Balance of Power...

BOP #29 is done and available for ordering! It costs $3/US issue for those who want the whole thing (that is, the physical issue). Email me at tkphoton@hotmail.com to get a copy!



Also, the stories from BOP #28 are now up and readable at www.karmicsalt.com/boparchive.html


(FYI, issue #29 was for November but it wasn't until December it got out. I plan to try and get BOP #30 out during January some time).

I have plans for a couple more TF projects at some point in the future as well... more on those when I get time to get further with them.


- Thunder

Comic Capsule Reviews...

A quick look at recent TF comics that came out...

Transformers Timelines
Dawn of Futures Past **Retail Edition**

Writer: Forest Lee and Peter Sinclair
Artist: Dan Khanna, Alex Milne and Marcelo Matere

Summary: The Pre-Beast Wars tale that brings all our heroes together (Same as convention edition).

Comments: This is the exact same thing as the convention edition. Its differences are: a new cover; Prime and Megatron profiles; new ads for the TF club (instead of a convention schedule).
This is not worth buying if you already have the convention version... (I have both and wish I hadn't bothered for all the little differences there are in this one). I do like the cover to this one better then the actual con version had, btw. If you don't have the con version already, you might want to check it out for the story--it's decent enough (though nothing spectacular). See the full review from early October for more story/art details.


(Retail Cover)




(Convention Cover)

***

Transformers Spotlight #3
Hot Rod

Writer: Simon Furman
Artist: Nick Roche

(Covers by Nick Roche and James Raiz)

Summary: Hot Rod undertakes a dangerous covert mission to rescue a former comrade from a high security Decepticon prison.

Comments: Great art and a good story (although I liked the Shockwave one best of this series, thus far). I like that Furman is trying to bring in Hot Rod and flesh him out as a character a bit more then has been done before. (I bought the Roche cover this time around, btw).

Recommended.




***
Transformers Escalation #1

Writer: Simon Furman
Artist: E.J. Su

(covers by E.J. Su, Klaus Scherwinski)

Summary: Megatron holds a conference with his warriors, asking them if they will still be loyal to him. If not, he'll destroy them. All agree to remain loyal. Elsewhere, the humans are to be returned to their lives, as per Optimus Prime's orders. Ironhide and Sunstreaker will escort them home... the Machination plan to take on the Transformers and even know where their base is located. As the two Autobots emerge, they are followed and then the trap is sprung!

Comments: A good first issue to this next chapter of the story. The art is consistent and the story seems to be moving into an action phase... little of great relevance happens, imo, except for the beginning of the Machination's plans and Megatron's apparent desire to step things up on Earth.

Mildly Recommended.

Official TF club toys now available...

Just got this email from the TF club...


"To order Astrotrain or Airazor, please follow the directions below as we will
NOT take phone orders until Thursday. Emailed orders will take priority. We
will start processing and making callbacks today from our list of emails. We
will get to you in the order the emails were received. Again, we will NOT take
any calls on these items until Thursday.

Please send an email to angie@mastercollector.com with the following
information:

If you need to have someone call you back, just include your phone number and
name. If you have a credit card on file (which most of you do) please give us
the last 4 numbers of the credit card and expiration date, verify your shipping
address in case it is different from your mailing address, make sure you put
your first and last (not your screen name) name and daytime phone number on your
request.

Then tell us what you want to pre-order. These two pieces are currently
scheduled to arrive here in late January.

We are limiting the quantities you can order to two of each (two Astrotrains,
two Airazors) until December 11, to give all members a chance to order what they
want. Some people are not online and they will not see the announcement until
they get their newsletter. There are only 2,000 pieces of each item.

You must be a member to order these items. If someone is not a member, they can
join at the same time.

Astrotrain is $87 +shipping, Airazor is $42 +shipping. Shipping is $7 domestic
for the first item and $1 for each additional item. Foreign shipping will vary
by country. If you are placing a foreign order, we will calculate the airmail
cost and add it to your order.

Example order: if you are domestic and order one Astrotrain and one Airazor the
total cost will be $137.

Also, if you are a foreign member and need a call back, we will call you though
the time of day might be very late or very early.

We have put these rules in place to make this process as easy, simple and fair
as possible. Please follow them.

In case you are wondering why we are not taking orders online: the programmers
are working on a pre-order module for the store but it is not finished. Also it
is not a good idea to test new code with such an overwhelming amount of
processing. We would prefer to test it in a simpler environment to ensure there
is not another Nemesis Prime problem.

Thanks for your support! If you have a question please put it in the Ask Brian
area in the members forum and I will answer it. Angie and the other support
staff will be a bit busy.

Brian"

---

I haven't seen the Airrazor toy yet... hope it's cool! :)

- Thunder

TransMasters Magazine Issue #3--Finally done

Well, fellow Transfans, here is Issue 3, short as it is.
Work's been keeping me VERY busy. So here it goes:

TransMasters Magazine Issue 3

Yes, I know, on Geocities again? Ah well that's how it is for now.
This issue includes:
--Big Beast Wars KO-Korner
--More Cheap Wal-Mart Video Reviews
--Four more parts of the Cybertron Story (Which I hope to wrap up in the next issue of the Comic)
--And... Big Suprize here...Trans Formers: Balance Of Power has Returned!!! Yea.
Thanks. Hopefully I can get more time in the future. I really want to do some work on the new Classics Line...I'll wait to judge the new Movie toys until I see them all.

Comic Review...

Transformers Stormbringer #4

Writer: Simon Furman
Artist: Don Figueroa
(Covers by Don Figueroa)

Synopsis: Thunderwing returns to Cybertron while the Autobots prepare for his arrival. In orbit, the Predacons prepare to bombard the planet as per Megatron's orders. Thunderwing experiences flashes of memory before landing on the surface and unleashing his raw power. The Autobots employ hit and run tactics against him to no avail. Jetfire deduces that if they can get Thunderwing to expend enough power he might run out of steam. The Decepticons in orbit launch two assault teams to try and aide the Autobots before they are required to nuke the planet. Optimus has his warriors re-program the Centurion droids and have them attack Thunderwing as well. Thunderwing is slowed down until he converts to a new secondary form that is more armored. The Decepticons decide to pull out and it's up to Optimus Prime to finish off the Pretender with his own firepower. Thunderwing runs out of power as predicted and goes immobile. The Decepticons call off their attack and leave while Optimus wonders what more damage Thunderwing may have caused wherever he went. Later on, Jetfire finds a trail leading to Earth and Optimus decides to head there immediately.

Comments: Someone else mentioned that this story didn't really need to be it's own mini-series--that could've fit the regular series just fine as a storyline (although IDW's way of doing things seems to be that every storyline is a mini anyway). At any rate, I agree this story didn't really need to be hyped up as a big event because it really wasn't. However, it does fit the main IDW continuity very well, revealing another piece of the puzzle. I enjoyed Stormbringer overall, both as a story and the art as well. While it wasn't a big epic, it wasn't the letdown that I felt Beast Wars and Hearts of Steel were. I felt something was accomplished with this tale and appreciate that.

This issue: Highly Recommeded.

Series overall: Recommended.

Comic Review...

Transformers Spotlight #2
Nightbeat


Writer: Simon Furman
Artist: MD Bright
(Covers by MD Bright, James Raiz and Nick Roche)

Synopsis: One of Nightbeat's contacts tells him he's found part of a log to the long lost original Ark. Nightbeat is immediately interested but his contact dies when he arrives at his ship to get the log. The log is gone so Nightbeat traces his path back to Gorlam Prime--where the log was found. He finds a people slowly evolving from organic to mechanical and upon further investigation, finds a deep tunnel below the surface. There, he finds an interdimensional hole in the ground. The Sports Car Patrol show up then and give chase, subduing him and bringing him back to the beings in the portal. Nightbeat is given some sort of brain implant and then released, apparently unable to remember the whole incident. Later, Optimus Prime contacts him and tells him he's needed on Earth.

Comments: Not a lot happens really but I liked this issue anyway. Nightbeat is very much in character with Furman's old Marvel Universe depiction (yay!) The story poses many interesting questions, giving us a better look at this world without actually telling us anything. The original Ark was lost millennia ago but apparently didn't crash on Earth... its insinuated it may have crashed on Gorlam Prime and influenced that world's evolution. But where did this interdimensional portal come from? And what do these beings want with Nightbeat and the Transformers? Sooner or later we'll find out, I suspect and I look forward to the answer (may it be worth the wait).
MD Bright was brought back to TF comics by Tim Finn's suggestion IDW track him down (according to Tim). His art is more blocky then some of the recent artists but I like his style and it works well with this story. I also liked his cover art.
(This comic is a special Botcon exclusive edition of the TF Spotlight: Nightbeat and comes with all the variant covers in one edition. A great value for that reason alone).

Highly recommended.

Comic Review...

Transformers: Evolutions #4
Hearts of Steel, part four

Writer: Chuck Dixon
Artist: Guido Guidi
(covers by Guido Guidi)

Synopsis: The US army tries futilely to stop the Decepticon Astrotrain as it roars through their blockade with ease. Elsewhere, Muldoon, Clemens and the others arrive on a train at some station somewhere and encounter Bumblebee, the other Autobots and John Henry. All join forces and continue in pursuit of the Decepticons. As they close in, Starscream launches Scourge (a blimp) and has him bombard them from the air. Scourge is shot down finally but not before Starscream attacks again, this time bombing the Autobots and their allies, trapping several in a tunnel. Bumblebee and John Henry pursue them solo. They get around the Decepticons and hit the track switch, sending the Decepticons and their allies plummeting helplessly into a canyon beyond. Epilogue: The good humans get rescued and the Autobots return to their slumber.

Comments: A decent end to a decent story. I was bit surprised by the abrupt ending of the story. "That was it?" was my thought upon reading it. It also didn't answer all the questions either. Shockwave (a boat) was unaccounted for and what happened to those Decepticons in earlier issues that appeared to be planes? Surely they all didn't go down with the train so why are the Autobots so confident in the end? Or was there a plan to possibly do a sequel? I was also disappointed we never got to see the cannon Megatron make an appearance in the story--he looked cool but I guess he was just something they designed for fun rather then for the story. Oh well... I wish this story had gone another issue and given us a little more action after so much build-up.

This issue: Mildly recommended.

Series as a whole: Pass (unless you're really a hardcore fan and must own it)

Comic Review...

Transformers Timelines
Dawn of Futures Past

Writer: Forest Lee and Peter Sinclair
Artist: Dan Khanna, Alex Milne and Marcelo Matere


Synopsis: Tigatron and another Maximal pursue some Predacons who are after the Golden Disk--an relic of great importance of Maximal High Command. Tigatron's partner is injured, leaving him alone to pursue their enemies. Elsewhere, Megatron holds the disk and plans to use it for his grand designs. Dinobot wants to stay and fight but Megatron tells him his plan is more important. They leave. Elsewhere, a mysterious Predacon tells Laserbeak and Buzzsaw to make certain Megatron accomplishes his ultimate goal but to remain hidden at all cost. Megatron and co. get on their new ship, the Darksyde, leaving Tigatron to find a nearby vessel and commandeer it. Fortunately its pilot, Airrazor, is okay with a fight and happy to help. The Maximals order the Axalon and its crew to pursue the Darksyde as well and they do, despite Optimus' concerns over their cargo (i.e. Protoform X). A big space battle ensues, with Lasorbeak/Buzzsaw almost destroying the Axalon before Tigatron/Airrazor come along and stop them. As Airrazor/Tigatron's ship is about to destroy itself from the battle damage, Rhinox uses some kind of remote spark transfer thingy to beam their sparks into two blank protoforms. The Axalon then gives chase to the Darksyde and both jump into a transwarp portal. Epilogue: some time later, mysterious figures muse over the ultimate fate of the Golden Disk, Megatron and the others fates. It is revealed these are in fact the Predacons of the G1 era! Divebomb tells Razorclaw now that he has returned, it is time he lead the Predacons to ultimate victory over the Maximals!

Comments: I usually hate Forest Lee's mini-comics in the TF club newsletter. Imagine my surprise when this story came out readable and even decent. I'm not sure if this is because of Sinclair's involvement, much editing or just the fact that with enough space even Lee can do something different storywise. I give them credit for not referring to most of the famous BW toys pre-show names, thus getting around the sticky issue of what they may have been (or having to go through legal and finding usable names). Obviously, Rattrap's pre-show name started with an "R" as this is what Optimus starts to say before he's conveniently interrupted (and the first place I really noticed the absence of proper names). The characters all sounded correct--like I would imagine the show characters speaking (something far too few writers pay attention to in the comics). I do wonder about Megatron's battle armor. I know it was to help make symmetry between what we see in Beast Wars, part one and this toy form but I really think a bunch of robots wearing battle armor is redundant when they can just be built with weapons inside them. One final comment on the writing: too many instances of long, rambling sentences with no commas in them that come across feeling like info dumps instead of dialogue.
As to the art... well, its okay. I noticed Rattrap's head design changes twice throughout the issue--from the terrible looking toy head (part of the BC set) to the more familiar BW show head back to the toy head again (look how many people drew this issue, though, and such mistakes are inevitable). A few frames suffered from being unintelligible in terms of what the hell was happening (common to fan comics and, it seems, Botcon comics). The art generally doesn't stand up to IDW's wonderful artwork.
I loved the appearance of the Predacons at the end of the comic and hope that this is not the start of some new and long storyline but just a throw away thing. (Incidentally, there were fan made BW Predacons at the convention for the story--I got pics!)
A decent effort, it does it's job as convention promotional item...

Mildly recommended.

"The circle is complete."

My pics are now up.

http://s114.photobucket.com/albums/n245/tkthunder/

I took over 200 pics but only posted the more interesting stuff... I didn't bother rehashing the toy pics because I figure all the sites out there already did that anyway.

t.k.

Botcon 06 report!

Find it here:

http://www.karmicsalt.com/bc06report.html

A bit long winded...not for those who just want the straight-up facts (I like to talk about everything I
did so I can remember it years later).

My pics aren't up yet but will be soon and I'll post when they are.