Hardhead

www.botchthecrab.com

This is the second of the four figures that I kept from the job lot that I purchased several months ago.  It's funny, for a guy that loves Headmasters, my collection is rather scant with them.  I currently own Siren, Brainstorm, Fort Max, Encore Fort Max, Scorponok, Skullcruncher, Apreface, and Snapdragon.  Pretty small for a Headmaster lover.  You gotta love good deals.

I'm surprised at the good condition that this Hardhead is in.  There's chrome wear on the treads, but that's about it.  Both guns were in the box, which was a nice treat.  Having owned the few Headmasters that I have, I'm aware that articulation is not something that's common with them, but Hardhead's extreme lack of it is somewhat shocking.  His arms move up and down, and that's it.  Know what else is shocking?  This:

The flap for the tech spec reader is intact!  Most of the Hardheads that I've run across on eBay and the like almost always have a stress mark or it's just completely broken.  This one, this one is splendiferous in it's intact state.  I had thoughts on opening up the flap, but luckily, I slapped myself before something stupid happened.  As you can see form this closeup, Hardhead is in need of a good cleaning, but he's in otherwise great shape.

Something else that I never expected with ol' Hardhead is just how hollow he is.  There really isn't anything on his backside.  He's like a shell.

Hardhead transforms into a tank.  A heavily armed tank.  Seriously, there's the main turret, and then two rifles on the side.  If you're on Nebulos and run across this tank, stay away.

Duros, Hardhead's partner, sits comfortably in the canopy.  For a robot that's super hollow, the tank mode is very solid.  I really like the tank mode more than the robot mode.  The tank looks so formidable. 

The chrome wear on this side of the treads isn't bad at all.  I still can't believe how lucky I was to get Hardhead in this job lot.  Complete even.  Not bad for something that I just pulled out of a box of random stuff.

Generations Tailgate

www.bwtf.com

Hey, it's the Bomb Disposal expert himself!  Well, Waste Disposal.  Tailgate was just a background character in my life before Transformers: Robots in Disguise.  I have the G1 figure, and it's basically always just sat there in my collection.  He had zero personality.  Sure, there was a tech spec, but that didn't do anything for me.  Thank goodness for James Roberts because now Tailgate is the man, er bot.

Here's Tailgate out of the package.  There is a mini-con that comes with him, but I don't remember his name because I promptly threw him to the side.  The snowplow, or whatever it purports to be, is just tedious and ugly.  Tailgate sure is lightly colored.  The aqua on the chest and legs compliment the white of the rest of the body, but they're just so slight that they don't really pop, if that makes any sense.  Articulation-wise, Tailgate certainly has a greater range of movement than Swerve. 

It's amazing how something as seeming insignificant as a head that can turn becomes much more important once it's unavailable on a figure.  Tailgate's head turns, which is a relief.  Look at those mitts!  Those are the hands of a gunslinger.  It's a shame I tossed the gun. 

Tailgate transforms into something Camaro-esque.  With flames on the hood.  I don't think I've ever seen a car in real life with flames on the hood.  Perhaps that's because I've never lived.

Here's a profile view of the Camara-like car.  I dig the wheels, nice with shiny rims.  There are also two tailpipes in the rear for extra power.  You know, for waste disposal emergencies.  I can't wait for this to get redone as Windcharger.  Which brings about a question: how is it that we live in an age where the first season characters are getting released second?  This isn't a complaint, just an observation.

Spinister

www.botchthecrab.com

Several months ago, I saw an ad on Craigslist for a huge lot of Transformers for $200.  I jumped on it immediately.  I actually sold most of what was in the lot on eBay and I more than paid for the the four figures that I kept.  The first figure that I'll show from the lot is Spinister.

Spinister's alt-mode is an Apache helicopter.  That's purple and pink; very 1990's.  He's actually a very good looking helicopter.  Not as good looking as Vortex, but definitely top 3. 

Hairsplitter and Singe, Spinister's Targetmasters, can attach to this mode via the ports hanging off the side of the chopper.  I'm sorry to say that I'm not sure which one is Singe and which one is Hairsplitter.

Can you identify these guys?

 The Targetmasters are pretty standard fare.  Spinister is my first Decepticon Targetmaster, believe it or not.  While I have every Autobot Targetmaster, save for Blurr, I didn't own a single 'Con until I ran across this great lot. 

Here's Spinister in robot mode.  I rather like this mode.  In my opinion, Spinister looks better when his weapons aren't combined.  Quickmix looks great with both weapons combined.  The blades on his back look great, almost like there are swords there.  There should be some sort of upgrade kit for that.  Someone give this bot some swords!

I don't have a lot to say about Spinister, other than I can't believe that he was in this good a condition when I pulled him out of the box.  He needs some new decals, but that's easily fixed.  Excelsior! 

eBay Store!

To help me clear out all of the clutter that I need to get rid of, I've opened an eBay store.  Please check it out.  There are some Transformers items there, but as of now, it's mainly G.I. Joe stuff.  I'll be updating it frequently, so keep checking it out!

http://stores.ebay.com/kremziekstoystore

Masterpiece MP-18S

Hey you, yeah you.  The person collecting Transformers.  What are your thoughts on repaints?  Like them?  Great.  Don't like them and wish that they'd go away?  Tough.  Like them or not, repainted Transformers are always going to be in the offing.  It simply costs too much money to design and tool a figure for Takara and Hasbro to not try to recoup their costs by offering repaints.  For the most part, I have a rule about repaints: buy the ones that I like and that make sense.  I have broken that rule a couple of times, like with YOTH Optimus Prime, but I've pretty much stuck with it.  With Masterpiece figures, it gets hard to turn down certain repaints because of the history of what they represent.  Tigertrack is beautiful and represents an old Diaclone variant of the Sideswipe figure.  Another beautiful repaint?  MP-18S Silverstreak.

While MP-18 Bluestreak is a wonderful figure, Silverstreak just endeared itself to me as soon as I opened the box.  Upon seeing that gorgeous silver Datsun, I was transported back to Christmas of 1984.  It felt like I was 7 again, and getting my first Bluestreak.  The colors aren't exactly spot on to the G1 figure, but they're pretty freaking close.  The lighter shade of silver is amazing when comparing MP-18 to MP-18S.

While MP-18 is, like all regular Masterpiece releases, as cartoon accurate as possible, Silverstreak is toy accurate.  The darker colors on Blustreak are great, but they're not something I'm accustomed to after 30 years.  Sure, I recently purchased the Anime Streak eHobby figure, but that's only been in the past few months.  While I grew up watching a black hooded Bluestreak on TV, I played with a silver one on a daily basis. 

One thing my G1 Bluestreak cannot do?  Drive around with missile launchers mounted on his sides.  MP-18S comes with two outstanding red and silver launchers.  My MP-18 only came with one, and I have yet to get off my duff and buy a second one.  Having a second launcher really adds to Bluestreak's look.

Once Silverstreak is put into robot mode, with the launchers added, he's wonderful.  I'm confusing myself with all of the switching between Silverstreak and Bluestreak.  They're the same freaking guy, right?  But I don't really like doing the MP-18 and MP-18S thing.  Conundrum time.

One thing that I learned when I got ol' Silvertreak is that I apparently have a stock pose when placing the Datsun Brothers into my Detolf.  Smokescreen, Prowl, Bluestreak, and Silverstreak all have the same pose.  I know what I like, it seems. 

Here's a little closeup of the 'Streaks.  The lighter silver really makes the reds pop on Silverstreak.  Of course, the addition of the launchers really make the look complete.  Bluestreak is by no means a lackluster figure, but I'm very partial to Silverstreak.  Typing this up and thinking about Masterpiece really has me looking forward to Wheeljack.

Jettison some weight, or I'll never make it to Cybertron!

I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I have another kid coming.  That's kid number 4.  He's due in a month, and no, I don't have a name for him yet.  Due to the newest addition coming, coupled with the general malaise over Transformers that I experienced over the last 6 months, I've been trying to clear out some of the clutter in my collection.  Most of it was junk that I was holding on to for various reasons: childhood attachment, the need to have multiples, even in horrible condition, and just plain collection padding. 

I sold stuff like this on eBay.

And this.  As you can see, it's all broken stuff.  Amazingly enough, it all sold at good prices, well, good prices for me.  Simple auctions starting off at $0.99 resulted in some nice pocket change.  More than that, it cleared some space.  Selling all of this on eBay taught me a couple of things that I hadn't realized before.  First, lots like this:

Seem to inspire a ton of bidding.  I sold a couple of lots of just parts and weapons and made a veritable killing.  I was going to just put lots containing weapons up for a Buy It Now of like $15.  I have really underestimated to market for parts.  Now I know, and am much wiser for it.  Still, I have to confess to not understanding the notion of paying so much for parts that aren't in great condition, but whatever.

I also learned that I have no clue on what to charge for shipping.  Afraid of overcharging, I wound up shelling out more for shipping.  After the first few auctions, I kind of over-corrected and just went with USPS flat rate shipping.  It cost a lot more, but it did get the items to the customers faster, had built in insurance, and tracking.  I'm certain that it affected some of the final auction prices and I could've gotten more for what I sold, but I never once got a negative feedback on shipping prices, so there's that. 

 I'm also going to confess to getting a little sell-happy.  At first, I was sure that it would be hard to part with any part of my collection, but that hasn't been the case.  Now I'm looking at other things to sell to clear clutter: boxes, paperwork, my entire G.I. Joe collection.  My wife thinks I've been bitten by a bug., which she is way too happy about.  Happy wife, happy life.

37th Birthday Present - Carnivac!

I turned 37 a couple of months ago, which makes me closer to 40 than I care to think about.  According to my wife, I'm hard to shop for.  However, I think I'm pretty easy since there are only like three things that I'm interested in.  At any rate, I was given the task of buying my own present - a task I readily accepted.  My choice of present?  Carnivac!

Look, I'm a big fan of Pretenders, and I know that they aren't very popular, but I've loved them since they were first introduced.  The Pretender Beasts were figures that I never got around to as a kid, but I'm working on getting them.  What better place to start than with a sorely needed boost to my Decepticon ranks.

Carnivac's outer shell is a wolf, and he looks pretty vicious.  Just look at those teeth and the spike-filled shoulder pads!  Even without the cannon mounted on his back, I'd give Carivac a wide berth.

Hiding inside that wolf shell is a robotic wolf, or as people where I live like to say "wulf".  I'm not really sure who decided on Carnivac's color scheme, but I'm not really digging the combination.  Black or grey would have been a nice touch for the body.

Carnivac's anti-thermal cannon mounts to his back, for an attack mode.  As if running into a giant robotic wolf in the forest wasn't distressing enough, now you have to worry about being blown to smithereens in the process.  This is a look I don't think will ever be used much in my display. 

Flip a couple of parts, and we go from wolf to very short robot.  I think that Carnivac's rifle is almost as tall as he is!  Carnivac's look in robot mode is decent, but I kind of wish that something could be done with the wolf snout.  It just adds an odd silhouette.  

Overall, Carnivac is a fine addition to my display, and a nice addition to my finally growing ranks of Decepticons and Pretenders.  Very nice looking stuff.