Fortress Maximus

I finally got it today, so I can now officially post it. I finally got the unreachable Transformer for me, Fortress Maximus. I have wanted him so badly over the many years I started working on my Generation 1 collection. With a little bit of luck, and saving I finally got one though I admit that as of this post, he is far from complete. I got him on eBay missing many parts, but as soon as I won the auction, I immediately started getting the parts that are missing that I could afford. I got some of the parts I ordered for him yesterday, before I even got him today. When I did get him today I added the parts I got, and will continue to do so as they come in, and my budget will allow me to purchase more. At this point, I have purchased all of the parts that make his main body complete, with the one exception being his radar dish. With any luck, I can get it in a few weeks, and then I will proceed to work on getting his other missing parts, namely his large rifles, and then new stickers for him, and finally the parts needed for gasket/grommet. As I said in my previous post, I am really working to get my collection pages current, so I really feel I can say with certainty that I should be keeping his page updated as I go. I will try to keep this blog updated as I proceed.

Site/Collection updating

Lately, I have realized that when I have been updating this site, it is unfortunately not with the most important parts, which is my actual Transformer collection. That is a shame really because it is suppose to be the focal point of my site, and has really been needing it from when I started it as a class project many years ago. That being the case, I am trying to rededicate myself to making my site better, primarily by cleaning up my collection pages so they are better formatted with pictures, have the correct pictures, have the pictures taken nicely from my collection instead of eBay pictures if there are pictures at all, and also update my personal descriptions, which in most cases out dated since I have added to many figures. I already took a lot of pictures last night and already updated the following Autobots:

Arcee
Bluestreak
Blurr
Fortress Maximus
Grapple
Ironhide


Stay tuned for more updates. They will take a while, but I do plan to really work on them and not let this fade away as in times past...

Added Technobots Strafe and Scattershot to complete Computron

This is a couple of months overdue for various reasons, but I finally got Strafe and Scattershot to complete the Computron portion of my collection.  I got both of them complete, and Scattershot even has his box.  I should have listed this months ago, but as I said..... 

Plus I am doing it now, because I anticipate the missing "crown jewel" of my collection coming next week.  I will definitely post when I get that guy (though I admit I already preemptively put a page up for him.... too excited......), so stay tuned.....

Anime deals!!

Before I get into more relevant stuff, I thought I should mention how I have had such great luck getting amazing deals on anime at Amazon.com lately. In years past, I would really get my anime on eBay or rightstuff.com when it came to getting it online. While I still use those sites, I have really found Amazon to be my first stop, and is usually the place I get my anime, both used and new. RightStuff has unfortunately dropped to number 2 on my list, and I rarely use eBay now.

To show relevance to this, I will point out two great deals I have gotten in the past month. The most amazing is the complete Wild Arms series. I am not expecting it to be a top ranked series, but I love the games, and couldn't believe I got the complete 5 disk (22 episode) series with the collectors box for $2.89. Thats with free 2 day shipping as a prime member. $2.89........ I still can't believe it when I think about it. Another deal I got was Dokkoida - Complete Box Set with its box. It is a smaller 3 disk set with 12 episodes, but I paid only $9.72 with the same free shipping. Sure, that is not near the deal as Wild Arms, but that's still just a little over 3 dollars a disk. I cannot complain about that. I still remember when I first started getting anime on DVD when it started transitioning from VHS (yes, I am old). I was spending about $30 a disk. I am getting most complete series now for much less than that.....

I should also note that if the price difference isn't much, I would rather buy from RightStuff just because I think it is important to support them and keep them relevant compared to the giant monster that is Amazon. I still want to support the little guy when I can. Sometimes I even buy from both since Rightstuff sells on Amazon too, a lot of times for even less than on their own site.

Wild Arms Series

Girls Bravo

As I have said, I need to catch up on posts, so thought I would start back to my small anime reviews. I have finished 2 more anime series since my last post, so I will start back with my oldest. I watched and completed Girls Bravo about 3 weeks or so ago.

It was a series I had seen before, but didn't realize that until my recent purchase. I think I had watched it before on the Anime Network. As I have admitted before, I do like to mix in a bit of the harem sub-genre of anime in with my watchings. That being the case, I have to admit this series wasn't bad, but it really didn't impress me either. While I don't really care for the main protagonist has to be Mr Strong muscle man, or whatever, I don't like it when they are complete wimps either. I guess a normal everyday guy is what I like. The most recognizable example is probably someone like Tenchi. Anyway, getting back to it, I felt Yukinari was a bit of a whinny weakling and had a hard time rooting for him a lot of the time. There were a few times he stepped up and I enjoyed his character more, but in general, I wasn't real impressed. Not to get too self involved, but anyone who knows me knows I have always been a rather small guy compared to the average, but I don't really let that interrupt my day to day life. I just want the character to be someone more like that so I can identify more. That sounds self absorbed which is not my intention. I am sure most will know what I mean...

Anyway, as for the female cast, I am going to get into spoiler area here, so if you haven't watched it, and plan to, I would not read further. The show revolves around Miharu and Yukinari. I didn't find Miharu that great either. Sure, she has the cool distinction of being from Seiren and not causing Yukinaris weird girl allergy, but beyond that, she has no depth beyond her ability to never stop eating. The eating all of the bananas part was mildly funny, but overall I found her pretty shallow. The neighbor girl Kirie was much more interesting, and I really rooted for her more even though I knew with the show being what it is it wasn't possible.

Anyway, with all of that, it probably sounds like I hated the show. The truth is, I didn't. It had a lot of good/funny moments. I just wouldn't rank it really high on my list. It was entertaining though, and it was a fun distraction for the most part. I got it cheap, so no complaints. On a grading scale, I would probably give it a B- or maybe a C+.

Girls Bravo

Finally finished collecting the G.I. Joe Marvel comic series

I thought I would share a small victory. Today I finally got G. I. Joe issue 155, which was the last issue of the old Marvel comic series that started back in the 80's when I was a kid. I have been working on this collection off and on over the years, and 30 years after it started, I have finally completed my collection.  Ironically, I looked at the date of the first issue, and it is June 1982, so it is just a coincidence but it is exactly 30 years...  I am behind on many other post, but I will try to catch up soon...  It's not like anyone is reading this anyway... :)

Tenjho Tenge

I finished Tenjho Tenge last Friday.  I was really disappointed with this show.  Primarily because none of the plot points were concluded or finished.  It really wasn't an ending at all.  Plus to be honest, there really wasn't one single character I liked.  It was all about each character kicking each others a$$, even if they really had no reason for it.  The two characters that came in at the beginning of the story were just bullies, and you were suppose to root for them.  I can't remember any of the character names as I write this, but the leaders sister is so in love with the main bully for no reason that makes since, instead of the one nice guy in the group who is stronger anyway.  This just wasn't a series for me I guess, so it gets a low C- from me.  The funny thing is, I had picked up the first disk and watched it first, and it had so much potential.  Just fell flat after that... I am glad I got such good deals on each disk in the series.

I started Girls Bravo this week, but I already have seen it and didn't remember I guess.  Must have watched it on one of the anime networks on cable.  In my cue now is Dai Guard, Haibane-Renmei, Ikki Tousen, , and still Witchblade, along with some more Tenchi, or Shuffle.

Tenjho Tenge