Monday, December 17, 2012

Village Ewoks

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.

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?


In 1986, Hasbro released 5 new Transformer toys; Onslaught, Blast-off, Brawl, Swindle & Vortex, collectively known as the Combaticons. Together, the formed into a larger robot, Bruticus (think Voltes V or Voltron).  (geek mode on) In the world of Transformers they were known as a combiner, or gestalt (geek mode off). Anyway, aside from the fact that you had 5 smaller robots that could form into one bigger robot, there really wasn’t anything that special about them.  Like most Transformers back then, they sorely lacked in the articulation department, and so it was like 5 bricks getting together to form one big….brick.

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

The Others Part 3
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

Childhood Confessions...

The Others Part 2
now THESE bears I could collect!
I Wanna Be A….
OK yes I admit I liked Care Bears….I actually still do….honest.  I’m pretty secure in my manhood to admit to the entire World Wide Web that I like Care Bears….so there.

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"
When the first Star Wars action figures came out in 1978, I was a bit too young to really appreciate them.  My older brother though did a good job at ultimately getting me all excited about the toys  and so when my dad went to the US on a business trip all I wanted for pasalubong was Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars!  The thing is, I didn’t really ask for anyone specific; I just assumed that when you asked for Star Wars toys you’d get all the main guys, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Darth Vader….or hell even R2D2 or C3PO. So while my dad was away, I went around telling everyone who would listen, my friends…hell even my yaya, “when my dad comes back with Luke & Han I’m gonna make them fight Darth Vader…and it’s going to be EPIC!!!!! “(Ok so I just added the epic part). 

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Transformers...in 3D

my THIRD favourite bot!
What does one do when you’ve got your 2 favorite characters standing proudly on your shelf…and looking lonely?  Why of course you get your THIRD favourite character to fill in the void!  So with that reasoning, slowly but surely, my alternators collection started growing. My reasons for buying the next robot were always logical of course! From why am I displaying my 3 robots on a shelf OBVIOUSLY meant for 4 robots?  Or “let’s see, I’ve got a yellow one, a white one, a silver & a blue…..yup, I DEFINITELY need a RED one!”  Or “this robot ALWAYS hung around with this other robot in the cartoon….so…” and of course, my favourite…”OOOOOO….PRETTY (with accompanying drool….ha ha)”. 

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 first "Transformer"
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!

Monday, July 23, 2012

Once a Collector....

The BIG THREE!
I have always been a collector.  Whether it was something "free" like plastic skippers from Chickadee packs and Ziggy finger puppets from Tang to Figurine Panini sticker albums and Smurf figurines, if I was really into something, I had to "have them all".  Thank God Pokemon wasn't around back then.