Plus, minus, and other algebra
I found a channel on YouTube that I like to listen to while I work. It reviews toys and talks about the history of toy franchises (Toy Galaxy, for anybody keeping score). They've gotten into some of the really obscure toys, like Battle Beasts, Vol-Tec, and Starcom, but I haven't yet seen anything addressing UniFighters, Super Naturals, or Toho's Cybercops. There's always next week.
I do find it interesting that my tastes in toys has shrunken in my 30s. Not diminished; shrunken. I'm more interested in smaller toys. Back in the 1980s, bigger toys meant more features, more points of articulation, and greater accuracy to the source material. These days, that doesn't seem to be the case. The difference in details between Legends class Transformers and Deluxe class Transformers is surprisingly little, while the price difference is anything but tiny. If the tiny figures could still combine, they'd be perfect. As it is, their transformation is largely identical and show-accurate and they often have points of articulation that can contend with (if not match) GI Joe figures (whom I hold up as the standard). The larger figures often have spring-firing missiles and other gimmicks - which aren't uninteresting - but just don't do that much for me.
And it's not just Transformers. Most toy lines, when I discover they have two sizes, the smaller sizes often are just as appealing. The Kidswork Thundercat toys are more appeaing than the LJN 8" figures. They lacked points of articulation (it's not like the 8-inch figures were that great), but they had greater diversity of figures and more playsets. I'd be lying if I said the Exo-Squad minis that came with the playsets were as good as the full-sized figures, but A) that's asking a lot and B) the coolness of the playsets make up for it.
I find my interest in toys waning a bit in some ways, and growing in others. There are a bunch of toylines that I would love to own toys for: Dino-Riders, Jayce & the Wheeled Warriors, maybe even Sky Commanders. But I'm not interested in buying old toys; I want the series to get re-released. Re-made. Can you imagine how cool Wheeled Warrior toys would be with modern technology and production? It'd be like Exo-Squad all over again, and then some! Speaking of great series! If you haven't watched Exo-Squad, you are missing out. The toys were great, but the TV series deserves to be spoken of in the same breath as Robotech or Batman the Animated Series. It was amazing!
The one caveat is that I want the toys to be somewhat similar. The Masters of the Universe Classics line is a work of art and just about everything a fan of the original series could want. Meanwhile Battle Beasts' new series by Minimates just don't do it for me at all. The Beast Saga stuff was okay, but I really liked the simplicity and style of the original.
I discovered something intriguing in a recent (and ugly) Depressive crash. I researched play from a psycological standpoint and had some epiphanies. Humans evolve our form of play as we grow older and I've slowly come to entertain the notion that I 'play' through accumulation and categorization. I accumulate various gymnastic and kettlebell lifts that I work towards. When I play video games, I often not only collect all the given items/weapons/etc, but I KEEP one of everything (my inventory in FF12 is basically the entire catelog of the game's weaponry options). I also arrange them. Going back to FF12, should knives be classified with one-handed weapons like swords or speed-based weapons like the ninjato and the...mace? I don't remember and I don't care enough to look it up.
To that end, I've been trying to set aside time each week to organize my (staggeringly vast) toy collection. Once I get them organized, I'll do it again. Why? Because organizing them is my adult form of playing with them. Rather than re-enact battles from the shows or make up my own (which I have a writing career for that kind of stuff), I decide which toys get next to one another. It seems to have had a positive effect, I think.
In other news, Beth recent started her new job. This was more than a promotion or a lateral move; she jumped a level in the UNC system and is now making half-again what I make (which is f*&king awesome). This has prompted both my parents to ask if I have any plans to pursue higher employment. Given that I've not only not applied for job openings we have here at the CCR, but I've actively told them I wasn't going to apply, it seems worth asking just what I am after, job-wise.
I've remarked that I could leave the CCR for a hospital and make 30-40% more money almost immediately. Why don't I? I like working for the government and I feel lik I am providing an essential service that helps safe-guard the people of the state. So duty.
But if I feel duty-bound to do this, why don't I try to do more?
I'm simply not that ambitious. Or rather, my ambitions don't lay with the CCR. I have a writing career that I've been at for sixteen and a half years. I have a martial arts career that will see me earning a black belt in the next year or two, with ranks in other styles very likely to come shortly thereafter. And I am still struggling to find a way to care for my mother as she advances in age. These three things tug at me, with nothing to say of my own often-suspended well-being. A new job with twice the stress just isn't appealing, especially when it would come with a 5-10% pay raise at best.
I want to play with some Legos. I don't want to buy a set. They're expensive and I don't want to own any Legos. I just want to play with some for an hour or two.
I do find it interesting that my tastes in toys has shrunken in my 30s. Not diminished; shrunken. I'm more interested in smaller toys. Back in the 1980s, bigger toys meant more features, more points of articulation, and greater accuracy to the source material. These days, that doesn't seem to be the case. The difference in details between Legends class Transformers and Deluxe class Transformers is surprisingly little, while the price difference is anything but tiny. If the tiny figures could still combine, they'd be perfect. As it is, their transformation is largely identical and show-accurate and they often have points of articulation that can contend with (if not match) GI Joe figures (whom I hold up as the standard). The larger figures often have spring-firing missiles and other gimmicks - which aren't uninteresting - but just don't do that much for me.
And it's not just Transformers. Most toy lines, when I discover they have two sizes, the smaller sizes often are just as appealing. The Kidswork Thundercat toys are more appeaing than the LJN 8" figures. They lacked points of articulation (it's not like the 8-inch figures were that great), but they had greater diversity of figures and more playsets. I'd be lying if I said the Exo-Squad minis that came with the playsets were as good as the full-sized figures, but A) that's asking a lot and B) the coolness of the playsets make up for it.
I find my interest in toys waning a bit in some ways, and growing in others. There are a bunch of toylines that I would love to own toys for: Dino-Riders, Jayce & the Wheeled Warriors, maybe even Sky Commanders. But I'm not interested in buying old toys; I want the series to get re-released. Re-made. Can you imagine how cool Wheeled Warrior toys would be with modern technology and production? It'd be like Exo-Squad all over again, and then some! Speaking of great series! If you haven't watched Exo-Squad, you are missing out. The toys were great, but the TV series deserves to be spoken of in the same breath as Robotech or Batman the Animated Series. It was amazing!
The one caveat is that I want the toys to be somewhat similar. The Masters of the Universe Classics line is a work of art and just about everything a fan of the original series could want. Meanwhile Battle Beasts' new series by Minimates just don't do it for me at all. The Beast Saga stuff was okay, but I really liked the simplicity and style of the original.
I discovered something intriguing in a recent (and ugly) Depressive crash. I researched play from a psycological standpoint and had some epiphanies. Humans evolve our form of play as we grow older and I've slowly come to entertain the notion that I 'play' through accumulation and categorization. I accumulate various gymnastic and kettlebell lifts that I work towards. When I play video games, I often not only collect all the given items/weapons/etc, but I KEEP one of everything (my inventory in FF12 is basically the entire catelog of the game's weaponry options). I also arrange them. Going back to FF12, should knives be classified with one-handed weapons like swords or speed-based weapons like the ninjato and the...mace? I don't remember and I don't care enough to look it up.
To that end, I've been trying to set aside time each week to organize my (staggeringly vast) toy collection. Once I get them organized, I'll do it again. Why? Because organizing them is my adult form of playing with them. Rather than re-enact battles from the shows or make up my own (which I have a writing career for that kind of stuff), I decide which toys get next to one another. It seems to have had a positive effect, I think.
In other news, Beth recent started her new job. This was more than a promotion or a lateral move; she jumped a level in the UNC system and is now making half-again what I make (which is f*&king awesome). This has prompted both my parents to ask if I have any plans to pursue higher employment. Given that I've not only not applied for job openings we have here at the CCR, but I've actively told them I wasn't going to apply, it seems worth asking just what I am after, job-wise.
I've remarked that I could leave the CCR for a hospital and make 30-40% more money almost immediately. Why don't I? I like working for the government and I feel lik I am providing an essential service that helps safe-guard the people of the state. So duty.
But if I feel duty-bound to do this, why don't I try to do more?
I'm simply not that ambitious. Or rather, my ambitions don't lay with the CCR. I have a writing career that I've been at for sixteen and a half years. I have a martial arts career that will see me earning a black belt in the next year or two, with ranks in other styles very likely to come shortly thereafter. And I am still struggling to find a way to care for my mother as she advances in age. These three things tug at me, with nothing to say of my own often-suspended well-being. A new job with twice the stress just isn't appealing, especially when it would come with a 5-10% pay raise at best.
I want to play with some Legos. I don't want to buy a set. They're expensive and I don't want to own any Legos. I just want to play with some for an hour or two.