They don't make them like they used to.....

Mr. K was nice enough to send me a sms after the auction ended to tell me no one else outbid me. That meant I could actually take the MP-01 out of its plastic wrapped box. It was like being 10 years old again - opening Christmas presents. Come to think of it - we never celebrated Christmas and I hardly got good presents for Christmas. It was more like opening up my birthday presents. Like the time when I got my first G1 Optimus Prime. Or the time when I got my first die-cast Voltron set.

I opened the package carefully and slowly - taking care not to damage it in anyway. I don't know who wrapped the box up in transparent plastic wrapper (the kinds I used to wrap my school text and excercise books with) but I guess it was a wise thing to do.

I've read people complain about twist ties on this thing to secure it in but I thought it was all exaggeration. Until I had the task to remove the twist ties myself. I should actually snap some pics when I am in the mood to do so.

TAKARA were also pretty generous with their plastic wrapping as the cardboard tray inside the box was also wrapped in plastic wrap! The reason the tray was protected was because it can actually be folded into a trailer for Optimus Prime.

After removing Prime from the plastic shell that protected the toy - it was time to examine it. The thing was solid with die-cast legs and parts of the body was die-cast metal as well. The plastic used seems pretty solid. Well - for RM 600 it'd better be! Quality wise - its fantastic - no complaints there. I'm sure it will last a long time.

Who would've thought that it would take an hour to actually transform a stupid toy?!?!? That's about the amount of time I spent trying to figure out how to change the MP-01 from robot-mode to truck-mode. Sure, the diagrams in the instruction manual do help a little but I don't read Japanese so there are some steps which requires a little guess work plus some trial and error.

All in all - from the instruction manual, it showed about 20+ steps to transform Prime from robot to truck. 20 fucking steps! Apparently, it was designed in such a way that it mimics the transformation of the cartoon version of the character. Whatever. And I don't remember there being an instruction manual with the first version. Maybe there was but it was negligible.

I remember my old Prime - I'd say there was only about 5 steps or so to transform him:
1) Flip head 180 degrees into the body
2) Bend elbows to 90 degree angle, move shoulders back and slide arms into waist
3) Push toes 90 degrees downwards then flip the legs at the waist 90 degrees backwards

There - only 3 steps, slightmore if you want to count each individual step. None of the twisting and rotating that is on MP-01. But hey what the hell - it looks fantastic on my desk/shelf.

Honestly, how can you compare G1(left) and MP-01 (right)!!!!!
There is no comparison. PERIOD!

Another guy on the forum was having some promotions right up to the 30th of April. The Binaltechs and the Galaxy Convoy were cheap! RM 119 for Binaltech and RM 169 for Galaxy Convoy GC-01.

I was thinking about it long and hard - thinking if I really should. In the end - I couldn't restrain myself and decided to go get them. I managed to locate the shop in Section 17, PJ. Imagine, a shop selling computers and accessories which also sells toys! What's going on?

Spoke to Mr.K (another Mr.K) and found out that Galaxy Convoy GC-01 was sold out because it was cheap. I've seen some on EBAY going for RM 270. Who or what the fuck is Galaxy Convoy? I can always go for the American HASBRO version but Mr.K told me that there have been complaints that the HASBRO version has looser joints compared to the Japanese TAKARA versions.

There's a new Transformers series that's out called Transformers - Cybertron. Galaxy Convoy is actually the latest version of Optimus Prime that transforms into a futuristic fire truck.

I also saw the Generation 1 Optimus Prime that I used to have - except that this was the Japanese re-issue and it costs RM 550!

Finally, I settled for Laserwave (Mazda RX-8 Mazda Speed II version) and Prowl (Honda Integra Type-R) at RM 119 each. There are other places that forces customers to buy the blue version of Prowl plus the Police Car version of Prowl as a set for RM 400!

Laserwave (Mazda RX-8)



Prowl (Integra Type-R) - Vivid Blue version

So after all these - what next?

Met up with JC and NA at Bangsar yesterday. We've been trying to meet up with NA for a long time. The last time I saw here was before I left for Melbourne. TL was supposed to be there as well. Called him but he never answered. Didn't reply my SMS as well.


Funny how things turned out - I thought that JC had left for Brunei because he didn't reply the last SMS I sent him. He actually lost his phone and contacts. NA decided to have dinner at La Bodega. Horror - bumped into 2 AVPs from work there, IS and MS! Never expected to see them there.

I thought I never had that before but I found out today that I had in fact tried their Paella before.

The food was good, service was great. Price - extorbitant! But I guess that's Bangsar for you.

Our large orders looked like a small that we had to get a waiter to confirm that it was indeed a large order. RM 30 for 2 sticks of kebabs about 3 inches long? If that was the large serving, I can't imagine what the small would be. In the end, we split the bill 3-ways and it came up to about RM 50 each including a couple of drinks each.

For that price - I'd rather go to Chilli's or TGIF's and have a hearty meal thank you very much!

I'm currently on this protein shake diet. Meal replacement to be precise and I only have 2 meals a day - one of which, the protein shake, is just pure liquids.

I've been on it for about a month now. Every morning - I blend 2 green apples, milk, yoghurt, lemon-lime crystals, 9 vitamin pills, protein powder and vanilla. The drink takes me almost an hour to prepare with the peeling and cutting of the apples. The taste is palatable. Not too bad if I say so myself, especially if I use chocolate milk. I have a mug of this when I get up in the morning and I don't need anything until dinner time at about 7:30pm at work everyday.

It's to help to lose weight and it seems to be working alright so far. I hope it works! My pants seem to be loose around the waist. Previously, I could do without a belt but these days, I think the belt is a must. The point of this is not to show that the diet is working - but to emphasize how much I miss regular solid food!

When I went out with KC last weekend, we had dinner at Chilli's and I ordered the Monterey Chicken. Sure, the chicken was coated with a piece of bacon and cheese topped with BBQ sauce and chopped tomatoes. But when I had a taste of the mash potatoes - damn, mashed potatoes never tasted so good in my life!

I've been sticking to this protein shake diet but I must go back to TGIF's or Chilli's once in awhile. That is a promise I will make to myself.

Nightmare.....

2 posts back-to-back. Almost unheard of. The last time I pulled off a stunt like this was probably back when I was still unemployed.

Had a nightmare about the MP-01 package that's sitting on my desk right now. If you've been following, the thing is still wrapped in plastic, and the box is still sealed with tape.

Last night, I dreamt that when I opened up the box - I didn't find Optimus Prime but some other Masked Rider shit in there! If it really happens when I open it - there will be fucking hell to pay!

It's actually mental torture - having something right in front of you but not being able to have it. It's like being handcuffed and the keys are right in front of you, just an inch or two out of reach.

Reminds me of the movie "Saw" that I managed to catch on ASTRO the other night. I missed out the first 1/2 hour or so. Low budget horror movie. You don't really see the gore but towards the end, you see the desperation of the guy who was chained at his foot to a steel pipe. He was in contact with his wife and daughter via a cellphone placed in the prison by his abductor. He somehow dropped the phone and it was out of reach. The phone was ringing but he couldn't reach it.

The thought of his family being in danger was enough to drive him to saw off his own foot (I guess that's where the title comes from?). Ouch.

I think reviews said that there are images from the movie that will stick in your mind. I think this was one of it.

Well - tonight's the night when I'll know if someone else outbids me. Highly doubt it though. Who's going to place a last minute bid when there are cheaper options out there?

Shit - now I feel the slightest bit of regret for not waiting. No point though. What's done is done. PERIOD.

You know its time.....

..... to change your hobby:

- when your sister shows you an article from the STAR paper about a toy collector and says "You better don't end up like him"

- when your friend asks you if you have nothing else to talk about other than toys instead of juicy gossip on your blog.

Reading the article - I realized a couple of things:

a) My collection is not even 1% of what Richard (the interview subject who's a 19 year old college student and a Star Wars fanatic) has.

b) The writer hasn't done much research on her subject/topic. She referred to the most expensive item in Richard's collection as a "saber sword". What the fuck are "saber swords"?

Everyone knows they're called "lightsabers" and NOT "saber swords". It goes to point out that research is very important in journalism and when you don't know your stuff - you might end up looking like a fool ;)

But I still need to talk about toys before I get to the gossip. Yes, faithful readers. Abit of gossip this time around.

I finally got my hands on the 20th Anniversary Optimus Prime (MP-01). Looks like I'm the only clown who placed a bid on it. Previously - the guy who was selling it was very enthusiastic (thankful maybe?) that he managed to get a buyer. He was telling me that he could even pass me the merchandise before the EBAY auction ended.

I sms-ed him to enquire when I could pick it up and his reply was - he was afraid that someone might place a higher bid at the last minute as the auction ends on 24th April 2006. Being the nice guy that I am - I told him I'd sell it back to him for RM 600 if someone does outbid me and I can go place an order for the reissued ones.

We reached a deal - the collectible (notice I didn't use the word "toy") is now sitting on my table, still unopened. Even the box is wrapped with clear plastic wrapper. Why? Because Mr. Seller said that he'd like to wait until the auction ends to be sure that no one outbids me. Makes sense I guess. It's less than 24 hours away anyways.

Lots of great deals around! Binaltechs that used to go for about RM 180 each are now going for RM 119! Damn - temptation, temptation. So much to get, so little money. Don't they look like nice car models? Pretty Mazda RX-8s lined up in a row.

Well - yes, Binaltechs are actually a new Transformers line. The white one (Meister) is the hardest to find and thus, also the most expensive one to get at the moment with prices around the RM 235 mark. He was actually a character called "Jazz" (Porsche) in the old cartoons. The red one (also called Meister) can still be found, slightly cheaper than the White Meister. The story-line states that the Red is a clone of White. Is that justification for the lower supply of White and higher price of White? Who knows?

The dark blue/purple one has a really gorgeous colour scheme - unfortunately, he's a Decepticon (the baddie). I'd get him just for his car mode as its the nicest looking colour plus its a modified Mazdaspeed Version II with a bodykit. Check out the pictures below:

It hasn't been raining for a few days now. The weather has been terrible. Where's the rain when you really want it? Thank god for an invention called the air-conditioning unit!

Now on to the gossip - some people are waiting for this I'm sure *winks*.

I met up with an old school mate yesterday. Haven't seen her since secondary school. It was a spur of the moment decision to actually meet up. KC was nice enough to offer to pick me up. (I must admit am slightly jealous as she's got a nice ride. Don't mess with a chick who drives a 2.0 litre Honda Civic while you only drive a 1.5 litre version :P)

In fact, she was nice enough to pick me up from home, drive to Amcorp Mall to pick up my MP-01, head on to 1Utama, spend about 45 minutes with me in the car before we found a parking space. We had dinner - then it was off for a movie "The Sentinel".

The movie wasn't too bad - company was fun. KC also had to send me home that night.

Thinking about it, the last time I actually watched a movie at the theater was probably "King Kong". My memory's so messed up sometimes I don't even know what day it is.

I've been having homicidal tendencies everytime I see motorcyclists who hog the roads in the middle of the night. These fuckers need to be taught a lesson. Maybe one day when the get rammed down and run over, they'll learn their lesson.

Another thing I absolutely cannot stand are the fuckers from Johor. Almost 95% of the time, cars on KL roads with the Johor plates are modified, and they drive like fucking dickheads. And a customer at McDonald's once told me "It doesn't matter if you're young or old, male or femlae - if you're a dickhead, you're a dickhead". Well said!

Murderer.....

I killed a living thing the other day.

I was driving the other day and there was just a flock of these birds by the roadside. They could've been flying around some food or something but I didn't notice.

As I was driving - a couple of them flew out into the path of my car. Most of the time, the birds are pretty agile little things and they would fly out of harm's way. Not that day. I'm not sure exactly where it flew to but I heard a bump. It might have flew in between my moving tyres and got banged up against it.when I looked in the side mirror, I saw its lifeless body lying on the road, the other birds just flying around it.

Oh well.....

I had Friday off and will be on leave until Tuesday. Yesterday was Good Friday and it will be Easter tomorrow. I've just wasted 2 days doing nothing.

Its a welcomed break. I haven't taken any annual leave since Chinese New Year way back in January. Am I turning into some sort of workaholic?!? Un-fucking-believable! :P
Its going to be chaos when I go back to work on Tuesday. It always is after public holidays.

I actually spent Friday night in front of the PC, making up and inventory list of my old comics. Might consider selling them in bulk and I've found a contact person who might be able to assist me. Funny - always thought I had more comics than what I counted in my list.

Good news this year - 4% salary increment and 1.5 months bonus based on 9 months salary before the promotion, and 3 months in my current role. Not too bad if I say so myself. Certainly way more than what I expected. Way, way more. I'm pleased as I didn't have too much expectations this time. The higher the expectations, the bigger the disappointment. Isn't that always the case?

Looks like I might allow myself the luxury of doing slightly more shopping this time around!

If you've been reading up on my blogs lately, you might recall that I placed an order for the 20th Anniversary Optimus Prime (referred to as OP from this point forth) by HASBRO. So far, I haven't been informed about the status of my pre-order yet. I placed a RM 50 deposit for the Star Wars Saga figures (which I'm not able to get) and used that towards the deposit towards OP. On top of that, due to the price of the thing, I had to top up another RM 50!

Last night, while surfing the forums and EBAY - I came across several people selling off their TAKARA MASTERPIECE MP-01 (the Japanese version of the 20th Anniversary OP). It did strike me as strange at first but the prices were more reasonable than most (range between RM 600 - 650, compared to some guy's RM 1100 starting bid!).

This is what some people are willing to pay up to RM 1600 for:

TAKARA MASTERPIECE MP-01 - OPTIMUS PRIME

After contemplating for sometime - I decided to take the plunge and placed a bid on the RM 600 one. How exciting - an auction! (I won a couple of bids for some Star Wars figures a couple of weeks back but the seller informed me that he did not update his items for sale - so therefore, I didn't get the figures and its a good thing because after examining some of the figures I have, I wouldn't have been satisfied with them - even though Anakin and Obi-Wan came with cloth cloaks!)

My rationale was simple - bid for it and if I get it, its all good. I can try selling of the HASBRO version and keeping the TAKARA version (which is the one I actually wanted since it doesn't have the "battle-damage paint" but I settled for the HASBRO one since I couldn't lay my hands on the TAKARA version at a decent price). If I didn't win - no harm, I'll still be getting the HASBRO version.

Now I'm sure I spent hours on the forum last night. To my horror this afternoon when I logged in again, I saw a post where they said that TAKARA was going to reproduce the 20th Anniversary OP and its expected to be released in June 2006. When I saw that - I went "WHAT THE FUCK!?!?!".

Why didn't I see that last night? I'm 100% certain that I would have seen the post last night. Joy turned to anger and disappointment. I'm pretty upset with the turn of recent events.

So here I'm stuck with a dilemma - it has occured to me that since TAKARA will re-release the figure in June, people will be selling off their current TAKARA's to maximise their profit then pre-order the re-release figure when it comes out in June at a cheaper price. Not going through with the EBAY deal will not be good for my Feedback ratings. And if I go through with the deal - chances are that I end up with 2 units of the OP figure. It will be much harder to sell the HASBRO battle-damaged version if TAKARA re-issues their version of OP.

Then again - pre-ordering the re-issue version is no 100% gurantee that I'll get it now, is it?

The auction ends in about 8 days and from the looks of things, I don't think there's anyone else who will outbid me - there's still time and things might change. There might be people who might outbid me thus releasing me from my "predicament". There's another part of me that wants to go through with the sale - if I do get it, at least I can say that I have the 1st Edition - kind of like comics that I used to collect.

Never in my life have I thought that buying toys would be so complicated. Gone are the days when you can just walk into the toy department and pick toys off the shelves. What is this world coming to?!?!?!

SIDESHOW has gotten me interested in their figures as well. Limited around 5000 - 7000 worldwide and all for an affordable price of around RM 250 - 300. Damn - I want these! Maybe time to place pre-orders!

SIDESHOW - Anakin Skywalker


SIDESHOW - Obi-Wan Kenobi


SIDESHOW - Aragorn

I love the rain.....

But only when I'm stuck at home. The cool weather is always a welcome change.

I got caught in a massive storm on yesterday. Decided to take a drive down to Amcorp Mall to use my RM 50 deposit for another other since I won't be getting the Star Wars figures. After opening up the Anakin Skywalker to Darth Vader Evolutions pack - I think its a wise move too. Apprarently, Anakin's arms are not jointed but swivelled. That means his arms aren't that articulated. Screw those cloth cloaks - I'll just stick to what I have. The Sideshow 12-inch figures look much better.

The owner had to do some business at the post office and said he would be back in a short while so I stood staring at his showcase of wonderful toys. As I was standing there, a girl ran out of the fire escape doors. Didn't really look at her. Then, a guy ran out - looking like he was pulling up his pants. Again I didn't pay much attention. After that - out ran an elderly security guard shouting and running after the 2 people. I wonder what that couple were doing in the stairwell? Sex? Or were they a couple of thieves? I guess I'll never know. But I do know that the elderly really have no business being security guards. What the hell can they do when in pursuit of people with younger hearts and muscles?

The stop at Amcorp Mall was supposed to be short - change my order and get out of there as I had to pick D from Summit. Ended up staying more than 2 hours there. Paid another RM 50 deposit making a total of RM 100 for the 20th Anniversary Optimus Prime.

As I was about to leave - I realized that there was a heavy thunderstorm. Thought I would stay awhile to wait for the rain to stop but scrapped the idea.

Almost everywhere I went, drain water was overflowing onto the roads. I haven't seen anything like this in a long time. Water flowing out from one drain, across the road into and out of another drain. It was chaos. That particular junction in SS2 was flooded and I saw an old BMW 7-series with a dead engine (I presume) in the middle of the road. I have this phobia of my own car dying during extremely wet and flooded conditions so I decided to take a detour at DU and drive up along the LDP to get to USJ. Along the way - I was hoping I didn't have to go to anymore flooded stretches. It took me almost an hour just to get from USJ back home. What a day.

The more I think about it, the more I think a seperate blog isn't such a good idea. It's a pain to maintain I reckon - even having to access it from the Dashboard is a little too troublesome for me. I might just scrap that plan completely and just mix everything in here like a big bowl of "rojak".