I am the Luke Skywalker in Stormtrooper disguise of toy robots collectingThis weekend I did make some headway in cleaning it all organized. I really needed to make room for the new hotness, which is the Wal-Mart exclusive Masterpiece Starscream toy robot. I don't have it yet but hopefully through my elaborate network of robot friends that work at Wal-Mart I may just get one. I don't really need another Starscream because I've already bought like ten tryptzillion different Starscreams over the last twenty years. But apparently no collection of toy robots from twenty years ago is complete without this one that came out last week. Wal-Mart Starscream is supposed to be the cream of the cream, the Omega Supreme of Starscreams. It's supposed to be the best Starscream ever made blah blah blah and of course it is super rare HTF, which means your local Wal-Mart will probably only get the extremely limited quantity of three hundred of them.
I found my childhood Megatron when I was digging through all my crap trying to make room for that new life affirming Starscream. I am very proud of this, as I am of all my beat to hell toys from when I was a kid. Nowadays he's held together with twist ties and those little clear rubber bands that they use to package today's toy robots. There's a lot of missing pieces so all he does is transform from Megatron to a pile of Megatron parts. Ah, the memories. They say little Japanese boys in Japan had more fun because Megatrons over there came with little plastic bullets they could shoot. I say I still had some good times with that little robot gun, pretending I was a soldier in the Wehrmacht and pistol whipping stray puppies that looked like Snoopy with Megatron's die cast metal grip base. Too bad kids today can't get a realistic Walther P-38 gun Megatron from Wal-Mart like back in the good old days. OR MAYBE THEY CAN.
A couple of preguntas hit me as I was in my robot room, looking upon the vast piles of broken and decaying toy robots parts that used to be my childhood. I wondered why exactly I still buy these things and when it's going to stop. Taking an assessment of how much this robot hobby has enriched/destroyed my life, I wondered about three things. 1) Could the new super duper Starscream with extra cheese ever be as much fun as 1984 Megatron? 2) How much has toy robots restored my faith in humanity? and 3) What are the ultimate consequences of having spent countless tryptzillions of dollars on roboplasticos? The answers are 1) no, 2)not much and 3) now my shelves look crowded and ugly.It has dawned on me that I could always stop and just be happy with what I have. But what of my theoretical robot friend guests and my potentially embarrassing lack of Masterpiece Starscream? Let's face it, I will never have visitors over so there's no point in trying to impress people that don't exist with robots I don't have yet. If anything, a room full of robots is more embarrassing than something to be proud of. But at the very least I should try to get it all organized so that I enjoy it. One thing I admired about Ben Kenobi was that although he was a hermit, he kept a clean house even though he had no possibility of guests. It would have been really embarrassing if Luke came over and his place was a mess and Anakin's lightsaber was in the bathroom because he'd been using it to unclog the toilet.
10 comments:
I think that deleted scene of Obi-Wan unclogging the toilet is supposed to be on the Mega Edition DVD.
I've been feeling similarly foolish in my absurd coveting of other people's plastic robot collections.
Taking personal stock has never been so depressing.
I try not to get too depressed about the dumb behavior I feel or exhibit because of toy robots. I think that with a little bit of perspective these feelings of defeatism, envy or happiness we derive from the hobby can be pretty funny. In the big picture it's all very absurd for little plastic robots to stir up such strong emotions. At the very least I am thankful for my robot-derived dysfunction because writing about it makes me laugh.
It saddens me to hear that there is a better mega edition Stars War DVD than the one I imported from Canadian Taco Bell.
I had Megatron when I was seven years old and it broke. Part of me wants to buy that one from Walmart.com. I know it's really cool, but why does it have to cost $100? I can resist...
You can find Encore Megatron for about $65 at other online stores like NCSX and tisinc99.com.
$65 is still a bit high for a toy gun. Is the reissue all plastic or are there some metal parts like the original?
It's exactly like the original in terms of die-cast content. It's better in that there were some slight changes to the mold to improve the sturdiness of the arms. Instead of screws the arms swivel points are now riveted instead of screwed. Plus it comes with accessories the US didn't get like a sword and the little plastic bullets.
Every time I read your blog, I end up spending money!
Find a Masterpiece Starscream yet? I did but haven't opened it yet. It's supposed to be for Christmas and even though I have Mrs. GripX' permission to open it, I still haven't done so. Should I open it now or wait?
Yes I did thanks to a Transformers fan I met here that works at Wal-Mart. I haven't opened mine because I don't know where I'm going to put it. I promised myself I could open it once I make room, but that requires more organizing of my robot room. It would be a nice reward for getting mys tuff together but right now I'm working on a big update to the newspaper ads site. Between that and the baby I don't have time to fix the room up and consequently Starscream stays on a chair in the corner, still stuck in his box.
I say if I can't open mine then you should keep yours sealed until Christmas. Misery loves company.
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