The Energon Pub

The 2008 Holiday Season is upon us Seibertronians, and with it comes the 61st Annual Toys 4 Tots charity drive, brought to us by the United States Marine Corps Reserve. This year, T4T’s hopes to collect thousands of toys for children near and far to bring a little cheer to those less fortunate this holiday season.

Throughout the nation, Toys R Us stores will be collecting toys for the event along with a host of other “drop off” sites. These toys that are collected will then be separated and shipped by the US Marine Reserves to local hospitals, schools and institutions for children to enjoy.

In conjunction with Toys R Us, HASBRO, Inc. and others, Toys 4 Tots is looking to make this year the biggest collection of toys ever! But they can’t do it without our help. So if you see a drop off bin at a TRU while your hunting for that exclusive, or notice that your local Fire Department is collecting toys as well, you can purchase any toy, preferably a Transformers toy , and leave it, unwrapped, with the collecting authority.

Let’s help to make this holiday season, that may be battered by rough financial times, a joyous one for some children who may only get this precious gift for the holidays.

Thank you all,

Seibertron.com Staff

We support it every year at work. Last year we raised over $1,200 and bought so many freaking toys that they had to take multiple trips downstairs.... We filled the box 3 times over. lol. My only wish is that the Marines who pick them up would wear their uniforms. Last year it was a retired one who came in a sweatshirt and sweatpants.

For the past few years I've tried to make a point of collecting a bunch of scout-class figures, especially if I can catch them on sale. They're small, but good, and more figures means more kids can get them.

This year though, the scout-class selection is pretty limited and pricey. I'm wishing now that I'd thought ahead and horded some of the deluxes when they were majorly on sale.

Would the Animated Activators be a good substitute? They look surprisingly good for their small size.

Wal-Mart here has deluxes (all of them) for $7.77 which is pretty much what a scout was costing last I checked.

I usually give a few toys each year but this year I'm more concerned about the quality of the toys I'd give rather than the price.

I might just have to give the activators after all this year.

you can donate money here

http://www.whona.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?S ... =toys4tots

Iron-Man wrote:Wal-Mart here has deluxes (all of them) for $7.77 which is pretty much what a scout was costing last I checked.

Sweet action, they were still on sale here too. And turns out the Activators are nearly $9! WTF?!

Anyway - grabbed animated deluxe Oilslick, Jazz, and Optimus for the kids.

I know the first two are good (sturdy, well articulated, and stylish) but I'm going out on a limb with Optimus - I hadn't heard anything bad about him though.

They had new classics too (I grabbed Smokescreen and Sideswipe for myself ) but the latest run of Classics has felt more fragile, complicated, and look more difficult to repair than their animated counterparts.

While they're good for looks, they didn't seem primo choice for a kid who will be loving the hell out of the toy.

Maybe I should have grabbed a couple more while they were discounted, but our final bill was pretty steep as is...



Additional Plug - For those of you that have packratted broken figures, you might look around at what the local fire stations do around Christmas. The Firemen back in Jefferson City used to (I presume still do) collect broken toys and spend their free time trying to repair them for their own Christmas toy-drive.

Alternatively, if you're one of those mad-awesome kitbashers out there, you might ask if they want help with that...

We are doing a troop for them sometime in early December.

Cyber Bishop wrote:We are doing a troop for them sometime in early December.

I was about to make a comment about the Snowtrooper armor not being uncomfortably warm for once, but then I remembered you live in Louisiana.

Have you considered working a camelpak into that suit? Seems like it should be feasible, without anyone being the wiser.

It is not as bad as you think. I have a fan in the cowl that blows air up into my face and it makes the world of difference.
And for some reason sine I lost all this weight (down to 180lbs now which is right where I need to be) I am not hot like I used to be.
Besides I have my Anakin (which is the hottest costume I have to be honest), my Officer and my Gunner/crewman/navy trooper.

It does get cold down here though.. And the humidity makes it worse.

I actually have a Toys for Tots drop box in my deli. Usually we can fill three of those large boxes (I always help, of course)

Any of you who live near Harleysville, PA should feel to stop by. I can give easy directions.

My 2 chitluns have always loved giving to T4T almost as much as getting presents of their own.