2013 PURPLE NOVEMBER

November was an amazing month for me & I'll tell you why in just a bit.

A couple of months ago I started to keep track of my hauls on a monthly basis & this has become sort of a routine for me, & a good one in fact. At least I can keep track & remember what I have bought for the whole month. Believe me, I actually missed out 2 items in the midst of compiling this list. So anyway, here are the things I have recently purchased.

I picked up my second MP-02 Acid Storm because it was going on sale in Toys R Us. I intend to keep this second unit in MISB condition & will probably sell it off or trade it away in the near future. Then, I picked up 3 few accessories to be used as add-on for my toy shootings. The first was a Heavy Weapons Unit Spiral Crusher from Kotobukiya. The other 2 items are custom diorama effects from LBX series.

Next, Sandstorm came at a bargain at Tesco (surprisingly), followed by an unreleased limited run Nike Calvin Johnson Megatron which uses the current IDW Megatron/Dradwing mold. The only difference about this version is that the feet has mini red crosses "+" for design & the figure also comes with a purple American football which bears both the Nike & Decepticon logo. On the front left chest of Megatron, you will see the signature of Calvin Johnson that looks like a kid scribbling a couple of 'zeros' repetitively. From the same seller on eBay, I also managed to pick up an exclusive Gari-Robo Kun (Grape) version later on last month. This transformable ice-cream is actually still in the midst of being shipped to me.

Unexpectedly, both the rare Transformers Go! arrived on my shore last month. Gekisoumaru Kurojishi Ver., is the black version of the purple lion that I have yet seen in retail & there is also the Kenzan Kuromusha Ver., of the previously launched blue police car. At the same time, I picked up the Guren Dragotron which is basically the recolored version of ultimate class Beast Fire Predaking that comes in orange. The main difference on Dragotron is the transparent red wings that may not be that obvious in pictures that you may have seen.

Then, I also picked up a Roadbuster Ultra Magnus, which is part of my ongoing Elite Guard project. I have yet to decide whether I should custom it or leave it as it is.
 
Since the local Aeon store was having a sale, I picked up the Alex Hunter Armor with Breakdown, to further expand my base diorama in the future. I need more Decepticon bases to be combined together, before they become outnumbered by the Autobot forces.

Sometime in August, I pre-ordered 3 sets of Knock-Off FansProject Causality Insecticons. 1 for me & 2 for a friend, so please don't be alarmed at the 9 set of figures. The toys finally arrived & I must say that the quality is actually pretty good. I'll definitely post a review on the in the future.

Last month, I also spotted a knock-off G1 Thunder Clash. Not only the original G1 mold is hard to come by these days in good condition, but how often do we come across or hear about the knock-off version. I was initially skeptical & did some homework before clicking on the item on eBay. Besides being a rare knock-off, besides being curious about the quality of it, I didn't mind getting this because i'm actually killing 2 birds with 1 stone. The trailer can compliment my Wings of Honor Thunderclash (Energon Rodimus repaint), & also open up into a base for my base collection diorama!

Towards the end of the month, I paid Tesco another visit & found myself a complete set of Cyberverse figures to complete Abominus from the Beast Hunter series. Along with that, I claimed some promotional stickers for 2 of the following bobble-heads. Apparently you can press the feet up to reveal a pen in each of the figures.

The downside to these figures is that they are all sealed & randomly packed. However I spoke to the gentleman nicely & they were kind enough to rummage through the packaging to get me what I wanted. I asked for Captain America & Woody. To my surprise I'm actually quite impressed because even if you open the box up, each of these figures are sealed in a black bag. Being the experts themselves, they had to rely on 'feeling' which was the right toy.

While catching up for drinks with some collectors, I stumbled upon the ThunderCats Sword of Omens & I managed to get a good price for it at the flea market. I have been eying this toy for over a year since it came out, but I wasn't willing to pay retail price for it knowing that this toy is being thrown at dirt cheap prices in the States. But opportunity came & I thought of getting it, to have a little recollection of my fun childhood memories.

Lastly, I want to share my GREATEST Transformers haul to date. I present to you one of the Holy Grails, the almighty Black Zarak!

This figure is in mint condition & I wont it over a bid on Ebay. The condition was loose, but it's in great shape. The chrome on the chest is fantastic & the paint job on the face was in awesome condition. However curious you may be, I won't tell you how CHEAP I bought this item from Japan. It is truly a holy grail indeed.

However once I shared my haul upon arriving in my hands, some close collectors asked about a 'GPS'. This term was new to me & after researching further I found out what it means. GPS stands for Gold Plastic Syndrome. It's a syndrom that occurs only to some old toys & it doesn't mean that this syndrome happens to toys that came in golden bronze mold. It's just the name. When I inspected the toy at first glance, I dare say it was 'perfect', not a single dent, or any signs of fragility or stress marks. I was convinced that this Black Zarak has only been touched by very few hands.

However, after fiddling with the toy a few more times, the connector that holds chrome chest popped off. I had to fix the part back with super glue. It looks fine from the front & the small glue park is only obvious if you at the toy closely at the sides. Another GPS syndrome occurred when I was packing the figure & tucking it into my throne room when I discovered a small flat golden piece on the floor. I got frantic & finally discovered the missing piece to be part of the leg. Thankfully, after gluing this peice back on, it's in no way obvious at all due to the shape & position of the chipped-off piece. Although I paid pennies for this figure (Believe me, i know alot of people would pay a bomb for this), I'm thankful that the GPS syndrome only occurred in strategic spots. If I paid a whole lot more for this toy, I'd probably be having a major rampage by now.

If you want to know my upcoming plans, remember the KO Megazarak I bought in October? I'm arranging for a friend of mine to customize the parts to compliment Black Zarak. All i need to do from there is to hunt for the sacred Very-Hard-To-Find red spear (not important to me), & the face plate (negligible since I intend to display it in robot mode).

With that, I'll leave you with a hilarious image of myself with all 3 versions of Scorponok on top of me. (Megazarak, KO Megazarak & Black Zarak). Until then, thanks for constantly following my posts. Cheers.

PROJECT ELITE GUARD - WINGS OF HONOR (ONGOING)

It was around the middle of 2013 that my dad decided to pay my sister a visit in Adelaide, Australia during her university break. I took advantage of that time frame to see what I could hunt on eBay Australia for my dad to bring home. So happened, during that time, there we a couple of great, & I mean great deals! However, due to baggage space restriction I decided to settle on ordering 2 items. The first item was a loose but complete supreme class Constructicon Devastator from the Transformers ROTF line. The second item was a deal too sweet to miss. It was the 2009 Wings of Honor BotCon box set.

A few months thereafter, I started doing my own research on "Wings of Honor" (WoH) & found out that it was actually the term for this particular Autobot insignia. The emblem consists of an Autobot logo, followed by 3 red wings at the side. Soon, I discovered that this insignia was worn by the Transformers Elite Guards (EG). Not long after that, the addiction to hunt down the members of the Elite Guards bearing the WoH insignia kicked in.

To make things easier, this major project is being split into three smaller parts. First I'll be looking at Transformers Animated, then Wings Universe & finally other aligned universes (currently only Transformers Prime).


1.0 Transformers Animated

Theoretically speaking, the EG first appeared in the Transformers Animated series, a series that I was never fond of, no offense to my readers. I just didn't like the anime-styled designs as I prefer the figures to look more robotic. However, my findings showed that the EG timeline was later on expanded to the Wings Universe line & has also spilled over to the latest Transformers Prime series.

In the midst of all this research, I dug up some of my TF Animated toys that I have just to take a closer look. Much to my amazement, I saw the huge WoH insignia sticking out like a sore thumb from Ultra Magnus! In addition I also had the jet twins Jetstorm & Jetfire. They too had the WoH logo on! Since I already had some head start, I decided to hunt down the EG one by one, to find the robots bearing the WoH emblem. I reckon this would be a mid to long term project to complete depending on how good of a deal I can find for each of the WoH bots, so stay tuned.

2.0 Wings Universe

The Wings Universe series is a documentation of events that occurred loosely around the early G1 cartoon continuity. The comics were published by Fun Publications. In the comics, this special task force was originally founded by Magnum, a member of the Autobot High Council to be a special strike force within the Autobot army.

Having said so, the hunt started to get a little complicated. As I look through the list of the EG members, not all toys are currently available. Also, not all EG members that are available in the market bear the WoH insignia. Based on comic pictures from IDW Publishing & Fun Publications the search just expanded into a whole new world. Hence, this would have to be a long term bot-hunt for me to get hold of the pieces required.

Take a look at what I mean below:

With the help of another blogger, the names of all 31 Elite Guard members are as follows:

From the pictures, you can see that there are a handful of familiar faces. The entire EG crew is actually made of a combination of robots from various past series such as Action Masters, G1, Robot Masters, Universe, Fall of Cybertron, Victory, TFCC, BotCon & a few that have yet been ever produced.

I actually researched further & found that there are numerous EG teams. They are as follows:

Main Officers -
Big Bang, Sentinel Major

Alpha Team [BotCon WoH box set] - COMPLETE
Thunder Clash (leader), Flak, Kup, Landshark

201st division Strike Team - WIP
Metalhawk (leader), Dion, Iron Fist, Over-Run

Special Ops Team (Combaticons) [Universe & Fall of Cybertron]  - COMPLETE
Onslaught (leader), Blast Off, Brawl, Swindle, Vortex

45th division Stealth Team [Action Masters] - WIP
Powerflash (leader), Rumbler, Sprocket, Tap-Out

116th division Artillery Team [Figure's don't exist yet] -
Halonix Maximus, Windsail, Clear Out, Paddock

Fast Attack Team [Victory] -
Ranger, Blacker, Braver, Laster

349th division Recon Team - 
Crosscut, Delta Seeker, Rest-Q, Roadfire

If you're interested to find out more, you can also look out for this:

3.0 Other Aligned Universes

i. TF Prime-

In the cartoon series, both Smokescreen & Ultra Magnus are depicted as being members of the Elite Guard while they were still on Cybertron. Smokescreen is seen with the WoH insignia on the shoulder (ep. 44) while Ultra Magnus reflects on the past military ways back in Cybertron as an EG (ep. 61).


I would like to share this ongoing project of mine with my readers as part of the fun in collecting them. In order to limit & simplify my current project, I have narrowed my search down to a few criteria:

i.    Complete the Transformers Animated EG line
ii.   Collect the other toys from various lines with the WoH insignia
iii.  Attempt to collect all the other 31 bots from the EG poster above

I'm assuming that not many people are keen on the Transformers Animated line. Hence I should be able to find some of the WoH easily. There are still plenty of Animated Sentinel Primes, Blurr & Jazz lying around in the market, so I'll keep these aside for now & hunt for the harder ones first. My main concern for now would be Animated EG Prowl & OP. TFCC's Dion was not in my list back then due to the rarity & price of the figure.

Here is the current status of the project:

Aug '13: 

AM-26 Arms Micron Smokescreen

Animated EG Bumblebee (Picked it up at dirt cheap price)

Animated TA-01 EG Optimus Prime (Going on clearance price at BBTS)

Sept '13:

Beast Hunter Smokescreen (VHTF alternate mold, found it at the airport! In the near future I plan to get the WoH decals from Reprolabels to revamp this figure)

Oct '13: 

TFCC Dion & Mini-Con Cop-Tur (Going at a great deal on eBay)
TA-05 Animated EG Prowl (By luck, I stumbled upon this at a local store. I calmly asked for a discount & the guy agreed. Double jackpot!)
Striked a deal with an old time seller for the following 2 items:
TA-30 Animated Blurr
TA-14 Animated Decepticon Shockwave

Nov '13:
Action Masters Over-Run (Loose but complete, minor restoration needed)
Animated Roadbuster Ultra Magnus (Going on clearance)

 

With that, stay tuned for future updates on this project. There will come a day where I will be able to snap a group picture of all my Elite Guards together!

OCT 2013 SPOOKY HAUL-OWEEN

Let's see what we have here for the month of October. Hmm, now wasn't I suppose to have cut down on my hauling this final quarter? 

 

At the beginning of the month, it appeared that there was a restock on TG-20 Ratbat. I intend to cut down on my hauls by avoiding deluxe class figures for now, but since Ratbat was a limited run item, I though it would be a good to watch the price go up in the future.

Then, the long awaited limited edition Linkin Park Soundwave finally arrived in October. Initially a friend & myself were waiting for our stock from Singapore. Since it arrived on home ground first we decided to pick the stock up locally, hence the 3 boxes.

Another item that arrived in October was Masterpiece Prowl. Since most of us have already seen the molds of upcoming Sreak (Silverstreak) & Smokescreen, I decided long ago that I would only go for Prowl & Smokescreen. To me, Silverstreak is just like MP-10 Masterpiece Lambor, they're just made up of solid colour.

A couple of dudes started posting some pictures of the latest Custom Kreons on Facebook. Apparently, they were being sold in some of the Tesco hyper marts. Boy did I hunt for them high & low. It was a pity that I couldn't find them. What's great is that the full set of 6 Custom Kreons were seen shortly thereafter in Toys R Us! The funny thing however, was I didn't have my Toys R Us Star card with me that day & I wanted to convert some of my existing points for vouchers. So I told the staff to reserve the items for me & that I would come a couple of days later to pick them up.  

Somewhere around the middle of the month, Isetan had a Japanese fair & not many people knew about it yet. I read on a Facebook thread that there were a couple of good offers going on. At first, I headed over to the Bandar Utama outlet, but couldn't find anything. The deals were only available at the main Isetan outlet in KLCC. When I made my way there, I was surprised at some of the great deals that were on offer. Since I didn't want to overspend, I only picked up a few items. I settle for the Platinum Series Year of the Snake Optimus Prime that was going for over 50% off, Arms Micron Stunt Wildwider for the unique 'elephant shaped' Arms Micron & Arms Micron Final Battle Megatron for the Dark Energon Saber combination.

One evening while doing grocery shopping with my wife in Tesco, I stumbled upon the full FOC Ruination set. I was hesitating intially, but then I casually took 1 out of the 5 to the nearest bar-code scanner. The scanner showed that it was going for 30% off. What else can I say right?

My sister's coming back from Adelaide for a short break sometime in November so I had to make use of the opportunity. I found a good deal for a G1 Action Masters Over-Run on eBay Australia. It needs to be fixed & has some minor paint chip, but I know what I want to do with it.

The TFCC Timelines Dion that I ordered last month finally arrived.

Met a fellow collector for a drink last month & decided to check on some stuff at one of the toy shops. To my surprise I found an Animated Prowl (white edition) which was becoming more rare, something I must have.

I've been hunting for some Transformers Animated & found Blurr & Shockwave being sold by an old supplier of mine. I negotiated for a lower price since this line is dwindling away & not many people are after these anymore. 

Towards the end of the month, the G1 Megazarak (KO Version) finally reached our shores. You don't really need to think twice to purchase these things. The first time I saw the actual thing was back in September when I was in Beijing. To date, I have to say that this figure is a great replica of the original one that I have. The only setback is that it comes with a missing piece. I've spoken with the toy store owner to request the said parts from the supplier. We'll just have to see what he can do for me.

Finally, on the last day of October I managed to pick up the 3 Kreon Micro Changers Wave 2 (Defensor, Abominus, Piranacon) that was going on sale.

Well that sums up how I ended up with all these hauls for the month of October.

2013 Q3 TOY HAUL REVIEW

Reflecting on Q3 of 2013, I realized that I managed to purchase a handful of interesting & highly wanted toys. Some of them were deals that you just couldn't resist, while others were new launches in the market. Here's taking a look into the mind of a fellow collector.

1) TF Go! Conbiner Set

The tipping reason that made me buy this set was the limited edition Mini-Cons.

2) Hasbro Warehouse Sale

Hoarded whatever I could grab my hands on while the better deals were already taken up earlier by other haulers.

3) Australian Hauls

ROTF Devastator & BotCon 2009 Wings of Honor box. I got a shock when I actually had the box on hand & never expected it to be that big. It was after getting this box that I started doing more research on "Wings of Honor" in the Transformers line. Indeed, it has caught my attention as you'll see later on I have started to hunt down the other Wings of Honor figures from other series. This will indeed be a cool collection to display as I have a slightly upper hand by already owning the 2009 BotCon set.

4) Random local hauls

Chanced upon some Transformers Tomica toys & a TF Beast Hunter Shockwave that was becoming very rare in the market. For a mold collector like myself, it doesn't really matter if i own the Takara or Hasbro version. Then, I went off track for a while hunting for a few other Tomica cars, Batman's Batmobil in particular.

Later on, I picked up a few new toys in preparation for the upcoming Titan class Metroplex & finally managed to get my hands on a pair of large Lego base plates to display my Kreons.

5) Cybertron Con

The name itself sounds cool for one, not to mention the leader class size of BH OP made me want to get this giant. A week thereafter, I realized it was an impulsive buy as there were many more units still stacked up at toy stores. This could only mean one thing, the price will come down in the future.

6) BotCon Galvatron

The itchy fingers of mine stumbled upon a BotCon figure at a good price one night & I just had to click on the deal to own it.

1) MP-02 Soundwave

An impulse buy after a round of discussion over a few pints with a fellow collector.

2) MP Thundercracker

With the aid of a new friend, he managed to bring this jet back from Singapore where it was going on promotion at their local Toys R' Us (of which I'm really thankful for). After this piece, I started thinking of collecting the remaining MP birds. EXCEPT the green MP3 Starscream. For me, it doesn't make sense to own 2 different Starscream since I already had the white version.

3) MP Ghost Starscream & TF Arms Micron Smokescreen

One to fill my MP birds collection & the other for being a 'recruit' of the Elite Guard team (Wings of Honor).

4) Jet Power Upgrade Kit

This kit arrived long overdue from one of my local toy stores.

5) Metroplex

The Titan finally arrived in my shores. Managed to brainwash another collector as I picked 2 up at one go in fear that the market will have shortage of this figure. A very satisfying figure to be placed as the main attraction of my diorama display collection.

6) Elite Guard OP

While the market here was pushing the price of this figure up, I managed to find great deals over at the States, inclusive of shipping. One major hurdle down, the next is to find TF Animated Elite Guard Prowl (white version) at a great price. The rest of the Elite Guards should be a lot easier to find.

7) Elite Guard Bumblebee

This was a steal at the toy store owner didn't want this.

8) Random local hauls

More legend class figures in preparation for the Metroplex base diorama, Sea Monkeys for my wife & a Tomica Honda Fit in commemoration of my new hybrid car.

1) ACG-Con Metroplex

Another must buy. Owners of this figure know that there is every reason to get hold of this figure. The color scheme is a lot better, the box is uber cool & the toy comes with a set of smaller decoys.

2) MP-01 Acid Storm

I saw an unexpected deal on this just as I was about to fly off to China & I had to get it! Fortunate for me the seller was kind enough to deliver the toy right at the doorstep of my house. How cool is that?

3) TF Go! Golden Helmet

This was available on eBay & I paid a slightly higher premium for it.

4) Takara FOC Blaster

Since I already have Soundwave & Soundblaster, it's best if I just buy it & not think about it rather than to worry about this figure high & low in the years to come.

5) Beijing hauls

Read more about it here.

6) TF Kabaya Wave 7.

There's something about small size Transformers that just draws my attention to them. One day I'll snap a pic of the other Kabaya toys in my collection.

Overall, let's just hope my Q4 spending won't be as lavish & extravagant as Q3. The past months, my friendship with my closed group of collector friends have grown. They have been of great support to me with the advise given & the deal spotting that we share really has strengthened out bond. Nevertheless I think my collecting spree should be slowing off as I don't foresee anymore highly anticipated or highly wanted toys coming in anytime in the next few months.

Stay tuned for my endless hunt for the expansion of my base diorama, as well as the Elite Guard, Wings of Honor members!

BEIJING TRIP - SEPT 2013 HAUL

 

Being my third visit to Beijing, I decided to do some homework to find out where I can pick up some toys. I finally found a mall towards the Southern part of town. When I arrived, I was happy to see that quite a handful of toy stores there are actually wholesalers as well. In China, there is a very popular online store known as Taobao & most of the store owners use it. It's the equivalent of eBay in China. Anyway, this mall consists of 4 floors & connects to another mall next door that sells mainly clothes.

Behold, the stuff that I managed to purchase from the various stores in the mall include:

Fansproject Function-X1 - 元460

Fansproject Function-X2 - 元450

JB-00 Infinity Warfare - 元50

JB-06 Infinity Warfare II - 元50

Autobot insignia sticker sheet - 元5

Decepticon insignia sticker sheet - 元5

Revoltech Mini Danboard (Tamiya Vr.) - 元48  

Beast Hunter Smokescreen - RM64.90 (KLIA Terminal) 

Besides squeezing some discount out of the store owner, I manged to get a few copies of the G1 checklist that we can hardly see these days. This dude has a whole stack of'em! 

I didn't bring enough cash, otherwise I'd have purchased a whole lot more. There was only 1 store that accepted Credit Card & all i purchased from that store was a measly Danbo. Nevertheless I'd like to share my finding on the price of other toys that were available there so that you'll have a better gauge on the cost of these toys before purchasing them in your home country wherever you are. Prices negotiated are as of Sept 2013 if you so happen stumble upon this post in the future.

They are as follows:

KO G1 Scorponok - 元780

Toyworld TW-H01 Hardbone - 元550

Hasbro Sandstorm - 元180

Takara MP12T Tigertrack - 元320

KO Takara MP14 Alert - 元150

CHMS KO Botcon Punch/Counterpunch - 元85 each

KO Animated Arcee (Pink/Green/Blue) - 元35 each

Hasbro Alternators Hot Rod (factory reject) - 元50

Optimus Prime with Trailer (DOTM Movie Trilogy Series) - 元60

TF Prime Dark Guard Optimus Prime - 元240

ACG-Con Metroplex - 元990

KO G1 Weirdwolf - 元190

KO G1 Aerialbots/Menosaur/Protectobots - 元265

Justitoys WST Dinorobots Vintage Edition - 元480

TRU MP-02 Soundwave - 元1280

Some of these prices are after attempted negotiations, while others are fixed as they are already dirt cheap. Bear in mind, only cash terms. There was only 1 store selling Transformers/Spawn that accepted credit card. It's on the 1st floor, next to the escalator. If you want to visit this place, here's how to get there.

Where is it: Beijing International Toy Centre (北京国际玩具城)

Address: 77, Nanshanhuan Zhonglu

Chinese address: 南三环中路77号

Nearest subway: Line 5 - exit at Liujiayao & take a 15 minute walk

Happy hunting! 

GARAGE SALE!

Being a newly wed, this weekend was the first time I took my wife along for a garage sale.

I wasn't having high expectations towards the garage sale but nevertheless I managed to pick up a few items. Both the hard to find Ratchet & Ironhide were going at a good price while the Hyper Hobby clear yellow Bumblebee was one of those items I wanted to add onto my existing Transformers collection.

The last item above wasn't on my purchase list. My wife wanted that soft toy puppy. It's actually from Aardman/McFarlane's production so I guess it has to be one of those characters from the animated film Wallace & Gromit.

Among other interesting items on sale at the garage was the Lord of The Rings plastic sword, Grimlock bust, Magneto Unleashed & a couple of loose Gundams. However, I'm trying to limit & re-focus my toy collection solely on the Transformers toy line.

SMALL HAUL

Here's what I managed to pick up while I was in downtown Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

Both the Kre-Os were going at a very good price so I had to get them. The Danboard was on promotion from Toy Garden / Toywiz, for the month of November at one of the local toy stores.

Finally, I completed my McDonald's Transformers Prime series with an extra Megatron to trade around or sell.

TOY HAUL

About two weeks ago there was a sale organized by one of the local toy stores called Famitoy. I've been patronizing this shop for a couple of years but in the past six years, I never had the chance to attend the annual sale.

This year around, yet again I nearly missed the sale if it were not held in the course of two days. I only found out about the sale on Saturday night and I made it a point to visit the store first thing on Sunday morning.

Having said so, look what I managed to pick up!

I needed a big Hasbro box to carry my haul home.

Here's a closer look at what I managed to pick up a few weeks back. How much do you think all these cost me? Just under USD 250! I think it's a great bargain. The funniest thing about this haul is that the Korean Vector Prime cost me just under USD 3.5.

I can't wait for the next time I go on a massive hunt again! Stay tuned.