Cycling with Him/Her

Reproduced with permission from Perry Bessas, dated 20 Apr 2003:

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve run across a man and a woman who happily coexist and intertwine their lives, raise a family together, and yet, can’t seem to share a common interest—such as cycling. Maybe I can say this because I’m a man but, it’s always the man’s fault. Well, it’s always the fault of the “experienced” cyclist and that is usually the man.

The script is always the same: A young man becomes involved in cycling and enjoys a sense of achievement from riding fast and far. Riding gives him ample opportunities to meet like-minded people and to explore his limits in the sport. He later meets a woman—a life partner—and, being an expert, asserts his authority over her in this area. He “mentors” her on the proper equipment, riding techniques, conditioning, etc. until she just can’t stand it any more and abandons cycling altogether—fully convinced it’s a dumb, male chauvinistic sport. Many years later, her practically unused bike is sold on ebay for a fraction of the original cost.

It doesn’t have to be this way. By following some basic guidelines, you can avoid this disastrous scenario. A missed opportunity to join together in a positive, healthy endeavor such as cycling, is an attainable dream unfulfilled. This is the advice I have for you:

Expectations

If you expect your partner to reach goals you have set for him/her, the battle is more than half lost. Human beings don’t take to being coerced. They may seem to be on board but, all along, they are sabotaging your effort—even at the expense of their own benefit. If it is your desire to ride across the country but your mate happy riding across town, better to find a way to combine some of your riding that still allows for you to fulfill your separate goals.

Pureness of Heart

Ask yourself some honest questions. Do you want your mate to ride with you because:

• You want to be seen as a loving chap?
• By virtue of her charm and beauty she elevates your status in the group?
• You don’t like riding alone and have no other likely cohorts?
• You feel guilty riding while she takes care of the kids?

These, and similar motives, are not pure of heart. It’s one thing to want something for yourself, it’s completely another to say you are doing something for someone else when you are only serving your own interests. Humans of all cultures and of all intelligence levels have an uncanny ability to sense their own self-interest in any situation so, trying to get over on them will eventually fail. Examine your own interests honestly and you will be more likely do the right thing for your partner.

Don’t Focus on Results

The outcome of any endeavor can never be determined beforehand with complete certitude. For this reason, the best that we can do is to focus on effort rather than results. If your heart is pure, your effort will be pure and the results will take care of themselves.

Practical Points

If your better half is a novice, don’t try to get her from zero to 60 instantly. Why not encourage her to get a cheap, comfortable bike and take some short rides with her every week? If all you have is a go fast bike, maybe you should invest in a slow, comfortable bike for yourself. You don’t have any objections to buying another bike, do you? I didn’t think so. You can increase the length of the trips as warranted but, keep in mind that you are doing this for fun and enjoy your time with her rather worrying about how “the plan” is progressing.

Don’t forget, bikes can be sold or traded up should the situation demand it. By starting with something cheap and comfortable, expectations are automatically lowered and the pressure is off. Also, it’s hard to pick your perfect bike on the first shot. A cheap bike is a great way to find out what’s what and to help develop input on future models.

The Fitness Thing

Lastly, never underestimate the motivation provided by losing weight, toning up, and looking good. My theory about diet and exercise is the same as the rest of life. Negative motivation ultimately fails. If you exercise not to be fat, or to keep your cholesterol from rising, you will eventually fail at it. If you focus on pursuing activities such as cycling because they are fun, your health and physical fitness will be the byproducts of a pursuit that is pure of heart (there’s that phrase again)—for it’s own sake. If we understood this as a society, we would stop imploring people to exercise in order to “score a good mark” on the next medical exam and encourage them to undertake fun, healthy activities. Everyone would seek their own level but, our society would be better off as a whole. Maybe then, we wouldn’t have a nation of people sweating in dark exercise rooms and gaining weight in the process. That, however, is a topic for another article.
__________________________________________________________

Jo Ellen Adds...

First, I would like to say that becoming a born-again cyclist in my mature years has been a transformative experience. When I was able to travel 40 miles, 2 towns away, with only moderate effort, it turned my thinking on its head and new ideas about what is possible started opening up to me.

There were only a few things about my childhood that were typical and my relationship with a bicycle was one of the them. Growing up in the 60’s—riding on the flat, wide-open boulevards of my rural suburban town—was my version of independence. My kid-riding ended years later in an ill-conceived trip down the only hilly road in town on my 12-speed Fuji (all the rage then) that I had purchased with my first paycheck out of college. Landing me in intensive care, the Fuji was hung up and my childhood was over. Five or so years go by and I find myself entangled with a man who is becoming increasingly serious about cycling (70 mile rides, breaking down bikes, building up wheels etc.) The Fuji is dusted off and away we go through the congested semi-urban streets that are so different from the roads of my youth. He, flying ahead on his slick road bike, me, lagging behind and terrorized the whole way, I refuse to make the return trip. The great experiment ends with vows never to ride again.

Fast-forward many years. By now my bike-man, fed up with the hoops he must jump through to ride his bike, has stored his away. (Now we come to the fun part of the story—our latest move to a quiet Connecticut town with any number of wonderful places to ride.) Bike-man’s eyes gleam. He polishes his bikes up. I think, gee, maybe even I can ride here. I get a cheap, mountain bike to tool around with by myself. This time I want to start fresh—put some bad memories behind me. I know enough from being around someone who rides, that I really need to learn a thing or two, to be confident on the road. I need to learn how to shift smoothly (its much hillier here, and I never used the shifters before anyway) and I need to learn how to ride on the street, with cars. I also need to learn about spinning more, so that I can improve my speed and get more exercise from my excursions. This will also allow me to go more miles and give me a sense of mastery in the sport. So I patiently listen to the advise I get and, with a few practical road lessons, I’m off. I never go too far because I’m afraid of breaking down, but I add up the miles in loops and gain muscle strength and speed.

So, of course, it’s not too long before we think of riding together again. He had an old mountain bike—one of those original heavy relics, just enough to slow him down a bit so we can reasonably stay together. Unfortunately, its not much fun for him riding that thing on the road and my cheap bike eventually falls apart. So we go back to square one. I needed to buy a decent bike that could keep pace with the miles I was starting to rack up. Here came another crucial juncture in my new riding experiment. I knew he was not enjoying riding his heavy clunker and would love to ride his road bike, so I thought, if I get one too, we’ll be perfectly matched. At the bike shop, my choices came down to a very comfortable hybrid, or a very skittish road bike. Thankfully he saw how uncomfortable I was on the road bike and declared the hybrid as the winner.


I was secretly relieved, but dejected by the thought that we could never ride together. I won’t bore you with all the match-ups we’ve tried along the way but, ultimately, it took him getting something more closely aligned with my hybrid.


In any case, what follows are things I’ve learned the hard way from this whole thing. In most cases, I’m assuming that the man is the stronger rider. There are certainly many women who are very serious about riding (their non-riding spouses have there own story to tell):

• The stronger rider can never ride a faster bike than the other person. This exaggerates the disparity between them. It’s best if the stronger rider can be handicapped without destroying his enjoyment.
• Men don’t fully understand how much stronger they are than women. Perhaps for me it was enhanced by the fact that I am a large woman, not so much smaller than him, so he always assumes I’m not that much weaker than he is. Intellectually men know they are stronger, but I don’t think they truly internalize it at these types of moments, so they always think you’re dogging it.
• Men generally have a different physical style then women. Particularly those who are into biking (the sport definitely has a tinge of machismo to it). They are much more explosive. They start out the ride that way, blowing out of the driveway, powering up every hill, careening down the hill. Women generally go at a steadier pace. So that means that even if you have arrived at a fairly companionable riding pace, he will most likely have to wait for you at the bottom of the hill.
• Cycling together is like any other thing between men and women. Détente must be reached, but in this case, the man is generally the one who has to yield a bit—not the natural course. Its a commitment, and a compromise, but the resulting closeness is something very special.
• It is the woman’s responsibility to learn a little about cycling and to understand that she has a role in the compromise that riding together entails. It pays tremendous dividends. You get in great shape and riding becomes fun and easy.
• Don’t ride together all the time. He can tear up the pavement in his road bike, you can take your slow jaunts into town (or take a walk even). When you do get together you will enjoy your rides more. I think Perry covered many of these topics in his part article.

The jewel hidden in all of this, is that you are exercising and you don’t even realize it because you’re having fun. Riding also happens to target many of those particularly female problem areas. All I have to do now is learn how to change a flat so I can keep the cell phone at home.

An essay for one of my classes

An Analysis of Mark Morris’s Reinterpretation of Dido's Lament through Dance

Mark Morris’s take on Dido’s Lament is a superb reinterpretation of Purcell's original musical intentions. As both the choreographer and the star of the performance, he presents a work that is at once impeccable and artistically tasteful. Morris’s choreography adds a layer of complexity over Purcell's interpretation of this classic episode from the Aeneid. It is almost as though he has introduced another "voice" into the music, albeit one that is visual rather than spoken. Like a pair of audiophile-grade headphones, this visual guide helps us realize things in the music we could not hear before, much less understand from the written score. At the same time, because certain parts of his choreography model an audience’s response to Purcell’s music, any revelations we come to from viewing his performance actually makes us more aware of our reaction to the music itself.

Morris achieves this counterpoint between his dance choreography and Purcell’s music through a variety of methods. His choreography maps body movements almost faithfully to the melody, yet moves outside the meter on occasion to demonstrate a point. His wide, expansive gestures go beyond the musical form to take a life of their own, sometimes commenting on or moving against the music, but never over-powering it. One observes that the omnipresent support dancers in Morris’s choreography play the same role as a classic Greek chorus. Besides facilitating transitions between scenes, they support and emphasize key aspects of the operatic themes. Later on, they act as a captive surrogate audience for Dido as she beseeches a missing Aeneas to remember her. Through watching their response, we are forced to experience her emotions vicariously.

Dido's lament actually begins when she collapses to the floor from Belinda's tender grip after declaring “death” to be a “welcome guest.” To mark this transition, the camera pans outward to focus on the Greek chorus dancers as they begin echoing the litany of the chromatically descending ground bass in their footsteps. The dancers exit the stage to an iambic pentameter that is reflected in the passacaglia's bass line; moving on the short note, pausing and swaying on the long note, as if they were taking a deep breath before every step. This measured motion emphasizes the gravity of the situation, holding us in rapt attention. As the Greek chorus exits, the camera pans in on Dido and Belinda, setting up the stage for their performance.

An inconsolable Dido rises from her handmaiden Belinda’s caresses to pour her sorrows into song. As Dido, Morris’s first steps around the dancer portraying Belinda seated on the bench are tentative, but steadily speed up. Dido’s steps initially coincide with the long part of the bass iambic rhythm, then on the short, and finally in between – creating a seamless movement that compliments the stop-and-start rhythm of the ground bass. Morris’s choice of this movement pattern is a sly comment on Purcell’s brilliance in using the regular iambic ground bass to conceal the imbalance of the libretto structure.

Not content with merely reflecting Purcell’s musical form in his choreography, Morris feels the need to tell the story, or rather, melody, his own way. To this end, he creates a set of “movement motifs” – unique body gestures for each theme or idea – which he uses when the occasion calls for it (as noted by Joan Acocella in her article “Mozart Moves” in The New Yorker dated Aug 20, 2007). In the first movement motif, we see Dido stretching her arm up to the heavens while singing of herself being “laid in earth.” The irony of this contrast is unfortunately lost on the ever-faithful Belinda who grasps her mistress’s arm even more tightly, seemingly trying to anchor her on to life.

After this teaser, Morris continues the charade that is the interplay between melody and bass line. He continues Dido’s movements around Belinda, his slow steps echoing the solemnity of the repetitive ground bass, but switches in an instant to echo the melismatic emphasis on the sung word “earth” with a quick, lithe patter of his feet. With expansive and tragically exaggerated gestures, Morris stresses the word “no” with an emphatic twirl of his body. He symbolizes “trouble” by waving his arms by Belinda’s left and right side, as if to ward off any troubles that might be plaguing Belinda. As Dido sings “thy breast,” Morris lays his hands on Belinda’s bosom, as if as to emphasize her point. Belinda’s legs part submissively in response.

These actions are far from being mysterious. Dido, in her distraught frame of mind, thinks that Belinda is actually Aeneas. Being conveniently present, Belinda can act as a surrogate for Dido to express her emotions to Aeneas in absentia. Morris has also imagined Belinda to be an extension of Dido when he makes her part her legs in a stylized sexual response. But the infinitely malleable Belinda regains her identity again when the lament moves on to its second part.

At this point, Morris invokes the ever-present but patiently waiting Greek chorus to be another surrogate audience for him. This time, however, he involves the actual audience in his performance, beseeching us to “remember” Dido. He uses quite a few more movement motifs as well: arms pulled backward in a vertical “v” shape represent an anguished “remember me,” outstretched arms correspond to “ah,” and palms raised to one’s temples means “forget.” “Fate” is intriguingly represented by the raising and crossing of the two arms in an inward-to-outward movement. But this is an apt choice because the cross symbolizes something that is wrong and should be deleted – which is exactly what Dido intends Aeneas to do with the memory of her death.

Morris continues the thoughtful interplay between the melody and the bass line by alternately emphasizing them. As Dido sings “remember me,” he strides across the stage to each side, reeling in the Greek chorus dancers with the invisible lines connected to his hands. Each time, he raises his leg up after the Greek chorus responds, ostensibly to balance himself, but actually to coincide with the subdued roar from the ground bass. Although he does not explicitly acknowledge or direct any attention toward the audience during this period, we can’t help but be irresistibly drawn into his performance. One literally feels like a voyeur when watching Morris’s choreography.

Now the camera pans in to focus on Belinda and Dido, reinforcing the climax of the whole lament. The Greek chorus is forgotten once more after they are exhorted to “remember” Dido – a subtle irony that Morris manages to squeeze in. Belinda believes that her mistress is almost dead, as evidenced by her sorrowful bent-down head, while Morris “pulls” her memory toward himself to coincide with the climatic “remember me.” But she raises and turns her head in hopeful anticipation toward Dido as Morris goes once more to the sides of the stage and repeats the “remember me” motif with the Greek chorus. He even directs his attention to the back of the stage, calling upon the heavens to “remember” Dido. With his hyper-extended torso, Morris displays a virtuosic athleticism that is truly memorable. No one will forget Dido, even after she is “laid in earth.”

Morris ends Dido’s lament with great finesse, of course. Instead of using a curtain drop or the help of stage hands, he directs the dancer playing Belinda to lift the bench used in the scene and carry it toward the back of the stage. They do so haltingly though, constrained by the iambic pentameter of the bass line that has come back to haunt them. The whole Greek chorus follows suit, moving on the short note, stopping and swaying on the long note, much like a heart beat gradually slowing down. We are able to appreciate this poignant image in its entirety as the camera slowly pans out to encompass the whole scene. One by one, the support dancers drop to their knees in a fitting tribute to Dido as she dies.

This dance choreography is breathtaking in its simplicity and deep textures of meaning. With just two people in most of Dido’s lament, Morris has managed to create a story-line which compliments and comments on Purcell’s interpretation. With Purcell, we learn about Dido’s sorrows. But with Morris, we actually feel Dido’s acute suffering. With his choreography, Dido becomes an actual living and breathing person demanding the audience’s attention. Hence, Morris’s performance allows us to transcend the experience of listening to Purcell’s music to become an actual part of it. That is why this dance reinterpretation is so amazing to watch.

Before I sell off my Magic: The Gathering Collection on eBay - UPDATE!!!

1. Alpha Black Lotus PSA 8 - SOLD 11 Oct 07


2. Beta Time Walk PSA 8 - SOLD 10 Oct 07


3. Beta Mox Sapphire PSA 8 - SOLD 16 Oct 07


4. Beta Mox Emerald PSA 7 - SOLD 16 Oct 07


5. Arabian Nights Juzam Djinn PSA 10


6. Arabian Nights Juzam Djinn PSA 8 - SOLD 16 Oct 07


7. Arabian Nights Library of Alexandria PSA 8 - SOLD 06 Oct 07


8. Antiquities Mishra's Workshop PSA 10


9. Legends Mana Drain PSA 10


10. Legends Moat PSA 8 - SOLD 12 Oct 07

Seasoning of a Wok

So I bought a flat-bottom carbon steel wok from the Wok Shop in San Francisco, and it arrived today. This is a photo series of how the wok got seasoned.


1. The wok was first washed with hot soapy water several times (to get rid of the oil preservative applied during manufacture), then heated to evaporate the water.

The bottom of the wok is charred from the stove top's heat - probably a sign of an unseasoned wok?


2. Peanut oil was chosen as the oil for seasoning the wok as it has a high smoke point.


3. After the wok was coated with oil on its inside and outside, it went into the oven to be baked at 450°F (232°C) for 20 minutes.


4. Another view of the oven.


5. The oven is below the stove-top.


6. After the first 20 minutes, the wok had acquired a nice bronze color.


7. A closer look at the wok.


8. The wok was taken out of the oven to cool for 7 minutes.


9. The underneath was shiny as well.


10. This is the surface of the wok after the second baking.


11. This is the surface of the wok after the third baking.


12. This is the surface of the wok after the fourth baking.


13. Another view of the surface of the wok after the fourth baking, taken without flash.


14. This is the surface of the wok after the salt seasoning method, which imparts a black color to the wok surface. Unfortunately, it involves deep-frying a cup of salt over the entire inside of the wok for 20 minutes, which isn't a good idea if you live in a dorm with a smoke detector.

Note the intense black color at the bottom of the wok - this wasn't easy to get!


15. The final step in my seasoning method was to stir-fry some pungent vegetables (such as garlic, ginger and green onions) until charred before tossing them out. Because these vegetables contain the chemical allium, they help to remove any metallic flavor in the wok which can be imparted to the cooking.

Voila! My 16-inch (40.6cm) wok with its aluminum cover is now ready for use.


17. After cooking Pad Thai and Fried Rice for the first time in this wok.

From various websites: Woks must be broken in, or seasoned before initial use. This imparts a smooth, non-stick cooking surface to the wok which is superior to any non-stick Teflon pan on the market. A precious wok is one that has seen lots of use and experienced little scrubbing. Foods do not stick to it even when cooked over high heat; moreover, their flavors are enhanced. Clean-up and care are easy, taking little time and effort. A well-seasoned wok will not rust and its blackened surface greatly enhances the flavors of food like no other non-stick pan can. It is as if it has stored memories of the many meals it has cooked and calls on this storehouse of experience to enrich the food it is now asked to cook.

Tao's Restaurant

The menu.


The dining setting. The cup in the background is filled with hot peach tea.


Starters: Bacon and Mushroom Gratin


Hot crispy toast to go with the gratin. You're welcome to ask for more.


Salads: Farm Boy Splendor
A fresh and zesty salad, garnished with lemon juice and chicken slices.


Salads: Fruit Salad
A classic fruit salad topped with a generous portion of crab meat.


Soups: Cream of Pumpkin
A flavourful soup served in a charming pumpkin bowl.


Soups: Cream of Mushroom
An absolutely lip-smacking soup. No Campbell imitations here; Tao's makes their own soup from scratch.


Main Entrees: Grilled Snapper with Japanese Sauce
Freshly grilled fish with crispy skin.


Main Entrees: Tao's Oven Roasted Steak
180 grams of steak, medium-well-done.


Main Entrees: Tao's Grilled Chicken
Absolutely one of the best grilled chicken I've ever tasted! The meat is tender and juicy and steaming hot, just the way I like it.


Main Entrees: Baked Flounder with Cheese
My favourite. Although it looks like fried oysters, this fish is tasty. I wish I had ordered this in the first place.


Ice Grape Mallow Tea
Cool, slightly sweet, refreshing.


Beverages: Ice Summer Peach Tea (left), Ice Rose Apple Tea (right)
Comes with slices of fruits inside.


Desserts: Creme Brulee
Much better than your run-of-the-mill egg custard.


Desserts: Yam Ice-Cream
A lot of yam went into the making of this ice-cream.


Desserts: Black Sesame Pudding
Sweet, can be scooped out in chunks.


Desserts: Snow Creamy Souffle
A small portion of cheesecake.

✫✫✫✫ (out of 5✫s)
Verdict: We enjoyed our meal at Tao's immensely. From the moment we stepped into the restaurant, the friendly and attentive service immediately made us feel at home. The starters, salads and soups were refreshingly delicious. But the highlight was the main course, especially the grilled chicken, steak and baked flounder. Another must-try is the pork-ribs, which we unfortunately left out. The desserts are so-so, but do help to round up this 6-course lunch.

Tao's Restaurant is located at:
1 Selegie Road
B1-19 Paradiz Centre
Singapore 188306
6339-8858

From their website:
Tao's Restaurant was established by Mr Huang Yen Kun in June 2003. During a date with his girlfriend while still in college, they came across a famous French restaurant that was serving 7-course set meal. Mr Huang really wanted to dine in, but at $100 per set, the price was beyond what he could afford at that moment. This incident sparked off his idea of opening a restaurant that serves full 7-courses set meals at a price that will be affordable for everyone. To further value-add the concept, the price for the set-meal is fixed. This means that customers can choose the dish of their preference for each category, without worrying about the price. In addition, there will be new dishes available for customers to choose from every 2 – 3 months. Another special concept that Mr Huang added, was to present all dishes in specially designed "Tao Tzu" (pottery) plates (thus the name Tao's). Tao Tzu plates in itself is a fine art, and most importantly, "Tao Tzu" has a high heat withstanding level which will help to preserve the temperature of the food in a very natural way. All these make up the unique restaurant that Tao's currently is, and why it is well received by all its customers around Singapore.

The Transformers

1. Transformers Takara e-Hobby Shop #91 & #92
Clamp Down & Deep Cover (2003 New Year special release, sold as a set)


2. Transformers Takara #06 & #08 Golden lagoon Meister & Animé Streak (2001 exclusive E-hobby release, sold as a set)


3. Transformers Takara #25 & #46
Trailbreaker & Hoist (2001 exclusive release, C3 exclusive Collectors Edition, sold as a set, limited to 1000 pieces)


4. Transformers Takara #98 & #99
Ironhide & Rachet (2001 exclusive release, sold as a set, limited to 1000 pieces)


5. Transformers Takara #47 & #10
Grapple & Inferno (2001 Wonder Festival exclusive Collectors Edition, sold as a set, limited to 1000 pieces)


6. Transformers Takara e-Hobby Shop Diaclone #67 Kup (Cybertronian with Orion Pax & Diaclone Wheelie) 2005 release


7. Transformers Takara e-Hobby Shop #68 Diaclone Preceptor (Joint Force Magnificus and Ga'Mede) 2005 release


8. Transformers Takara #16-S Megatron black version (2001 e-Hobby exclusive, pre-order online, limited to 1000 pieces)


9. Transformers Takara e-Hobby Limited Edition Exclusive #93 Megaplex (2003 redeco of original Japanese 1985 Megatron - Matt grey with blue inside arms & legs. Comes with all Megatron's accessories and yellow morning star weapon)


10. Transformers Takara #D-62-S Galvatron movie version. New Year special (2006). Animé redeco with additional Matrix accessory. Comes in original 1986 styled box. Has new laser sounds & new phrases from the Movie Galvatron Voice actor Katou Seizo: 1) Destron army! Transform!; 2) Mwa Ha Ha Ha! The Fools!; 3) Obtain it - it is for destruction!; 4) This person is useless!; 5) Obtain it! Crush the Cybertrons!


11. Transformers Takara #D-78 Predaking Giftset, replica of original 1986 release. This set includes die-cast metal pieces. (2004 reissue) This is a combiner (gestalt) set in which a group of smaller transformers combine to form a larger robot. The 5 Predacons (Razorclaw, Divebomb, Headstrong, Rampage and Tantrum) combine to form a giant robot called Predaking.


12. Transformers Takara #01 Convoy black version. 2000 release. Jaf-Con 8, Toyfest & Osaka Toyland exclusives, completely black convoy, limited to 1000 pieces.


13.Transformers Takara #01 'New Year' Convoy. 2002 release. With blue eyes and windscreen, die-cast metal matrix & chain, animé coloured Actionmaster Convoy, mouse mat, additional 'fat' gun accessory, and Cybertron logo sticker sheet. This toy is significant as it was the first time Takara made a toy that accurately rendered Optimus Prime according to the cartoon series. In earlier toy releases, Optimus Prime had yellow eyes and a yellow windscreen, although in the cartoon series he is portrayed as having blue eyes and a blue windscreen.


14. Transformers Takara Pepsi Convoy (2005 G1 Convoy redeco with new trailer to hold a bottle of Pepsi)


15. Transformers Takara #C-77 Rodimus Convoy (2000 Reissue of 1986 release)


16. Transformers Hasbro Cliffjumper and Bumblebee


17. Transformers Takara #90 Tigertrack Figure King #60 exclusive, yellow Lambor redeco (2002)


18. Transformers Takara MP-01 Convoy (2003) - the holy grail of Transformers, apart from MP-04, which is the exact same thing plus a real trailer. The toy weighs about 800g plus, which reflects the amount of die-cast metal that went into its construction. Add the fully articulatable body (including fingers), a real piston suspension system for the truck mode, and gimmicks like a glowing Autobot matrix of leadership, and it is clear that Takara has made an exceptional toy for collectors.


19. Transformers Takara Reissue Collector's Series #0 Optimus Prime (2003) - very hard to find nowadays.


20. Transformers Takara Reissue Collector's Series #01 Jazz (2002)


21. Transformers Takara Reissue Collector's Series #02 Prowl (2002)


22. Transformers Takara Reissue Collector's Series #03 Skids (2002)


23. Transformers Takara Reissue Collector's Series #04 Tracks (2002)


24. Transformers Takara Reissue Collector's Series #05 Smokescreen (2002)


25. Transformers Takara Reissue Collector's Series #06 Megatron (2002)


26. A look at the inleaf.


27. A look at the toy.


28. Transformers Takara Reissue Collector's Series #07 Sideswipe (2003)


29. Transformers Takara Reissue Collector's Series #08 Inferno with Bumpersticker (2003)


30. Transformers Takara Reissue Collector's Series #09 Starscream w/ DVD (2003)


31. A look at the toy.


32. Transformers Takara Reissue Collector's Series #10 Soundwave with Laserbeak (2003)


33. Transformers Takara Reissue Collector's Series #11 Astrotrain (2004). Astrotrain is a triple-changer. Besides its robot form, it can transform into a space shuttle or a train. Note the 20th anniversary logo on the top left hand corner of the box. The Transformers toys first came out in 1984.


34. Transformers Takara Reissue Collector's Series #12 Minibots Set (2004 reissue of #11 Bumble, #14 Drag, #C-62 Powerglide, #86 Adams, #87 Warpath and #85 Gears)


35. Transformers Takara Reissue Collector's Series #13 Targetmaster Hot Rod (2004). Targetmasters are Transformers whose weapons can transform into robots as well.


36. Transformers Takara Reissue Collector's Series #14 Hound (2004)


37. Transformers Takara Reissue Collector's Series #15 Stepper (Targetmaster Jazz) (2004)


38. Transformers Takara Reissue Collector's Series #16 Insecticon 3-Pack (2004)


39. Transformers Takara Reissue Collector's Series #17 Blitzwing (2005). Blitzwing is a triple-changer. Besides its robot form, it can be transformed into a MiG-25 Foxbat jet or a Mitsubishi Type 74 main battle tank.


40. Transformers Takara Reissue Collector's Series #18 Sound Blaster Diaclone Sound Wave with Buzzsaw & Ravage (2005)


41. Transformers Takara Reissue Collector's Series #19 Perceptor (2005). Preceptor can be transformed from a robot into a microscope. His other mode is a tank (after some imagination on one's part).


42. Transformers Takara #C-310 God Ginrai (2001 Reissue of 1988 release, with Super Ginrai & God Bomber). Made in Japan! This toy has a interesting gimmick in the transformation. The small humanoid figure at the bottom left (Masterforce Ginrai) must be inserted into the cab grill in order to unlock the mechanism for transformation from vehicle into robot. This gimmick simulates how robots transformed in the Japanese Masterforce Transformer cartoon series.


43. #C-310E Fire Guts God Ginrai (2001 Ehobby exclusive. Limited to 1600 pieces, red and orange redeco). Made in Japan! From the exact same mould as the previous toy, but a different colour. Cost me quite a bit more too.


44. #C-310E Fire Guts God Ginrai & #C-310 God Ginrai juxtaposed.


45. Group shot of Transformers Takara Collector's Series #0 to #19.


46. A group shot of transformers in traditional packaging.


47. All my e-hobby exclusives - the hardest to find and the most expensive, usually. If I remember correctly, the one on the top left cost me about $400. (Ignore the 2 Hasbro toys on the top right hand corner)


48. A group shot.


49. Another group shot.


50. A view of my 46 transformer toys in full splendour.


51. A better view of my 46 transformer toys in full splendour.