"They're Here!"

This is the exact same post as on my other site, but since the subject matter is beyond huge, I thought I would use both. Enjoy!

After more then a year of wondering, waiting, and hoping, in T-minus three days and a few hours, Transformers The Movie will officially be released in (hopefully) most theaters. Currently I am looking for a theater that just might be doing something kind of fun to celebrate this historic event in my life. Yes, I said historic. Why? Well, to really understand the whole thing, let's take a little trip back in time...

(dreamy music)

The day was December 7, 1986. It was the 45th anniversary of Pearl Harbor being attacked by the Japanese, but that was irrelevant to me. All I knew was what I had seen commercials for; my favourite cartoon of all time was moving to the big screen with new characters and new adventures. Even though the movie didn't win over a lot of critics, everyone who got to see it in the theater knew what a treat it was. We left the theater knowing we would remember this day for the rest of our lives. It was more then just seeing a movie. It was to be one of the defining moments of our youth. Everytime I reminisce about that day I always get a kind of bittersweet feeling, partly becaue I know I'll never get to relive that day again, but also I remember being one of the lucky few that knows what that day was all about.

Okay, enough chatter, let's move onto the toys! So far I has acquired five of the roughly 20 different items available so far so let's take a look:


This one I liked from the get go. A bad guy police car can't be good for the world, but it sure looks cool.


Bought this one with some leftover credit from the big "R". Something about tanks...


I have been a big fan of the Pontiac Solstice ever since Donald Trump gave on to Kendra on The Apprentice. And who better then Jazz to embody the cool sports car?


At first I thought Ratchet was going to be a Hummer rescue vehicle. Well, it doesn't look quite like what I had imagined, but the color and the size definitely impressed me.


These two I wasn't really planning on buying seperately mind you. But when I saw the package deal with a savings of over $15, I knew I had something special here.


This was the second one I had seen pictures of that I knew I had to have. I love the giant machine guns under the doors plus the fact that the detail and resemblance is just spectacular. If you remember the Ironhide from years ago, he was a little red van thing that just did not transform the way he did on the cartoon.

So, as you can see, I'm just a little more excited then most people about next week. Even if it's just a midnight showing and nothing more, that's alright with me. I sure wish Zach was a few years older so he would get as big a kick out of this as I do, but he will definitely have watched it before he starts school lol. What memories instill special feelings in you? I have an entire catalogue myself, but that's probably because I don't have much of a life ha ha.

"The Three Forceketeers?"

Okay, that title was a bit lame, but one of my prized Star Wars collectibles is this 3-pack holographic figures at the end of "Return Of The Jedi" when Anakin, Yoda and Obi Wan are gathered around the bonfire "celebration". What are they celebrating? Well, it depends on who you ask. For the Ewoks, they were just happy the Empire got off their peaceful planet. For Han and Leia, they were finally able to be together. And for Luke...well, knowing your dad changed his ways before it was too late made his day I'm sure.



Let's follow the path young Skywalker took as the years went on:


Here we see Anakin as a young boy. Not having a father ultimately led to his less-then-stellar treatment of Luke and Leia.


As a youngster, he meets Obi Wan Kenobi, an established Jedi warrior and mentor who tries his darndest to keep the boy in line, with ultimately futile results.


Once Anakin accepts his destiny to be a Jedi, he is turned over to Yoda who, as he would say it, "Do or do not. There is no try" Huh?


After a few movies and several tragedies, we see what Anakin has turned into: a bionic, respirator-dependent cybernetic being driven by hatred of the Rebellion. Plus, the love of his life Amidala died too...that probably has something to do with it.



Ahh, but all hope is not lost. After Vader finally gets it all turned around (i.e. tossing ol' Emperor down the garbage chute), he gets to join Obi Wan and Yoda in the great afterlife of Jedis...glowing, walking around, talking with everyone else...too bad this doesn't work in real life.

As the three most famous Jedis, they each gave their lives to protect someone else's. Too bad it's all make-believe. There's a lot of people who would like it to be real.

"Look Out..."

...here comes the Spiderman!! Haven't seen the 3rd installment yet but according to the $300+ million it's taken in already it must be good. So, I thought I would look and see what Spidey collectibles I have amassed over the years. And boy, it ain't many:


The only actual action figure I ever collected of him, he looks a lot like the toys that came out recently, so...why not save $7.99?


Christmas time is always a fun time at our house, and part of the reason is the eccentric collection of ornaments on the ol' fake tree.


I really enjoy being Venom on the Marvel vs. X-Men arcade game due to the fact he can use his suit to capture the enemy while I wail on him with other stuff.

So far, this is the only things I have found that captured my interest. Will more come? Well I sure hope so! Wouldn't be a toy guy if I didn't always look to the future.

"May The Toys Be With You"

You could say this is my personal mantra, seeing as how I would collect everything under the sun if I could. Hey, if work keeps giving out gift cards, that very well may happen. Here are a few things Star Wars-related that you may not have seen the firs ttime around:


If I knew how to use a yo-yo somewhat effectively, I might open this one up. But, the last time I checked, I do not.



Found this at Target just sitting there all by itself, so I knew I had to give it a home. The truth is, I'd love to open it up and do something creative, but I bet one of my fellow eBayers would like it pristine instead.


This is probably the prize of my collection. I ordered this off Starwars.com back in 1999 and I have never seen one in the stores or on eBay.



I refer you to my yo-yo skills as to why I have not opened this up. But I can imagine how a game of chess would go between Darth Vader and one of his minions:

Vader: "Bishop to C2."

Minion: "Um, I'm sorry Lord Vader, but you can't move your bishop there."

Vader: "What!?"

(minion chokes to death...which is ironic considering they're on the 'Death" Star)

This is about all I managed to collect that wasn't an actual action figure. I shall add more if The Force allows me...which it usually does.

"The Alternator Alternative"

I'm sure a lot of people were wondering when the Transformer line was going to come out with a line of toys resembling the more modern cars we have today. Well, as of last year, Hasbro presented the Alternator collection. There are about 30 or so past and present characters that have been remodeled as classic cars, trucks and SUV's. Here are the three I managed to add to my collection:

Sunstreaker

I remember the G1 toy as looking kind of weird when it was in robot form. Now, as a Dodge Viper, I don't think he will have that problem again.

Shockblast

I think this was supposed to be Shockwave but someone got the number wrong. As a Mazda RX-8 this is definitely the fave of my collection.

Tracks

Don't remember who this guy was...there are several of these with names I've never heard of. As a 2006 Corvette I was just looking to add to what I already had and since he was blue...well...he added to the spectrum I guess.

What I like now is you can't even find these in the stores anymore. Toys R Us has a few on their website but who knows if they will even be available when you go to order them. Which means as of right now their value has gone ahead of their MSRP of $19.99. Glad to see something I own is worth something.