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

Fill 'Er Up!

I recently remembered that I had some Micromaster bases. I let my son play with them a couple of years ago and forgot about them. I went digging into my son's toy box and found Hot House, Air Wave and Greasepit. Well, I found the bases. I've never actually owned the complete sets, the most complete one being Greasepit who was missing the gas pump, missile and launcher and signs. At least I had the figure.

I decided that it would be nice to complete these. So I went to the store to pick up new ones. Then I remembered that I couldn't just go to the store for these guys. That meant eBay, always eBay. I found the missile, the missile launcher and the gas pump being sold by the same seller for $5 each! I contacted him to ask if he'd combine shipping if I bought all three because he wanted $3 shipping per item. I've yet to hear from him, even though I asked the question two weeks ago. That sucked.

Not wanting this to be some long drawn out process, I continued my search. Kinda. I got sidetracked by my purchase of Sureshot and I like to purchase one figure at a time. I had a saved search for anything with the word "Micromaster" in the title. Lo and behold, a complete Greasepit with box! I've noticed that the loose, complete ones have been going for about $40 or more. This one had an asking price of $25. Hot damn. Hot damn. It should go without saying that I hit the "Buy It Now" button fairly quickly.

Greasepit is a redeco of Mudslinger, of the Autobot Off Road Patrol. Mudslinger was one of my favorite Micromasters and the leader of his patrol. Like Mudslinger, Greasepit's oversized wheels fascinate me. It's the way that they designed his tires. Only half the tire rotates, which is weird, but I find awesome. It's like he has bagels for tires. Radical.

According to his Tfwiki entry, Greasepit essentially tricks Autobots into refueling at their gas station and them giving them crappy fuel.  I could be wrong, but I could have sworn that the toys had always stated that all Transformers used Energon.  Well, until Nucleon.  I know that was the case with the cartoon.  The only times the Autobots ever used gasoline was in the Marvel Comics, thanks to G.B.Blackrock.  So was this an attempt to combine fictions?  Doubtful, since I don't think Hasbro or any toy company really cared about that kind of thing, they just wanted to sell toys.  This whole deal with continuities and such seems to be a new phenomenon.

So I bought this Friday and I got it in the mail today. I think that's the fastest I've ever received a package.

Here's the box, it's seen better days.  I had completely forgotten about how the Micromasters had comic book inspired art on the back.  Can't say I'm a fan.

I love the later font

Like I said, it's seen better days

I really dig the tech specs with the bars

Only $8.97 at Kmart now!

Once I opened the box, I noticed a few things.  The first being that this thing was really dusty.  The second was that the paint had almost completely been rubbed off of Greasepit's face.  My Greasepit and base were in a lot better shape.

Dusty.  Robot without a face

Side by side with the one I already had.  The new one is on the left.

Side by side, The new purchase is on the left.

So what I've decided to do is take the pieces I was missing from the new one and add them to my old one.  Considering that I was going to spend $15 plus most likely $9 is shipping and still not have the signs, spending $24 to get everything plus the box feels like I came out with a win.  I think I may keep one in battle station mode and the other in gas station mode that way everything gets used. 

The Generations Dilemma

I'm facing a bit of a dilemma. That dilemma stems from the new crop of Generations figures coming out this fall. Should I buy them? I think I want to, but my renewed focus on getting as many G1 figures as I can as quickly as I can has called my commitment to other lines into question.

It's funny, Takara puts out details on new Masterpiece figures and they're preordered as soon as I can get Bigbadtoystore to pull up on my phone or computer. Hasbro announces new Generations figures and I don't get that excited. Don't get me wrong, I loved the last run of Classics/Generations/Reveal the Shield. Of the few figures I've seen, Jazz, Shockwave, et al, all look great. I'm not too fond of the way Bruticus looks, but the individual Combaticons look stunning.

It's just that I think I may be burnt out on them. I don't know. This isn't a problem I had with the other Transformer lines. I don't collect anything other than G1, Masterpiece, and Generations. There's nothing wrong with Beast Wars through Prime, I'm just not into them. Well, the movie stuff is anathema to me.

So I decided to come up with a list of pros and cons about the Generations line. Nothing too involved or detailed, just a list to help me.

Pros:
1. Updated articulation. Warpath alone is awesome.
2. Great looking figures.
3. Not tied into any kind of continuity. That is a big one. Hasbro just gives us a figure and says "Enjoy this update on Wheeljack!". That's awesome.
4. Man that Shockwave looks beautiful.

Cons:
1. Not tied into any continuity whatsoever. Yeah, I just listed that as a pro, but it's just a little odd to delve into the line without a continuity. Then again, most of these designs end up in the comic, so I may be off base on this one.
2. Man, that Bruticus is ugly.
3. Where are the rest of my Dinobot updates? Grimlock didn't operate alone.

I think I'll still wind up getting the new Generations figures. All 40 of them. Anyone else having this problem, or is it just me? By the by, am I alone in not reading the tech specs anymore? I just buy the figure, pop it open and enjoy. And really, isn't that all that matters?