My other hobby

In the vein of Twitter this is a re-tweet of sorts from my toy blog.  I know not everyone that reads this blog cares about action figures, but I thought I'd share what I've been working so hard on over the last few months.  This is partially why I haven't been able to do many trades or even update my lists very often.  You think you have a lot of cards?  Try adding this many toys to the fold!  Anyhow enjoy the monster that I call 'my other hobby'.

I mentioned earlier on my toy blog the local television station came and interviewed me and my Transformers collection for a program called Carolina Camera.  I'm still not sure as to when the episode will air, but it looks like they eventually post the segments either on their website or on their YouTube channel.

I'm really floored that they chose me to feature as my collection pails in comparison to some that I've seen.  I'm glad I was chosen however because it really lit a fire underneath me to finally get my toy room completed.  After I was initially contacted about the program I started to work in my often neglected room.  Soon after my wife asked me to move my video games and such from downstairs to make room for our kids to have a playroom.  There was no way I was going to fit my TV, game consoles and arcade machine into my already crowded toy room.  That meant having to move my toy room to the empty room next door.  The room was bigger, but now I had more stuff to put in the room.  After months and months of work I have finally finished just in time for the filming of the Carolina Camera episode.

Since the episode segment focuses on my Transformers collection and I have much more than that I wanted to show off the rest of the room that wasn't part of the filming.  I'm really happy to have a functional room where I can kick back at the end of the day and enjoy myself...whether that be working on my laptop, playing a game or reviewing one of the many toys I have.  So I invite you to take a few moments and scroll down (or watch the short video) and check out the fruits of my labor.

This is a quick 3 minute virtual tour of my new toy room.

We'll start with the IKEA cabinet full of Japanese exclusive G1 Transformers.  Most of these toys are complete with original packaging, but due to space restraints those boxes are stored away in the closet.  In my haste of snapping pictures I forgot to snap one of the crowded closet.

 

I thought the G1 Legends fit in good scale wise with Fort Max.

Headmasters and Beastformers! Metalhawk was one of the first vintage Japanese G1 TFs I acquired when I started collecting again.

Vintage Star Convoy representing!  I have the reissue, but it wasn't good enough for me so I had to track down the real deal. Road Caesar is another vintage figure I've had for a long time.  Not my favorite, but he does have his own unique charm.  Sonic Bomber is a small brick, but one of my favorite G1 toys.  Notice the red Hot Spot?  He's from the ever elusive Guard City giftset.  I got him in a lot on Yahoo! Japan auctions years ago...same goes for the combiner part-less Sixwing Micromasters.

This is one of my favorite shelves in the cabinet.  I traded away my 2006 Botcon Darksyde Megatron for Blackzarak (plus some cash).  I'll never touch him again nor will I ever transform him due to GPS.  Mine has a small break on the underside of one foot that has been repaired so I feel fortunate that is all the GPS he suffers from.  Dinoking hands down is my holy grail.  I pieced the set together over several years.  He is 99% complete - I think I'm missing the paperwork for Kokuryu.

Overlord still isn't 100% complete, but I'm working on it.  Like Dinoking above, I pieced together my Liokaiser as well.  Still missing the boxes for Gaihawk and Jargua.  The Darkwings giftset is my "newest" addition to the Japanese collection.

The rest of this wall is lined with track shelving housing the majority of my Transformers collection.  We'll start off with the G1 Autobot shelf.  The pictures of these shelves are going left to right.  Dinobot Grimlock is one of the few toys I still have from my childhood.



Even though the Guardian robot is a simple repaint of Omega Supreme I still can't get over how lovely it looks.



1987 is about the time I started to loose interest as a kid.  I think I hit that time in a kid's life were I became "too cool for toys".  I believe the Monsterbot Grotusque was the only toy in this picture I had as a kid.



I loved the G1 Pretender toys long before that became socially acceptable and collected by other fans.  The smaller Pretenders like Pincher and Longtooth are favorites of mine.



Now we'll take a look at the G1 Decepticon shelf.  This particular section of the shelf is a little sparse.  I was hoping to get the other '84/'85 'bots...but I don't see that happening anytime soon.



I like how the third party Quintessons blend so seemlessly.  Bruticus there in the back is sporting his new cartoon accurate reprolabels.



Still need to pick up the last few Abominus combiner parts for the Terrorcons.



 picked up Misfire at a small toy shop in the Netherlands years ago while on a missions trip, but I never had any of the other Decepticon Targetmasters until a year or so ago.



Ultra Pretender Roadblock is another one that can suffer from GPS, but thankfully mine is a-ok.



I didn't have room for the Micromasters on the appropriate shelves below so they start off the next shelf.



I would have loved to set up the different playsets in a city like way, but again just not enough space.  The Autobot Battlefield HQ to the right was a Botcon 2007 purchase years ago for the low low price of $50.  I already had purchased an empty box for $10 earlier so I was thrilled to find the toy for such a great deal.



Before we get to the G2 toys I thought I would lead in with the European exclusive "G1.5" toys.  I particularly love the Turbomaster toys and the neon translucent Sparkabots are awesome.  Ironfist is another favorite of mine.



Call me crazy but my favorites in this picture are the neon Firecons!  I can't tell you how long I searched for those two little guys.  I also love the Powermaster Staxx (at least in truck mode) and I'm starting to enjoy Action Masters again.  Take-Off and Firebeast are high on the list right now.



I started to run out of room towards the end of the shelf so the G2 stuff is a little jumbled, but it's all out and viewable!  Yes, that is a fully intact and complete Laser Rod Electro in the back!



Next shelf is for the modern versions of the G1 characters.  Classics, Henkei!, Generations, United, Reveal the Shield stuff.  Speaking of Henkei! I'm so glad I purchased the majority of the stuff as it was released because secondary market prices for some of these have gotten a bit crazy!



I forgot to put the new HeadRobot head on Hardhead before snapping these pictures.



1986 movie characters.



Third party toys in full force here!  Fans Project "Insecticons and Bruticus".



I have the HeadRobots Blood upgrade kit for Bludgeon, but I stripped his tiny screws on the back of the head trying to swap the heads!  Oh well, at least he has a big shiny katana to wield now.



This section is what I refer to as my G2 Redux shelf.  Hubcap is there because I plan to pick up the G2 reprolabel set.



I simply love the Botcon exclusive Double Punch toy.  What a fantastic upgrade.  Skyfall back there is sporting the awesome Renderform custom head.



Next we come to glorious Transformers Animated toys.



Even the Legends size Animated toys are great!



I only have one Japanese Animated toy - Hot Rod - don't ask why.



The 2011 Botcon Animated Stunticons finish off the shelf.



The next few shelves are smaller groups from various series.  Here we have the Takara reissue Micromaster combiners.  All the chase versions are here too if you can't see them.  The Berserker SixWing took me the longest to complete, but the Rage SixTrain is my favorite.



Japanese Robot Masters.  I love this line - great mix of older molds and new molds.  The LioConvoy mold is a thing of beauty.



Next up is the Unicron trilogy toys - Armada, Energon & Cybertron.  Before I had to move my room I had far more of these toys.  I'm happy that this move forced me to slim this part of the collection down as I'm left with my favorites.  See Armada "super pants Prime" holding 4 different Star Sabers?



Forgot that I crammed in my small Car Robots/RID collection in here at the end.



The very top shelf houses my Beast Wars collection.  Beast Wars is one of the lines that helped draw me back into collecting TFs again.



Mixed in are 'bots from Beasts Wars II and Beast Wars Neo from Japan.



Finally on the end of this short shelf we have the complete Machine Wars line.



On the end of the room are two book cases and my video game console collection.  The book shelves house miscellaneous Transformers and other toys.



Brave Max looks so much better with weapons in hand.



The Amazon.com exclusive Unicron simply blows the Armada version out of the water.  I'm so glad I swapped the Armada version out for this one.



Power Core Combiners.  If it weren't for the Mini-Cons I'm not sure if I would've bought so many of these...although some of the molds like Heavytread and Undertow are quite excellent.



Not sure what happened to the focus here.  This is my "Universe" shelf of sorts containing Henkei! exclusive figures (Ghost Starscream & Thundercracker) as well as OTFCC exclusive mini-bots (Glyph & Tap-Out) and other random TFs.



I was a big fan of Alternators, but several were casualties of my new space restraints.  It's OK though as I love the Alternity scale a little better.  Thundercracker front and center here is amazing.  I threw in the oversized G2 Optimus Prime since the Alternators/Alternity cars fit inside his trailer.



e-Hobby exclusives and S.F.C. PVC figures.  Favorites here include Nucleon Quest Ginrai and the Hauler (or is it Road Hauler?).



This shelf was empty minus my 3 Prime toys prior to the film crew coming.  I just grabbed a few random Dark of the Moon toys and toss them on the shelf to fill it up.



Another "Universe" like shelf.  Highlights here are the OTFCC exclusive Megazarak, Sentinel Maximus & Sunstreaker and canceled movie Reverb (green helicopter).



I had new shelves made to squeeze into the bookshelves to house my Mini-Con/Micron collection.  Highlights here include the Megalo & all white Microns.



The shelf from above continued.



The next section of Mini-Cons/Microns.



The T-Rexs had to sit so they wouldn't constantly take nose dives off the shelf!



Here we have one of the favorite parts of my TF collection - Spychangers!  Blame it on my love of Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars growing up.



I have 2 other Dairycon exclusive Spychangers that I forgot to pull out when I was setting this shelf.



Behind each mold here are the different variations.  I have both the Car Robots and RID versions along with the different translucent KB Toys versions.  The Takara Super Spychangers are also mixed in.  Only thing I'm still searching for are the clear translucent chase versions of the Super Spychangers - I have two of the 6.



The next shelf is a mixture of the remaining Mini-Cons/Microns and Spychangers.  I tossed in a few basic/scout sized toys across the back because I didn't have anywhere to put them.





The CD-ROM versions of Beast Wars Convobat and Megalligator were my very first Botcon purchase back in 2001.



The bottom shelf of each bookcase are the only non-TFs displayed here.  I love Go-Bots and their Japanese Machine Robo counterparts.  Rock Lords however take the cake.  Say what you will about transforming rocks, but I think they are awesome.



Anyone want to buy some Go-Bots?



Still looking for a few Rock Lords, but most of them are hard to find (i.e. expensive) now.



The large train robot is the lone toy I have from my Brave collection.  His name escapes me.  Highlights on the shelf though are the 2 Rock Lords Narlies - Narliebat and Narlielion.  These two guys are near impossible to find these days.



My one and only AFA graded G1 TF - my namesake Flywheels.  He was a generous gift from a friend and fellow blogger who runs Mostly Transformers Redux.



On the very bottom are a few Monsterous Go-Bots, Machine Robo Capsule toys from Japan and 4 often never heard of die-cast robots from a line called Converters by Select Toys.

These next few pictures are of the white modular furniture that houses my TV and video game console collection.  I like the functionality of the furniture because it gives me lots of cubes to store and display items.



I got these 5 oversized hardcover IDW Transformers books for Christmas.  I can't wait to sit down and read them all...some of the issues for the first time.



I don't have a lot of room now to display the few G.I. Joe vehicles I have.  Here you have the Pursuit of Cobra Rage and a custom made Cobra helicopter.  I made this a few years ago from a cheap Corps! helicopter I found at Walmart.



Cobra H.I.S.S. Tanks unite!



I just recently opened up this awesome Hummer vehicle from the G.I. Joe Rise of Cobra line.  I had no idea just how cool and detailed it was.  The blue vehicle is the original G.I. Joe A.P.C. from 1984.  I customized it for my Cobra troops and it's a highlight of my small Joe collection.



I have most of the Cobra figures from the 25th Anniversary line.  I bought Star Cases for all of them and displayed them on the wall in a wallpaper like fashion.



A couple of comic posters for good measure.  I particularly love the New Warriors poster as it was one of the first comics I read in the early 90's.





This black rack is actually an old cassette rack that my dad made for me YEARS ago.  I painted it black after realizing it was the perfect size to display some of my Joe figures.



The G.I. Joe poster is a 2004 Joe Con exclusive with art by Tim Seeley.



Rock 'n Roll and Scarlett were two of my favorite Joe characters.  I was lucky enough years ago to find the hard to find Japanese versions still sealed.  Being a big Transformers fan I love the idea that Takara had a hand in G.I. Joe toys being brought to Japan.  Too bad the eastern kids over there didn't care for the military toys.



With the beginning of the Pursuit of Cobra and 30th Anniversary G.I. Joe lines I dropped the cases to save money.  They still look really nice on the wall.  The little HeadRobots head is called Snake - a tribute to the old cartoon episode where Cobra Commander shows up in Transformers. 



Original artwork by Mark Brooks (Ms. Marvel) & Cully Hamner (Firestar) obtained locally during a Free Comic Book Day event.  The Transformers prints below the comic art are Botcon exclusive prints from Genesis art book.



More original comic art by Mark Brooks (Nikki from Guardians of the Galaxy & Diamondback from Captain America) and Tom Lyle (Scarlet Spider).



More Pursuit of Cobra figures.



30th Anniversary G.I. Joe figures.



A few Atlanta Braves things hung on the wall behind the door.



This huge rack has all the video games for my various consoles. Consoles include Nintendo NES, Famicom, Famicom Disk System, PC Engine, Sega Master System, Sega Genesis, Sega Mega Drive, Super Nintendo, Super Famicom, Sega Saturn, Sega Saturn (JPN), Playstation, Nintendo GameCube, Nintendo Wii, Playstation 2, Xbox and Xbox 360.



Various TF and video game related busts & action figures.



Above the arcade cabinet is my Masters of the Universe Classics collection.  When editing the photo I cut off by accident the top shelf w/ the Masters figures.

I forgot to photograph the small white bookshelf beside the arcade cabinet.  I have my Marvel Universe, Thundercats (both modern and vintage) and my Masters of the Universe 200X collection displayed.

The arcade machine itself was a wedding present from my awesome wife when we were married on New Year's Day many many years ago.

So there you have it.  A quick tour around my new and improved toy room and a look at my Transformers collection.  If you happen to spot a figure in one of the pictures that you'd like to see here on the blog in a toy review please let me know.  I hope to provide more real content here in the near future now that all of my toys have been opened and displayed properly.  Thanks everyone!