Transform Ya
A recent bout with collecting the Transformers Combiner Wars figures (along with the comparable Power of the Primes figures) has left me with a staggering sense of optimism, hope, and happiness. It's a strange thing to be so eager.
It's left me wondering about the role of tangible things. For much of my life, I've eschewed tangible accumulation (to varying degrees of success), often with at least some nod towards the Buddistic-like avoidance of worldly goods. But some time spent studying the teachings of Buddhism and the Dali Lama has led me to think they're both really, really wrong.
I don't care to go into a treatise about why Buddism is incorrect, at least not now. But I think there's some serious martyrdom at play, some pronounced 'I'm better because I suffer', which as a patient of Depression, I can attest is not the case.
this has also led me to counsel some friends to binge. Buy some Hot Wheels. Get some shoes. Have stuff. I don't buy into materialism, but I think a truly ascetic life is overrated. Stuff is cool and there's nothing wrong with liking a tangible good. Quite the opposite, at least potentially.
So I'm spending what very little disposable money I have on toys (and then a bit of non-disposable money, but that's another matter). And you know what? I can't remember when I've been this happy. I've left most of the Power of the Primes unpursued for now because it's a newer line and thus easier (and cheaper) to find, in case somebody (like my parents) want to get me something for my birthday. I've discovered real value in making one's self easy to shop for.
So far, I've completed Superion, Menasor, Bruticus, Victorion, and Optimus Maximus. Sky Reign and Computron are in my sights. Devastator is on my radar, too, although since he isn't a Scramble-City Combiner (ugh, I hated that episode), it's a little harder to consider him quite the same. Predaking is in there too, but I never liked him that much and I think the figures look silly.
It's left me wondering about the role of tangible things. For much of my life, I've eschewed tangible accumulation (to varying degrees of success), often with at least some nod towards the Buddistic-like avoidance of worldly goods. But some time spent studying the teachings of Buddhism and the Dali Lama has led me to think they're both really, really wrong.
I don't care to go into a treatise about why Buddism is incorrect, at least not now. But I think there's some serious martyrdom at play, some pronounced 'I'm better because I suffer', which as a patient of Depression, I can attest is not the case.
this has also led me to counsel some friends to binge. Buy some Hot Wheels. Get some shoes. Have stuff. I don't buy into materialism, but I think a truly ascetic life is overrated. Stuff is cool and there's nothing wrong with liking a tangible good. Quite the opposite, at least potentially.
So I'm spending what very little disposable money I have on toys (and then a bit of non-disposable money, but that's another matter). And you know what? I can't remember when I've been this happy. I've left most of the Power of the Primes unpursued for now because it's a newer line and thus easier (and cheaper) to find, in case somebody (like my parents) want to get me something for my birthday. I've discovered real value in making one's self easy to shop for.
So far, I've completed Superion, Menasor, Bruticus, Victorion, and Optimus Maximus. Sky Reign and Computron are in my sights. Devastator is on my radar, too, although since he isn't a Scramble-City Combiner (ugh, I hated that episode), it's a little harder to consider him quite the same. Predaking is in there too, but I never liked him that much and I think the figures look silly.