Backpeddling

This morning, I caved in and ordered some of the Japanese 10th Anniversary Beast Wars figures - Cheetor, Dinobot, Rhinox, Tigatron and Waspinator. These are the only models that interest me from that first run, because they're halfway decent plastic versions of the characters from the TV show (particularly with the new paint jobs). Terrorsaur, Tarantulas and Scorponok are pretty poor models in both beast and robot modes... but if I suddenly turn completist, I may pick them up as well. That said, BW Scorponok appears to have become one of the rarities, and can fetch a hefty price...

I also snagged the knockoff Generation 1 Mirage (it's a mold I've always wanted, but which tends to be either prohibitively expensive if complete, or irreparably damaged due to dodgy molding and weak parts) and the last two World's Smallest Dino(ro)bots, because the ones I have are pretty darned cool. Thanks to an 'End Of Year Sale' coupon code, I got a 15% discount on the lot. Hurrah.

Yesterday went far better than expected, despite my boss calling in sick (probably due to dodgy seafood the night before). Ads were signed off promptly, Classified didn't misbehave (although the rep left her folder somewhere stupid and then blamed my designer, when I'm pretty sure he handed everything back to her), features weren't too bad, and the magazine had been cut down in size on Thursday, so it was easily manageable.

Monday is still likely to be quite painful... and now there are even more reasons why it could be. The new editor is very full of herself (having learned her technique from the top editor by working as her editorial assistant), but lacks the creative eye that makes her boss tolerable. My designer showed me two versions of a particular page - her own, and the editor's - and it was obvious which was the 'right' version and which was haphazardly thrown together by an incompetent. Sparks may well fly.

Amusingly, when I mentioned this to the departing editor (who had been acting editor of Monday's mag for a month or two), she agreed that the new editor has "a very different technique" (putting it mildly). She was also a touch regretful that she wasn't staying to see how the designer who worked on her own magazine handles the top editor. She is completely unafraid to point out to any editor that supplied materials are rubbish, or that their ideas are bad. That's one of the reasons she's such a good designer... I wonder whether her new editor will see it that way.

The late afternoon/evening saw everyone off down the pub for yet another leaving do - for the aforementioned departing editor - which was pretty good fun until one of the salesmen started really creeping me out. Prior to that, I had couple of interesting conversations with a couple of them. I bowed out early (about 6.30) and came home under the influence of a couple of glasses of brandy.