The Tokyo Trip - In which the purpose is unveiled

We have been attempting to go on a trip for a some time.

We each could never get our work 'lull' periods to match. When I was extremely busy, E was free (relatively); when I was free (relatively) E became extremely busy.

So E thought that the best chance for us to get away to somewhere exciting, not necessarily exotic (but Tokyo was both I'd say), was during our firm's year end period of forced leave - that is the period from 24 December 2009 to 10 January 2010.

Preparations were made to go to Tokyo!

Our intention was for this to be a 'theme parks' trip, with lots of good Japanese food along the way. We planned to visit many many theme parks during our stay there and go on as many adrenaline pumping rides as we could.

A week before leaving, I recalled a thread about toy shops in Japan on the OZ Formers Boards. I checked it out again and asked a few knowledgeable members, who had been to Tokyo and found Transformers, about places where I should poke around should I have the time.

OZ Former members kurdt_the_goat and jetfire were very kind and pointed in me the right direction. kurdt_the_goat also linked me to a very comprehensive map he prepared of the main area for toy shopping - the Akihabara district of Tokyo.

With that in my pocket, I was ready to do some Transformers shopping should time present itself.

During the course of our trip in Tokyo, we managed to visit all the theme parks we planned to go to: Disney Sea, Tokyo Dome City and Fujikyu Highlands.

Sometime between all theme parks' excitement, on 3rd & 8th January 2010, we found time to visit Akihabara and also Shibuya and Nakano where large Mandarake stores were located and where there were substantial amounts of G1 Transformers to be found.

Next: In which we visit the Mandarake Complex

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Read other chapters of The Tokyo Trip:

Chapter 1: In which the purpose is unveiled

Chapter 2: In which we visit the Mandarake Complex

Chapter 3: In which we visit Mandarake (Shibuya)

Chapter 4: Mandarake Complex Akihabara Redux

Chapter 5: In which we visit Mandarake Nakano

Chapter 6: The Acquisitions

Chapter 7: The Japan January 2010 "Best Of" Tally

Mandarake - The Rulers of Time

Below is a video clip of one of the Mandarake Stores in Japan. From the sheer number of high quality G1 Transformers MIB in the display cases, it is easy to see why they are indeed "the Rulers of Time", as per their mission statement.

Watch for the following in the video: MISB D93: Mega Zarak, MISB D100: Snapdragon, MISB Springer, MISB Broadside, MISB Hosehead (US box), MISB Chainclaw (US box), MISB Catilla (US box), eHobby exclusive Black and Clear Starscreams, MIB C131: Raiden Giftset, MIB D307: Overlord (mintiest I've seen), MIB D311: Black Zarak, MIB Big Powered Giftset and more...

More Transformer-centric updates with my Japan trip to come.

Tokyo - Arkihabara, Shibuya, Nakano and all that

Just got back from Japan.

It was a sweet trip and managed to go to 3 theme parks, do copious amounts of shopping, have good food every meal and acquire a decent amount of Jap exclusive Transformers.

On the way back, Jetstar tried to be cheeky and switched us to a later connecting flight at Gold Coast without consulting or informing us. Went on a righteous rampage and fixed that. Saved 4 hours of transit waiting time at Gold Coast which would have been terrible given how little the airport there has to offer.

Up soon will be reports of some toy shops in the above mentioned areas, my vintage Transformer toy acquisitions and some surprise Transformers related acquisitions on the last day of my trip, which to me, is even more of a highlight than my Raiden Giftset acquisition.

More to come.

Year in review - The Best of 2009 Tally

In a few hours, I'm flying to Japan - the land that created the toys that would in 1984 become the Transformers.

Before that, I'd like to review this year in Transformer terms, the best of, the worst of, and all that in between.

So here it is, my 2009 Transformers Collecting 'best of' tally.

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Most satisfying moment:

Opening the package for and discovering that the C324 Star Saber box and foam and the D336 Deszaras box and foam that I bought on eBay were as near C10 as they could have been for boxes that were open. There were absolutely no tears, rips, creases or scratches on either boxes. The Deszaras box has no flap crease. The sheen of the boxes were perfect. They were in better condition than I'd dared imagine when I got them on auction. For boxes of these sizes, I was well and truely impressed, and, deeply satisfied.

Second most satisfying moment:

Able to purchase all 12 of the 1988 'standard format' Pretenders in 2 distinct lots, complete, with pristine stickers and all in C9 or above conditions. I consider this one moment because I purchased these from the same seller, but at different points in time. I have inspected them army style!

Hardest decision to make:

Whether to return the MIB Targetmaster Scourge I bought from eBay. It was objectively expensive, but relatively okay priced for a TM Scourge, but it was not exactly as described and I believed that the toy had been tampered with (a-la, a 'frankenstein' mis-mash of parts). The seller, who appeared to be an honest guy, assured me that there was no tampering and after more than a week of to-and-fro communication, I decided to keep it and accept a partial refund from the seller.

Unexpected find:

Good condition Sureshot and Crosshairs figures, each about C8, for $3 and $2 respectively at the 23 August 09 Parramatta Collectibles Fair. A close second is finding a UK auction for Pinpointer and Nightstick with a low bid count that I won for AU$50 all up. This means my complete Sureshot (with Pinpointer Targetmaster) only cost AU$28!

Second unexpected find:

Targetmaster Pointblank, MIB, C9 box with inserts, C9.5 toy, sealed paperworks. Found this on eBay. Seller was asking for US$150 exclusive of shipping. I put in a 'best offer' of US$112 and seller accepted!

Favourite individual buy:

Hands down this has to be Targetmaster Pointblank MIB (also the winner of my "Longest Awaited Buy" category). I have been interested in Pointblank since I saw this advertisement back in 1987. Pointblank was #10 on my 'Transformers I really wanted as a kid but was denied' list. I have quite literally waited 22 years for this, but managed to acquire it this year!

Favourite lot bought:

The lot I bought from KM consisting of Triggerhappy MIB, Slugslinger MIB, Misfire MIB, Hardhead MIB, Chromedome MIB, Brainstorm complete and Highbrow complete. All the MIB figures were immaculate and came with all inserts and complete paperworks. Coming in close 2nd and 3rd has to be the 1988 Decepticon Pretenders and 1988 Autobot Pretenders lots.

Most unexpected buy:
Chancing upon an MIB Squeezplay complete on eBay AU, just 16 minutes before it was due to end; decided to bid on it; bid on it and won it for approximately AU$100. A pretty good price seeing that I acquired Fangry MIB and Horri-Bull MIB for AU$135 each.

Worst buy:

Targetmaster Scoop. To be fair, I only paid $16.17 for this figure as part of a lot that includes Banzai-Tron MOSC, Krok MOSC, Doublecross MIB, Spinister and Landfill. Relatively speaking, it is the worst buy because its condition is just deplorable - loose joints all round, scratches, badly worn stickers.

Worst lot bought:

NA

Longest Awaited Buy:

Hands down this has to be Targetmaster Pointblank MIB (also the winner of my "Favourite Buy" category). I have been interested in Pointblank since I saw this advertisement back in 1987. Pointblank was #10 on my 'Transformers I really wanted as a kid but was denied' list. I have quite literally waited 22 years for this, but managed to acquire it this year!

Largest single lot of the year:
10 MIB Transformers, 5 Transformer boxes and 1 loose Transformer from OZ Former member jgon. This lot consists of MIB (Fangry, Horri-Bull, Siren, Autobot Clones, Decepticon Clones, Quickswitch, Weirdwolf, Skullcruncher, Repugnus, Slapdash); boxes (Motormaster, Scattershot, Weirdwolf, Doubledealer, Crosshairs), Quake loose.

Best Bargain:

Powerglide cardback, my only missing mini-bot G1 cardback, for $1.35.

If I could only buy one Transformer product this year, it would be:

D336- Deszaras box and foam (which one of these babies is going into). This must be one of the most beautiful and best kept TF boxes I've come across, add to that the size and majesty of the box and the extremely well illustrated box art and it is a winner in this category.

Pic of the Day - One day, an Autobot shall rise from our ranks...

Featuring Metalverse Hot Rod in "One day, an Autobot shall rise from our ranks and use the power of the Matrix to light our darkest hour."

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More pictures of Metalverse Hot Rod here.

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Read all chapters in the Metalverse Hot Rod series
Chapter 01: Metalverse Hot Rod- An Introduction
Chapter 02: Metalverse Hot Rod- The Origin
Chapter 03: Metalverse Hot Rod- My reasons
Chapter 04: Metalverse Hot Rod- The Photos

1988 Pretender Army Inspection!

I talked about my awesome lot of Pretenders here. One of the reasons Pretenders are so awesome is because having 12 of them actually means having 24 of them, once the inner robots are removed from the shells.

Imagine 24 Transformers.

That is a veritable army!

In true 'army style', I have made the Pretenders 'fall-in' and subjected them to an inspection...

Dramtis Personae

• Top Row (Pretender Shells) - Groundbreaker, Sky High Splashdown, Iguanus, Bugly and Finback
• Second Row (Pretender Shells) - Landmine, Cloudburst, Waverider, Skullgrin, Bomb-Burst and Submarauder
• Third Row (inner robots) - Groundbreaker, Sky High Splashdown, Iguanus, Bugly and Finback
• Last Row (inner robots) - Landmine, Cloudburst, Waverider, Skullgrin, Bomb-Burst and Submarauder

Massive Lot of G1 Transformer boxes

Once again, to express how fond I am of G1 Transformer boxes, I have whipped those I have with me in Australia out, for a photo shoot. Gosh, the Fortress Maximus box is really huge!