MichaelandChrissy.com

We did send out a Christmas letter this year, but I wanted to post it to the web site anyway.  Who knows, maybe somebody who isn’t on our holiday mailing list would like to know what we were up to this year?  If you’re not on our Christmas card list, and would like to be, please let me know!  The “online version” is now enhanced with links back to blog posts that give more details.  Click “Continue Reading” to read the 2008 Christmas Letter.

A few years ago, there was a photo-captioning contest at a Transformers web site that I frequent, TFW2005.com.  The idea was to add a funny comment to a number of Transformers pictures that they had selected, mostly screen shots from Transformers The Movie (1986).  I’ve been known to do some neat stuff in Photoshop, so I decided to give it a try.

I didn’t win the contest, but it was fun to look at all of the other entries.  I do remember that the winners weren’t as funny as my own submissions, although there were some really hilarious ones submitted.  Judging came down to a popularity contest, I reckoned, and lurkers like me aren’t all that popular.

But I don’t just want these to be forgotten in my “images” directory, so here they are for your humorous enjoyment.  The Constructicon entry is funny on a couple of different levels, and the Unicron entry is just inspired.  And yes, I understand that only old-school Transformers fans will relate to any of this.

I was taking a photo of “Armada Airazor” for my daily Flickr posts, when it occurred to me how rare a figure like this is.  This version of Airazor was a repaint of “Transmetal Airrazor” from the “Beast Wars” line, only the mold had been retooled slightly, adding two posts to allow Mini-cons to attach to the wings.  Hasbro is well known for repainting figures from older toy lines to include them in the current line, but only rarely is there a change made in the mold itself.

Mold changes (specifically, head changes) are what make Botcon exclusive figures so great.  They’re not just repaints, as something extra has been added.  Previous examples of this were relegated to the Takara series, such as “Runamuck” and “Longrack” in their “Galaxy Force” line (although these were released in the US later).  So the few retools that showed up in the Armada line were a big deal at the time.  I like a good repaint, but I will hunt down a retool until it is mine (oh, yes).

The point was to make old Beast Wars figures work with the Mini-con gimmick.  All Armada toys had Mini-cons, and it was a good choice to pack a repainted Mini-con in with the figure.  But what about figures from other previous lines?  “Robots in Disguise” was full of potential retool candidates.  The “Rail Racer” gestalt absolutely begs for Mini-cons on its arms and shoulders.  And how cool would it be to load half a dozen Mini-cons on “Fire Convoy“?  Although Fire Convoy was repainted in yellow later, no retooling was done.

Speaking of Robots in Disguise, why not retool the “Spy Changers” to allow for a Mini-con port?  These things, originally released as Go-Bots in the G2 line, were already repainted to death by the time Armada came out.  But a simple Mini-con port on the underside of the vehicle mode could have sparked new life into them.  They wouldn’t fit in exactly with the rest of the Mini-cons, but they would look good combined with other Robots in Disguise retools, such as the above-mentioned Fire Convoy.

Although new molds are nice, if Hasbro intends to flesh out future toy lines with older figures, it would be preferable to see more retooling.  We’re already seeing this in the Animated line with the “Cliffjumper” repaint of Bumblebee (he’s got a new head), so I applaud them for this.  But if older figures start popping up in, say, the “Universe” line (cough, Blaster, cough), then some new parts would be appreciated.  Change the head, or tack on a Mini-con post or two.  People would hate repaints less, I’m sure.

Hasbro announced a brand new mold for a classic “Generation 1″ character, “Cyclonus“.  This is part of their plans to release new figures for many of the original characters for the 25th Anniversary of the franchise.  Better still, this new Cyclonus figure would have a “Targetmaster” partner, making him an homage to the very rare Targetmaster Cyclonus (1987).  This was pretty exciting news by itself, but then the Hasbro representatives showed the audience at Botcon what it would look like.

Jaws dropped and cheers erupted.  The new Cyclonus had the great vehicle mode that the old Cyclonus sported, but the robot mode was better in every way.  He had full articulation and an excellent paint scheme, yet the figure stayed very true to the original. Unfortunately, fans failed to understand that they were looking at a hand-painted prototype that had yet to pass through plausibility testing.

When the Hasbro designers create a new figure, they go through several test versions.  The new design starts off as clay or a simple mockup, then goes on to prototype modeling, and then that mold (or a copy of it) is hand-painted for approvals.  The test model is then checked for plausibility to see how much it would cost to build versus how much it would be sold for.  A single paint application can cost two cents per toy, which adds up considerably when hundreds of thousands are produced.

Apparently, the paint applications for Cyclonus shown at Botcon were too expensive for mass production.  Changes would be required to get this figure out to stores.  The shiny purple paint was replaced with matte purple paint, and the silver paint was eschewed for grey plastic.  Dark blue paint applications on the wrists and weapon were pulled completely.  Finally, the red and fuscia highlights were replaced with a reddish brown color.  This is what a cost-effective figure looks like.

Were we cheated?  No, the Cyclonus figure is still a great mold.  It’s not as pretty as we were hoping (and were led to believe) that it would be, but we should have know better.  Plenty of leaked images of upcoming figures are not final models and are subject to change before release.  I’d still like to pick up a Universe Cyclonus when they’re released, and I’m sure there will be people who repaint their figure by hand to its former glory.

At the last Botcon, Hasbro announced a whole slew of new homage figures to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Transformers, to be released under the Universe moniker.  Not only would more G1 characters be receiving new, updated designs (as in the Classics series), but characters from all Transformers lines would also be getting updates.  The fan base was very excited.  Recently, a new repaint for the Universe line was announced: Hasbro would be repainting Cyberton Scourge (”Flame Convoy”, in Japan) as “Robots In Disguise” Bruticus.

“Predacon Bruticus” seems like an odd choice of characters to pay homage to, since that figure wasn’t very well received by fans or collectors.  At the time, Takara had just thrown Transformers fans a colossal bone with the return of realistic vehicular alternative modes: “Car Robots” featured robots that turned into models of real-life cars, as opposed to animals.   The Beast Machines series was trying to introduce vehicles, in the way of “Vehicons“, but there was little fan support for these futuristic styles (I’m one of the few that liked them).

Bruticus was meant to be an addition to the eclectic Maximal lineup on Beast Machines, but the series died before he could be released.  However, Hasbro managed to shoe-horn him into the next line, “Robots in Disguise” (RiD), which was basically the Car Robots line from Japan repackaged into English packages.  Bruticus didn’t appear on the television show and had a strange form in both modes.  Worse, he used up a name from Generation 1, so the actual repaint of G1 Bruticus for the RiD line was instead named “Ruination”.

As for the new paint scheme, I’m not sure if I like it.  Was RiD Bruticus originally supposed to have a similar paint application?  He was styled in red, yellow and black, after the original G1 Predacon combiners (orange and gold would have been a given, but blue works).  He may have actually had more paint on him in pre-production stages, but those were probably nixed for cost reasons (in order to retain the complexity of the mold).  To be honest, RiD Bruticus would have looked great with some gold and dark blue highlights on him, as one of the biggest complaints leveled against him was a lack of paint applications.

I really liked RiD Bruticus though.  What’s not to like?  He’s an armored, three-headed dog with bat wings on his head.  He’s got spikes and saw blades everywhere.  And he’s mysterious.  I mean, why do his back legs turn into a second pair of arms, complete with flip-up weapons?  Why does he have a broken chain on his leg?  Why does his robot mode have three faces?  What was supposed to go under the flip-up panel on his chest?  It’s clear that this figure never quite reached his potential, but I’d like to know what was the original plan for this guy.

There was a recurring mystical theme with the Maximals in the Beast Machines line.  There was a unicorn, a griffon, a dragon, and even a lion.  The inclusion of Cerberus would have been natural.  Toss in a personality conflict, one persona for each beast head, which would correspond in turn to each robot face, and you’ve got an interesting story.  Maybe he was supposed to be a quadruple-changer, with each robot face having a slightly different robot mode?  This would explain the extra set of arms.  We’ll never know, I guess.

McDonalds has picked up the Transformers promotion this time around. I had mentioned to Chrissy that the new Happy Meal toys were out, and she filed it into her unlimited memory.  We were out shopping today when she casually suggested that we swing by the McDonalds.  I’m thinking that it’s almost lunch time, but I don’t really care for McDonalds (the meat is all cow lips and eyeballs).  More precisely, you don’t say no when an extremely pregnant women tells you what food she wants.

We found the nearest McDonalds (you never have to go far for one of these). We walked in, with Aiden in tow, and Chrissy orders a Happy Meal with four chicken nuggets.  Aiden loves the chicken nuggets. Then she orders four cheeseburger Happy Meals.  She looks at me and says, “What do you want?” Thinking that she must be damn hungry, I say that I’d like a Big Mac meal.  She says, “No, you’re getting a Happy Meal too.  How about a cheeseburger?”

I agree reluctantly, but then it occurs to me that she’s buying an entire set of Transformers Happy Meal toys.  I’m a little slow on the uptake.  But she not only has a mind like a steel trap, she’s very good to me (she doesn’t like McDonalds, either).  I got Optimus, Ratchet, Bumblebee, Megatron, Starscream and Lugnut.  The figures themselves are about what you’d expect from a Happy Meal, but the simple design fits in well with the Transformers Animated theme for most of them.  Not a bad set, as themed meal freebies go.

The Transformers Collectors’ Club exclusive “Topspin” figure came in the mail yesterday.  Since Fun Publications took over the TFCC and Botcon duties, they have worked with Hasbro to consistently release excellent exclusive figures.  Each year for the last four years, they have given away a free basic-sized combiner piece to all current members.  I’ve got them all, but I can’t believe that I’ve been a TFCC member for four years now! 

So far, the exclusive pieces have been two repainted limbs from Energon Superion and two repainted limbs from Energon Bruticus.  This works out nicely, since each of those gestalts had two sets that were effectively the same mold, only repaints of each other.  So, TFCC has given us the first Energon combiner that has non-identical limbs.  

Just one more piece to complete the TFCC exclusive combiner set.  Rumors say that the torso piece will be the Energon Storm Jet (not “Silverbolt”?) mold.  Can’t wait to put all the pieces together to display my Collector’s Club set next to my completed Energon Superion and Energon Bruticus sets. But that will have to wait until next year!

The theater got pretty full at the “Death Note” live-action movie, since it was limited-release and only had two showings. I was surprised at how friendly and talkative everyone in the audience was.  I had a nice conversation concerning Japanese horror cinema with the couple in front of me. They were 15.  The entire audience was mostly teens, but some had brought their parents with them.  The parents that weren’t in attendance were all waiting outside in their cars.  I noticed a lot of cars running in the parking lot, with older faces scanning the crowd coming out of the theater.

So the question becomes: Am I too old to be there?  I’ve always loved 80’s cartoons, especially Transformers, because that’s what I watched when I was 12.  I discovered anime in college, and I’ve seen a lot of Japanese animation and J-Horror videos since then.  I dig giant robots.  But I’ve never interacted with the fan base, as I do with Transformers.  I really like anime, but I didn’t know that the core audience is too young to drive yet.  Technically, I’m old enough to be their father. It makes me think twice about attending an anime convention, but maybe I’m just being silly?

I don’t get this impression when I go to Botcon, since it’s full of other adult enthusiasts.  I suppose that I shouldn’t let it bother me.  I’ve currently got the last five episodes of “Blood Plus“, four episodes of “Death Note”, and three episodes of “Witchblade” on my DVR, waiting for my spare time.  Netflix is shipping me “Appleseed: Ex Machina” today, and there are several other sets in my queue.  I guess that if I’m not too old to play with my toys, then it’s OK if I watch Japanese cartoons every now and then. 

Everybody in the world saw the new ”Iron Man” movie before I did, and it was unanimously decided that it was great.  Normally, I wouldn’t go to see a movie at a theater, because I hate theaters, but I was persuaded by the chorus of excellent reviews from my peers.  And it turns out that we were both right: Iron Man is a great movie, and there is no reason good enough to attend a movie theater. 

I haven’t finished writing down all of this year’s Botcon experience, and I will most likely only write a short bit about the huge haul that I brought home. However, I did notice that I have a ton of tweets (Twitter posts) pertaining to Botcon, so I thought that I would post these for anyone who is both interested and not already following me on Twitter. To get the full effect, click on the “Continue Reading” link below!