September looms

Ok, so it's getting close to that time of year again. It's one month until my birthday. You may recall my angst-filled wait last year, where I didn't buy much at all for myself before my bday and tried to depend on my family for my TF desires. It kinda worked, but not that well and not without some doubt.

This year, I'm still nailing some TF hopes and dreams on my family, but between streamlining my collecting and just not wanting some current/upcoming stuff, there shouldn't be too much I want this fall to begin with.

So, top of the list is TRU Exclusive Masterpiece Rodimus Prime. I got MP Grimlock from my parents for my last birthday, and this year Hot Rod/imus is available. I'm a bit worried, as the TRUs don't seem to be carrying too many of these and I'm sure that my family probably wouldn't try to find this until late in September, so there's a decent chance this may not happen. If not, I'll be trying to get it on my own, because this is a must-own figure.

Next is (possibly) DOTM Ultimate Optimus Prime. He looks fun enough, but he's more expensive than MP Rodimus and could be clearanced later, and I'm more concerned about getting Rodimus right now. May leave him off.

Next are 3 DOTM HA toys: Skids/Elita-1, Roadbuster, and Target Exclusive Leadfoot. I really only want Skids because he has a sick deco and he comes with Elita-1 (who I want more than ever now that I just read Rising Storm the other day). Both Wreckers, though, look great and very fun for HAs. However, if I don't get them, I may not pursue them, because I'm sure that a HA Topspin will follow, and altogether that'd be $90 for very non-core characters. I will definitely get HA Soundwave down the road, though.

Also possibly on the list is the Cyberverse Ark. This used to be a must-have for me, but now I'm not so sure (I haven't bought any of the smaller CV playsets, and they all interact and so on). I don't have to own Roller, seeing as how he's not really in the movie, and it's not like the Ark turns into Omega Supreme or anything. Still, it looks fun enough, and it plenty interactive. And I do like the idea of playsets in general, so I kind of feel like I need to do my part to convince Hasbro to make more.

And, of course, there're the Kre-O sets. I'm still feeling the itch, but have yet to scratch it. I'd like to at least get Starscream and Megatron, and wouldn't mind the huge Optimus or Sentinel either. Most of the smaller ones I'm not too big on, and the only big one I don't really want is the larger Bumblebee. I may just ask for Starscream, being as how he's my "official" favorite Transformer and I could probably get away with asking for just one of these sets. I may get the other larger ones on my own later, but I'll at least buy some of the Kreons online from eBay (Shockwave, Soundwave, the Seekers, Megatron, Sentinel, etc).

Last, but certainly not least, will be the DVD copy of Dark of the Moon itself! That's right, it's getting a very early release on the day after my Bday, September 30th (a Friday, no less)! Pretty danged awesome. On top of that, my wife and I will be taking that day off work to be in Orlando for her master's degree class that weekend staying at my cousin's, so I should be able to enjoy the movie just fine. Of course, this also means I'll likely have to wait for the end of the weekend to get anything from my parents, but oh well.

Hot Rods

This year's Transformers Collectors' Club free toy was Sideburn. I got mine in the mail yesterday. He's awesome.

Sideburn is a repaint of the 2006 Classics Rodimus (Hot Rod, really) mold. This makes him a continuity transplant - the Sideburn character began life in the 2001 Robots in Disguise show as one of the three Autobot Car Brothers. Along with Prowl and X-Brawn, he was a key character, and in many regards filled the Hot Rod-esque "young good-natured punk" role. This eventuated in a repaint of RiD Sideburn in Hot Rod's red & orange colors. For the new, G1 version of Sideburn, the opposite was done, putting Classics Rodimus in Sideburn's blue & white. As I said, it looks great.

Sideburn inspired me to finally getting around to purchasing one of Walmart's DOTM exclusives - a legends class 3-pack with ROTF Bumblebee repainted in gold & silver (pretty much movie Goldbug), ROTF Soundwave in G1 colors, and Universe Rodimus in orange, brown, and silver.

Yeah, you read right. The Rodimus mold has been released in the US twice before, the first time in his typical red & yellow flame deco, and also in blue & red as Smokescreen. However, the original release was all but impossible to find and commands a much higher-than-reasonable price on ebay. Luckily, this mold is close enough to being Rodimus' G1 colors to satisfy me. Heck, IDW has even provided a good excuse for his brighter-than-normal colors - Hot Rod was shown in Maximum Dinobots to have the ability to pull a Human Torch-style "flame on" and engulf himself in flames. So, I guess this toy will be Flaming Hot Rod to me. Go ahead, get the giggles out.