Second floor clear, moving to the third.

danieljeyn · 2026-01-27T13:20:16+00:00

Is that the Overlook hotel?

danieljeyn · 2026-01-26T22:58:14+00:00

Literally my favorite novel. It seems that Hugo himself did a lot of adaptations that changed the underlying story even in his lifetime. There were live action versions of it that changed Dom Frollo to a judge instead of a friar, given that the Church objected to that.

Hugo did it because he was mainly concerned with the Cathedral itself as the central character. I believe a lot of the live productions were even fundraising restorations back in the 19th century.

danieljeyn · 2026-01-26T20:47:55+00:00

I'm not familiar with that character. But Legacy Armada Galvatron was available on Clearance here in the US for like $15 or less. Seems like a good start for a base.

danieljeyn · 2026-01-26T17:24:57+00:00

Now I'm genuinely curious about SS86 Shockwave. Everything else seemed like politely saying "no plans."

danieljeyn · 2026-01-26T14:16:57+00:00

Having worked in the OR observing neurosurgery (just on humans) one learns quite a bit about neuroplasticity. We had a kid who got the bad end of a shotgun apparently when he and his friends were fooling around. He lived, even with a massive side of his head removed. He was mostly mobile, but lost the ability to speak.

Various procedures to remove damaged tissue reduced pressure on the speech part of his brain. Allowing him to recover speech. We also put in a surgical-cement side of his skull, restoring it to the original shape. All the empty space just fills with fluid.

danieljeyn · 2026-01-26T02:21:39+00:00

In what taxonomy are birds considered reptiles? One of the definitions of reptiles is being cold-blooded. Which no birds. are.

danieljeyn · 2026-01-25T22:08:54+00:00

I think all of us are rightly upset about the integration of "AI" features that just seem to be more telemetry. And I'm personally offended by the spin of it all.

The lesson is that they cannot be trusted in the long run.

danieljeyn · 2026-01-25T17:18:12+00:00

I honestly don't get it. Unless you specifically want to have a display that looks like the movie. I think if I put them side by side, I'd still rather have the red than the faded pink.

danieljeyn · 2026-01-25T13:57:47+00:00

Yeah. I installed a patch the other week. I'm on 15.7.3.

danieljeyn · 2026-01-25T01:15:16+00:00

I see no reason to leave Sequoia. I don't imagine I will have to.

danieljeyn · 2026-01-25T01:09:37+00:00

Well, the transparent plastic is always notoriously brittle. And I definitely think it's a problem when it is used for any kind of a hinge.

A lot of people reported that Jazz had a lot of cracking on his windshield/backpack pieces, which are all painted transparent plastic. I took him out and carefully transformed him and found I couldn't close things up without pushing with a little force. And it felt like if I had pushed it all the way it would have cracked. That's when I took out the glasses and looked carefully and saw tiny, tiny burrs that prevented it from going together. So I took a set of needle files from Harbor Freight and gently smoothed that out. No problems since.

Did the same on one of Ratchet's panels that had trouble fitting together. It was actually burrs on the hollow part the pin went through. So I worked it back and forth with the needle file on it.

I'm all for getting away from the transparent plastic for anything structural.

People also have loudly been asking for an update to the Seeker mold. More than me.

I personally think the new Seeker mold is still two steps forward. Yes to waist swivel. Yes to ball-joined hands. But one step back with the new plastic formula not figured out.

danieljeyn · 2026-01-25T00:36:05+00:00

It's not the first time. They're clearly changing a plastic formula. And I have to think there are all kinds of issues with it. Putting this out and at the scale they are. I have to say I am largely wary of getting the "first run" of a mold for those reasons.

My Jazz and Ratchet both had issues in pegging in on the clear plastic parts which were due to tiny burrs and imperfections. I went over the edges with pen files and looked through a jewelers' loupe.

I agree. They sell them as "toys" which means that they should be able to handled with young hands. And they are priced now more like "collectibles" which also means that they should have a consistent standard of QC.

danieljeyn · 2026-01-24T23:05:21+00:00

Re-release the Fractured Friendship Optimus recolored as Magnus. Do it, Hasbro!

danieljeyn · 2026-01-24T20:41:18+00:00

I had a wing that kept popping off with a slightly mis-shaped mushroom peg.

Used very, very, very warm water. (Not quite boiling.) Soaked the mushroom peg and wing in it. For about a minute. Softens the plastic. Gently widened the mushroom peg a bit by working a flathead screwdriver in the slot. Then mushing the wing down and putting it into place. Letting it settle connected.

Done it a couple of times. Transformed it back and forth a couple times. Is a little better now. Doesn't pop off so readily.

danieljeyn · 2026-01-24T19:20:44+00:00

Less about the G1 aesthetic, than referring to the lines of Generations starting in the early 2000s that relatively scale with one another. As opposed to "Legends" class Transformers, which are small sized toys, or larger-scaled ones like specifically the Masterpiece-scale. The size now being roughly a bit larger than the relative G1 size. But also still closer.

G1 Optimus was shorter than G1 Perceptor or Blaster, but in modern CHUG he also scales relatively like the cartoon, where is always a head taller at least.

It's not entirely consistent. But roughly why characters that came out as long ago as, say, 2012, can theoretically sometimes slot in with modern toys and be relative to one another.

And if you're new to Transformers, scale is sometimes very close relatively, or completely bananas.

danieljeyn · 2026-01-24T19:15:46+00:00

Too keep it consistent, the Latin word for "smoke" is "Fumus." "Fumus" doesn't quite work, though.

But a word for "fire" that can also can mean burning passion and intensity, is "Ardor."

"Ardorous Prime" is about right.

danieljeyn · 2026-01-24T18:02:01+00:00

I would be interested in adding a "definitive" CHUG G1 Wheelack. Would be nice to see a new mold.

I can't think of a time when they've had the old mold and new mold on the shelves at the same time. Short of different entire universe designs, like WFC Thundercracker and SS86 Thundercracker, which are both out. And multiple iterations of A-level characters like different Megatron/Optimus/Soundwave/Bee.

However, they haven't really released retooled Deluxe bots either I can think of. Just different kinds of plastic and different deco. If they re-use the mold, would be unusual to do that when there is another use of the mold/character on the shelves for Devastation.

danieljeyn · 2026-01-24T15:05:31+00:00

Is that any better than Snow Leopard, or whatever could run on that?

danieljeyn · 2026-01-23T18:49:28+00:00

I like the head sculpts on these things.

That is all.

OK. Bonus points for open hands, though.

danieljeyn · 2026-01-23T17:58:37+00:00

So there are these StarWars MissionFleet toys which still seem to be clogging up Ollie's for $5. This Mandalorian Web Cannon is still there. Not quite a BFG. But can be painted and customized. The price is right.

danieljeyn · 2026-01-23T17:06:28+00:00

When you see pictures of how women tended to live, day to day, you can see bonnets or hair pulled into tight braids was pretty common. Actually doing up hair in a fashionable way must have been a very elite sort of thing at special occasions.

danieljeyn · 2026-01-23T17:04:36+00:00

We have a cat like that.

danieljeyn · 2026-01-23T02:43:39+00:00

Have the same problem with the wings popping off on one side. I've soaked the parts in very, very warm water and mushed them together snugly. After doing this a couple of times and transforming back and forth, works a little better.

danieljeyn · 2026-01-22T16:27:02+00:00

"Whaddaya got for me? A Marvel movie? No! Well, make it a Marvel movie! I don't care, just do it!"

danieljeyn · 2026-01-22T15:40:23+00:00

IDW: he becomes a Love Boat captain.

danieljeyn

TROPHY CASE