If anyone went to AA from up north and has gone home tonight I hope you get back ok. Weather really shocking for well over an hours driving.

Fun day but tiring after that drive!

 

Yeah, got heavy rain and thunderstorms here, not been to AA though but safe driving guys.

 

I had been on Kapow but everything I seemed to want was sold out.
I'm after Wheeljack, Prowl, Sideswipe and Rodimus Prime.

Don't suppose you could point me in the right direction?

 

Fooking horrendous drive back but I dropped the Sweeny back to his wife before picking up a microwave curry for 1. How dare my wife not be home to cook me food when I've been out living robits all day.

Was a good AA, great to meet Loosecannon, Stevil, Maz, Tikgnat, Scuba and t'rest of the southern contingent. Managed to come away with a lovely PM Prime - I've had 2 in the past but always sold them on, so nice to welcome him back to the G1 shelf. We'll see how long he lasts this time...

 

Still really loving this one.




Played with a few options for this one.

 

Well, TFS Express has (or at least did have) some unboxed MP Rodimus' on the way. They seem to come from a batch that were put on sale in Asia earlier this year. Some will argue they are KOs but my belief is that they are Takara factory rejects that will likely have some sort of defect that will possibly - but not definitely - be fixable. Those aside, however, you're going to struggle to find older Masterpieces in stock at UK stores.

There aren't any known/confirmed KOs of Rodimus out there, though, so eBay should be safe.

There are also lots of good overseas sellers you can go for - Chimingmung, Hobby Link Japan, Anime Export. Even TFSource, Big Bad Toy Store, The Chosen Prime, Robot Kingdom, Captured Prey are worth a look, although postage will sting.

Also well worth checking on the sales threads on these boards. Have picked up several bargains here myself and folk generally are friendly and helpful.

As for the MP cars, here the issue of KOs does arise. Most eBay listings for KOs will state they are just that, and the majority of the time listings described as non-KO will most likely not be. But there's always a risk.

What is worth thinking about though is that the KOs of the cars are actually really good. I don't have a huge number of KOs in my collection but the MP cars are among them (as well as Soundwave's cassettes) and generally the quality is really, really good. I got KO Wheeljack recently as he's genuinely excellent. My KO Prowl is virtually perfect, too. Sideswipe and the Lambo molds are a bit more of a gamble, ranging from excellent to good, but recent ones in my experience are really very decent, certainly better than the earliest ones to hit the market.

In my opinion the slight quality hit on the MP cars is worth it for the cost savings. You may or may not have a moral problem with KOs, of course. Lots of folk on these boards do and that's understandable - they rip-offs of another company's work, in the same way that third party bots are rip offs of other company's IP (although with original engineering). But that's an entirely personal call.

 

Finally made a start on my CW Breakdown to Lockdown repaint; alas, a few of my gw paints have congealed - 1 is completely bloody solid! Hopefully some of them can be salvaged with a bloody good stir with a bamboo skewer!

 

This was fun.

 

I use Kapow a lot, particularly for 3P stuff, but most main MPs I often order through Anime Export. They have three of your four in stock now.

 

such heroic nonsense

 

Napalm - have you heard yet about the job? Fingers crossed.

Cha Chi - I don't know why I haven't opened these toys. My marriage, flat, then house, then garden, then cat, and job got in the way of me indulging being a seven-year-old.

Right, some more mini-reviews of mini-guys...

PCC Salvage - I am an unashamed fan of PCC Commanders. Leadfoot, Smolder and Sledge all do a banging job, Undertow not so much, and this bulbous blue bot even less.

I like the unique sculpt and alt mode, but can I get it to stay together? Nope. There is no way.

I'm not an idiot. The hinge at the hips obtrudes too far to get the back of the legs flush. This is an absolute killer for a transforming toy: Not transforming.

However, the blue's lovely, the little fella (Bomb-Burst) is a red sack of eight-barrel-blasting joy, the engine block head is great and there's nothing to fault on the bot.

It's great to have a toy in my hand where every joint is factory stiff out of the box. It's just this toy isn't great. If only I could get the alt mode to lock in, this would be another small-scale winner.

Bonus: His limbless horror mode has the exact head of a hell-dog from Ghostbusters. Playa can't hate on that.

BONUS ROUND
CW Viper - just handed to me by Mrs IronicHide, back from Singapore. Take that, Hasbro UK distribution.

Welp, better than not-Powerglide. Just too small to be my Powerglide.

But sod my stupid brainhole. Powerglide is nearby, Viper is far away.

It's almost Cobra Commander, it has two and a half blinding modes, everything clips in where it should and stays there.

It's got one wobbly ball-joint and one wonky pin, but is tight as the Chinese Government internet firewall compared to Glider. Or HFTD Grapple.

DOTM Hatchet - winner, winner, pouch of poultry in jelly dinner.

It's a goddamned cat which turns into a jet. It's got more moving parts and possibility of positioning in it's legs than the entirety of the afterthought in green plastic that is Guzzle.

It's styled like HR Geiger's personal leopard. It has three joints and a slide in its tail alone. It has missiles which themselves transform into shoulder-mounted guns.

It has an extra flap on the arm to hide them away better in jet mode.

It's all black & gold, like an expensive box of chocolates.

It's about a quarter of the mass of Sandstorm, sure, but it was about a quarter of the price (thanks, Asda, four years ago).

It can stand on a foot and hand.

If it was actually in scale (shut up, brainhole), around voyager size, it would clearly be the best TF toy I own.

As it is, I'm making a pride of place that looks like the back of my display if I squint. In it is Hatchet, with Viper nearby.

HFTD Sunspot - is probably going to join them if I'm feeling frisky.

Custard & cream colouring is my jam, particularly because it robs the wing-robed cyclops wielding set-square-sickles of a lot of menace.

Like if Jimmy Kranky tried to mug you.

It's not great. Looking at the alt-mode from any angle except directly above shows a lot of robot. I don't like the weapons, or the kinda-parts-forming, but am impressed at the way they fit into the wings.

And what is with the spring-loaded feet. Now I can only get the robot to stand if it's in a pose like he's just followed through on a guff.

Maybe he has. His bio suggests it.

Rounding up the scouts so far:

Hatchet (simply better than two-thirds of the voyagers I've opened)
Viper (crying 'Cobra!' while my wife beats the lack of Wave 4 bumps it up a place or two)
Breakdown
Shrapnel
Beachcomber
Sunspot (mango-yoghurt-flavour nonsense)
Undertow (an intriguing novelty, nothing more, like Tool covering the Thunder In Paradise theme)
Guzzle
Powerglide
Salvage (son, I am monster-truck disappoint)

Those of you at / returning from the last AA ever while I had to clean my garden - hope you had a great day, you animal molesters.

 

Thank you for the reply, it sounds better than your previous post suggested. I've had a few business ventures and each has failed and lost me money, on one occasion quite a lot of money. So I take my hat off to you for persevering, and I wish you well.

The blogging and reviews sounds good. I quite like the idea of writing reviews, but I have zero ability at filming or taking decent photographs, so alas I would find it difficult to help you there.

You clean your garden too? I was out hoovering mine last weekend  

 

Good enough

For you

Its good enoug

Its good enougghghghg for me aieieieieieieieieie yayayay

 

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey uuououo gysyssssssssssssssssssssssssssss!

Chunkkkjg

 

Screww thius drinlkk pub

floor

 

Right, chimungmung is good for two of those and Tony will mark the value appropriately and ship ems if you want (ems is well worth it but that's my personal preference)

Sideswipe is being re released, pre order from kapow or tfs-express and be patient for a few weeks.

If you want to go the ko route then the best UK seller I have tried is crown services on eBay or their sister eBay company easyhelpful. Prices a bit higher than China direct but they arrive in a couple of days and any issues, they usually just send you another. All mine have been spot on from them and any niggles sorted with minimal hassle. These ones also usually come with the free gift ko and over all quality is as close as you get for a ko to the original. I am cheating on some MPs with ko as stand ins until I eventually replace them all with Takara.

Rodimus in my opinion is not worth it for what it will cost you, but I must stress that is my opinion. Consider dx9 carry instead until they reissue rodimus in 18 months or so.

 

tthe secret to success, whether it's women or money is knowing when to quit. I oughta know - I'm divorced and broke.

WHAT A SHOW*

,MISAMAMI VICE


RUN WITH US!

Cyril mutherclubckin sneer

 

Specifically - Wheeljack for about £58 here, Prowl about £50 here.

 

Annnnd back from AA. Firstly, no offence to any Brummies (sorry Brum Bot) but fuck Birmingham. The satnav on the courtesy car had no idea where we were going (it took us to a retail park in Birmingham to begin with) then basically couldn't get us out through Birminghams bullshit roads. Then it turns out the Metropole hotel was a further half an hour away! Nightmare.

AA itself, well events were thin on the ground, but it was an opportunity to hang out with all the London Pubers, but in another city. Basically hung around with a bunch of TFWers for lunch, trawled around for toys I didn't even know I wanted and thanks to some keen eyes on my part and a fantastic heads up by everyone else I have come away with (I feel) a very satisfying haul.



Real Gear Wire Tap 320.
Spider-man Jumpstarter (doing this collecting thing all wrong!)
Legends Leo Prime, Onslaught and Bumblebee from Returner,
Not in the Eye book from CZ Hazard... wierdly not in the picture. Hmm.
Classics Deluxe Optimus Prime
Complete G2 Laser Optimus Prime for £30 (which now means my Optimus Prime collection is pretty much complete. No Hot Toys James),
Micromaster Off Road Team
Micromaster Powertrain, to replace the broken Powertrain in the team,
Micromaster Race Track Patrol
Micromaster Countdown, MIB Complete for £50!
3P Headmaster Soundblaster and Nemesis Prime.
Sushi Robot.
Signed Simon Furman poster on his and Geoff Seniors new project, (he actually knows me as 'the Dragons Claws guy'. I am pleased.)
Transformers The Complete Works pt 2
Thundercats Collected Comic
Convention gumph.
I also joined a raffle for a Spark Blue Music Label Soundwave for a fiver. Why not take a punt eh?

And it was all less than £200, because that was my budget for the entire day, which included Diesel (the fuel not the toy), Lunch, parking etc etc. So yeah, it was a fantastic day, meeting and hanging out with some lovely people and talking and talking.

My throat is gonna be sore tomorrow.

Awesomesauce. Toys must wait until tomorrow. It's been a long drive.

 

It's completely normal. I hoovered mine today matter of fact. Daughter jumped on the almost dead bean bag and popped it, beans spilling everywhere. Rather than let the beans compost radioactively poisoning the slugs over the next 40 years i thought just hoover them up. It was abit dicey for a moment with flashbacks of when we first bought the beans at Dunelms, beans blowing all over the retail park car park. It was like some kind saturday night gameshow where they give you a bag full of beans so big it doesn't actually fit inside a normal car, then they laugh at you as you try and figure out how to fit in.

Ironic, fair enough. I think you really earned your mega opening sessions.