Dear Santa.....TAG!!!

First off, sorry about NEVER posting here, but my life just isn't that interesting! (I do post in my comic and toy blogs quite a bit though, so...GO THERE!)

All right then, it's that time of year again, it's one month until Christmas, and since I've now seen a dozen or so different Christmas adverts on TV, and seen that several Christmas movies are starting to be shown as well (seriously though? IT'S NOVEMBER!!!) I figured I'd do a special sort of blog, which is essentially a Christmas list to Santa, but with a difference!

Basically, this Christmas list is for five things that you really want, but will most likely NOT get this Christmas, either due to availability or price. They have to be real things, and not concepts (so don't ask for a Rapidash, or Peace on Earth) and yeah, basically if you do manage to get one of those items for Christmas (if you buy them before/after yourself, then it doesn't count) then you lose this imaginary game!

Okay, here's my five items (in no particular order really):

#1: Transformers Generations Metroplex

My firsts choice is something I've wanted for a few months now, Metroplex. Basically this is a figure I could easily get by just going down to Toys R Us at any time, but I've always had something stopping me...Money!

Basically, since I came home from Auto Assembly this year, I've had no spare money to afford this guy myself. Luckily however, I should be able to add him to my collection some point in the new year!

#2: Transformers Prime Voyager Skyquake

This guy is a bugger! I have still YET to see him in the wild after a couple of years of being available, and every time I find him on Ebay he's about £40 HIGHER than the RRP...so yeah, this is one is annoying!

#3: Transformers Go! Goradora

This one, is just because I love this set of molds, I already have the regular colour Abominus figures, and the Predacons Rising clear repaints, but I need MOAR!!! This set is mostly difficult to get because it's only available in Japan, and any I've found online are just so expensive that I can't justify it!

#4: Nintendo 3DS XL

This is just a silly reason, but because I don't really live anywhere near another Pokemon player etc, I have no one to really trade Pokemon locally with (such as for temporarily trading exclusive legendaries for the Pokedex ratings etc) But this is one that I should be able to sort out for myself in the near future as well :)

#5: A home of my own!

At the moment I live with my parents, which is just annoying most of the time. So my final dream gift would have to be a place of my own (not a giant house like in the picture, but just a studio/1 bedroom flat or something). But again, this should be something I can sort out for myself within the next couple of years :)

Now, I tag anyone who wishes to do it to make their own lists, if you do, please send me a link to it, whether it be on a blog like this one, a Youtube video response, a DevArt picture version (somehow) so I can enjoy it. Also remember to tag other people with it as you desire!

Have fun! (and see you again when I blog in about a year or two!)

Auto Assembly 2013

Wow, it's been a while since I posted on this blog...*blows away the cobwebs*.

Okay, so I figured that I'd post my thoughts on this year's Auto Assembly (held in Birmingham, UK, just this past weekend). However I'm sure you'll all realize before long that this is a rave review, so I suggest that anyone who's on the fence for conventions where we deal with robots and putting them in dodgy poses, then they should just come along for next year's con.

Okay, first things first, my journey into Birmingham was pretty uneventful, the train from Reading was a bit late, but not by much, so that's in itself an improvement over last year :) The only problem of course as that I had to leave later than usual (though a day earlier) so I didn't arrive in Brum until about 4pm (no shopping on Thursday for me then). I decided to head into Brum on the Thursday rather than Friday like I have every other year, simply because I wanted to go into the town as well, and last year I had no time to, so I used the extra day as a shopping day of sorts :)

My bedroom this year was on the 3rd floor from the B lobby (Room 316 if you want to retroactively stalk me). It was a nice room, one bed, one bathroom etc, there was only 2 issues though:

1) The TV was very weird, it basically had to go through about 6 menu screens just to turn it on...very annoying, but since I was only in the room for sleep and drop-offs, it wasn't so much of an issue

2) The shower head was just basically like another tap, it didn't cover any sort of large area, and was mostly ineffective in my opinion.

These two things aside, it was a nice room though.

 The lounge area this year was basically the same as last year (duh) but as part of my ongoing mission to act more human, I tried to socialize more again, so I spent most of the time with different groups, just trying to socialize more, which I think went well in the long run.
This place was the site of many interesting moments, like a very long conversation with John-Paul Bove on the Thursday night about his travels around America, and his wonderful new variation of the term "lol"...which is "lolocaust" ....let's see how far that one goes!
The lounge was also one of the areas where the Transfans and the "Quilters" of Quiltcon 2013 (we have no idea what it was actually called, but this was our name for it). They seemed like nice old ladies on the whole, and some of them even agreed with us that they're actually geeks as well as us, juts for different things.

This was also the place where Jim Sorenson was trying to get me to buy the Japanese versions of the Cybertron Recon Team, even after I told him various times I already had them, such a weird moment...Also, a funny anecdote, all day on the Friday I was looking for someone, so I could deliver a Vector Prime I sold to him online, and when I eventually found him in the afternoon, it turned out to be a guy I was chatting to about Arms Microns earlier in the day!!

That said, even in this section I have a minor quibble, the coke that was sold at about the Friday onward tasted a bit like the horrible Tesco Value coke that I so often avoid (it's like just coloured fizzy water rather than something good). The food was lovely though!

 Ah Swerve's you were my port of call for Lunch :) Nice food, reasonable costs and tables filled with nerds talking about nerdy things. My type of place :)

The convention hall was the same one as last year, but it felt different as well. The mountains of toys on sale were all beckoning me, but sadly I wasn't able to give everything a home :( There were several moments and memories made in this hall, too many, and too confusing to all put to words, or were just things you had to be there to get. But a short list would have to be:
1) Me coming 3rd in the Quick Switch contest (transforming a G2 Laser Optimus)
2) Some kid called Jack going head to head with Andrew Griffiths on TF knowledge, and even stumping all the guests on some obscure trivia as well. He is out future!!!

 On the last night, things got sad, so to get over it we all convened in the lounge and made out toys do unspeakable things (unspeakable, but not unshowable!)

 The morning of my departure arrived on the Monday, and no-one wanted to leave (even Evac) so once again, everyone went to the bar, until their respective rides were ready (mine being the giant metal train shaped dragon a few buildings away). There were some more small stories from that morning, but nothing that particularly grabs my attention...excpet maybe one point when a kid was hiding from someone, and used my giant suitcase as a hiding place, which confirmed my theory that it could easily hold a small child in there!!

Okay, I got home on the Monday afternoon, and spread out all my haul on the bed (a bed I still have no access to :( ) and started crying over not seeing my friends again for another year (you know, internal tears, not real ones). Though I was sad, it's a pity I can't live closer to some of the other convention goers, or Transfans in general. Oh well, maybe after I win the lottery I can buy up a small town and move everyone from AA there!!! BWAHAHHAHAHA (I'm not insane)

All right then, some highlights of my haul this year include:
1) Encore Twincast and Soundblaster - Liked these guys since Headmasters, and they came with new cassettes too!!
2) BW Moon - YIKES! Got him for just £7! not a bad find in the slightest! One of theleg joints is a bit loose, but otheriwse he's fine :)
3) The Ride's Deluxe Evac - Seriously, I became obsessed with this guy since he was first announced, so me finally getting his full sized toy is like a wonderful dream:)
4) Final Battle Megatron - I didn't get him for Megatron in particular, but rather his Dark Energon Saber Microns, who I've liked the looks of for some time now
5) Convention exclusives - I picked up Robot Manuel X, Robot Basil Z and the Bad Cop set (not assembled yet). All three look good though :)

One thing I really wanted, but didn't end up getting (due to funds really) was the Botcon 2013 Kreon set...now I need to find a set going cheap on Ebay or something :(

Anyway, in summary, as I said at the start, this was a great weekend, with very minor issues, certainly not things to put me off going in the future, and I plan to buy my ticket for 2014 in just 2 weeks :D
Hope to see you there!!