transformers

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In June 2010 my girlfriend and daughter bought me a Transformer for Christmas. Six months later, this is the result.

Was bickering with Mrs Ben about it earlier. She argues they’re “little plastic bits of tat” whereas I remain adamant that they’re “little pieces of art”. And they are. The imagination, the engineering, the feelings they evoke.

Nightmare to dust, though.

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Just got Minecraft so obviously the first thing I do is a build a huge Optimus Prime!

I would have liked to illuminate his eyes but he’s made of wool and I’m a bit terrified of burning him down.

He’s modelled on the G1 version of Optimus. I may revisit him and adjust his proportions for authenticity. My ‘model’ for the build was the Hasbro 20th Anniversary Second Edition US version of Takara’s MP-01 Masterpiece.

AMAZING birthday present

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I’ve had years of socks and kitchenware and grown up nonsense. This year I wanted toys and Mrs Ben and No.1 certainly delivered. Optimus fecking Prime!

Now, I won’t lie. Either I’m getting old or Transformers are getting more complicated. But to get from the above image to the below image took me 45 minutes. Though it does have a maximum ‘5’ rating on the “how hard is it to transform” scale. The instructions were next to useless.

I remember when I was a child I used to mock grown ups for not being able to transform Transformers.

My birthday

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It’s that time of year when the family starts asking what I want for my birthday. I ALWAYS say Gamestation vouchers but this year I thought I’d be creative.

So this year, anyone who asks is getting this response.

Any one of the following:

1) Optimus Prime. And not some nonsense modern one that changes into a herring or something. It needs to be red and blue, change into a truck and have a big gun.

2) A telescope

3) A microscope

4) An RC car kit

Being a parent properly puts you back in touch with your childish side.

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As you may know, from time to time I do tend to whinge about the trials of parenthood. Which are numerous and lingering. But you may also know, I do on occasion find being a dad monumentally rewarding.

For example.

Last weekend Lara and I watched Transformers: The Movie together. Which, if you aren’t aware, is fecking awesome. Tonight she insisted we read these at extreme length the moment we got in from school.

I win.