I’m finally back to cataloging my purchases for each month. This activity has been on hiatus for some time, and I’m way behind. June 2014 was a busy month in terms of TFs purchased, partially because of BotCon 2014 that took place this month. The convention was in Pasadena, California, and I always go if the event is at this location. I may make a separate post for my BotCon 2014 pics. But that’s getting off topic. Time to showcase the figures for this month. This is a long list. Prepare yourselves.

• Generations Thrilling 30 Swerve and Flanker, Target, $9.49

• Age of Extinction Drift, Walmart, $9.97

• Age of Extinction Hound, Toys R Us, $24.99

• Age of Extinction Slash, Toys R Us, $7.49

• Age of Extinction Strafe, Walmart, $9.97

• Transformers Prime Beast Hunters Bulkhead and Prowl, Walmart, $12

• Transformers Prime Dark Energon Wheeljack, BBTS (at BotCon), $15

• BotCon Exclusive Depth Charge and Rampage, Hasbro (at BotCon), $62.71

• MakeToys Mobine MB01-SP2 Missile Launcher Marine Type, CapturedPrey.com, $48

• Mastermind Creations Hexatron, CapturedPrey.com, $130

• MakeToys Mobine Paladin/Chaos, CapturedPrey.com, $79

• Renderform Gold Scout Upgrade Kit, CapturedPrey.com, $25

There are a lot of TFs here. 12 purchases in all, for a total of 13 figures and 2 upgrade kits.

Generations Swerve and Flanker were the first finds of the month. These are cool little figs. I don’t care much about the Mini-Con (Flanker), but Swerve is a real prize. He’s fun to play with. I like both his robot mode and alt mode. There’s a redeco of this fig out there as Gears, though as of this writing he’s kinda hard to find. I plan to get one.

Next up are all the Age of Extinction figs. As a whole, I think the AoE figs are rather disappointing. The Dinobots pictured here (Slash and Strafe) certainly attest to that assertion. I’m not particularly impressed with either of these and I’m looking to sell them. However, Drift and Hound are quality figures. Drift is probably my favorite of the deluxe figs from AoE. Hound is a solid voyager figure with weapons to spare. I have kind of reviewed them back in this post, so I won’t do it again. Just know that Drift and Hound are both solid additions to your AoE line.

All remaining figures featured in this post are either bought or picked up at BotCon. First up are TF Prime Beast Hunters Bulkhead and Prowl. Gemini bought these for me a few months before BotCon, but I did not have a chance to meet up with him til this event. He found this pair at his Walmart for $12 on clearance. I was really only interested in Prowl as I already have Bulkhead. At the time, Prowl was really hard to find (and he is still kinda is as of this writing). So I did not mind spending $12 for both figs.

At the BBTS booth I picked up Dark Energon Wheeljack. This is a BBTS exclusive. I could have gotten this from their website (for cheaper), but at the time I had nothing else I needed to buy from BBTS and I was already there so I went for it. Normally I don’t like buying repaints for the same character, but I really like this Wheeljack mold, and I love the transparent blue, so I splurged.

At every BotCon, Hasbro will sell some of their exclusive figs at their booth where they handle registration for Transformers Collector’s Club. This year was no exception. I mentioned back in the BotCon 2011 post that this was how I got the very rare Reveal the Shield Windcharger. In 2014, one of their exclusive figs caught my eye… Depth Charge! From Beast Wars, Depth Charge is one of my favorite characters. He’s a good guy, but at the same time a total bad-ass! Plus I love this mold. Terradive, the original character of this mold, is probably my favorite deluxe figure from Revenge of the Fallen. They repainted this awesome mold once for Space Case (from Dark of the Moon). I guess one could argue if using this mold for Depth Charge is fitting, but I don’t care. Depth Charge was about $20 if you have a TFCC membership, but without one the figure was about $40. So I decided to get the TFCC membership (about $42), which also comes with an incentive figure of Rampage. Hasbro chose to repaint TF Prime deluxe Megatron for Rampage. So for about $62 total, I got the TFCC membership, and two figures. Depth Charge and Rampage are rivals and nemesis of each other in Beast Wars, so it’s awesome having the both of them. To this day I still have not opened these 2. But I already know the Depth Charge fig will be remarkable. I know nothing of the TF Prime deluxe Megatron fig, so it remains to be seen how I will like Rampage.

And now for the figures I got from CapturedPrey. I bought all these earlier, some of them as early as the beginning of 2013. However, they don’t ship anything until your entire order comes in, at least that’s how it was at the time. I don’t know if they have developed some kind of stacking mechanism since then, like TF Source. Anyway, I still had several items outstanding at the time of BotCon, but I really wanted the figures that had already arrived. So I emailed CP and told them I like to pick them up at the booth. They were very accommodating. I picked up the four 3rd party items pictured above.

The Mobine Marine Missile Launcher kit by MakeToys is pure awesomeness! These kits really improve upon the crap that are PCCs. I featured this kit a little in this post. I tried this kit with Heavytread, Steelshot, and Undertow. Out of these 3, Heavytread looks the best, but it’s not bad with the other 2. My only regret is I should have also got the Jungle version. Apparently there were a shortage of the Jungle version, and most of the stock went to BBTS. MakeToys Mobine Paladin/Chaos is a similar toy, but with another smaller figure added in that will combine with the armor. This figure is a tribute to The Fallen (from the comics, not Revenge of the Fallen). The armor portion is more or less the same as the Mobine kits, but having a smaller figure combine with the armor to form The Fallen is an excellent idea. A pic of this figure appears here. This is way better than the piece of crap that Galoob tried to do with The Fallen that was featured in the Titanium line. I highly recommend the Mobine line from MakeToys.

Mastermind Creations Hexatron! What can I say about this piece that hasn’t already been said by others?! In case you can’t already tell, Hexatron is a modern interpretation of Sixshot by MMC. Way back in this post, when I first started this blog, I said I would love it if someone made a modern Sixshot. Well, to this day Hasbro still has not made this a reality, so MMC stepped up to the plate! What they delivered here is nothing short of spectacular. Hexatron is transformation engineering genius brought to life. I still have not transformed this figure to all its modes (I only did the robot mode and tank mode so far), but I have seen enough reviews of the other modes to know that all 6 modes are great. Construction of the figure is extremely solid. MMC cares about it’s products and it shows. And at only $130, this is actually not a bad value for 3rd party products of this size. Speaking of size, Hexatron is probably a better fit for the MP-verse than the CHUG-verse, but I’ll take it anyway I can. Of all the figs featured in this post, if you can only get one, this is it. In fact, if you wanted to nominate figs for Figure of the Year and 3rd party products can be included, then Hexatron would without a doublt be nominated. Many may even argue he would win.

That only leaves the Gold Scout Upgrade Kit, which I have yet to open. This set upgrades Classics Bumblebee to Goldbug. I’ll check this out when I have some time.

Whew… that was a lot. So much so that I didn’t even open them all yet as of this writing, like I mentioned above. But having a deluge of TFs is better than being in a drought. And BotCon 2014 was pretty special. I may report on it in a separate post. Til then… Transform and Roll Out!

I have a lot of Transformers. Probably too many by most conventional standards. Space becomes an issue, as I have mentioned repeatedly on this blog. However, there’s another issue, and it’s that you simply don’t have time for all of them. Back in G1, I didn’t get TFs all that often. So I gave every single TF the time it deserved. All my G1 figures were transformed over and over and over. Some of them to the point of having extremely loose joints, while others became straight up broken.

Nowadays, if I transform a figure more than 4 times, I would say I transformed that figure a lot. It’s not that I’m trying to keep the figure mint or anything. I just don’t have the time, and I have too many TFs. Maybe I just need to slow down on buying them. But I enjoy TF hunting too much.

Most figures I will transform at least twice before it gets put in a box somewhere. However, I do have some figures where I only transformed them once. Meaning if they were packed in alt mode, I would transform it to robot, and it stays that way, never even going back to alt mode. Or vice versa. Below is a list of 10 TFs where this has happened. But first some ground rules about my selections:

• The figure must exist on My TF List.
• I must have opened the figure; figures that I purposely keep new do not count.
• I must have owned the figure for more than a year.

So based on these rules, what are my least transformed TFs? Let’s find out. All pics courtesy of Seibertron.com.

 
Highbrow
Series: Hunt for the Decepticons
Allegiance: Autobot
Mode in Package: Robot
Class: Voyager
Highbrow is one of my favorite figures from HftD. I really like the old WWII plane alt mode that he has. Not too many figures in the world of TF has such an alt mode. I documented his purchase back in this post. That was about 2 years ago, so I can now confirm that I have only ever seen this figure once in store. And I hunt a lot. Highbrow is a rare figure indeed. Anyway, I transformed this guy from robot to plane, and it has stayed that way since for about 2 years. Maybe it’s because I like the plane so much better than the robot for this figure. And here’s another funny thing: I did the exact same thing for his redeco, Powerdive. Got him from robot to plane, and he stayed that way on my shelf for about 3 months now. I’m not counting Powerdive as a entry here since I only had him for about 3 months. Both Highbrow and Powerdive are great figures, so I’m hoping I can make some time to transform either one back to robot real soon.

 
Blurr
Series: Animated
Allegiance: Autobot
Mode in Package: Car
Class: Deluxe
Back in this post I outlined my foray into the world of TF Animated. I admit, I did not at all like the Animated look when I first saw the toys. But eventually it kinda grows on you. Anyway, I bought a bunch of used figures from a guy on Craigslist for $80. Blurr was one of them. Almost all the figures in the set was in robot mode when I received them. I have transformed Blurr once to car, but that was it. As I write this, I don’t even have that much recollection of the toy. I just remember the robot being real skinny, transforming him once to a sleek and sexy car, then putting him away. All this happened in a blur (pun intended). But I do remember him being a decent figure, so I might dig him out later and transform him some more.

 
Snarl
Series: Animated
Allegiance: Autobot
Mode in Package: Dinosaur
Class: Deluxe
Snarl was another Animated figure that came with the huge used purchase that I mentioned above for Blurr. And just like Blurr, I received him in robot mode. If I remember right, I got 15 figures total in the used set (a steal for a mere $80). Snarl was one of the figures that I transformed last. And I’m not sure why since I love the Dinobots. Maybe because Grimlock got all the Dinobot love, or maybe because deep down I’m resentful at the fact he’s called Snarl when he should’ve been called Slag. Whatever the reason, I remember I wasn’t all that impressed with the figure. I can’t give concrete reasons though. I just remember him being sub par. Anyway, he was transformed once from robot to dino. That is perhaps not enough time to make a proper evaluation of the figure. So I should maybe give him another chance and transform him again.

 
Ironhide
Series: Dark of the Moon
Allegiance: Autobot
Mode in Package: Robot
Class: Leader
Now for the only Leader class figure on this list. DOTM Leader Ironhide was a figure that I wanted for some time before I was able to locate him in store. When I started buying DOTM toys in the summer of 2011, I was on the lookout to get a Ironhide figure. I almost bought the Voyager version of Ironhide, but then I learned of the Leader class figure. Ironhide would agree that bigger is better, so I had to go Leader class. I transformed him once to truck when I got him, and for reasons that elude me, I never transformed him again. I can’t explain why. I think this is a very solid TF with a robust robot mode and a beefy truck mode, while not being overly difficult to transform for a Leader class fig in the Movie-verse. He’s got some nice gimmicks too. It’s possible I simply like that hefty truck too much, so I just left it like that. I can’t really see myself digging this out anytime soon to transform him either, so I guess he will stay as a truck to who knows when.

 
Sledge
Series: Power Core Combiners
Allegiance: Decepticon
Mode in Package: Robot
Class: N/A
Finally, a Decepticon on this list. I bought Sledge when I was still with my Ex. We were at Target, and of course I had to stop by the TF aisle. Sledge was quite rare at the time, I think I only saw him once before this trip. The Ex really liked the purple Mini-Con, since that’s one of her favorite colors. So I bought Sledge. This is one purchase I wish I could take back. As a general rule, PCCs are crap. My buddy Gemini and I call them Power Crap Combiners. There are exceptions (like Heavytread and Skyhammer), but Sledge is not one of them. He’s crappy for even PCC standards. I transformed him once from robot to excavator and never looked back. In all likelihood, I will never transform Sledge again, unless I have a real good reason. Even if you are forced to play with PCCs, there are better figures in that line to amuse yourself with.

 
Chopsaw
Series: Reveal the Shield
Allegiance: Decepticon
Mode in Package: Robot
Class: Scout
Chopsaw is not a figure I would have normally bought. The only reason I even have him is because I really wanted RTS Scout Class Windcharger. All G1-ers will tell you that RTS Windcharger is an awesome figure that pays perfect homage to the G1 character of the same name. All CHUG fans wanted RTS Windcharger, but for the most part he was nowhere to be found in stores. He was made in extremely limited quantities, and Hasbro was having some serious distribution issues with RTS figures. For me, the only way to get him at MSRP was at BotCon 2011. Hasbro’s not stupid though. They made it so that Windcharger must be purchased in a set with 5 other figures. And it’s not like there’s a discount. That was one way for Hasbro to unload shelf-warmers at MSRP. Anyway, Chopsaw is one figure in that set. I outlined that purchase in this post. To be fair, Chopsaw is a nifty little figure. He’s got a wacky robot mode, but the motorcycle alt mode ain’t half bad. I could see myself play with this figure some more. Not a priority though.

 
Backfire
Series: Hunt for the Decepticons
Allegiance: Autobot
Mode in Package: Robot
Class: Scout
Here is another figure that I would not usually buy. Again, this is another fig as part of the set that was forced on you in order to acquire Windcharger. I’m not really a big fan of this figure. In fact, out of that set of 6, Backfire is by far the worst figure IMO. Some fans may like him, but not me. It has been speculated that this figure is an homage to Cy-Kill from the GoBots. Probably because of the motorcycle alt mode and the colors. They may be right, I dunno. I could maybe see a customizer turning this into Cy-Kill. But I know this: Backfire sucks. I transformed him once and I see no further pleasure from doing it again. Only play as a last resort.

 
Backfire
Series: Dark of the Moon
Allegiance: Autobot
Mode in Package: Robot
Class: Basic Human Alliance
Two Backfires on the same list?! Say it ain’t so! I guess with a name like Backfire, everything you do is destined to fail. But seriously, DOTM Backfire is not too shabby. I think he’s one of the better Basic Human Alliance figures. Well, technically, I don’t know if calling them Basic HA is accurate. Human Alliance figures only come in two sizes. They started out doing only larger ones, usually slightly bigger than a Voyager figure. Then they started doing these smaller ones that are somewhere between a Scout and Deluxe. Kinda like PCC size. Regardless, Backfire is one of the better smaller ones. My favorite Basic HA would probably be Sandstorm and Half-Track. If I were to pick a 2nd favorite, it probably be Backfire. I like his robot mode, and I really like his ATV alt mode. This alt mode comes together quite well, and the human figure can sit on him just fine. I went into HA figures in this post, and I just realized now I bought Backfire and some other smaller HAs after that. I could see myself digging out Backfire later and transforming him some more, if only to play with that ATV.

 
Elita-One
Series: Transformers (2007 Movie)
Allegiance: Autobot
Mode in Package: Motorcycle
Class: Scout
Here is the only female figure to appear on this list. When I was compiling this, I started looking at my TF list to find the figures that were barely transformed. I don’t know why, but all of a sudden it hit me, I have Elita-One from the 1st Movie! She was a Target exclusive. I guess I got her because I have never seen Hasbro make figures of Elita-One, and this is a character that only hardcore G1-ers like myself would recognize, so I had to have her. However as a toy, she must’ve been unmemorable. I say that because, prior to this post, I didn’t even have her on my TF List! So I had to add her to the list first before publishing this. I don’t have much recollection of the figure. She must be a repaint of something, I just don’t know what. In fact, on Seibertron, I see 8 redecos of this mold. I’ll reserve my thoughts about the figure after I dig her out and transform her some more, since what I can recall is hazy at best. But I do remember transforming her only once, from bike to robot. That in itself cannot be a good sign. Heck, the fact that I forgot to include her in the TF list is a really bad sign. But who knows, taste change. My taste in women have changed over the years, so maybe in female TFs too? LOL.

 
Soundwave
Series: Generations, War For Cybertron
Allegiance: Decepticon
Mode in Package: Robot
Class: Deluxe
I saved the best for last. Here is a figure I’m embarrassed to have on this list. Soundwave is one of my all time favorite characters. So why would I even have a figure of Soundwave where I only transformed him once? I can’t explain it. Sometimes you rarely transform a figure because they’re too difficult, or maybe one mode is significantly better than the other so you just leave them in that mode, or its such a crappy figure that you don’t want to transform it anymore. WFC Deluxe Soundwave shares none of these faults. I’m guessing this figure must have been released when many other figures flooded the shelves, or he simply came around at a time in my life when there was too much going on. But whatever the reason, I need to dig out Soundwave and transform him some more. I remember transforming him only once, from robot to car. If memory serves, I was impressed with both modes. Now would be a good time to compare this figure with the Voyager figure from FOC. I think they each got their strengths, but I’ll know after I have them stand side by side. Apparently it’s also possible to have this Soundwave transform into a Cybertronian boombox. Not sure if that’s official or a fan creation, but I’m eager to try it.

 
So these are my least transformed Transformers. As I look at this list, some things come to mind. Six of these figures are from Movie lines, or Movie sub lines. I guess this finding does not surprise me. Only one figure falls into CHUG, and that’s WFC Soundwave. I would have been real surprised if this list were full of CHUG figures. Also, four figures transform into motorcycles. Maybe one some level, I don’t enjoy motorcycle transformers.

There are only 3 Decepticons on here. I’m pretty sure I don’t discriminate based on faction. Maybe they just make a lot more Autobots. If I get really bored one of these days, I’ll go through my TF list and count.

The good news in all this is that I don’t have any TFs where I opened and never transformed. I have heard of some TransFans complain about this phenomenon. I hope it never happens to me.

What are your least transformed TFs? Feel free to comment below.

Transform and Roll Out!

The first month of the new year is already over. So far in 2013 it feels like I did nothing but work. Not really a good way to start the year, but it could be worse. My start to 2012 was really crappy, for personal reasons that I won’t mention here. So I guess, in a way, anything’s better. Uneventful, but better. Sometimes no news is good news.

But let’s now get to what’s really important: my TFs for the month. There were a total of 10 purchases this month. This is drastically different from how 2012 started, where I only found 1 TF worth buying for the entire month (PCC Heavytread). So here’s another way that 2013 is off to a better start!

• Fall of Cybertron Ultra Magnus, Toys R Us, $15.99

• PCC Steelshot, Toys R Us, $9.99

• Masterpiece Red Alert, amiami.com, about $57 shipped

• Fall of Cybertron Soundblaster with Buzzsaw, Toys R Us, $11.99

• Fall of Cybertron Sideswipe, amazon.com, $14.99

• TF Prime Beast Hunters Wheeljack, Toys R Us, $4.99
• TF Prime Beast Hunters Lazerback, Toys R Us, $15.99
• TF Prime Beast Hunters Soundwave with Ravage, Toys R Us, $15.99

• Fall of Cybertron Kickback, amazon.com, $14.99
• Fall of Cybertron Air Raid, amazon.com, $14.99

That is a total of 10 purchases for 12 figures. 1 Masterpiece, 1 PCC, 6 Generations FOC, and 4 TF Prime. Not bad for a full month.

I gave MP Red Alert a quick review. Check that post for my thoughts on the figure. Or better yet, just buy it now. I’ll just mention here real quick that I think I got an awesome price for the figure.

For the Generations FOC figures, I opened Ultra Magnus, Sideswipe, and Soundblaster. Ultra Magnus is cool, with a new head mold. The colors on this figure are undoubtedly Ultra Magnus. Actually, I think I like this mold better as Ultra Magnus. I like the Prime figure too, but I think War for Cybertron Optimus is better. And I always felt that Magnus got gypped throughout TF history by being the Prime repaint. So in this TF Universe I like to use the WFC figure as Prime, and have Magnus use this new mold. Sideswipe is cool too. For the longest time I didn’t even know this is a repaint of the Jazz figure. Sideswipe still has all the same weaknesses that I mentioned for the Jazz mold, which are the long arms and the hole in the chest. But for some reason, the arms don’t look as long on Sideswipe. The chest cavity is still an issue though.

Soundblaster is basically just a darker version of Soundwave of the same mold. Both colors have their charm, so I can’t decide which one I like better. Buzzsaw is a straight up repaint of Laserbeak. The two toys are identical in every way other than the colors. However, on my figure, it does seem like the launching mechanism of Soundblaster is a bit better than Soundwave. I only tried Soundblaster ejecting Buzzsaw, but that works well every time. I should try Soundblaster with other discs and see how well that fares. The $11.99 price tag is because I had $11 worth of Toys R Us dollars, he’s usually $22.99 there.

You may wonder why I’m buying a PCC in 2013. They weren’t even all that cool back in 2010 and 2011, when they were released. I’m buying them now because of these Mobine Missile Launcher Sets made by MakeToys. I think they look really cool, and I will probably buy this jungle set to use with my PCCs. Maybe get the marine type too. Anyway, I got Steelshot because this mold is featured in one of the pics for the set. I’m positive I could have got this figure last year for $5 at Ross, so I am kicking myself a little for paying full price now. Still, PCCs have gone way up if you believe Amazon prices. So I think I’m still lucky to find one at MSRP. Steelshot is an ok figure. Not the best figure by PCC standards, but not the worst either.

The only TF Prime Beast Hunter figure I opened so far is Wheeljack. He’s just a slight remold of the first deluxe Wheeljack figure. I like the weapon on the new figure, but if you already have the first Wheeljack then you will want to consider if you like this figure enough to get something so similar. Again, the $4.99 price is because of some more Toys R Us dollars. The other 2 Beast Hunter figures I will open later.

Air Raid and Kickback arrived from amazon just this evening. I barely had time to take these pics. I’m sure I’ll like Air Raid since I found the Shockwave mold so impressive. I had no idea he would be Air Raid though. When I first saw the figure back in this post, I thought he would make a better Strafe. The jet looks high-tech, and the head mold more resembles Strafe. As Fireflight he fits too, I guess. And on amazon he’s also listed as Fireflight. Now I have the package in hand, I see they made him Air Raid. I still say this head mold is a better fit for Strafe. I bet a customizer out there is already making him Strafe. Kickback looks cool. I love the Insecticons. I’m looking forward to opening this figure. Oh yeah, amazon listed this figure simply as Insecticon. They can’t get any of these names right.

So that’s it, my TFs in January of 2013. I also made a whole bunch of pre-orders this month for 3rd party items, but that will be for another time, when they arrive. Until then… 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!

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!

Happy Holidays! I hope everyone got what they wanted this Holiday season. There’s no better way to celebrate the Holidays than to get some new TFs! OK maybe there are, but new TFs are worth celebrating any time of the year. Below are some TFs that I received or found in the past week or so.

The pic above are the 3 Transformers Prime figures that are now out in mass retail. I went into TF Prime figures in this earlier post.

TRU Exclusive Rodimus appears in the lower left in the pic above. I have yet to open this, and I’m hoping this version is equivalent to the Japanese MP Rodimus Prime 2nd Release since the 1st Release is not without its faults. It will be interesting to see if this US version can attach the Japanese trailer in alt mode. In the lower right of the pic is PCC Double Clutch. Haven’t opened this either, but he seems promising for a PCC. In the upper left is the Walmart Exclusive Deluxe DOTM Optimus Prime. I opened this figure and he’s not half bad. The alt mode comes together well, transformation is not overly difficult, and I like the MechTech weapon. And last but not least, in the upper right is Skywarp. Did any of you out there think this is the Japanese Exclusive Takara DOTM Skywarp? Look carefully. It is inside the Japanese packaging, but it is actually a custom made by my buddy Gemini. He took a DOTM Deluxe Starscream and painted it into Skywarp. Very cool. Look for a review of this custom in a future post.

And finally, yesterday I found some Generations Junkheap. Wreck-Gar was such a pain in the ass to find when he was released. In fact, I didn’t find any in retail until this past November at discount stores. So I kept my eyes open for Junkheap. Last year a new Target opened near my home in SoCal that is within walking distance. I had some free time yesterday so I walked over. The trip paid off with these 2 Junkheaps.

This is probably the last post I will make for 2011. Looking back on 2011, I think I bought a record number of TFs for the year. It’s hard to say what Hasbro has in stored for us next year, but I’m curious to find out. See y’all in 2012! Transform and Roll Out!