The Class of 2024 (The Vaults of Iacon 2024 Pick-Ups Gallery)

To accompany our YouTube video, here are all the photo's of our 2024 pick-ups.

ROBOT PARADISE RP-02 ACOUSTIC BLASTER > REVIEW

Preamble

Soundwave is one of those toys that will forever hold a special place in my nostalgia, having being one of the first ‘proper’ Transformers toys I got as a kid. And let’s not forget that he was also a great, if mysterious, character in both the cartoon and comics. That said, it would not be until the late 90’s, possibly early 00’s that I became aware of Soundblaster! The resurrected version of Soundwave, risen from the ashes of battle and defeat at the hands of Blaster!

FANS TOYS FT-26 HITCH > REVIEW

Preamble

I’ll not keep you long on this one as to be fair, there isn’t really a lot to say. I’ll just start by saying that I wanted to pick up FT-26 ever since Fans Toys released their teaser video back in September of 2022. You know the one, the one with the jaunty music and Hitch look all outdoorsy near the stream and waterfall. After seeing that I felt all warm & fuzzy with my wallet ready to go.

Anyway, stuff came out in the meantime and Hitch got moved down the list of ‘would likes’… that was until last week!

FANS TOYS FT-61 INQUISITOR > REVIEW

Preamble

It’s amazing to me to think that Fans Toys first teased us with Inquisitor way back in 2015… that’s almost 10 years ago! It was a blurry silhouette but it had Masterpiece collectors intrigued. In that time we have had to put up with / enjoy X-Transbots Andras (depending on your point of view and collecting preferences). But since obtaining Quietus back in 2018, it has been a release I have been anticipating for some time. Of course Scourge has been represented upon my shelf by the aforementioned Andras, but like in all things, the new comes to supplant the old.

2023: A YEAR IN COLLECTING RETROSPECTIVE

We are almost done with January, February is looming on the horizon, much like the sun of the lengthening days. I’m a little later than usual with my year end look-back. I could make a plethora of excuses, each more dramatic than the other. The truth is two fold and quite unremarkable. Firstly I’d not been so well over Christmas and the New Year, still not 100% even now but getting there. And secondly, I’d really enjoyed not doing the whole social media / collecting thing over the festive period. I’d come to really appreciate not feeling the need to come up with new content, new camera angles and how to do my next Photoshop gimmick. But, there are still things I want to do so it’s back to it and where better to start than the retrospective of my collecting during 2023.

FANS TOYS FT-48X JIVE > REVIEW

Preamble

When Fans Toys announced their take on Jazz, a pre-order for FT-48 Jive was placed swiftly and without hesitation. All I had to do was sit back and wait… But even then I knew that eventually I’d be doing the ‘Double-Dip’ as my left big toe was telling me that a toy version would be along in due course… it was and here it is.

FANS TOYS FT-56 VARIATOR > REVIEW

 

Preamble

It’s been well over a month now since Variator arrived into my collection, and for one reason or another I just don’t seem to have had time to put ‘pen to paper’ as it were to arrange my thoughts of him into something worthy of sharing. Well, I had some free time at the weekend and arranged various random thoughts into what follows below.

FANS TOYS FT-51 CHOMP: ANOTHER HALF-ARSED REVIEW

So as I mentioned previously while Half-Arsing a review of Maketoys Endgame, Cosmic Toys had reached out and asked us to do a few quick reviews of items that they have had traded in recently. The next figure in line is Fans Toys FT-51 Chomp, otherwise known as Masterpiece Skullcruncher to those of us in the know, or a vague passing awareness as in my case.

FANS TOYS FT-53 PARKOUR > REVIEW

Preamble

My collecting these days falls into two categories, upgrading / replacing or items that catch my eye. Parkour falls very much within the former. The role of Cliffjumper on my shelf over the years has been filled by two figures, first it was ACE Tumbler and then, and most currently, MMC Hellion. But with my Masterpiece collection slowly starting to become more cartoon orientated in aesthetic, Hellion was beginning to look out of place. And, with Fans Toys announcing the intended release of their adaptation of Cliffjumper, having already obtained their Huffer and Brawn, it was a forgone conclusion that a pre-order would be made. So, do Fans Toys have us dead centre in their view finder with this release? Lets take a look shall we.

TOP 10 TRANSFORMERS PURCHASES OF 2022

To close off the run through of my 2022 pick-ups I have been asked what my 'Top 10' of 2022 was.

So here they are, just the pictures and no text as to be honest, there's nothing more really to say that I've not addressed in the previous blog entry, which you can view here. I'll also be discussing them over a live stream, the link to which I'll add to the bottom of this blog when it's done.

A YEAR IN THE DAY - THE VAULTS OF IACON 2022 COLLECTION REVIEW

Well, that’s 2022 done with. But before I close it off an move on to 2023 I thought I’d take a look back at my year of collecting. There was a lot of stuff that came into The Vault over the year, the most since 2018 in fact. It was all mainly Masterpiece this year, aside from the few bits of Black Series, but we’re not here to discuss that today.

I’ll break this down by Month and then do an overview at the end, giving my best / worst figure of the year etc.

Right then, let’s crack on shall we?

FANS TOYS FT-48 JIVE > REVIEW

Preamble

As I’ve mentioned before, my collecting journey nowadays pretty much consists of upgrading or replacing. My collection as an entity was pretty much locked down some years ago now. I’d been more than happy with Maketoys Downbeat, although there was something missing from it overall, which I could never quite put my finger on. Anyway, Fans Toys announced their take on Jazz so it was to the sales pile with Downbeat, a pre-order for FT-48 Jive was placed and all I had to do was sit back and wait.

FANS TOYS FT-25 OUTRIDER > REVIEW

Preamble

As the upgrade and replacement continues, next on the roster is Trailbreaker. I was late to the table with this one as I’m a fan of Mastermind Creations Terraegis. But with my Masterpiece collection slowly starting to become more cartoon orientated in aesthetic, I decided to put my hand in my pocket.

FANS TOYS FT-47 RIG > REVIEW

Preamble

I’m now on my 3rd Masterpiece style Huffer, so is the swapping and upgrading game. Will this be the last? Who knows, I mean currently I hope it is but you never know what’s down the road. I don’t want to sound pessimistic about it, that would be too much like Huffer himself.

FANS TOYS FT-15 WILLIS > THE RE-ISSUED REVIEW

*This is a re-edited review that was originally published on the 28th January 2017.

I have no excuses, no mitigating circumstances, the dog did not eat my homework, my house was not catapulted to an LSD nightmare of a world inhabited by dwarfs and psychotic witches, I never saw or fell into a rabbit hole and I most certainly did not take the red pill … or was it the blue pill … bugger.

ROLL CALL > MOVIE 1986

 

FANS TOYS FT-15 WILLIS

FANS TOYS FT-16 SOVEREIGN

FANS TOYS FT-29 QUIETUS