G1 Blurr And What He Means For My Future

Please, bear with me.  I'm going to break this post down into three sections: past, present, and future.  I have quite a bit to discuss with this figure, and I figured that this would be the best way to do it.  There really won't be a lot of pictures until you get to the "Present" portion of the post, so I apolgize for that.  Enjoy the post!

The Past

The year 1986 was a momentous year, not just for me, but for Transformers om general.  That was the year that The Transformers moved away from Takara's Diaclone figures and began their transition to new molds that were designed by both Hasbro and Takara.  For me, 1986 meant that I finally got Sunstreaker!  What does this have to do with Blurr?  You'll see.

Picture from tfwiki.net

I turned 9 in May of that year, and I collected enough money from my party to earn a trip to Toys R Us directly after the party was over.  Browsing the aisles, I noticed Hot Rod, Scourge, and other figures from the upcoming movie.  Sunstreaker was the figure that caught my eye, and he came home with me.  Fast forward a few months, and I was at the movies watching Optimus Prime die.  During the movie, I was enthralled with Blurr, and I had to have him.  Luckily, the movie was released just as I found out that the Navy had transferred my father from Long Beach, California to Norfolk, Virginia, the state of my birth.  Moving meant one thing - a trip to Toys R Us for crayons, coloring books, and a toy to keep me, and my brother, busy on the cross country ride.  I realized my opportunity and grabbed Blurr as soon as we walked to the Action Figure aisle.  Happy, I made the cross country trip to my Aunt's house in Norfolk where we stayed until we could get a house of our own.  It was here that I made a grave mistake.

Once we arrived at my Aunt's house, I proceeded to show off some of my Transformers to my cousin.  Among the treasures that I proudly displayed were Sunstreaker and Blurr.  My cousin immediately remarked that it would awesome if I could somehow combine Sunstreaker and Blurr together to create a really fast car.  That's all I needed to hear.  I quickly disassembled the two bots and tried...something.  All I really remember is that Blurr's torso was glued onto Sunstreaker's car body, minus Suntreaker's roof.  It was, it was a nightmare.  In one fell swoop, I had managed to destroy two incredible figures, and create a monstrosity.  Sunstreak and Blurr were over, finished!

The Present

I've been searching for a replacement for Blurr for a couple of years now, but I just haven't forced myself to pull the trigger.  Sunstreaker was replaced a few years ago, but Blurr was always a hard proposition for me.  I wanted Blurr, but I didn't want to pay that much for him.  I'm sure that everyone has had this problem before.  It's isn't that Blurr is an expensive figure, really, but the prices still seemed silly to me.  Besides, most of the specimens that I managed to run across had fading, loose arms (not a big deal breaker thanks to nail polish), and shields with broken tabs.  After much moaning and complaining on the Internet about it, I finally managed to find what I was looking for - Blurr, in great condition, and at a price I was comfortable with.

 Thanks to the TFWiki, I discovered that there were two versions of Blurr, which I kind of suspected because there were two versions of most of the 1986 figures.  Thankfully, I managed to snag the first release version, with the "V" cut stickers.  When I picked up Blurr from my mailbox, I opened up the package immediately and began playing with him, while I was driving home.

My Blurr came with a misplaced decal.  The sticker that should go on his antenna was instead placed on his forehead, giving Blurr a Bindi, I suppose.  I could move it, or I could just get a new set of decals from Reprolabels, but I kind of like this look.

Thanks to his transformation scheme, Blurr features a bit of leg articulation.  Only his knees bend, so a running pose is not possible.  Still, it looks like Blurr is taking a bit of a stroll, or possibly limping. 

Blurr transforms into a Cybertronian race car, which, I'm told, is very fast.  Also in this picture, you can see the "V" cut out decals on the arms.  Later runs of Blurr do not have this cut and instead the "V" section is filled in.  Amazingly, Blurr's arms are very tight, and there isn't any real fading on the figure.  I really lucked out on this guy.  Thankfully, I was able to right a mistake that I made 29 years ago for a decent price.

The Future

It's funny how just getting one figure can induce a sense of euphoria.  And it isn't always what one would consider a "holy grail" - your Overlords, Black Zaraks and what have you.  Sometimes, it's just a common, everyday figure that can do the trick.  In a way, it was 1986 all over again.

The sense of calm that washed over me was a bit astounding as well.  I actually think that if I never got another vintage figure, I'd be okay with that.  My appetite for new G1 figures is so sated, that I haven't even really looked for any other figures.  Getting some Decepticon Targetmasters has certainly crossed my mind over the last couple of weeks, but I'm in no rush.  This creates a bit of a problem for this space since this is the last G1 figure that I have in reserve to review.  I have a Takara Arcee to still open and write about, but that's it until Nightbird and the Masterpiece figures for the year release.  Don't worry, I still have other things that I can put up here, like pictorials or something.

You know, when I first started doing this, it was with the intent to just get myself to do something creative and possibly interact with the fandom.  This is certainly a lot easier than getting on the boards.  After awhile, I somehow got a big head and thought that one day my collection would be featured on some site, and maybe I'd answer some questions.  That lasted about a week.  Over the last couple of months, I've come to realize that the size of my collection isn't important, but enjoying it really is.  I've even started trying to offload the vast majority of my CHUG, Binaltech, and Alternator figures.  The realization that there's just so much out there has necessitated a laser-like focus in my head.  The only reason I still have figures like Nightbird or the Takara Devastator coming is that I've already paid for them, so why not enjoy them?

Life can bring all sorts of headaches and tribulations, there isn't any need to add to them.  Just have fun and pass that joy along.  Next week - Legends Arcee!  For real.