The Collated Mort Inkinbot page.

Special thanks to @robotswcoffee / Paul for his hospitality. You should all check out his Functionist Funnies strips.

— James Roberts (@jroberts332) October 27, 2014

You heard him. The Saga of Mort Inkingbot collected and starts here.

TRANS-BOTS!

This was an ad in various Marvel comics in Feb 1985. Not sure if Transbots was something that was ever packaged and released in stores, like any number of Machine Robo Gobots-wannabe, but pictured here are 2 popular transformers figures. The 3rd guy is something out of some fantasy sci-fi adventure and is probably named Zol-TAR or Hate-ROBO or something like that.

A number of different toys are listed and I'm wondering what exactly they are. Bear with me:

All are made of diecast metal and convert from robots to vehicles. Choose from the following – each $4.49 or 3 for $11.99.
Thunderstar – Robot to Jetplane (J1)
Locorob – Robot to Locomotive (J2)
Transfob – Robot to Spaceship (J3)
Protectrob – Robot to Police Car (J4)
Karza – Robot to Dump Truck (J5)
Phobus – Robot to Tractor Trailer (J6)
Metra – Robot to Dune Buggy (J7)
Photon – Robot to Bull Dozer (J8)

I'm guessing these are, based on the price points, GOBOTS. I'm guessing that Locorob is Gobot "Loco" and Transfob is "Spac-y" or whatever. Geez, those names are just as terrible.

Transforming Communicator
Disguised as cassette recorder it transforms into either a Jaguar (J15) or plane (J16) each $4.99.

...Wait, what? Plane? It describes Soundwave (no pricepoint) and then Ravage and then...a mini plane that fits into Soundwave? Huh?

Transforming Deception Plane
Flips in low for attack and changes into Robot for attack. Complete with attachable weapons and decals - $15.99 (J17)

Any of the seekers, I guess.

Transforming Camera
Disguised as a camera it takes pictures of the enemy trenches and then transforms into 3 robots to head off the enemies - $14.99 (J18)

 Good ol' Microx/Reflector.

Also Available Now
The Leader
The largest of the robots he heads up your force and then before attack you can convert him to 3 robots. $13.99 (J19)

Optimus Prime as THE LEADER!

Astro Magnum
A battery operated robot with shooting arms & 3 different sound levels or convert him to Lazer Vulcan – a laser gun, Gunberg a double barreled cannon or Vulcan Base; a standing laser gun. $18.99 (J20)

I don't know who this is but it could be that giant Go-Bot "ro-gun" or whatever. Or it's one of the Shockwaves/Shackwaves with three sounds instead of two.

Transforming Weapon
This super weapon with operable trigger and parts coverts into one of the ultimate robots with attachable weapons and decals $14.99 (J21)

How cool if it was Browning and not Megatron.

Robo Watch
Wear it as a self-winding watch or remove  the center piece and convert it into a robot with the time displayed on his chest 3 function - $9.99 ea. (J11) 

Yeah, one of the transforming watches.  

Windblade wave!

Hola, amigos. Been a long time since I talked about toys. I hadn't bought many until recently. I preordered a wave of Generations a while ago and it came in a few weeks ago. I got some other figures before that but I'll get to those later.

So, Windblade! Finally! The fan created, girl robot, comic book superstar. And Arcee still has a few months before getting her generations figure. Poor Arcee!

The good: pretty neat figure. The bad: kind of a flimsy figure. Her heel can fold if you just touch the rear fin it's attached to, so she's not the sturdiest toy. Otherwise, considering those large wings, she still manages to stand well. The fans on the wings can turn (so her alt mode is a VTOL kind of jet) and that's one of the best features.

I don't have much else to say on her.

Jhiaxus. New head & guns for generations "armada" Starscream, all orange & gray. I didn't get the Starscream figure and only got this one because he's a separate, new character. The guns are better weapons as I've seen the Starscream figure and its easily breakable swords. But I'll need to repaint that head. What a flat paint job!

Nightbeat: I didn't like "idw" Bumblebee/Goldfire figures, and I'm still...meh. Like Jhiaxus, this is a new Generations figure, and he looks to be a prominent character in MTMTE. I guess it's not as bad as I thought the Bumblebees were (in my opinion). As for the weapons: w.t.f. What are these? Combined, separate, they look terrible. I think the best feature is the headsculpt. Not a bad looking vehicle either.

Crosscut: this ended up being the best figure in the wave, but that's my opinion. Obviously I'm a fan on Skids' mold. The paint job here is pretty amazing, mostly for the shiny red bits. Why couldn't they make a few tweaks to Jhiaxus?

None of the figures have light piping for eyes. I don't think the wave is a letdown in any way, as some great characters (even the fan made gimmick) got figures, so that's a plus. If it was "armada Skywarp" instead of Jhiaxus, I would have passed. My collection is basically Generations versions of G1 and IDW main series characters, so these fit well.

That's it. I'll get to some some actual G1s I picked up in my next post.

No really, I have some toys to blog about. Really. Some day.

So my WINDBLADE wave came in! Windblade! Jhiaxus! Nightbeat! CROSSCUT!

I just haven't had time to sit down and type about them!

And I still have to type about Roadbuster!

And a few other cool things! WTH?

Here's a visit from our old pal Mort Inkingbot, Functionist Cartoonist! I'll get back to babbling about toys, really. Don't say you don't love these though, LIAR. I know you do.

Way odd to the very end.

I picked up a few Kreons and Generations Roadbuster. Woo! A full report sometime soon.

In the meantime, enjoy this mashup.

Robot Wars!

Gang! I went to Logan Hardware in Chicago (it's a record store) and they had ROBOT WARS! It was a set of trading cards by Fleer that included stickers and scratch off games. And, uh, cheap sticks of powerdery, stiff gum stuck to the stickers if you open it 25 years or so after their initial release!

Each pack beyond the gum comes with five cards. Of the three packs I bought, they each came with 3 game cards (nearly the same one in every pack), a sticker of a drawing of a robot, and then stickers for your robot action figures.

"Peel & Stick on your robots" yeah, not a chance in hell, Fleer.

These were pretty much the reason to get the packs. I was curious to see how well these images were done to match the scale of Gobots or Transformers...and if so, were there any in mind? Was Optimus Prime to wear the "Leader" medallion design on his shoulder over the Autobot symbol? Where does "Robots Only" go, on Metroplex? If you look closely you'll notice that printing of the designs is off a bit from where you'd remove them from the sheet, and thus if you were to apply these, they would look slightly off. Some of these aren't bad designs, the kind you'd see in the shoulder area of the Seekers or waist areas of Constructicons.

Of COURSE the gum will be covering each one of these in each pack. The card in the center is the only one that survived.

Then there was one sticker of a robot design in each pack.

Lasertron has TOES.

If I'm not mistaken, transforming robots ruled the mid-80's. Other than C3P0 and R2D2, I don't recall kids loving non-transforming robots figures, unless they moved or were remote control or you built them from plastic 'construction' sets. Y'know, actual robots. These are something out of a bizarre 70's fantasy script that got rejected. I got two Lazertrons and an Eagltor and they both look like Autobots that Prime would ask to stay in the Ark, and remain in the Ark, and then 20 years later he died and they're still waiting there.

Kids, you can now practice those games your uncle is always playing
to supplement his income.

Finally, the element of gambling. There were three scratch off cards in each pack and they were virtually the same cards in each pack you see above. I think I got one different but it doesn't matter, because Father Time and maybe bad storage has altered the bonding of silvery scratch off material and cardboard. I tried to scratch off a card and the paper underneath the material rubbed off with it. So, thanks Robot Wars.

Y'know, I would have loved a Hasbro sanctioned sticker pack. you could buy GI Joe figure weapon packs as extras or as replacements, why not the same with stickers for Transformers? Beat Reprolabels at their game?

Anyway, I DO have a figure I'm going to try the stickers on. I got a little haul and I'll discuss that next. For more on these stickers, check the linked review at the top, I think that's all you need to know about this cash-in.

BTW, you buy something at Logan Hardware, they open up a back room and it's full of vintage arcade games set on free play. I played Bosconian and got the highest score! (until they reset it for tomorrow.)

Mort Inkingbot and speculating on MTMTE 32

That's Mort Inkingbot, everyone. He used to draw a syndicated comic strip for various Cybertronian newspapers, mostly with pro-establishment, pro-functionist messages, sometimes veiled and sometimes not veiled all that well.

Just kidding. I made him up.

Anyway, expect some more Lost Light Insider and functionist propaganda gags to be repeated here.

In the meantime, the highly anticipated (and dreaded) More Than Meets The Eye #32 came out this week. I have a few thoughts. Just a few, because #33 will answer the 'what the heck?' Hey, it's after the jump because, you know, SPOILERS. Major goshdarn spoilers.

more silly...drawing!

Inactivity. Here's some drawings.

Haven't bought much or have much to report. Hasbro NOT 3RD PARTY combiner stuff, even for mockups, look great. Hooray!

Been drawing some goofy stuff. Here's a few!

Kreons! And some more Botcon pics!

Kids, I don't know what has taken me so long because I don't have anything to report that has been keeping me busy. Got a few drawings in, been hanging with my nieces, some band practices, feelin' tired from work...I don't RECALL anything that keeps me posting beyond not feeling like being on my computer that much. I haven't seen the new Transformers movie but I DID see SHARKNADO, the Rifftrax live event, with my pal Sean H. It was incredibly funny but I couldn't look at the screen for the last two full minutes, it was that bad. Thundercracker's Sharkticonado would be a much better movie.

SO. ANYWAY.

Here's what I got yesterday:


That's Highbrow and Misfire from the first "movie" Kreon wave. It's actually a bunch of G1 Headmaster/Targetmaster figures and a tiny Trypticon but whatever, why nitpick when the real purpose is to get teary eyed over the harsh level of adorableness involved with the Kreons. Highbrow came with two propellers but as far as his robot mode goes, you're only supposed to have one on his back. Probably because if you have both from his arms (not that unlike his actual G1 version), well, then you can't MOVE his arms. I like the way he looks with two propellers.

Like with any TF figure I buy, I pick 'em based on my Geewunner preference, and even then I'm probably even more selective because there's a good chunk of G1 I normally wouldn't care about...such as the Headmasters & Targetmasters. It was nice to find the G1 Hardhead but kind of embarrassing that Duros was a more fun figure than the complete Hardhead itself. Thanks to IDW, I pick up anything related to the comic story. I definitely don't have a consistent approach to my TF character purchasing, and it's not worth figuring out. I'm here to hopefully provide you with a few laughs, okay?

Please note that unless I'm suffering from eye strain (and I might be these days), Highbrow has a Decepticon signal, and Misfire an Autobot. What the what? ARE WE IN SHATTERED GLASS TERRITORY?

EDIT!

I also bought two Kreo Slipstreams, I mean Slipstrike. They were at Walgreens near where I got the Kreons above. My nieces like Legos and I figured they could have some lady Kreo figures to fight the good fight with UniKitty.

Okay, after the jump, there's an Altered News Comic! Here's a few figures I SAW at Botcon, mainly what I'm looking forward to.

A piece of Pipes' mind - another Botcon recap.

Hey, been a little busy. Here's some fun I had at Botcon. The IDW people were obviously wonderful.

More BOTCON day 1 / a quick MTMTE 30 theory.

MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE! #30! SPOILERS! THEORIES! SPOILER THEORIES! After the jump!

Botcon day 1

I'm meeting new people!

I AM PASSING THIS AROUND!

The Lost Light Insider: Botcon Edition!

Generations Legends - Swerve, Tailgate, Cosmos!

So I picked up a figures! And here they are!

Tailgate! And though it's awesome to have another figure from More Than Meets The Eye, this is my least favorite of the three. It's because of the tabs on his shoulders, the tabs that connect to make the hood of the car. These tabs will bump into the windshield/shellformer back of the car. Is the windshield/back part supposed to be moved further down (such as when he's in car mode)? Because you can move his arms back much with the tabs clashing into it.

Cosmos is a great figure. I figured the previous (Universe) toy would have been acceptable and was going to skip it, but a lot of people who bought it gushed about it, so when I saw it I picked it up. Well, gotta say, it's pretty amazing. You might have trouble pulling the head back out when you go from UFO to robot mode. Payload is a really cute companion too.

SWERVE! Worth it just for the smile. Best package art in TF history. Well, I have a bias. But I love the figure. I think most fans will dig Cosmos but I think Swerve is the best figure of the bunch and of this size (again, BIAS). Flanker is neat, especially when it converts into a weapon. However, fans will be disappointed that Hasbro didn't make a My First Blaster or drink tray. Why let a 3rd party beat you to it?
So just slightly disappointed with Tailgate; I can see kids (yes, toys are for KIDS, right?) getting frustrated and breaking it. I can see ME breaking it because I'm clumsy.

The little guys that come with these? Flanker is the most impressive as a TF AND weapon, Payload is probably the cutest 'bot, and Groundbuster...um...he looks like a pooper scooper when held by another figure.

Okay, got some work to do. Hadn't written in a while. I'm going to Botcon (as stated earlier) and I'm going to have a small 8 page Lost Light Insider with me. Woo!

Head west, young man, that's the place to be.

Going to Botcon! Me! Going to Botcon!

Other news:
-Picked up Swerve, Cosmos, & Tailgate. Pics soonish.
-All the support & love for the Lost Light Insider: thanks everyone. And if YOU'RE at Botcon, I'll have something special for you there. And it will be shared here.

Okay, that's it.

Lost Light Insider cover - special Get Me Off This Ship edition!

(Not a lot to this one. I imagine this is still in the early zine days where whoever is making it is homesick or tired of being on the ship. Also, I apparently imagine "early zine days" for my fan-made tribute to a nonexistent magazine read by fictional robots appearing in a comic book.)

An Impromptu Bike Trip With Custom Downshift (A RwC Special Event)

Got on my bike and just headed north. Had an absolute blast. Here's a pictoral adventure (after the jump, under 1mb to load.)

Lost Light Insider - Madness! RwC update.

I haven't had time to archive Robots With Coffee on here like I'd like to. And I have plans for a dot com page. A dot com, I tell you.

IN THE MEANTIME!
Robots With Coffee - Tumblr (NEW! Newish.)
Robots With Coffee - Facebook
Robots With Coffee - Twitter

I'm working on something to give to a friend to take to Botcon. It'll be...something. Anyway, here's another EARLY issue of the LOST LIGHT INSIDER. Stop by these social media places and say hello.

Lost Light Insider includes this football shaped phone!

I made a few more. Then I blinked and @robotswcoffee had a bunch more followers.

Because:

.@robotswcoffee My god, an *IN-UNIVERSE* MTMTE fanzine. As a 90s TF fanzine addict/contributor this is possibly my favourite thing ever.

— James Roberts (@jroberts332) May 17, 2014

These were ending up on other people's tumblrs, by the way. I can't really do anything because I'm taking images from...well, you get the idea. But they're at least listing RwC as a source. Anyway, -paul

BONUS! Lost Light Insider subscription!

Not really. But I made another fake cover.

Seriously though, I have to go and do some other art thing not related to transforming robots.