Bizarro Summer Weather

We've had a pretty mild summer season this year in the Sacramento region with many days in the 80's, which has been very nice. But in just the last couple of days, we have had the two hottest days of the year, with temperatures at 105+ degrees! Even weirder? Forecasters are predicting temperatures in the 70s(!) for this weekend...

"By The Power Of My Casual Interests!"

Bummed that I won't be able to watch any of the Transformers: Animated episodes until my DVD comes in, I trolled the interwebs, poking here and there. Through my wanderings, I happened to find a toy website having a sale on some Masters Of The Universe Classics figures for $25 each. Neato!

I actually had no real interest in MOTU (the animated series or the toylines) when it first came out in the 80s, and never really followed it when it came out in the 2000s. It wasn't until recently that I started noticing how well the recent MOTUC line of figures were turning out. I seriously considered purchasing the Count Marzo figure when it was released last month, but had passed. I have since regretted not getting it after seeing some vids of the fig on YouTube. So when the SDCC sets of Mo-Larr vs. Skeletor and Orko & Prince Adam were available at the beginning of this month, I took the chance and bought them. I have yet to free them from the packaging, but these guys are so friggin' sweet! (I may not free the Mo-Larr set; it's just so damn nice!)

My interest in TFA has now been (temporarily) shifted to MOTUC. I've been on the hunt for MOTUC, and with the find of decent-priced figs through the website I found this past weekend (sorry I won't name the website until I get the figs I ordered), I don't think I can no longer ignore the MOTU mythos. I'm really going to have to brush up on the lore, because outstide of He-Man and Skeletor and the occasional clips I've seen over the decades, I really know nothing about MOTU! Now I'll have to hunt for the DVDs of these shows too!

But all is not well with MOTUC. But I'll get to that a little later. Until then, keep it casual!

Transformers: Animated on DVD - Acts of Frustration!

Some of you may already know this, but I've been recently bitten by the Transformers: Animated bug. If you've seen some of my recent YouTube Goody Haul videos (take a peek at my channel if you haven't), you'll also know that I got a whole slew of the TFA figs.

I actually don't know much, if anything, on TFA. All I know at this point is that they look very cool, much better than any of the previous TFs I've seen so far (sorry if you've just heard the thousand screams of TF enthusiats out there!). I actually resorted to watching a few episodes of the show here and there on YouTube, just to get some semblance of the characters and storyline (also partly doing some research of what neat figs to get!). I thought the show was pretty neat enough to warrant purchasing the shows on DVD.

That's where my frustration with TFA begins. First off, the series was cancelled after three seasons, with only two seasons on DVD produced, and no announced plans for the third. The final season was shown over a year ago! What gives? Now, I'll have to resort going back to YouTube to watching the final season. Bummer...

OK, now on to the two seasons that were released. Yeah, I said, "were". Apparently, they're no longer in current production, so I just can't go to Target or Walmart and pick them up. And after doing some searching on Amazon, the season sets are going for $30-40 each! Frick! There's now way I'm paying that much for the sets!

So, I resort to some local shopping at the new and used music/video stores. Fortunately, the local shop here, (Dimple Records), has both season sets! Woot! Buuut, they're not located in the store where I was at, but at another store in another town. Grrrr. Dimple does offer to ship the sets to the store here, but it'll take a couple of weeks. Ok, I'll wait.....

Only a couple days later, I get a call from Dimple. They're here! Faster than I expected, that's always nice! I go over there the next day and purchase the used sets for only $15 and $17 each (much nicer than paying $80 total!). At least that's one good thing that's happened so far.

Last night, I sit down in bed, finally ready to begin watching TFA. I stick the disc in the player, and begin to watch the initial adventures. Something's not right. It just feels like I'm already in the middle of the story. I know the basics of these guys, but I'm just not properly introduced. OK, maybe I stuck in the wrong disc. Nope, Disc 1 of Season 1. So, I go to a wiki page to look up the episode titles for Season 1, and what do I find?

For whatever crappy reason, the first three episodes of the series, "Transform And Roll Out!" were not included in the Season 1 discs, but was sold as a separate set! WHAT THE FUCK?!? After doing more research, "Transform And Roll Out" was originally sold on a separate set, as a sort of preview of the coming season set a month later. OK that's fine. But why exclude those first episodes from the season set?!? Did some executive bozo think they were saving money becauseeveryone buying the season set had previously purchased the "preview" disc? Did they not think about people (like me!) who were not even aware of this "preview" set?

Oh, fuck it. I call Dimple, since I'm guessing this "Transform And Roll Out" DVD is probably no longer in production as well, and I'm not bothering to try spending any more time at the stores looking for it. Well, guess what? NONE of the Dimple stores have it! Arrrrgh! They do recommend looking for it on Amazon, which I was hesitant to do since I was afraid to know how marked up in price it might have been. It turns out, not by much (whew!).

Alright. I purchase the DVD through Amazon (and a cheap Leader Class Bulkhead fig I found too, in order to get the free shipping (yeah, I'm a cheapskate)), but it's still going to take a couple of weeks to get here. Uuuugh. I really want to start watching this show! I guess I could resort to watching bits and pieces of what I can find of "Transform And Rollout" on YouTube while waiting for the disc.

Damn, this is frustrating. At least the toys are cool...

Goody Haul Report: A Smaller One This Time

After my last haul, I didn't think my next one would compare to the previous one in sheer size! Take a peek at what I was able to find in the past week:



It is indeed a smaller goody haul, but still a nice one, especially with the store exclusives! Hey, didn't I say I was gonna stop with the hauls for a while? I guess not... LOL! Until next time, keep it casual!

Goody Haul Report: My Willpower Is Weeeeak...

I thought I had my fill of goodies after my "San Diego Comic-Con Envy" trips, but I guess not. It seems that I just couldn't stop picking up such nice goodies. I had so many, that didn't think I could type it all in a single Goody Haul Report (My fingers would have bled!). Instead, I decided to just shoot a video of it. Thankfully, YouTube gave us non-partners a 5 minute extension to our videos! So, take a peek at all of the neat goodies I found in the past week:



Yeah, that's a lot of crap. Nice crap. Cool crap. OK, too much crap. I think I'll stop with the goody hauls for while. I hope. I think. Maybe. We'll see...