Remember Mr Awesome? He's here!

Remember the Mr Awesome auction that E won?

He has now arrived at our home in all his glory, including docking bay and all.

This is his docking bay...

Mr Awesome's sigil of excellence...

A message from the creator of Mr Awesome... it reads "Thank you very much for participating and winning this weird and hilarious experiment! I hope you will enjoy this AWESOME toy!"

Mr Awesome in plane mode...

Mr Awesome in robot mode...

Close up of head sculpt...

Mr Awesome in robot mode next to my Gakken Alpha Fighter in robot mode. See how tall Mr Awesome is?

Thanks to Canadian eBay seller kanrabat for all the fun!

Cheers,

E and HD

HK Market Watch - Luck Draw Gold MP-01 Convoy, another C-114 and some acquisitions!

Due to my work schedule, I cannot go toy hunting as often as I used to.

Nevertheless, I managed to take 1 hour 'off' today to journey down to the toys shops in YMT.

Once more, Wai Gu Kok (懷古角) blew me away with what they had.

Another C-114 Fortress Maximus MIB, complete (used stickers applied). Wow. This must be the 10th one or more that they have sold in the past 6 months.

And then, something I have never seen or heard before - a gold luck draw MP-01 Convoy from 2004 MIB. Price? A cool HKD$40,000. Oh, and someone has already put a hold on it. I understand there may be 2 people bidding for it, so the 'final' price is still up in the air according to the shop-owner.

Close up of the special slip that came with this luck draw - I was told there are only 20 pieces in the world. Pretty rare.

Want to know how to get to this shop? Check out my maps here.

***

Acquisitions

At the shop, I saw something I have wished existed (not knowing it did exist!) and wanted since the early1990s when I was into the Palladium Books' Robotech role playing games - an Alpha Fighter!

To be honest, I have known now for some years that Alpha Fighters were produced by Gakken in the 80s and have seen 1 or 2 around, but they have always been horrendously expensive and incomplete or yellowed. This one I saw at the shop was pristine, a strong C9 and complete with unapplied stickers.

So I dared thread outside the Transformers envelop and bravely bought it. I am very happy and pulled it out to play the moment I got home.

I kept telling E, 'look at my Alpha Fighter, look at my Alpha Fighter...'

Very happy bunny, me.

Oh, also got the FansProject "Sharpnel"...

Some more shots of 'my Alpha Fighter' (sorry, I couldn't keep it in the box long enough to take pictures of it in the box... some other time perhaps).

Gerwalk mode

Deluxe Insecticon Venom MIB

So, here are my most 2 recent acquisitions, both from good buddies at opposite ends of the globe. Artfire MISB was from a friend in Australia and Venom MIB is from a friend in Italy.

Artfire MISB, I have featured here. So now, it's Venom's turn!

I do actually have all 4 Deluxe Insecticons MIB. However, among them, Venom was the most unsatisfactory because the current piece I have comes in a sun-faded box. Since Venom is my favourite Deluxe Insecticon, I have been on the look out for an upgrade, and naturally jumped at the chance when my buddy from Italy offered his MIB Venom up for sale.

This is my existing Venom

This is my "new" Venom!

Some more shots of my awesome "new" Venom MIB...

Box art still very crisp and bright

Back of box. A pity the robots points has been cut... but I'll live.

The "AM" stamping on the box. Strange that its stamped on the box, usually, its just a sticker on the front of the box.

The contents

Close up of Venom in bubble

Autobot sniper, C-108: Artfire MISB

Artfire is one of the last Headmaster series toys to be released in 1987 and one of the very rare and expensive Japanese exclusives. They seem to have a lot of the 'rare and expensive' stuff in the '87 line, huh?

6 Headmaster heads (Loafer, Rodney, Kaku, Lione, Trizor and Shuffler), white versions of each Headmaster head, 4 dino-cassettes, the 'previously' rare pieces (Stepper, Soundblaster, Twincast) and then Artfire.

Arguably, the above 1987 pieces are more difficult to find and obtain on the secondary market than pieces from Masterforce or Victory, arguably.

I recently acquired Artfire from a friend in Australia, Robwin1974 of OZ Formers, through a trade (specifics of which are confidential for the purposes of this article!).

At first, I didn't think too much about Artfire. I thought that he was just a recolour of Inferno with mismatched colours! It was a 'get if I can' piece, which I passed up when I was previously in HK in April 2010. Today, I kept staring at it. The more I look, the more I like it. There is something about the red, white, grey and black colour scheme that just works. I'm really liking Artfire more and more...

Here he is in his very buffered mailer box.

Out he comes, but still wrapped in bubbles

Bubbles removed...

Before more photos, some details about Artfire, from TF Wiki:

"Artfire (アートファイアー Ātofaiā) is a Targetmaster sniper. He is patient, and thinks of his friends first, but there are times when he ignores orders because of that. His body can withstand temperatures of up to 8,000 degrees Celsius. His Targetmaster companion is Nightstick, who transforms into a 'space beam gun'."

Close up of box front

"Hi, I am Fracas in US continuity, but am Nightstick here. Hey, isn't that the name of Cyclonus' TM partner in US continuity? I'm getting confused..."

Close up of Artfire

Production dates

The awesome box art

MISB-ness

Back of box

Close up of tech specs and Targetmaster function

C-121 and C-122 MIB and complete dino-cassettes on eBay!

Just 11 hours away from ending, dino-cassettes C-121: Gurafi and C-122: Noizu, both MIB and complete for sale on eBay! (not my auctions).

Far as I can see it, the prices are still modestly reasonable.

Thinking about it, I'm of 2 minds whether these will end very high (as is usual) or they will end on the low end because of the impending KOs that will be released soon. 

Or, and its a big 'or', these may end very high because its most likely the final chance for a purist collector  to obtain genuine dino-cassettes without fear of KO contamination. Sleep with peace of mind and all that.

Or, they are going to end high anyway because anyone getting them needs to get both so that they can combine into Decibel!

Here are the auctions:

C-121: Gurafi, currently at US$255.00 (reserve not met). Good news is that seller has reduced the reserve, priced to sell anyone?

C-122: Noizu, currently at US$349.99 (reserve met).

My prediction?

I think they will each end at the US$550 to $650 mark, if the US$400 loose Zauru that ended this morning is any indication.

Fortunately (or unfortunately), I won't be bidding on these (*hint*).

Good luck to all!

~ HD

***

*update 6 Aug 2011*

The auctions have actually ended at the price shown above - ie: no one bid more. I thought that was strange, so I went and had another close look at the auctions again.

As it is, I discovered I was incorrect - the toys were NOT complete. Both C-121 and C-122 were missing (1) their weapons; and (2) their bio-cards.

If I were to consider bidding, that'd be fatal. I wouldn't even bid at all because as Jon has commented below, it'd be near impossible to find the weapons and biocards loose.

I guess their incompleteness was the reason for them not hitting as high an ending price as I thought.

Come to think of it, the seller is smart and got quite good money for them too. Once the KOs hit retail, incomplete vintage dino-cassettes would be worth a lot less and the demand would plunge. I think complete and mint originals would keep their value quite well, but incomplete ones are going to suffer for sure.

That's what I think anyway.

~ HD

Venomous preview pic...

Bought from a buddy in Italy...

More later...

~ HD

Preliminary pic of an AWESOME TF I received today... Artfire

I am just over the moon.

This piece shipped in today from a very good buddy from Australia...

Jaw-droppingly gorgeous...