Don’t say H1N1 didn’t give you anything.

I don’t know about most parents, but we tend to perhaps over worry.  For instance, instead of loading up everyone in the car, we take turns going to the grocery store so the kids can stay at home.  I know it’s a germ infested world, but this H1N1 crap is enough to worry anybody.  So, it’s 7:30 pm and I’m home with the kiddos when my oldest yells out, “TRANSFORMERS FIGHT!”  So there we are, on the floor, lining up good guys and bad guys on opposite sides in a carpet clad Civil War battle.  And then, we were done.  Each robot standing and posing in perfect harmony. The dork in me emerged and  I had to take a picture.  Good thing I did, because seconds later parts were flying and the Decepticons lay in  a glorious pile of destruction.

Once I had the pictures uploaded and the bad guys defeated, lying in a heaping pile, I noticed a few robots that weren’t true Transformers.  I was familiar with them because about half of the robots my son has were mine from when I was little.  When you’re that age you really don’t notice the difference, but now, on this day, I could tell.

Enlightenment.

For your knowledge pleasure, this is a rundown of the wanna be Transformers and their knockoffs.

From Left to Right:

A Starrior, presumably headless from battle.  Starriors were a short lived comic from Marvel where the Earth was threatened by deadly solar flares.  The human race creates the Starriors to take care of the Earth while man retreats underground.  Despite having an airtight plot, the comic didn’t stay around, but it did produce some cool toys.

A Play Robot, transforms into a slot machine.  Some changed into more interesting things such as roulette wheels and pinball machines.  These were actually knock offs of Convertors, which were twice removed knock offs of GoBots.

And the closest runner up is a Go-Bot, actually a Super Go-Bot Renegade named Bug Bite.  Technically the GoBots entered the scene first in 1983 making the Transformers (1984) the actual rip offs.  However, since GoBots never gained as much fame as Transformers did they are seen as second rate.

Intervention

You want a Polly Pocket instead of a Transformer?  Really?

So, it turns out that my son has entered the phase of “everything I see I want”.  I had expected this, but with some reserve on his part of what the “everything” meant.  But, that’s just what it did mean; everything.  There was no difference between Barbie or Transformer, no want was less important than the other.  Now, Polly Pocket is equally sought after as a DVD of Ice Age 2 and a Puppy in My Pocket commercial suddenly warranted a ” DADDY COME SEE!!!” at the top of his lungs.  I guess we’ll see how this ultimately unfolds.  If on the battlefield that is the floor of his room there are G.I. Joes and Transformers pit against Polly Pocket and some Bratz dolls, I suppose it’s all the same to me… as long as the good guys win.