Oct 09

On Retirement

There’s a really good blog post over on TFSource that takes an in-depth look at giving up toy collecting from several different perspectives. The article struck home with me, being a former collector myself, so I thought I’d share my story here.

Like most people who grew up with the brand, I had a pretty nice pile of shapechanging robots as a kid, but largely gave up toys as a teenager. In college, I got into Beast Wars and wanted to pick up a toy or two to commemorate favorite characters. When Beast Machines came around, I was in full-blown collector mode, buying damn near every Transformer I could get my hands on. I also dabbled in the collectible market, buying toys from McFarlane, Moore, and others… Basically, whatever looked cool to me. Hell, I still remember selling back a couple of my old college textbooks so I could grab RiD Prime and Magnus.

Eventually, as work and dating and other interests consumed more of my life, I bought toys less and less. I realized that I’d lost the passion for collecting that I once had. It didn’t help that the supporting fiction in the ’00s was almost uniformly abysmal.

I still pick up the occasional tiny robot. I still keep up with some of the fiction, too. (The Boss Lady has recently shown me how good the IDW comics have been. Wow!) Overall, I don’t miss collecting. I don’t miss driving all over the place and lurking in Wal-Marts and Targets at 2 AM, hoping to find that one rare robot I need to complete a set. I definitely don’t miss the expense.

Do I regret it? Not for a second. And neither should you.

Oct 07

This Fondness For Rearranging Robots.

Fandom. The word refers to a subculture characterized by fans of a certain thing, be it something as relatively broad as video games, to a certain animated series from Japan. A fandom grants you a safe haven to express yourself, even if your family or friends don’t share your passion or interest and also gives you the feeling of belonging somewhere, a group label that you can always put next to your name. Two of the oldest and most well-known fandoms are those that have a passion for George Lucas Star Wars and the people who have referred to themselves both as Trekkers and Trekkies at one point in time, the Star Trek fandom.

I have belonged to several fandoms in my time, both short-term and in the longer term; but the fandom I have subscribed to the longest celebrates its 30th anniversary next year:

The Transformers fandom.

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Oct 04

WizKids Posts Card For Death’s Head HeroClix Mini

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WizKids, Makers of the HeroClix collectible miniatures game, have posted the full card and dial for the upcoming Death’s Head mini that’ll be part of a soon-to-be-released Iron Man series. For those who don’t play the game, rest assured that while he’s not 30 feet tall, his card and dial indicate he’s still quite the character to be reckoned with.

Oct 02

Winter Storms Include Some Familiar Names

Winter StormsHas the notoriously nerdy staff at The Weather Channel been queuing up Generation 1 on Netflix? Though this year’s list of winter storm names was compiled with the help of a high school Latin class, ruling out another batch like last year’s Winter Storm Gandalf and Winter Storm Orko, it looks like a few names still manage to have geek cred – if you’re a more-than-casual Transformers fan. Most noticeable is the entries for consecutive letters O and P, Orion and Pax. According to the Weather Channel’s post about the new list:

Cleon, Gemini, Ion, Nika, Pax, Seneca and Yona were names substituted into the list because the name submitted by the Bozeman students for each of those letters was either retired by the National Hurricane Center, had alternate meanings or were difficult for English-speakers to pronounce.

So while the students suggested Orion, following it with Pax was a decision made by the Weather Channel staffers. And while Dion is explained as “Short for Dionysus; Greek god of wine and winemaking, among other things,” we also know him as Orion Pax’s old dock-yard buddy.

We see what you did there, Weather Channel nerds.

Oct 01

You can’t deal with this now!

Big Bad Toy Store has announced that Takara’s MP-22 is Masterpiece Ultra Magnus “Perfect Edition.” This version is the newer MP-10 Convoy mold with an all-new trailer that transforms into Magnus’ classic battle armor. BBTS doesn’t have any photos up as of yet, but we’ll be sure to post any that emerge from ethical sources.

The toy is available for pre-order on BBTS for the low-low price of $290, with the toy expected to arrive in August of next year.

Sep 26

TFCC Announces 2014 Subscription Service Price

Over on their Twitter feed, the Transformers Collector’s Club has announced the price for their “TFSS 2.0” series of toys, which we’ve been covering here as they’ve been revealed.

TFSS Price Tweet

Sep 26

Generic Spotlight: Cybertronian Pompadours

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Penciler Manny Galan may not have been a very polished artist when he worked on the Transformers: Generation 2 comic, but the man knew how to have fun with his generics. However, we must face the fact that his work only exposes the distinct lack of rockabilly throughout the rest of the Transformers multiverse.

Scans from “Devices and Desires!” and “Total War!“, originally printed in Transformers: Generation 2 #4 and .

Sep 25

Review: More Than Meets the Eye #21 (Spoilers after the break.)

TF_MTMTE_21_cvrBSo we finally reach the end of the storyline “Remain in Light”, as well as the end of what has been referred to as Season One of More than Meets the Eye. It’s time to tie up the dangling storylines and plot points that remain in a nice bow, so we can move on into the future, first into Dark Cybertron and then onward into Season Two. A bit after the last issue Roberts dropped terrifying teasing lines that urged us to say goodbye to some of the old crewmembers of the Lost Light and welcome newbies that would replace them. With the cliffhanger from last issue, that statement filled me with nothing but dread.

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Sep 25

In Stores Today – 9/25/2013

…EVERYTHING.

Seriously, though, this is another week that hits hard, with More Than Meets The Eye #21, Robots In Disguise #21, and Transformers Prime: Beast Hunters all in stores today. Brace yourself, maybe stock up on hard liquor, and get yourself to the comic shop! Then check back her for a spoiler-filled review of MTMTE!

UPDATE: Looks like your load has been lightened by one, as Robots In Disguise #21 has been delayed. Here’s hoping it shows up next week!

Sep 22

Amazon Updates With Official Pics of Generations Deluxes

SkidsPackagedAmazon.com has updated their listings for the upcoming Deluxe toys of Skids, Goldfire, Waspinator, and Dreadwing from the Generations line to include official pictures! Each toy’s listing now shows the figure in package, in robot mode with the exclusive pack-in comic cover, and in vehicle mode. They also include what is most likely the package copy for each toy, which show a closer adherence to the IDW storyline than the blurbs we’ve had in this series so far: Skids’ mentions his amnesia, Goldfire’s mentions his struggle to lead a collapsing Cybertron, Waspinator’s mentions his time displacement, and Dreadwing’s… hints at some recent spoilers. No mention yet of what comics those new covers will be covering, though.

Click the links above to see more, including Dreadwing’s Generation 2-style Decepticon symbol and Skids’ Alex Milne nose!