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My big score of Starship Troopers figures came in Monday and I was able to get it from the Post Office yesterday. I had to pay $13.75 in duty but that was fine. It was nice and big and heavy.



The kids and I were very happy to open it and see the goodies within. I had already picked up the rulebooks but now have a second set as well as RPG books. Figure-wise, I got the starter boxed set, another Power suit box, a Chickenhawk and an Ape Marauder, and boxes of 3 Hoppers, 3 Blaster/Blister bugs, and a Plasma bug. It's a whole lot of miniature goodness waiting for some time to properly clean, assemble, and paint.



I had to set the figs aside for a bit now though. I still have my son’s figures from the Battle for Macragge set at the top of my painting queue. I do have a week off coming up in March though.



Running total 2009 - figures bought 47, figures painted 0

Survivor - Tocantins

So, we're running the fun pool again with this one. Here are the rules again.

My picks this time are Joe, JT, Erinn, Jerry, and Sierra as my Wildcard.

Last time I wasn't sure about Bob - I changed him at the last minute for Dan. If I had kept him I would have had 338 and squeeked in at the top of our pool instead of the 261 points I had and the 12 out of 17 I ended up with. Our first place had 334 otherwise.

We'll see if I can do better this time.

Scale Model Addict

I've been following Scott Girvan's video build of Jek Porkin's Red 6 from a MPC X-wing model. He's from the East Coast and is accurizing the kit as he goes. He's got a good sense of humor and is trying things out as he goes. He's been pretty good about updating a few episodes every week.
Go Scott!

Christmas lights

Whenever I see the big Christmas lighting displays from the states, I usually reflect that it must be nice for them to be able to set up these displays. With the lack of actual snow, they can take up until late November to set these up and take them down over January at their leisure. No wonder they can be so elaborate.

Up here, where we actually get a winter, you have to have your Christmas decorations in place right after Halloween, and you are usually stuck with it until March if you’re luck – usually late April. You might be able to take down some of the big stuff, but you’re certainly not going to defrost the roof or fence to bring in the lights. This means that you’ve got to have a bit more forethought in setting up your display as it has to be one you can live with for a while.

One thing about LED versus the old bulbs. The LEDs may use a lot less energy but they don’t melt through the snow like the old bulbs do. They do softly light up the snow from underneath though.

SJG - 2009 Stakeholder's address

Steve has posted his new stakeholder's report for 2009.
Check it out. It's always a good read.
We like Steve - we're glad he's doing well.

The Silence of the Clones

For those of you who haven’t been keeping up, Darth and Droids have finished their rendition of the first movie as an rpg and have started on the second movie.
It’s still good fun.

Impulse buys

I don’t do a lot of impulse buys. It’s not often that the first time I’m exposed to something will I actually pick it up. What I will do however, is put things on a ‘list’ of sorts (some literal and some just mental) and pick them up at a later tipping point. For movies, I keep an actual excel spreadsheet of the movies/tv shows I’m hoping to get on dvd and I track the prices pretty regularly based on flyers. I’ve got many lists and sublists tracking which heroclix figures I have and need – one of which tracks the prices they are going for on ebay. I have similar lists (less involved) for HorrorClix, Star Wars Miniature Ship Battles, and Monsterapocalypse. I usually have a few lists on me of which books I need from various series’ we are following. I even have a list of WWI plane models that I have and what state they are in (own, assembled, painted) for use with Canvas Eagles.

Often, things will be mulling on my list for a few years before opportunity and price conspire to get me to pick it up. The Cthulhu Live books I picked up last year were a good example. I’d been mulling those over since we had seen them play at Wizard’s Challenge in Regina back in the mid-to-late 90s. Once I finally got one of the books though, I quickly picked up a bunch of the others.

The same thing with the Starship Troopers miniature game. I remember seeing the game in Maxx Collectibles a few years ago and did some searching on the web. I added it to my mental interest list and let it mull there. When I came across the rulebook for half price at Valleycon last year I snapped it up. I have since picked up the rest of the rulebooks on ebay and am now trying to get some of the figures.
Sometimes, when other items have been cleared, items from less crucial lists get moved up to my short list. These are the ones that I am actively looking for and will buy when found within my pricing guidelines.

The same works with the movies, I have over 500 movies on my want list but can’t afford to get them at current rates. Even some of the ones in the $5 bins have to allotted as funds allow. After being on my Christmas and birthday list for the last two years, the Creature of the Black Lagoon Legacy collections and the Kung Fu TV series (season 2 and 3) are now on my short list. The Back to the Future trilogy is waiting for these to clear the short list before being moved up.
Unless I get it for my birthday.