788 Boobie Doo.

I got sort of angry the other night about toys.  Angry in a way that only a nerdy, loser, collector can get.  Living out here and not even having the option to look at new stuff is aggravating.  It’s not like I intend to buy lots of stuff, but not even having a shot at the few things I would like pisses me off.  At this point all I really want is to have a decent representation of most of the G1 Transformers.  I already have some of them, so it’s just a matter of waiting for the holes to be filled.  Of course if they never file by then there’s no chance.

I missed out on the Cosmos they released a while back, which really sucked because I liked him a lot as a kid.  He was one of the few original toys that survived.  On some level I’m okay with not getting what I want.  Which was facilitated by several things being released as club exclusives, or what have you.  The breaking point was the Universe mold seekers.  Seekers being the term used for the evil jets that are the same toy painted different colors.  Starscream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp were the first 3.  Later on they added Ramjet, Dirge, and Thrust.  (The later 3 actually had remolded parts that helped further differentiate them from the original seekers.)

Anyway, Hasbro made a Starscream, and eventually a Skywarp that came with a repainted Optimus Prime.  This was something like 5 years ago mind you.  The hope was that they would release a Thundercracker and the original team would be complete.  I have some sort of compulsion when it comes to those 3 characters.  I need to have all three of them in matching molds.  Hasbro has made a habit of making any two of them in a given mold and then never going back.  Eventually it broke me.  And I understand why they are loathe to release the same mold 3 times in different colors.  Sane people think it’s bullshit, and it IS.  But nostalgia is a mighty force.

At some point they released a set at a convention, or some such thing, of the seekers.  They might have even added the Johnny come lately Sunstorm, or whatever the fuck he was called, that was a bright yellow guy seen briefly in the old show and expanded upon by the jackoffs who write the comics.  David Willis references the fan “outcry” over the affair in one of his comics.  Which I am too lazy to look for.  Also fuck him.  He doesn’t need hits from me.  But I digress.

After that, and with the onset of the films, I was able to get out of the completist mindset.   Because the movie toys suck on average and the retro ones are released all slapdash as filler between movies.  I pick and choose now.

I keep losing the thread of my tale in the stream of consciousness…  Okay, so, they released a recolor of the seeker mold that was painted to look like a G2 seeker.  I passed it over and looked on it as kind of a slap in the face, since all I really wanted was Thundercraker.  After that I think they released Thrust.  I passed him over for a long time, but eventually I caved when I saw that they were going to make at least one other of the second seeker team.  I seem to recall it was Dirge.  It kind of rekindled hope that I might get my Thundercracker and I’d never have to buy there 6 assholes ever again.  Time passes and Ramjet appears.  The burgundy one.  I may have the names inverted.  So I’ve got 5 of the six.  I fully expect I will never get a Thundercracker at this point unless I break down and order an expensive import from some douchebag specialty store and have to pay as much as 3 toys for it.  Which I can’t bring myself to do.

The sadness of all of this is not lost on me by the way.  I am SO APPRECIATIVE of the fact that this sort of nonsense counts as a problem for me.  In a world where disaster strikes at random and people starve in the streets I count myself blessed and understand exactly how stupid all this shit is.

Eventually I find out that Hasbro did release a Thundercraker AND it was in a wave that was skipped over in favor of the latest batch of tightly coiled movie shit.  And I’m like >:|    So I go on a hunt around the net to see just how deeply buttfucked I would get if I tried to complete this Seeker set at long last.  The answer is, of course, all the way to the pubes.  If you can find him at all he’s getting close to double shelf price or worse.  I had all but given up until I saw a place selling a 3 pack of guys from that wave at a relatively decent price.  I totally wanted the other guys too, so I dropped my commission rates really low to pay for them all.

Warpath, Wheeljack,  and MOTHER FUCKING THUNDERCRACKER.  Mission complete.

It strikes me as odd that the other two are W names…

38 Comments

You got a Warpath? You suck, man. That’s the only one of the three I don’t yet have.

Also. Burgandy seeker=Thrust. Ramjet’s the white conehead. Your nerdism rant is not lost upon me, at least.

Congrats on completing a set dude! (lucky S.O.B….)

As for today’s comic, i take it they’re still on the DL? though I would very much enjoy seeing Carol in just a collar…:D

If I had a woman like Carol and she told me the same thing as the last pannel, I would propose on the spot and be married within the week. That is a girl you just don’t let go of.

Stab in the dark: We’re not getting a Collar-Carol fanservice are we? What a mental image though, you cruel cruel bastard. Now to suggest this to Maria and duck a face smack ^^

I was browsing over the words as I was trying to do a couple of things at once and saw “collar” which made me focus in a good deal. I then laughed when I saw Thomas’s reply.

If a girl was wanting to wear a collar for you, I am pretty sure she wouldn’t want to get away any time soon :) Also not a fan of marriage.

Well then I salute you, sir! I’ve resigned myself to never finding those. In fact, I’m thinking of getting rid of my Starscream and Skywarp because I’m fairly sure I’ll never have a Thundercracker, and I’m not sure I’m interested in only two of the three (especially since I like the Energon Starscream a lot better). On top of that, I REALLY wanted Warpath, but I’m gona have to suck that up too. Too many toys out there that I want, so I just gotta let ’em go if Hasbro decides to do more of this shit where they show you all the new stuff that is coming out and then cancel the last wave of ’em (Lets see…Indiana Jones, Iron Man, Transformers, a few different last waves of G.I. Joes through the years, and I’ll bet you we won’t see the end of the Thor or Captain America waves either). Speaking of parenthetical Joes, I’m having a hell of a time finding the current wave of those and I’m almost certain it’s gona be another skipped wave.

*sigh* Whatever. Like you said, it’s nice that these are the kinda problems I’m dealing with and not anything important.

Crave–

You are so the nerdy and pathetic loser.

Which is why the rest of us nerdy and pathetic losers love your comic (and comments). Since I have decades on most of the rest of the gang, for me, it was other lines of products. And I’m still collecting junk. I fell over myself buying an Argus C4 camera a few months ago. 50-odd years old but still in near-mint condition, with a like-new leather case. Worse, in addition to being a camera nerd and a book nerd, I’m also a computer nerd (22 years of working as a software engineer can leave its mark on a man). I also have another hobby that has massive paperwork requirements (Town, State and Federal) and legal ramifications, but I won’t mention it here, because it will definitely start a whining session with the shallow-minded.

Suffice it to say, there are only two of Walt Kelly’s Pogo books I don’t have — and both are short-run rarities. You’re definitely not the only completist collector nerd out there. Thank heavens for eBay…

–Perfesser

Looking at the last panel I think the part of Thomas’ brain that is dedicated to visual imagination is going into overload and threatening to burn out.

Crave, you do such a good job of making these characters relatable, real, funny, endearing and vulnerable. They are interesting people stuck in uninteresting work. Fortunately I’m stuck in work I find very interesting although I wouldn’t vouch for how interesting I am personally.

I think it’s because he has his own experiences to relate to, plus he has said before he feels each of these characters makes up a part of his own personality… don’t think about that too much when reading this comic, otherwise it just gets awkward…

Man, if I still had all my old Transformers toys from when I was a kid…I’d totally send you Thundercracker…
I miss my Shockwave and Soundwave ;-;…

I want carol only wearing a collar fanservice. If I had money I would commission the he’ll out of that.

Preach that commission call!!!! I will Find the money! Are we talking 8″x10″ or 32″x40″

32×40. As big as it can get! Seriously!! Made of win. We should all pool our coin and commission carol in nothing but a collar. I’m thinking black leather silver buckle, with “carol” or “lady red” across the front. Boobie doo wouldn’t fit, but maybe a heart shaped charm with “BD” in it like scooby’s SD tag.

I hate sounding creepy / romantic / lub dub – but I would PAY to have a romance novel manga tasteful NSFW couple of pages of these two.

Call me a softy, and addicted to the awesome and tasteful romances the girls from filthy figments/strawberry comics do- you’re killing me Craves!!!

See, I expected her to be upset at the side-kick part and was almost about to lose faith in the story-telling but those last two lines just perfected it. She’s got even more depth than I thought and almost seems more matured and in control of her emotions when she decides to use intellect over emotion. Her actions are a perfect match to keep a guy like him. Perfect work as in she’s perfect for turning his jokes on him and gaining control. That was a damn good page.

Thundercracker’s been showing up on shelves/pegs at a few stores here in Arizona (Target and Wal-Mart). Also he’s in stock at hasbrotoyshop.com. So not exactly impossible to find, though I’m glad you got him. Wheeljack and Warpath are the bomb too.

I’ve been searching for is Grapple, the modern remake of the orange crane truck from the original 1984-85 Autobots. Unfortunately he’s from the cancelled Reveal The Shield line of transformers which got dumped onto the discount stores like Ross and Marshall’s for half price, and immediately get bought up by scalpers who sell him at 3-4x normal price on eBay. He’s the last of the G1 Autobot cars I don’t have, (other than Skids who still hasn’t had a modern update other than the godawful movie design) so I feel your completionist pain.

Geekery aside, if you don’t draw Carol in the collar I just might…

Alright, I’m a closet-Jo fan, so sue me later for saying this but…. Jo in a collar…. please? For me? It’s (nowhere NEAR) my birthday!!

(kidding, but it would be cute, she’s be the most adorable otaku ever! Collar… catears… a tail… yeah… And that’s not pervy kinda like.. that’s just.. she’d be downright adorable… with a small side of perv)

… Damn you internet DAMN YOU!!!!1

I wonder Where I can find a carol like that, all the ones I know are older than my Grandmother, or complete assholes.

Also I second the Collared Carol Art request

Did anone else notice that in panel 6 Thomas not only blushes but his ears turn a pinker shade?

And what’s that make… seven of us that actually have the balls to post anything that want to see carol in nothing but a collar?

I apologize, in advance. this is kind of lengthy-

I realize that this page is from 2011, and I’m commenting on it in 2017, so maybe only a few people will read it, however:

Jackie, I can kind of understand some of your pains, in the Transformers toys collecting.

I’ve probably been collecting toys, on + off, for years.
I’ve even worked in some toy stores/stores that also sell toys.

My idea- just some [ advice ] for people thinking of [living your childhood dream], + working in a big Toys R Us[R] store]:

unless you’re REALLY patient with kids, + teens, + mad parents who are toting along yelling kids, or you can build up that patience, while working at a TRU…DON’T get a job at a Toys R Us store, or a toy store as large as a TRU store. It takes a lot of tolerance…but I’m off the track.

I have collected some 4 inch high, + 12 in. tall, G.I joe figures /GI Joes.
The about-4 in. GI joes 1st came out in the early 1980s.

Some toy collectors bought a lot of the 4 inch GIJs. hoping to cash in on these figures.

Then, about 30 years later…Hasbro put out an “anniversary set” of 4 in., GI Joes- which were JUST the same as a lot of the 1980s GIJs, complete with the original weapons + equipment that came with the 1980s fig.s.
[ I think the boxes or cards that the [2010?] figs came in, may have been different, but the rest of the toy fig.s were the same].

This made a lot of the 1980s toy collectors MAD at Hasbro.

They said things to Hasbro, like: “You JERKS! If you were going to re-release these figures 30 years later, then what was the point of us collecting them, in the NINETEEN-EIGHTIES?”

Oh well. that’s how it goes, in buying toys, hoping that they go up in value.
Win some, and lose some, I guess.

Anyway- best of luck with your toy collection! :D

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