Beaming For Bunnies: Thirty-Six!

Friday, March 31, 2023

Thirty-Six!

It's March 31st once again!

But that also means that last week was my 36th birthday!

While I'm more fond of multiples of five, 36 is a good, even number. I don't like the idea of being in my MID-Thirties, but so far so good. My hair is starting to grow gray.

And like I said last month, birthdays means presents!

I pre-ordered this Masterpiece Skyfire months ago, and it just so happened to arrive as a late birthday gift to myself.

I don't usually splurge for Masterpiece, and this one wasn't cheap. But a show-accurate, well-articulated figure of Skyfire is something I've wanted to exist since I was six years old, and it's finally a reality.

My first impression? Holy Moses, is this thing big. They say this is the biggest Masterpiece figure so far, and I believe it.

Here he is posed with a minifig of Optimus that came with him. He also came with tiny figures of Jazz and Wheeljack to pose in his open compartments. You see, in the show, he was big enough to fit the regular characters in his cockpit, and I love that they included that here.

He also comes with removable chest plates. You see, in his first episode, he switches allegiances from Decepticon to Autobot by switching out the insignia on his chest.

And as you can see,

It's pretty inconsistent.

And just for fun, here he is posed with my G1 Jetfire.

He also comes with three alternate faces. Two different expressions besides the neutral one, plus a mask that evokes the original figure. The new version is definitely not a repainted Macross figure, but all in all, a great addition to the collection.

And in an impulse eBay buy on my birthday, I got in this signed picture of Dabney Coleman. Blame the Daily Simpsons Thursday Simpsons stream for that one. He was streaming an episode of Drexell's Class (his sitcom from 1991) after the episode and I wondered how much a signed picture of him went for these days.

Well, this one was pretty cheap, compared to the rest of the stuff I found. No Drexell's Class stuff. Hell, not even anything from 9 to 5. It was either stuff from Cloak & Dagger or some other movies I'd never heard of.

I found out that he voiced Principal Prickley from Recess, if there was any other reason to love him.

Last week, I also went back to NYC to try Ichiran again. Turns out the best time to go was on a Tuesday afternoon. I don't think I waited more than ten minutes to get in.

Just look at that beautiful bowl! They brought back their classic round bowls this time. When I went almost a year ago, they served their ramen in square bowls.

Even sprang for the fancy pork this time. It was all really good.

I managed to up the spicy sauce this time. I barely felt a level 3, this was level 6. I definitely felt that one, my eyes couldn't stop watering. It definitely cleaned out the sinuses.

After that, I stopped by the NY Public Library to catch their exhibit on rare books.

Most notably, a Gutenberg Bible.

Charles Dickens's writing desk

and of course, the original Winnie The Pooh dolls. They were moved from their home in the Children's Library, which I sadly discovered had been converted into a coat check.