Breaking Traditions: Of Paper and Action Figures

(Fair warning, this is going to be a more personal blog about me and not so much my writing. You've been warned!)

I can be quoted as once saying "I will never use an e-reader or read an e-book."
Did that change? Yep, it did as of last year. My fellow author published her book on an e-book format and that was the easiest way for me to get it. Then again, I really didn't want to ask for a print copy (that I would have paid for) because at the time I barely knew her. So I bought an e-book. Will I do it again? Maybe, maybe not. I still like carrying around a book to read even if its paper or hardcover or what have you.

Recently, I broke another tradition of mine. Never, NEVER, buying a toy or action figure that I wanted online. There have been exceptions to this before, and by exceptions I mean I already bought a Legacy Megazord because I couldn't find it. Other exceptions include video games and plush animals. I don't count those. I ended up buying two figures that I couldn't find and they weren't expensive. Got them on Amazon.

The other reason was they helped me fill out the free shipping on Amazon. You have to spend $35 and I needed stuff for my Otakon 2015 costume.

So, at this point, you may be wondering one of two, or two, things. A: Why is a 23 year old collecting Power Ranger's toys? The answer is easy. Because I want to and I enjoy using my imagination and acting like a child every so other still.
B: Why did you NOT ever order figures online before?

Well, that's been a tradition of mine. The reason is one I'm sure other people can relate to, but here it goes.
You see, I like the surprise and wow factor of finding these figures out in "the wild" as I've heard some collectors say. "The wild" typically means Wal-Mart, Target, Toys R' US, and etc because their stock is pretty random and there's a chance you won't find something you want.

Even when I was a child, I LOVED going into an old toy store called K.B. Toys and simply looking at all the cool things they got. Not that I ever really bought somethings or asked my parents for them, but still, I loved the surprise of seeing new things.

Now, that surprise is, well, dampened. When I was growing up and saw a new toy, I never would have thought to go online and look up what else was in the set or wave or anything like that. I took everything at face value, but also relied on the box art. (Some of the boxes included pictures and model numbers of other things in the set.)
I can still walk into Toys R' Us and see all the cool Power Rangers toys, but I could also go online and see them too. I'll admit, I could go blind on the whole thing and just not search online, but still, the knowledge is there. (In fact, I just searched to see what the entire toy line comprises of)

I actually brought this up over the weekend when I went to see The Avengers: Age of Ultron with my girlfriend; the movie trailers don't leave anything to the imagination anymore. I feel like the movies trailers and teasers just tell us everything. From experience, the original Jurassic Park Trailers BARELY showed the T-Rex. To contrast that fact, the Jurassic World trailer clearly shows the Indominus Rex front and center.

Maybe the surprises just aren't there anymore? Maybe they are and I'm too old or too smart for them?

On the "not using and e-reader" thing. It would be easier to buy books cheaper, but that ruins the fun too.


Once again, thank you for reading my nonsense about toys and things. The next entry will definitely be about Regolith and the end of Regolith. SO.... Stay tuned!!