Dinobot Island

This has been a tough couple of weeks. I was going to get the three Dinobots that I didn't own, but wanted to wait until Isaac passed to order them, being worried about them getting lost in the mail. Well, I waited so long that the perfect Swoop I was watching got scooped out from me on eBay. Since I wanted to get Slag, Snarl and Swoop all at once, I was at a loss on what to do because I wanted more Transformers. All of the other Swoops I found were either potential K.O.s or had loose joints. Nothing but the best for Swoop. After two weeks, the seller who I was going to get Slag and Snarl from got a Swoop that was acceptable.

I kind of overpaid for all three of these guys, but I wanted to make sure that they all tight joints and were real. I do have a few questions, however. All three of them have just Takara 1980-1984 stamps on them. Slag's missile launcher shoots like a Takara version, but Snarl and Swoop seem to have the neutered launchers. Does this sound right? Did the Hasbro run have just the Takara stamp, or did I luck into Takara versions?

This is my second Slag. I still have the first one I got from that drunk kid lo those many years ago, but he wound up disintegrating. As soon as I picked him up ten years ago, the Triceratops head and tail just came off. Repair was not an option. Then again, all I had for that Slag was his gun, so I needed a complete one anyway.

The thing that I love most about Slag is that he's a Triceratops. Back when I entertained the idea of becoming a paleontologist, the Triceratops was always my favorite and that just translated to my love of Slag. Just look at that dinosaur mode. Lovely.

The second thing I like about Slag is the missile launcher. The thing I never really liked about the Dinobots were the handheld missile launchers. I'm more of a fan of shoulder mounted launchers, and while you can't mount Slag's to his shoulder, it does mount on his arm. And it rotates! Cool.

Swoop was one of my holy grails. I had never owned one, and all previous attempts had ended in either lost auctions, fear of K.O.s, or bad conditioned figures. He's just one of those fragile figures that are hard to find in decent condition. His wings are fragile and he has an insane amount of chrome. Add in the glut of K.O.s and you have a headache trying to find one.

"Swoop want good part!"

He's small, smaller than I would've imagined. I knew he was small, but damn. Thankfully, he's awesome, so that makes up for the petiteness of this figure. Maybe my excitement to finally have a Swoop in my hands after 27 years has something to do with it.

I'm actually afraid to handle Swoop because I'm worried that I'll break him. He's a beautiful figure. I can't believe that I waited 27 years to purchase this guy. There isn't any one thing that really stands out about him, but just looking at him, I'm impressed. He certainly has a simple transformation. A lot simpler than I would have imagined.

What can I say about Snarl? He's huge, for starters. His bulk is fitting for a Stegosaur. Snarl also comes with a rocket launcher that can be mounted on his leg while in Stegosaur mode. Transformation was a bit if a nice surprise - he's a waist twister! That makes Snarl a member of a great club that includes my beloved Datsuns like Bluestreak.

Snarl's spring loaded fists were another surprise. I pulled down his rear feet and out came the fists. I'm not complaining as I think that's neat. He's tall, taller than Grimlock. Just looking at him, Snarl is imposing, which suits his function as a desert warrior just fine.

Overall, I'm extremely impressed with these purchases. Finally after a long wait I have what were at one point the most popular Transformers on the planet. Now I just need to build an island diorama to display them.  Sorry about the poor picture quality, I couldn't find my camera so I just used my iPhone.

Never thought I'd get to take this group shot

Random Thoughts Part II

Good news, everybody! My wife has consented to taking my figures out of the garage and placing them in the house! I have to place them in our bedroom, but that's not a problem. We have a huge bedroom with a sitting room and a built in desk, so they should all fit in nicely.

I almost decided against bringing my figures inside because of the kids, but with the ungodly humidity that has shown up since Isaac passed by has led me to change my mind. My babies need to be in climate control. It's going to take me a bit to move everything since I have to cut the 6 foot shelves I'm currently using in the garage to something like 4 feet and then move all of the standards. Still, hot damn.

Hopefully, my next post will have plenty of purchases to talk about. My local toy hunting spree has really invigorated me and I'm making up for lost time. Even though I didn't get a hurricane, I still waited until the coast was completely clear before ordering anything because I was worried about delivery. I can't wait until they get here.

After reading Heroic_Decepticon's post about his awesome black Diaclone Sideswipe find, I've wanted Deep Cover. Every time he pops up on eBay, he's gone before I can click the "Buy it now" option. I need to get faster reflexes. Or live on eBay. Hopefully I can get one before the year is out.

I wonder if Takara has a file on me. It just seems as though they're doing a much better job of taking my money than Hasbro. Case in point: the Shattered Glass Soundwave and Blaster eHobby exclusives. While I'm not a fan of the Shattered Glass fiction or any of the figures, I love me some Communications Officers and their requisite cassettes. No idea on price yet, but since TFClub is going to offer these as well, I can't imagine they'll be too expensive. Now I just need to join the TFClub.

There's currently a show on Syfy called "Collection Intervention". I don't know if anyone else has seen this show, but I'm turned off by it. I understand what I thought was the premise of the show: collectors who've become hoarders and have let it affect all other aspects of their lives. If the show was strictly about that, I'd be cool. But the host seems to know nothing about what she's looking at. And her whole deal of looking at value is disgusting to me. Every time she looks at a collection, it's "I don't see a lot of value here". Huh? Granted, the Star Wars fanatic, the guy with over 30,000 comics, and the guy with all of the Transformers that he was supposed to be selling through his web store all needed help. The way she dealt with them, however, just seemed condescending. I can't believe she talked that one guy into selling his G2 Breakdown. Then again, I don't know the entire story, but it all just seems fishy to me. It's on par with "The Toy Hunter".

I am the co-manager of a store for a very large retail company. Some of you may have heard of it, but I'm not going to publicly say who I work for. At any rate, if you shop my store, you'll always be able to find Transformers and G.I. Joes. We finally got in the Fall of Cybertron figures a few weeks ago and I'm worried. Sure they're $15, but we normally sell the Prime stuff when it comes in and those figures are the sane price. The only Fall of Cybertron figures that have sold are the ones I bought. It's like that all over town. Worrisome.

I've stayed away from the fandom for years basically due to a bad experience on a prominent site. Because of that, I haven't really wanted to interact with other collectors, but since I've started this blog, the interactions I have had have been encouraging. Reading through the various Transformer blogs has taught me so much and inspired me to get the best collection that I can get. So, thanks everyone.