the Festival of Phlockenschifften

     The Time has come at my place to celebrate PhlockenSchifften.

     What is Phlockenschifften? Essentially, it's a word I made up that refers to the old German tradition of moving parrots around, which I also made up.

     We are changing the arrangement of cages so that I have the Lovebirds in my room, leaving Sam with Sid(Cockatoo) Ickabob(Green-Cheeked Conure) and Apollo(Jardines Parrot AKA Green Recluse Parrot*) Tango and Cappy of course stay where they are, and Wallace is still by my desk.

     Just over a week ago, I adopted a lovebird who had part of one wing amputated due to a tumor and needed a good home. We call him Little Star. It was immediately apparent, or nearly so, that he could detect the presence of other lovebirds and wanted to be near them, so we bit the bullet. We moved Ruby and Ginko in with me. We are hoping that:

1. His time socializing with other lovebirds will be good for him
2. Apollo's behavior to me involves familiarity breeding contempt
3. absence and distance will make Apollo fonder toward me. 

Time will tell. at the least, Sam feeding Apollo should get me bit far less. So far, Ginko is very interested in the new lovebird. Ruby...she's a little more reticent. 

   


*The Nickname Green Recluse Parrot was Coined also by me after he took a quarter-inch wide and deep chunk out of my arm because he thought it was funny. The Bird is a tool- I love him, but am leery of him. 

Round Robin Challenge : Post a Pic Of Your Most Eccentric Action Figure!

     A Challenge from Toy Break and

     The problem here is how do I with a mind that might be accurately described a a bubble or two off of plumb define eccentric? definitions vary, to say the least. I asked my roommate and she pinpointed the Bo'marr Monk from my Star Wars Collection, because he's a brain controlling a robot spider, and I can see the point in that. He's weird, a little lovecraftian in nature.

     I thought of Generations Swerve, with his weird history as an exclusive Promo for Chevy dealers for people taking a test drive in an Aveo and his relationship to no known transformers continuity

     I could go with my Stikfas, that are great toys but don't go with anything else I own. These innovative toys from Singapore are a favorite but they don't have any fiction to attach to them, leaving them faceless and without identity

     But despite all those worthy contenders, I think I am gonna have to go with this...thing.

     Dunno where I got it, Dunno what company it comes from... it's sort of like a Godzilla KO, but I have had it since childhood, It has Translucent plastic eyes, almost like it;s intended to light-pipe, a hollow body like it is intended as part of another thing. I have tried it as a sort of hand-puppet, or shined a flashlight into it, with no satisfying results on either. Some days I want to know where this came from, and what else was intended, and some days I just want him to stay the two-point articulation mystery that he is.

Other Eccentric toys

• Toy Break Gives us Kermit the Frog and the Raiders of the Lost Gonzo
• 20 Years Before 2000 Has a fugitoid with a backstory and no one-armed mutant

Round Robin Challenge-Curating

     To paraphrase the tagline from Stallone's Cobra, which is apparently about neither the terrorist organization fighting G.I.Joe or keeping your insurance after separating from employment

     "Toys are a Disease. Meet the Curator"

     Are toys my disease? Some days they are the thing that drives me mad, some days they are all that gives my mind ease.

     For my level of nostalgia, I display surprisingly little vintage stuff. I guess I like the Neo-G1 look too much. I love to see the new innovations, so sometimes I have to fight with myself to decide which version or versions of character represent his or her essence best. My biggest challenge is taking anything down, anything at all. Shelf space is always short for this reason, and making the display too cluttered is a constant risk.

     For my display, it's Autobot heavy, with a small shelf of Decepticons, it's also Neo-G1 heavy, with both classics and masterpieces, with a small shelf of Prime and a movie Optimus Shelf. I even have a shelf of transformers that don't fit on any other shelf. Things come in from my storage, things go back to storage, new things come in and older things go to the storage.They get taken down, transformed, loved, reposed...

     And dusted. Oh yes. This Apartment creates dust like Michael Bay creates​ explosions and fanboy wails. So I turn to my friend the cheap paint brush for a dust solution.It is gentle, but will get into areas of heavy detail with ease. Alexis, just for you, I dusted one of my Jin Chan Toads

My Fellow Curators

• Toy Break is all about the connections to childhood
• Alexis Universe Keeps shifting them around to make greater and greater sense

Round Robin Challenge-Curating

How do you Curate your collection? I will let you count the ways