jdah & bc3 aka obrien & bashir: whatta team, Whatta Team! Gooood Sheauuuw!

[vulcantouch]

(since this was a team effort, i guess you two'll just have to Share this Vanity Thred )
as mentioned in fashthred, pkgs from jdah (including bc3-bagged rarities) have arrived report on contents, along w/my comments and, in red, transcripts from notes enclosed by jdah.
first the stuff bc3 got for me & forwarded to jdah:
! betty "mm" (now b'jr has one, he loves it )
! id4 alien attacker "mm"; mine! mine! all mine ok ok, i'll let b'jr have the f16 it comes with
! turning-turret aat mm and bullet-firing mtt from naboo battle playset aat turret is separate from body but a small slot/groove mechanism prevents it from actually "turning" so i'll have to modify. at any rate this thing's a fascinating, supercool sculpt VarianT, more refined & detailed than the standard aat mm, damn glad to have it
b'jr thinks the firing mtt is pretty cool (it's about dc-sized), but is willing to part with it if our italipal jg wants it. however, if jg also wants a turn-turret aat he may be better off pursuing an entire naboo battle playset so he can get both; lmk
! slightly-worn o-o-p queenship mm (bc3 had previously remarked "i'll send it if it can be used on your end, but i have to warn you its silver finish is a bit worn". not as worn as Mine, as it turns out )
! mip stmm pak 14: of note is the kaz raider, whose paintjob happens to be missing the gray detailing on its spine & stern; much like the incompletely-painted voy mm jt sent a few months back, an interesting variation
! mip ep1 mm sets 11 & 12 bc3 found me A YEAR AGO :happy: a bittersweet occasion, as they're the last swmms i might ever add to my collection. i'm only interested in the ships (and b'jr has expressed willingness to part with the figures in a trade, in case anyone's interested; maybe that Artoo guy who contacted you, bc3? what's his email? ) so i'll restrict my comments to them:
republic cruiser mm: when i axed him to describe this, bc3 once commented "it's much like galoob's dc version". havin since seen the dc version in person, i must agree, incl. the translation of the commtower details and orange-red engine exhaust color. but it seems more to-the-point to critique it by contrasting it w/the mm-sized snapfast model:
compared w/said model- and w/many galoob sfmms for that matter, this thing feels like a second-generation, half-assed "hecho en mehico" knockoff. the casting's a bit warped, and the snapfast has much finer detail & precise painting overall. the snapfast also has dark gray details which the mm's paintjob lacks (even though they're shown on the cardback pics). i'd be pretty disappointed if i was one of them collectors who pay $60 to get this one. but as it is, i'm Damn Glad to get it via bc3, cuz its proportions are slightly different from the snapfast (engine section's larger & wider) and the paintjob's significantly different (while it lacks aforementioned dark-gray details, it sports a lot more cream-white piping; also, while snapfast's base color is almost a rose red, this one's brick red, almost salmony. so while snapfast will occasionally work in summer, mm will only really work around xmas time, so i once again curse jdah for missin that important date ).
ratts tyrell pod mm: just in time for spring i was always mostly satisfied w/the mm of this i'd made from the wheeled 2-pak racer- so much so that i'll probably keep that. but it's great to now also have the legit, better-proportioned mm :happy: and unlike the racer, the eight trail-fins on each engine have VenTs on their backsides! however, the former's cockpit has superior detail and a more varied paintjob, so: i'll probably CUT OFF THE RACER'S COCKPIT AND THE MM'S COCKPIT, THEN SWAP-GLUE THEM, which i'm sure might shock a few out there, that i'd possibly consider radical surgery on such a rare toy, much as i blanched when b'jr decided he didn't like narn dreadnaught mm's orange-camo paintjob & held it over an open flame to scorch it black

next, something i can't recall Who found for me, jdah or bc3:
! o-o-p ep1 mm set 12

now, stuff jdah's 100% responsible for gettin:
! mystery present from egypt: a pencil sharpener in the shape of akhnaten's head (at least, that's what i Think it's supposed to be used for, judging from the conical hole in its back ). actually a plaster paperweight or wall hanging, in honor of my "heretical" galoobb pot-stirrin :happy: when b'jr saw this, he begged me to let him borrow it for his egyptian trinket collection (which is currently intermixed w/his mm collections). i told him, Only If Jdah Sez It's OK
! cool-lookin john barry Themeology cd booklet & liner (didn't need cd cuz i already have contents on various lps )
! loose mms: atat, 2 atsts, 2 tiebombers, along w/a buncha mm stands (but hey, where's all them flight stix you sed you was gonna send? j/k, don't worry, i already got about a dozen flightstix; but maybe if/when you send VTape ) you said you could use a few of these stands for the new stmms bc3 recently gave you? no problem, b'jr sez he can spare a few, so just lmk how many & i'll enclose
! ep1 mm pak 9 jt, contrary to your belief that singlepack mm ships are of higher quality than 3-pack ships, the naboo fighter mm enclosed herein is as good as or better than most of the 30-odd nf singlepax i've had occasion to open & examine. additional detail r2 et al may find of interest: set9-enclosed sithbike mm has "©99LFL" stamp on its side, while sithbike mm enclosed w/tat desert playset does not.
! o-o-p predator mm set 3, the ship from which conveniently replaces the one b'jr traded to gsj (i notice gsj still hasn't admitted that it's a crappy journey-album-cover-scarab design like i warned him it was )
! o-o-p sst mm sets 1-3 while b'jr will retain the ships, there's a local guy who's building an sst mm diorama and always seeks more bugs, esp. warriors. i told him i was expecting some from you, so we're gonna get back to him & see what mm ships he'll trade us for these. (last time he gave us ~8 or 9 st & sst mm ships for 2 or 3 bugs )
! o-o-p t2 mm sets 1 & 2, and aliens mms: set1 x2, set2 x1 and set3 x3; b'jr was especially happy about the aliens numbers you were able to find, as set 3 has the apc which fits inside the af dropship, of which he has 15 (but so far only has 7 mm apcs; he's been wanting one apc for each dropship, & now he needs 3 less )
This is the first time i'd ever handled non-SW mms, and they seem to be a bit more substantial than our classic line. if worthy note are the drop ship with deployed missile-wings, the tank with swivelling turret, but best of all the ground hunter-killer which is just too cool & articulated!
-spoken like a true af fan; you just Luv it when mms have movin parts
what i may've never mentioned is that, while i do own an aerial hk mm, i've never owned a ground hk mm, as i'd never considered its design sufficiently otherworldly for my taste. however, now that i've got one i can look over at my leisure before turning it over to b'jr, i'm wondering if i'll reconsider (& keep this one for myself instead of giving it to b'jr). i'm still not crazy about it, but rather than excluding it entirely i might separate its torso from its tread carriage and use the former in some custom mm, much as i plan to do combining parts of the narn transport i like with parts of the gv transgalactic defender i like (i don't like either one of these enough to keep them as complete mms in themselves )

My spatial awareness is not so good so it's taken me a while to get these to fit. I found it difficult opening the mms and tried to do it to as few as possible, but as you can see, only Voyager (st 14) made it
-well you also kept the ep1 9, 11 & 12 paks intact, as per my wishes and i'd say spatial awareness got the job done a-ok; a dense, efficient box

It's a shame because the sst packs are really nice, very sturdy and polished
-don't worry, b'jr & i have both seen mip sst mms

I rarely put pen to paper, favouring ink from a printer, but didn't want to send this on without words
-your instinct for classy touches is Seauuu jeddah

(You can see why i rarely write, my handwriting being so scrappy). . . BTW, doesn't Jeddah have **** handwriting?
-ain't it just like a jdah to worry about such things? i can read it fine, that's all that matters

No doubt you'll chastise me for sending them separately "par avion"
-nah, i got done chastisin you for that Months ago

The box came from planet action figure, florida, now it's winging its way back, to Denver
-i love boxes with mileage, don't you? that's one reason i usually re-use em. of course what really matters is what's inside

P.S. Happy New Year!
-little Late, isn't it?
an impressive haul mateys, aarrrr so who's gettin what? i'm keepin a ratts pod, repcruiser, id4 ship and turn-turret aat mms and the ep1 9, 11 & 12 packaging, and unless i'm forgetting a claim anyone else here had to anything else, b'jr's gettin the rest
and remember bc3, in my pkg to you will be applause cloud city, potf 4lom, alpha snowsp, tyderium & atat (among other things), so don't go gettin those on your own for $$$$
vt
np: drunken bashir & drunken o'brien, "jerusalem"

[LTBasker]

Gah, that kinda sounds like someone cutting up the HMS Bounty with the Generations BoP because parts on the Gen BoP "look better." Although I guess since it's your micros and if you feel it's worth more to ya like that, go on, just let me divert my eyes so I can't be counted as a witness. :happy:

You're just in the micros ain't ya VT? I enVy you Too much.

[good shot jansen]

masons from the pack XII is still as shiny as ever. not a flake o' silver has separated from the hull, and this ships been in heavy play rotation since the fall

maybe the version which came with the tatooine desert playset is of inferior finishin' technique

the predator spaceship is as you point out, apparently based on a journey album cover, but none the less, i still like it as a micro machine! any mm with side mounted engines s'cool in my book! i'm more than satisified with my end of the swap!:happy:

(speakin of side engine mounts, how cool would an mm e-wing have been, ugh!, i jes know that there must have been in the werkz a plan for wave three of the epics which prolly would have included the e, along with a tie defender )

i gave the bugs from my sst sets to a colleague here at the orfice, i'll see's if's i can get's em back, and send em off to you, that way you'll have a bigger stash to wheel and deal with

as fer your dr. kildare threats regardin' mr. tyrells pod, rare...... shmare....no matta how you look at it, these thangs are still toys, and you gotsta do what ya gotsta do to make em mo' fun!

as i recall, you and b'jr sem to have a penchant for ripping the bounty's wings off, and reversin' em , cause you likes the look better that way! i know fer a fact, the uproar over that has got to be louder than swapping pod assemblies

when i get home, i'll compare the sith speeder which came from the royal starship repair with the mm pack version to check for that date stamp. (i don't recall seeing it on either, but i have to confess, i never really looked before)

having never seen a single pack nf, i can't offer a comparison there, but i will say that the mm pack 9 version is superior in finishing detail, and over look of the the rats tail when compared with the battle droid transforming playset one, and the one which came with the trade federation control ship dogfight set. (i absolutely hate the action fleet version with that chopped off tail , they should have figured a way, ala the af royal starship to have the tail retract into the body, so's that the toy would fit within the 6" constraints imposed on galoob )

with all the scuttlebut going on over at art asylum
here's to hopin' that you're wrong with regards to this being a bittersweet occasion. maybe mm's ain't yet, hopefully they're only

[JediGoofy]

Hi vt,
I am glad you too received the E1 collections 11 and 12.
These are the only MM collections I am keeping packaged (together with collection 13, thanks bc3! ), because both they look really good in their packaging, and they could be the last SW MM collections ever.
I am not keeping them for any future collectible value, because I will unlikely part from anything in my collection, but I am a bit sentimental about these sets.

I see you also received the "rotating turret" AAT and the "firing" MTT from Naboo Battle playset. Thank you for your offer about the MTT but, as I am looking for both vehicles (and possibly also for the MM figures included in that set), I think I will continue to search eBay for them (hoping to find someone who agrees to sell me just the vehicles and figures, being the complete playset too big for me).

By the way from your description it looks like the AAT is actually an "exploding turret", and not a "rotating turret". Am I correct?

Ciao,
JediGoofy

[jeddah]

Glad you liked the packaging...that was my main worry

I got you the EP1 mmpack 12 if it is the one with the NF and Sithbike in it. It came from the Soton branch of The Entertainer
I know why you chose those 2. Couldn't it have been R2 and 3po? Afterall , both were played by Englishmen

...I think I got you the MTT transforming playset with AAT turret in...I suggested the MTT with firing jahoobies may appeal to you as it is small-scale. Can't remember fo' sure tho'....BC3?

Sure, let Baal jr have the Akhnaten WALL HANGING head as long as it is on a borrow-basis. BTW the head is taken from this statue but the page looks nice...It is a fantastic statue from the Egyptian museum in Cairo. Actually, come to think of it, I got it for you and it is yours to do with what you like, as long as the sentiment is acknowledged that whilst walking around Karnak and Luxor Temple I was thinking of your first brain farts Why not knock a nail in your wall and hang it like I intended?

If Baal Jnr has an Egyptian Collection, mayhap he'd like me to email some pics of my statues of Tutankhamon spear fishing? The four Tutelary Goddesses? Toy (Goddess of creativity)? LMK.....

Anyway, glad to hear they arrived safely

jeddah

[britcit3]

When I am in the good ol' US of A in April, is there any chance of bagging latter wave Ep1 AF's in your discount stores?

Cheers

BC3

[good shot jansen]

unfortunately, i never even saw the third wave of ep. I af in any retail establishment. I was only able to acquire them from dnstoys online

the only place where i even saw the 2nd wave was at walmart, and that was only by luck. i had to pick up some mulch from their garden shop, and on a lark checked out the toy aisle. much to my surprise they had all the 2nd wave on the shelf! i was gonna come back later and pick em up, but knowing how things go, particularly with action fleet, decided to pick em all up then. several days later i went back to see if i could get some more, and of course they was all gone

so other than that one single solitary time, i never saw even the 2nd wave at retail

it's funny, that's how i lucked out with the episode I series alphas as well, i had to pick up something at targets (can't remember what), and they just happened to have all the series alphas (except the naboo fighter) on the shelf! after that i never saw em again

was only able to get the alpha naboo from entertainment earth online.

i'll start checkin big lots, but i don't expect to find anything, but hey, you never know!

[ARTOO]

Hey vulcantouch, ARTOO here. Finally decided to register.

Tell your friend I'd be glad to trade my ships for the figures from XI, but it would need to include the gungan on the kaadu (even though that supposed to be one of the vehicles). If I recall, there should be him, a gungan, and a obiwan. I have a XII I haven't opened yet and he can have the ships from that. I also have a number of other mm ships if he has some battledroids.

We could meet at Tattered Cover if you want to work on a time. I live in Aurora, but I could get over there on a weekend. LMK.
Bets,
ARTOO

[vulcantouch]

jdah: "if it is the one with the NF and Sithbike"
-nope, that was set 9; xtra 12 had an rs & rattspod. so who found dat, yoo dirty ratt?
somehow a lil Brainfart told me you would dislike the obrien/bash comparison so which one of you gets to be r2, & which 3po? for that matter, who woulda been obrien & who'd be bashir? ok then, he'll Borrow, & who knows, maybe if r2 &/or ws reVisiT his ever-growing collection, you'll see it in a digicam shot speakin of which, why not attach your egypics to a post here?


jg: "looks like the AAT is actually an 'exploding turret', and not a 'rotating turret'. Am I correct?"
-probably, but i couldn't say for sure cuz i never saw packaging & i'm just calling it what i've heard others here call it maybe if it's meant be affixed to some playset lever that knocks it over that would be the "explodin" feature, cuz it's not packin any ordnance inside it I can see

"hoping to find someone who agrees to sell me just the vehicles and figures"
-speaking from personal experience, sellers will sometimes agree to this, esp. if you ask them before bidding, pointing out that they'd be free to keep & resell the rest of the toy. keep at it, you'll find someone

ar2: so, been lurkin long? now that you're postin here, & since your handle's similar to our r2dee2, to differentiate maybe we lazy typers'll have to call you ar2 (since it incorporates two letters in your name, as i recall), and call our VeTeran astromech "dee2", since that incorporates her name i don't usually hit fs/tc on weekends, but warstar & i (& maybe also dee2 ) have tentative plans to meet there on thursday march 14th, if that might be possible for you. we usually meet ~3:30, then hog a window table till about 5:30 or so when the dinner crowd starts arriving lmk if that might work for you (arriving later than 3:30 is fine, but the kitchen stops serving food between 4 and 5), otherwise we'll see what else we might be able to arrange; wth spring bein hunt season one of these weeks b'jr & i'll be makin our i-225 swing, so maybe we could meet you out there. but i think you'd enjoy it better if you could make the 14th & meet us all, the more's always the merrier

"would need to include the gungan on the kaadu"
-no problemo i'll check & see if he has any mm battledroid figs, and btw he's also willing to part w/figs in ep1 set 9 (maul & nabpilot as i recall), in case interested. we'd be damn interested in the #12 ships, as well as any other mm ships you might have, so bring any you can part with, & i'll bring all the mm figures he'll part with, & we'll make the biggest deal we can

gsj: "maybe the version which came with the tatooine desert playset is of inferior finishin' technique"
-search me; but as i recall the tatdes one looked the same as the 12 one initially

"i'll see's if's i can get's em back"
-you'd indiangive for me? seein as how i'm part apache, i'm touched i'll wait to hear, no pressure on ya

"the uproar over that has got to be louder"
-oh? but That operation's reversible, & has never done any lasting damage. try it yerself
i too haven't seen anythin in biglots for a long time
vt

[ARTOO]

VT,
I don't think I'll able to make the "gathering" on the 14th since I work until 5:00 M-F. But we'll work something out. I will actually be happy to "unload" these little vehicles. Got a baggie full or so.