A Long Time Ago...

Just had to share this:

What I Got This Past Four Months

Once again, even though I only get a few items a week, if that, I can't make myself post each week, so here are several weeks worth of What I Got This Week.

A few weeks ago I purchased something I really wanted, that I really shouldn't have spent the money on, and last week I ended up trading it for something I had originally had on pre-order, but canceled in order to purchase that which I shouldn't have. For a few days the Exclusive edition of Sideshow's 12" Red Cobra Ninja figure was mine, but after taking a few awesome pictures I realized it would be better to have the Green Lantern Classics wave 2 figures, so I found a guy willing to swap straight over. So GLC 2 arrived this week (that is, it arrived the week that I started writing this post, something like four months ago). Stel is an awesome build a figure (though the crotch piece on this one is defective, I have purchased an alternate Sodam Yat for the BAF piece, but have not yet opened it).

A week or two later arrived my set of DCUC 17, the Anti-monitor/Skittle Lantern wave, and it is awesome. Hands down this is my favorite wave in a long time, quite possibly my favorite wave of the entire line.

In other DCUC news, I picked up Jonah Hex and The Creeper from the Bane wave a few weeks back, Hex is quite nice. Just a week or two ago, with the use of some $5 off coupons I picked up Toy Man and Bronze Tiger from the Apache Chief wave. I also picked up the Batman Legacy Mr Freeze, but decided to return it so I could buy something else. So now I need another one.

Several weeks ago I got a few really awesome things, like the Transformers Collector's Club Exclusive G2 Classics Ramjet, which is garishly awesome.

A couple weeks after that the free Collector's Club membership figure arrived, Sideburn! This makes 5 repaints of this figure I have, I believe? I'm only missing 3 of the 4 Japanese exclusive decos.

Found the TF DOTM Thundercracker - a G1-esque repaint of DOTM deluxe Starscream, which is supposedly quite a good figure. Of course, having bought one I now hope for G1-esque Starscream and Skywarp repaints, and of course Dirge and Ramjet retools (and might as well do Thrust too). But I'm too lazy to go take a picture of it.

I bought a custom Ultra Magnus from a guy on TFW2005, this one a mash-up of RID Optimus Prime and RID Ultra Magnus, with a decent paint job. Honestly, it looked a little better in the pictures, though in reality, that's just reality not living up to my unrealistic expectations. This is the second custom Ultra Magnus I've purchased, and while I was really excited to get both of them, due to extreme lackage of funds I'm considering selling both of them off. Also too lazy to take pictures of it at this time.

Over the course of several weeks I found the lost waves of Transformers Reveal The Shield, including Voyagers Solar Storm Grappel, Lugnut and Deep Dive, as well as Deluxe Bumblebee, which I don't need, because I already have the first black-stripe repaint of Classics Bumblebee, but why not have two of them with different striping? I don't know, so I bought it. I probably mentioned it previously, but then again maybe not, so somewhere along the way I also found RTS Perceptor.

Because I like the Cybertron Legends Seeker mold a lot, I picked up a TF Dark of the Moon Legends 4 pack at TRU, with a coupon I had so it ended up being only $7 or something.

Speaking of liking that mold, I picked up four of the Cybertron Legends Seekers, Sunstorm, Starscream, and the two con exclusive versions: Ramjet and Skywarp. Awesome little guys. This one's Skywarp.

Through a trade at TFW2005 I finally picked up the final TF Generations figure I was missing (until the new figures start shipping), Wheeljack! Via a different trade I picked up the arm I was missing for Energon Wing Saber, who is awesome, now that he's complete.

Recently I found TF Dark of the Moon figures on sale, and bit on a couple I've been eyeing since the line began: Voyagers Optimus Prime and Skyhammer. I'm about done with DOTM figures now, unless we get some G1 decos of Skywarp and Starscream. Sometime previous to this I had also purchased Voyager Megatron, who's not bad.

Again via TFW2005 (I knew joining that place was a great idea) I picked up a couple more TF Henkei's, two of my higher desired figures, Dirge and Thrust (Still need Henkei Skywarp, Ramjet and Ghost Starscream, if anybody wants to help out). Yes, I already have the Generations versions, and yes, I still want the Botcon versions. Let it be known here and now (if it's not already), I am a sucker for the Decepticon Seekers, and will try to buy pretty much any repaint of my favored ones (Starscream, Skywarp, Dirge and Ramjet), and will usually grab the other two if I can as well. In yet another TFW2005 transaction I picked up my first Japanese Mega SCF figures: Star Saber and Victory Leo, who are kinda cool, I haven't played with them much yet, but they're supposed to combine into Victory Saber, and that sounds neat.

Oh, it looks like I haven't talked about the Kabaya candy toys here. They're awesome! They're cheap little snap together model kits that are sold in Japan, and imported to the US for slightly greater costs, but they're totally worth it. I have 3 sets from the first two waves (of 3 sets each), Star Saber, G1 Ultra Magnus and Classics Jetfire, and picked up all of wave three, which consists of Classics Starscream, Powermaster Optimus Prime, and Apex Armor (which can combine with Powermaster Prime to form their supermode). They're lots of fun to assemble and sticker up, they're small but decently detailed, and they transform (well, they parts-form, but that doesn't bother me). There's a combiner set of six smaller figure that I want to get, and wave 4 has recently been announced to contain Rodimus (MP look it looks like), Classics Inferno, and Victory Leo (I wonder if he'll combine with wave two's Star Saber to form Victory Saber?).

And winding down on Transformers, I picked up two Heroes of Cybertron figures: Megatron and Powermaster Optimus Prime. Cause I'm a bit of a sucker for Prime. In another trade from TFW2005 I acquired a few Energon figures: Ironhide, Jetfire, Signal Flare, and Strongarm, also a Cybertron Legends Optimus Prime.

Somewhere along the line I lost the super cool nifty chrome weapons that came with FansProject G3 trailer, but luckily I was able to trade for them recently. Yay! Also grabbed HFTD Leader Class Optimus Prime at a discount store, and I traded for the pretty awesome Darth Vader / Death Star Transformer.

My cousin spent large amounts of money to go to SDCC this year, and brought be back a few presents, which he kindly let me buy from him. So far I've only paid for DCUC Swamp Thing and TF Prime Matrix Prime, so those are the only ones I have to take pictures of, but he also picked up Gentle Giant's Ralph McQuarrie Concept Snowtrooper mini bust and the DC Bishoujo Evil Supergirl for me, provided I get around to paying him for them before he throws them on eBay (He sold Evil Supergirl like the first week).

The new Women of DC Universe series 3 Harley Quinn was released in June or July, which is awesome, and I finally was able to get the Ame-Comi Harley Quinn statuette for a decent price. And the Ame-Comi Minis wave 2 has been released, of which I so far only have Wonder Woman. And somewhere in there I got the Women of DC Universe series 2 Catwoman.

A new World of Warcraft wave was released a while ago, and I picked up Judge Malthred, and finally found a decent enough price to pick up the Forsaken Queen herself, Sylvanas Windrunner. I also picked up the exclusive Panderan Brewmaster figure, who is completely huge, and I have absolutely not place to put him, as my WoW shelf is full since He-Man and Skeletor moved to it once I had Battle Cat and Panthor.

I've become quite inactive over at the TrekToy forums, but right before I did I was lucky enough to win one of their contests, and a ridiculously huge package was mailed to me, containing Star Trek Scene It? Along with bonus Hot Wheels Star Trek vehicles, including some I think were never released on their own, such as the original, classic Enterprise, the Enterprise A, the Enterprise NX-01, and the Narada, so that was cool.

Speaking of Star Trek, Deep Space 9 is my favorite Trek series, and I've been working at acquiring the DVD sets over the last couple of years, so that someday my wife and I can watch them together, since we've gone through most of the Original Series, and most of TNG. I got seasons 5 and 6 for something crazy like $24 total, now I'm only missing 2 and 4.

I still check up on Masters of the Universe Classics from time to time, desiring the odd figure here and there, like Faceless One, he looks awesome. Several weeks ago I picked up Count Marzo for the excellent price of $12 shipped off eBay, which is $8 plus shipping under retail, and he's a nice figure, I like him.

Marvel Universe. It's a line I've wanted to be into, and I've started collecting it at least three times, but each time I've dropped it after only a week or two. But I still have a few figures from it, and I recently got a couple more, nice big ones: World War Hulk and Apocalypse. These will join the other big ones I have, Juggernaut, Colossus, etc, to face off against my GI Joes.

Oh yeah, and I got the Masterworks Sentinel and it is f-ing HUGE! And I love it! Every time I walk by it I have to push the little button that makes him say things like, "Mutant, halt!" Or, "Unregistered mutant detected!" and other awesome stuff, in his very awesome voice. It's a fan-freaking-tastic figure, and EVERYBODY should go buy one. He's totally worth the price.

I haven't been buying Star Wars items much for a number of years now, probably since the first three years of serious collecting were devoted solely to Star Wars, but one thing I've always had a soft spot for is Clones, and scaled prop replicas, of which I have quite a few. But one I didn't have was the plain, vanilla, scaled Clone Trooper Helmet, by Master Replicas, and I managed to picked it up for the unbelievably low price of 6 dollars and change, off eBay. oh yeah, and Free Shipping. Damn, that's awesome, if I may say so myself. Also, they're fantastic items, very nicely detailed.

The new Mortal Kombat line by Jazzwares has arrived, and they're pretty okay. I'm kinda going back on forth between thinking they're very nicely sculpted, and thinking that they're kinda lacking. Sub-Zero is quite nice, but Scorpion is a little bit messy looking, though it could just be the paint. The 6" figures are so far base on the MK9 looks, while the 4" line that should be hitting soon are based on the more classic looks, like from MK3, and I can't wait to find those. And let me take this opportunity to say, yet again, that Tanya is my favorite figure, and I want her in the 6" line in both her regular and alternate costumes (as seen in Deception and Armageddon, since I guess right now she's NOT going to be in MK9, because they are lame).

And that, I think, wraps up this post, that as been in the works for far too long, and has now lost all relevancy. But oh well. I think if I ever have a huge list of acquisitions to report on, I'll do so just with pictures, and leave off the commentary.

The reason I really wanted to get this post finished, was so I could move on to my newest obsession, Kamen Rider W! Of course, I haven't been able to wait for this post, so I've already posted a few pics of misc W items. But now the floodgates are open.

J W Rinzler returns with The Making of Empire Strikes Back

One of my favorite purchases during my 2 years of excessive Star Wars collecting was a book. A big, heavy, expensive and monumental book. The Making of Star Wars by J. W. Rinzler. (I should set myself up as an amazon affiliate if I'm going to be linking to $55 books). It had all sorts of fascinating info about what went into making one of the greatest films of all time, all gathered from interviews and such from back then. None of the rose-tinted memories, looking back after all of Star Wars' success, but from before anybody though it would amount to anything.

Well, when I learned earlier this year that Rinzler was coming out with a book based on the making of the best of the Star Wars films, I was quite interested. The price put me off a bit, since it is a hefty price for my current, much lower than three years ago budget, but for as much as I enjoyed the previous book (and have been thinking it's time to re-read it) I just can't pass this one up. So this evening I placed a pre-order for The Making of Empire Strikes Back by J. W. Rinzler. Amazon has a nifty Pre-Order Price Guarantee, and since it is $30 off the cover price, and Amazon's price will go up to list price when the book is released, I thought now was the time, expecting a May release date.

Yeah, it's not due out until October. At least I'll have it in time for my birthday.

The moral of this post is, go buy those books, they're the best ones about how Star Wars was created, that I know of (that's honestly not saying much). Also, the best documentary I've seen on this subject, is Empire of Dreams, from the 2004 DVD set of the Original Star Wars Trilogy. It's awesome.

Pic of the Day 124 - Star Wars Week

Darth Maul's Lightsaber hilt, .45 scale mini saber replica by Master Replicas.

Master Replicas is probably best known for their Lightsaber Hilt replicas. They made beautifully crafted, full size, film accurate saber hilts that came with mirrored base stands, and acryllic dust covers. They also cost over $300 each, and being fullsize and in display case, took up a lot of room. However, they realized that there were many Star Wars collectors with neither the money or the space (often both) for the 1:1 replicas, and so early on created the 1:2 scale saber hilts, of which I was a big fan. Like the full scale hilts, they are, despite their size, beautifully detailed, if not from quite as durable or expensive material, and the smaller size allows for displaying more in less space. Also, they were only $35, which in and of itself was enough reason to get them. I have quite a few of them, and even if someday I was blessed with the space and the money for the full scale props, I would keep the half-size ones. It's too bad they didn't think to make mini helmets until the last year they produced Star Wars replicas.

The full Darth Maul hilt is one of my favorite items in my collection. Among the reasons for this is the story of how I got it. In short, I paid far more for it than I should have, and at the most inopportune time. Within a week of paying $80 for it (being an exlusive hilt it was more expensive to get ahold of than the regular releases), Master Replicas sold a large number of them to various online retailers, and the price quickly plummeted to half of what I paid, and in the last couple of years the after market price for them has stablized around $30. A hard lesson in patience, that has mostly paid off.

Pic of the Day 123 - Star Wars Week

Shadow Stormtrooper, .45 scale Mini Helmet, by Master Replicas.

I love the mini helmet line that Master Replicas started right before they lost the Star Wars license. The scale was perfect for me, not nearly as large and bulky (and expensive) as the full scale helmet replicas, they fit on any shelf, and are still plenty large to allow lots of detailing and heft to them. Unfortunately, they only made around 9 or 10 of them before they failed to renew the Star Wars license, so there are several helmets I would have liked to see, that we never got, like Jango Fett's or an Episode II Clone trooper, a TIE Fighter Pilot or AT-AT Driver. Speaking of the TIE Fighter Pilot helmet, it was in the works, and would have been one of the next helmets released. Curiously, a company by the name of Riddell had the license for mini helmets serveral years ago, they released four, and then canceled the line. The next helmet due to be released, already in production but never fully completed, was the TIE Fighter Pilot.

Pic of the Day 122 - Star Wars Week

Darth Vader, Revenge of the Sith mini bust, by Gentle Giant.

Gentle Giant has also released and Empire Strikes Back Vader mini bust, which differs in pose, and probably in armor details.

Pic of the Day 121 - Star Wars Week

Shocktrooper, San Deigo 2006? Exlcusive vinyl model kit by Kotobukiya.