He's Getting Closer...

The eBay seller who sold me the long Starscream missiles that never arrived sent me replacements on Saturday and they arrived Monday. Unfortunately, they were yellowed. Fortunately, the seller gave me a refund and told me to keep the missiles. The project is getting closer to completion.

After removing all of his decals, I noticed that Starscream had yellowed considerably. It was really noticeable on the wings after the stickers came off. I could've just put the new decals on in the exact same positions that they were originally in on the wings, but even with tweezers, I'm not that precise. Two yellowed missiles and other parts?  That means one thing - peroxide!

I've never tried this trick before, but I've read about it. I'm super nervous about this. I hope that this works.

Here he is disassembled

 So I dumped all of that, minus the chest and nosecone into a glass baking dish, added the peroxide/oxi-clean solution, covered it in plastic wrap, and put it out in my front yard in the sunniest place I could find.  There was only one problem:

That was as sunny as it got

We've experienced a lot of stormy weather where I live over the last week, so it's been difficult to get any kind of sun for any length of time.  That coupled with the fact that I was extremely worried about this screwing up parts, I didn't make the solution very strong.  As a result, the yellowing improved some, but not enough.  The weather should improve next week, so I'll try again with a full strength solution.  I just got the launchers in, so by the time I get Starscream completely clean, my decals from Reprolabels should be in.

Still yellow

The Wait

Anyone familiar with the great band Metallica? They once did a cover version of the Killing Joke song "The Wait". It's been going through my head ever since my wife decided for me that I should slow down on Transformer acquisitions.

At least she hasn't stopped me from getting parts. She thinks that I won't spend as much on parts.  I'm not sure where she got that idea from, but I'm not going to change it.

The one Transformer that I'm focusing on completing is my G1 Starscream.  So far I've managed to dig around in my various boxes and found the left wing, the tail fins, and the rudders.  I've ordered and received the a right wing and his two fists.  I had to order an extra right fist because the one I bought broke as soon as I got it.  I put it on, and the two tabs broke off!  It's my fault, I suppose, since I did kinda shove it on there.  I'm still waiting for the launchers I purchased and the long missiles.  Hopefully the launchers will arrive soon seeing as how they're the first thing I purchased since I found them for 99 cents on eBay.  They were shipped on May 9th, and I've yet to receive them.  I'm getting a little worried about that.  After contacting the seller, he's assured me that if they don't arrive in the next few days we'd work something out.  I'm not really that concerned that I've been ripped off since it was only $3 total with shipping and the guy has an excellent seller rating.

Next on my list is a barrel for my Galvatron.  That's gonna be impossible to find, I think.  I've been scouring eBay for two months to find that thing.  My Galvatron is in pretty good shape, but he's missing that damn barrel.  Well, his electronics don't work.  Maybe one day I'll get off my duff and buy a working one.  It's not like he's that expensive.  Still, childhood possessions and all that.

Hopefully my Pretender Classics Grimlock will be completed soon.  As it stands, I only have the Legends Grimlock since I can't seem to find the shell.  I found the gun/sword, but that's it.  it'd be great to complete that one.  Grimlock is still one of my favorite Transformers. 

As I receive more parts for Starscream and the stickers I ordered, I'll post some pictures.  That reminds me, I still need to do a post on my Masterpiece 11 Starscream.

Projects

The other day, I received my MP-11, Coronation Starscream. As soon as I opened him, my wife looked at me with the "Another One?" look that she seems to get. My six year old and three year old just went "You got another Transformer? You're always getting Transformers!". After listening to all of this, I've decided to slow down on acquisitions for a month or so. Which is good, because now I can focus on a couple of other projects I've been putting off: completing a few figures.

Talking with other collectors, it seems that we all have at least a plastic storage tote of incomplete toys. I only have one, and it's not that full. Mainly my old Voltron, an old Robotech Beta fighter, and miscellaneous Transformers. I something like seven tackle boxes full of accessories. Digging through my tote, I came across Starscream. When did I get this? I've never owned a Starscream before his Classic Pretender incarnation. I dug into the tackle boxes to see if I had any of his accessories.

I managed to find his left wing, the tail fins, and the rudder fins. I'm still perplexed as to how he came into my possession. Oh well, that just means I get to complete him!

That Starscream is sneaky

Scouring eBay, it looks like it would be cheaper to just buy an Encore version, but it's not the same as owning the original, you know? And the Encore versions have a lot of tampographed stuff, which is fine, I suppose. The real fun is getting out my tweezers and applying the decals!

I've already completed a couple of projects I've been putting off. One was getting new decals for my Defensor. Gotta say, I love Reprolabels. Really wish I had taken some before pics, my Protectobots were in bad shape, sticker-wise.

Really wished

Probably should've done a better cleaning job before reapplying stickers

Another bot that's needed decals for quite some time is my Bluestreak.  Bluestreak was my first deluxe class Transformer.  I got him Christmas of 1984.  My brother got Prowl.  Like a lot of kids, after a couple of years, the roof broke off.  I still had his weapons, and even his rifle was intact, so I was able to buy a body a few years ago for fairly cheap.  I kept putting off getting decals for him until last month, for some reason.

Hmm...stickered

It's So Hard to Tell Them Apart!

I've been on a roll with my acquisitions!  Just Monday, I won an auction for the Decepticon Clones, Pounce and Wingspan.  I received them Wednesday.  Clones!  Even better, more Decepticons!  Man, I need more Decepticons.

When did Pumas evolve cannons on their shoulders?

He looks mean

I'm really impressed with the condition that these two are in.  I wouldn't go so far as to call them flawless, but they're really close.  Pounce, who's pictured above is pretty nice.  He has arm articulation, and that's about it in robot mode.  What I like about him is his alt-mode.  It's not a great looking alt-mode, but it really stands out.  The blend of colors just looks fantastic.

That's just, yeah

That's better

Wingspan, on the other hand, has a horrible, horrible alt-mode.  His tech spec states that it's an eagle, but to me it looks like a Decepticon who bent his knees and grew wings.  I just find it odd that the designers couldn't be bothered to find somewhere for his arms to go in alt-mode.  Just odd.

Two down, 39 left to go.

My Name is Chase...

Ah, the Throttlebots.  Little Autobots with no articulation whatsoever, but with kinetic motors.  They're, well, they're around.  And they found a cure for Scraplets! Which segues into me getting Chase.  I'm good.

I'm a Ferrari!  Really?

I'm not even sure why I'm making a post about Chase.  I guess because he adds to my total?  I don't know.  Here's a picture of him on robot mode.

Poor Chase, no legs, huge feet, short arms.

Another one down, 41 left to go.

I'm From Another Universe, You Don't Know Me

I've gotten really indecisive over what to buy.  I really want to get the rest of the Dinobots, but I'm so freaking worried that I'm going to get a knockoff.  One day, one day.  Anyway, while looking for my latest purchase, I just said to hell with it, and bought Camshaft.

This ever happen to anyone else?

As a kid, I used to fantasize about owning multiples of each Transformer I owned.  One for each mode.  I recently achieved this with Wildrider once I bought my Menasor.  I have one for alt-mode, one for robot mode, and one for Menasor mode.  More recently, I achieved this with Afterburner, but I wasn't looking to do that with him.  I kind of had to.  I'll explain.

My original Afterburner, which I got for my tenth birthday with all of the other Technobots, was old and out of shape, but he was mine.  One day when I was 13 or 14, he broke.  Not so much broke, as a crack occurred in his midsection.

Ugly, isn't it?

I tried to repair him by melting the plastic where the crack occurred.  It didn't work out so well.  I kept him because I didn't have access to a replacement and I don't just get rid of Transformers.  Never have, never will.

Cut to 2000, and my discovery of eBay.  I couldn't believe that you could buy G1 figures!  Awesome.  My first purchase on eBay was another Afterburner.  I paid $7 for an incomplete one, because all I needed was the figure.  That worked out well, I had one for vehicle mode and another for robot and Computron.  Life was good.

Two months ago, I was changing out my display, taking everyone out of alt-mode and into robot mode.  As soon as I flipped Afterburner's legs out, I felt something weird happen with him.  I looked, and sure enough, this Afterburner developed a fracture in the same place as the old one!  Dang it!

Is this something that happens to Afterburner a lot?

So that's awesome.  Once that happened, I went on eBay to buy another one.  I located quite a few.  Then, I didn't do anything.  For two months, I just decided to have two broken Afterburners.  I know, the horror.  What kind of collector was I?  For reasons I can't explain, I decided to just not replace him.  That is until last month.

New and improved!  Without fractures!

The original Afterburner stays in alt-mode, the first eBay purchase is permanently Computron's arm, and the new one is constantly is robot mode.  I figure that staying in each mode would lessen the chance of further breakage.

Decisions, Decisions...

I just won a complete set of Stunticons minus Drag Strip's pistol for $150. Missing a pistol isn't a big deal to me since I rarely display gestalt teams separately. I like having a super warrior. As soon as I receive them, I'll post some pictures.

I've actually been staring at Mensor auctions for close to two months. Part of the problem I have is deciding what to buy. I'm sure a lot of you have this problem. It's one thing to say "I'm going to buy a bunch of Transformers on eBay." and then narrowing down what to buy first. Primus knows I have that problem. So, how do I make my decisions?

The first thing I've done is to create a list of the 49 figures I need to get to 400. I fudged it a little bit by listing Menasor and Abominus as one figure. Technically, I'll have purchased 57 figures by the time I've gotten everyone on the list. This was done as a buffer just in case I can't find a few of then for sale.

The next step is looking at my budget. I make a good living, enough so my wife doesn't have to work and all of the bills are covered, but I'm by no means rich. I'd hate to ask my wife to enroll the two out of three children who aren't in school in daycare and for her to return to work just so I could buy toys. While I'm not sure, I'm fairly certain this is how divorces happen. She supports the habit even though she doesn't understand it.

So I've basically set up a slush fund. To fund it, I've been setting aside money on a nearly daily basis to my PayPal account. I've also started selling my comic book collection. Well, I'm not selling them for figures per se, but I'm just sick of comics; they don't do anything for me anymore.

Since I'm working with a budget, I wait until my account looks big enough and then I pull out the list and start searching. My biggest decision lately has been quantity over size. Do I want to spend $250 on a bunch of smaller guys like Runamuck and Triggerbots and Triggercons, or do I use that $250 to purchase say Shockwave or a couple of Headmasters? That decision will usually take me a week to make. On the one hand, I really want to up my G1 figures. On the other, do I really want to boast to my friends about my collection and it be filled with, well, filler? Decisions, man. They can be tough.

Another reason I have trouble deciding on what to buy is my fear of knock offs. I'm extremely worried about buying a Mirage, Dinobot, or any gestalt and wind up with a K.O. When. I had to replace my Hotspot last year, I worried and worried and worried until he arrived and I was able to personally verify that it was real. Anyone else have that worry, or am I just overly paranoid?

So that's where I'm at. I'm pretty sure that I'm going to finish my Dinobots next. Grimlock's looking lonely. Then again, wouldn't it be logical to have Shockwave? Then again, Fortress Maximus doesn't have any Headmasters to command. Sigh.

Communications Officers, Unite!

Man, getting Encore Twincast and Soundblaster really has reawakened my love of Communication Officers and their cassettes lately.  So we'll start with my Blaster molds.

Soundwave

My last post showed the Autobot Communicators and their cassettes.  This time I'll show off the Decepticons.