Toy Purchases January 2012

Skyquake *Image courtesy of Seibertron.com

One of the original reasons I wanted to create this blog was to keep track of my collecting habits and try to curb my rampant desire for immediate fulfillment by changing the instinct to make impulse purchases and focus on the core of my collection, especially since the TV shows Collection Intervention and Toy Hunter have put collectors in the spot light. It's pretty easy to spiral into a whirlwind of garbage and I don't want to feel like a hoarder when I look into a mirror. Since I have a bit of time to make up (it's currently October 2012), let's start with January!

Banzaitron *Image courtesy of Seibertron.com

Coming down off the holiday break from  work and also the month long food coma, I started feeling the itch to jump into collecting some of the more appealing Botcon exclusive Transformers. I recently attended Botcon with a few buddies in Pasadena in 2011 and I really liked a lot of the exclusive figures they offered that year. After searching around a bit and familiarizing myself with the past sets I gravitated toward the 2009 Wings of Honor Botcon wave. It's ingenious to use the Energon and Cybertron molds to create some unique updated figures of classic G1 characters.



Since I had a bit of Ebay gift certificate money left over from Christmas, I set about looking for some good purchases and I ended up snatching Bonzaitron and Skyquake double pack. Both of these characters were lesser known figures in the Transformers Universe but I loved the remold and re-branding of them Fun Publications did here. I'm a great fan of the Energon Starscream and  Mirage original molds that were used for Bonzaitron and Skyquake respectively. All together, these two new characters lend an impressive gravitas to the Decepticon Classic-verse seeker armada.

Blurr *Image courtesy of Seibertron.com

The other 2 purchases I made in January 2012 were Transformers Animated Blurr and Grimlock. I'd been looking for a affordable Blurr for a while on ebay. Every time I spotted one I was outbid on it by a significant amount or I missed out due to bad timing. Last year I purchased the Transformers Fan Club Animated Cheetor club figure which was a recolor of the Animated Blurr with a original head. I loved that figure and knew Blurr was a solid toy as well. Luckily, I found one at a  reasonable price.

Grimlock * Image courtesy of Seibertron.com

My last purchase of the month was the before mentioned  Animated Grimlock. By now I really only had maybe 4 figures I needed to complete what I considered my Transformers Animated collection and Grimlock was the last Voyager or larger purchase. I remember looking at him at Mandarake at Nakano Broadway when I visited Japan in 2011. The specimen I was looking at was MIB but the box was pretty torn up. He was cheap at 2,500 Yen (roughly $30 USD). Unfortunately  I had a bunch of purchases already including a Galaxy Force Yellow Ramble, Japanese Animated Ironhide and Ratchet, and a ton of presents for friends and family. I just could not carry another toy with me even if I opened it out of package. So finally, I found one on ebay cheap and pulled the trigger.


Once I had him in my hands I really liked him. It's a simple toy, which is saying a lot for Grimlock figures, but the style and execution of design is superb. He's easily one of my favorite Animated figures.