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.