Japan Transformers for July

Another month, another arrival of Transformers from Japan!

Three more additions to the Transformers Adventure line-up arrived early in the month - 2 deluxes with additional paint applications over the American releases and a brand new Optimus Prime figure.

TAV-21 is an exclusive Japanese Optimus Prime figure - leader sized but with a proper transformation compared to the larger one and three step figures released by Hasbro. Primary purchased as an addition to the truck collection, the figure towers over all the regular deluxe figures due to his really long legs. Does feature lights (and maybe sounds - Japan, please supply free batteries) and comes with some additional weapons that can be used with other figures.

TAV-22 and TAV-23 are almost the same as the American releases, but with the famous "extra bit of paint applications" that Japan adds to their figures and the reason why the majority of my Transformers collection hails from Japan. Interesting to note that in package the "app scan sticker" is not covered by a fake sticker as per all the other TAV releases so far -- one can only speculate as to the reason for that.

Oversteer Toyota86 GT

While once again taking a look through the 1/64 scale offerings at the store I purchase my Transformers from Japan, I came across another in stock Oversteer listing, this time the orange Toyota86 GT (otherwise known as the Toyota GT 86, Subaru BRZ or the Scion FR-S in other parts of the world).

As a car I would love to own in real life, I was happy to add the car to a pending shipment after my last successful order of an Oversteer model.

Arriving a few days later, the display case was a touch smaller than that found on the Mazda along with a box to hold the display case in rather than a slip cover. Aside from the minor packaging changes, the up close details on the remain the same as the Mazda - spectacular!

Hopefully I can find a seller who has some more Oversteer to purchase from, as I can see plenty more being added to the collection in the near future.

RAOK from the Capital

Once again my "good mate in the capital city" has sent through a small, but fantastic parcel containing some choice items for the collection. One item from the box will be covered in a separate post.

Contents

From the Children's Museum of Indianapolis, comes a special edition vehicle - the BLVD Bruiser in the gorgeous Hot Wheels colour scheme. Metal body, plastic base and rubber tires, this item is available online and in the Children's Museum store for a reasonable price.

Added to the parcel was another Super Treasure Hunt that I required to creep ever slowly towards completion for the 2015 year. Due to our main retailer sticking with parallel import cards for the majority of the year and other retailers only getting in one case it is increasingly difficult to get Super's in the wild. As a result, getting a super in a parcel is a great feeling especially when it looks this good.

Masterpiece Gold Bumblebee

Before the storm of three new Masterpiece releases in September, October and December, Takara Tomy have re-released MP-21 Bumblebee as MP-21G Gold Bumblebee as a homage to the G2 release of the toy in 1994.

Added to the figure is the mass release of the face that was included as a Amazon Japan exclusive for MP-21, as well as a new accessory in the form of a jetpack that I really hope can be used on some of the larger Masterpiece Autobots (like Convoy and/or Lambor).

Now if only I could decide if I open one up or not ...

Oversteer Mazda 3 Die Cast

While searching around the 1/64 scale die cast items at the online store in Japan I get the majority of my Transformers from I came across a listing for a die cast version of the real car I drive - the 2014 Mazda 3. Ordering the same colour as the real car, I paid and added to the next order that shipped from the store.

Compared to my real car, the 1/64 scale model is based off the top of the line sport model (known as the SP25 here in New Zealand) which changes the wheel size and adds a sunroof.

Looking at the model, the attention to detail on both the exterior of the car as well as the interior is breathtaking, which my camera not able to do any sort of justice. The only small blemish on an otherwise perfect die cast model is the slightly off centre Mazda logo.

Looking forward to taking this model to work in order to have a small part of my hobby on display in the office, but also to be able to say that I own this car in real life - not that I expect anyone to ask.

Hot Wheels Club - 83 Chevy Silverado

In mid July the Hot Wheels Collectors club offered up another release for Series 13 club cars, the very popular 83 Chevy Silverado. As with all my orders, the parcel took its time getting to the shipping forwarder in Portland before being consolidated with other orders and being shipped to New Zealand.

As mentioned with other Red Line Club cars, Series 13 cars re-introduced the premium feel of the cars that was lost during the issues with Series 12 and if I could, I would love to open up this truck and have it on permanent display.

Looking forward to the next release, which may be the sELECTIONs cars after a couple of backorder changes.

2012 Hot Wheels Racing Off Road

Back in 2012, Hot Wheels released a Racing Series featuring different styles of racing cars in this "premium" series. For whatever reason I skipped getting the majority of the cars at the time of release even though racing cars are one of my primary reasons for liking and collecting die cast vehicles.

As time went on, it became harder and harder to get full sets but in mid July I managed to win an auction for a set of the Off Road series at roughly half of the retail price.

The most expensive one -- for some reason 

Glad to finally have this set, now to find the NHRA set and then another Road Racer set.