Rest of my July items

Have been busy (and a rather nasty virus that had me bed-ridden for 6 days, taking 3 weeks to get over), so haven't been posting up my new stuff... or new food either. But that later.
First the toys.

These were the rest of the July items added to the collection.

Middle of July I got a couple items, bought from the one ebay source (to save shipping, hopefully).

TFPrime Cmdr class Ironhide - a character that was originally planned for the cartoon, but then replaced with Bulkhead when it was known that Movie Ironhide was going to die, and they didn't want to confuse the kiddies watching the cartoon.  A Deluxe Ironhide toy was also developed, but after the cast change, it was given a new colour and name (Kup) by Hasbro.  TakaraTomy in Japan will still be releasing it as Ironhide though.
TFPrime First Edition Bumblebee Blaster - a slight recolour of the TF2 Movie blaster, but for me to complete the set of "First Edition" toys, this was the only thing I was missing. I have the various NYCC/SDCC toys from last year, and any JP figures in First Edition packaging, so this was a loose end for me. Although, it now looks like Hasbro will be releasing the cancelled Terrorcon Cliffjumpter later this year in First Edition packaging, which will now have to be acquired to complete the set.
The hunt never ends.

Some comparison pics between the Prime blaster (left, with blue highlights) and the Movie blaster (right).

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Then at the end of July, a big arrival of items in 5 boxes (which was a big surprise for me at the post office a couple of Saturdays ago.
This was following the chance discovery of Amazon.com shipping some Transformers toys outside of America (in the past it was either not allowed, or it just wasn't easy to find the items we could access). I found 11 items I wanted, and placed the order, each at about half the retail price here. But the best part was the cost of shipping.  US$25 to post 11 items in three boxes, all the way from Kentucky America, AND it arrived in 3-4 business days. Posting stuff from one side of Australia to the other would take about as long and cost a lot more.
In the end, one of the three boxes (which had a Deluxe toy in it) had a "postage" value of $1.56, because Amazon broke up the $25 across the three boxes.  That Deluxe toy ended up costing me about AU$16, which is LESS than what Hasbro Australia charges retailers here with their wholesale price.
I ended up saving about AU$100 with these 11 toys, by not buying them in Australia, something quite common from the foreign-owned toy companies (Lego, Hasbro & Mattel)... how much of a scam is that.

So three of the 5 boxes were from Amazon, which included all this:

TFPrime Cmdr Ultra Magnus - good, but not excellent 

TFPrime Cmdr Nightwatch Optimus - boring recolour  

TFPrime Cmdr Dreadwing - a nice toy  

TFPrime DLX Hot Shot - boring recolour 

TFPrime DLX Knock Out - very very tiny car.  

TFPrime DLX Dead End - ugly recolour 

TFPrime DLX Shadow Strike Bumblebee - boring recolour  

TFPrime VOY Bulkhead V2 

TFPrime VOY Starscream - a tiny toy for this size class (weighs less than some Deluxe toys), but too big for the character if we don't get a bigger Megatron toy. 

TFPrime Optimus Maximus - very disappointing figure, which I can't recommend, unless it appears in the cartoon.

Rescue Bots Police HQ - more fun than Optimus Maximus, with heaps more sounds & lights. 

 

And from the other two boxes (from a HJ online store and from ebay)...

JP Reissue Soundblaster, Enemy & Wingthing - bought for the cassettes, because I have the earlier reissue Soundblaster. Since this one ended up being different, I'll keep both.

 JP Reissue Twincast, Stripes & Nightstalker - same as Soundblaster, so I'll keep both. 

Generations Deluxe (book) - been wanting this second edition ever since it was released, but couldn't find one cheap enough. This one wasn't cheap, but was getting desperate. 

TF1 Ultimate Guide (book) - bought with the Generations book to save shipping, and because I have the one for TF2, so thought it would be a good pairing. 

HK Gen Legends - Motorbreath, Thundercracker, Bluestreak, Hoist 

Fall of Cybertron Gen - Optimus, Jazz, Shockwave 

JP Kissplay Convoy - A loose end, as I have the other two, but never got this one. It was too similar to the Alternator Optimus, and when I finally wanted to get it, the prices had gone up $200-300. This one was only $125, so I jumped on it. 

 JP TFP Breakdown - not likely to be released by Hasbro, so wanted to get it before its price went way up for being "rare".

It took a few days, but here are the five boxes of toys out of their packagings and transformed.

 So many new toys to play with, and most were very unexpected, so it was like a kid on Christmas morning.

I'll post up some comparison pics in another posting.