3B's Toy Hive

I almost missed out on this week's LoEB assignment, Young Guns, but inspiration, as it often does, came to me at the eleventh hour. The mission:

"In the spirit of Young Indiana Jones, Young Frankenstein, or Young Einstein, come up with a 'Young ___' prequel or series."

Here's what I have in mind...

It's Saturday and that means a new installment of "The Honeypot"! This week more Hot Wheels Batmobiles make their way into the Hive, albeith in a different scale and I add some highly-anticipated Transformers releases, too!

I'm back with another entry in "The Honeypot", but it may look familiar because all my new additions this week are from the same toy lines I featured last week. More Hot Wheels. More Marvel 3.75" figures. And more Bowen Designs statues!

Aside from the Hot Wheels, nearly all these items were purchased online, which serves to illustrate the sad state of action figures in my area. Hot Wheels... never would have imagined I'd be buying these this often at this point in my lift. So jump ahead to see what came in this week!

When I decided to collect modern versions of classic G1 Transformers characters I knew certain figures would be a pain in the butt, or just outright expensive to obtain. Some characters haven't received any "classics" love in the Universe Classic, Reveal the Shield or Generations lines. Some have been the subject of fantastic Third Party creations while others have seen official release with disappointing results. Case in point: Cliffjumper.

If you're familier with the Universe version of Cliffjumper, you'll know he's a cheap repaint of the Bumblebee from the same line. Hasbro couldn't even be bothered with creating a new head. Add to that the horrid paint deco and you have a figure that is in no way worth the $60-100 current after market prices. Eventually FansProject released a replacement head, however it was produced in such a limited quantity that you'd be hard pressed to find it for under $250. Thankfully, Beezleboss stepped in with their own version and after sourcing an extra "RTS" Bumblebee, I began work on what I call "Generations Cliffjumper".

The Honeypot is back!

It's been six months or so since my last "Honeypot" entry and I don't know if you missed this feature or not, but I sure didn't miss having to write it. It became very tedious to keep track of all my purchases over the course of a month and after all that documentation I only had text to show for it. So I've regrouped and decided to post the Honeypot weekly (unless there aren't any new purchases), with a new format that includes pictures!

Let's jump ahead to see what goodies came into the Hive this week!

I'm jumping back in the LoEB with this week's assignment:

"Television executives have determined that you lead an amazing life and have pegged you as the next big reality TV star. What’s the name and the premise of your show?"

I considered skipping this topic, but since I was unable to write last week, decided I'll go for it. I don't particularly like to talk about my day job because it usually raises annoying questions and I prefer to leave work at work. However, since there have already been several TV shows about my profession, I figured this would be easy.

I don't usually promote items on the Hive, but I find this particular kickstarter project very interesting given my enjoyment of unlicensed transforming toys and thought I'd share it here. It's a guide to so-called "third party" transforming action figures and accessories written and illustrated by Philip Reed of BattleGrip fame. The good news is that the project is already funded! The GREAT news is that there are stretch goals that unlock additional items along with the book (with a $15 minimum pledge).

You can get all the details by clicking here. I don't know about you, but the promise of trading card-sized stickers and a hardcover version of the book sounds fantastic!

Also, make sure to visit BattleGrip for some entertaining toy reviews and news. For a listing of all third party toy reviews on the Hive, follow this link.