As my ewok collection started growing, I started thinking of ways to properly display them. I thought about getting them a vintage ewok playset and headed over to eBay just to see exactly how much those playsets were going for. The average going rate for a second hand complete set turned out to be more than I was willing to spend, about a 100 dollars or even more if it included the original box. So I left it at that. Until I came upon this one auction that was ending in a few hours, whose current bid was around 20 dollars. I figured what the hell? I placed a max bid of $50 and went to bed thinking I’d never win…..then the next morning received a pleasant surprise….turned out $50 was just right…I won.
Monday, December 17, 2012
Saturday, December 8, 2012
Ewok To Remember
Since I got the ball rolling in my last entry, I have decided to keep it rolling by dedicating the whole month of December to writing about my favourite posse from the Star Wars Universe, the Ewoks. As you may have guessed, Wicket didn’t remain the only ewok on my toy shelf for long. Since their debut in ROTJ, and after two straight-to-television ewok movies and a cartoon, quite a number of other ewoks not named wicket have been introduced and “immortalized” in toy form. And towards the later part of 2012, as I have rekindled my love for these little furry dudes, I have tracked down & purchased as many “modern sculpted” ewoks as I could find to add to my ever growing collection.
Monday, December 3, 2012
Something Wicket This Way Comes
Return of the Jedi usually doesn’t come out on top when it comes to people’s ranking of Star Wars movies. There would be a lot who would say that of the 3 original films, it is clearly the weakest. I for one would never rank it above The Empire Strikes Back, but against A New Hope, it’s really a toss-up for me.
Monday, November 26, 2012
Koo Koo Kachoo Mrs. Robinson
Ok time for something a little different. One afternoon, my girlfriend Caren & I were at one of our local Toys R’Us to kill some time (ok, ok I dragged her in with me cuz I wanted to see if I would luck out and actually find the ever elusive Toys R’Us exclusive Masterpiece Optimus Prime available on the shelves). Anyway, no luck on the Prime, but something else caught Caren’s eye….
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
The AirBorne Identity
When the first wave of G.I.Joe A Real American Hero figures
first came out in 1982, there really weren't too many uniform variations from
character to character. Aside from a few
exceptions, almost the entire team was decked out in varying shades of green.
The next wave of Joes that came out in 1983 was a little bit more creative
& unique, with more branches of the military being represented as well as
more specific environments & designations filled out. We got ourselves a navy SEAL, an arctic trooper, a mine detector (EOD), a medic and even a marine that inexplicably
looked like he stepped out of the Village People.
Thursday, November 15, 2012
I Did It, Myyyyyyyyyyyy Wave
If you asked anyone who’s watched the original G1
Transformers cartoon who was one of the most memorable & unique character
in the series, I’m pretty sure Soundwave’s name would come up quite a lot. Yup the Decepticon’s original communications
officer has a lot going for him. He’s
got that cool monotonous effects rich processed voice, he’s bigger than your
typical Autobot and as seen in the first episode, can beat up multiple bots at
the same time, and of course, he’s got his little private army residing in his
chest.
Monday, November 12, 2012
A Hunting We Will Go...
Writing this blog has done 2 major things
for me. One, it has given me a better
appreciation of the stuff I collect.
Usually after a few days or weeks of messing around with a toy, that toy
is usually placed on the shelf to make room for a new one. So getting myself to write about certain toys
gives me an opportunity to take a toy down and mess with it again. And two...well, I’m not sure if this is a
completely good thing, but it has gotten me to buy more toys….
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
They Call Me The Seeker….I Been Searchin Low & High
(Geek mode ON) The
name “Seeker” was a term originally coined by fans to describe the Decepticon
Jets of the same mode, eventually adopted by Hasbro and various comic
continuities. (Geek mode OFF)
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Lobster Tales
I once read somewhere that it must have
taken a VERY hungry man to eat the very first lobster. Who would’ve thought that this oversized bony
& spikey insect looking thing from the sea would taste oh so good! But I'm getting off-topic….this isn’t a food blog
afterall. Meet Clawful, the Warrior with
the Grip of Evil!
Thursday, October 11, 2012
An Law-Full Entry
Beach-head (Joe trainer): What's that bow-wow doing here?
Law (new Joe recruit): That's my dog, Order. He's trained to sniff out
explosives. Order, seek!
Beach-head: This is supposed to be YOUR test, Law!
Law: Hey, Law and Order are a team, man. He find the bombs, I drive the car. We
tried it the other way, but it didn't work.
Monday, October 8, 2012
Et Tu…Bruticus?
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss (Man)
My nephew: Hey who’s that?
Me: That is Moss Man, he’s one of the Masters of the Universe
My nephew: cool! What’s his special power?
Me: He smells like pine….
My nephew: no….really….
Sunday, September 23, 2012
HI, I’m a Marvel…and I’m a DC
Are you a Marvel guy? Or DC? The age old question asked to
many comic book collectors and super hero fanatics. If you asked me this
question now, my answer would be an easy “Make mine Marvel!” For as long as I can remember reading comics,
I was always into marvel comics. Sure I
read an occasional Batman issue here and there, but growing up, my comic stack
was basically composed of Captain America and the Avengers.
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
A Marvelous History Lesson….
I guess it’s no real surprise that aside from being really
into toys, I was an avid comic book reader & collector as well. From watching the Super Friends or Spiderman
on a Saturday morning to reading comics, I loved my super heroes. Back then
however, when it came to toys, there really wasn’t much to choose from. When I was really young I remember having a
bunch of Mego dolls…anyone remember them? But they were never among my
favourites. Later on, we got Secret Wars& Super Powers from Marvel & DC respectively, neither of these lines
did anything for me. Although Super
Powers came close, none of them could hold a candle to my Joes.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Ewok Hunt...
One night, as I lay in my bed in the dark, I heard a faint rustling of plastic coming from my waste basket. I quickly shined a light and caught a mouse rustling through my bin. Immediately it jumped back into a hole in my wall conveniently located above the trash. Upon closer inspection it seemed the little bugger had eaten his way straight through the wall between me and my neighbor! I opted for a quick fix that night and covered the hole with an expired credit card fastened to the wall by masking tape. It did the trick of keeping the mouse out but I could still hear him on the other side, TRYING to eat his way through the card, NOT a pleasant sound that you would want to hear while you're trying to sleep. It was pretty obvious that a more permanent solution was needed....so I got some help from some experts, meet Noh-Apakk, Nanta, Romba, Teebo & Machook...my official Ewok mouse extermination squad....
Monday, August 27, 2012
Silly Rabbit, Toys AREN’T For Kids!
Anyone who’s collected toys has most likely at some point experienced being looked down on or ridiculed for pursuing such a hobby. We all come across those people in our lives, maybe a parent, a partner or an “ex”, who fail to see the joy that these pieces of plastic bring into our lives. They refuse to let their inner child out and miss out on realizing often times how much care,expertise & talent go into producing some of these “toys”. Some of these toys truly are “works of art” in one way or another.
Friday, August 17, 2012
Know Your Joe
When Hasbro started the Real American Hero line of G.I.Joe,
they faced the daunting task of trying to win over kids like me who were
hardcore Star Wars collectors. Back
then, when it came to 3¾ action figures, Star Wars, was king. But right out of the gate, Hasbro pretty much
struck gold by implementing 3 things into their toy line that would set G.I.Joe
apart from all the rest, including Star Wars.
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Dōmo Arigatō, Mister Roboto
If these guys look familiar, they should, Machine Robo was
the predecessor of the American robot line Gobots. In the same way that American company Hasbro
converted Diaclone into Transformers, Tonka converted Machine Robo into what
more people know today as Gobots. But
Gobot toys were never very popular here in the Philippines. For me, it was Machine Robo.
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Sunday, August 5, 2012
The Others
While Transformers, G.I.Joe & He-Man pretty much ruled
my toy shelf, they definitely weren’t the only ones on it. There were
others. Some of these other toys were
pretty obscure and didn’t have the rich mythologies and and stories behind them
(translation: they didn’t have an accompanying kick-ass cartoon) like my big
three. Others, although cool were rather
simplistic and were eventually over shadowed by more complex and exciting
toys. And others, well I had to give up
on due to being persecuted by my friends for liking them….Anyway, regardless of
the fact that many of these other toys failed to make a lasting impression on me,
they all were at one point in my life a source of joy to me and for that reason
alone, I’d like to give them some recognition.
Since this probably will be a rather long piece, I’ll break it up into 3
or 4 parts throughout the week...
Thursday, August 2, 2012
The Real Meaning of Christmas...
When I was 7, like most kids my age,
Christmas really didn’t mean anything more than a kickass day where everyone
gave me toys! Yes I know my parents
taught me that the real reason we had Christmas was to celebrate the birth of
Jesus, but really, at 7, that basically translated to “I get more toys!”
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
He Has A Tendency To Blow His Stack...
A Real American Hero... |
In 1982, my dad brought me to the States for the first time.
I was 6 and had nothing but Star Wars in
the brain. That’s all I cared
about. Going to the “fabled” amazing
store called Toys R’Us and getting me more Star Wars. Surprisingly, my brother, the same one who
got me excited about Star Wars in the first place was suddenly telling me to
FORGET THEM! There was this new toy that
I should get….called G.I.Joe. G.I. WHAT?
I thought what kind of toy goes by the name Joe? Star Wars just sounded so much cooler. But my brother was insistent….I MUST get a
G.I.Joe.
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Two Dengars is Too Much
Double "D's" |
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Transformers...in 3D
my THIRD favourite bot! |
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
My Robot Kicked Your Robot's Butt!
“It’s a world
transformed, where things are not what they seem. It is the world of the Transformers…A world
of Heroic Autobots and Evil Decepticons!”
My introduction to the world of Transformers toys actually
didn’t start with Transformers per se, but with the original Japanese line
called Diaclone that Hasbro eventually ended up “transforming” into the robots
we know today. Coming home from one of
his business trips, my dad brought home a nice blue F-15 eagle jet that could
amazingly change into a robot. He even
came with a tiny little man with magnets on his feet that could neatly fit
inside the jet’s cockpit. Now as cool as
this toy was, what I found even cooler was this little booklet that came with
the toy. It was a catalogue of all the
OTHER robots that were in the line. As
it turned out my little blue jet was just the tip of the iceberg. There were 2 or 3 more jets like him, trains,
dinosaurs, insects and a whole lot of cars & trucks that ALL turned into
robots. I was instantly hooked and I
begged my dad to get me more!
My first "Transformer" |
Monday, July 23, 2012
Once a Collector....
The BIG THREE! |
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