Okay, this is a story to tell for generations.
Just when you thought the expression 'everything that can go wrong, will go wrong" was just a myth or exaggeration of a run of bad luck... this raises the bar on Murphy's Law.
So, I have 3 Credit Cards, at 3 different banks. My main Credit Card is at NAB which I use most, a back-up Credit Card at Aussie that I only use if the main one is reaching its limit, and my Business Credit Card at Westpac, which I use so rarely, there are only 4 purchases on it in the last 6 months.
A couple weeks ago, I was trying to register for BotCon, using the Aussie Credit Card (because the main one wouldn't have covered the $996 Registration fee). It was rejected, and I just assumed that it was because it wasn't the one on file, or it also didn't have enough on it.
I then went ahead and used my main credit card, overdrawing it in the process.
Not thinking much about the Aussie Credit Card (because I don't use it much), it wasn't until last Saturday that I tried using it at the shops and had it declined. I then thought that it was likely to be frozen by the bank for attempting to make a big foreign purchase (which they did in 2010 while I was at BotCon - I was NOT happy, as it tied up a fair chunk of my spending money).
I decided to get onto the Credit Card company, to unlock the Card, as I was probably going to need it for booking BotCon flights on Monday. So I had to wait 2 days until Monday morning to ring up the Credit Card company to find out if that was what was going on again.
But before I could fix up my backup Credit Card, on the Sunday, I found out that my Main Credit Card was not working, and would have to chase up the NAB bank to fix that one as well. And I only found out it was frozen because I was having trouble using Paypal on Ebay. I had done some "buy it now" on a few Transformers, but Paypal wouldn't complete the transactions.
Since it was Sunday evening by the time I had gone through all the help screens on both Paypal and on the NAB, I had to wait until the next morning to ring up either of them, to find out what was going on.
So on Monday morning (yesterday), I was going to ring up Paypal first. But checking my emails, I found one from Amazon.com saying that they couldn't charge my (main NAB) Credit Card for my pre-order of the Movie Trilogy boxset. BigBadToyStore was also having a problem, which had me thinking it was a problem with the Credit Card, not Paypal.
So I rang up the NAB, and they told me that the Card had been Frozen due to a suspicious charge. I looked on my statement (online) and saw a $57 charge to an online music site that I'd never heard of.
They told me that the card details had obviously been stolen, and they had to cancel that card, and issue me with a new one.
The new one is expected on Friday at my mailbox... leaving me with a lot of scheduled debits needing to have the details changed, including my server host which had tried charging the Card during the TWO WEEKS it had been frozen (and I hadn't been notified at all). Two different banks, both suspending my accounts/cards, and neither told me about it... I had to find out by myself, while trying to make purchases. If they'd told me, I could have had Paypal fixed up before I needed it, and sorted out the businesses who were charging my card during that time.
Now to keep that account on Paypal, I have to wait until the end of the week, go through the whole verification process, and then see if the two sellers that I still owe money to, are happy to wait that long.
The NAB Card was now sorted (cancelled and new one on its way within 4 days).
I was told that I could call back the next day to find out the expiry date of the new card (I already knew the new number), but would have to wait until I get the card to know the 3-digit number on the back (some sites I can now use it on, but not on sites that ask for the 3-digit code until Friday).
Now I definitely had to sort out the (backup) Aussie Credit Card, as I would need it for my BotCon airfares later that morning.
I rang up the Credit Card Company, and they confirmed my suspicion. It was indeed a foreign purchase that had them Suspending the account, but it was a legitimate purchase (a Deposit charged by the BotCon hotel). That was done on the 6th January, three weeks ago, and I had not been notified about it. They said they sent a letter on the 7th, but I never got it.
Anyway, they unlocked the account, now that it was verified that it was a legit purchase (lucky for me that they allow a suspicious purchase but block any future ones, because if they had rejected that deposit, I would have lost my reservation to the BotCon hotel).
Within the hour I was at the Travel Agent, and paid out $2000 on airfares (from my savings account and the Aussie CC)... But after the events of today, if only I had used my Westpac Business Credit Card instead.
You see, today I found out that my Business Credit Card has also had it's details stolen, and I had to ring up the bank to cancel the card, and order a new one.
And I only found that out, while I was trying to add it to my Paypal account, as a temporary replacement to the NAB CC. The Paypal screen was rejecting the card, saying that it was already assigned to another Paypal account.
Since I don't have any other Paypal accounts, I rang them up straight away to query it.
They looked it up, and asked if I knew some guy who it was being used by, and I told them no.
We worked out that there were five purchases made with that Credit Card, totalling $240.
They put a stop to that Paypal account, and I then had to quickly ring up the Westpac Bank to report the issue, cancel the card, and have a replacement sent.
That's expected to take 2-3 days (Thursday-Friday), sent to the Nearest Bank Branch for collection.
That's right, I am now down to one working Credit Card, which did have $1000 credit on it before I went to the Travel Agent yesterday... and I have an impending expense of $500-700 within the next 12 hours.
See, if I had used the Westpac card for that $1000, I would have enough to buy Runabout & Drift... but instead, I have to beg someone else to buy them for me tomorrow when they are released. Then sort out the mess later.
And since the Aussie Credit Card is not from an actual Bank, I can't just make a deposit straight into the account. The fastest option is Bpay, and that would take 24-48 hours... which would be too late.
And unlike the NAB having an instant credit limit increase, Aussie Credit Card is expected to take up to 5 days (I increased it by $1000, just in case a miracle occurs).
So a recap...
The main NAB CC - won't arrive until Friday (only have card number and expiry date - need 3-digit code to make this Toy order)
The backup Aussie CC - not enough on it to cover Toy order, and will take 2-5 days to add money or increase credit limit.
The business Westpac CC - wont' arrive until Thursday.
And even if one of those cards arrive or can be used in time, I have to worry about The Club Site rejecting any new Card now (unless their demand for a copy of the card is only when first ordering from them).
So, sometime in the next 8-9 hours, the two Club Toys will be put back up for pre-order, with Runabout most likely being sold-out within 24 hours... and I need to order 7 toys for others.
All options for me to do this myself are now prevented.
Off grovelling I must go.
I am so totally screwed.
Update Feb 1st - Collector Club is still yet to re-open pre-orders as they sign up to new Credit Card processing company. No replacement card has arrived yet, and the Aussie Credit Card hasn't had the limit increase approved or received deposit yet. This 24 hour "stay of execution" is torturous if the pre-orders start in the next few hours (as they are now starting their Wednesday office hours there).
Update Feb 2nd - Collector Club waited until the end of their business day (Wednesday) again, which is about 7am Thursday where I live. I get the early wake-up call from Doug again, and hop online to check the one card I still have.
Finally some good news... the limit increase AND the deposit have gone through on the Aussie CC. Now to see if it gets approved by the Club site. Another anxious 5 minutes... and success.
I re-check the credit card statement, and it shows that amount missing, but doesn't yet show the transaction. So hopefully that means, after all the drama and stress (and several really early mornings in a row - I work nights), this has ended up working out. But only because the Collector Club had to change CC processors... so everyone else's bad luck, was my (only hope of) good luck.
Oh, and BTW, just to reassure any of those people I was asked to buy these for - I had enough money left on the card to cover MOST people, and would have just chased up the remaining ones later, at whatever it extra it would cost me on the secondary market. I just didn't want to alarm or panic anyone unless it was absolutely necessary.
Tuesday, 31 January 2012
Monday, 30 January 2012
Opening a sealed, carded BotCon 94 Breakdown
This will have a few dedicated, sealed collectors screaming out in horror. I was looking through my files, and found these photos I took of my BotCon 94 Breakdown toy (limited to about 200-300 figures) a couple years ago, which was a major loose end for me. It took me about 15 years to get it since its release, and the last 10 years I've been desperately looking for one (it had to be the BotCon version - some don't have the BotCon sticker on the back of the card). In the end, I found a sealed one for about $400... but since my display of BotCon toys are all out of their packaging, this one had to be "released from it's prison".
So here it is as I got it.
And the back, to show it is the BotCon version.
The cutting is about to begin...
And he's out... freeeeee!!!
All the bits...
Put together...
And in robot mode...
Each of the three Gen2 Breakdown toys in Robot mode, with the Gen1 Breakdown on the left.
And in alt mode... where possible.
So here it is as I got it.
Sunday, 29 January 2012
Doritos review - Australian flavours
Compared to the 12+ flavours they have in America at any given time, we have 3 regular flavours, and the occasional limited edition flavour, plus a couple "new" flavours that probably won't be around for more than a year.
With half-price Doritos at Coles this week, I thought I might do a quick review... even if it is just for my own future reference.
Original
lightly salted, with its own subtle flavour. boring, but not as boring as I had thought. 2.5/5
Cheese Supreme
very fake cheesy, tastes like cheezels, so not unique enough to be interesting 2/5
Nacho Cheese
This is my favourite of the main 3 regular flavours. And when Doritos first came out, this flavour had a beefy taste, making them taste like real nachos, but a short time later, the flavour changed, wasn't as nice and lost its top rating. 4/5
Sweet Thai Chilli
One of the two new flavours. An interesting flavour, sweet and spicy, and very MSG-ish... which isn't surprising, as it is the main flavour ingredient. They call it a "Flavour Enhancer", but what is it enhancing if it is the main flavour ingredient? Other flavour ingredients are enhancing IT. 2.5/5
Hot Mexican Salsa (not at Woolies)
Tastes like Salsa, as intended, so probably would be the one flavour to not need salsa to dip it in, as it'd be a waste. I'm not much of a salsa fan, but these aren't too bad. Not hot though, so it only manages to get half the flavour right. 2/5
Mexicana (not at Coles)
Similar name to the flavour above, but completely different taste and ingredients. This one has a more taco-beans type taste to it. I liked it at first, but got sick of it real fast. 1.5/5
Burn (not at Coles)
Very bity hot, and sweet on the side. Makes the nose run. Works at being burning hot, but too hot to be an enjoyable flavour to snack on. Probably best used in a dish like nachos, to soften it. 1/5
Now, put to the test... with sour cream.
(no need to buy flavoured dips - if you have flavoured chips just use plain sour cream for the same effect, for less)
Unlike the slow-cooked potato chips which are all great with Sour Cream, not all these Corn Chips flavours work as well.
Original
The sour cream really brings out the flavour on this one. really surprised. 3/5
Cheese Supreme
softens the fake cheese taste, but not enough. 1.5/5
Nacho Cheese
Nachos are incomplete without sour cream, so this flavour is best with it. 4.5/5
Sweet Thai Chilli
The sour cream neutralises the MSG taste and some of the spiciness, making it a rather sweet, creamy taste. 3/5
Hot Mexican Salsa (not at Woolies)
A strange flavour combination, fruity salsa with creamy sour cream... I'm not sure if I like it or not. I can still taste the salsa though, so 2.5/5
Mexicana (not at Coles)
Softens the rough taco/beans flavour, but still not very nice after a while. 2/5
Burn (not at Coles)
Takes a lot of sour cream to neutralise the burn, and even still it leaves a spicy feeling behind in the mouth and lips. Still not a fun flavour on its own. 1.5/5
With half-price Doritos at Coles this week, I thought I might do a quick review... even if it is just for my own future reference.
Original
lightly salted, with its own subtle flavour. boring, but not as boring as I had thought. 2.5/5
Cheese Supreme
very fake cheesy, tastes like cheezels, so not unique enough to be interesting 2/5
Nacho Cheese
This is my favourite of the main 3 regular flavours. And when Doritos first came out, this flavour had a beefy taste, making them taste like real nachos, but a short time later, the flavour changed, wasn't as nice and lost its top rating. 4/5
Sweet Thai Chilli
One of the two new flavours. An interesting flavour, sweet and spicy, and very MSG-ish... which isn't surprising, as it is the main flavour ingredient. They call it a "Flavour Enhancer", but what is it enhancing if it is the main flavour ingredient? Other flavour ingredients are enhancing IT. 2.5/5
Hot Mexican Salsa (not at Woolies)
Tastes like Salsa, as intended, so probably would be the one flavour to not need salsa to dip it in, as it'd be a waste. I'm not much of a salsa fan, but these aren't too bad. Not hot though, so it only manages to get half the flavour right. 2/5
Mexicana (not at Coles)
Similar name to the flavour above, but completely different taste and ingredients. This one has a more taco-beans type taste to it. I liked it at first, but got sick of it real fast. 1.5/5
Burn (not at Coles)
Very bity hot, and sweet on the side. Makes the nose run. Works at being burning hot, but too hot to be an enjoyable flavour to snack on. Probably best used in a dish like nachos, to soften it. 1/5
Now, put to the test... with sour cream.
(no need to buy flavoured dips - if you have flavoured chips just use plain sour cream for the same effect, for less)
Unlike the slow-cooked potato chips which are all great with Sour Cream, not all these Corn Chips flavours work as well.
Original
The sour cream really brings out the flavour on this one. really surprised. 3/5
Cheese Supreme
softens the fake cheese taste, but not enough. 1.5/5
Nacho Cheese
Nachos are incomplete without sour cream, so this flavour is best with it. 4.5/5
Sweet Thai Chilli
The sour cream neutralises the MSG taste and some of the spiciness, making it a rather sweet, creamy taste. 3/5
Hot Mexican Salsa (not at Woolies)
A strange flavour combination, fruity salsa with creamy sour cream... I'm not sure if I like it or not. I can still taste the salsa though, so 2.5/5
Mexicana (not at Coles)
Softens the rough taco/beans flavour, but still not very nice after a while. 2/5
Burn (not at Coles)
Takes a lot of sour cream to neutralise the burn, and even still it leaves a spicy feeling behind in the mouth and lips. Still not a fun flavour on its own. 1.5/5
Thursday, 26 January 2012
BotCon 2012 Boxset fully revealed - and I'm finally registered
I know this is repeating myself, but in case anyone missed my earlier rants... The early years of Fun-Pub's BotCons required promoting the convention to toy dealers & scalpers to be sure that they sold out of one of their main sources of funding - the toys. Recent popularity of their toys though (due to getting more experienced with Transformers, and more focused on what Fans want) they don't need to do that anymore... but they still do out of habit.
So once again, we have the convention toys being promoted before the convention itself, to inspire those who are only interested in the value of the toys... instead of inspiring fans who value the convention itself to rush to purchase the full attendance packages because the guests and events were already known.
I guess I'm opposed to this "Men in Black" mentality (they did BotCon in 1996, and were jeered by the fandom for prioritising selling toys over the fan-focused elements), because I'm travelling halfway around the world each year FOR the convention... not the toys. As such, I'm a fan of the Convention, not the merchandise, and would be much happier with the convention being promoted, as it is almost insulting to those who make the long distance trip for Fun-Pub to prioritise the mere merchandise/toys.
How many other dedicated fans could they have attending the convention itself, adding to the atmosphere of the events, if the full packages sell out before the events and guests are known to help make up their minds?
Like, what if Frank Welker ended up being a guest this year, but it wasn't revealed until after the full packages were sold out... fans who then sign up without a full package, will feel cheated when seeing others walking off with a box-set without even attending the rest of the convention.
I think that if Fun-Pub feel that the toys are so important, they should be an added extra to the "registration" so that when the guests & events are known after the box-sets sell out, fans won't feel like they are missing out on the "full package" when signing up at that time.
So onto this year's box-set.
There are six toys this year in the box-set. Five Deluxe-size toys and one Voyager-size toy.
Robot modes.
Vehicle modes.
The pics are from the BotCon website.
Red car - Tracks (Shattered Glass - Evil Autobot)
Jet - Metalhawk (JP Generation One - Heroic Autobot)
Truck - Ultra Magnus (Shattered Glass - Evil Autobot)
Blue car - Treadshot (Shattered Glass - Heroic Decepticon)
White van - Soundwave (Shattered Glass - Heroic Decepticon)
Tank - Gigatron (Overlord) (JP Generation One - Evil Decepticon)
The theme this year is a crossing of their "Shattered Glass" Mirror Universe (where Autobots are evil and the Decepticons are heroic), with the regular Generation One Universe. So we have a couple of direct homage toys to Generation One, with some recoloured homages for their Mirror Universe.
I've already commented on the first four.
Number 5 - Ultra Magnus
Just like the Tracks figure, this is not meant to be a new character, just a mirror-verse version of the character. The difference here though to Tracks, is that the real version of this character was already released with a different mould (the first Classics Optimus mould).
An interesting feature of this BotCon toy is that the head is completely moulded from clear plastic, with a painted helmet... creating a visually unique style of head. It's almost a ghostly type of character, that has no real head, just energy inhabiting the helmet. Well, unlike organic creatures that keep their brains in their heads, and would die without them, Transformers don't (plus, all senses can be housed elsewhere), and a head can end up being redundant to the point of it being more for show anyway... like this one. This mould was not a fan favourite, and these colours look a bit Diaclone Convoy, which is not a well known source for a homage, making this one rate as about as least interesting as Treadshot.
Number 6 - Metalhawk
Following on from the recent Hasbro trend of Pretender inspired toys of Thunderwing and Sky Shadow (Blackshadow), this Metalhawk is a nicely done colouring of the Thunderwing toy into a homage of the JP exclusive Pretender. It also has a new head too. It's just a pity that the Jet mode doesn't quite match the original Metalhawk, but BotCon toys are very limited by what they can replicate. Otherwise, if it were an easy accurate match, Hasbro would likely do it first. This one and Tracks are probably my favourite two, with Gigatron/Overlord coming in next. The other three are pretty lame though... and this year's full set of Convention toys will need the at-show toys to be spectacular to pull up the "average" rating I give this set of six so far.
As for the Registration... that was a real drama (it wouldn't be BotCon for me if there wasn't any drama). I got a nice wake-up call the morning after my last post about BotCon, in which I had predicted that it would be in the next couple days. However, the call was still too late for me to get what I most wanted - the Custom Class. It was only a couple hours, but all the Custom Classes were already sold out.
For someone who is one of the most dedicated and experienced at attending BotCon, I can't believe that I am still yet to experience a Custom Class. It's like I'm cursed to never get in... no matter how much I try to improve my chances to get in.
Anyway... I get out of bed and rush to get my computer started, to log onto the BotCon site to register. I start by logging into the Club site, to make sure I get the membership prices... and go through all the screens to get the Golden Ticket (a VIP concept that drew criticism when Glen Hallit's convention had it), a bagged set of toys, and to sign up for the Thursday pre-Con tour once it was revealed to me that the Classes were all sold out. Kinda like the last Texas BotCon in 2005, neither of the Tours were too interesting to me, but I had to get into a Tour or a Class to be eligible for the early package pickup on the Wednesday (otherwise you have to wait for hours with the hundreds on the Thursday, and then wait more hours in the Club store queue).
So I got everything selected, and entered in my credit card details... to be given an error message, saying that the order could not be processed, and that it would be set aside to be manually processed.
Naturally, Fun-Pub open up registration just after the close of their Friday office hours, so that by the time they would manually process the orders that had errors, people would miss out on items because they are not being held on those incomplete registrations.
I was in such a panic. I couldn't wait 2 1/2 days... not with the risk of missing out on the Golden Ticket option, or even the full registration package altogether (the growing popularity for their toys in the last 2 years had me thinking that they could well sell out in a day... two at the most).
I thought about redoing the order, but was afraid that they'd cancel both if it looked dodgy, or too confusing to work out.
I also had to try to figure out why my order was being rejected.
Either it was rejected because I used a different Credit Card than what I usually use (if they only allow the ones verified in the past), or because it didn't have enough credit on it. Later I realised that it was the Credit Card that automatically froze my account the last time I tried to do a big foreign purchase... but when that happened in 2010 (at BotCon), I had it unlocked, and told them not to let it happen again. It might be a good security measure, but it has been more trouble than help. I wonder if I can make a claim for mental hardship... :p
So I got a different Credit Card ready - one which didn't have enough funds on it - so expected that it would be declined. (since FunPub set up this online registration, the money is charged straight away, instead of days later when they used to do fax-in registrations)
I went back to the registration page to start again, but to my horror, it was not allowing me to get into the first page that lets you select the package you want. I kept retrying, reloading, restarting the computer... everything I could think of, but for some reason, it kept showing an error on that first page.
I didn't know what to do. I was out of ideas, and running out of time (I had to go to work soon).
I sent an email to FunPub to see if it was an error on my part, or theirs, plus tweeted to their twitter account.
While looking for answers on the global fansites, I made a panicked call to my friend Ian (who's been two three BotCons with me now), to perhaps see if he could register for me.
He suggested that I should clear out my cookies on the browser... I hadn't thought of that, and wondered if it would be a reason. (considering I had logged out and even rebooted, there shouldn't have been any lingering ties to the registration page)
But it seemed that he had guessed correctly, as a quick clearing of cookies allowed me to proceed through the registration page like the first time. The difference this time though, was entering in the other credit card details and hoping that it would not be denied for lack of funds.
A tense wait... as I was running out of options.
Amazingly, it was approved, which over-drew the Credit Card by about $700, and I was worried that it would be overturned by the bank if it raised a red flag for someone to investigate.
Ian suggested ringing up the bank to see if it was really okay, and to ask for it to be a temporary overdraft... which I did, and they increased the limit to cover it.
PHEW...
A hectic 2 hours later, I was signed up for BotCon, with the VIP/Golden Ticket, a bagged set, Tshirt, cap, and Thursday tour.
And now I had to rush off to work, in a wired, adrenalin state... it wasn't easy concentrating that day, I can tell you.
Now to organise the flights, and I'll be all covered for this year.
There have been some cheap flights to Dallas lately, from Brisbane, so hopefully I can still score one of those.
And I'd better get onto it soon, as time is running out.
With nothing of interest in Dallas, and no toy sources within walking distance of the hotel, I'm not planning to stay there longer than the convention this year.
So once again, we have the convention toys being promoted before the convention itself, to inspire those who are only interested in the value of the toys... instead of inspiring fans who value the convention itself to rush to purchase the full attendance packages because the guests and events were already known.
I guess I'm opposed to this "Men in Black" mentality (they did BotCon in 1996, and were jeered by the fandom for prioritising selling toys over the fan-focused elements), because I'm travelling halfway around the world each year FOR the convention... not the toys. As such, I'm a fan of the Convention, not the merchandise, and would be much happier with the convention being promoted, as it is almost insulting to those who make the long distance trip for Fun-Pub to prioritise the mere merchandise/toys.
How many other dedicated fans could they have attending the convention itself, adding to the atmosphere of the events, if the full packages sell out before the events and guests are known to help make up their minds?
Like, what if Frank Welker ended up being a guest this year, but it wasn't revealed until after the full packages were sold out... fans who then sign up without a full package, will feel cheated when seeing others walking off with a box-set without even attending the rest of the convention.
I think that if Fun-Pub feel that the toys are so important, they should be an added extra to the "registration" so that when the guests & events are known after the box-sets sell out, fans won't feel like they are missing out on the "full package" when signing up at that time.
So onto this year's box-set.
There are six toys this year in the box-set. Five Deluxe-size toys and one Voyager-size toy.
Robot modes.
The pics are from the BotCon website.
Red car - Tracks (Shattered Glass - Evil Autobot)
Jet - Metalhawk (JP Generation One - Heroic Autobot)
Truck - Ultra Magnus (Shattered Glass - Evil Autobot)
Blue car - Treadshot (Shattered Glass - Heroic Decepticon)
White van - Soundwave (Shattered Glass - Heroic Decepticon)
Tank - Gigatron (Overlord) (JP Generation One - Evil Decepticon)
The theme this year is a crossing of their "Shattered Glass" Mirror Universe (where Autobots are evil and the Decepticons are heroic), with the regular Generation One Universe. So we have a couple of direct homage toys to Generation One, with some recoloured homages for their Mirror Universe.
I've already commented on the first four.
Number 5 - Ultra Magnus
Just like the Tracks figure, this is not meant to be a new character, just a mirror-verse version of the character. The difference here though to Tracks, is that the real version of this character was already released with a different mould (the first Classics Optimus mould).
An interesting feature of this BotCon toy is that the head is completely moulded from clear plastic, with a painted helmet... creating a visually unique style of head. It's almost a ghostly type of character, that has no real head, just energy inhabiting the helmet. Well, unlike organic creatures that keep their brains in their heads, and would die without them, Transformers don't (plus, all senses can be housed elsewhere), and a head can end up being redundant to the point of it being more for show anyway... like this one. This mould was not a fan favourite, and these colours look a bit Diaclone Convoy, which is not a well known source for a homage, making this one rate as about as least interesting as Treadshot.
Number 6 - Metalhawk
Following on from the recent Hasbro trend of Pretender inspired toys of Thunderwing and Sky Shadow (Blackshadow), this Metalhawk is a nicely done colouring of the Thunderwing toy into a homage of the JP exclusive Pretender. It also has a new head too. It's just a pity that the Jet mode doesn't quite match the original Metalhawk, but BotCon toys are very limited by what they can replicate. Otherwise, if it were an easy accurate match, Hasbro would likely do it first. This one and Tracks are probably my favourite two, with Gigatron/Overlord coming in next. The other three are pretty lame though... and this year's full set of Convention toys will need the at-show toys to be spectacular to pull up the "average" rating I give this set of six so far.
As for the Registration... that was a real drama (it wouldn't be BotCon for me if there wasn't any drama). I got a nice wake-up call the morning after my last post about BotCon, in which I had predicted that it would be in the next couple days. However, the call was still too late for me to get what I most wanted - the Custom Class. It was only a couple hours, but all the Custom Classes were already sold out.
For someone who is one of the most dedicated and experienced at attending BotCon, I can't believe that I am still yet to experience a Custom Class. It's like I'm cursed to never get in... no matter how much I try to improve my chances to get in.
Anyway... I get out of bed and rush to get my computer started, to log onto the BotCon site to register. I start by logging into the Club site, to make sure I get the membership prices... and go through all the screens to get the Golden Ticket (a VIP concept that drew criticism when Glen Hallit's convention had it), a bagged set of toys, and to sign up for the Thursday pre-Con tour once it was revealed to me that the Classes were all sold out. Kinda like the last Texas BotCon in 2005, neither of the Tours were too interesting to me, but I had to get into a Tour or a Class to be eligible for the early package pickup on the Wednesday (otherwise you have to wait for hours with the hundreds on the Thursday, and then wait more hours in the Club store queue).
So I got everything selected, and entered in my credit card details... to be given an error message, saying that the order could not be processed, and that it would be set aside to be manually processed.
Naturally, Fun-Pub open up registration just after the close of their Friday office hours, so that by the time they would manually process the orders that had errors, people would miss out on items because they are not being held on those incomplete registrations.
I was in such a panic. I couldn't wait 2 1/2 days... not with the risk of missing out on the Golden Ticket option, or even the full registration package altogether (the growing popularity for their toys in the last 2 years had me thinking that they could well sell out in a day... two at the most).
I thought about redoing the order, but was afraid that they'd cancel both if it looked dodgy, or too confusing to work out.
I also had to try to figure out why my order was being rejected.
Either it was rejected because I used a different Credit Card than what I usually use (if they only allow the ones verified in the past), or because it didn't have enough credit on it. Later I realised that it was the Credit Card that automatically froze my account the last time I tried to do a big foreign purchase... but when that happened in 2010 (at BotCon), I had it unlocked, and told them not to let it happen again. It might be a good security measure, but it has been more trouble than help. I wonder if I can make a claim for mental hardship... :p
So I got a different Credit Card ready - one which didn't have enough funds on it - so expected that it would be declined. (since FunPub set up this online registration, the money is charged straight away, instead of days later when they used to do fax-in registrations)
I went back to the registration page to start again, but to my horror, it was not allowing me to get into the first page that lets you select the package you want. I kept retrying, reloading, restarting the computer... everything I could think of, but for some reason, it kept showing an error on that first page.
I didn't know what to do. I was out of ideas, and running out of time (I had to go to work soon).
I sent an email to FunPub to see if it was an error on my part, or theirs, plus tweeted to their twitter account.
While looking for answers on the global fansites, I made a panicked call to my friend Ian (who's been two three BotCons with me now), to perhaps see if he could register for me.
He suggested that I should clear out my cookies on the browser... I hadn't thought of that, and wondered if it would be a reason. (considering I had logged out and even rebooted, there shouldn't have been any lingering ties to the registration page)
But it seemed that he had guessed correctly, as a quick clearing of cookies allowed me to proceed through the registration page like the first time. The difference this time though, was entering in the other credit card details and hoping that it would not be denied for lack of funds.
A tense wait... as I was running out of options.
Amazingly, it was approved, which over-drew the Credit Card by about $700, and I was worried that it would be overturned by the bank if it raised a red flag for someone to investigate.
Ian suggested ringing up the bank to see if it was really okay, and to ask for it to be a temporary overdraft... which I did, and they increased the limit to cover it.
PHEW...
A hectic 2 hours later, I was signed up for BotCon, with the VIP/Golden Ticket, a bagged set, Tshirt, cap, and Thursday tour.
And now I had to rush off to work, in a wired, adrenalin state... it wasn't easy concentrating that day, I can tell you.
Now to organise the flights, and I'll be all covered for this year.
There have been some cheap flights to Dallas lately, from Brisbane, so hopefully I can still score one of those.
And I'd better get onto it soon, as time is running out.
With nothing of interest in Dallas, and no toy sources within walking distance of the hotel, I'm not planning to stay there longer than the convention this year.
Wednesday, 25 January 2012
Spicy Burger Twisties and Vanilla Mars sampling
Continuing on with the Food theme of the last couple days, I found some new items at Seven-Eleven last night (I had the munchies).
Hot on the heels of the Cheesburger Twisties, we now have a Spicy Burger flavour.
Again, with the word "Burger" in the flavour title, it grabbed my attention. But when I tried them, I was wondering why this has the word in the title... it was a nice mild spicy flavour (which is mild enough to enjoy a pack or two), but couldn't taste anything "burger" about it.
So I decided to look at the ingredients, for anything there, but only saw a lot of spices listed, and down at the end was a Tomato flavouring. So maybe it's the Tomato that warranted the "burger" title... for marketing purposes of course. Otherwise, the most accurate flavour title would be something like "spicy tomato", which would still sound interesting, but perhaps not "interesting" enough for the execs to approve.
Worth a shot, but not likely to be a regular flavour (which I like seeing from Twisties - trialling all these new flavours in the last year, to perhaps see if any are popular enough to add to their regular range). 3.5/5
The other item I found last night was Vanilla Mars.
Nothing fancy, but suggests that Mars could well be able to offer a range of flavoured Mars, to consolidate the brand as being more than a "one hit wonder" of the regular (caramel) version.
They recently had a chocolate version, and a non-fudge version... and this one also similarly maintains a standard "Mars" taste and texture. It's nice, but the strong tasting caramel and chocolate coating pretty much conceals any Vanilla flavour... so ends up tasting like a less-bitey regular Mars. 3/5
One thing I'd like to see is a multi-pack of these mid-size or bite-size bars with different flavoured fudges in them - chocolate, caramel (the regular one), vanilla (this one), strawberry, cherry, coconut, mint... etc.
It could be done like a chocolate box tray or like a pack of Timtams... with or without an indication of what flavour each one was - like a sampling surprise concept.
Damn... now I feel like Timtams... :p
Hot on the heels of the Cheesburger Twisties, we now have a Spicy Burger flavour.
Again, with the word "Burger" in the flavour title, it grabbed my attention. But when I tried them, I was wondering why this has the word in the title... it was a nice mild spicy flavour (which is mild enough to enjoy a pack or two), but couldn't taste anything "burger" about it.
So I decided to look at the ingredients, for anything there, but only saw a lot of spices listed, and down at the end was a Tomato flavouring. So maybe it's the Tomato that warranted the "burger" title... for marketing purposes of course. Otherwise, the most accurate flavour title would be something like "spicy tomato", which would still sound interesting, but perhaps not "interesting" enough for the execs to approve.
Worth a shot, but not likely to be a regular flavour (which I like seeing from Twisties - trialling all these new flavours in the last year, to perhaps see if any are popular enough to add to their regular range). 3.5/5
The other item I found last night was Vanilla Mars.
They recently had a chocolate version, and a non-fudge version... and this one also similarly maintains a standard "Mars" taste and texture. It's nice, but the strong tasting caramel and chocolate coating pretty much conceals any Vanilla flavour... so ends up tasting like a less-bitey regular Mars. 3/5
One thing I'd like to see is a multi-pack of these mid-size or bite-size bars with different flavoured fudges in them - chocolate, caramel (the regular one), vanilla (this one), strawberry, cherry, coconut, mint... etc.
It could be done like a chocolate box tray or like a pack of Timtams... with or without an indication of what flavour each one was - like a sampling surprise concept.
Damn... now I feel like Timtams... :p
Hungry Jacks Farmyard Feast Burger (version 2)
Okay, that burger name is likely to have people scratching their heads, wondering why they've never heard of it before.
Well, last January I had a custom-made burger done up to incorporate all the different meats Hungry Jacks had available - Beef, Chicken, Bacon. (they had recently dropped the fish burger, so I wasn't able to include that as I had originally wanted)
They looked like this, one with ketchup (left) and one with BBQ sauce (right).
And cut open, they looked like this:
(each had cheese, onion, egg and mustard as well)
I posted up the pics on Flickr February 2011 of my creation, and within 3 months, Burger King in Japan brought out the "Meat Monster" which had the same 3 meat items in the same order (beef, bacon, and chicken on top). They did add salad to theirs and left off the egg, but it needed the extra colour, as my "meat-only" version looked a bit boring.
When Hungry Jacks brought out their Angus patties about a year ago, I was thinking about doing a new version with the four different meats this time.
Last weekend I went to the HJs at Sunnybank, with a "map" of the burger, showing each item layered in the proposed burger. Something like this:
Bun top
Onion
Ketchup
Mustard
beef patty
bacon
mayo
egg
chicken patty
cheese
ketchup
angus patty
Bun bottom
I layed it out to separate the meats as much as possible, as well as distributing the sauces as well, because most HJs burgers put the sauce on top last, making the bottom half rather dry and less tasty.
I also had a second "map" done up for a "healthier option", which was inspired by the Japanese Meat Monster.
Okay, it isn't "healthier", just more colourful.
Bun top
tomato
lettuce
onion
mayo
beef patty
ketchup
bacon
egg
mustard
chicken patty
ketchup
cheese
angus patty
Bun bottom
After a couple minutes of amused discussion between register-operator and the store manager, I was informed that they couldn't do it because they don't have egg any more. (thanks to that STUPID decision to drop the AUSSIE BURGER)
I pointed out that they have eggs in their breakfast menu, which was countered with those being "freshly cooked" (as opposed to the pre-cooked ones on the Aussie Burger)... and that they wouldn't be cooking any outside of Breakfast. (I was there Saturday Night, so if I wanted to do this as planned, I would have to come back in the morning)
Dejectedly, I headed home (with the Country burgers that I reviewed yesterday) and waited anxiously for the next morning.
At about 10am I headed back to the HJs, and handed over my "burger map" to the staff, who quickly handed it to the Manager on that day.
Again, after a few minutes of amusement, they said, okay.
So after working up the total cost of the two burgers, they borrowed the map to make up my two monsters.
(the cost, for those wondering, came up to $7.20 each - which I thought was cheap, but I guess was about right with all the meat in it)
About 7 minutes later, I was handed a bag with my two burgers, and headed home to review them.
So here they are, the world premier of the all new Hungry Jacks Farmyard Feast Burgers...
A bit messy, but that's what makes them look so delicious.
The regular Farmyard Feast:
And the Farmyard Feast Deluxe (the "healthy" option)
And both of them cut open to show the layers...
I wasn't really wanting the thick Angus patty from the new Premium menu, but unfortunately one of the recent menu changes was to drop the regular Angus patty for this more expensive "fancy" one that regular (blue collar) HJ patrons aren't going to buy anyway.
Aside from that overbalance of the Angus meat patty, the whole thing ended up being the best tasting burger I have ever eaten... even better than my Giant 10KG Burgers.
I had managed to space out the sauces and meats to give it flavour throughout the entire burger, not just the top half. Perhaps something Hungry Jacks should look into with their bigger burgers... instead of a big squirt on the top of the burger, have a little squirt at the top and midway.
So if you are a creative one with your burgers, or just a burger fan in general, give this a go at your local Hungry Jacks (or Burger King if you are reading this outside of Australia), but remember that if you want Egg on it, you have to get there before about 11am for the Breakfast hours.
Now to see if the Japanese Burger King release a new Meat Monster in a couple months time...
Well, last January I had a custom-made burger done up to incorporate all the different meats Hungry Jacks had available - Beef, Chicken, Bacon. (they had recently dropped the fish burger, so I wasn't able to include that as I had originally wanted)
They looked like this, one with ketchup (left) and one with BBQ sauce (right).
I posted up the pics on Flickr February 2011 of my creation, and within 3 months, Burger King in Japan brought out the "Meat Monster" which had the same 3 meat items in the same order (beef, bacon, and chicken on top). They did add salad to theirs and left off the egg, but it needed the extra colour, as my "meat-only" version looked a bit boring.
When Hungry Jacks brought out their Angus patties about a year ago, I was thinking about doing a new version with the four different meats this time.
Last weekend I went to the HJs at Sunnybank, with a "map" of the burger, showing each item layered in the proposed burger. Something like this:
Bun top
Onion
Ketchup
Mustard
beef patty
bacon
mayo
egg
chicken patty
cheese
ketchup
angus patty
Bun bottom
I layed it out to separate the meats as much as possible, as well as distributing the sauces as well, because most HJs burgers put the sauce on top last, making the bottom half rather dry and less tasty.
I also had a second "map" done up for a "healthier option", which was inspired by the Japanese Meat Monster.
Okay, it isn't "healthier", just more colourful.
Bun top
tomato
lettuce
onion
mayo
beef patty
ketchup
bacon
egg
mustard
chicken patty
ketchup
cheese
angus patty
Bun bottom
After a couple minutes of amused discussion between register-operator and the store manager, I was informed that they couldn't do it because they don't have egg any more. (thanks to that STUPID decision to drop the AUSSIE BURGER)
I pointed out that they have eggs in their breakfast menu, which was countered with those being "freshly cooked" (as opposed to the pre-cooked ones on the Aussie Burger)... and that they wouldn't be cooking any outside of Breakfast. (I was there Saturday Night, so if I wanted to do this as planned, I would have to come back in the morning)
Dejectedly, I headed home (with the Country burgers that I reviewed yesterday) and waited anxiously for the next morning.
At about 10am I headed back to the HJs, and handed over my "burger map" to the staff, who quickly handed it to the Manager on that day.
Again, after a few minutes of amusement, they said, okay.
So after working up the total cost of the two burgers, they borrowed the map to make up my two monsters.
(the cost, for those wondering, came up to $7.20 each - which I thought was cheap, but I guess was about right with all the meat in it)
About 7 minutes later, I was handed a bag with my two burgers, and headed home to review them.
So here they are, the world premier of the all new Hungry Jacks Farmyard Feast Burgers...
The regular Farmyard Feast:
And the Farmyard Feast Deluxe (the "healthy" option)
And both of them cut open to show the layers...
I wasn't really wanting the thick Angus patty from the new Premium menu, but unfortunately one of the recent menu changes was to drop the regular Angus patty for this more expensive "fancy" one that regular (blue collar) HJ patrons aren't going to buy anyway.
Aside from that overbalance of the Angus meat patty, the whole thing ended up being the best tasting burger I have ever eaten... even better than my Giant 10KG Burgers.
I had managed to space out the sauces and meats to give it flavour throughout the entire burger, not just the top half. Perhaps something Hungry Jacks should look into with their bigger burgers... instead of a big squirt on the top of the burger, have a little squirt at the top and midway.
So if you are a creative one with your burgers, or just a burger fan in general, give this a go at your local Hungry Jacks (or Burger King if you are reading this outside of Australia), but remember that if you want Egg on it, you have to get there before about 11am for the Breakfast hours.
Now to see if the Japanese Burger King release a new Meat Monster in a couple months time...
Tuesday, 24 January 2012
Apple Mango and Coconut Juice - so addictive
Just to show that I don't just live off junk food, here's a new Juice flavour I found last week, and can't get enough of it.
Apple, Mango & Coconut Juice.
Not since the Golden Circle Pineapple & Coconut drink, or the discontinued Berri Carrot & Apple Juice, have I tasted a fruit juice that was so delicious.
I usually go through about 2 of those Brekky Juice bottles per week (the one with Vitamins A, C & E), but am currently stuck on this new flavour... which doesn't have the important vitamins of the other one, so I have to keep myself to one of each per week instead.
I think these are still only available at Woolies.
Apple, Mango & Coconut Juice.
Not since the Golden Circle Pineapple & Coconut drink, or the discontinued Berri Carrot & Apple Juice, have I tasted a fruit juice that was so delicious.
I usually go through about 2 of those Brekky Juice bottles per week (the one with Vitamins A, C & E), but am currently stuck on this new flavour... which doesn't have the important vitamins of the other one, so I have to keep myself to one of each per week instead.
I think these are still only available at Woolies.
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