#but i'm also really jazzed for the mind workers as well because they look so fun!!!

[motionalemotions]

Yeah, you know what I don't have a caption for this.

[sternerstufftoys]

He Got Touchy

(inhales)

Oh man, I don't want to do this. Why am I doing this? No-one's making me do this. I'm still doing this. I said I was doing highlights from each year of G1 one week at a time, and you can't talk about 1984 without Optimus Prime. I already did Megatron, now it's time to get the big red bugger out of the way.

Because here's the thing. I don't much like Optimus Prime. No, that's not quite right, I like him well enough I suppose. I like him fine. But I don't care about him. Yes, that's more like it. I don't really care about Optimus Prime. He's not my space-dad, he's not the hero I ever admired as a toddler, he's a relic, a symbol of everything that came before.

Like I said in the Jazz review, I was born in 1984, so by the time I came to Transformers a few years later, Optimus was already dead. Rodimus Prime was in, and any sightings of Optimus felt more like flashbacks than anything else. Optimus was part of the generation that your older cousins might have owned, that the big kids that had grown out of Transformers would recognise. We didn't need them any more. We had Chromedome. And, uh, Wheelie.

Still, I remember being excited by the anticipation of watching The Return of Optimus Prime again. The second coming was a big deal, even if you don't remember the first coming. And then it came and went without leaving an impression, because the nicest thing you can say about it is that it's kind of a dull episode. But returning to it later...

Listen. Rodimus Prime earned his place as leader. It took most of a season, but he bloody well earned it. He doubted himself, he questioned the idea of leadership, he self-reflected until his arse was a highly-polished sheen. But. He. Earned. It. It's the closest that the G1 cartoon ever got to a story arc, with Rodimus finally overcoming his doubts by the penultimate story, The Burden Hardest To Bear. And then before the series could die a merciful death, along comes Optimus to undo everything because he's Optimus Prime and he made some kids cry in 1986 when he went all grey and stopped moving. In doing so Hasbro made it clear that they weren't going to ever commit to any real changes in the franchise, and that sooner or later everything will just reset back to normal. Back to boring.

And yet. When I opened up the packaging for this here KuBianBao MP10-V Convoy, a downscaled knockoff of Takara's own MP10 from a few years back, I have to admit to feeling a thrill of excitement on seeing it for the first time. Specifically, the luscious deep blue of his legs jostled a memory I didn't realise I had, of being round a friend's house as a child and jealously seeing their G1 Optimus Prime in person, with that same navy blue hue that somehow signified a certain level of quality well above anything I had at home.

Damn. I like it.

I'm not going to bang on about how good MP10 was or is. It's still to my mind the best version of the character that exists, and that's including the more recent cartoon-accurate MP44. MP10 looks like a truck, not a hastily-animated drawing of a truck. Here though it is scaled down to better exist next to main line transformers, with the loose scale guide that means that cars are deluxes, trucks voyagers, etc. Plus he doesn't tower over his mates in robot mode either.

There's only a few changes to the original MP10 tooling going on, most notably a metallic waist instead of the plastic one that the original had. You also get a bunch of extra accessories as well - some spare heads I could never get on, a jetpack in case you want him to recreate that time he had a jetpack, and a sword in case you want to... well, swords are cool I guess. God knows where the sword originally came from, but in solid die-cast metal it could double as a handy letter opener if you want to resume your correspondence from your fellow 19th century fops. Whatever its origins, KBB didn't think to give it the wrapping around the handle which it was clearly designed for, so it rattles around unconvincingly in old Optimus's hand. Still, taking the rubber grip off a cheap biro and gluing it on seems to have done the trick.

The trailer, and the rest of the accessories such as roller and a slightly sunburned Spike, were sold separately some time later, meaning that the eventual cost was not altogether far off what an actual MP10 would be. Still, you can't not have a trailer. The vestigial part of my brain that was programmed as a pre-toddler to enjoy putting things inside of other things still gets a tickle out of stashing deluxe cars inside. I'm a simple soul.

That'd all be fine, but let's stop ignoring that elephant in the room. This is a knockoff, and that troubles me. Not, I should add, that I'm especially troubled by the infringement of copyright, even the outright theft of physical moulding equipment owned by Takara. Okay, that's pretty low, but Takara and Hasbro are big enough, old enough and wealthy enough to take that hit. What bothers me more is that, being a knockoff, there's no way to tell how, where, or in what conditions it was manufactured.

It's a high-grade knockoff, using high grade materials, so skilled and trained workers had to have been used to put it together. But even so, while Hasbro and Takara would be publicly raked across the coals if they were ever to be exposed as using exploitative working practices in their factories (and risk their stock values) KBB have no such concerns. Were the workers paid adequately? Were their working hours reasonable? It's not like we'll ever be able to tell, as they'd never advertise their situation, having flagrantly broken the law to even produce something like this. And it'd be a mistake to assume that just because the product is good that the company's moral compass is equally good.

And it's not perfect either. Partly due to the downscaling process that makes certain parts small and fragile, and partly due to the use of materials which aren't quiteup to Hasbro / Takara's standards, there are flaws in MP10-V's makeup. One of the flaps that cover up the wheels on his legs broke off a while ago, and was far too fiddly to repair. The other one is hanging on there - just. Over time the parts don't seem to fit together as well as they did when it came out of the box, and some joints are getting looser with age, while others seem to seize up. So... do I regret it?

Sort of. I regret having supported sketchy knockoff merchants in China. But I don't regret the toy itself. Honestly, if Hasbro or Takara had just made this themselves they'd have had my money, but they didn't. Well, they sort of did with Earthrise Optimus Prime, and the similarities at a glance make it very likely that the existence of MP10-V was a consideration in its creation. And owning MP10-V makes it impossible to ignore the scrunched-up torso proportions that ER Prime has, as well as the disappointingly small trailer that can't fit a deluxe car inside properly. So no, I'll keep my sketchy knockoff for a good long while yet. It's only Optimus Prime after all. I was never that much of a fan.

[poison-note]

Ima do a little rant about my manager bc I'm fuming even over 5 hours after work is done. 😤

Feel free to scroll past this one it might be incoherent.

Anyways my bitch ass manager ficking blows. So first thing I walk in and am told we were only scheduled to have 2 people closing. TWO PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!! WE NORMALLY CLOSE THE STORE WITH AT LEAST 5 FIVE.

They had called people to come in so it was fine I was like haha ya manager I would have left you would've had to close the store early because fuck nooooooo and and ways she laughs

Ha ha light that's so funny

It's not a ficking joke but go off I guess

Anyways since we have people staying extra time and coming at wierd times breaks and lunches are all messed up. I think I've sent everyone on their breaks until one of my coworkers is like "can someone cover the fitting room so I can go on my 45". It is 8pm we close at 9:30. We schedule people to go on their 45 at the LATEST 7PM. So I rush over there to cover. I've finished cleaning my section for the moment so it's fine.

I'm covering for 20 minutes an my dumb Hoe of a manager goes on the wakie and is like 'light your sections such a mess omg blah blah blah'

I am staring straight at 2 of my coworkers. 1 of them new and the other one has only ever worker backroom and register before this. We have an hour before closing and new guy is just staring around-section a mess. And backroom worker is organizing??? As she's surrounded by clothes on the floor and laying on top of racks.

But my manager is griping at MEEEEEEE

I respond

I'm covering a 45 manager

Well when she get back from her 15-

I SAID it was her 45

When she's done you really need to clean your section blah blah do your job blah blah

Cool I cleaned it a sec ago but we have traffic so it gets messy I'll fix it when I CAN.

Then she starts getting on my other coworkers ass

Mind you me and the other coworker she was griping at have been there both over a year. I don't like pulling seniority bc I think it's bull in most cases- but we know what to do.

I don't mind backroom girl and new guy they're nice I have nothing against them bjt they're slow cleaners and their parts were a mess why were they not told anything.

Anyways fitting room girl gets back I go to 'clean' my sections (I went thru the whole thing and there were about 4 things out of place so ummmm??????(it's very typical of this manager tho she always does this to me when I work)).

So since manager has griped at other coworkers too she's pissed off and she's worried we're not gonna leave on time bc backroom girls section is still a mess. I do the closing announcement and all that jazz. And other coworker says something to the manager.

MY FUCKING MANAGER IS LIKE OH NO BACKROOM GIRL IS DOING AMAZING SHE

DEEP CLEANING she's doing her job correctly she's doing it right do you job other coworker...

While this is going on I look out and there is so much loose clothing EVERYWHERE!!!!!!! Then we realize she hasn't touched the fitting room at all to put up clothing. Other coworker is like im not helping in that section. I'm pissed the fuck off. Manager tries to get us to do stuff in that section and I'm like um no. She huffs and goes to do manager crap to close the store.

You are not gonna bitch at me all night about how I do my job- praise someone else and then EXPECT ME TO FINISH THEIR JOB.

I was ready to rip my manager a new asshole if she said anything else to me. Me and other coworker helped fitting room girl put up all those clothes.

I'm fucking tired of this one manager and I know she opens tommorrow and if she says some shit I'm gonna say. Cool I need to have a conversation with you over your preferential treatment of your employees and your shitty treatment of me. Would you like to have it right here or in the backroom away from customers? Also is other manager here, we will be having this conversation in her presence. Better yet if regional manager here I'm sure he would love to hear this.

Anyways I need to start applying for other jobs so I can make sure I have some where else before I put in my 2 weeks notice 😊.

Or other option I don't quit and just ruin managers day evertime we work together bc I call her on her bullshit.