Tuesday, June 09, 2009

REVERSE VACATION: When the movers take your stuff its like your life is taking a vacation from you



The movers have been packing up and taking away my kingdom over the last few days, transforming what was once a vintage space toaster palace into nothing more than an empty room with a bunch of holes in the wall where my shelves used to be. I will miss my shelves and the roboplasticos that used to fill them. But when I think back on my time in Rapid City, my favorite memories are not of the toy robots I bought on ebay or at KMart while I was here, what I will really remember and what makes this move hard is leaving this house where my son took his first steps and laughed for the first time and all the other countless things that make this the place he spent his first two years. I guess I should be used to it since over the last 14 years I've never stayed in the same place for more than three years. Still it is never easy leaving. Moving so much has taught me how to say goodbye but I still haven't learned how to let go. Either the roboplastic apocalypse is upon me or maybe this is just how everybody feels before they move to Florida.

DID BABY DARTH VADER THINK EVERYTHING WAS "MOST IMPRESSIVE"?

My son took one last look at all the robots in the laundry room the other night before the movers came. I know he doesn't have the faintest clue what they are but he still said wow. When the movers came they too said wow (although like the baby I don't think they had the faintest clue what all those toy robots were either). One of the movers asked me what was my most expensive piece-what was the most money I could get on eBay for my most valuable toy robot. I guess this is the gauge by which people measure the worth of something when just being impressed is not enough. We talked about it a bit but all I could think about was if this guy really knew anything about Transformers this collection would not be all that impressive. Still, judging by my toddler son's reaction and that of the furniture movers I think there may be an untapped blog audience of babies and sofa lifters who like robots that I haven't yet exploited. The problem is I wouldn't know how to write stuff catering to this niche market because I've never moved furniture for a living and it's been a long time since I was two.

THE ROAD TO MIAMI IS PAVED WITH GOOD INTENTIONS (AND PROBABLY MY COLLECTION IF THAT TRUCK EXPLODES)

This is the point where I was sure I would stop blogging for the rest of eternity as I left South Dakota for a life of adventure and excitement like Luke Skywalker leaving for Alderaan (except he took some of his robots with him). This is the point where, stripped of the toy robots that were the source of my blog powers, I was sure there would be nothing to write about and no motivation to continue. But as it turns out the ideas keep coming. Or what I really mean is I keep buying crap on ebay that I want to write about even though I won't have a mailbox anymore soon. So I still have much to write about and there's still a lot of robostastic acropolypses to go around. I'll just be taking an internet break for a few months as we drive down there and get settled and find a nice safe place to live amongst the robot collecting alligators and hurricanes and drug dealers from Cuba. But no matter where I go the writing urge will still be with me and one day I'll have more ideas for you, and you'll have things you'll want to talk about. I will, too. And so I leave you now with something that occurred to me as I was looking at the empty room that once was my very own vintage space toaster palace. My fellow Macrocranians, it doesn't matter how much robots you have or what they're worth in the eyes of babies and guys who move refrigerators, if you like the toy robots you will always be a weirdo.

12 comments:

Weasel said...

Moving sucks.

I'll never forget moving from NC to WI in mid-December: It was not fun at all. But having Prime there did help.

Good luck with the hurricanes. Trust me, they blow chunks. (And I'm not talking debris, either!)

agentmorris said...

A brilliant piece as always EKM. This robotarded Floridian welcomes you to our fine swamp!

Nightowl said...

Just in time for hurricane season to . If one happens want in on the bet on land fall pool ? My family all gather in tampa and we take bets on where it will land . otherwise it i consider florida a sunny hell .

Unknown said...

Love your blog but I couldn't seem to find some place to search. Have you come across any ads for the Transfomers Power Cycle/Big Wheel?

Evil King Macrocranios said...

There are two power cycle ads in the "Transformers 1984 Licensed Merchandising" section of the VSTP and a whole bunch of power cycle ads in the "Transformers 1985 Power Cycle" section.

Weasel said...

Prime just read this post. He thinks the mover who asked you about your most valuable piece just wanted to know which one to 'lose'.

Rob said...

Esteban, good luck with the move! Let Greg and me know when you make it to Florida.

Kingboy D said...

Its good to see another bot collector in South Florida. I just discovered your blog - good stuff. Just curious, do you have collection pix posted? I'd be curious to see what specifically you collect. Thanks!

Evil King Macrocranios said...

Yeah, Lynn, I'm sure the movers committed some form of criminal stupidity and I can't wait go get it all unpacked to see what exactly they stole. I was busy with other packing when they did the robot room so I'm cringing at the idea that they bent all those G1 boxflaps but oh well. Having them mutilate my collection is all part of my plan to take my toys with me to hell.

Rob, episode 134 with all the discussion about the Shout Factory Transformers DVDs was fantastic. 135 was great, too but I'm only halfway through listening to your movie review. I have so much to write/say about those episodes but I just don't have time right now with the move. But when I do I will write you several paragraphs well after everyone has moved on and forgotten about all of this and nobody cares. This is my modus operendi as evidenced by my blogging about 25 year old toy robots ads.

Kingboy, you can see about 90% of my ads collection at the Vintage Space Toaster Palace. I'm always behind so there's a backlog of a couple hundred ads but that's most of it. I swear one day I'll have it all up.

Anonymous said...

I was just curious what non-TF stuff you have. I found your site through a general search for Godaikins in Florida, and I read that you have some. I'm a chogokin collector myself.

Interesting read about the Yasumicon. I was tempted to go, but decided against it (being a 40-yr old and expecting a bunch of young kids).

Anyway, I help run a board about Japanese bots - Robot Japan (http://robotjapan.proboards.com/index.cgi). Stop on by and check it out. We have a TF forum, among many others. If you join, send me a PM so I know who you are.

Kingboy D said...

Sorry, previous post was mine. Didn't leave a name.

Evil King Macrocranios said...

My Shogun Warriors collection consists of one 3 inch Dragun and my broke to hell Godzilla. Most everything else I have from other lines is like that, too. Even my Transfromer collection is unimpressive by all standards. I rarely buy anything new and all my old toys are broken or just really common stuff everybody else has a million times over already. This is why I don't put collection pictures up or mention specific robots I have. They've got to be really special or really embarassing for me to take pictures of them, and in the context of the blog usually embarassing wins.

I would be lying if I said there weren't hours-long stretches at Yasumicon during which I was wondering why I was there. Even before going I didn't know why I was doing it. I totally understand why you didn't go because not having peers of the same interests or age range can be rough. But I haven't been to a non-Transformer related convention in approximately 6 years (I think) so I was really looking forward to it. It being free also played a bit in the decision making. I'm pondering attending Mizu-Con and Animation Supercon but it depends on their mecha related panel content. Until someone comes up with CHOGO-CON we're gonna have to make due with what we got here in southern Florida.

Last year my Vintage Space Toaster Palace started getting hits from the robotjapan boards and that was nice because it told me the content was being recognized. I still feel a bit self-conscious about my poor html skills and the overall bad design of the site so I didn't jump in and say hi. I guess I have issues. This (and my crappy collection) is why I am not an active participant on any robot boards.

 

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Evil King Macrocranios was voted king by the evil peoples of the Kingdom of Macrocrania. They listen to Iron Maiden all day and try to take pictures of ghosts with their webcams.