Resuming 'Normal' Service...

So, all things considered, I've had quite productive weekend.

Partly, I suspect, I was jarred into action by yesterday's sad news. I'd actually been pretty much in denial since I first heard how serious the situation was, and it took me a while to pluck up the courage to open each emailed update I received...

...But in between, I managed to get quite a bit of photography done. Over the weekend, I've taken new photos of all of my TF Movie toys. The collection currently stands as:

Leader
Optimus Prime
Megatron
Brawl

Voyager
Blackout
Ratchet
Ironhide
Starscream
Thundercracker

Deluxe
Jazz
2008 Bumblebee
Scorponok
Wreckage
Barricade
Bonecrusher
Arcee
Dropkick
Longarm

So I'm pretty much done with the movie line... unless they pull a blinder and release some more really cool stuff. I'm aware of another couple of Real Gear robots I'm quite keen on, but that's about it.

I've discovered that adding a grey towel to my 'photographic studio' (two bits of white-coated chipboard balanced on my chair) has a beneficial effect on the resultant photos. Same camera, same lighting conditions (on a good day), much better pictures. I guess the stark white of the boards messes up the camera's ability to take light readings, and reflects far too much light. The grey towel offers texture, and absorbs more light, so the pictures seemed more lifelike in colour.

I managed to get mostly up to date on my collection - all the BotCon stuff has been photographed (though I really need to do a group shot of the models from the boxed set), plus my most recent Memorabilia purchases. Even managed to update my website with the new pictures. Since it's been ages since I posted any pictures here, I figured I'd share a couple of the funnies I came up with...

For starters, there's Steppen-Weirdwolf and Steppen-Dark Fangwolf performing that timeless classic:
Then we have a tender family moment for TF Movie Megatron:
Obviously, there are plenty more photos... and I didn't get round to the photo-story in which Classics Bumblebee is corrupted by the dark power of Goth Rock and becomes 'Gothbug' (aka Bugbyte, but playing on Goldbug, the name Bumblebee took when he got upgraded).

Nor did I get round to filming Beatmix Bumblebee rockin' out to Black Lab's cover of the 1986 TransFormers animated movie theme, played by Music Label Soundwave...

Oh well. Can't have everything.

I'm reasonably happy with what I've accomplished this weekend... The biggest thing, I suppose, was taking the decision to pass on the web stuff at work, but I believe it's the right decision. I need my weekends to rest, not to make more money... Money might help, but rest will keep me from burning out, or turning into a total workaholic.

I do need to get back to writing, though... I have two fairly short stories to write, and one that's likely to be larger, but fits in well with my one of my big 'projects'... and, having recently heard from a couple of characters who have been 'missing in action' for a good couple of years, now seems like the right time to give it another try...

June 9, 1957 - August 26, 2007

Yesterday, I heard of the passing of Diana, a friend of mine in the States, due to a kidney infection following her cancer treatment. I got to know her through an internet writing group she co-founded, and I'll be forever grateful that I knew her, even for a comparatively short time, and largely only over the internet... She was a fine person, and will be missed by many.

She was, in many ways, a great inspiration to me, helping and encouraging me with my writing, and forever exalting me to "go, do, BE!". She was also, it has to be said, one of the few people in my life who actually gave me things to think about... though she did temper that by regularly pointing out that I tend to think too much ;)

With this in mind, I've changed my mind about the whole work website stuff. I've been slowly becoming a workaholic over the last couple of years, and I know that the last thing Diana would have wanted for me would be that I waste my weekends on work. There's so much else I could accomplish with that time, and I've put so much of it off for far too long. I could be sketching, I could be writing, I could be photographing things, I could be doing touristy crap around town... in short, I could be living... and I'm damned if I'll work for my employers seven days a week, however much they're offering they're offering to pay me, however much they're willing to subsidise my further training, and however much the money and the experience might be useful. If I wasn't so damned lazy, I'd have taught myself loads more HTML, Java and CSS by now... and if my employers need someone tech-savvy to service the websites more than I already do, and to fix the problems caused by next-to-useless Editors, they can stump up the cash and hire someone with the skills and experience, as I've recommended all along. I already have enough of a job, five days a week, and with enough overtime to eat into my free time.

Still, in many ways, Diana's death doesn't seem real to me... and posting all this isn't really going to change that. Next time something really cool happens in my life, I'm going to think to myself "I have to email Diana about that..." and then I'll probably start crying.

She'd recently set up in a new home in New Mexico, finally settling after several years plagued with upheavals. I always figured I'd meet up with her one of these days... We'd spoken on the phone once, but that was the closest we'd got to really talking, though we'd clocked up many hours of internet chat and hundreds of emails between us. I've been to the States several times already, and we'd discussed - in very broad, vague terms - the possibility of arranging a meet for all the members of her writing group.

That's not going to happen now... and the feelings I have flitter between the ache of missing her already, and a weird twinge reminding me that, while she may be gone, I still remember her... as will those family and friends who survive her. We will continue to remember her and, in that way, she will live on in all of us.

Somewhat selfishly, I'm also rather angry that she's gone, while my two grandmothers - who have been 'fading fast' for bloody years - are still alive and well, considering their age. How can that be right? It's not that I wish my grandmothers dead, just that Diana was too young to die... She should have had many more years of life to enjoy.

And now I have to figure out where/what/who I want to 'go, do, be'...

BEANS!

All will become clear, gentle reader, be assured of this...

One has to wonder about 'Market Research'. How is it conducted? How are the results examined? How are the examined results used?

Picture the scene: You're in Toys'R'Us, you're a TRU Gold Card holder. You purchase something, using your card to rack up points (I still have no real understanding of the whys and wherefores of that... I just hand over the card, and the receipt says something about points). You get a free gift, seemingly at random, though it may be via some scientific formula relating the the date and/or how expensive a purchase one makes.

So far, it all seems par for the course, right?

But if you get into specifics... like, the first time I used my Gold Card, I bought TF Movie Starscream and Ironhide, and got a pair of seedy "women's magazines" of the kind that feature celebrity gossip and improbable weight loss plans, alongside "true life stories" offering the parasitic readership heretofore unknown opportunities for schadenfreude...

And then, today, I bought the Toys'R'Us exclusive Commemorative Series alleged Generation 1 Soundwave (yes, I caved... you didn't see that coming?) and walked away with a single-portion can of baked beans.

I'm serious: Beans.

And they're not even Heinz.

(Come on, people, everyone knows "Beanz Meanz Heinz", don't they?)

How to they research this shit? What was recorded? "Age, Gender, Number of children, Children's favourite food, Do children know the song 'Beans, beans, they're good for your heart...'?"

It is beyond the ken of mortal man, I tell thee.

And then I get home and find that not one but two parcels have been delivered for me. One was a box containing two TF Movie 2008 Camaro Bumblebees (one for me, one for my boss) and one TF Movie Goth Bondage Queen Arcee. Seriously, this one's kinky. Some of the bike parts are molded to look like an elaborate bustier, she has serious high-heeled black boots, and she seems to be wearing black lipstick. My inner fanboy is strangely turned on...

Both are actually rather good models. Bumblebee is reasonably well-proportioned (in common with the majority of movie figures so far, his thighs are very short, and car kibble limits the knee movement, but not dramatically) and looks close enough to the movie model. As with much of the Movie line, transformation is satisfyingly complex, the robot is very poseable, and the car mode is very well realised, with well-concealed seams (the exceptions being the four rectangular holes on the bonnet which reveal the joint that allows the headlights to rotate upward to become the robot's chest). Arcee, while completely disproportionate to the other Movie deluxes, cuts a fine figure of a motorcycle and a robot. The aforementioned fetishwear-looking parts aside, she retains the feel of the Energon/Superlink version - not to mention much the same transformation - but with significant improvements to the overall design, stability and particularly the femininity of the robot mode.

My second parcel was - at long last - the BotCon 2007 Alpha Trion/Weirdwolf/Vector Sigma souvenir set!

First things first: my run of good luck with toys has taken a dent with Alpha Trion... He's missing the central crest on his head. It doesn't affect the look of the model too badly, but it does leave him with a strange groove into which the part should have been glued. From the front, you'd have to know the model well to realise it was missing something. Overall, I'm still quite happy with him. In person, the colourscheme is less jarring, though I'd agree with popular opinion and say that the white parts should have been grey or silver-ish. Also, the use of floppy plastic for his wings and sword, while matching the US/UK release of Vector Prime, does the model no favours. Indeed, mine has one wing that wasn't fitted quite right, and I've had to cut some of the plastic away to allow it to fold in/out properly.

Weirdwolf is seriously cute and, as far as I can see so far, essentially flawless. One of the wolf mode forelegs is a touch floppy, but this seems to be a common thing in all iterations of the mold. The paintjob is pretty extensive, and the colourscheme is far more sedate than it appears in photos.

Vector Sigma is a bit of a disappointment though, all things considered, it probably shouldn't be. It's basically a hollow, kind of crystalline-faceted sphere with a round hole in the bottom for its stand, and a rectangular slot in the top for the Key. Thing is, the keyslot on Vector Sigma in the TV show was at the centre of the spiralling crystalline pattern on the front of the sphere, not on the top... Also, the keyslot should be a good fit, but this thing is floppy and loose in all kinds of ways. Considering the price it was sold at (it was a completely separate item at BotCon), it's probably a complete rip-off... but as a 'free' addition to the set I bought, it's not bad. At least the Key itself is reasonably detailed... though it could do with a lick of paint.

In other news, I had a meeting with the MD today, where my actual role in the ever-changin' web project was more clearly defined. As I'd expected, it is just extending my support role - taking on some of the tasks previously supported by our techy team, and dealing with 'Search Engine Optimisation'... I am not taking over the admin side of it. I'm also getting £20 per hour for time spent working on it at the weekends.

Now all I have to do is figure out how to do what's required efficiently.

I'm sure there's other stuff, but it's late (again), and I still have a magazine to work on tomorrow...

Under the weather... again

Dunno what it is about this unseasonable weather, but it always seems to get me headachy and depressed. I've had a nagging pain in my head for most of the day, and been feeling almost sick for the last couple of hours. Really not nice.

Which pretty much sums up the day.

I received the latest edition of Master Collector/TFCC Newsletter on Friday and, in common with the last couple of issues, there's a big ad for TF Movie toys... only this one is a DPS (that's Double-Page Spread for those who haven't spent the last fourteen years working in the Print and Publishing industries) for Ultimate Bumblebee, the $80/£80 partially animatronic figure with lots of lights and sounds. Funnily enough, while it's partially mistransformed in the box, the ad shows it properly transformed... and it looks far better for it. Still, if you ask me, the Camaro front end still sits too far down his chest, making him look overly stocky on top, compared to his rather short and spindly legs.

Frankly, I'm still rather tempted by him... despite his many obvious flaws. There's just no way I can see myself paying £80 for him.

I had an idea for a sketch... or, more accurately, part of a sketch that would eventually lead into my websites TF Collection pages. I'm thinking I'll sketch each item separately, then bring them together in Photoshop or Paintshop Pro to make the final image.

In other interesting news, I recently had another one of my strange 'conversations' with a couple of characters from my fiction. Not the usual two... two that I haven't heard from in several years. Quite a fun conversation, and one which would be reasonably easy to slot into an appropriate story.

Mmmm... Eggs

Over dinner last night, my mother noticed one of those large spindly spiders hovering near the wall behind me (going by the look on her face and her reaction to me asking what she'd seen, I half expected it to be on the back of the couch I was sitting on). She snatched it up with our handy little spider vacuum thing and left it out in the kitchen, to be disposed of humanely later.

That was the last I thought of it until, late in the night, I popped downstairs to get myself some water. The spider vacuum and its occupant were still on the kitchen worktop.

I noticed something odd about the spider - its shape was wrong.

Upon closer inspection, this was because it was carrying something (comparatively) large and round.

My father was still awake and watching TV in the lounge, so I took it to him to have a look. He couldn't identify it without a magnifying glass, but thought it was either eggs or cocooned prey, so I took it back out to the kitchen and had a closer look.

The large thing turned out to be made up of lots of smaller round things.

Spider eggs.

Anyone who's ever seen one of these spider vacuums will know that the grille above the fan isn't exactly fine enough to prevent the egress of many tiny baby spiders... and no-one really wants a whole clutch of baby spiders running around their kitchen, so I unlocked the back door, took it outside, and threw the damned thing away into the rainy night.

I am somewhat surprised I didn't dream about it...

Panic Stations

I'm beginning to have doubts about my employers.

More than usual, I mean.

Recently, I agreed to look into taking on certain tasks relating to the upkeep and improvement of the websites, basically extending my support role to tidying up what the editors upload and adding keywords to make them more search engine-friendly... On Friday afternoon, I received and email from the Publishing Director, in lieu of a meeting to discuss my progress on all kinds of shit I did not agree to do.

I've said all along that they should be headhunting someone with the skills and experience necessary to take on the web project, but it's becoming increasingly likely that they want to strongarm me into the job, despite the facts that I don't have the skills, experience or - frankly - the inclination to take it all on. I've been in a minor support role all along, and that's all I have time for. They want to offer me extra money for out-of-hours, out-of-office work, but they have no idea what's actually required, or how long it will take... Which is one of the reasons I agreed to look into things. If nothing else, I'd be able to give them a more precise idea of what's needed from whoever they employ.

The problem is that they "don't have the budget" for a full-timer on what's perceived to be a part-time project. The problem with that is that they have targets to hit... and I have no idea how to achieve them. Seriously, these people have created so many problems for themselves by promoting existing employees into jobs they are incapable of doing... I'm not about to become one of them. I think I can barely do the job I've just been promoted to - Production Manager - because I'm still spending all my time doing what I always used to do, and I don't have time to keep tabs on my team. The only reason I'm surviving is that I have a bloody good team... for the moment.

I woke up quite early this morning, but only managed to stay awake for about an hour and a half because I was still quite tired and because it's suddenly become rather cold. From the recent clear blue skies, we have come to skies you can't even see because of the cloud and constant rain, and temperatures have dropped markedly. When I woke up again, I had a cold sweat and a headache... possibly due to equal parts job panic and worrying about a friend in the States who's seriously unwell right now.

If there was any light, I could take my mind of things by doing some photography... Not only am I behind in photographing my TF Movie toys and my repaints thereof, but I have things like Music Label Soundwave and, more recently, BotCon2007 souvenir figure Springer (who's excellent - far less garish than Galaxy Force Exigeyser, and manages to look just enough like his Gen 1 incarnation)... And I haven't even photographed the boxed set.

Even more annoying, I have plenty of ideas for fun 'posed' photos - like Movie Megatron holding his arms out to my scrapmetal 'Predator' statue, asking "Daddy?", and a short photocomic where ML Soundwave infiltrates the Autobot base, gets Classics Bumblebee hooked on Goth Rock, and turns him into 'Emo-Bumblebee' (aka Bug Bite from this year's BotCon set).

On the subject of ML Soundwave, now that I have a Mini SD card (or three - thanks, Crucial, for supplying one after you'd told me they were out of stock!), I've been able to play about with him an a more meaningful manner. I have to say, the quality of his sound output far exceeds that of my three year old Creative Zen. He's able to reach higher volumes, too. If it weren't for the bland design of his alternate mode (come on, Reprolabels... Do something!), and Gen 1 cartoon accurate head sculpt, he would be (in the contemporary vernacular) 'made of win'. Strange that there have been so many complaints and problems bandied about in the fandom... but I guess I've just been very fortunate with mine.

More time wasted

Well, all I can say is at least I got my hair cut this weekend. It's back to being "30 seconds to wash, 30 seconds to dry" short, which is kinda how I like it these days. It really is unfathomable that, in my mid- to late-teens, I grew my hair down to my backside. These days, I can't grow it past my ears without it getting annoying. Seriously, when it's that long, I wake up in the morning, it's a total mess, and I can't do a damned thing with it.

Other than that, I've not really accomplished anything great this weekend. Not even a simple bit of writing I'd promised myself, largely because I just ain't in the mood anymore.

I also decided against popping back to Toys'R'Us, having been there Friday night and seen boxes marked "Generation 1 Soundwave" sitting around, waiting to be unpacked. I guess having a 20-odd year old, genuine Generation 1 Soundwave and now TakaraTomy's Music Label Soundwave kinda puts a dampener on going to any effort (getting on a bus? Effort? What's wrong with me?!) to get this Hasbro commemorative reissue. If I'm going to consider it, I guess I should compare it to the TakaraTomy Encore version before I come to any decision.

It seems that the downloadable episodes of Beast Wars are back... and completing season one, if I'm reading it correctly. Must make some room on this PC of mine and get them downloaded and burnt to DVD. I honestly wish someone would get on an release the series on DVD properly and officially, rather than as the seemingly random collections of episodes on the US DVDs I've seen around... but these downloads will do in the meantime.

Back to work tomorrow... And I need to check into my holiday dates, because it seems my next week off is fast approaching, so I'd probably end up wasting it. If I can postpone it for another couple of weeks, perhaps I'll be in a better frame of mind for making use of time away from the office.

One of those days

Right now, I can't decide whether I want to set up to photograph some of my latest acquisitions, or just pull my bed out and snooze for a while.

The former would certainly be a grand idea, considering how far behind I'm getting (Music Label Soundwave arrived on Friday!), but the latter just feels so much more attractive right now. I don't even have the excuse that the light isn't good enough - despite some ominous weather reports and some very brief rain (I'm talking 'a couple of drops on my window' brief), the sun is shining quite nicely, and I have a good few hours before the light starts to trail off.

I'm feeling deflated again. Partly due to some bad news about a friend who's very sick, partly due to work, and partly because I really want to redesign my website before adding any more content.

On that front, I have a rough idea of layout, but no real idea on how I want to use it. Much of what I'm thinking would work better in frames, but I'm reluctant to go down that route. One way or another, I really want to know how I'm going to present this content before I take any more photos, because I'll need to repurpose what I've got as far as possible until I have time (and decent equipment, and enough space) to adequately redo things.

A few thoughts on ML Soundwave: He's pretty dinky. I was expecting small, but he's something like two thirds the size I was expecting, even having seen photos showing a size comparison to, for example, Gen 1 Soundwave. In MP3 player mode, he's just tall enough to accommodate the single AAA battery that powers him. Overall, he's very cool, and an excellent homage to a favourite from Gen 1. On the downside, they've done some very strange things to him to accommodate improved articulation - his legs, now that they have knees that bend the right way, look rather bland, the lower arms look too bulky for the upper arms, the head looks too cartoonish, and he's in serious need of a bit more decoration. His hands are a bit daft - three different fixed poses with ball jointed wrists rather than actual posable hands? Was that really the best they could do?

I've also had a hell of a time getting MiniSD cards for him. My usual supplier ran out and doesn't intend to continue that line, the high street price is about four times what they would charge, so I've ended up going back to another supplier. The price I've ended up paying is nothing to complain about, though... Technology, eh?

Blue skies and sunshine

Yesterday's trip to Late at the Tate turned into more of an 'Arrive at Late at the Tate, get drink, get sausage-inna-bun, sit and watch young and trendy types while wondering what's actually happening at this event, go looking, find programme, find very little of genuine interest, clear off elsewhere' sort of trip. We ended up playing airhockey near the Park Royal Vue cinema, then dropping into Starvin' Marvin's for a milkshake before calling it a night.

Of course, there was another significant point about it - it was, apparently, two years to the day since the our last visit to Late at the Tate.

I'm told that next week at work shouldn't be too bad - my Monday deadline should be simple enough and, frankly, I have the better team, so work has been done.

Even so, I'm pretty much dreading going back there, not least because there's a large chance that the senior management want to hand the entire web project to me now that the editor who was running it has dropped it in favour to taking up a second magazine whose editor recently quit. If that's their plan, they're going to be rather disappointed when I inform them that the task has grown to the point where is well and truly beyond me now so, unless they're happy to wait 6 months to a year for me to get up to speed, they'd better hire someone with the relevant skills, who can hit the ground running.

Still, they should easily have the money, now that they have 3 Sales Managers running two magazines each, and two editors running two magazines each.

On the upside, while I didn't go out or do much this last fortnight, I did get a fair bit of repainting done on my TF Movie toys. So far, I've added to Leader Class Optimus Prime, Leader Class Megatron (though still far from finished with that one!), Deluxe Jazz, Deluxe Barricade and Voyager Ratchet... I'm going to have a go at Ironhide next, though probably just adding a little detail, rather than the quite extensive work I've done on the others.

I've been looking out of my window since about 10am today, and I still haven't seen a single cloud. Considering the torrential rain and flooding of a couple of weeks ago, that has to be a good thing. Finally, we have Summer.

As luck would have it

So there I am, sifting through eBay's listings, and I come across someone selling their BotCon 2007 souvenir Springer (no sign of Huffer - either gone already or the seller is keeping him) going for the tidy sum (as in 'Buy It Now') of £45

£45??? Have I just stepped into an alternate reality where everything I thought I'd missed out on suddenly becomes available at a reasonable price? Considering the dollar price of the Springer/Huffer set, that's not much more than the seller would have paid in the first place.

Fitting, in some ways, that this marvellous find (which, yes, I bought as soon as I'd recovered from the shock) should occur in time for my 100th post to this very blog. I was hoping to have something special or in some way cool to commemorate this most important milestone.

Later on today, I'll be heading off to meet my boss for my second ever dose of 'Late and the Tate', which is a special event running at the Tate Britain on the first Friday of each month.
The last one we went to must have been around this time last year, as there was a little garden party with snack food and drinks in the gallery's small garden area. There was also, if I remember correctly, live music... nothing of any great consequence, but a pleasant enough diversion, I suppose. Certainly, the gathering of the young and trendy on the grass were enjoying it all.

I'm wondering what happened to my holiday... I've been away from the office for two weeks, and now it's Friday afternoon of the second week, and I'll be going back to work on Monday. I've accomplished very little (skeletal design for my website update, and TF Movie toy repainting aside) and I'm not even feeling particularly rested. I have a nasty feeling that it'll take me ten minutes to get riled up again, making the whole two-week break a complete waste of time.

I really should have done something. I kept thinking about day trips and the like, but I'm so fried because of work that I'm completely apathetic outside work, and can't be bothered to do anything under my own steam.

Third time lucky?

Speaking of harsh.

The first time I saw the new TransFormers movie, it was after midnight in an uptown London cinema with a shite sound system. I thought it was good, but not great, and missed much of the robot dialogue because of the sound problems.

The second time I saw TransFormers, I went a bit 'Film Critic' on it and, while I enjoyed it more because that cinema had a better sound system, I found it lacking in plot, what plot there was had a significant number of holes, too many events got glossed over (Jazz died? Bumblebee could speak? Which Decepticons actually survived that final battle?) and there were too many redundant characters.

Well, I've just seen it for the third time and, yes, it's not the greatest movie EVAR... but it's a hell of a lot of fun and, as sheer spectacle goes, I doubt anything will top it for years. Or at least until the next TransFormers movie.

Earlier today, I had a bit of a brainwave. Frequent readers will remember that I was (ahem) rather impressed by Beatmix Bumblebee, the non-transforming, semi-animatronic, interactive music speaker. A previous post also revealed that I have ordered TransFormers Music Label Soundwave (Spark Blue, for those who are interested... the white one shouldn't be called Soundwave at all... A black version might be called Soundblaster, but a white version? 'White Noise', perhaps, but not Soundwave). If I plug them together, I'll have the ideal photo opportunity for TFML Soundwave to have BM Bumblebee at gunpoint, saying "I have you now, Autobot... Now you shall dance to MY tune!"

I'm already planning to grab loads of Soundwave speech samples to upload to his Mini SD card (once I buy one... and a reader!) to break up the music (that'd be pretty mental on shuffle, if TFMLSW has such an operating mode but, if not, I can improvise), so that'd be pretty funny... I may even make a movie out of it...

OK, I'm a geek. Surely I've mentioned this already?

I also had one of my weird 'conversations' with characters from this rambling bit of fiction I'm occasionally attempting to write... The last one was four months ago, so that's still no sign that I'm getting back into gear. If I can figure out what triggered it (if anything did trigger it, that is) perhaps I can encourage a few more of these outbursts... but, right now, my mind is fried with all kinds of work crap, making it rather difficult.

You'd think two weeks off work would help me relax and unwind... oh no. Not me. Mr Tension. Mr Work-a-flaming-holic. I really do need to get out and do something...

Which is probably why I got that uncomfortable twinge when my folks mentioned that our local Scout group was looking to recruit helpers. My sister's husband has jumped in with his pack (right in at the deep end, last I heard - straight into organising camps, etc!), perhaps I should seriously consider doing something similar.

For when it absolutely has to be there... ON TIME

Perhaps I've been a little harsh.

On this occasion, Parcelforce not only delivered on the specified day, but managed to get my BotCon Games of Deception Boxed Set to my door at about 8.15 in the ante meridiem. That's pretty darned good performance, all told.

So, what is the set like?

Well, to anyone who's dismissed this as an overly expensive set of repainted Classics seekers with only one remold, plus Jetfire with a new head and Bumblebee with tattoos, I'd say you're missing a few salient points about this set.

1) Limited runs always cost more than full production runs. This is true of everything from newspapers to cars. Just because these guys are made using (mostly) the same molds, doesn't make them an exception. Different colours of plastic + Limited run = Expensive to produce.

2) The paintwork on the remaining three seekers is FAR superior to anything on Classics Starscream, Skywarp and Ramjet. More paintwork, more detail, well applied. Not only is the paint an additional expense in the production, but the level of detail and number of colours used increases the overall cost. New patterns had to be made up, too. Some of the paintwork is designed to emulate the characters' Gen 1 stickers to a certain extent. The same is true of Bug Bite - his curious tattoos had to be designed, and they're rather more precisely applied than Bumblebee's stripes or Cliffjumper's 'splashes'.

3) Thrust's wing configuration is entirely new - main wings and tailfins - which means new molds and more cost.

Then you have the new head for Dreadwind, sculpted by Dan Khanna, an artist who has worked on the TransFormers comics, and who would have to be paid for his time and efforts.

Then you have the costs for design and printing of the instruction booklets (2-colour, 1-side, but limited quantities in awkward sizes and the subsequent folding would increase the costs), the profile cards (4-colour, 1-side, but limited quantities in awkward sizes again, and cut with rounded corners) and the box (very sturdy, with 4-colour print and varnish on the lid, and a textured covering for the base). Design cost aside, the box art was handled by two different artists (Don Figeruoa and Chris Appel), who would have been paid for their time and efforts.

Then you have the cute little pin badge - metal with enamel design.

It all adds up, people. After that, you have to take into account that Fun Publications has to make a profit not just on BotCon, but on everything produced for BotCon (particularly the stuff given away 'free', which is not without cost) just to continue functioning as a business, let alone ensure that there will be a BotCon 2008 and further Collectors' Club/BotCon exclusives.

I suppose I have another advantage that the American fans/Club members don't - the strong UK Pound. Hasbro UK would have us UK fans charged £10 for a Deluxe (the Seekers and Bug Bite) and £20 for a Voyager (Dreadwind), I'd be paying £60 for a similar selection of models... which equates to roughly $120. Meanwhile, this limited edition, presentation-boxed set cost $279, in the region of £140. OK, so that's still more than double the cost of the standard figures... but need I remind you of the limited run=greater cost equation? Consider how many of the Seeker models Hasbro produced for the world market, how many Bumblebees and Cliffjumpers they produced, and how many Jetfires they produced... Compared to maybe a couple of thousand units of each model in the BotCon set.

Adding it all up, it really is worth it, and that's before I start considering nebulous concepts like 'Club loyalty': ensuring their continued profit ensures their continued support of my favourite toy line.

So, the set... Bug Bite is a straight repaint of Bumblebee/Cliffjumper, essentially to match the e-Hobby Mini Autobot Bug Bite from their recoloured set of Takara's Mini Autobot set reissue. The 'tribal' tattoos are a curious addition, but they look pretty good and add character to what would otherwise have been quite a bland model. He ends up looking kind of like Goth Bumblebee because, aside from the car shell, this model is entirely black. While some might argue that this set has too many repaints and not enough remolds, I'd complain more that Hasbro didn't give us a remolded head for their wider release of Cliffjumper (such as the one seen in the Club comics).

Thundercracker is the last of the original three seekers, and the source of some of the loudest complaints in the Fandom. Of course, once you put him next to Skywarp and particularly Starscream, you can easily see the difference in quality. Thundercracker has a far more elaborate paintjob that either of the mass-released jets. He strikes a happy medium between Gen 1 show accuracy and Gen 1 toy accuracy, but with all the extra articulation that came with Classics.

Thrust has, by far, the most remolding of the two models that feature any remolding in this set. The main wings with their VTOL rotors are a great update on the original and suit the body of the plane perfectly, and the odd tailfins complement them and create another great homage

Dirge is a bit of a disappointment, in that he's a repaint of Ramjet rather than being remodelled to look like his Gen 1 counterpart. Still, the paintwork is excellent and all three of these Classics 'coneheads' could stand together and look sufficiently different.

Dreadwind is largely just a repaint of Classics Jetfire, even down to the helmet, beneath which lies the all-important, all new, Dan Khanna-sculpted head. Despite being a little anticlimactic, the new head is very good, and works well on the Jetfire body and with the Dreadwind paint scheme to create an excellent model.

The only real disappointment with the set is the lack of non-standard accessories. While Bug Bite is never pictured with a handgun, it would have been cool if he'd come with his Cerebro Shell Control Panel, or maybe (as a further Gen 1 reference) a gun modelled on Bombshell's Cerebro Shell injector, and I can't help thinking that Dreadwind's helmet could have been slightly remolded... either to match his former comrade Darkwing (making this manic depressive 'bot seem even more disturbed), or just to further differentiate him from Jetfire. It's also a shame that the profile cards are pretty much just that - no details are given of the abilities of any of the characters, and some of the profiles leave you with more questions than answers. Just as well the comic comes as part of the package, as that fills in some of the blanks.

I've heard today that, in my absence at work, my boss had completed upload of today's magazine shortly after 1pm, which now stands as the record for finishing a magazine early.