I’m Back (Sort Of)

So is anyone here looking to buy the RiD Brave Maximus? I’m looking to sell him but I want to do it outside of eBay because I’ve become increasingly paranoid about getting screwed over by buyers doing the whole “chargeback” scam.

I’m willing to let him go for $600 or so (which is what I paid for him). He’s in great condition and he has all of his parts and accessories. For more info on him check out my review here.

Just leave a comment here or send an e-mail to seandence@gmail.com or seandence@hotmail.com and we can talk sales. I’ll do the check/money order thing but not paypal because of the reasons stated above.

It’s Sad I have to go Write this Once a Year…

So I’m not dead nor am I quitting the “toy blog” business. I just have other things I’ve been busy with.

But no…I’m not dead (although I could be undead and I’m writing this from my new coffin in Pennsylvania) and I’m not going to quit this site.

If anything I really want to make some changes to this site. See, I don’t, as the title of my blog indicates, want to focus solely on Transformers stuff. I like Transformers but I also like superhero toys, sci-fi oriented toys, etc. I also like 80s-90s pop-culture stuff and comics.

So expect to see more random pop-culture related posts in the future as well as some comic reviews and stuff like that. I’m actually also thinking about doing another WordPress blog that focuses mostly on comics. I would like to call it Paper Crack but Nala over at Plastic Crack has, once again, beaten me to it. I think Superman and Other Paper Crack could really work though.

Voyager Prime

So I finally found Voyager Prime after months and months of zilch. The thing about these sorts of figures, I’m realizing, is that you have to go to a Wal-Mart or a Fred Myer or even a KMart if you want them. Target and Toys ‘R Us just have a million Leader Megatrons, Voyager Megatrons, Voyager Bulkheads and a ton of Ratchets, Bumblebees and Black Arachnias. It’s the stores that you really don’t think about that have a good variety of the figures instead of a billion of the same dude.

I have to say that, like the first girl I dated, the payoff wasn’t really worth the wait. I mean, Voyager Prime’s okay but he’s pretty underwhelming overall. There’s nothing really special about him. This got me thinking about all the various Optimus Prime incarnations that we’ve seen (and in my case bought) over the years and how they’re all pretty much the same damn figure. I mean, you can take away the mouthpiece or have him turn into different kinds of trucks and give him a more aggressive/futuristic armor design but in the end he still pretty much looks exactly the same with the red chest, blue legs and blue helmet.

You can bitch and complain and say what you want about the Car Robot/RiD Optimus Prime (or “Fire Convoy”) being radically different from the previous Prime’s but I personally think that’s what really made that figure one of my favorite Transformer figures that’s been released in the last ten or fifteen years. I mean, even Spider-Man got a new look from time to time. Sameness just equals lameness to me.

That’s also why I, unlike most of the other people my age or older who grew up with the G1 toys, liked the more “techno-organic” design Prime had in the Bay movie. They could have just pandered to the G1 Wankers by making him look exactly like he did in the cartoon (and this clip proves it would have worked if they wanted to go that route) but they decided to update him and make him unique and that’s something I really liked (though I, like most of the fanboys, hated the idea of changing Prime’s design initially).

I also really love the Ultra Magnus repaints as well. The convoy design might look pretty cool with the red and blue colors but the Convoy design with the white and blue colors is just FUCKING SWEET. A Black Prime (that isn’t Nemesis Prime) would be a cool reinterpretation of the character as well.

So yeah, all in all I think I’d say he’s maybe $15 cool but I don’t know if he’s $20 (retail price) or $40 (eBay price) cool. Maybe that’s just me though as I’m not much of a Prime wanker anymore.

Because You (or, More Accurately, One Person) demanded it: Toynami SDCC Pictures!!!

Because Crazy Steve asked, here are some pics I took from the Toynami Booth at the SDCC.

First up is the Robotech New Generation/Shadow Chronicles stuff:

Here you have the “Ray” Mospeda Bike variant figure of Rand and his Cyclone

An Alpha Fighter

Scott Bernard and his Cyclone from Shadow Chronicles

Maia Sterling’s Shadow Fighter from The Shadow Chronicles (a movie I still haven’t gotten around to seeing)

A Beta Fighter (Yes, they really are going to sell these finally)

And an Alpha Fighter connected to a Beta Fighter.

While the New Generation stuff was cool, I never really liked NG as much as I enjoyed the Macross Saga. I mean, it’s better than the God-Awful Masters series, but it never really reached the levels of awesomeness that the Macross Saga achieved.

Which leads me to…

Oh fuck yeah. This is the shit right here. They’re going to be releasing the VF-1S from Do You Remember Love in the 1/100 scale. That might not mean much to the snobs out there who scoff at the size and quality of the 1/100 series but to those of us who can’t afford to shell out the couple hundred for the Yamato 1/48 VF-1S from DYRL, this is about the most awesome news ever. I will definitely be buying this guy when he becomes available.

Toynami also had the 1/100 figures with the new strike packs or whatever they’re called on display.

They also had some pretty awesome dioramas:

So there you have it. If you’re a Robotech/Mospeda/Macross fan like Crazy Steve and myself you might appreciate these pics but if you don’t know Robotech from Genetech it might not mean too much to you.

And yes, there will be more SDCC pics from other booths and events to come. Unlike the jerk dad in Hook, I do keep my promises so my word won’t be a “junk bond” (great line in the movie, by the way).

As usual, click on the pics to see them larger and in a better resolution.

As Nala would say, “Bad Craziness”

So I’m back. To paraphrase Indiana Jones, “Like a bad penny, I always come back.”

So why no updates in a long time? Well, my subscription for my five gigs of webspace ran out recently.

See, I really don’t need the five gigs of webspace here at wordpress but I do need more than whatever they give you initially because I post a lot of pictures here. And, as I said, I post A LOT of pictures here. So I really don’t want to write posts without pictures but I don’t really want to waste the free and limited webspace I have here now that my subscription has run out either. So I guess I’m just going to have to eventually give in to “the man” and pay the $20-$30 for the extra gigs again. And I’ll do that. Just not right now.

Why? Well, I’m pretty broke right now and any extra money I have is going towards my Hot Toys Dark Knight figure so the extra gigs here aren’t really a major priority in my life at the moment.

That being said though, I’ll still cave in and get the extra space again. Just not this second.

In other news, I was checking my blog stats today and I saw that I got like 50 people from some forum called overclockers visiting this site from some link in a thread in one of their forums. So I click on the link to see what it’s about and I get to this page that says I have to register or something before I can view forums. So I try to register but I get this thing that says something along the lines of “No free e-mail accounts allowed” so I send the administrators an e-mail basically saying “Okay, I’m actually okay with not being able to view your forum. Just please tell me why my toy site is being linked to a computer software/hardware forum.” As Nala would say, “Bad craziness.”

Seriously. What about this site screams “software/hardware junkies, this is THE place for you?” I mean, I don’t write about computer stuff. The closest I ever got was this post where I ranted about how the spacebar key really sucks on cheap laptops.

After looking at the stats for the day in question again, I’m realizing that I got like fifty people from the forum coming here and fifty people looking at my Alternators Prowl review so I’m guessing that someone at overclockers posted a link to my Alternators Prowl review. Again, I have to ask…why? What does Alternators Prowl have to do with computer hardware/software? I guess they must have an “off-topic” section in their forums so people can post things about “Jean Chaps Prowl” or whatever. Still though, it’s really irritating to see that my site is obviously being mentioned somewhere and I don’t get to see what they’re talking about.

It’s like fifty people in your high-school talking behind your back and you have no idea what they’re talking about and/or saying.

And my final topic of the day has to be this:

Anyone else here simultaneously amused and offended by this? I mean, there’s no two ways about it. Bumblebee’s obviously flashin’ a space dildo. There’s no way in hell anyone can be like “it’s not a dildo, it’s his laser gun.”

I’m sorry but that is NOT a laser gun. If that’s not a dildo than Ron Perlman isn’t Hellboy. I mean, there’s no way you can say that the end of the “gun” doesn’t look like a circumcised wang (albeit a blue, robotic looking circumcised wang).

It’s hilarious but it’s also offensive in the way that the Archie “I had to beat these guys off” cover is offensive because you know that the illustrator knew what he was doing when he made the cover, yet I’m sure he’d be like “no, I really meant he had to physically beat the guys up” if he were confronted about it. And I’m sure the toy designers would be the same way and be like “we honestly didn’t try to make a space dildo for Bumblebee” even though it’s incredibly obvious that that’s what it is. In short, if you’re going to make space dildos or masturbation references in your stuff that’s supposed to be geared to kids, at least have the stones to admit it and call it what it is.

…Never Mind…

Right after I posted my last entry I went back to BBTS and it appears they do have more Dark Knight Hot Toys figures available for pre-order again.

It’s great to look like a jackass sometimes. Oh well though, my opinion of the quality of the figure still stands and I was going to post those pics sometime anyway…but still. Way to steal my thunder BBTS.

Don’t ever say I never did anything nice for you…

Was anyone here in a situation where they were looking for the Hot Toys Dark Knight figure (in the new costume from TDK) and were crushed to learn the pre-order’s sold out at BBTS? That happened to me recently.

That was pretty crushing to see that it sold out at BBTS because the only other places you can go to find one is eBay or Action HQ (and Action HQ ships from Hong Kong if I recall correctly). eBay’s not too bad but you’re still faced with the same shitty problem that you’d have with Action HQ: Most of the sellers are from China or Japan.

As I’m sure the goody-two-shoes Adam West era Batman would say, “Never fear!” CornerStore Comics has the Hot Toys figures up for pre-order now.

It’s a pricey bit of crack but it’s soooo worth it.

Now, I know what you’re going to say. “You should know better than anyone that the prototypes usually look a million times better than the actual toys.”

While that is true, it doesn’t seem to be the case for the Hot Toys Dark Knight stuff. How do I know this? Well, Hot Toys is selling two different 12” Dark Knight figures, you see. They’re selling the figure with the new costume from the new movie (the one I just preordered) and they’re selling a Batman Figure with the original suit from Batman Begins. There are a couple of sellers at eBay who have the 12” Batman figure in the Begins costume on hand and they took pictures of the figure in the box and the figure actually looks almost EXACTLY like the prototype pics. The 12” Batman in the Begins costume also has the extra Bruce Wayne head and it looks EXACTLY as it does in the pics here. So if the Begins Batman looks just like the prototypes I have no doubt the Dark Knight suit Batman will as well. And even if it doesn’t, I have a feeling it will look pretty damn close, seeing as how the more high-end toys usually end up looking more like the prototypes than the retail store toys do.

But yeah, get on over to CornerStore Comics and pick yours up if you’ve been looking for the figure furiously and were frustrated by the lack of US choices to purchase the figure. And don’t say I didn’t do anything nice for ‘ya!

More Comic Con Pics

As promised, here are the rest of the pics of the SG1 cast from the third day of the con.

More pics behind the cut!!!

Redemption of Sorts (or) A Post I Meant to Write Five Days Ago…

So it’s been five days since the end of Comic Con for me. SDCC08 was the first SDCC I’ve been to but it’s not the first comic convention I’ve been to. I went to the Emerald City con a couple of months ago and had a great time there as well.

Overall the SDCC was pretty cool and I’d do it again. I think I’ll bring three suitcases though and just pay the fine so I’ll have an extra bag for all the plastic crack I’ll acquire. Cramming all my stuff into two suitcases really sucked and was not that fun of an experience.

So yeah, the comic con was pretty great overall, but there were still a couple of things here and there that I wasn’t thrilled with. I really didn’t like the rent-a-cop Marine volunteers who screwed me out of my Rose McGowan autograph and I didn’t like how Sideshow’s Comic Con exclusive was an “Online only” thing that you couldn’t just buy at the con (you had to preorder it online first and then pick it up at the con). Well, I couldn’t track down Rose McGowan after the whole autograph thing and ask her to sign my Charmed book but I did get some redemption of sorts for my failure to preorder Aayla Secura from Sideshow before the con. After I found out that Aayla Secura was a “you can’t just pick it up at the booth” kind of exclusive I was pissed off and jaded but I didn’t walk away empty handed because I was given some solid advice from a woman working the booth: “Come back here Sunday afternoon and you might be able to get one because there’s always people who are too late to pick up their preorders. We might be able to sell you one then.”

So I did that and…

Allow me to sing a song (though not as good as Bob Marley would sing it). A little…redemption song.

So I was super thrilled to get my Aayla Secura and it gave me the chance to redeem myself as a collector for being ignorant over the fact that AS was a “preorder and pick up” kind of figure, but this whole thing doesn’t redeem Sideshow Toys and their shitty policies in my eyes. If anything, this actually makes me respect them EVEN LESS than I did before. I mean, it’s bad enough to do the whole “preorder it before you pick it up so it will be an EXCLUSIVE exclusive,” but doing the whole “pick it up by Sunday at noon or we’ll give your shit away” thing just makes Sideshow seem even more like assholes to me. Fuck Sideshow, I say. After I get my Indy from them in October I’m done with them.
Er…anyway, SDCC 08 was pretty cool overall and I will be posting more pics of my swag and some of the neat stuff I saw there pretty soon. Until then…may the horrible preorder and pick up policies be with you always…

SDCC Day 3

I have to say that the panels I went to today were awesome and they really made the trip worth it. The Stargate SG1 Continuum panel was the most awesome thing of all-time and I’m not just kidding around or being sarcastic. Richard Dean Anderson rocked. He was incredibly funny and entertaining and was very O’Neillesque. Seeing Anderson in action really made me realize that O’neill is one of those rare characters that was modeled more on his respective actor’s personality than by a writer’s imagination. That made his participation in the panel really fun to watch. The other actors were really great as well. SG1 has just about the greatest cast you could ever get for a sci-fi series so the panel was an excellent experience for me overall. Definitely one of the best things I ever experienced at a convention. I bought my tickets to the con solely to see this panel so it was not a letdown.

Pics behind the cut!

Sean-Man 0, Idiot Rent-a-cops 2 (or) SDCC Trip Day 2

There was something I neglected to mention in my last post and that is the fact that I almost had an incident with this dumbass security guard at the Mattel store at the Con last night (preview night). I was trying to find my friend Rob so I decided to go in the little Mattel hut to find him when this dumbshit asshole working the event jumped in front of me, almost put his hand on my chest and stated “THIS IS NOT AN ENTRANCE!” in the most threating/militant voice he could muster. He pointed to this incredibly long line and said “You want in you go there.”

When I talked to my friend Rob later on he said “they let me right in,” meaning that the guy was probably just trying to be a facist asshole on a power trip.

After the thing with the security guard, I noticed that most of the employees at the Comic Con were treating the convention-goers in a similar fashion throughout the night. I mean, it’s one thing to be an asshole to the convention-goers if they’re an asshole to you, but there’s no point in being an asshole to the convention-goers if they’re polite and respectful to you. I mean, most of the interaction that I’ve noticed between the employees and the convention-goers has gone like this:

Convention-Goer: “Oh, is this the line for the autograph signi-”

Con Employee: “YES THIS IS THE LINE!”

I mean, it would be understandable if the employees were indeed military commandos but they’re far from that. They’re the rentiest (and yes, I am aware rentiest isn’t a word) of rent-a-cops ever. Even Wal-mart security guards are more menacing and credible than them.

So I was kind of pissed and offended by the rent-a-cop’s sudden uncalled for snapishness yesterday but the anger and frustration I felt last night had nothing on the anger I felt today at the con after dealing with the fucking Marine Security I had to deal with at the Rose McGowan/Robert Rodriguez signing earlier today.

So I’m not a fan of Red Sonja at all but I thought it would be cool to get Rose McGowan’s autograph seeing as how I really love Charmed and was once a big fan of hers.

So I think it would be great to get her autograph. So I flip through the schedule book I got after I get my badge and I realize that Rose and Rodriguez are going to be signing stuff after the Red Sonja panel. So I’m like “Great! I don’t have to go to some panel for a movie I could give two shits about,” and I head over to the booth she’s signing at an hour early so I can beat the line. So I’m in this line that’s pretty well organized and hassle free and I’m starting to talk to some of my fellow McGowan/Rodriguez fans when some more asshole security guys approach the line and are like “We’re going to break this line up. There’s too many of you here.”

So they put us in two or three different lines that are disastrous before deciding that they’ll put two-hundred or so of us in a roped off area and release us five or six at a time to get in the line to get the autographs.

You ever try to put 200 or so people in a 20 x 20 space? It has to be about the worst thing of all-time. You literally have zero room to do anything and it’s like you’re inadvertently dry humping/fondling everyone around you. Having a big backpack and/or “manpurse” and shopping bag while you’re in said cramped space makes it even more “fun.” It got really hot while I was in the line for a half-hour or so and I got really dehydrated and I honest to God felt like I was going to throw up/pass out. Seriously. I could feel that special “vomit taste” in my mouth. But that was fine. That was okay. I could accept that because I knew I was going to get my Charmed book signed and I knew I was going to get to talk to Rose McGowan. I mean, I’m not a major fan of hers now, but back in the day she was one of my favorite celebrity crushes, I mean, who could forget her bonerrific performance in the first Scream movie? The “nipple sweater” scene was classic.

So I finally get out of the cattle area and I can finally breathe again without feeling like I’m going to throw up and I get to Rose and…am handed a pre-signed poster by a fuckin’ rent a cop I had issues with earlier in the day. “They’re not signing the stuff you bring in?” I ask.

“NOPE AND YOU’RE HOLDING UP THE LINE. MOVE ALONG!” Was pretty much the fuckface’s response.

The thing is though, Rose saw me and smiled and held out her hand so I could hand her my book when the fuckass jumped in front of me and claimed they were done signing stuff the convention-goers brought with them.

So…yeah. Dumbass Rent-a-cop 2, Sean-Man 0.

So after that I had to carefully walk around looking like a nut carefully holding up the poster as I tried to find the stupid poster vendors selling the overpriced poster tubes.

So yeah, not a good day in terms of dealing with the security people at the con. After looking at the lowgrade Wesley Snipes lookin’ motherfucker who screwed me over a the McGowan/Rodriguez signing, I realized that he was actually a Marine the organizers of the con hired (the normal security assholes wear red whereas the Marine volunteers where these green shirts with the Marine Corp symbols on them). Now, I know I probably couldn’t kick a marine’s ass, but I know I could of have probably crushed the fucker’s testicle if I just kicked him in the groin as hard I could with my Doc Martinesque shoes. And yeah, I know I’d possibly be kicked out/beaten up/arrested for that but come on…I’d probably be the true superhero of the con. Geeky browbeaten virgins would probably run out and tearfully hug me.

So I was, once again, pissed off by the stupid idiots the organizers hired to manage the event but my faith in the con was restored shortly after that when this lady at the Tonner booth did a really nice thing for me.

So I was going to buy the “Pirate Elizabeth” doll at the Tonner booth (yes I am indeed secure enough as a man to admit to buying Tonner dolls because, dolls aside, they are really articulated and detailed figures) when the woman behind the booth said “that’ll be fifty-nine dollars.”

I reply with “I think the price is higher. The tag on the display (doll) says $150,”

to which she replies “Oh no! You’re right!”

See, the thing is, they were selling Elizabeth Swann in the dress she wore from the first Pirates movie
for $60 while the Pirate Elizabeth from Dead Man’s Chest was going for $150.

So she says “Well, I tell you what, since you were so honest I’ll go ahead and give you the doll for the fifty-nine dollars.”

I’m really surprised by her kind offer and am kind of stunned but I also feel bad because I don’t want the woman to get in trouble with her boss at the booth for that so I ask “Are you sure? I don’t mind paying the price on the tag. I don’t want to get you into trouble or have you lose out on any money,” to which she replies “It’s no big deal. I would actually get into more trouble if I had to ring you up twice” (the first thing she did before she handed me the doll was swipe my credit card).

So yeah, that was something to me. That made me feel a lot better about the asshole security guards at the con.

So all in all I had fun and got some cool toys today/tonight in spite of the security guard assholes. Earlier in the day I bought the Tomb Raider Tonner Doll.

I’m not going to take any pics of the Tonner stuff I bought today (I don’t want to take the dolls out of their boxes until I’m back in Oly) but I will be posting some pics later on though. You’ll just have to look at these prototype pics for now:

While they are indeed dolls, they are pretty articulated and super-detailed so I think you can still feel like a “manly enough collector” for buying them (if being a “manly enough collector” is something that’s important to you) and not a “dainty boy with Barbie issues” (not that emos “dainty boys with Barbie issues” aren’t cool). And lets face it anyway, most action figures are pretty much dolls, really. So make your jokes if you want, I think these dolls are cool. They’re super-expensive but they’re cool.

I also bought the awesome and badass “Cloud with Daytona” today as well and I’m looking forward to looking at/reviewing that one because I’ve wanted the FF figures forever and they’ve only been available via eBay before now. I mean, sure my local comic store would have one or two from time to time but not all of them at once.

I also had an awesome time at the Robotech panel but I will write about that another time.

So yeah, I suppose I’ll leave you with my “thought of the night” (rent-a-cops suck) and the only pic of Rose McGowan I was able to take:

More updates tomorrow.

SDCC: Day One

So today was the “preview night” at the SDCC and I have to say that if the rest of the convention is like tonight, I’m probably going to make this my first and last SDCC.

Apparently 100,000 tickets were sold for the event. That’s fine and that’s to be expected but…damn. Did every fucking attendee have to come tonight? I mean, I know that the convention was going to be packed but I didn’t think the fucking three hour PREVIEW night would have like fifty or sixty-thousand people there. Needless to say, I wasn’t too happy about the crowds being there on a night where nothing major was going on.

In the end though I don’t think it was the crowds that pissed me off as much as it was Sideshow screwing the attendees over. I think that’s really what set me off and pissed me off.

I’ll explain: a couple of toy companies, as I’m sure you all know, offer exclusives to Comic Con Attendees and Sideshow was offering the 12” Aayla Secura that I really wanted to get. So I get to the Sideshow booth, I see a couple of Aayla Secura figures behind the counter and figure “Great, I got here just in time.” So I ask this woman if I could buy one and she said “We’re sold out.” She goes on to explain: “We actually aren’t selling these to attendees. You have to preorder the figures on our website before you get to the con and we’re all sold out.”
All I really have to say is this: WHAT THE FUCK? That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard and that’s a horrible thing to do to the attendees who didn’t know that you had to pre-order the figure and couldn’t just buy it at the con. Why even call it a Comic Con exclusive when really it’s just another bullshit “internet exclusive?” So yeah, that really pissed me the fuck off to the point where I really don’t want to have anything to do with Sideshow Toys ever again after I get the Indy figure I preordered a while ago.

So yeah, that just wasn’t cool to me at all. The lady did tell me that I could possibly get one on Sunday though because some people “just don’t pick up their preorders.” So apparently they’re equal opportunity “screwer over” people and are just as happy to fuck over the pre-order crowd as much as they are the people who just want to pay in person.

As much as I hate Sideshow for screwing me out of the one fucking exclusive I really wanted, I do have to say they had some cool busts there:

Still though, the whole thing about the figure just pisses me off and makes me feel a little sick.

I guess seeing Ultra Magnus at the Hasbro stands made me feel a little better though:

And yeah, I know, not the best quality picture in the world but there were a lot of pushy people around so I didn’t really have time to take a better shot. Maybe tomorrow.

So hopefully I will have some better luck with being able to buy the toys and stuff I want to buy at the con tomorrow. I don’t know. One can hope.

SDCC bound…

That’s right I’m heading out to San Diego in five hours for the convention. I’ll try and post some updates and pics here and there as I go but that might not happen if I get too busy/sidetracked.

As far as exclusives go, I’ll buy the Aayla Secura if I see her but I’m not going to like, try and kill myself to get to the booth and buy one. Same goes for Nemesis Prime. If I’m around where he’s being sold and there’s still one to buy, I’ll get one. If not though? Well…that’s when I have to say “fuck that.” These days there aren’t any toys out there that are worth that kind of hassle.

Speaking of toys, I picked up Universe Prowl and Sunstreaker today. Prowl isn’t as crappy as I thought he’d be but he’s still nowhere near as beautiful as the prototype. Hopefully I’ll be able to write a more thorough review with pics later on.

So…

Until I meet Vivian from MC Nudes, I’m going to have to say that this:

…Has to be about the most beautiful sight known to man.

Overall the Toynami Masterpiece Robotech set really isn’t that great compared to the 1/48 Valks or even the 1/60 Valks but holy crap do these guys photograph well…

I really like this last pic because it looks like the Valks have some kind of glow/aura about them. Basically what happened is I did the anti-blur setting and I was moving a lot when I took these.

I was telling a friend of mine that if there were ever something that could inspire me to write full-on reviews again it would have to be these guys. Shit, I don’t think I’ve written a major review since Medicom Spider-Man.

I’m really not going to make any promises but I think I very well may do a review for these guys with a pretty extensive gallery as well because they really are beautiful to look at. The LED light makes all the difference in the world, really.

As usual, click on the pics to see them bigger and in a better resolution.

I love Kramer. Michael Richards on the other hand? Douche.

You want to see the funniest episode of Seinfeld?

It’s right here:

I know this is a year old and it’s not as funny now that it’s been a year since Richards’ displayed his hateful ignorance but this parody of his foolishness is still great. Every couple of months I’ll find this video somewhere and laugh my ass off. George’s reaction to Kramer’s “apology” is hilarious.

So Who do ‘Ya, who do ‘Ya, Who do ‘Ya Trust?

Every once in a while someone will ask me what sites I go to to buy my stuff and what I consider to be the best online toy stores there. After finally getting an MP Roy Fokker from TISINC99 and seeing the care that went into the packing and shipping, I decided to finally make a “best and worst” list that may or may not be helpful to you looking for Transformers and other stuff.

And this is, by no means, in any kind of order.

The Good

#1. Bigbadtoystore. BBTS is a pretty cool site because the selection of figures that they have is really incredible. You want Marvel stuff? DC stuff? Transformers? Power Rangers? Power Ranger toys before they hit the US (the Japanese Sentai versions)? Odds are they have what you’re looking for. They also have really good customer service that’s really great to getting back to you right away. The only negative thing I could really say about these guys is that sometimes things will get a little overpriced ($26 for Animated Grimlock is a good example of this). Overall though these guys are great and are highly recommended. Check them out at BigBadtoystore.com

The Good: They pretty much have everything you could want from an online toystore, their shipping’s fast and reasonable and their customer service is good.

The Bad: Some stuff might get a little overpriced.

#2. Treasure Island Sports Inc. This site gets a LOT of shit. And I do mean A LOT. If you were to read some of the things that people say about them after doing a Google search you’d probably be pretty horrified and not want to shop there. TISINC’s bad reputation, as a matter of fact, was what really prompted me to write this post in the first place. See, I actually really like TISINC99. A lot. And you know what? I’ve never once had a problem with them. I got my MP Megatron from them as well as two Interactive R2D2s and the aforementioned Robotech MP Fokker. The thing that makes these guys really great is that you’ll get your shit incredibly fast. I ordered MP Megatron from them on a Saturday and got him the following Tuesday. I shit you not. I ordered my MP Fokker from them on a Monday, got him Wednesday. So yeah, I’ve never once had any problem with them. I guess they’re really good as long as they have what you’re looking for in stock. Most of the complaints people have about the site concerns the whole “they’ll charge you for items that aren’t in stock” thing. The thing is though, they will refund your money if that’s the situation. They might take a little time doing that and you might have to e-mail them or call them but you will get your refund. This situation has never happened to me but I’ve heard about it from other people and they’ve all gotten their refunds eventually. I guess there has also been some controversy over the company shipping out big orders in separate boxes at separate times so you might want to be leery of that if you have a big order from them.

But yeah, TISINC is a really great site and I highly recommend it. TISINC, like BBTS, has a huge variety of stuff so you can pretty much find whatever you’re looking for there. I, as I said at the start of this post, was really amazed by how much care went into the shipping process for my MP Roy Fokker. It really made it hard for me to agree with the negative reviews that are out there about the site. I actually think it’s one of the best places to go for Transformers, Star Wars and Robotech/Macross stuff. I don’t think there half as bad as some collectors will tell you they are. To me Toys ‘N Joys is a lot worse (but we’ll get to that in the “skip it” section of this post.

So yeah, you can find these guys at tisinc99.com.

The Good: Incredibly fast shipping, great care taken in shipping,

The Bad: Apparently they charge your card as soon as you order (whereas sites like BBTS won’t charge until your order is shipped) so that sometimes results in them charging you for stuff that they won’t be able to ship to you until it becomes available “in stock” again. (Damn, I’m not sure if that sentence was grammatically correct or not but it was hard to phrase and I’m feeling lazy, so, there you go.) Recently though they’ve been better about updating their site and letting you know what is and isn’t in stock, so, there you go.

3. Action Figure Xpress

These guys are really great if you’re looking for your more “high-end” stuff and they have a good selection of Buffy figures. Overall though they’re more about the busts and the high-end stuff than they are about the action figure selection (as this link to their “transformers action figures” demonstrates). They also were really bad about getting stuff to you if you had a PO box because they relied solely on UPS until recently.

All in all though they’re one of the best places on the ‘net for Buffy figures and are pretty recommened.

You can find them at this link.

4. Good Ole Crackbay. Ah, the loveable and often controversial eBay. Over the years I’ve really changed as a Transformers collector. I used to be the kind of guy who would pay the inflated scalper prices if I couldn’t find the figures in stores. Recently though I’ve gotten to the point where it’s like this: if I can’t find it in stores, it’s not worth buying. So why, might you ask, am I still recommending a place like eBay? It’s simple. eBay is obviously the best place to go to get the vintage G1 stuff. I mean, you can find a lot of G1 stuff at conventions but what if you’re like me and you really only go to conventions once or twice every couple of years? As long as you know your terms (terms like MISB, MIB and MOC and all that) and you’re familiar with the C1-C9 scale and you ask a lot of questions before you bid and you’re smart about the sellers feedback, you can find a lot of awesome stuff there. Most of my best Transformers stuff was purchased there. I was able to get Metroplex and Trypticon there and they were complete and in immaculate shape. I’m still amazed by how tight the joints were on Metroplex and how there was little to no paint wear on him.

People like to bash on sites like eBay as much as they can and they’ll bitch left and right about the poor quality of the figures they get from there and all that without actually realizing that it’s not eBay’s fault at all. If you’re a stupid buyer and you don’t check out the feedback and ask questions before you buy then of course you’re going to get crap. It’s not eBay’s fault that you’re a dumbass though.

I’m not totally naive about the crappier side of eBay though. eBay is awesome if you’re looking for G1 stuff (or Robotech/Macross/Marvel/PR stuff) but it’s a pretty shitty place to go to if you’re trying to sell some stuff and make a profit. I spent a couple of miserable months selling on eBay and not really making much in return. You can make a lot on eBay if you sell big “lots” of stuff but they really charge you out the ass for small sales. I’d recommend selling your stuff on forums instead (though the jackasses at Seibertron don’t allow you to do that anymore for some reason).

The Good: You can pretty much find anything there.

The Bad: You’re not going to make much money there if you’re just an average joe and not a legitmate business selling stuff there.

The Bad Sites

#1. Entertainment Earth. Yeah, I said it. Entertainment Earth, like BBTS and TISINC99, is a really great place to go if you’re looking for a big variety of stuff but their customer service sucks, they take forever to ship out your orders and there stuff is grossly overpriced because you can’t really get individual figures there that often (a great example of that can be found on their page for Power Rangers figures).

They’re also bad about letting you buy stuff that’s backordered. I mean, they do eventually get around to updating their site and letting you know that stuff is backordered but they’ll let you order whatever it is you ordered first and just not let you know what the deal is. In their defense though they don’t charge until the stuff ships so I guess they have that going for them.

A couple of years ago I ordered a Buffy standee from them and they charged the debit card and they didn’t ship for like a week. Not only that, it was like they chose the fucking slowest shipping method ever and when the item arrived I got…an Angelina Jolie Tomb Raider standee instead so I had to go through a lot of hassle and shit to return their standee and get the Buffy one. As bad as they are though, I will use them as a last resort and they’re nowhere near as bad as…

#2. Toywiz. Incredibly slow to ship and horribly overpriced. $60 for a Stargate Series 1 Daniel Jackson? I mean, the figure is rare and that’s what he goes for on eBay but the difference between a site like Toywiz and a site like BBTS is that when BBTS occasionally gets the rare guys like O’Neill and Daniel back in stock for a short time, they’ll actually sell them at the retail comic book store price: $12.99-$14.99.

Also, their markup on Medicom Vader is unforgivable. So I’m to understand I should pay $500 for a figure that’s A) inferior to the Episode III remold and

B) pretty easy to find for $140-$200 at Crackbay? Eh, no. How about I do my business somewhere else?

Mostly a skippable site but I guess they’re okay if you have the money and can’t find what you’re looking for elsewhere. I mean, they’re great compared to what I would call THE WORST toysite of all-fucking time…

#3.Toys N Joys. God what an awful site. Being punched in the dick for four hours would probably be better than dealing with them. If Satan and Hitler got together and made a toystore it would probably be better than Toys N Joys. If you type in “Toys n Joys awful” at Google you’ll find out why they suck as hard as they do. There are a LOT of results there.

So a couple of years ago I decide to get the White Dragozord from Power Rangers Dino Thunder. I’m excited to get it and I’m looking forward to it until I hear that it was rumored to not get a US release. So I decide to just get Killeroh instead (the Sentai Japanese version) from Joys because they sell Japanese import toys. Now I bought a Navy Thunder Ranger from them before that and didn’t have any problems so I figure “okay, they’re pretty good” and I order it from them. So I get an e-mail with my order confirmation and then…nothing. They charge my debit card but…nothing. No “your item has just shipped” e-mail or anything like that. So I reply to the confirmation e-mail so they can see that they did indeed send me one and…nothing. So after a series of unreturned e-mails I fill out a form with the Better Business Bureau and then I finally hear back from the bastards. And their solution? “Fax us your statement and we’ll give you a refund.” After four months of nothing that’s their response (a forced response at that). If you Google search them though you’ll find hundreds of horror stories about them. As a matter of fact, at the time of this posting, it looks like their website has finally been shut down. One can only hope that the BBB had enough complaints and just said “okay, you’re done.” For more on how much they suck just check out Steve’s blog post that details how and why they suck as much as they do.

So there you are, these are my pics for the best and worst online toystores. There are a lot of other sites I go to to buy my stuff but these ones really stand out on my “best and worst” list. I’ll be doing a followup in the future with some more “great and awful sites” so be on the lookout for that.

It’s kind of sad when the best Batman/Superman stories are at Youtube and not your average comic store

So I was in a pretty shitty mood before I went to bed the other night and I was looking to find something to cheer me up. So I took a look at some Robotech fan vids on Youtube and somehow I came across this Batman/Superman/Marvel series this really brilliant fan made.

The idea of the series, titled “Marvel/DC: After Hours is that Spider-Man, Batman, Superman Iron Man and a couple other heroes hang out in this club and they talk about their respective movies and careers and things like that. (There’s another series by the same creator that parodies the Mac versus PC commercials with the idea being it’s “I’m a Marvel and I’m a DC”.) The series is written to be a parody but the sad thing is that even as a parody it’s still actually a lot better than the real Batman/Superman title and there are actually a lot of serious and even heartfelt moments in the storyline. I watched the end of this multi-part storyline the creator did and I was just really blown away by how fucking good it actually was. I could actually see Marvel and DC using the storyline for a crossover sometime in the future.

Basically the plot of the mini-series goes like this: the Iron Man movie is about to get released and everyone at the club is really excited about it. Superman overhears Nightwing compliment Tony on how great the preview looks and he starts to doubt himself (because Superman Returns is considered a “flop” among the fanboys. He realizes that the age of the perfect hero is over and that audiences find him irrelevant now because he’s not as relatable as the more flawed and realistic Marvel heroes. Lex Luthor starts to develop this complex as well so he sets about altering time to make sure Stan Lee never creates Marvel comics.

So Batman, Spider-Man and Superman team up to take Luthor out and stop him before he can alter the timeline. There’s a lot of funny bits of dialog here and there in the mini-series but there’s actually a couple of thoughtful and heartfelt messages in there as well.

So, for your viewing pleasure, you’re about to see the best Superman/Batman story to actually come out in the past couple of years.

DC should seriously be watching this guy and taking notes. This guy really nails Batman and Superman’s relationship and character quirks a lot better than the jackasses who write the Batman/Superman comic do.

This is part 6 and seven of the series. You don’t have to watch 1-5 to get what’s going on as the creator is good at catching his viewers up on what’s going on.

Without giving too much away I do have to say the scene with Cap and the scene with Stan Lee at the end almost brought a tear to my eye. And the argument between Batman and Superman…as I said, the creator really understood just what makes the characters tick and their dialog really rings true and seems more authentic than the scenes they share in the Batman/Superman comic.

Essentially…

…If you have to create a “how to fix it” guide right after the product you enjoy just got released, the product isn’t worth defending, isn’t it?

I’m just having a good laugh at all the idiots who had to run out and buy the new Transformers: Animated stuff the day it came out. Did they learn nothing about the horrible “quality control” issues the first wave of the movie line had?

See, this (news that the new toyline is pretty shitty after all) is crushing to me on one hand and really a major relief on the other because I’ll be able to save money this summer after all. And that’s a good thing considering I’m considering getting Medicom Bruce Lee, Sideshow Indy and the second wave of Stargate Atlantis figures.

I’m also going to the San Diego comic con and I’m going to shell out some big bucks for good seats when The Phantom of The Opera hits Seattle in September so…I’m grateful for Hasbro for sucking, for once. Thank goodness for cheap quality shit, eh?

Wow! This is the most awesome thing ever!!!!!!

Something you probably don’t know about me is that I love Sir-Mix-a-Lot. There’s no one better than Mix. I really don’t like modern rap but I love the old-school stuff from the time before rappers were rapping about things like being in gangs and killing people and drinking forties and things like that. And as a kid I really loved Sir-Mix-a-Lot because his rap was really comedic. I personally think Mix was intentionally going for the whole “So bad it’s Good” (or in his case, “So bad it’s Awesome”) thing back in the day. I have really fond memories of listening to his music on the way to the movies when I was a kid. My older brother, you see, had this friend Jason Finley who really loved Mix’s stuff. He had this really awesome surround sound system in his car so he’d blast Sir-Mix-a-Lot’s stuff all the time while we were heading out to see a movie or two. And what’s a better way to spend your time when you’re a kid in the early nineties? Going to a movie with Mix blasting and then going to Toys ‘R Us or Kaybees after that? Nothing can top that when you’re a kid.

But anyway…I really love Mix-a-Lot’s Iron Man song because the lyrics were just really cheesetastic, even for the time. I mean, he ACTUALLY HAS A LYRIC that goes like this: “Hate pet llamas, met Clint Eastwood slapped his momma!”

Errr…hate…pet…llamas? I mean, that’s the weirdest, goofiest rhyme I think I ever heard.

But yeah…I thought the song was great and then I saw…The Video!!!

Wow. That’s all I can say. Wow. For “early nineties nostalgia cheese” this is gold, Jerry, gold!

Nothing could ever be more awesome than the “Girlies in the house, watch your blouse” part of the video. Nothing.

Who are the Allens and why are they out of spice?

So I saw Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull today.

Okay, let me start off by saying I’m not like the other people who watch these movies. I, as a matter of fact, am probably the only straight guy I know who was never really into the Indiana Jones movies. I loved The Last Crusade but I always thought Raiders of the Lost Ark was boring as shit when I was a kid (I saw most of it again the other night and I still feel that way) and I’ve only seen bits and pieces of The Temple of Doom so no, I’m not a huge Indy fan overall. So I’m not a huge fan of the Indy movies but I still really love the character a lot and I do think the movies have a lot of great scenes that are a lot of fun to watch. I mean, who doesn’t love that part in ROTLA where Indy is pretty much like “Fuck this,” and he just shoots the master Swordsman? That was one of the only parts of that movie I really liked.

But anyway, I saw the new movie with an open mind because I wasn’t a diehard thinking “This has to be as good as the originals or I’ll never forgive Spielberg!” and I wasn’t a “I hate this gay shit anyway so this new movie will suck no matter what” kind of guy either.

So what are my thoughts on the new movie? (Spoilers ahead for the whiny “I can’t be spoiled!” people):

Well, I’m reminded of one of my favorite scenes in Roseanne.

Dan (John Goodman) comes home from work to see that Roseanne’s friend Nancy is crying in their living room. Dan asks “What’s wrong?” Roseanne hands Dan a note.

Dan’s silent for a minute as he studies the note. He glances up at Roseanne and asks

“Who are the Allens and why are they out of spice?”

(The joke is that Nancy’s husband Arnie (played by Tom Arnold) is an idiot and he couldn’t spell Aliens from outer space or write it out very well).

“Who are the Allens and why are they out of spice?” I don’t know why but I consider that one of the most hilarious things from Roseanne. The timing and the setup were just great. But anyway, I’m reminded of that exchange when I think about the new Indiana Jones movie. Aliens? I mean…seriously…Aliens? Why? For the love of God why? Aliens?

I mean, Indy’s friend Ox (spoilers ahead) explains “they’re not Aliens, they’re interdimensional beings” but…come on. We all know that they were aliens.

I can accept magic being a part of the Indy universe but…Aliens? To me that’s just too much even for an Indiana Jones film. I was also bothered by the fact that (spoiler) Indy’s dad died. That was like “wow, did the screenwriter even watch The Last Crusade?” How could Indy’s dad die if he was rendered immortal by drinking from the Holy Grail? I’d bitch more about that but that can be forgiven to an extent thanks in part to the explanation I found here.

So all in all I thought the movie was great and lousy at the same time if that’s even possible. It was great because I really loved the characters and the acting and I thought the action sequences were just as fun and exciting to watch as they were in the original films. And Karen Allen reprising her role? That was great. Karen Allen’s chemistry with Harrison Ford and the aforementioned “death of the swordsman” scene were the only things that really redeemed ROTLA for me so seeing her make a comeback in the new movie was really awesome. And it was (spoiler again) great to see Indy finally settle down and get married at the end. And Shia LaBeouf was a welcome addition to the cast. I, unlike a lot of other people, really actually like Shia LaBeouf as an actor and thought he was really entertaining (and that’s really something for me because I used to really hate his guts and was initially horrified when I found out he was cast in the first Transformers movie). I would definitely see Indy movies with his character as the lead.

So it was a great movie because of all the things I listed above but it was also really lousy because the story was crap. Utter crap. Aliens (final spoiler) posing as Gods was great in Stargate but it just doesn’t work at all for Indiana Jones. What’s next? Indy battles cyborgs? Clones, perhaps?

So all in all it’s a good movie if you love the characters and the actors but if you’re looking for a decent story than this one might even be worse than the Temple of Doom if that’s at all possible. I just don’t know what it is about Spielberg and his Aliens fetish. Shit. I wonder if he watches “Debbie does Area 51″ while he’s laughing over the fact that people pay $10 a head to watch his overrated movies.

We’re in the Impossible Business here…

One of the cool things about being a crack buyer is that I have a couple of friends who are in the “crack buying business” as well.

Anyway, this buddy of mine told me “You better get Stealth Bumblebee from a Collectibles show or online because he’ll never see retail release.”

“Why is that?” I ask. So my friend launches into an epic explanation that goes something like this: “Hasbro isn’t going to send the last waves of the Transformers movie line to retail stores because the retail stores have boxes and boxes and boxes of unsold Transformers toys in the back and Hasbro isn’t happy about that.”

Apparently my friend heard this from a vendor at this collectibles show he goes to every weekend. I, being the cynic that I am, pretty much said “I think the dude’s wrong. I’ve heard about people getting Stealth Bumblebee and the last figures in the Transformers movie line.” My friend, however, didn’t agree. It was almost as if he thought finding Stealth Bumblebee in the stores was an impossible mission along the lines of finding evidence that proves Michael Jackson is straight.

So I’m strolling through the Target the other night and…what happens? What do I see?

Yeah, that’s right. I found him. I mean, I don’t like to be an “I told you so” guy but, then again, I love to be an “I told you so” guy. I don’t know why. I guess I’m a jerk in that respect. I don’t know.

I don’t really blame my friend here or think he’s foolish for pretty much saying the mission was impossible. No, I blame the vendor and the other people online at different Transformers sites for perpetuating the “Hasbro won’t send the retail stores the last figures” rumor (and I’ve heard that rumor a couple of times now and there’s something about the sheer stupidity of it that just kind of annoys me).

So…yeah. Here at Transformers and Other Plastic Crack we aim to do the impossible. Name a figure in any of the latest Transformers line that’s impossible to find and I bet you I can probably get ‘em for you.

When it’s all said and done though I’m not going to be opening Stealth Bumblebee seeing as how I already have two variations of the 09 Camaro mold (Bumblebee and Cliffjumper) and I’d rather just take advantage of the good markup he’s getting on eBay someday and sell him there.

So Many Geeky Things to Write about…

And, as the lame expression goes, so little time.

So I moved into my new place. I said I’d have some photos of the new place and I usually do what I say I’m going to do so they’ll show up here eventually. Probably.

I also went to the Emerald City Comic Con this weekend and I felt that was worth blogging about here. This was my first ever comic convention but it was the second convention I’ve been to in my life (I went to a Star Trek Convention when I was in the fourth grade). Thankfully there weren’t as many freaky/creepy geek stereotypes there so I didn’t have to feel too weirded out (the full-on stereotypical “Comic Book Guy” kind of stereotypes just seriously freak me out for some reason and I’m really not kidding you there). The really cool thing about the convention was the fact that it gave me the opportunity to meet one of my heroes JMS (J. Michael Straczynski) and it gave me the chance to get a photo with Julie Benz (Darla from Buffy and Angel), one of my favorite actresses from the Buffyverse.

(More pics and info behind the cut)

Okay…well…that’s a little better…I…suppose…

Seibertron.com has some images of the Transormers Universe/Classics Prowl.

While he truly doesn’t live up to the awesome promo photo he’s better than the crapperiffic photos that were released a while back. As cool as he looks though:

I’m still reminded of how lackluster he looks once compared to the initial photos that were released a couple months ago.

I guess he’s still pretty much the most accurate G1 Prowl we’re going to see though so I’ll still buy him
when he’s released but I still can’t forget or forgive Hasbro for what could have been. Oh well. At least he’s more accurate than Jean Chaps Prowl.

As I’m sure George Takei would say…”My…God!”

So I have a week left at the current apartment and then we’re heading over to our new condo/house. That means I’ve been packing up the shit left and right and my room is in total disarray.

The living room is also turning into a crack warehouse of sorts:

And that’ just a small sample of what I have boxed. When I finish clearing my place out and setting up the new crack den I will have another update.

Moving and a (Possible) Moving Sale

So I’m going to be moving to a new apartment in a couple weeks so my bedroom/crack room is in total disarray. The nice thing about moving though is it will give me a chance to cut down on the plastic crack because I’ll be able to box the toys that I’m tired of up and have my dad take them back to my parents’ place after he stops by to help me move in a couple of weeks.

And I do have to say that I’ve really been looking forward to getting rid of some of the crap that’s just been cluttering up my room the past couple of years. There is, in fact, a small part of me actually considering sending pretty much everything to my parents’ place and just not having toys in my bedroom for the first time in five years or so. In the end though I think I’ll keep what I consider “the best of the best” up and on display and send everything else home. So what will I most likely keep around?

Well, I’ve been really getting into the Stargate SG-1 figures lately so I think I’ll be displaying those. I have a couple of them on the first shelf in my bookcase right now:

(I have more SG1 figures but I’m not going to remove them from their boxes until I move)

I’m also going to continue to display my MP Ultra Magnus as well as my MP Prime, Ultrazord and Megatigerzord:

And I’m also considering continuing my “Power Rangers and Ultimate Bumblebee displaying:”

Most of the other toys I have in my room will probably just be boxed up and sent to my parents’ place or remain in boxes in my new closet (I have a HUGE closet in the new place with closing doors so I can fit most of my toy boxes in there). Some stuff will be sold though. So what will I be selling? Well, if you’re into transformers…you’ll actually probably be disappointed. I’m considering selling my Marvel Legends “Build a Figure” Apocalypse as well as my Marvel Legends “Build a Figure” Sentinel.

The BAF Apocalypse and Sentinel (not pictured) are in excellent condition and have great joints as I only used them for display. If you’re interested leave me a comment here and I’ll get back to you about selling them to you. They go together or not at all though so the sale would be for Apocalypse and Sentinel for $80 (and that’s $80 all-together and not a piece). I’m also considering selling my Marvel Legends Mr. Sinister (again, not pictured) and my Marvel Legends Sasquatch (and the White Sasquatch variant) as well as some other Marvel Legends so leave a comment here or whatever if you’re interested in buying that crack from me.

But…yeah. As I said, everything is in disarray because of the cleaning and boxing stuff up so here’s a small example of the mess on my desk. And, sadly enough, the mess on my desk is just a small example of the giant mess in my room right now:

So…yeah. It’s going to be a new day for toys and toy space and toy displaying for me so you’re all welcome to follow this exciting journey with me if you want to.

Fuck…

Do you have a laptop? If so, do you ever have the keys stick? Well I’m going to do something nice for you here out of the kindness of my heart and give you some advice: Taking the spacebar out to clean it is probably not the greatest idea in the world.

I took the spacebar off of my laptop because I thought I could clean out the crap under the key that was causing it to stick. I’ve done it before with the other keys on my computer and I never had a problem snapping the keys back into place so I thought I could do that and things would be cool. So what happens when I unsnap the spacebar? I hear a snap when I unsnap the key but the snapping sound is a little more horrific like something just broke. So I basically end up with the key looking like this:

So I try to put the pieces back together and I realize that the bigger “white piece” has a broken tab and that my damn hands are too big to try to put everything back together again so I say “fuck it” and I decide to take it into the Geek Squad over at the Best Buy and see if I can get it repaired. I figure “They’ll easily fix it but they’ll probably give me an insane bill.”

So I begrudgingly take the pieces and the laptop over to Best Buy and they say “No, we can’t fix it here. We can send it to the manufacturers though.”

And here’s the thing: to replace the key they’d have to replace the keyboard and that would be $200-$300. So I just say “That would be too big of a pain in the ass” so I get an external keyboard. I buy a small flat Apple keyboard so I can still have room on my lap for the laptop and the keyboard and it’s cool but it’s really uncomfortable and it just pisses me off. So… yeah. Don’t do what I did folks.

It would be nice if I could just turn off the laptop keyboard and put the flat keyboard over that but apparently I can’t. I can try to take out the keyboard but somehow I get the feeling that would be a major pain in the ass and possibly fuck up my computer so I guess I’m just going to have to deal with being a little uncomfortable from time to time now if I want to actually have my laptop be a laptop.

What does this have to do with toy collecting, you might ask? Absolutely nothing. I just felt like venting and getting a little off-topic as I frequently do.

Wow! Universe Prowl is just so…just so…hey! Wait a minute. He actually…he actually…he actually sucks. Wow. I didn’t think he’d look that…look that…crappy.

I was always happy with my toys when I was a kid. I guess I had my “toy geek” blinders on. I never really noticed that the toys often looked bland compared to the “box/card art.” I didn’t really know what I know now.

And what do I know now? I know that most action figures look really crappy compared to their
prototypes. This isn’t anything new. This has been happening since action figures really started to get popular in the sixties and seventies. It’s just…I don’t know. I guess I didn’t realize how bad certain figures looked compared to their respective prototypes until the last Toybiz Marvel Legends hit the shelves a year or two ago. (I also noticed it with the cross-eyed Mr. Fantastic when the first Fantastic Four movie toys came out a couple of years ago but I really don’t want to get into how much that line really sucked.)

I’ve been collecting Transformers since the G1 era but I guess I never really realized how awesome the pictures of the toys looked compared to the actual products until I saw the pictures of Ultimate Bumblebee compared to the actual toy. I mean, the toy was cool and all and I actually consider it to be the holy grail of the movie series but it just doesn’t really live up to the amazing pics we all saw over the summer.

So what’s the point of all this ranting on my part? Well? I just saw some OOP pics of Universe Prowl and…wow. I can’t put my finger on just what is off on this figure compared to the amazing box art shot we got a while back but…I don’t know. It just looks really crappy.

So judge for yourselves and tell me if I’m wrong or right here. Here’s the prototype pic..

Compared to the actual toy:

Granted these are pretty small photos but…I don’t know. After seeing this HORRIBLE picture of an actual Universe Prowl figure a month or two ago I really don’t have high hopes that the Universe line will really look as great as the prototypes.

See, I would be fine with the final toys not looking as great as the prototypes if that ends up happening. It doesn’t bother me that the toys don’t really look that much like the prototypes right now. It’s the fact that they really don’t look ANYTHING NEAR as detailed or as cool as the prototypes that gets to me. Minor tweaks from the prototypes here and there are okay and are expected but…to photoshop (and I’m about 90% sure they used photoshopped colors on the prototype picture at this point) a picture and make us all think that’s what we’re going to end up with…I don’t know. That’s just a really insulting and fucked up thing for Hasbro to do to the collectors in my opinion. Instead of writing the “Final products may vary” thing next to the photos they may as well write “FINAL PRODUCTS WILL LOOK LIKE CRAPPY ‘World’s Smallest Transformers’ KOs and you are looking at a photoshopped picture now you stupid dumbass” next to any pictures they publish in toy magazines.

I mean…don’t get me wrong…I’ll probably end up buying Universe Prowl. It’s just…just once I would like to get a really articulated and detailed Prowl that really accurately represents the way the character looked in the original series. I thought it would happen with the Alternators Prowl after seeing how awesome the Binaltech version looked but…nope. We ended up with the weird color scheme for Prowl’s legs that made him look like “jean chaps” Prowl” in the end. Damn Hasbro. I think it’s almost always going to be Takara>Hasbro for me.

Cliffjumper! Cliffjumper! As the Good Lord as my Witness…It’s Cliffjumper!!!

So we went to see Run Fat Boy Run tonight and then we hit the local comic book store after that. I was looking for some Stargate figures and I noticed they had what is, for me, the Holy Grail of Transformers movie toys in a lonely open box sitting off in a corner.

That’s right, I found All-Spark Cliffjumper. Now, I’m not an idiot here. I’m smart enough to realize he’s just a repaint of the ‘09 Camaro but that doesn’t matter to me because he’s a repaint made to resemble one of the most awesome Transformers characters of all-time. I (and I’m sure I said this a couple times before) normally hate repaints but I really love repaints when they’re made to resemble awesome Autobots like Ultra Magnus and Cliffjumper.

I can almost hear Kasem as I look the toy over: “You callin’ me a repaint, punk?” Let me at ‘em Prime!”

And Cliffjumper is probably my my favorite character in the Transformers universe next to Ultra Magnus, Ironhide and Megatron (G1 Megatron). He’s the surlier and more kick-ass Bumblebee if you ask me (Cliffjumper and Bumblebee transformed into different vehicles in the G1 cartoon but their robot forms where nearly identical). I always loved his kick-ass got more guts than brains attitude and it’s just hilarious how he could just pull out a giant gun out of nowhere and then still manage to miss Megatron regardless of the fact THAT HE HAD A SCOPE

I also thought that Casey Kasem did an awesome job with the voice acting so I think that added to Cliffy’s awesomeness. He sounded like a pussy when he did Shaggy and Robin but he somehow managed to make Cliffjumper sound like a major badass. Not as big of a bad-ass as Cullen’s Prime or Welker’s Megatron but it was a really cool tone for the little bot nonetheless.

Anyway, expect some more detailed photos of Cliffjumper in the future. While I doubt I’ll do a full on review, I will definitely make a gallery page for him because he really is one of the better movie toys even if he is just a repaint.

By the way, if you can tell me which overexcited (and over the top) announcer I make fun of in the titles of most of my posts I will give you the Sean No-Prize.

Yes, Scalpers exist. They exist even in a place like Oly…

So I got some insider information about the Iron Man movie figures a couple of days ago and I found out that they were going to be released today. So I went to the TRU a little earlier tonight and I found the big Iron Man display but the display had been raped pretty thoroughly. Seriously. It really looked like someone just went right to the display and bought everything. And it didn’t look like it was a kid or a collector. No, it looked like it was the work of a scalper who knew what he or she was doing. Luckily there was still one of each figure from the first series in the display so I was able to get all three Iron Men (he has three different suits of armor in the movie) plus a “quick change” version where you see Robert Downey Jr’s face and I got what I’m assuming is the villain of the piece (this robot suit called the “Iron Monger”).

Not Goin’ Anywhere

I’m not like your standard geeky twenty-six year old Transformers collectors. Well…I am. But…I’m not, if that makes any sense.

I am like your standard geeky adult collectors because…well…I’m an adult who collects Transformers toys but I’m not like your standard collectors because I, as you may or may not have noticed, don’t take it too seriously. There’s nothing worse than seeing some fat geek on Youtube doing a deathly serious review of a children’s toy. Seriously. If you can name something more pathetic than that I would like to see it.

I, in other words, have a somewhat self-deprecating sense of humor about collecting toy robots. I find the humor in it and I’m secure enough to admit how geeky and sad collecting can be at times.

I, as you know, am not the only guy on the ‘net that’s like that though. The king of the self-deprecating humor involving collecting toy robots has to be Nala, the guy who runs Plastic Crack. The sad thing is though, Nala very well could be done with his site and collecting in general.

I have to say that really sucks because Nala’s self-deprecating approach to collecting makes “adult collecting” seem less geeky and/or creepy and his presence will surely be missed. As I’ve said many times before, the humorous and upbeat style in which he wrote his posts inspired me to create this blog and I’m sorry to see that he very well may be burnt out on collecting.

But don’t worry folks…I’m not going anywhere. Granted, I don’t collect as much as I used to but I still collect often enough to justify working on this site. So no worries, my fellow geeks, there are still collectors out there who can find humor in the bizarre and immature and yet entertaining world of “adult collecting.”

It’s not the amount of toys you have it’s what toys you have (or) There’s something people probably don’t realize when they see this site..

Every once in a while I’ll hear from someone who likes me or this site. It’s kind of like when a woman finds Michael Jackson attractive. It’s incredibly rare, but it does happen.

Anyway, the thing that people are always shocked to hear is that I actually don’t own very many Transformers or have an extensive collection.

When I was a kid my brother and I had almost every single G1 figure that was out there but over time we either broke them, lost them, sold them, gave them away or just threw them out. So we are, for the most part on our “second dynasties” right now (mine started in 2000 and I think my brother’s started this summer).

To me though it’s not about how many Transformers you have. It’s about what Transformers you have. I mean, would anyone really be that impressed if you had two hundred or so Transformers but they were all Armada and (new) movie figures and crappy repaints? Uh…not…really.

And that’s the thing. My collection’s not like that. I don’t have that many transformers but the ones I do have are what are considered some of the best transformers out there. I mean, I have Masterpiece Prime (the 2004 Prime and not the cheap-ass 2006 DVD version), Masterpiece Megatron, Masterpiece Starscream, Brave fuckin’ Maximus, Masterpiece Ultra Magnus, ‘08 Bumblebee, Trypticon (in C8+ condition as well), Metroplex (also in C8+ condition) G2 Prime, the Japanese exclusive Galvatron reissue, SDCC Rodimus and a few others here and there that are rare and well-respected figures.

So, as I said, I look at it that way when the geekier and snobbier Transformers collectors try to give me a hard time. It doesn’t happen that often but it does happen. I usually silence them after I ask them if they have a MP Magnus or Brave Maximus though.

I guess what got me thinking about all of this was this post Nala made over at Plastic Crack (the hilarious and bad-ass site that inspired me to make this site) that discussed this eBay auction where this dude is selling over 1,000 Transformers. That got me thinking about how big-ass collections don’t really impress me that much anymore because having all the Armada through New Movie stuff is like, to paraphrase Waiting, “being the smartest person with Down Syndrome.”

But…yeah. If someone owned all the G1 figures from the start of the series up until they stopped making the Headmasters…that’s an impressive collection. But owning damn near everything just doesn’t wow me like it once would because the Transformers have had some shitty toylines through the years. I mean, there were a couple of cool toys here in there over the years but nothing’s been great since G1. The only lines that really come close are the Classics line and the MP line. The rest of the stuff is just hit or miss or just too stupid to buy. Why anyone would buy everything is beyond me.

Lost Boys! Lost Boys! My God! The Lost Boys are back!!!

So I was checking out Superherohype today and I saw a link to the Incredible Hulk trailer at MTV.com. So I watched the trailer and I thought that looks so much better than Iron Man and Batman (and they look pretty awesome as well so that’s a pretty bold statement on my part). I couldn’t help but think There’s nothing that can top this trailer and then I see a link to a Lost Boys trailer and I think Is this an ad for a special edition of the DVD when…fuck yeah! The Feldster introduces the trailer to THE FUCKING SEQUEL!!!

Now this has me in complete and utter fucking SHOCK. I mean, it’s the fucking Lost Boys, one of the greatest movies of the 80s and we’re finally seeing the sequel! My sister and I have waited about nineteen years for Warner to get off their asses and do a sequel and they finally fucking did it!!! And to top it all off…BOTH OF THE COREYS ARE IN IT!!!

I mean, I know both of those actors are pretty cheestastic but still…to have both of them be in the sequel…I was in geek paradise.

But…yeah. I kept thinking about the trailer the rest of the night and thinking about how much ass this movie is going to fucking kick when it comes out this summer! My God this is great news. I think this is even better than that day I found out that Perfect fuckin’ Strangers is now out on DVD (and I’m seriously not being sarcastic).

But…yeah. Here is the trailer: revel in it’s awesomeness. I could watch it seven or eight more times tonight I think.

Ultrazord! Ultrazord! By God it’s the Ultrazord!

So I finally got a Titanus figure earlier this week. It’s been about thirteen years but I finally got one. And that means…

Ultrazord time motherfuckers!!!

Finally getting the Ultrazord really means something to me. Story time folks…

Master Chief! Master Chief! Master Chief! Master Chief! And…er…White…Master Chief!

So I saw 10,000 BC tonight and I thought it was great. A trillion times better than that overrated piece of crap 300 movie.

But…I digress. We went to our local comic book store after the movie and I saw that they had most of the toys from the McFarlane Halo series. While I think some of the monsters and Cortana are cool the toys that really stood out where Master Chief and the two other Spartans. So…in the end…I bought Master Chief and the White Spartan. The red spartan looked really awesome but considering the fact that these guys were all going for $16.99 a piece I just decided to stick with the white spartan and Master Chief. These guys are pretty awesome and I’m really digging them so far and I was happy to get them. I’d like to get a couple more of these guys sometime down the road.

 

Ultra Magnus! Ultra Magnus! Ultra Magnus!

So I was walking through the Target the other week when I saw Nightwatch Prime Ultra Magnus.

I’m not big on buying the endless re-releases of the  Leader Prime movie mold but I had to buy Nightwatch Prime because this is as close as we’re going to get to an Ultra Magnus toy in the movie toy line. And I’m calling this guy Ultra Magnus. I don’t care if the box says Nightwatch Prime. We all know this is really Ultra Magnus with that color scheme.

And Movie Ultra Magnus is pretty badass so far. If you like Ultra Magnus you should definitely buy this guy before the fuckers scalpers do.

 

You can almost hear Robert Stack now…“I am just a repaint, Prime.”

 

So I’m not big on repaints but this guy has to be one of the coolest repaints ever. Until Hasbro decides to do a movie Magnus repaint of Prime, this guy will be considered Ultra Magnus in my book. Expect a review of this guy sometime soon as I do think he is more or less the “Holy Grail”of the movie stuff so far.

Megazord! Megazord! My God it’s the Megazord!

As you may or may not have noticed, I am indeed a Power Ranger fan (and yes, I do know that puts me on the lower levels of geekdom). Don’t get me wrong though, I do realize how cheesy the show can be so I don’t take it too seriously.

I’m not one of those kinds of diehards that’s “seen every incarnation of the series and has never missed an episode.” I followed the series from the second season of MMPR until the second season of Lost Galaxy (the worst incarnation of the Power Rangers) and then I pretty much retired until I found out that Tommy (the original Green and White Ranger) was going to return to action in Dino Thunder.

I still watch Power Rangers if they have a theme or set of Megazords I find interesting but no, I don’t watch every incarnation of it anymore. It just doesn’t have that campy sense of fun anymore where you know the writers/producers/actors aren’t trying to take it too seriously and I really missed that camp after the writers tried to make it into an angsty, melodramatic, sci-fi superhero serious around the time In Space made it’s debut (In Space is another awful and overrated incarnation of the Power Rangers in my opinion).

But I digress. I, as I stated above, am not a major diehard PR fan but I will watch a series if I like the themes and/or the suit designs and Megazords. And this year’s Power Rangers are looking pretty awesome so far. The newest incarnation of the Power Rangers is called “Jungle Fury” and it’s going to be making its debut tomorrow night. The toys that have been released for the series really caught my attention and it got me interested in PR again for the first time in four years or so. So the other day I decided to pick up the Jungle Fury Megazord and I’m pretty happy with him so far.

Expect a review sometime down the road along with a couple of reviews of other toys I’ve been meaning to review. And for all you Transformers fans out there…don’t worry. I still have more transformers stuff to review. The next review, as a matter of fact, is a toy I consider my “holy grail” from the movie line.

What Does Martin Luther King Day mean to Me?

So today was MLK Jr Day.

Now, I know when people think of MLK Jr Day they think of racial integration and possible peace and things like that. Either that or they think about getting the day off. I don’t know.

You know what I think of when I think of MLK Jr Day? I think of The Mutiny the saga that introduced Lord Zedd to the Power Rangers universe. Why? Story time once again.

Lord Zedd = what potentially could have been the most bad-ass Villain in Power Rangers history. Damn Rita.

So I was in the seventh grade when I got into Power Rangers (this was when it was in the height of season two). By that time Tommy was the White Ranger, Rocky, Aisha and Adam had replaced Jason, Trini and Zack and Zedd was about to marry Rita.

So getting into the show so late in the second season I missed the eps where Tommy was the Green Ranger, Jason, Trini and Zack were still members of the team and they commanded Megazord (as opposed to the Thunder Megazord they had in season two).

So The Mutiny mini-series was really awesome and it really helped bring me up to speed on what was going on in the world of Power Rangers and I still think it stands out as being one of the most awesome story arcs they did on any of the Power Rangers shows.

Now what does this have to with toys? Nothing at all.

I just thought I would post a couple videos here because The Mutiny is the first thing I think about when I think about MLK Jr. Day/

 

So, for you viewing pleasure, here is the entire Mutiny arc. Enjoy and have a happy MLK Jr Day (what’s left of it anyway). And…yes. I know there are cooler things I can post about and that this is about as geeky as it can get. I don’t care though. Nostalgia is what it’s all about.

“I’ll be Bach and you can be Amadeus”

So I saw the pilot of The Sarah Jane Chronicles and I have to say I really like what I’m seeing so far.

I knew that it would be better than T3 (of course to me even Batman and Robin is better than T3) but I wasn’t sure it would be (almost) as good as the first two movies.

All around the acting is really solid, the production values are really good and the effects are surprisingly decent when you consider how horrible they could look with a TV budget as opposed to a movie budget.

Plus…Summer Glau as the Terminator = major awesomeness. I was kind of “eh” to the idea of the “Firefly chick” stepping into Arnie’s shoes but I think she’s a refreshing change.

My only complaint so far has to be against the random and forgettable actor they had as the T-800 (at least I think he was a T-800). What a boring and generic kind of Terminator. They should be looking more for guys like Batista from the WWE to play Terminators.

All around though I give it an A- (would have been a solid A or A+ if the villain wasn’t so lame) and I think it’s worth checking out (based on the excellence of the pilot anyway).

You want to know what’s fun about going to the Airport? Nothing.

So…yeah. We had all kinds of problems getting my sister to the airport today. (We also had issues picking up our friend George as well).

But…on the plus side, I did get the two new Marvel Legends 360 figures (Spidey and ‘Gobs respectively). While they still aren’t as good as the Toybiz Marvel Legends figures they’re still better than the standard 6” figures.

Gobs is total love though. I mean, where else are you going to see a Green Goblin figure this incredibly detailed?

Spidey’s cool too but not as cool as he could have been. All in all though these are pretty cool toys and they were late Christmas presents so I can’t really complain too much. Expect a more detailed review soon.

Medicom Spider-Man review

So I finished my Medicom Spider-Man Review. As I said, this review of the Medicom Spider-Man is different from 99.99% of the other reviews of this guy because I actually address the main issue with the older Medicom figures that guys like Michael Crawford are afraid to discuss and that is…

…they break faster than $2 Optimus Prime KOs from Guatemala.

That’s not to say they’re horrible and worthless. On the contrary, they’re actually quite cool. “$60 cool” but not “$150 cool.”

“How dare you make fun of my Manhattan Mullet?”

Apparently the “breaking issues” with the older Medicom figures are pretty common and you can find entire forums devoted to discussing how much Medicom figures actually suck if you Google search long enough (and I include links to these forums in the review) but do guys like Crawford talk about that issue? Nope. He just recommends you spend the big bucks on the overrated crap.

Anyway, you can find the review here. Agree or disagree with my final assessment? Leave a comment here and let me know what you think.