TFCON 2019 Wishlist

What? Another wishlist? New York Toy Fair has come and gone and just like that, another major toy event is just around the corner. TFcon is currently the largest fan run Transformers convention. It originally was held in Canada but has grown so much that it now holds two annual conventions, one in Canada and the other in the US. And because it is not an officially licensed Transformers convention, for the past few years, TFcon has become the major announcement site for many toy companies that specialize in something near and dear to my heart....3rd party Transformers.

A Prime Choice

Around seven years ago, a then unknown 3rd party company called Fans Toys posted pictures of their upcoming project Acoustic Wave, which was their official attempt at a masterpiece styled Soundwave. A few months later Takara announced the release of their official MP-13 Soundwave and all of a sudden Acoustic Wave was nowhere to be seen. Fans Toys immediately scrapped their plans to release him.

A Little Bit Of A Primer

When it comes to Transformers, Optimus Prime is undoubtedly the most iconic and recognizable character from the franchise. Which is why it was a no brainer that when Takara launched their Masterpiece line way back in 2003, he was the first one out of the gate to get that "masterpiece" treatment.

NY Toy Fair 2019 Wishlist

As we start a new year, the most likely thought on many toy collectors minds are what cool new toys will be coming out in the next 365 days that we can add to our collection. And in a couple days, we will get a partial answer to our questions with New York Toy Fair 2019 just around the corner. For toy collectors like myself this is a big deal. It is the first “event” of the year where most of the major and minor toy companies announce a good number of their upcoming releases for the new year.

A Deluxe Conversation

Last weekend I had a pretty fun online chat with a Transformers podcaster that I listen to regularly. Matthew “Deluxe” Baldwin is one of the hosts of a Transformers podcast called “Shattered Cast Uncut” and he also has his own YouTube channel. Aside from doing Transformer toy reviews (Hail Hasbro Reviews), he also has a series of “Around 30 Minutes with…” videos wherein he chats with various members of the fandom. While I am generally a shy person...and a sort of lurker online...I thought it would be a fun idea to come out of my shell and drop him a line to chat...fortunately he was more than happy to talk.

2018 Recap

In 2018, I did something that I should’ve been really doing from the start of my toy collecting hobby. I basically took note of every single toy that I bought that year, and it was quite the eye opener. I guess it applies to more than just toys, but it’s easy to lose track of exactly how much new stuff you accumulate in a given year. Recording every purchase gave me a greater appreciation of what I got, and so I’d like to finish off this whole “best of 2018” with a general recap.

The Best Of 2018 part 2

So it’s finally time to finish off this little experiment I started nine whole months ago when I set off to tackle my annual “best of” list in a new way. I have to say I really enjoyed building up to my best of 2018 list this way as it gave me a greater appreciation of everything I got in the past 365 days. I really hope it was as fun for you the readers as it was for me. So let’s get it on!

The Best Of 2018 part 1

Another year has come and gone. And before we move on to 2019, it’s time to look back at my favorite toy purchases of 2018 and do the near impossible task of picking out my top ten out of all of them.

Some "Big Love" To End The Year

In 1987, the first full length G.I.Joe animated movie was released….to video. Just like the animated Transformers movie that came out a year earlier, one of the main objectives that this movie had was to introduce new characters based on the toy released that year. Cobra’s back story was expanded upon with the introduction of the Cobra-La secret empire. And the Joes’ ranks were bolstered by the addition of some new recruits collectively known as the Rawhides.

A Story Arc for Angel

If you were to take the powers of the five original X-Men and ask people to rank them in terms of the usefulness and effectivity in battle, I think that it would be a safe to assume that the power of flight wouldn’t be on top of many people’s lists. I mean don’t get me wrong, flying is a cool power but I would take concussive energy blasts, telekinesis, ice generation and even enlarged hands and feet over it...ok maybe not enlarged hands and feet, but you get the point.

Recoloring From The Past

Like most things in life, toy production is an expensive business. Toy companies pump in a lot of money into their products and do whatever they can to maximize profits. Which is why it is a common practice in the industry to reuse as many toy designs/molds as they can, repackaging, tweaking or at the very least recoloring them in order to convince the consumer to keep buying more product while at the same time lowering production costs.