe it to yourself to acquire this in your collection.

With Hercules, TFC Toys has established themselves as a solid 3rd party in the Transformers Universe. I look forward to what they will produce next… Transform and Roll Out!

It is the end of the month once again. From this point forward, at the end of every month, I will make a post about all the Transformers I bought for that month. I started this last month in this post, and I think I will continue the trend. And just like Feb, I bought a bunch of TFs in March.

• DOTM Basic Human Alliance Half-Track, Target, $6.92

• DOTM Deluxe Soundwave, eBay, $34.15 shipped

• TF Prime RID Deluxe Wheeljack, TRU, $14.99

• Masterpiece Optimus Prime (MP-10), Wondercon, $200
• Star Wars Crossover Clone Pilot Arc-170 Starfighter, Wondercon, $10

• TF Prime RID Bumblebee, Walmart, $12.88
• TF Prime RID Ratchet, Target, $12.99

• DOTM Deluxe Barricade, Walmart, $7.27
• DOTM Deluxe Jolt, Walmart, $7.27

• PCC Skyhammer, CVS Pharmacy, $8.49

• TF Prime RID Soundwave, TRU, $14.99

Some random thoughts as I look at what I bought this month:

• I got 11 TFs for the month: 4 DOTMs, 4 TFPs, 1 MP, 1 Star Wars TF, and 1 PCC.
• I opened DOTM Half-Track, DOTM Soundwave, TFP Wheeljack, TFP Bumblebee, TFP Ratchet, and PCC Skyhammer. The rest are unopened.
• Vigilant readers will notice that in Feb I got TFP Deluxe Bumblebee, and mentioned that I returned him back to TRU. I did that so I can get him again this month at a lower price somewhere else.
• It is for this same reason that I haven’t opened TFP Soundwave. I’m hoping to find him again for cheaper later.
• I bought a TF from CVS Pharmacy for the first time. I don’t usually hunt there, but I happened to see PCC Skyhammer which I didn’t see anywhere else. So I snagged it. Price wasn’t too bad either. Most non-discount stores still carry PCC 2-packs at $9.99. I thought CVS was gonna mark this up like everything else, so I was pleasantly surprised when they rung up $8.49 at checkout.
• Speaking of Skyhammer, why is PCC Skyhammer a Decepticon? DOTM Skyhammer is an Autobot. I’ve grown accustomed to seeing a TF character appearing very different from line to line, but switching allegiances? That’s just weird.
• I haven’t had any time to mess with MP-10, and that’s why he’s still unopened. I need to make time for this soon, especially considering he’s by far the most expensive piece here. Very looking forward to some quality time with what many is calling the best G1-style Optimus Prime ever made.
• Other than at the Target where I bought Half-Track, I have not seen him anywhere else. I started seeing him at this Target several months ago, but did not buy him b/c he’s simply a Sandstorm repaint. I only got him now since he’s on clearance. I wonder why he’s so rare in my area? In the pic above you’ll see that his left arm dislodged from the socket, but the figure is fine once it’s re-attached.
• DOTM Soundwave was bought on eBay from a Taiwan seller. This price is not too bad, considering he’s now Asia only.
• TFP Wheeljack and Ratchet are some of the best deluxe figures out there right now. Do not hesitate to grab these two if/when you find them.
• Bewteen this month and last month, the only TF I got at a discount store is Icepick from dd’s Discounts. I’m still very much hunting at discount stores regularly. Guess they just didn’t get anything good lately.

Too many TFs, too little time. Transform and Roll Out!

It is once again St Patrick’s Day! Last year for St Patrick’s Day I took pics of all my green Transformers, and this year I’m going to continue that tradition. Below are more green TFs I’ve bought since then.

The Decepticons
TFC Toys Hercules (left), Reveal the Shield Voyager Lugnut

 

The Autobots
Front row (left to right): DOTM Human Alliance Sandstorm, ROTF Scout Firetrap, PCC Heavytread, DOTM Commander Guzzle, DOTM legend Flak. Back row (left to right): DOTM Human Alliance Roadbuster, DOTM Deluxe Ratchet, ROTF Deluxe Ratchet, DOTM Deluxe Roadbuster, DOTM Deluxe Air Raid

As I look at my mix of green Transformers from last year to this year, here are some random thoughts:
• The first two figures I bought from DOTM were both green, Deluxe Roadbuster and Sandstorm. In fact, most of the green Autobots featured are from DOTM.
• In both years there is one Air Raid. They’re both green. Is that Air Raid’s new color?
• Hercules by TFC Toys is pure awesomeness! I must do a post about this set soon. Good thing TFC Toys made him this year or I would only be left with one green Decepticon.
• Lugnut should have been included last year since I already had him by then. But I missed including him for some reason, so he appears now.
• Last year I featured 19 green TFS. That’s from a collection of over 7 years. This year I feature 17, and that’s from one year alone. Adjusting for Lugnut, that’s still 20 and 16. This is further proof I bought way too many TFs this past year.
• For the Autobots, I have a lot of small tanks or artillery vehicles: Firetrap, Guzzle, Flak, and Heavytread.

Just like last year, March Madness started this weekend. I picked Missouri to win it all, and they’re already eliminated in the first round! OK technically now they call it Round 2, but you know what I mean. Missouri is a 2nd seed, and before today, a 2nd seed has only lost 4 times in the first round in NCAA history. Today we lost two 2nd seeds (Missouri and Duke). This is just a weird year. Regardless, my bracket is totally busted. I don’t even feel like watching the rest of it.

I’m also presently attending Wondercon in Anaheim. Look for a coverage soon… Transform and Roll Out!