I assure you all, I am not one of those “Mint in Package” toy collectors. But when I thought I was going to move a few years ago, I packed my collection away and stopped opening anything new I bought due to the uncertainty at the time. That seemed like a good idea, but the move did not go through and I kept collecting like that anyway so it kind of spiraled into, well, this:

What you see here are 99 unopened Deluxe class Transformers figures. They’re all mine. And that’s not all. I have several more Transformers still in their packaged prisons that you can see on my Photobucket Account.

I was always one of those open toy advocates, so how exactly did this happen? I don’t really know how to explain it, but I have to say that it’s actually been a lot of fun to collect and display these boxed toys. I’ve really enjoyed it for some reason. Having these on my shelves in my office made for a cool set up. There’s just something cool about seeing them all together, buying more and trying to find room for them, and the excitement of getting new acquisitions in the mail from assorted lines with different packaging. It doesn’t make any sense when you consider what sets Transformers apart from other toy lines, but for some reason it grew on me (and clearly my collection grew with it). It’s kind of like having a toy store in your own house, except that there’s only one of everything.

There are things going all the way back to the Energon line (2004) here but these were all acquired within the past 3 years, so I haven’t been hoarding them for that long. In fact, much of this is just from the past year or two, and a lot of this was purchased for below retail prices.

Now, as it turns out, I am moving in a few weeks so I will have to open most of this stuff just to save space. I figured it would be cool to take some photos of everything before I dug in. It’s going to be like Christmas morning every day for awhile.

So what should I open first?

Sayonara.

This past summer I saw Weird Al Yankovic live in concert. I’ve been a fan for years and this was the second time I saw his show (You can read about my first Al concert experience here and here). The first time was great, but this year’s concert totally blew my expectations away. It was kind of epic. Kind of really epic. He performed much of his newest album, some of his best loved classics, and a few great surprises too.

Unfortunately, the pictures I took on my phone didn’t really turn out all that clear, but that doesn’t really matter because there was something special about this particular stop in his tour. Al picked Toronto to be the location for his concert DVD, so the whole thing was filmed. This Alpocalypse Tour was released last week on DVD and Blu Ray. It ROCKS!

Other than the work of Weird Al, I’m not really a musically inclined person, but it’s still really cool to have a lasting memento of an amazing concert that I can now watch again any time I want. And it’s not just any random concert out of the dozens he must have performed during the tour, but the actual one that I attended!

One thing that stands out to me now that I’ve seen the video just how much he is giving to his audience while on stage. Al is a funny guy who sings funny songs, but you could just see on his face how important it was to put on a great show. He really laid it all out there to put on a show that no one would ever forget. And now I won’t ever have to forget because I own it on Blu Ray. The picture is so clear, you can see his sweat and everything.

Of course, as I watched, the thing I was really looking for was myself in the audience. I might be in there somewhere, but alas, at first glance it appears that I may have been just out of camera range. I just can’t turn this ninja thing off.

It was just awesome that Al chose Toronto to be the place where he’d film his concert, and I’m so glad I got to be there when it happened. If you weren’t there, then watching the DVD or Blu Ray is the next best thing, and I can pretty much guarantee that you’ll love it.

Sayonara.