Hey guys,

Well, what can I say, I have to admit that apart from watching the transformers movies I havent really been a transformers fan for the past 20 years. I was obsessed with them when I was younger (as I think were most people of my generation) and had several G1 toys but that pretty much ended when the show finished in 87.

Well, I have just returned from a trip to Japan with my 20 month old son and one of the things we did was visit an exhibition in Odaiba about Japanese inventions. One of the things there was a masterpiece Optimus prime - which i fell in love with instantly and which I have since found out was a Takara MP-10. My wife still hasnt forgiven me for spending 20 odd hours of hour holiday researching Optimus Prime on the internet.

Well, after a lot of searching about I tracked one down and bought it (at outrageous ebay prices). I have also since picked up an MP 01 for good measure.

My first intention was to leave it there as Optimus was my favourite character and it made sense I just got him. However, after actually getting hands on with the figure I find that im compelled to get more and am now spending every spare moment I have trawling for them on ebay, bbts or robotkingdom. Already have my pre-order down for the new Ultra Magnus and am currently looking to source a MP 05 Megatron though these seem hard to come by.

If anyone has any tips to pick up characters other than the places listed above please let me know. Its going to send me broke quickly continually buying at ebay prices ($210 for Starscream is looking to be my next purchase and $220 for Hasbro Soundwave) however I could not find any Masterpiece items in local TRU.

Anyway, thats pretty much me... you will most likely find me lurking around for the next few months whilst scouring the world looking to make a decent masterpiece collection.