Disappointing The Phandom

Fandom is a funny thing, especially when pertaining to a major franchise such as Star Wars. When presented with a universe populated by hundreds of unique characters, you really cannot tell exactly which of the of them will “stick” in the hearts of the fans. Sure there are obvious characters like Luke, Leia, Han, Rey & Kylo, you know the main heroes & villains of the story. But every now and then you get other characters who gain their popularity not for doing particularly much in the movies themselves but for something as basic as just looking cool.

The Best of 2018 part 3

And just like that, another three more months have passed and my toy shelf has become home to yet another bunch of new plastic heroes, villains, robots, aliens and everything in between. So here we go with part three of the best of what 2018 has to offer.

Blue's Clues

Sometime in the mid 80’s my dad went on one of his regular business trips to the US. While I wasn’t particularly bothered by his constant travelling, what I always looked forward to would be the new toys he would bring home for me. For this particular trip, all I wanted was Transformers, which at that time were the “new” toys on the block. Even though I already had a few Diaclone robots, the original Japanese toys that Transformers were based on, as far as I was concerned, they just weren’t the real deal. Once I saw the Transformers cartoon, all I wanted were the “official” toys and on his return, my dad definitely delivered in spades.

Where To Buy...

I’ve been collecting toys for well over 12 years now. And while what toys I collect hasn’t changed too much over the years, how and where I buy my toys has. So I figured I’d spend some time to write about where I get my toys nowadays and at the same time give a quick shout out to all those stores and individual vendors I’ve dealt with and gotten to know through this never ending hobby.

A Monstrus Creation

Sometime around 2004, I got into the hobby of 3D modelling Transformers on the computer. To say that I got obsessed with this hobby would be quite the understatement as over a span of around 5 years, I created over 250 Transformers characters & designs all of which had the ability to transform into their respective alternate forms. Not to toot my own horn but i’d like to think that I got pretty pretty good at it.

The Purple Knight

I wouldn’t really consider myself to be a serious video game player. Sure growing up, I played a lot of games on my Nintendo Entertainment System, but I was never really that good at most of them. Sucking at a game would of course lead to me quickly losing interest and moving on to the next one. But I wasn’t bad at everything, and those few games that I did excel in, have remained favorites of mine to this day.

A Nova Approach

When Marvel released The Guardians of The Galaxy movie in 2014, no one really knew what to expect. Far from the household names that they are today, back then, Starlord, Gamora, Rocket, Groot and Drax were mostly 2nd-3rd tier characters from the Marvel universe at best. But given Marvel Studios’ previous track record, people were open minded at best and for the most part, I think it’s safe to say that the movie delivered in spades.

Going Down Another Doggie Hole

Before our daughter Cecilia was born, both my wife Caren and I were already toy collectors (although she’s not as crazy as I am). So even as a small baby we were already pushing our favorite toy characters onto her in the hopes that she would take a liking to them as well. So by the time she was around 2, we were the proud parents of a little toddler who could name all the main members of the Justice League, Guardians of the Galaxy as well as most of the original 10 Care Bears.

Token About Arcee

When she made her debut in the 1986 Transformers the Movie, with her “Princess Leia bun” shaped head and predominantly pink color, it was pretty obvious that the writers intended the Autobot Arcee to simply play the role of the token female in their new cast of characters. Fortunately for her, by that time, Transformer fans were so starved for a genuine and more fleshed out female character that she managed to make a fairly positive impression and since then she has become somewhat of a staple in most Transformers iterations moving forward.

Pretty in Pink

Back in the day, when it came to toys for boys and girls, things were much pretty black and white. Robots, soldiers, superheroes and anything that carried a weapon or sported an action feature were all definitely for boys. And on the flipside, dolls or anything cute and cuddly were for the girls.

The Best of 2018 part 2

So this is where the fun starts. Another 3 months have passed and a whole new batch of toys have joined my toy shelf. Now it’s time to go over some of my favorite purchases of the last quarter and and see where they fall in my ongoing top 10 list of 2018.