M is for My Busy Bot's

It was only the other day I was saying that appart form a couple of earlier sets and the Transformers, I'd pretty-much caught-up with the Phidal 'My busy book' figure collections, and what happens? Next time I'm in a charity shop ('bout 3-weeks ago) I find the Transformer set!

Two-quid-fourty-nine seems cheap, but actually it's only about half that which TK-TJ Maxx have been retailing them at (are still; this is a contemporary set), I prefer to find my charity-shop Phidal's around the 99p/£1.50 mark, but; it was mint, and it does get us closer to the total aim of all sets ticked-off!

Actually, from the odd figures that have been coming-in alongside the books over the last three or so years, it's a fair assumption that I still have at least two of the earlier Superhero sets to find/complete, several Disney figure sets including at least one more 'Princesses' set and quite a few of the other movie brand-licensed sets, Minions, Incredibles, something with insects, a couple of Monster Inc. sets &etc, so we'll still be returning to them for a while yet!

This is one of the rarer sets in having ten items rather than twelve, but this seems to be a growing (budgetary?) trend as the other 10-count sets are contemporary, while sets with much larger-sized figures from a few years ago are always 12-count sets, while these were not that large and therefore rattle about a bit?

Dismissing the micro-vehicles (which - like the robot figures - don't actually transform) leaves us with a bunch of six robots which while 'micro' as Transformers, are fine for sci-fi scenarios of the Terminator type in 54mm - bargain!

And I'll reiterate a point I've made before (just to annoy a few people who need annoying occasionally) while the Airfix figure is sitting there . . .

. . . Airfix produced 33 sets in 54mm (if you include both sets of British paratroops and the 'styrene track-officials and race-goers), it took them nearly 30-years to get them all out and more than half of them appeared in the latter half of that production-window.

While Phidal have been going since . . . around 2006/7 I think - going on the dates on the bases - and we have already got 30 entries in the tag list with little duplication (one Frozen set stared twice I think), with up to a dozen (or more?) still to find? And - some of those tags are including two or more sets!

So when people bemoan the state of the hobby, they are missing the point that while the stuff they had as kids in the 1950's or '80's might not be there (actually it is, just hideously expensive and aimed at them - only if they're earning the mullah!), the genre, the 'play-point' is as healthy as ever.

Anyway; that's the Transformers, what next?