I could live there

If you ever wondered what amazing looked like.

Pictures from this year's CybertronCon are starting to pour out. The whole thing just looks wonderful. One day I'd love to go (the trip to China is a bit restricting), it looks like a really fun show. One thing that's really stood out to me is the giant Fortress Maximus.

Gang, this showed up just as I'm starting to look at houses.

I have an idea.

I'll get some land and live in Fortress Maximus. I think it could work.

Imagine some patio furniture.

Now somehow, I just got to convince my wife.

Weekly Spotlight: BotCon 2002 Cyclonus

"Loyalty and compassion cannot coexist."

After exploiting Megatron's sinister  to ensnare his Spark in a Vehicon body, Cyclonus escaped Cybertron in hopes of fulfilling his proud Decepticon heritage. Powerful, subtle, and loyal to the extreme. Capable of drawing strength from his enemies' attacks through bleedback receptors mounted in his fists. Highly maneuverable in jet mode due to dual fusion-powered engines and an advanced multi-wing design. In both modes, Cyclonus is armed with close-range oxidating pulse cannons and independently targetable incendiary missiles. Vulnerable only to leaders that would exploit his skills for their own evil purposes.

I miss OTFCC

It may be silly, but I really miss OTFCC. After The famed 3H split and the BotCon name went one way and the official license went another, OTFCC came to be.

The Official Transformers Collectors Convention only lasted two years before Hasbro pulled the license and awarded it to Fun Publications. During those two years the fandom got very heated over the matter.

Personally, I looked past the organizers issues as I never thought they were any of my business and personally made friends with Glen who was putting his all into OTFCC. It was the rare instance that an official entity had the heart of a fan convention.

The included fan club at the time only yielded one issue of its magazine, but holy crap what an issue! Instead of the small pamphlets that we got in the Fun Pub years, this was a huge publication chock full of goodness. I held onto hope that more issues would come and reread it a million times.

The convention had its problems, sure, but man was it fun. The day the news broke that it was all over was a really hard day. I still remember feeling like I lost a loved one. I know, I shouldn't view it that way, but I do. Now that Fun Pub has lost the license, I can only hope whatever follows has the heart that OTFCC had.

Or at least comes close.

I'll never let you go, Transformer meat snacks

It was sometime in college when I first became aware of Beast Wars Sausages. Being the 90's, I didn't have the useless ability to acquire snack food from around the world at the snap of my finger. I mean, the stuff I take for granted that I do with my phone was not even imaginable then. The most I could do then was wait for a geo cities page to load and hope the guy I sent a a money order to came through.

So of course now that getting amazing Beast Wars Sausages would be easy, they are no longer made. I'm pretty sure meat snack makers are latched onto something else.

In the world of Transformers, everyone has holy grail items. Mine are usually stupid.

Weekly Spotlight: Hurricane

Give it all you've got. There may not be a tomorrow."

Brilliant analyst. Super intelligent. Pins his defence plans down to the minutest detail. Almost clairvoyant in his forward thinking. As vehicle, rear facing turbine elevates for all round defence power. As robot, an imposing turbo-armed figure on the battlefield.

in my mind

I've aways thought the kid at the end was Tommy Kennedy.

I know, it's reaching. But it kinda works.

Right?

Weekly Spotlight: CatSCAN

CatSCAN is in many ways like a lost child in the wilderness - he knows to some degree where he came from, but is unsure as to where he will eventually end up. Brought to life by a bizarre combination of Apelinq and his digitization powers and the artificial intelligence of a medical diagnostic computer, this curious creature has found a permanent home with the Wreckers team. Armed with two battle blades of ancient Cybertronian design and a tail-mounted plasma torch, CatSCAN could easily be considered a lethal one-robot army. This fact notwithstanding, his fearsome appearance belies an inherently gentle and nonviolent personality - it is simply not in his programming to cause harm to other beings. Lacking a Spark of his own, CatSCAN has a deep wish to understand the true nature of his self-awareness. He looks up to Apelinq as a mentor and "creator figure," and often acts as a voice of conscience among his teammates.

Weekly Spotlight: Sqweezeplay

Place brawn before brains and victory is yours.

A raving, relentless, one-robot wrecking crew with slashing, crushing claws and needle-sharp, armor-piercing fangs. Rarely slows down. Never stops to think. Binary-bonded to Lokos, a Nebulan smuggler and hardened criminal. Armed with overrider rifle that overloads and blows out electrical circuits. In robot Mode, uses tail as metal-rending mace. Titanium-reinforced claws can slice through almost any substance. An expert at underwater sabotage.

First Impressions: Titans Return Scourge

Titanmaster Transformers, they've got the power to surprise!

The new Titans Return Transformers toys have started hitting physical and online retail the past weekend. Fortunately, I managed to grab the new deluxe Scourge toy. I've been really looking forward to these as they hit all sorts of beats I love in Transformers as well as toys in general.

Titans Return follows Combiner Wars in the Prime Wars trilogy (there was some legal reasons for not calling the line Titan Wars, which was a better name). At first glance the toys seem like a rehash of the Headmasters from G1 and kind is. However it's also extremely similar to the Micromasters toys as well. It would be fair to call it a combination of Headmasters and Micromasters.

 

Fracas (who was Scourge's Targetmaster back in G1) can be a gunner or a pilot for Scourge's vehicle mode.

When Fracas converts into Scourge's head, he can be snapped into place easily and even can move about, adding to Scourge's pretty great amount of articulation.

Neatly enough, Scourge's gun resembles Fracas's G1 Targetmaster gun mode. Scourge is a really pleasant looking toy. Pleasant enough for me to look over his few short comings. He is a little loose in some joints and the arms are a bit hollow. These are little problems that could have been fixed with better plastic tolerance for the loose bits and the hollowness is a symptom of the economic conditions in the current toy market. More solid parts = a higher priced toy. At 16$, I can deal with some hollow parts. I do wish, however, it was hidden better. I can assume later assortments will be better. As is the case with all retail toys.

In all, I am really happy with my first Titans Return figure. Scourge excites the Transformers fan that I am and all the cool features of his gimmick ignites my imagination. I've already seen fans come up with various 'what if' scenarios for the line and I can just imagine a kid getting a hold of this toy and having a ton of fun. As much as I liked Combiner Wars, this looks like not only a better line, but a much more fun experience for me as a fan.

These are the Daves I know, I know

One thing that I've always found remarkable about this fandom is the pure generosity friends show each other. Within the past few weeks, I've been given fairly rare toys simply because of friendship.

On the right is the Transformers JR Super Ginrai set. My friend Graham sent me these after seeing how much I love Powermaster Optimus Prime. All on his own, just sent me some toys all the way from his home in the UK.

On the left is a k.o of a Microman Frenzy from the 80's that my friend Jesse sent me in a random box of toys just because he felt like sending me some stuff.

It's funny how many awesome people I've met and friends I've made thanks to this wonderful hobby. It's not just about cool toys, neat comics, and great cartoons. It's about the people and I think that's my favorite part of it all.