So cold. Thinking warm thoughts. With help from Gears.

This has been the most brutally cold weather I have ever experienced for the longest time I can remember. I have witnessed blizzards. I have witnessed what I thought was extreme cold. But I've never felt freezer burn by walking outside, have I? And I'm bundled up. I'm wondering if I'm exaggerating about how terrible the weather has been. It's the weather, I have no control over it (no debate over the validity of global warming & climate change, please). I don't like complaining about it and I don't like hearing complaints about it.

But I had never, ever, ever considered moving. Or thought about moving, just to be somewhere warmer. Until last week as I'm walking from the train over a highway and through a college campus with blistering winds on a GOOD DAY that was above zero degrees. And I've felt some subzero temps! So what is it about this month? I've NEVER felt this way, EVER. I can take a blizzard! I own a shovel!

My much farther northern friends are probably shaking their heads at me. I know I have felt hardier about dealing with the cold. Am I old? I certainly don't want to move to Florida or Arizona.

But I WOULD move to San Francisco. In a radiation-cloud-moving-eastward second.

Anyway, I have nothing else to add. Awaiting Scoop and the Mini-Con team (Ammonites). Waiting until Dark Cybertron is over to include my two cents. SO, here's some pics of Gears accompanying me on my last trip to San Fran, June 2012. It wasn't even hot. It was probably a little chilly on some days. But I'm going to look at these pictures and think warm thoughts.

Gears and I looking at the city from Golden Gate.

Looking at Sausalito 

Taken before Gears and I biked over the bridge.

Enjoying a Giants game.

Trolley to take us to Mr. Rogers...wait, no.

TINY WHIRL!

Whoa! Look what I found in the $3 bin at Quake!

$3 because he still has no hands, poor guy.

It's a really tiny WHIRL! No more than four, maybe five inches tall. Adorable. I'm sure MTMTE Whirl would find it adorable.

This is a tiny version of the "Dorvack" figure from Takatoku Toys (i'm looking this up on the TF Wiki, yes.). The only readable word for me (in English) is "JAPAN" and the copyright symbol so I can't tell where it officially comes from. There was also a line called Convertors and it looks like this is "Chopper." (We covered Convertors before when I found that tiny camera dude earlier this year.)

Okay, mystery solved. Isn't looking up stuff WHILE typing up a blog entry fun? It is. That's the kind of writing and editing that will get Transformers Aficionado the Pulitzer it deserves.

That rotor's a little sad. EDIT: The rotor was upside down. I fixed it.

EDIT! For scale, here's Tiny Whirl with...coffee.

It was the best of times, it was the BLURST of times?

Here's some random thoughts about last year, as usually published in the end of the year issue of Transformers Aficionado magazine, out of print after its inaugural issue.

BEST GENERATIONS FIGURE
My opinion is the only one that counts. The answer is Skids. See the last couple of posts. If you're having a debate, if Skids is better or if some Masterpiece is better, it's Skids. I solved the problem for you. I'm partial to G1 homages, you bet. So thumbs up for Trail(cutter)Breaker and Hoist. The popularity of the More Than Meets The Eye comic helps develop more appreciation for these characters and their figures, but the comic that comes with Skids is an added incentive: Skids comes with one of the best (and funniest) Transformers comics ever, one that caps off the 'first season' of MTMTE but, unlike the other pack-in comics that are focused on their respective characters, serves as the best introduction to the series. Great figure, great advertising for the awesome comic. Skids wins on every level. I win because I'm right.

WORST GENERATIONS FIGURE
IDW Bumblebee (Costa run). By the way, one day I will get around to defending Mike Costa's run on the comic. (I will definitely not be asking anyone to agree.) Anyway, the only thing that looks decent on this is the headsculpt. And even then I question myself on this. This was a great opportunity to truly update the figure and instead we get a lame Flimseybot (tm).

MOST UNNECESSARY GENERATIONS FIGURE
Goldbug? (Goldfire?) A slight retool of IDW Bumblebee?

I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO HATE IT, BUT I LOVED IT
Generations Voyager Springer. I thought there was no need thanks to the GDO version, which itself was kind of crappy. I thought the Voyager from the two pack a few years ago was really good, even if it wasn't a triple changer. Hasbro did a great job with this. And I only got it because I was impressed with Sandstorm.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT
Sigh: Voyager Blitzwing. This guy is a mess if you take him out of robot mode. You can almost feel the tension in the tabs and joints as he rests in vehicle mode, waiting to spring open. Transforming him is a pain in the afterburners. I totally dig this character too, hence the bummer.

I DON'T GET
ConstructoBots. Or Construct Bots. I don't get it.

THAT SAID, WHAT HAPPENED TO
Kre-o Transformers. Are these even on the store shelves? Well, good riddance. I ended up giving away the Kre-o sets and keeping the TF Kreon figures. Keep it up with the Kreons, Kre-o!

BEST SHELFWARMER
I'm guessing that honor goes to MP Acid Storm. I'm waiting for his price to be knocked down to the lower 30's or something.

WHAT THE HECK ARE THOSE SKINNY OPTIMUS PRIME AND BUMBLEBEE FIGURES? THEY'RE LIKE A FOOT HIGH OR SOMETHING. THEY LOOK WEIRD AND LIKE THEY DON'T EVEN TRANSFORM. WHAT THE HELL ARE THEY?
Still can't figure it out. They look like novelty flasks. Were these intended for the QVC audience?

Next post: what to expect for next year. Maybe. Depends on if Transformers Aficionado Magazine sends its beat reporter over here to cover it.

Transformers Aficionado is not a real magazine.