POST YOUR NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

[inflatable dalek]

[quote="Brendocon 2.0"]I sort of meant it in terms of "I've got one of those knocking about somewhere that I'm never going to sell, and I very nearly ended up with a spare"[quote]

It could be worse, just by laws of average there must be some of that 150 people who bought a copy who've drifted away from fandom completely in the intervening decade plus and have no idea of the value of what's shoved in a chest in their loft/thrown out in a clean out.

[Tetsuro]

Marvel Infinite Death's Head!

...this counts as a Transformers toy too, right?

I don't buy a lot of "regular" action figures, so I always forget that they tend to be almost entirely painted...which means that many of the joints are basically painted stuck and I get to enjoy the nerve-wrecking experience of unsticking them by force.

[Skyquake87]

I love my little Death's Head. I do wish he'd come out in the 5" scale, but this'll do and I'm pleased with him. Mainly for just existing.

[Brendocon 2.0]

I love my little Death's Head. I do wish he'd come out in the 5" scale

Phrasing.

[Tantrum]

I just picked up the Platinum Edition G1 Insecticon set at the K-Mart in Fall River, MA. They're going out of business, with all toys marked down 40%, so the $80 set was only $48. There were 3 more left if anyone in the area is looking.

[Knightdramon]

MP Shockwave is finally in the house. Customs charges were ridiculous. This was marked as a 20 pound item. And I paid 20.73 f*cking pounds on top of it. Parcel force driver managed, for the third time in a row, to mess up the delivery, send it to a PO and not inform me, and have it sit there.

All that madness aside, he's ok. Far heftier than I imagined and without even putting any batteries. Going by comments on various boards you'd have thought that he was made out of paper!

Some of the joints on his legs are a bit looser than I'd like, but can be amended somewhat with tightening the screws.

He is very quick and fun to change around; I've done two transformation cycles so far. That means that on average I've transformed him more times than half the video reviewers before they do any video review.

Legs are a bit awkward with heavy ratchets combined with loose swivels. Plastic is stiff. That darned handle is a nightmare to pull out.

With the whole ordeal involved into getting him I thought I'd like him a lot less. Not 100% sure on him, but first impressions are good.

[Brendocon 2.0]

MP Shockwave is finally in the house. Customs charges were ridiculous.

Almost as if they're designed as a deterrent in order to protect the native economy amirite.

Glad you like him.

[Skyquake87]

Generations 'Thrilling 30' Rhinox

Bought on a whim having watched the aftermarket prices start to creep up a bit, now all the discount retailers are starting to sell out of Generations Voyagers. Despite my hubris of spouting off about 'well I've got the original, what would i want this for?'. I'm glad I did, because this does make the original toy look very sad indeed. This is some good stuff. Lovely detailing, good sculpting and I really like the rubbery plastics which are put to good use here. Robot mode is very impressive and nicely realised. A very impressive figure and has the same sort of 'wow' factor as Springer. I approve.

[Warcry]

The original Rhinox is probably my least-favourite Beast Wars toy, even worse than stuff like Drill Bit or Transquito or Bantor, so beating it out isn't hard. And that's really all I expected out of the Generations toy, but I found myself liking him quite a bit. Not a big fan of the transformation to rhino mode (his head/back never want to lock in on mine) but other than that I think he's a top tier figure and easily the best of the re-imagined BW guys we've gotten over the last decade. MP Primal is liable to dethrone him on that score, but still, Rhinox is great.

My Shockwave is waiting at the post office. The next few hours cannot pass quickly enough!

[Warcry]

Shockwave was worth the wait! And I somehow dodged the tax man even though he was held up in customs for two weeks.

In general I agree with Knightdramon: he's a nice, hefty figure with a slick transformation, but looseness in the legs is a bit of a problem.

Other things I've noticed:

The backpack is really bulky. Distractingly so. I wish Takara had made it optionally removeable for times when Shockwave needs to look a bit sleeker.

The nice, slender legs are what make him a notch above the various 3P Shockers in my books, and I was happy to see that they're more than up to the task of holding up his heavy torso. Articulated ankles and heavy metal feet really help on that score.

Poseability is pretty good in general. The shoulders are fantastic. The knees are a bit limited, but nowhere near as bad as I'd been led to expect.

The colours were the big fandom gripe, and in-hand I can see why. I don't recall him ever being this light, even in the cartoon. He looks different depending on the light source, though, so I'm having a hard time nailing down just how "off" he is. Sometimes he looks like he's just a shade or two away from the average cartoon colours, but other times he looks practically anemic. But he looks good either way, so I don't mind all that much. Better this than the super-dark purple that Hasbro is always using for the guy, anyway.

The light-piped eye is a bit hit-or-miss. It looks great when the light hits it, but looks a sickly green in bad lighting.

The swappable hands are a great touch, and one that I wish other MPs would emulate. The clear purple ones are a bit out of place on a lilac robot, but I appreciate the effort. It's pretty cool that they gave him an alternate left hand too, even though he only had that for five seconds in the original cartoon and there's maybe five people in the world who'll want to display him that way.

The mini-Shockwave gun accessory is a bit frustrating. I get that it's a reference to the animation error that had him wielding himself, so it's mainly meant for Shockwave to wield, but I'd like to have the option of giving my other MPs a Shockwave Targetmaster. Unfortunately, the hands and weapons have been so inconsistent across the line that the only one I've got who can pull it off is Soundwave, and it looks like a toy in his huge hands. How is it that they can figure out that weapons should be universal across the Generations stuff but not realize they should try to apply it to MPs as well?

But yeah, overall this is a pretty great Shockwave. A bit on the simple side compared to previous MPs, but that's not a bad thing.

[Brendocon 2.0]

so beating it out isn't hard

...

phrasing.

The backpack is really bulky. Distractingly so. I wish Takara had made it optionally removeable for times when Shockwave needs to look a bit sleeker.

Well the outer shell of the backpack is removable. It just looks ****ing daft with just the gun barrel sat there.

Agreed that the mini Shockwave would be better if it could be used across the line.

[Warcry]

...

phrasing.

Or maybe that's exactly what I meant?

Well the outer shell of the backpack is removable. It just looks ****ing daft with just the gun barrel sat there.

Yeah, taking the cover off just makes it worse, I agree.

I get wanting to avoid partsforming, but the damned cover/gun stand partsforms anyway, so I'm not sure why they didn't just bite the bullet and have the barrel clip over the arms the same way the G1 toy did. You could still have it and the stand turn into a backpack, but at least then it'd be optional.

[inflatable dalek]

Or maybe that's exactly what I meant?

I don't get why you and Brend are trying to get innuendo out of the joy you experience from playing with you giant purple one eyed monster.

[inflatable dalek]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand also, I too got hit with a ridiculous customs charge this week, adding nearly £50 to the cost of the charity auction I won for this lovely Kei Zama Scavengers art. People veer between telling me to challenge that charge and going "But it is HMRC, buncha twats so probably not worth it". Often in the same sentence.

Spinister is trying to catch a butterfly!


https://twitter.com/InflatableDalek/sta ... 0315502593

[Warcry]

Maybe if you were being more respectful to Her Majesty in the other thread, her underlings wouldn't be charging you absurd import fees?

Customs fees in every country are a ridiculously unfair crapshoot, though. Either every item coming into the country should pay a fee that's known ahead of time based on the declared value of the item, or nobody should. It amazes me that a system so random and disorganized hasn't been overhauled by now.

[inflatable dalek]

What I really dislike is £13 of that charge was a separate handling fee. The taxes pay the HMRC people, they shouldn't need an additional charge to cover their wages (and as it would involve looking at the envelope and weighing up the VAT based on its value, that £13 for about two minutes work at most).

[Brendocon 2.0]

What I really dislike is £13 of that charge was a separate handling fee. The taxes pay the HMRC people, they shouldn't need an additional charge to cover their wages (and as it would involve looking at the envelope and weighing up the VAT based on its value, that £13 for about two minutes work at most).

The handling charge is actually to Royal Mail, to cover the cost of them calculating the tax amount and paying it on your behalf (which is why you're giving the money to them rather than direct to HMRC).

[inflatable dalek]

As I'm now being told they overcharged me by a massive amount (the full 20%* rather than 5% original artwork is supposed to go for), I'm going to at least try and claim some back. Even if it apparently takes ages.


*Actually slightly more but I'll put that down to either the sender or customs struggling with the value of the pound compared to Japanese money. Will look at the envelope in the morning and see what is on there.

[Knightdramon]

Pretty much everything Warcry said

I agree. There are many good things with the figure but a few matters bring the overall experience down for me.

Loose joints in the legs first and foremost. Even after trying to tighten them up they are still very so-so. The right thigh swivel on mine can be tricky to balance on a proper pose.

I do like the bacpack though, very retro. I hope a future repaint release will fix those legs.

[HeavyArms]

Combiner Wars Legends Chop Shop - Would prefer the Skrapnel (Shrapnel) version, which I may still get eventually, but this guy was 20% percent off so I grabbed him.