u/yasaidraws

So I think I ugh- ..went a little overboard splurging on Transformer toys on my Asia trip this time. Ended up hauling two luggages full of toys back home. And it’s not until I laid all of them out together that I realized just how much I splurged.

You might have noticed that most of these are Beast Wars transformers. I am a Beast Wars-only collector, after all. (The Optimus Prime and Gigawatt are gifts to my son and from my wife)

It was a lot of fun locating and hunting down all these loot. Given that I only started collecting Beast Wars earlier this year, I had to find most of these in the secondary market. But I feel like I got a pretty good deal out of most of these, and I ended up meeting a lot of sellers and collectors who share the same passion. I’m pretty sure some of you feel the same way, but I feel the process of finding, comparing, negotiating, and buying these toys is part of the fun. And I can safely say that with these, I will be truly satisfied for the next little while.

…wait, what do you mean there’s a new BW2 Galvatron figure coming? WHAT DO YOU MEAN??

The loot:
-PotP Throne of the Primes Optimal Optimus
-Big Convoy Encore
-Legacy Inferno
-Buzzworthy Bumblebee Terrorsaur
-Masterpiece Blackarachnia
-Takara D-40 Transmetal Megatrons
-Kingdom AirRazor
-Kingdom Waspinator
-BWVS Phantom Starscream vs Possessed Waspinator
-10th Anniversary Waspinator
-Legacy United Magmatron
-Vintage Rampage
-Vintage B’Boom (factory worker’s own stash)
-PotP Optimus Prime
-Gigawatt
-A replica throne (because my MP Megatron needs his own throne too)

..Wait, I got 3 Waspinators?

(Prices are in NTD, conversion rate to USD is approx. 1:30. So 1000 NTD will be roughly $30 USD)

Hobby-Off is a Japanese second-hand specialty store for selling and buying toys, figurines, games, and merch. (a variation of the second-hand book store, Book-Off)

I have been going to the one in Taipei, Taiwan to look for any Transformer toys I could find. I have no idea how they determine the pricing for all the items in the store, but I would imagine it involves the staff looking up the items on various local shopping and auction platforms for an approximate price. That’s why after comparing prices, I found that the things found in the store are not necessarily cheaper than the ones you can find online.

However, once in awhile you could still find some good deals, like the sealed PotP Throne of the Primed Optimal Optimus for $120 and the opened but only-displayed PotP Optimus for $30, both of which I picked up. But then you get absolutely abysmal deals like a RotB Air Razor with a missing limb or a Transformers One Megatron that was shoved back into its packaging in mid-transformation for $30. (How these two passed QC and got put on the shelves is beyond me)

The model-kits feel like either a hit or a miss unless they are sealed (which they often are not) because there’s no way of knowing if the previous owner did a good job assembling it or if there are any missing parts.

Are there any ones here that you think are worth picking up?

Btw, I know the Throne of the Primed Optimal Optimus is due for a re-release soon, but I thought I’d pick it up sooner rather than later and not having to worry about keeping my eye on the pre-order date and staying up all night hitting the refresh button on the preorder page.

And I love my first ever Autobot.

Partly because it’s awesome when your partner supports your passion (even if they can’t quite tell you the difference between the Autobots & Decepticons from the Maximals & Predacons), but also because this little dude is surprisingly well made in both Delorean and robot form (I love how you can flip the tires to make it into hover mode) and a lot of fun to play with~

Also pictured is the Optimus Prime that I gifted my son recently, which is also his first Autobot. That makes them the only two Autobots in my household that’s full of Beast Wars transformers.

I never really liked Optimal Optimus.

For me, what really drew me to Beast Wars as a kid were the organic animals, so when season two made the jump to Transmetal, that made the show lose a bit of the allure for me. (Even though I’m really digging the design of the Transmetal now as an adult)

And Optimal Optimus? I felt his color scheme was too big of a departure from his classic black and white gorilla look. I also didn’t like how the show kept focusing on his vehicle form. And even when he shows up in his beast mode, he always reminded me of a gorilla in a construction hat. (I mean at least Transmetal Optimus had a cool surf board) That’s why when someone sold me his original 1998 Optimal Optimus for just $6, I immediately gave it to my son to play with instead of putting it alongside my other Beast Wars collection.

Recently I was digging around in a second-hand toy store trying to find some hidden gems. I came across a new PotP Optimus Prime for $30. Sweet, that’ll be my son’s first Optimus Prime toy. And before I went to pay I decided to do one last scan of the store. That’s when I spotted the PotP Throne of the Primed Optimus Primal sitting on a bottom shelf!

I never knew this figure existed until the moment I laid my eyes on it. Optimus Primal in his original color scheme adorned with an awesome crown and sceptre really pops. And after some reading I realized this was the figure to represent Primal’s ascension to become one of the Primes. That holds so much significance in his lore that I knew this would be a grail figure for me.

It turns out this figure is rumoured for a re-release in the near future. But since I found a sealed one for $120, I decided to secure it right away instead of fighting to get a pre-order later. I’m really happy to have obtained this figure, but now I have to worry about how to bring this back home with me..

(Pictured last is the same figure out of its box that I saw in another store with 3rd party accessories.)

I came across this little gem of a shop that, of all things, focused more on Beast Wars than the G1 toys. I haven’t felt this giddy about browsing through shelves of BW toys since back in 1998, during the show’s peak of popularity, when Toy’R’Us would be stocked with them.

There are a bunch of various Optimus Primals and Megatrons alongside with other rare and uncommon figures from Beast Wars, II, and Neo (from both the Takara and Hasbro side).

I held so many BW toys that I never thought I’d ever be able to touch in my hands. I was a little underwhelmed by the size of the Cybertronian Primal and Megatrons, but was blown away by the beauty and details of Burning Convoy, the original Big Convoy, and the original Lio Convoy.

And I found not only one, but TWO of my personal grail, Rampage, in the shop!

The owner was very nice and let me pick up and fiddle with every item in the display even when the majority of them are vintage toys. He also showed two of his prized possessions, a Predacon Nemesis Primal and a definitive mold of Megatrons that comes with his sniper rifle like in his MP counterpart (can anyone please identify where both of these are from?)

Anyway, there are still so many rare figures from that shop that I wasn’t able to really look at because I was simultaneously geeking out while trying to prevent my son from pushing over a shelf. I will definitely go back for more and take photos of the rare figures.

Well, it was a surprise purchase that I thought I’d never make, but I added a D-40 Takara Transmetal Megatron to my collection. I thought I had already given up on getting one due to the gold plastic syndrome, but a Takara version showed up one day and I just couldn’t resist.

The box it came with definitely shows its age, but aside from some very stiff joints and hinges (from some rusted screws and the fact it probably sat in its box and wasn’t touched for at least a decade), the figure is otherwise in good condition and very VERY pretty.

Pictured alongside Megatron are the MP Blackarachnia and a 10th anniversary Waspinator (my very first one in the correct colors!) that I picked up recently.

With Transmetal Megatron down, I guess all that is remaining for me are the Transmetal Rattrap and my ultimate grail, Rampage..

(Not pictured are most of my Kingdom and MP line)

I started collecting Beast War toys earlier this year. It started with looking for an Air Razor for my son to play with. One thing led to another, and suddenly I found myself 34 figures deep from the original toy line.

Sometimes after my children are asleep, I’d pick up these toys strewn around the living room from my son’s play during the day and transform them back into beast mode; there’s something satisfying about playing with these toys I was so crazy about in my childhood now as an adult. And now I enjoy watching my son displaying “his” toys proudly and stepping back to marvel them in wonderment.

In my mind, one day my son will grow tired of these toys (and in extension, me as well). And that’s the day I’ll reclaim“his” toys so I can retire them to the display, and wait for the day my son asks about the “toys he used to play as a kid”.

Finally got my hands on MP Blackarachnia. Too bad I don’t have the rest of the cast with me, so I had to borrow my son’s Ultraman Omega as a temporary replacement.

… lucky bastard.

Is this what Cheetor dream about?