The Rise of Bruticus: Part 1 - Acquisition

Boo!

This is bruticus. He is my latest catch in my toy collection.

Technically, he's been with me for quite sometime now, tucked away with my other toys in some cardboard boxes at home along with my other toys. (I just don't have enough space for a toy shelf right now that's why they are kept away.) He originally looked like this.

Pretty lame, huh?

But if you're getting it at less than half the price, it's a steal! Hehe.

So I bought him coz he's cheap.Yeah, it sucks. But in all honesty, I bought him because I'm a big fan of the character. He simply is one of the best designed antagonist in the cartoon series. Maybe I manage to catch the episode when he was created that's why I was hooked even if he is on the evil side. 

(Generally, villains are much cooler than heroes anyway, hehe)

Then, out of nowhere, a third company (meaning, not the original creator of the toy) made an "upgrade kit" for this toy. They teased everyone w/ this image:

Woah! Now that's interesting.

Later on they released this upgrade kit as these two 'replacement units.' (will explain later)

The price is one thing. Logistics is another.

Ok, let's go back to that original design.

Initially, he is made up of a single core (torso) with two pairs of limbs. With the picture above, the right leg and the left arm are the same unit, so as their counter parts (the left leg and the right arm). They can be re-attached to other limbs (arm to leg and viceversa) as seen below.

As if it makes any difference, hehe.

But if you go back to the original cartoon series or even the fist toy created, you can see that Bruticus is made up five different components merged into one, not two pairs of limbs and a torso.

His limbs differ not only in colors and but also in structure.

Back to the upgrade kit. So this third party company reverted back to the first design of Bruticus by replacing the pairs of the limbs by two new components. (More of those later.)

So, I have this version of Bruticus and this upgrade has just been released - what to do next?

Well, like hot new products, and like the caption on the picture "The price is one thing. Logistics is another." They are collectors price and can only be bought online, and I don't think I have the guts back then to invest.

So I waited...

When I finally had the guts to do it, the next challenge is how to get it. Locally, you have to buy each unit separately, which is very unwise thing to do considering the price.

Then I tried to make some deals with some people that I know to acquire it online - turned out, they don't trust the online buying too...

So I waited some more...

Then just recently, somewhere around the metro, I found the same upgrade kit as a combined package.

And after some more procrastination, I finally decided to get it last month.... 

...after almost 3 years of waiting.

Honestly, this one of the toughest decisions I've made in my life - to invest something like this.It's somehow liberating

So I dug Bruticus from  the "grave" and immediately set things up. And here are some initial shots.

Sweet...

Next time, we'll check out the components that he's made up of.

See you then!

-ghe

UPDATE: Part 2 is already here! Check it out!