The March to 400

I currently have 351 Transformers.  It's...a low number to most people.  And by most people, I mean most Transformers collectors.  I consider it a large amount because my collection is essentially all G1, Masterpiece, and Classics/Generations.  There are the odd Beast Wars figures or Robots in Disguise figures, but those were all given to me as gifts by various people who were like "Hey, he likes Transformers, that's a Transformer,  I should get that for him.  He'll like that."  It's not that I hate anything that's not G1, I'm just not interested in anything other that G1 figures.  I liked Beast Wars/Machines.  Everything after that...meh.  

Anyway, I have 351 Transformers, by my count.  Recently, I've had doubts about how to count my collection.  I know that when I'm counting, Slapdash and Lube only count as one.  I know that Quig and Siren count as one.  But does Cerebros count as a separate Transformer from Fortress Maximus?  I say no.  With the Twincast reissue, are Stripes and Nightstalker separate?  I say yes.  I've yet to actually ask around to see how everyone else counts their collections.

You know, I like nice even numbers and 400 is a nice even number.  My goal was to get to 400 by the end of the year, but then I realized that I have a wife and three kids.  That combined with the fact that the ones that I want are fairly expensive on the secondary market.  So I've given myself a new deadline of the end of next year.  That should give me plenty of time.  Anyway, three weeks ago, I had 341 Transformers, so I guess that means I've added to the collection.  We'll do a quick rundown of what I bought.

This is Encore Twincast, Encore reissue #22.  I'm starting with this since this is the last delivery I got.  I never owned the real Twincast since he was a Japan only release at a time when I didn't even know Japan had their own line.  I do have the eHobby release from a few years ago, however. The different face deco is nice, but just like everyone else, it seems, I only made this particular purchase for Nightstalker and Stripes.  It's nice to have more cassettes (Recordicons?) for Blaster/Twincast.  But just as I was getting my numbers even on the Autobot versus Decepticon cassette wars, this happened...

That's right, a Soundblaster release!  I already owned the book-style release from a few years ago, but just like Twincast, I got him for Wingthing and Enemy.  I really don't have much to say about him.

My next purchase was the Encore Skids release.  I remember really wanting him as a kid one day at Mervin's department store, but my parents wound up buying me a Constructicon or something.  I then promptly forgot about him.  So did the TV show and comic.  Once he was reissued in the book-style reissues Takara did, I had no interest in him.  Hell, I still don't.  I really only got him to get my numbers up.  Once I got him, I became oddly fascinated with him.  He's just so, so, weird looking.  He actually has one of the better head sculpts for that era, in my opinion, at least.  The rest of him is pure brick.  I mean even for a G1 guy, he has no articulation.  At least Bluestreak and Prowl can bend their arms.  It's an impossibility to move this guy's anything.  I mean his arms move at the shoulders, but that's it.  I still like him even though I can't really explain why.

Next we have Trailbreaker.  For years I've always wanted him.  I mean years.  The cartoon really made me want him.  He never did anything in the comics that I can remember.  I waited until the Encore reissue because I bought the Hasbro Hoist reissue and that thing sucked.  He was ugly.  So ugly that he ruined me on ever getting a Trailbreaker.  Luckily, I'm in the middle of trying to get to 400, so I got this guy.  He's pretty sweet for a G1 figure.  I never realized that he had the missiles on his back like that.  For a G1 guy, he's pretty sweet and I'm glad that I got him.

Now we have the eHobby release of Ironhide, Protector edition.  I've never bothered with all of the eHobby stuff with the exception of the Twincast reissue.  It's something that I've always kind of regretted.  I missed out on the Hound, Blitzwing, Insecticon and Perceptor redecos simply because at the time my train of thought was that they were just redecos and I never considered them canon.  To be honest, if TfSource
didn't have him for $19.99, I probably wouldn't have bought him.  I mean, he's just Ironhide.  In black.  He's not even a different character.  So there's that.

This is the final addition to my collection, MP-10, Masterpiece Optimus Prime.  I love this guy.  I was a little ticked off that Takara was releasing yet another Optimus Prime, but this guy is freaking awesome.  He stands so much more easily than the first Optimus and he even comes with a trailer!  And Roller!  And Spike!  And his 'bot mode looks so much better!  One of the reasons that I waited so long after he was released was that he was $250 at BBTS.  The other reason was that I thought my wife was going to buy him for me.  That never happened and I started to get nervous.  Like spikes in the stomach nervous.  I kept thinking that the price would jump on this guy as happened with Masterpiece Thundercracker and Ultra Magnus.  So I got him, and I swear, I will never regret that decision.

I know I didn't really go into a lot of detail with my purchases, but I'm not a reviewer.  I'm just writing about my newest purchases.  Can I keep getting what averaged out to two Transformers a week?  I wish.  If that were the case, I'd move my deadline up.  This was a fluke, but I'm sure I'll reach my goal by the end of 2013.  Then I can start on Japanese only guys like Artfire and Raiden.  Hopefully, it won't take me over a month to come up with the time to write something else.