Transformers Collection – Alternity/Masterpiece/Disney/Henkei
by isaac on Jun.14, 2010, under Figures
Wow a month has passed since my last post. I actually planned to do weekly posts about my collection but was too busy at work & didn’t have the energy at home. Ok enough ranting, on with rest of the collection. This will be a mixture of different lines so you might get a surprise or 2.
Alternity A03 – Bumblebee
The Alternity line is the follow up to Alternators/Binaltech line which I’m crazy about. There are differences though to the Alternators/Binaltech line. It’s smaller to begin with, using a 1:32 scale instead of the bigger 1:24 scale. It’s also exclusively modeled on Japanese made cars, for now. Lastly, it’s a Takara exclusive, which means higher prices. Hasbro doesn’t seem to have any plans to bring this line out for the rest of the world but I suspect it’s more to do with the cars licenses acquired by Takara to make these figures. They are still super detailed, but smaller.
Bumblebee requires no introduction. The car model chosen for him actually suits him well & he retains his old animated series transformation style where the car front section becomes the legs & the car cab section becomes his body. Neat eh?
* This figure belongs to my bro.
Masterpiece
MP-2 Ultra Magnus
The Masterpiece line is meant for collectors so it means 2 things, the figure is huge & detailed, but it’s also freaking expensive. But price wise it’s only expensive depending on the model & how scarce it is to find. Price can range from RM250 to RM800.
Ultra Magnus is the commander of the Autobot City on earth, well, at least in the G1 series if you watched the animated movie. Some other storylines have him as the brother of Optimus Prime. I guess this is where the idea for this masterpiece came from, that he’s exactly the same like Optimus, but in different colours. Besides, Takara had to reuse the mould for Masterpiece Optimus Prime to sell more figures & the most simple way was to repaint it.
This figure is definitely one of the most complicated to transform, even though it doesn’t look like it. But I still think the Leader Class Revenge of the Fallen Optimus Prime is still harder.
* This figure belongs to my bro. Because of the size of this figure (stands 12″ tall), I’ve decided to give it back to my bro to display at his place.
MP-3 Starscream
You must be thinking, hey I have another Starscream, I must be a Starscream fan. Truth is, he IS my favourite Decepticon character. Besides, he’s a jet & i LOVE jets. This masterpiece looks absolutely amazing, both in jet form & in robot form.
My biggest gallery by far!
Henkei Convoy
The Henkei line or more known as Henkei! Henkei! Transformers in Japan, is the Japanese version of the Classics/Universe line from Hasbro. So what is that? Well, long story short, it’s a series that takes mostly Generation 1 characters & updates it with more modern forms. So instead of the ugly Gen 1 figures from 1980s, you get sleek updated versions that you can still recognise. Oh ya, Convoy is just the Japanese name for Optimus Prime.
Since I’m a Gen 1 nut, this is the new line I’m collecting.
Disney Label
Mickey Mouse & Donald Duck
The Disney Label line is something interesting where they took Disney characters & matched them to a character, loosely. They are darn cute & my kids love them.
With so many new figures, you must be wondering where do I keep all these? Here’s a hint.
More details in the next post!
Transformers Collection – Alternators/Binaltech
by isaac on May.14, 2010, under Figures
Wow, it’s been 3 months since my last Transformers post, Transformers! Final Part. Time really flies. My Transformers collection has also grown in a scary manner. Somehow, when you’re obsessed, you tend to be able to find $$$ to fuel the obsession somehow. It’s a dangerous addiction that I’ve also passed to my brother. Thankfully, we are obsessed with different range of the Transformers line. I’m more of a Generation 1/Alternators freak while he is a Beast Wars freak. So it’s becomes a complimentary effect instead. But my bro blames me of course for passing the addiction to him again.
For this post, I’ll concentrate on my obsession, the Alternators series. Back in my last post, I had only ONE Alternator figure, Wheeljack. 3 months later, I have 7. Scary? Haha. Let me introduce the rest of the crew.
Alternators
02 – Sideswipe
Sideswipe is another classic character from the G1 cartoon series. He has a twin brother, Sunstreaker. Both these 2 characters were among my favourites because they transformed into bad-ass sports cars. For the Alternators line, he’s a cool Dodge Viper SRT-10!
03 – Hound
Hound is another instantly recognisable character from the G1 cartoon. He’s a Jeep Wrangler Sport & looks amazing. This guy fetches one of the highest prices in the second hand market nowadays, as shown in this BigBadToyStore listing.
06 – Tracks
I didn’t really recognise Tracks initially. Reading his bio in TFWiki confirms it, I quote, ‘Tracks was one of several Autobots who appeared out of nowhere one day.“. But upon seeing his pic I knew who he was. He’s a Chevrolet Corvette Z06 & it’s one of the nicest looking car in the Alternator line. The figure in car mode shows the least amount of transformation lines that might give him away away as a Transformer.
22 – Mirage
Mirage is known as the Mr Invisible in the G1 cartoon since that’s his main power. He’s a freaking cool Ford GT & I really like his colours. Unfortunately his car mode shows one too many transformation lines which spoils his car look a bit & his doors are a pain to open & close properly. But I still like him.
Binaltech
BT-19 – Bluestreak
This figure is a bit on the weird side. Takara calls him Bluestreak but he looks way more like a de-sponsored Smokescreen. There never was a ‘blue’ Bluestreak, he was always silver in the G1 cartoon & later on, he was renamed Silverstreak (this was for trademark reasons). Anyway, for this figure, I prefer to call him Smokescreen instead. He’s a Subaru Impreza WRX, one of my personal favourite real life sports car. Oh ya, the key difference between the Alternators & Binaltech figures is the use of die-cast metal and the plastics are painted, usually in metallic, for the Binaltech line. This make the Binaltech figures look amazing & heavy as well so their prices are always higher.
BT-20 – Argent Meister
The name of the figure will make most people wonder who the heck is this. Meister is actually the Japanese name for the character Jazz, my favourite character in the G1 cartoon. The word “argent” is Latin for “silver”. The original Alternator figure for Jazz was white in colour, this is a redeco of the original with an upgraded chassis & silver metallic paint, as homage to the live action movie Jazz in terms of colour. This is a Mazda RX-8 Mazdaspeed Version II & the paintjob makes it look amazing.
That concludes the Alternators/Binaltech line. I actually still have Sunstreaker sitting in the ‘Pile of Loot’ in BigBadToyStore. I’ll update my blog when that arrives somewhere in July or August. Stay tuned for more updates to my collection. Hope you all enjoyed this post.
My Borderlinx Experience
by isaac on Apr.27, 2010, under Figures, Thoughts
I ran into Borderlinx on Citibank website one day, promoting the ability to do online shopping in USA by providing you with a local USA address to send your items to. This perked my interest to check it out as I thought this is a neat service to have. When I first checked it out sometime last year, it was still very new & the website didn’t have much info. Apart from creating an account, I didn’t bother to do much more. That was until one day I received an email notification from them regarding their new ‘Total Cost Calculator‘ tool in their website. This happened around the same time I started to check out BigBadToyStore. Call it a coincidence. I compared the shipping cost using their ‘Total Cost Calculator‘ tool with BigBadToyStore international shipping & it seemed at that time, Borderlinx didn’t cost a lot more, like maybe around RM40 to RM50 more when converted. Unfortunately, the ‘Total Cost Calculator‘ tool didn’t really make it clear how shipping cost is calculated nor did I have a clue as to why there was a section in the tool to enter the dimensions of the package. It’s like, how would I know how big the packaging would be? So I ignored it & proceeded to try out using Borderlinx. This is where the ‘nightmare’ begins.
Basically how Borderlinx works is that it provides you with a local USA address to send your stuff to. This is of great help when online shopping sites only ship to USA addresses & don’t do international shipping. Their service has since been updated to offer a UK local address as well to do online shopping in UK. So you pay for local shipping from the online merchant to Borderlinx, then ship it back when you are ready. Sounds great right? So I waited for my item to arrive in Borderlinx, and when it did & I checked the cost of shipping it back, I was floored. From just being an extra RM40 to RM50, the shipping cost is now a staggering RM100 extra. I instantly used their very useful online chat to find out more. Here I found out 2 things:
1) Volumetric weight vs Dead weight. Volumetric weight is the amount of space a package requires while Dead weight is the actual weight of the package. Shipping is charged based one whichever value is bigger. So if your box is big but it’s light, you’ll get charged for the space of the big box.
2) Items can only be kept in Borderlinx for 30 free of charge, after that, it’s shipped & your credit card automatically charged.
I have to say, I was shocked. Shocked because I knew, no matter what I’m stuck with Borderlinx & will have to pay that amount to ship it back, whether I liked it or not. Worse, I had to do it in 30 days max. During that time, these particulars weren’t clearly mentioned in the website & the support staff apologised for it. I even asked the support staff how could I know how big the package would be in the first place? He conceded that I wouldn’t be able to know. That’s OK, lesson learned, I thanked the support staff & waited as long as I could before I hit the ‘Ship It’ button.
The day finally came when I had to hit the ‘Ship It’ button. Luckily, the exchange rate for USD to RM went down so I saved a measly RM5 on shipping. So I clicked the ‘Ship It’ button, hoped to see my package arrive in a week time & be a happy guy. Too bad lady luck completely deserted me. A week after I shipped the item, I got a call from the local DHL office, informing me my package has arrived, BUT I needed to settle customs tax before I could get my item. How much was I charged? Tax + administrative charges = RM100++. At this point, I’ll be honest, I was PISSED & really wanted to ‘kill’ someone/something. I couldn’t believe my luck. But I decided, I was going to find out how did they calculated the tax & get it reduced. After a few days talking to DHL & customs, it turns out it was calculated based on some odd shipping charge DHL was giving customs. After clarifying & providing proof of the shipping charge I paid to customs, DHL finally informed me my item has been released from customs FREE of tax! Wow! Thank heavens! Finally it’s settled, after a week being stuck in customs & DHL.
By now, you must be thinking, this is a damning review of Borderlinx & I would never use it again. It almost reached that point. But it didn’t because of the great support staff. I chatted with 3 different support staff & had email exchange with 2 more. They all answered my queries well, even though they couldn’t exactly give me a better solution, they at least helped by clarifying everything. I’ve noticed after my conversations with them, the website was updated with more detailed information, like for eg, clarifying volumetric weight & a detailed section about tax & duty. It’s even mentioned in the tax & duty section that tax & duty is now prepaid with shipment & your item SHOULD NOT be held in customs. I’ll hold them on that.
So would I use Borderlinx again? Maybe, because it can clear customs faster & will most likely arrive when compared to using international parcel. I got an email from the support staff thanking me for my feedback & rest assured that my feedback would be channeled to higher management so that the service will be improved. That email kind of made me feel, OK, at least my relentlessness paid off.

