Archive for ‘Blog’
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I feel the need to post something about the Transformers Movie, being that I am a lifelong fan of the Transformers. This very nearly a great movie but
THIS MOVIE MADE MY BRAIN HURT!
And let me explain why: It was like watching two movies at the same time:
1.) Transformers the Movie, a very enjoyable action/adventure flick, true to the spirit of the franchise and entertaining in its own right. Also includes light-hearted moments between the Autobots and their human friends Sam and Mikaela.
2.) Annoying Humans The Movie: lots of human characters get introduced and are seemingly really important at first but are then apparently forgotten by the writers, many of whom are horrible racial stereotypes. I know humans are a vital part of the mix because they give the audience someone to relate to and a feel for the scale of the Autobots and Decepticons, but that was established well with Sam and Mikaela, without all of these “throwaway characters”. There are lots of really bad attempts at comedy here ranging from nosepicking and farting jokes that ONLY CHILDREN WOULD FIND FUNNY to conversations about masturbation which ARE REALLY INAPPROPRIATE FOR CHILDREN. Who was the intended audience? DRUNKEN FRAT BOYS? Because the drunken frat boys sitting behind me were the only ones in the theater laughing at most of the jokes. Sure you can try to appeal to different demographics with comedy, but while you may get the vote of the Average Joe, you will likely lose both ends of the spectrum: Children and the “Cerebral” types. And being that this is a film based on an action figure line, I think it would have been a better choice to have made the humor a little more kid-appropriate. All in all though, I don’t think anything needs to be added to this movie to make it better. There are a lot of things it could do without though. The visuals were AMAZING!!! And I as a video production student am rarely amazed. The freeway battle between Optimus and Bonecrusher was mind-blowing (but too short). So don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the movie. I just think I would have enjoyed a half hour less of it a lot more.
Huh-huh-huh! Seaman!
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Just got back from my local Hastings where, to my surprise, I found 3 Kaiyodo Revoltech Megatron figures. Given my current automobile situation, I decided it best to pass (for the time being) on gorging myself on the fabulous new GI Joe 25th Anniversary collection and just grab this Megatron. Besides, lately I’ve been trying to slim down my collections and all those Joes would occupy a lot of space while I’m running a lot of auctions.
But anyway, this Megatron is cool! If you hate the Dreamwave style Transformers art, you better pass on this, though. Cause he’s a dead ring for a Pat Lee drawing. Personally, I liked Dreamwave’s bulked up Megatron and I love this figure. He is awesomely poseable and includes extra (grinning) head and extra hands. You can even set him up reaching toward you as though you just stole his purse. It turns out he’s about the right size and finish to be a great match for my Robot Masters Convoy (Optimus Prime), which you can see him wailing on in these pictures. He is also probably one of the most accurate representations of the G1 Megatron animation model ever made as a three-dimensional toy.
I got my Megatron at Hastings for $25, and normally I’d say 25 is too much to pay for a Transformer that doesn’t transform, but Megatron is pretty awesome and I don’t regret paying that for him. I don’t think I’d want to pay much more and certainly not shipping if I could help it, though. I just hope they get around to making a Shockwave in this series.
About ten years ago(maybe longer), when I was first considering self-publishing, I was digging through old magazines and comics at McKay’s Used Books in Knoxville, TN. I happened to come across a curious little book called the Wizard of Time. It called to me. I could tell by looking at the cover that it was a self-publishing endeavour. Some one had no doubt poured a lot of money, effort, and hopes into this one. So it was coming home with me.
I immediately devoured the book upon getting home and enjoyed it thouroughly. The comic was a bit short, but had no shortage of creativity. The story follows Simon Dobb, a talking anthropomorphic dog guy archaeologist and his clairvoyant duck ladyfriend Cathryn Mead as they stumble upon a segment of the legendary, all-powerful Time Helix. It has apparently distorted/evolved a race of natives on the planet they are exploring into a smiley-face cult who are obsessed with perfection and happiness. The issue ends with the pair captured and placed in a giant smiley-face cave which devours them as the natives tell them they’ll “come back smiling-or won’t come back at all.” I found it pretty creepy and it was a cliffhanger very much in line with the kind the classic Doctor Who series would have had. Of course I was always a big fan of a lot of the Disney TV animation- Talespin, DuckTales, etc. Wizard of Time was very much in that vein of doing a serious adventure series with cartoon animal characters. The Wizard of Time, which had a cover date of 1986, was at least 10 years old at the time I discovered it and I figured since I had never heard of it, issue 1 was probably also the last issue (or it was so underground I could find little trace of it, even on the internet.)
For ten years, I would occasionally do searches on the internet with little or no success. Finally, a few weeks ago I found out that there had indeed been an issue 2 and 3 an promptly ordered them from Mile High Comics.
I have to say after the 10-year wait, I was a little dissappointed. The books aren’t bad, just not quite up to the standard set by the first issue. While the first issue’s art was more streamlined and graphical, the two new issues feature more detailed, if sometimes poorly-conceived illustration. Usually weird anatomy or poses…but superdetailed! Also, new characters start showing up, distracting you from and taking pages away from them main plot. It doesn’t really help that the first story arc doesn’t quite get resolved before the series abruptly cuts off. I feel like I have less closure from 3 issues than I did from just 1.
But the most disappointing thing a out the Wizard of Time is that there isn’t more of it. Does anyone know anything else about the Wizard of Time and its creator David House? Any one know how to contact him? If so, please let me know.
I wanted to let everyone know that I am now hard at work on our first printed product: The Tuttles Collection by Sam White. Now that I have the layout templates set up, it should take no time to crank the first volume out. will take weeks of back-breaking labor. Right now we’re awaiting some input from the author/writer, before I completely immerse myself into the project. When this is ready, I encourage everyone to buy it. Not just so we’ll make a buttload of money, but because I’ve really enjoyed what I’ve been reading. Editing these collections is my first chance to read some of his older strips. Today, I came across this Burt Cottage strip of his which cracked me up:
So make sure you visit his site at Tuttles.net and BUY HIS BOOKS! THIS I COMMAND!
At some point in my life, I’ve owned all the original Autobots, but never at the same time. But finally, after 23 years, that has all changed. I took some of my auction winnings (after I had paid for my car repairs and a buttload of advertising) and bought the last three Autobots I needed. (Hey, man! Don’t criticise me for wasting money! I sold my most prized possession-my Doctor Who tapes.) Sure, Jazz is the G2 version and Prowl and Bluestreak are reissues, but in my heart they’re the real thing. : D
Now all I need is Rumble and Frenzy and my 1984 series will be complete.
