About Last Night(of the year)

     This is the end of 2014; time to make resolutions, get reflective, and whatnot.

     What is behind me in this past year:

• some great movies like Captain America the Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Transformers Age of Extinction
• Some Great Books like Skin Game and The Champion
• Good versions(to me ) of all five classic Dinobots, a leader class Jetfire and 29 other thrilling Hasbro transformers, plus Masterpiece Bumblebee
• Great TV like the Flash, and Gotham
• Time spent with my bird, my family, and figuring out who I was

     What is ahead of me in the coming year

• Great Movies Like Avengers, Age of Ultron, Ant-Man and maybe...just maybe, Star Wars: The Force Awakens
• The next Dresden Files and GFL books
• Combiner Wars from Hasbro and a new animated TV Series
• Figuring out who I will be from here on out

May 2015 be happy, healthy and prosperous for us all

Merry Christmas 2014

     From the makers of this fine Blog- Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, Blessed Yule- Whatever you hold dearest in your heart for the winter holiday, I wish you a safe, happy day in the warmth of the ones you love


     And Conure Presents

UPDATE: I'm adding Happy Ramadan and Eid, Happy Festivus, and Happy Hogswatch to my list of greetings

The Sound of the Thunder

     Brontosaurus means "Thunder lizard"- Apatosaurus means "Crappy Name Lizard"(not really, but what was he thinking with "Deceptive Lizard"???). There is a story- archaeological history, that tells us one simple thing. there was never a brontosaurus. In our hearts and our culture, however, we still revere all that the name evokes.

     Whatever he was, he was probably never a lizard, more of a proto-bird while Mr Darwin figured out what would fit to survive the extinction. For more about that, and Robert Bakkers other theories, see here, or just read "the Dinosaur Heresies"

     In 1985 (the year I graduated High School) Hasbro released Sludge. Robot to Brontosaurus was his game, and he was armed with:

• "Energo-Sword", "Electron Cannon", "Rocket Pod", 3 rockets

     There are three good third party Sludge toys out there right now- (my opinion, and my price range)

• Columpio by Fansproject - tempting, but not quite doing it for me
• Toyworld's Muddy- very tempting, and I already picked up Roar

But in the end I was won over by Hammers and Fangs

• Planet X Neptune

you no pat this saurus. 

you see him coming you'd better step aside...

I'd hammer in the morning and I'd hammer in the evening all over this land

Two guns, two hammers, but storage for only one in dino-mode

Groundshaker and Earthquaker

I had to turn my flash off to share the light-piping on him with you
it's so...pretty!

Bee-You-Tiful

     Let me start off by saying...there seems to be a lot of needless Bee-hatred out there- I know this is a character that Hasbro sells a lot of, and makes a lot of variations because they sell. Many fans seem to feel like Bumblebee has been thrust down their throats and they are choking on him. And you have had him thrust upon you here as well.

    This is no Camaro, or fictional muscle car. this is no illegal Art Feather Bee, an intellectual property theft of staggering proportions. This is your official, VW licensed G1 Bumblebee with Spike Witwicky in his Exo-Suit, next to Masterpiece Sideswipe for size comparison

Can we get a blue beetle repaint for Dresden Files fans?

I have often wondered how he fits in there- obviously his arms are not in the arms, and his legs are not in the legs

looking good

on this one my flash said "nyah, nyah, you can't make me fire!"

My review of him? He's fun. He looks good in both forms. He converts in 5 min or less without too much muss or fuss, but is complex enough to be entertaining to an adult

What Lies Ahead

    ...Is Headmasters.

     I had a hard time in my younger days with the concept of headmasters, targetmasters, powermasters, etc. I had a hard time with it for two reasons: The concept that sticking a human or a Nebualn on top of (or in the gun hand of) a cybertronian would automatically make him faster, stronger, or more skilled. I also had a really hard time thinking that a human, even one wearing special armor, contorted into the shape of a transformers head would be be either A)beneficial to the transformer or B) conscious and breathing, and not screaming in agony as bones bend in directions bones are not meant to bend. Nebulans...well,  they look like humans but must be really good at yoga.

     That said, I now have two Headmasters, one a third party from Toyworld and one an official Hasbro release


     Brainstorm- with partner Arcana: an incredibly simple, yet fun tranformation, and a beautifully designed figure in both modes; the one drawback here is that his headmaster is tricky to remove without destroying him

not the Milano

I fly a starship across the Universe divide And when I reach the other side...

forget my own head if it weren't...crap, it's not there is it?

Much better

    And here is Hardhead with partner Duros. This toy is pure, unadulterated win, and if you are at all interested, snatch him up while Bigbad still has him. from his three big guns, to his bayonet stored in a shin compartment, he continues to delight

Big tank

and Pilot

Combine to become a hell of a big bot with the look of a brawler

No, I'm not trading. it would look silly on you

Holiday Shipping

     Let me state now that I am perfectly calm and accepting, but that "we" are not so calm

     So first off- my bestbuy.com order got split- everything except supernatural season 9 got sent from one location, and arrived, safe. Supernatural season 9 apparently detoured through a black hole or purgatory- last info on it is from dec 1, when "electronic shipping info " was sent to USPS. In a perfect world, electronic shipping info would be followed by the physical object, but such does not appear to be the case. I know that bestbuy will fix it, whatever the issue is, and make it right, but "we" do not.

     Secondly...my generations brainstorm from HTS was en route and supposed to arrive today, and now is delayed until tomorrow. This was originally not even supposed to ship until the 8th, so getting it tomorrow would be cool, and I know this but "we" do not.


     Teased enough? Regular readers know him, no one loves him. But he is always lurking in the background, chattering. Invisible, Intangible, Unconurechaseable(*), yet omnipresent.

THE PLASTIC MONKEY

     He is convinced that someone stole my TV show and is watching it, the bastards. And when we saw the delayed package until tomorrow, this conversation took place:

PM:"It's LATE! order it from BIGBAD- they got it in!"

ME:"And...when would it get here if we ordered today from Bigbad?"

PM:"SHUT UP! JUST ORDER- Don't trick me with your human logic! You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!"

followed by me placating the plastic monkey by handling stuff he hasn't seen in a bit and putting reprolabels emblems on some autobots who need it. Until, that is, I can stuff the monkey back in his box

(*)-Unconurechaseable describes any object that your conure cannot chase off your shoulders