Happy Life Day! (Merry X-mas, happy Festivus, Season's Greetings, etc.)

Hopefully I won't be off the radar much this holiday week. But if I have nothing TF related to write about between now and New Years, well, thanks for the visits and comments. It was great connecting with a bunch of TF fans from around the world this year.

In the meantime, here's some Life Day cheer:

Silliness.

Not much to discuss. Didja listen to the podcast? Read the interview with the NASA robot engineer? Read my gushing review of Skids?

I've got two silly pages of dialogue rewrites. Enjoy (one after the jump).

A ROBOTS WITH COFFEE interview on the ol' FB.

If you didn't have a reason to visit the Facebook page for Robots With Coffee, well maybe now is a good time, as we put up our SECOND interview, this one with a NASA Engineer who works with robots (and she also drinks coffee). And her answers to our loaded questions are awesome. What a good sport. So please please please visit the RWC Facebook Page and hit the "like" button and read the interview.

-paul

Robots In Cahoots #8

Eric was like, "Hey, did you finish editing Robots In Cahoots #8 yet? Because we both found Skids and I want to talk about Skids soon but we recorded this other podcast, so, you know, where is it?"

And I said...nothing, because I've been watching Columbo and Community in the evenings after work, and NOT editing the podcast.

So here's ROBOTS IN CAHOOTS #8. It's a little under 50 minutes I think. The sound might be a little hazy in parts because my radiator heat goes off in the middle of the podcast and it sounds like tape hiss. No, it's us trying to keep warm. Topics include the new Xbox and PS4, MST3K, more of the IDW comics, and some other stuff. So, check it out.

I'm, uh, going to go watch more Community.

-Paul

SKIDS! Hooray for Generations Skids! (a completely objective unbiased review.)

YAY! SKIDS!

GENERATIONS SKIDS!

TOTALLY AWESOME! I MEAN AW-SUM! LMAO LOLZ!

(regains composure, put top hat and monocle back on) Yes, quite. Well, if you haven't guessed by the previous post, mentions in many other previous posts, and by listening to Robots In Cahoots, I have been very excited about Generations Skids. Not only does he wrap up the G1 Autobot (regular size) cars from 94-85, but his design and weaponry are influenced by his appearance (I assume, though I imagine these figures are designed well in advance) in More Than Meets The Eye.

HEY, THERE'S A JUMP. Meaning there's more and there's pictures. CLICK ON IT, YO!

Pssst! Skids! I found Skids! (teaser.)

I found SKIDS. No time for a review. Review later.

He is in fact awesome. SKIDS!

Here is Skids with Coffee. He doesn't remember ordering it.

MINOR UPDATE - Looks like the next wave of Generation Deluxes are available for preorder from BBTS, including the "minicon combiner," aka The Ammonites. Okay, creative types, who will be making figures out of the little vehicles pre-combination? All of you?

Finally unpacked my stuff.

We bought a place a few months ago. Yet until this weekend most of my TFs were sitting in this plastic four drawer bin that was tipping over. In a semi-related event, though we wanted to avoid Black Friday shopping, we thought maybe a trip to Ikea wouldn't be the worst thing ever. What luck, not only were we not trampled on, but one of those cube shaped shelving units was on sale.

This worked out really great because the REST of my belongings were also still boxed up. My little office room was so full of boxes of books and such that there was only room to walk from the door to the computer. So this was a pretty good weekend to assemble things for the wife, clean a few things out, and finally unpack the junk I've accumulated over the years.

I have a lot of reorganizing to do. There's not a lot of rhyme or reason as to how the TFs are displayed other than that they're not as heavy as books or comics or records so I put them at the top. We may even get a separate display case for them, who knows. The cast of More Than Meets The Eye are actually on a shelving unit in another room because that's how much I love the comic.

I have a few other things I need to do. Like thinning out the non Classics/Generations related stuff, displaying techspecs, convincing IDW to let me write a Sideswipe ongoing, things like that. Also, be a good homeowner. So much work! Homeownership is haaaarrrrrd. But it's nice to finally see the floor in this room now.

OTHER STUFF:

-expect a new Robots In Cahoots podcast soon.

-Y'know, I keep wanting to go to this. I found out about it a few years ago and then when it comes time for it something comes up. Should I go? I should go.

-Found TF Prime Vehicon, the RiD version, at Five Below for $5 (duh). He's kind of a shell-former, but c'mon, the leg/hood transformation bit is AMAZING. Seriously, that's some impressive toy engineering.

-I saw some of the MST3K guys do a q&a a few weekends ago. Funny stuff. What a great show. I have nothing else to add.

-Here's a SILLY PAGE!

Slow news day. Skids anticipation. Declarative Statement On 3rd Party Figures. Silly page.

Not a lot going on around here. So:
-thanks Heroic Decepticon for the coffee shoutout in his awesome 2 part SKIDS review (I linked part two, with the leg fix for Generations Skids. You can find part 1.).
-And now I can't wait for Skids. He looks AWESOME in those pics (double good jorb, Heroic D!). So many TF fans have posted about how awesome Skids is in More Than Meets The Eye and Hasbro responded (or already had plans, who knows, who cares) and it looks like they hit a home run. (My expectations are high.)
-Eric of Til All Are Mine is all "when are we gonna podcast? when are we gonna podcast?" So we'll record Robots In Cahoots #8 probably this weekend.
-Make sure you're hitting the list of blogs on the right sidebar (scroll down a bit, you'll see it). Lots of good stuff lately.
-Now, I saw Optimal Omega's post about 3rd party stuff and I was going to argue with him, but I actually pretty much agree. He included a pic of iGear Brawn and I LOVED iGear Brawn. I disagree that iGear Brawn is Legends size. He's Classics Bumblebee size. THE JUMP:

My idea for a Roguelike game: SWERVE-QUEST!

Okay, bear with me. I was thinking about the Rogue game today. If you don't know, it's a simple computer game from the 1980's that has been modded and redone a billion times or so. Why look, here's a Wikipedia entry.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_(video_game)

So think D&D style, turn-based with strategy involving weapons and magic spells, upgradable hit points, and letters in the alphabet to signify enemies.

ANYWAY, I thought, what if the main character were SWERVE from More Than Meets The Eye?

What if it were up to him to save the day?

I don't know programming so I don't know where to start. I did see a "how to code a roguelike game" page so I know there's info out there...but it's not as easy as just copying the code and replacing "dragon" with "Seacon" or something like that. And I'd reduce the number of items (like curing potions with various types of Energon) and cut out things like magic.

So I wrote down some ideas. Loose plot, who the enemies are, what kinds of weapons, things like that. It's all after the jump here; there are More Than Meets The Eye SPOILERS even though I take liberties with how things happen for this game idea.

Robots With Coffee contest - give our KO a name! (and a Silly Page.)

Hola, Amigos. Robots With Coffee is having a contest. THE PRIZE? Issue 1 of More Than Meets The Eye...the $1 version that came out last week!

Why, a comic book reprint with a cover price of ONE DOLLAR? Totally worth the effort needed to go to the RwC Facebook page and think up a name for THIS guy:

This is a KO Seeker I found at Quake.
I did NOT paint him like this.
He, or even She, needs a name.

You can also enter in the comments section but you can't do it anonymously. Winner gets a copy of the $1 reprint of issue 1 of IDW's More Than Meets The Eye by John Roberts & Nick Roche mailed to them. The postage will cost more than the comic book. So, enter. This contest is NOT sponsored by Hasbro, IDW, or anyone affiliated with Transformers or responsible for the comics. But James Roberts DID retweet the contest on Twitter so that made my day.

AFTER THE JUMP: a Silly Page!

Silly page: Arcee getting her own Generations figure?

I sure hope so. And I hope it's not a movie (TF 4) character snuck into the Generations line.

Here's a silly page on the matter.

Happy Birthday STEVE DITKO!

He co-created Spider-Man!

He gave us the trippy worlds of Dr. Strange!

HE DREW GEARS HAULING POTATOES TO SELL AT THE MARKET SO HE COULD BUY ENERGON!

And, uh, a somewhat disturbing version Trailbreaker.

Anyway, enjoy.
-paul

HAPPY HALLOWEEN N STUFF!

Not a lot to add because A. no new TFs that I want and B. ARKHAM ORIGINS! Arkham Origins, Arkham Origins, and Arkham origins.

Oh wait, this bomb was dropped on TFW today:

• Generations Voyager Brainstorm
• Generations Voyager Roadbuster
• Generations 30th Leader Jetfire
• Generations 30th Leader Megatron
• Generations Deluxe Arcee
• Generations Deluxe Chromia
• Generations Deluxe Hardhead
• Generations Deluxe Jhiaxus
• Generations Legends Brawn with Mudslinger
• Generations Legends Gears with Eagle Eye

Holy bajeezus. Arcee? CHROMIA? Roadbuster?

GEARS?!??!

I thought I'd be done after Generations Skids and Legends Swerve & Tailgate, Hasbro. BUT YOU KEEP PULLING ME BACK IN.

I'm wearing a Soundwave shirt at work today and have the cassettes laid out on my desk. (I'm going to have to explain to the college kids what cassettes are.)

No, I don't have permission to dress up for Halloween. I'm Thundercracker,
one of the original Seekers. Why so serious, HR?

Kiss PLAYERS? I have no idea what you're talking about.
Do I really have to explain to you kids who Paul Stanley is?

Robots In Cahoots # 7 (podcast!) - It's Not That Kind Of Podcast!

A few posts ago I shared the long delayed Robots In Cahoots podcast #s 5 and 6. I took my sweet time getting them together, as we discussed Botcon and perhaps some other stale stuff.  Then shortly after posting them, Eric (Til All Are Mine) and I got together and ended up talking about Metroplex, and I happened to record it. I planned not to edit it for a few weeks because I had a lot of stuff coming up, but then Eric texted me that someone requested to hear it. What, we have listeners? Okay. Well, I STILL hadn't planned to edit it, so NEENER NEENER.

However, I had some extra time TODAY and so I grabbed the file and started editing it. Here's ROBOTS IN CAHOOTS #7. It's just under 40 minutes, we talk about Eric's Metroplex (this is where a video camera would come in handy), innuendo two grown men make while reviewing Metroplex, my recent disapproval of 3rd party stuff, and Constructobots. Or Construct Bots. Whatever. Anyway, it ends somewhat abruptly; our original conversation was 80 minutes but the 2nd half can be its own episode...if I choose to edit it, but I might scratch it as I'm not sure how interesting it is. We can talk about the topic (comics) later...and by the time I DO get around to editing it, it'll be old news. We TRY to keep the conversation not exactly current but not stale. Our Botcon/travel episodes weren't exactly time sensitive, or at least I didn't think so. It's just me grilling Eric more-so about his experience and less-so about what was announced. But yeah, I'll try to get future installments up quicker, of course.

Hit me up in the comments section. We're talking about doing some video in the near future.

In the meantime, I'm going to go back to listening to the new Pelican album. I have a lot of non-Transformer writing and ranting I need to get back to.

Coffee soon,
-Gassy Autobot

Recent acquisitions!

...Last week I snatched up a loose Generations Sandstorm from Quake (my local vintage toy shop). Not only am I doing a little bit to save the earth, but the complete figure without packaging was pretty cheap. Pretty awesome considering how recently it was released. I wasn't going to get the toy until I saw it free-of-packaging and cheap. 

I stopped by THIS weekend, I saw Generations Springer, also loose & complete. What the WHAT? SCORE! I mean, I wasn't going to get this, but I was actually really impressed with Sandstorm. I guess this version of Springer will be more consistent with my Classics/Gen figures, as opposed to the Universe (Voyager) and GDO (Deluxe) figures I've never really cared for and wasn't sure what to do with. Now I know: I'll sell them and just keep the one I thumbed my nose at.

ALSO at Quake: TF Universe DRAG STRIP. I don't think I've seen this figure before, and I'm not sure of its initial availability, though I'm also unsure it's it's rare or not. It's the Classics Mirage mold, also used to make movie Fracture (which is one of my favorite figures). This was also reasonably priced so I picked it up as well.

I've got a budget I'm trying to stick to: no new figures paid for from my ever shrinking paychecks until Generations Skids and Wave 4 Kreons. So moolah for these came from selling my Alternators. I'm not too sad about getting rid of them. They're neat, most were well done, but I'm in a new place and space and display are both an issue. Our new condo is actually someone's old vintage and ornate building, and I don't want to start drilling holes into walls willy nilly for a million shelves of action figures. So, since I've been focusing on the Classics & related lines, I let go most of my Alternators and a few of my Masterpieces. I know, I know. So the funds for last week's & this week's haul came from that. I'm not too sad: it's just chunks of transformable plastics, the money allows me to get THESE figures, and now I have more space. And the person who got the Alternators will hopefully appreciate the deal THEY got as well as the figures. So everyone wins.

AMERICA!

Coffee soon?

Other stuff:

-Anyone have an extra Universe (Classics 2.0) Hound? Broken? I just need the head for a custom.

-Oh yeah, I'll make some time for some customs soon. Some terrible, terrible customs.

-And then I have to buy this. Maybe one for each toy. Or at least when Legends SWERVE is released.

-The band Pelican put out a new album, "Forever Becoming," and it's awesome. Whoops, that's not Transformers related. I ran out of things to babble on about. See you later.

(If you don't hear from me in a million years it's because I also used the money from the Alternators sell-off to buy Batman: Arkham Origins.)

Sandstorm! And some random stuff.

I found Sandstorm! Like, super cheap. And he's a pretty cool figure. He's a retool of Generations Voyager Springer, who I didn't want to get, but I did want to get a new representation of a G1 character, and again, cheap. Also, loose but complete, so whatever. I saved the trees by not getting one with a package. Hooray!

Pics below the random stuff.

-HEY! Look to the right. I made my rant for MTMTE into its own page. I added issue #22, as writer James Roberts said on Twitter, "If MTMTE ever got the omnibus hardcover treatment, (#22) would definitely end the book." So, #22 will cap off my SEEDS & PAYOFFS rant.

-We recorded #7 for Robots In Cahoots. Got the hang of audio editor. Will edit soon.

-Hey, I made a twitter. @gassyautobot for RwC pics n robot fart jokes. No biggie.

Robots With Coffee - sixth installment.

Robots With Coffee - here's a batch from a few months ago.

You can see these as Eric (Til All Are Mine) and I post them on Facebook. In the meantime, click on Grimlock below...

If you're at the New York Comic Con this weekend, there's a bunch of IDW artists in Artist Alley, including friend of the RwC BRIAN SHEARER. Please go visit him and buy some pages and that kick ass Swerve print he's got for the con. (I won't be there, poop.)

Robots In Cahoots #s 5 & 6 / GDO Wheelie / Little Chainsaw Guy

First up, thank you so much for the visits, the links, and the love. Really appreciate it. Definitely am lookin' for someone to correct me on the MTMTE "Seeds & Payoff" post. I will definitely make it a page in the next week or so.

I'm going to stop talking about that comic for a bit...wait, no, because the following links are me literally talking about the comic book some more. ROBOTS IN CAHOOTS is back! Eric (Til All Are Mine) went to Botcon and when he got back we talked all about the event, what was announced, and...oh wait, that was several months ago. Hey, I moved, and then I got a new sound editor and I am JUST getting the hang of it. I had nearly ZERO time since then and now to edit the conversation.

As a matter of fact, ROBOTS IN CAHOOTS #5 and ROBOTS IN CAHOOTS #6 are in fact from the same "blah blah blah" session that I decided to cut it down into two separate bits, for space reasons and...um, we promised to keep these podcasts short. #5 ends abruptly when Eric's son runs in, #6 is a little bit longer. I actually edited #5 a few weeks ago, and Eric posted it, I was just too busy obsessing over MTMTE among other things and when I decided to edit the 2nd half, I was able to use the sound editor a little better. So I guess we can record ANOTHER podcast soon.

OTHER NEWS! I picked up GDO Wheelie. Why? Because you know what, I hate G1 Wheelie. I hate it with a passion. So I'm replacing it with a larger version of Wheelie that won't fit with the scale of the other Classics, but I don't care. Here's a picture.

I don't need to say anything about the redeco of Jazz other than...what's in his right hand?

It's the Little Chainsaw Guy from the Shapeways 3D printing service! I painted him orange and black, using acrylic but no gloss, hence the paint coming off his right hand there. Sorry.

Hey, I painted him! Hooray!

Okay, talk soon.

IDW's More Than Meets The Eye series - seeds and payoffs.

MAJOR EDIT: I duplicated the "Seeds & Payoff" to its own page. And I added issue #22. All future updates will be on that page. Thanks.

Continuing and concluding with my ranting and praise of MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE!

So here's the meat of what I'm getting at: More Than Meets The Eye is either a comic where some jokes were later turned into plot points because, "Oh yeah, I said THIS about THAT back then, maybe I can squeeze it in" OR James Roberts planted some seeds in what must have been some amazingly descriptive scripts, because artists Alex Milne (and Nick Roche, and many others) put these things right on the page and mind-blown fans have gone back and reread the book several times, only to wonder how on Cybertron they missed it the first time. (It's the latter.)

Transformer comics are not known for their subtlety. Transformers, the brand and the characters, are not known for subtlety. But these moments in the book that you giggle at, or just pass over with your eyeballs while wondering when they're going to address a lurking evil in their midst, pay off out of almost nowhere; Suddenly you GASP because their Darkest Hour is at hand, and what Lights it and saves the day was that gag you found so funny a dozen issues ago.

The plot, again: Rodimus, thinking the empty Matrix is a map, grabs a crew of disillusioned Autobots and heads into space to find the Circle Of Light, a city full of pious religious robots who moved away from Cybertron to live in peace from the war, yet still ready to defend themselves in bad-ass ways. They pick up some old (and not previously-seen) friends along the way, and run into some trouble here and there. It's the journey, not the destination for this book.

You already know from the previous posts that I REALLY like this comic book. After issue reading issue #21, where many threads were tied up (but not all resolved, of course) I have to say I'm really impressed. It's not a perfect book; there are inclusions of characters who happen to have toys being released shortly afterward (mostly in the return of the Spotlight books) and so you have to wonder if some focus had to be diverted from the planned plot to include, say, Metroplex and the Titans every so often. There's also a flashback narrative where one wonders if it was mandated by the corporate property owners to include a story about Optimus Prime, considering that he is currently out of the regular narrative in both ongoing titles (Robots In Disguise being the other)...but what is great that this narrative is in fact a story ABOUT a narrative. And the inclusion of the Titans (Metroplex sized characters, now available at Toys R Us) isn't jarring in the least bit. "Hey everyone, it's POOCHIE, the dog! He's a 1/3rd Fonzarrelli!" You know what I mean.

What follows after a jump: a summary, a few problems I have with the book, and a MASSIVE AMOUNT OF SPOILERS, because I went through page by page and tried to pick out every seed planted and where it pays off, and POSSIBLE seeds for...future issues! This last bit will be only good if you've read the comic.

JOIN ME!

More Than Meets The Eye and how it stands out from other TF comics

Here's another rambler, gushing about the MTMTE series.

I promised a "review" of More Than Meets The Eye. But did I review the series in the LAST post? I just wanted to post a quick update that I was going to write something long and tangenty about the series, and instead I wrote something long and tangently basically praising the series as something special to the Transformers comics and storytelling brand. Because it's a BRAND, and as a BRAND stories about it are going to have limitations. They're going to have editors and copyright holders standing over them saying "no, you can't do that, we have toys to make" and whathaveyou. And that goes for REGULAR superhero comics too, because if you know anything about the history of comic book publishing and the REGULAR content that drives the industry, superhero comics done by committee represent BRANDS just as much as constantly re-booted stories about iconic fictional robots do.

Custom idea. Coming soon: MTMTE review.

Thinking about doing a custom. The little medical drone from More Than Meets The Eye. Speaking of which, make the jump here and read my blatherings about the comic book.

Silly pages. More Than Meets The Eye is awesome.

I hope no one minds the frequency of posts. Anyway, have I mentioned how much I like IDW's More Than Meets The Eye? There's a (supposedly) spoiler-free 3 page preview linked here at Seibertron. But anyway, a silly dialogue re-write.

Of course, I have my own suspicions on what will happen to certain members of the Lost Light crew (like, say, Ultra Magnus). Also, solicits for upcoming issues shows certain individual characters on the covers, so, you know, they apparently live out the big event these issues had been leading to; what a wild ride it's been!

"Dark Cybertron" is the big crossover between both MTMTE and Robots In Disguise, and starts in November with a Dark Cybertron one-shot, and you can pre-order these things at your local comic shop. Your local store can also pre-order a $0.99 priced copy of both MTMTE and RiD #1. So if you missed out, these introductory issues will be a whopping George Washington-bot each. Get them and enjoy some of the best TF comics in its publishing history.

Mayhap I will write about the IDW series, where it started, how it dug itself into some weird holes, and how writers like Shane McCarthy and Mike Costa did their best to get the TF saga to climb out of these holes before, let's face it, James Roberts came to the rescue and gave a ton of depth to the barely-explained-yet-somehow-really-confusing Simon Furman backstory the series started out with.

Mayhap I will.

Oh, Robots In Cahoots #s 5 & 6 soon.

Generations...HOIST! And I interviewed Brian Shearer for Robots With Coffee.

So I mentioned the ROBOTS WITH COFFEE page. Well, BRIAN SHEARER, of whom I've referenced here in the past, did an email q&a with me for RwC. So check it out. It'll be reposted here sometime in the future. Enjoy! I'd rather you hit the like button and comment if you've got a FB account, but if not, go ahead and chime in on the comment section.

Hey, I found Hoist! My pals said they'd look for me, as they found him at the same place I'd check the day before. But now they don't have to. I passed on the FOC Thundercracker from this wave (for now) though I DO like the paint job on Thundercracker as opposed to the Flimsybot (tm) FOC Starscream. So maybe I'll see if someone wants to trade up or something.

Anyway, Hoist. He's like Trailbreaker but green, with a Hoist shaped head, and no "shield." The crane turns into a gun, and it's actually a cool weapon. I know there's 3rd party upgrades to replace one of his (and Trailbreaker's) hands buuuuuuut I'm not too concerned about it. Like the Trailbreaker comic, the one included with this toy is written by James Roberts, the writer behind IDW's More Than Meets The Eye series, and it's really good. Not sure what else to say about this, I'm happy with Trailbreaker so I'm equally happy with Hoist. I don't like the weak, hollow feel to this wave of smaller Generations, I'm not amazed by his or Trailbreaker's vehicle modes, but he's still a good stand in/homage for the G1 and I'm glad this character finally got a figure. So kudos! Just one picture, enjoy. (Whew! So many posts in such a short amount of time.)

silly page - Transformers 4 and no Sideswipe.

Crashing THE ARK...and, uh, a lesson about shipping books, for some reason.

This ended up being a long one, so I put in a page break. Dare to read a boring tale about low cost shipping options when all I started off to do was tell you about a die-hard fan friendly book that I'm STILL on the fence over recommending.

A few months ago I was surfin' around some TF related blogs and in the back and forth on various archival type sites, I ended up looking at this book, THE COMPLETE ARK. It's by Jim Sorenson and Bill Forster, in that they compiled animation models and various background sketches from the G1 cartoon(s) provided by professionals behind the scenes (most notably Bob Budiansky) and hardcore fans.

It was published by IDW, the current licenseholder to the TF comics. This particular collection is made up of two "complete" books published earlier, the first dedicated to the G1 cartoon and its animated movie, the 2nd dedicated to the various Japanese cartoons that carried on the G1 legacy (only recently released in the US on DVD). It came out in 2010 yet everyone seems to be out of it. When I saw it on Amazon, it was $30 from one of their sellers. Well, I figured why not, and bought it. Like the More Than Meets The Eye series by Dreamwave (not to be confused with the current awesome comics series by IDW), it's hard to find at its cover price. The Dreamwave MTMTE books collected bios (and drawings) of the TF G1 characters as written and drawn by the DW staff, and since G1 characters had been pretty much the same in most versions of the G1 story up until IDW, I figured it was a pretty good reference to have (of which I own the first collection and the comics that make up the 2nd collection).

Anyway, I saw this "Complete Ark," it was under $30, the 1st book was over $100, so why not. I've mentioned before I've been having more fun looking up TF art and tech specs, this should be interesting and who knows if I will get a chance to see this at close to cover price provided I don't see it at a major comics convention (that I'll pay $30 to get into, you know?).

Robots With Coffee update.

Click on the image below to see the 5th installment of ROBOTS! With COFFEE!

Not much else is going on. If you like Robots With Coffee, visit the Facebook page and hit the like button. You can also follow me on twitter. (I post my RwC pics there too!)

Kreons, bootlegbots, and a few random thoughts.

I don't have anything new as Generations Hoist has made his way into the my geographic area but I haven't been able to find him. Yet. Patience.

However, I checked Target and they had a box full of the Wave 3 of Kreons. There are numbers on the packages that will tell you which figure is which in the blind packs, so I pulled that up online and pulled out the six packages that corresponded to Ramjet, Thrust, Beachcomber, Huffer, Long Haul, and Sharkticon. These are adorable, of course, Lego-figure sized versions of your favorite TF characters. I never posted any pics of the ones from wave 2 that a friend picked up for me a few months ago. So I took a hasty pic of both wave 2 & 3.

left to right: cute, cute, adorable, huggable, awww, cute, lookitthatone, who wants chocolate?, cute...

It's a hasty pic but the new mancave hasn't been organized or cleaned. I moved recently and I spent a lot of time putting together bookshelves and coffee tables and killing all kinds of bugs, so no time to set up the art table and have space I can photograph toys...just as equally incompetently.

One thing I've noticed is that Target, and maybe they're not alone, has abandoned the Kre-O Transformers kits with a few exceptions, which are the Kreons in blind packs and the combiner kits. I'm not sure what the consensus is regarding the kits. Do TF fans just want the little adorably awesome versions of their favorite TF characters as opposed to the unwieldy non-transforming Kre-O kits? I bought a few kits and eventually I kept all the Kreons and sent the building kits to nephews and friends with kids who love regular Legos. Blind packs are slightly annoying to me though I'm grateful for the printed #s identifying which is which inside, as I only want certain figures from these runs.

Random thoughts and some bootleg-bots after the jump.

(further page collection)

So here's some other pages I got from Mr. Shearer at C2E2 from what is one of my favorite issues of the series. It's a big action blockbuster that I thought I'd hate because the story pages were purposely out of order (which I usually question, or accuse, as an admission that the story itself must not have been that interesting in the first place and they try to make it interesting by putting it out of order) and a lot of it is about Rewind & Chromedome's relationship...but the best part is of course the bits between Cyclonus and his unlikely tag-along roommate Tailgate. After the jump!

I got another comics page! And some randomness, like me clearing out a few TFs.

NOTE! MINOR COMIC BOOK RELATED SPOILERS AHEAD! Er, BELOW! Whatever, just read the post. There will be a jump, so strap yourself in.

Latest acquisition. Penciled by Alex Milne, inked by
Brian Shearer, written by John Roberts,
published by IDW.

CHECK IT OUT! I got another page from More Than Meets The Eye from Brian Shearer. I was fortunate to meet him at C2E2 and he was selling his pages from various IDW books he worked on, including both G1 Transformers titles (Robots In Disguise and More Than Meets The Eye). You may have seen a comics page with some new dialogue inserted in; that page is from Robots In Disguise. I really dug that page as it features Sideswipe and Arcee (and some whazzizwhozziz characters like Bumblebee and Starscream or whoever), in a moment when they fight back against the Decepticons (after I thought Sideswipe to be dead! nooooo!). I saw it in Brian's portfolio and I snapped it up immediately. But Brian wasn't done taking my money, as he had also inked half of MTMTE #12, which also featured a few of my favorite sequences in the comic's run, between Cyclonus and Tailgate. And lo and behold, he had THOSE pages, reasonably priced as well! (Pages I picked up? Not part of the linked preview, sorry.) They were sweet, sad, and funny moments in a comic about robots fighting each other, and whooptie do for me, I have them.

So yeah, MTMTE #18, the 2nd issue in a multipart epic which starts off with the most epic Transformers character EVER, SWERVE! I realized that hey, I have no pages from this series with Swerve in them. I mean, I'm lucky to have any at all, but still, why not any with the true hero of both comic series?

Well, this page has Swerve, armed & dangerous. The weapon is hilarious as is the last panel of the page. Please read the preview. I dropped Brian a line to see if he had this page lying around. He did. I sold some comic books (not MTMTE) as well as some action figures (non-Transformers!) to get the funds. The page arrived last week and I took a pic with my phone (and lightened up the brightness & contrast when I got home).

Brian's a great guy and is working on a few projects of his own. Please check out his site and see what other pages he has for sale on eBay.

My interest in the hobby has shifted from completing the G1 line, pre-animated movie, or getting every version of certain favorite characters. I've been reducing my collection to fit in a manageable space and checking out interesting things like the graphics from G1 boxes to, say, getting original pages from a comic book or cels from the G1 cartoon**. I managed to find "The Ark" book that was published by IDW, and maybe I'll review that soon. If you like the artists from these comics series, the prices for these pages aren't off the scale compared to pages from mainstream artists who work on DC and Marvel or have their own properties they are publishing or are having published. In any case, pages are one of a kind (or two, as these are just Brian's inks over a reproduction of Milne's blue pencils), make great art, and buying them directly from the artist helps them immensely. These were a deal (trust me, my budget for both the comics and TF hobby are nonexistent these days, I had to let go of a few things in the collection for this and some of the other recent acquisitions) so if you're interested in this part of the hobby, it's not out of your reach. I mean, people are spending $80+ on Masterpiece Acid Storm, right? Why not buy a page instead?

RANDOM THOUGHTS after the jump!

Knockoff alert! Insecticon wannabe ROBO-BUGS

I stopped by my favorite toy store QUAKE in Chicago and saw these on his pegboards:

Insecticons? More like Insecti-CRAP.

Three of the four Robo-Bugs (according to the back of the card, at the end of this post) by Tek Toys.

I am finding virtually no information about this toy line. My pal Tim happened to be in the store and said that he had some of these, and these were from the 80's, so I guess these were one of the many Transformers imitators of back in the day. They're also seemingly original designs, as opposed to the Deluxe Insecticons that weren't featured in the cartoon most likely because they were not made by Takara/Tomy at the time. Or at least, I don't think these are bootlegs/KO's of the Deluxe Insecticons because THERE'S NO WAY IN HECK I'M BUYING THESE AND HAVING THEM IN MY HOME. 

Now, I did find something called, and remember that I don't work in marketing, ROBO-KATS. There's some information here claiming that Tek Toys specializes in themed TF KO's but there's no reference to Robo-Bugs. Further search finds THIS page, listing a few more KO's, including Robo-Dinos, again by Tek Toys. But no mention of Robo-Bugs (though there are Robo-INVADERS, which are described as bugs). AM I THE FIRST TO SHOWCASE ROBOBUGS? DO I NEED TO BUY THESE? THESE TACKY CHEAP INSECTICON WANNABES?

No. But if you do have more information, including any links, please share and I'll update this post or do a new post. If you worked for Tek Toys, I'd love for you to fly me out to San Francisco and we'll talk for a half hour and then I'll spend the rest of the weekend exploring the town on my own. (What?)

Generations IDW tribute ORION PAX

Though I'm not disappointed by Trailbreaker(cutter), the smaller size (that's the consensus) of his Generations figure compared to previous Generations/Classics lead me to decide to skip out on the remainder of the incoming figures (with a few exceptions like Hoist and Skids). There might be a trend in using less plastic or maybe just an overhaul in all upcoming designs that relies on shell-formers, fake wheels, and flimsy appendages, perhaps to reconcile these designs to something closer to the movie figures (to the point where Gen. Trailbreaker could be retooled into a new movie figure with ease and match the other figures? I'm speculating wildly.). I think it's also because many of these characters have already had Deluxe sized Classics released, so I can skip out on another Bumblebee (which looks like meh, or worse) or Megatron (which actually looks okay, but I like the FOC tank better). I already have several Classics Bumblebees and passed on having several different Starscreams and Megatrons.

Orion Pax, part of this wave of IDW inspired/designed figures, is TECHNICALLY a different character. Prior to becoming Optimus Prime, Orion was a dockworker in the G1 and in the IDW comics series he was some kind of police officer or something. He's still a red and blue truck, but more of a retro themed pickup truck. He's not a bad looking figure and the transformation is pretty good too. His axe is reminiscent of  the one he has in Fall Of Cybertron, his gun a G1 cartoon homage (is this the closest to his G1 cartoon?).

His head is TINY. Maybe it appears tiny in scale due to his tiny figure which should still be larger than the other deluxe figures. My figure's head happened to be stuck, or at least very hard to push down in position, the point where his face actually POPPED OFF in my figures. His head is on a swivel joint, and not a ball joint, and his face just slides off. Unlike other bots, his face and back of head aren't screwed together. So when his face pops off, you get this:

Creepy Baby Clear-Head. Better trademark that character name, Hasbro.

At the very least, if I don't like this figure, I can paint this weird clear head and have a NEW figure.

Like Trailbreaker, his stats on the back of his card seem off. Even the guy not yet reconstructed into Optimus Prime should have strength above "3." The figure comes with a comic (a reprint of an IDW one-shot from earlier this year) and the Orion Pax here seems to handle himself well in battle, with plenty of firepower (1 on the card) and takes a beating and survives pretty well (endurance at 4 on the card). Orion Pax wasn't Steve Rogers prior to the Super Soldier serum. In every G1 version, he's a pretty bulky and tough character. So who is putting these stats together?

Don't answer. I'll be back soon.

silly pages, and some random Generations thoughts.

Quick thoughts:
-got a better look at Generations (IDW) Bumblebee, in package. Nope, not buying it. Just looks like a Flimsybot (tm). Anyone else: thoughts?
-got a look at Megatron stealth bomber from the same wave. Hmmm, I like the previous Deluxe figure from (WFC?) better.
-...general consensus? Trail(breaker)cutter is too small. He should be classics Hound sized. His vehicle is smaller than classics Hound. I think it's just a design decision going forward with future figures, in that the FOC Deluxes also seemed a bit smaller. Less plastic? More space saving features? Well, he's still a pretty solid figure. ANYWAY, here's another silly dialogue replacement page.

Late night incoherent silliness.

It's late. I am still trying to organize things after the move. Maybe I'll have more Robots With Coffee pics soon. In the meantime...did I mention it was late?

but WAIT! Trailcutter's tech specs! Oh noes!

G1 spec #s are represented by the glowing white dots, themselves forcefields to protect what's left
of Trailbreaker's self-esteem.

Okay, apologies to Hasbro, but I gotta point this out. Above is the tech spec from the Generations Trailbreaker, primarily the yellow line. I added the white dots because I thought something was amiss when I glanced at it. Mainly: this is one average Autobot. There is nothing special about him. All his stats range from 5 to 7.

So? Well, Trailbreaker has a forcefield, which in nearly every version of the G1 TF stories (cartoon, comics) has saved Autobot trunks time after time. See Megatron's Master Plan, when the Autobots were sent to the SUN, their ship blew up, and who kept them functional? Trailbreaker's forcefield, which I imagine was reason to give his endurance a "10" on his G1 stats. Did someone think, "well, his force field is a power, so his endurance doesn't come from his actual robot mode. Knock that down a few notches."

A superpower like a forcefield that protects your pals from an exploding ship a few miles away from the sun's devastating heat is weighed by his lack of speed, fuel consumption, and resulting insecurity. Maybe I am reading too much into these things (I am), but the Generations tech spec suggests a troop builder figure more than a specialist. And that's what makes the Autobots special: most of them aren't brave warriors (unless they're every damn Autobot in the movie universe, but whatever), they're architects and maintenance crews and theoreticians forced into battle and using their powers, despite their weaknesses, to overcome the Decepticon tyranny. They have strengths and failings. Bumblebee was a little guy who thought he had the most to prove, never a bad ass warrior who blows everything up at a moment's notice. Trailbreaker isn't an anonymous troop. He's a low key guy with self-image issues who has saved Autobot time after time with his one trick (see MTMTE).

Okay, rant over. I got the G1 #s, in white dots on the above spec, from Botch The Crab's site. That's the real reason for this post, go there and check things out. Fun.

Lucked out: found Trailcutter. I mean Trailbreaker. Well, whatever. Found 'im.

It's none of your business but I'll tell you anyway: I was buying toilet paper at Target and thought to look at the action figures. On a whim. This particular target seems way behind other chain stores of any kind to get figures. Well, kaPOW, I see the 30th anniversary Generations comic book tie in of...BUMBLEBEE! You know, the IDW "ongoing" run by Mike Costa where Bumblebee is elected leader of the Autobots and gets some body work done, giving him his adorable Bumblebee face on top of a bitchin' Camaro. (And if you don't know the Dead Milkmen, stop RIGHT NOW and get on Spotify or whatever else and start listening.) Anyway, the figure itself looked a little cheap. I pushed it aside to look at the figure hidden behind it... Trailbreaker!

Though it's super duper nice to have figure designs inspired by the recent IDW comics, I'm on a budget, and I have had enough Bumblebee figures. And I have a feeling that since it's Bumblebee, this figure will end up in another wave whether we want him or not. Trailbreaker, well, I know plenty of people excited over it and Hoist (myself, documented on this blog, duh). So I snatched him up.

He's sturdier than the recent FOC figures, which I had hoped for. There's some things you should watch out for while transforming or even posing him.

-His front wheels; his shoulder part is attached directly to the "inside" of the wheel, which is stationary. Be very careful turning it into place.

-Same thing with the shoulder ball joint connected to his arm. It feels like I'm twisting the plastic when moving his arm.

-His chest is held down to his torso with a tab. It might be the part that loosens the quickest, and then his upper body will swing backwards, like the G1 seeker jet cockpits/heads in robot mode.

I don't care for the shield bit. What the hey, I'm not too thrilled with his car mode either.

But otherwise, I do dig this figure as far as a Classics tribute to Trailbreaker goes. I was worried he'd be too much like FOC Sideswipe, what with the head (Barely) popping out of the chest and the arms locking into place. This is a pretty good Classics figure.

Even more silliness.

Okay, am I the only one kinda weirded out by the whole geisha/Kabuki face paint thing?
And if I am getting that wrong (because I don't know which is which, just what TFW followed by some commenters said it was) I apologize.

Robots are silly discussion: WINDBLADE? Poor Arcee.

SDCC announcements! an update before I disappear for a little bit.

Eric & I recorded a long ROBOTS IN CAHOOTS podcast but due to some computer issues it will be a little while before I can edit and share it. I don't think there's anything that was discussed that isn't of timely importance, other than what was on his blog about Botcon. That's pretty much what we talked about, Botcon, but it's HIS trip to write about, so you can read his blog and get a better report; the podcast will be mostly about what it's like in general to go to one of these things, since I haven't gone.

Eric mentioned that there'd be a Generations Voyager-sized Whirl and recently at San Diego Comic Con (I am not there) (sad face) this very thing was showcased, along with a few other figures from the Generations line.

I think the most exciting of these is Legends-sized TAILGATE. Also note in that linked article, there's a Shrapnel with a tiny Reflector. But in keeping with the More Than Meets The Eye theme, robots based on the somewhat cartoonish and frantic looking designs of Alex Milne, Tailgate like the upcoming Swerve looks to be a home run.

Whirl, on the other hand? Meh.

Maybe I'll feel differently when I see him. After all, I was stoked about Blitzwing and pretty disappointed other than happy to have a poseable Blitzwing. Whirl is pretty close to a G1 tribute as one can get. His G1 figure was not produced by Takara/Tomy (one of the many reasons why he was never featured in the cartoon) and thus compared to his Diaclone pals his robot form was actually pretty poseable at the time, with moving arms AND legs. The only difference his Generations figure has is elbows and knees. Though the other MTMTE tribute figures (how I'll refer to them from now on, though maybe "IDW influenced" would be more accurate) have Earth vehicle modes instead of cybertronian, I was hoping that Whirl's copter mode from MTMTE would hold true here, like the Voyager Sandstorm figure.

I'm sure he's a solid figure but I'm actually pretty happy with my Headrobots upgrade for Tomahawk.

There's a few more Deluxe figures from the Generations line but I'm not going to get too excited about them, as Skywarp (and Thundercracker) are just repaints of FOC Starscream, and compared to the regular CHUG Seekers, the FOC modes aren't that interesting. Maybe I'll get the Targetmaster. I'm more excited about Tailgate than any of these. However, there's the created-by-fan-vote character, Windblade. Female Autobot 'geisha' paint job? ("Geisha" is the word TFW used, I don't know if that's correct...or even right, you know?) I don't recall the fan vote being THAT specific. Though more ladybots are always encouraged (Um, for the robot singles mingle we have here every other Friday, why do you ask?), eeeeyeah, I'll wait until I see the actual toy...BUT, there might be an ulterior motive to getting such a toy (drumroll):

This might be the figure needed for FOC Slipstream custom.

BOOM.

Okay, I'm going to be away from the computer this weekend, then next weekend I'm moving. So I don't know when I'll have ROBOTS IN CAHOOTS up nor the latest collection of ROBOTS WITH COFFEE. After I get settled. Sorry for the delay. Eric and I had a great talk about Botcon and I can't wait to share it.

Thanks for reading, hit me up on twitter.

Custom DEVCON and the paints I'm switching to...

I am finally getting around to this: I purchased the custom Devcon head from Shapeways along with that little chainsaw guy, but had a problem with the paints I was using at the time.

Before you start posting about my options or ask why I don't do this or that, please keep this in mind: I'm not just of limited talent when it comes to customizing, I'm also bound by a few rules within living in an apartment and by the sensitivity of my wife to certain smells and fumes the solid looking enamels produce. "You just get one of those sprayers-" No, no I don't.

This is, of course, for fun. I am not looking to impress anyone; I'd rather provide a few laughs with things like my Joker Bot and Paul Stanley Prime. I'm proud of my custom Downshift and Road Rage. Some bots look better than others. I have sold ONE custom, my Dark Of The Moon Sideswipe I painted into a G1 theme.

It's not that I've NOT gotten good advice from the customizin' pros, I just don't have the available space and resources to do the appropriate work. I bought a set of Testor's enamel and though the results were a lot smoother, I got a few complaints about the smells produced, and spent a lot of time airing out the apartment afterward, just to turn G1 Bumblebee into Herbie The Love Bug. The wife lives here too.

Using acrylic paints found at a Michael's or Joanne's Fabrics...I got results I liked, especially after putting on a solidifying gloss. But it was a LOT more painting work than when I used the Testor's. And though the other benefit was that I had more color choices when painting (different shades of red and blue) and it was way cheaper, some of the paints needed, like silver, wouldn't stick. My bottle of "silver" acrylic wouldn't even make my effort look remotely gray. Like there was a minor bit of silver rust in the water forming on the figure that I was hopelessly trying to add some chrome to.

Whatever was I to do? We were sensitive to the vapors of Testors, and yet I was spoiled by their results. WELL, hooray hooray. Golden Fluid Acrylics. Lots of options, great results. Drawback? Over $4 a bottle at Blick's.

That sums it up. Devcon here is a mixture of Testor's enamel and Golden Acrylics. The silver acrylic was what I was shooting for, and I like the results.

I was a bit lazy with Devcon (Generations Scourge body, custom head), but I wanted to try it out. I didn't want to paint the whole thing white, which is what I'd normally do. I painted a few parts white, like those shoulder/jet intake parts and his feet. The Shapeways Devcon head was just his face, and the gun on the top. REALLY, if I just removed Scourge's goatee somehow, that would've made the face. Even though the part was of a white material, I should have still painted it. My hands were a little shaky and so there's bleed on the helmet and the eyes. Sorry about that. I didn't paint his chest white with enamel and, still using enamel, you can see the Decepticon logo bleed through.

He's not crying. I just have shaky hands.

You can do a better paint job than me. Please. Devcon is an obscure character who made one G1 appearance (from an episode I still find bizarre: Smokescreen gambling away his friends?). I think you paint his legs completely blue and just leave his feet red, you've got an improved Devcon.

It was just a test and I really like the results. I have some major life changes coming up (moving from my place of 6 years) so I won't have time to do another dopey Paul custom for a month or so, but these will be the paints I'll be using from now on.

OTHER NEWS

It's the silver acrylic that did it for me. I will probably
revisit previous customs for any chrome bits.

Expect a two-parter ROBOTS IN CAHOOTS podcast from me & Eric of Til All Are Mine, where we talk about his trip to Botcon. I should stress that it's HIS trip, so whatever full report on Botcon as far as his haul, contests, costumes, and his detailed interactions and purchases will be on his blog. We found other stuff to talk about his trip hopefully without taking away from what were his scoop on the Transformers Robot World. I'll have the first part up in a couple days.

My friend Rick found the Wave 2 Kreons I was looking for: Hoist, Scourge, Arcee, Powerglide, Lugnut, Acid Storm, Perceptor, and Vehicon. More later on the Kreos.

Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye continues to be my favorite comic book. Not just a comic book based on my favorite action figure property, but just a wild comic book that was once free of devotion to the current toy line, to the point where, as seen in my last post, the upcoming figures owe a lot to these books. Maybe the marketing has fooled me into believing that, but I still say "good show."

OTHER STUFF

I have been watching Bored To Death, a show that ran for three seasons on HBO. It's about a writer who has a bit of writer's block and decides to pretend to be a private detective. I was hoping there'd be more mystery and less day to day Seinfeld-like neurosis, but I'm halfway through the series and am still very much enjoying it.

I'm moving next month. Sigh. I am going to miss this apartment.

I can get behind another Generations (legends) Swerve. And SKIDS.

So I'm watching the Botcon news and pics trickle in.

After the GDO Generations Swerve (a slight retool of Kup), Hasbro is releasing a Legends figure that comes with...some tiny robot, I don't care. It looks like his More Than Meets The Eye comic counterpart, and though I tried my own hand at producing a similar figure, this looks really good, even for a Legends. And hopefully there's some smirk detail in that face. I will probably relinquish my GDO Swerve as a result. (Among the pictured is a similar sized Cosmos; I have a scout or legends sized figure from a Universe series many years ago, and that's adorable on its own.) I am glad I did not order the iGear Swerve; they dropped the ball by not molding his head after the MTMTE design.

The other item of interest are the Generation Deluxes, including (drumroll) Skids! Pictured are blah blah blah blah, I just care about Skids. You can click on that link and see Goldbug or whatever they're calling him, and Waspinator, which will be treated like a big deal. Skids also looks a lot like his MTMTE characterization. This will save me massive trouble of making my own Skids, based off a really great Radicon I saw, which used RTS Jazz, Generations Perceptor, and Revenge Of The Fallen Skids or Mudflap, which are three separate toys, which would be an expensive custom.

A Skids deluxe would pretty much complete the 1984/1985 standard set of Autobot cars and Decepticon jets, not counting minibots. Personally, that's awesome, because I had to make a choice with space issues and I chose the Classics line. I'll have a few G1 keepers (Constructicons, Insecticons, Soundwave & tapes, Dinobots, Grapple and Inferno, minibots) but it looks like I'll have a complete collection of G1 homages... is it strange I'd rather have the new versions of the classic G1 characters?

There's plenty other announcements but these are the two from Hasbro I'll be looking out for. I see a repaint of Blitzwing as DoubleDealer but...meh. You can visit TFW2005 or Seibertron for their up to the minute Botcon announcements. I'm not really one to parrot every rumor in the rumormill because there will be an official announcement, and all I'd be doing is trying to get excited about things someone could manufacture at any time for me to BUY. I will not be entrapped by this consumerist nightmare! And I will use "parrot" as a verb!

Some Wave 2 Kreons on the way. For now, more Robots With Coffee!

I'm expecting some of the Wave 2 Kreons. Woo. I still owe you some blatherings about the new paint I got, and show you my Devcon and my painted Little Chainsaw Guy. After the comic More Than Meets The Eye #17, I think I know what to do with the extra Shapeways pieces from that first attempt the company made. I thought, huh, wouldn't it be great to make an Army Of Darkness style figure? Well, thanks MTMTE.

Eric from Til All Are MINE is going to Botcon. When he comes back, we will record another Robots In Cahoots.

In the meantime, click on the below image for the latest in ROBOTS WITH COFFEE! And like it on Facebook. Yes, I made a Facebook page, because someone asked me to.

Another entry in the ROBOTS WITH COFFEE journal.

Robots With A Complete Breakfast? Click on the image to see the 3rd in a series of ROBOTS WITH COFFEE.

UPDATE! "LIKE" THE ROBOTS WITH COFFEE FACEBOOK PAGE! No seriously, I made one.

BLITZWING! I found Generations Blitzwing!

Yes! Voyager-sized Blitzwing!

Slightly bigger than Voyager Generations Lugnut!
'Bout the same size as Fall Of Cybertron Voyager Soundwave!

A modern update that is an actual triple-changer!

Blitzwing was probably the last G1 Decepticon figure I ever got. As a kid, I had (in order) Soundwave (and Buzzsaw), Thundercracker, Devastator, Shrapnel, and Blitzwing. And I loved Blitzwing. I thought his tank mode was the coolest, his plane mode pretty cool, and his robot mode...difficult to stand after his steel toes became loose after too many transformations.

When Blitzwing was announced to be released with Springer, everyone became super-excited for...Springer! I mean, he's only the THIRD Springer in recent years (not counting the excellent robot mode of Warbot Defender), but this would be the first Triple Changer Springer (not counting the kinda not-awesome vehicle modes of Warbot Defender). Aaaaand...I just heard cricket noises for Blitzwing. If you can't guess what figure I was excited for, well...it's Blitzwing.

So how does a fully articulated, actually triple-changing, Voyager sized Classics Blitzwing hold up? Photos after the JUMP! Jump!

Happy Friday! Here's a Robot with Coffee.

Hola, Amigos. I'm still on the hunt for the elusive Gen. Blitzwing. I'm not so interested in Springer as I have the one from the Springer/Ratbat 2pack from a few years ago, and the recent GDO. Even if this one is a genuine triple changer and he looks like a bad ass hefty warrior for the Autobots, I just don't have that much interest for the movie/post movie characters. There's some exceptions (Overkill/Slugfest). Anyway, I still owe y'all a post about the new paints (for ruining toys, aka my customs) that I got a few weeks ago. I'm also on the hunt for the Wave 2 Kreons, but I won't be able to search much this coming weekend.

I took down my figures and cleaned my shelves; when I put them back up, I saw my G1 Omega Supreme in shambles (I took him apart). What a messy, messy figure. If only I could trade him off and get the Year Of The Snake/FOC version. Hmmmm. Something to consider.

This is not the most enlightening or informative blog entry. Actually, it's the LEAST enlightening/informative blog entry. But it's a BLOG and I'm allowed to type my random thoughts. Please enjoy the accompanying picture of Shockwave contemplating his cold calculated destruction of the Autobots, takeover of the Decepticons, and reminder to clean out his cat Mr. Fluffykins' litterbox.

I have a day off today! Whee!

Day off today. Hope you are enjoying the podcasts and the pictures of Robots With Coffee.


-paul

Robots In Cahoots #4! (the podcast thing)

AAAAAND double post!

ROBOTS IN CAHOOTS #4 starring me and Eric from 'Til All Are Mine!

This is actually part two of our previous podcast (we promised to keep these podcasts short). So, no intro. We, well really me, talk about C2E2. I got to meet Brian Shearer who inks a lot of the IDW Robots In Disguise comics. I brag about my comic art collection, and how little I paid for it. Meanwhile, people lost their homes in Oklahoma. I am a materialistic jerk. Help some people out, please.

I mention Robot Envy, and here's the site. Pretty cool, right?

My opinions (gripes) about the convention (like, paying too much for stuff) should be ignored.

Anyway, the next podcast (#5) will actually be PART 3 of this recording, and it will be off topic. Hence why I divided this stuff up.

-paul

Coffee With Robots. I mean, Robots With Coffee. 2nd page added.

Amigos,

Please enjoy the 2nd round of ROBOTS WITH COFFEE. Click on the jacked up Perceptor to see the most recent batch of caffinated robots.

Coming soon (I haven't posted in a while)

Haven't posted in a while. Here's what's coming soon.

-2nd page of Robots With Coffee.
-Robots In Cahoots #4, podcast where Eric & I talk about my trip to C2E2.
-My work in progress Devcon (minor repaint of classics Scourge) with my new paints!

I had expressed reservation in previous posts about Trailbreaker (and Hoist), in that the transformation and robot mode looked somewhat similar to FOC Sideswipe (which I think is a bust, and cheap looking, but that's my opinion). Judging by the in-hand/promo photos of the actual thing, gotta say that they look pretty good. Or at least not crappy, like FOC Sideswipe. So I'm going to lighten up about them.

Anyway, check back after this extended weekend, and you should see a few posts.

-paul

(Some silliness for your day.)

ROBOTS...IN CAHOOTS!

THE PODCAST: we renamed it (or officially named it) ROBOTS IN CAHOOTS.

Click here for episode #3. We promise to keep episodes of ROBOTS IN CAHOOTS relatively short. The recording ran over an hour, so we decided to break it up into a few parts. This episode, we talk about FORT MAX (Encore edition!), other awkward TF behemoths, closure on my Shapeways adventure, upcoming Generations products, and a new acrylic paint I'll be using from now on. I can tell you're fascinated. Hey, it's only like 25 minutes, so...

Robots In Cahoots stars myself and Eric from 'Til All Are Mine, by the way.

Little camera guy: UPDATE! IDENTIFIED!

I'm kind of fascinated by KOs, other brands, and imitators, though I don't go out of my way to acquire them due to budget and...well, really, do I want THAT THING in my house? You know?

I was visiting Quake Collectibles a few weeks ago and the owner showed me this little guy. He was pretty pricey. I thought he was Go-Bot sized, except he wasn't a car. The brand is "Mark" or "Marc" Japan, and unfortunately I only had my cell phone camera to capture him on digital film, so you probably won't be able to make out the logo.

So, take a look, and let me know if you know who he is. I was probably not using the right search terms on the googles.

UPDATE: Thank you Optimal Omega. As he posted in the comments section, looks like his name is Focus from Convertor Spies. Explore that page and you'll see a bot that looks a lot like Whirl. HOLY OWL POOP, I HAD HOOT at some point.