2014 - The Year in Review

Man, 2014 went by way too slowly.  On a personal level, I'm very glad that it's over.  Just too much going on - new kid, lots of illness in the last quarter of the year, running out of room, and just not enough time to devote to all of it.  But I'm not here to gripe about the personal; that's for another day and maybe another blog.  I'm here to talk about my year in Transformers.  Well, that was a bit rocky as well.

The year started out well enough, with the addition of Masterpiece Smokescreen.  Not a lot of people like him as is, what with all of the modifications I've seen, but I really liked him.

Smokescreen tries out for the Rockettes

Things continued to get better when I found a nice listing on Craigslist and wound up with Hardhead, Gnaw, Horri-Bull, and Spinister for practically free once I sold off the rest of the lot.  Nice work, I must say.

What free looks like

This has been a great year, what with my pursuit of the 1985 figures, even though I never finished them.  That means loose ends to tie up.  I definitely will not be trying to complete a year of figures again.  Maybe.

Something that I'm very proud of are the relationships that I've managed to build in the community over the past year.  I've had conversations with Duocon Flywheels, Brr-Icy, and The Gassy Autobot on Facebook, and I've come away better informed and entertained from them.  I look forward to having more conversations with fellow collectors over the next year.

Okay, now on to some favorites of the year.

Favorite Masterpiece Of 2014

MP-12G (G2 Sideswipe) 

Were there more aesthetically pleasing looking Masterpiece figures released this year?  Sure, Wheeljack, Silverstreak, and Soundblaster come to mind, but they weren't as out of left field as Generation 2 Sideswipe.  Just look at how 1990's this guy is. Read my review at the link above.

Favorite Generations Figure of 2014

This was a tough one for me to decide on.  Every year, I constantly say that I'm done with the line as I need to focus on G1.  Every year, I'm constantly buying new Generations product as Hasbro and Takara do such an amazing job designing these guys that it's hard to pass up any figure.  Having said that, I think that I'm going to go with a more recent release as opposed to one from earlier in the year, which means that I'm going with the great Brainstorm figure.

Sadly, no briefcase

Favorite Generation One Purchase of 2014

I got a lot of great figures in 2014, especially with respect to the G1 line.  There were the aforementioned Craigslist purchases, the Monstercons, and many more.  When I think about it, however, my favorite purchase would have to be Reflector.  He's a figure that I had never held in my hands as a kid, and finally getting one felt like I had won some sort of award or something.  Great pickup.

Well, that's it for 2014.  What does 2015 hold?  I know that the immediate future holds more Masterpiece and some select Generations figures, but I'm really excited to see what else is coming down to pipeline.  Hope to see you all there!