The Reorganization: Casualties

If you have been following my blog or at least read my last post then you'll know that my toy room / office is undergoing some big changes. I work from home a good bit of the time and I've been sitting at my desk and out of the corner of my eye the far end of the wall (seen below) always bothered me. Sure, I had a lot displayed (Power Core Combiners, Robot Masters, Generation 2 and other mini collections), but I never liked the overall presentation. Plus I've felt the calling to give my Generation 1 collection a proper display so I decided it was time to do something about it. So far one wall of the room as gone from looking like this:

to this:

While the great reorganization is still in phase 1 there have already have been some casualties. It's really unfortunate, but it was was expected. I lost a lot of display real estate if you will when I got rid of the cube shelves and book shelves and went with the 6 Detolf cases from IKEA. However is change bad? Will I miss the castaways?

Generation One Action Masters. The casualties from the recent phase 1 reorganization. I was lucky to fit my G1 collection (for the most part) in 6 Detolf cases. Micromasters ended up on the top of the cabinets along w/ Fort Max, but I'm OK with that. I didn't want to part with those but when it came to the Action Masters (and a few select others) I just didn't know what to do. The old G.I. Joe collector in me appreciates the Action Masters, however they just look odd in my collection. After all, they are Transformers that don't transform. Granted the ones that were paired with vehicles are better and give me that M.A.S.K. vibe, but there must have been a reason why Takara never released these toys in Japan back in the 90's. I'm fine with the story behind the Action Masters (nucleon), but the toys themselves just don't appeal to me that much anymore.

As I was working on loading up the cabinets and working each 'bot in year by year, faction by faction there were some shelves that were a little more crowded than others. Granted I should be able to help remedy this problem with some clear acrylic risers that I just acquired, I began to realize that there are some G1 toys that I just don't care about. Yes, it's true. I know that may sound blasphemous to some of you, but for me that is the case.

I'm a big fan of Pretenders and when I was first getting back into collecting the Pretenders were my main focus. At the time they were easy to find and they relatively affordable. The Autobot Classic Pretenders were some of the first I bought, some loose while I picked up Bumblebee and Jazz complete and MIB. Over the years those toys just didn't hold their appeal as the other original Pretenders did. When it came time to set the cases all I had left was Grimlock and Starscream. The latter is staying because, well it's Starscream and his Pretender shell looks cool. Sorry Grimlock, you just don't have a home in my collection anymore. Same goes for the K-Mart Legends figure. If you have a keen eye you will see AM Megatron in the bottom case to the far right. I don't own a AM Optimus Prime, but I'm thinking I may pick him up and call it quits for that category.

The others that got the boot are the Deluxe Insecticons. They were kicked for a few reasons. 1) I never had them as a kid (minus Chop Shop, which survived the cull) so I don't have the same attachment to the toys as I do say the original Insecticons. 2) Since they aren't made by Takara they don't have that same feel and asthetic as other TFs. This is the same reason why I won't be picking up Jetfire for my collection. I know there are other TFs that weren't made by Takara that are still in my collection (Omega Supreme and soon Shockwave), however those characters were awesome in the old animation show and at least their toys look like their show counterparts...that's more than you can say about Jetfire.

By cutting a few toys it means I won't have that elusive complete G1 set of Transformers, but who cares? It's not a competition. I'm one of the few that actually comes in my toy room / office in the first place. Why should I keep, let alone display something that I don't care for? Plus by getting rid of a few it opened up the space to better display others. 

The great reorganization project is far from over. I'm working on adding risers to the cases before I start to photograph those. Then it's back over to the wall that houses my track shelving to begin to set up other TF collections. Will this project ever truly end? That's a question I ask myself all the time. However I have to say it's been a fun ride thus far and I look forward to finding the time to get some more work in and eventually finish this project...for now.

P.S. I haven't decided how I'm going to sell the Action Masters and other select G1 toys, but if you have any interest please send me a message at flywheels@yahoo.com

State of the Blog

I realize that it's been over a month since I've posted anything on the blog. Some of you may be wondering what's going on? There hasn't been a lapse this long in new content in quite some time. Like a lot of you I lead a busy life and sometimes life in general just keeps getting in the way of having a little fun. My job keeps me busy in the summer and even though I work from home some days I just haven't been able to sneak in a new review or post lately.

My office desk is in my "toy room" at home and over the last month or so I've been staring at the end wall to my left. There I had 3 cube shelves stacked on top of each other and to the left two large white book shelves. I never was happy w/ the overall look, but too lazy to do anything about it. Lately however I finally decided to use what small free time I had to liquidate some 3rd party TFs from the collection to help finance the purchase of some new Detolf cases from the local IKEA store.

I ended up purchasing four new cases and emptied and moved two cases I already owned. I've now lined the end wall of my room w/ six cases, all side by side. The first order of business was to properly display my G1 collection. I've been working on this for the last 2 weeks and while it's not 100% complete, it's getting there. I really hope to share more of what I've been working on and get back to sharing some great toys that I have, but for now here is a sample pic of the fruits of my labor.