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.

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.)