A case of order-delivery process

21.8. - Searching

In the final days of August I got inspired and started searching for a new element to my collection of weird junk. Being a tightwad of sorts I just checked the BBTS' price for a reference point (they also had eyewatering S&H prices and even more importantly, they were legally obliged to visually ruin what I wanted with a couple of orange pieces of plastic, which did not inspire me either). Next on my list I checked the Japanese 'zon but I hadn't got an account there (I had this weird idea of the European UK/DE Amazons syncing but maybe I had created my accounts so long ago I had just forgotten) and the prices in the East were over 2x over the ones shipped to the USA (also ruined with excess plastic pieces in the country of origin).

Within my own continent the German and British stores had suspiciously cheap artifacts listed. The explanation was that they were the not-so-obediently-licences-things kind of things. Damn.

Still, the collector bug had bit me and I ended up thinking seriously how bad the difference between a knockoff and an official piece were. The end result of my studying was that no, not bad at all. If nothing else, this could provide me with a sure and absolute answer to the question "Do I want to own the official version despite the price tag?" and if that answer was going to be along the lines of True I could just order one and this one could be donated to the Project Assistants for playing. Or I could bring it to the office as decoration!

28.8. - Placing the order

After wasting some more days pondering and changing my mind I gave my written orders to the German Amazon and started waiting. Of course I could've ordered the exact same thing from ebay as well, I just had not thought of it. Perhaps I thought, in the back of my sick mind, that this could prove to be less of a hassle in practice, in vain, as I was 100% certain of having to pick up the phone and call the customs office for item codes.

I pixelated the example pic just for the fun of it, even an eyeless person would recognize this

Waiting

The box had started its journey on the 30th and I was perfectly prepared to wait for about twenty days before anything of importance was going to happen. Of course I was refreshing the "track package" view a number of times per day just in case my order pinged at a checkpoint somewhere along its route. Every single time it was the same: no updates.

11.9. - Reception

On a Wednesday morning I arrived to work as usual, turned on the lights, started the coffee machine, being the first one in. Stumbled to my workstation half-awake and found a surprising cardboard box on the corner of my desk! It hadn't been stopped by the customs, even as I was so sure it was going to be in their clutches for a painfully long amount of hours while the bureaucracy grinded forward. Not that I was complaining, no no no.

11.9. - Deboxification

Of course I had to open the actual box right away, immediately, stat! I was giddy as a schoolboy, as Dr. Jones put it. On the topmost blister we had a set of spare faces, a key to Vector Sigma, a mistreated alternative chest plate, the mind control helmet, a laser dagger/sword, a pistol, an energy mace with a posable and a freely floating energy chain, a flight stand and a silencer. Giggle giggle.

Following the packing order the bottom blister had Megatron himself with his forearm-mountable cannon. I may have chuckled out loud for the nth time in a short time. Luckily I was still alone at the office, the hour being indecent and all, so I didn't get any odd looks.

Oh yeah, there was also an instruction booklet, but 98% of the textual content was 100% useless for me, as I didn't understand a single character that was not from the Latin alphabet %)

At some point, while I was detaching the Fusion Cannon that I had just quickly installed on his forearm, you know, to see if it fit, I accidentally pressed on the button on it. It had come with batteries installed! Again, I may have laughed out loud, after being briefly spooked by the unexpected sound effect.

In the mode 1 the cannon played out the transforming sound, it had both the sounds of transforming into the robot form and into the alternative mode.
The mode 2 played a Megatron quote from the Japanese version of the cartoon, it had a set of five, obviously I didn't understand a word. After reading what they were I could almost get them. Now the world was just missing a Frank Welker sound chip...
Mode 3 played the firing sound of the Fusion Cannon. Kaboom! KABOOM!

Muah!