The Light Odyssey returns!

A bit off-topic, but...


To commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the original publication of The Light Odyssey, may I present these all-new tales. These stories will eventually help comprise the second volume of the Tales of the Destara (whenever I get it finished). These stories take place after the first story (The Light Odyssey. It's FREE at Lulu.com right now. http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/tkphotonathotmaildotcom ) so I recommend reading that story first so these make sense. 

Dark Interlude. Straxus and Switchblade discuss recent events in their Universe.

The Project. Deceptar schemes to expand his power to the nth degree!

Matters of Survival. A Rebel pilot awakens in the worst possible place and must fight to survive.

The Farewell. Fury lost his twin brother and he must deal with the pain or be consumed by it. 



Comments are always welcome! :) 

- Thunder

The HIstory

A primer on Transformers by @VariantComics, 25 June 2014.
Embeded video is 400 X 220 px.

A 1/4 Scale Transformer Project

I found the original article at Tech Crunch.

Shapeways Superfan Art Disappointment

As many of you know I've been delving into the 3D printing arena and was happy to see that Hasbro and Shapeways had created an official avenue to create Transformer related 3D projects. So, of course, I decided to attempt to create a few of my own to post and maybe sell there. But, when you look into the costs of a project it is kind of ridiculous for anyone to afford. I've included a screen capture of the first project I wanted to post there. It is a G1 Cartoon version of Reflector in Action Master style. They're a bit taller at 100 mm rather than the original 90 mm. Since I was having issues with printing 3 mm posts I decided to use 5 mm ones instead for the weapons/hand holes. The toy requires five screws to hold the back, upper legs and lower leg clamps together (2.5 mm holes, I used screws salvaged from printers). It took me three revisions before I finalize on this one. Using him I've created four more: Ironhide, Ratchet, Makuture, and Calculatom (the last two are my made up characters from long ago). Sadly, I just don't see people wanting to spend $46 bucks (without any profit markup) on an Action Master style figure.

Transformers: Robots In Disguise (2015)

Transformers: Robots In Disguise, 2015. Video is embedded at 400 X 225 px. See it on YouTube for larger display. I discovered this video through Til-All-Are-One (Tumblr). Enjoy!

Matrix of Leadership model file

Just wanted to share this with you, I uploaded a model file to Thingiverse for a Matrix of Leadership. Check it out at:

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:474370

These were printed out with filament I made so maybe not the best quality, but that's not the fault of the model. The puke green is kind of a mix from recycled parts. 

A FanFiction App

Transformer fanfictions are available through Wattpad, a smart phone reading app, which I have yet to try. Articles/stories are accessible by desktop/laptop browsers, so you do not really need to download the app? Please share if you have any insights and experience with this new platform. I found one popular fanfiction writer for Wattpad, http://wattpad.com/EraileaEvenstar

LEGO Constructions

LEGO Constructions by Monsterbrick. These figures look like they are based on the G2 series. See Monsterbrick's Flickr album for more photos. Click here

Titan Transformers UK issue 5.01, July 2014.

"A missed oportunity!"

Hi all !
Arriving not too long ago in the past, the review of the first TRANSFORMERS AGE OF EXTINCTION issue of the Titan series of Transformers comics is here!
Now let's go to the Issue! Plastic bag around it because of of all the extra stuff.



Page 00: The AWESOME cover consist of Optimus Prime riding on Grimlock's back, a scene that is certainly inspired by the latest movie!



The obligatory toy is a Breakdown toy. Each issue there will be shipped with a choice between 2 toys, this time Optimus or Breakdown. More details later.



Also there are 6 trading cards which are based on the previous 3 movies. And a playsheet on how to play,




more info at:

www.toppsdirect.com/transformersrules

Page 02-03: Index Page.
Page 04-05: Lowdown on Lockdown, Lockdown Profile !
Page 06-09: Part one of the the strip begins.

"Adrift in space and time."
Script: Robin Etherington Art: Horacio Domingues Colour: Nestor Pereyra Lettering: Comicraft

Basically, the story is about Drift and his past with Lockdown when on a Decepticon mission he discovers
what a psychopath Lockdown really is.
There are some nice pieces of dialogue like "That is Breakdown league crazy...I love it !" but really it
feels to me like they needed a story quickly, really quickly to insert into this Movie issue before the
film came out. .....to be continued on page 22  Bad art by Domingues considering that he did better in the past.(but still waaaaaaay better that my art.



Page 10-11: Ancient Terror, Grimlock Profile !
Page 12: Transformers Age of Extinction goodies Competition.
Page 13: Warner Bros Cartoon DVD advert.
Page 14-15: Supercars! information about some cars from the Transformer Age of Extintion movie. Drift,
Crosshairs, Bumblebee(retro), Stinger, Lockdown.
Page 16-17: Autobots (Bumblebee, Prime, Crosshairs) Poster.



Page 18-19: Crosshairs Conundrums-Puzzles and Quizzes.
PAge 20: Massive movie  wordsearch and Transformers trading cards competition.
Page 21: Win Transformers Prime (Orion Pax storyline) Limited Edition Dvd (with trading cards and
Transformer figure.(looks like either Bulkhead, Arcee or Megatron.

Page 22-25: Part 2 of the strip! SPOILERS !
The less said about this strip, the better.

Page 26: Titan Magazines - Transformers subscription - offer advert.
Page 27-29: Lockdown's Letterbox a.k.a. The letterpages, hosted by Lockdown with a little help from
Crosshairs for balance.
Page 30: The giveaway toy lineup for this year.



Page 31: Next issue blurb which looks like a Bumblebee cover. We'll see. On Sale 24th July 2014 !
Page 32: Transformers 30th Anniversary Collector's Edition ! 30 different figurines to collect. with list.



Conclusion:
Dissapointing Comic strip overall, let's hope it's better next time! Apart from the cover and the toy it's
below mediocre and a bad first introduction to the Transformers 4 storyline(was there any?)

score: 5.0 out of 10

The Dog Days of Summer!

The Spring/Summer issue of the Transmasters Magazine is now available for viewing! You can check out all the awesome here:

http://transmasters.angelfire.com/tmmag/issue21/index1.html


Special thanks to Jay Gutzman for all his great contributions this time around!
(My Crimson Destiny story segment isn't up yet but I'll post when it's ready).

Comments and feedback are always welcome! :)

- Thunder

Titan Transformers UK issue 4.20, May/Jun 2014.

"Epic final encore!"

Hi all !

Arriving somewhre in the past, the final TRANSFORMERS PRIME issue of the Titan series of Transformers

comics !

Now let's go to the Issue! Slighty bigger because of enhanced outer cover'

Page 00: cover consist of (archive ?) PRIME art of Starscream, and his 'minion'! Free toy is a "Bumblebee

blasterter !" again..... far from original since it's still another variant of the disc shooter/blaster

weapon, but that may change in the future ! You load the projectile into Bumblebee´s stomach and then

launch the little ball by pushing the lever on his back.

Page 02-03: Index Page.

Page 04-05: Transformers 4 Film and Game News page, foreshadowing the future !

Page 06-10: Part one of the the strip begins.

"Starscream´s Beast"

Script: Chris Cooper Art: Andres Ponce Lettering: Comicraft

Who ? Andres Ponce is a penciler and inker for Mirage Studios TMNT, Noble Cause and Firebirds from Image,

TMNT:Fast Forward and Star Wars from Titan Publishing (UK), Bankshot Comics. (actually started with issue

4.19 but I did not review that one.....)

Starscream is miffed with the Predacon Beast complaining that he gets no respect, so he decides to build

his own Beast ! The beast looks very similar to Generation One Tantrum, part of the Predaking combiner.

Starscream then can't seem to control him and not even the Insecticon drones can stop him when he

declares: I am a Supreme Beast and you have been judged unworthy. The sentence is destruction !

 .....to be continued on page 20  Great art by Ponce.

Page 11: Titan Magazines - Transformers subscription - offer advert.

Page 12-13:Soundwave's Stumpers-Puzzles and Quizzes.

Page 14: Transformers goodies Competition.

Page 15: Adventure time Magazine advert .

Page 16-17: Bulkhead VS Breakdown factfile clash.

Page 18-19: Decepticons (YES!) Poster.

Page 20-22: Part 2 of the strip! SPOILERS !

After a small standof between Starscream and Tantrum, Starscream tricks him into oblivion. Meanwhile

Predaking has sensed his kin which makes Megatron suspicious. Megatron finds the wreckage and questions

Starscream. Starscream simply, with the aid of his cctv skills, tricks a decepticon drone into oblivion !

After that he continues plotting......

What a rushed and crap ending.

Page 23: Jackie's Jokes ! Humor page.

Page 24-25: Mega Movie Motors! information about some cars from the Transformer movies.

Page 26-27: Awesome Movie Quiz ! Concerns the first 3 films !

Page 28-30: The letterpages, hosted by Megamouth Megatron(HAIL!) (PRIME version) with a little help from

Arcee (also PRIME version).

Page 31: FBI Fuzzlers! - more puzzles (also one with Tantrum).

Page 32: Ratchet Recall ! Spot the Difference !

Page 33: Next issue blurb which looks like Movie 4 cover. On Sale 27th June 2014 !

Page 34: StarWars CloneWars Comic advert.

Page 35: Tantrum Terror Maze !Help Starscream escape his rampaging creation !

Page 34: Decepticon Dead Zone!  - Cut out.be careful with scissors. to be used with special gift !

Conclusion:

Dissapointing Comic strip scriptwise, art was better than last time! Too bad the strip didn't live up to

my standards.

score: 5.7 out of 10

Review: Transformers: Age of Extinction Soundtrack

Transformers: Age of Extinction (score)

Composer: Steve Jablonsky

Available on iTunes ($11.99 US/Can); Amazon.com ($8.99 USd)


Track Listing:
   
1. Decision
2. Best Thing That Ever Happened
3. I'm an Autobot
4. Optimus Is Alive
5. Cemetery Wind
6. His Name Is Shane and He Drives
7. Hacking the Drone
8. Transformium
9. Galvatron Is Online
10. Your Creators Want You Back
11. The Final Knight
12. Punch Hold Slide Repeat
13. The Presence of Megatron
14. Galvatron Is Active
15. Have Faith Prime
16. Hong Kong Chase
17. The Legend Exists
18. Dinobot Charge
19. That's a Big Magnet
20. Drive Backwards
21. Honor to the End
22. Leave Planet Earth Alone
23. The Knight Ship

Total Running Time:  1:17:40


   I purchased the instrumental soundtrack to the recent Transformers movie, Age of Extinction, and decided to share my thoughts.
   It appears that this time the soundtrack is only a digital release (last time it was digital first then also got a CD release later on). There also doesn’t appear to be a pop song soundtrack this time around (like the first three movies got). Although there is at least one Imagine Dragons single  (“Battle Cry”) floating around from the movie.
   As with his previous efforts, Steve Jablonsky’s music is grand and orchestral. It befits an epic storyline full of action and excitement. Unlike the last times though, this soundtrack sounds slightly more dynamic then the last. The opening cue, Decision, breaks with the epic fantasy themes he usually employs, sounding more aggressive and interesting then the previous trilogy got. Or to put it another way, it gets to the point rather then feeling like it’s killing time by doing the sprawling space fantasy epic themes in the previous films.
    This soundtrack also has more of an ethereal, electronic-like feel to it. No doubt it was scored by a full orchestra but there’s a bit more synthesizer snuck in there this time around which is a good thing.
    Given the emphasis on this film being a soft reboot of the core concept, they could have just as easily gotten someone new to score it. Break with the old and try something truly new. What we get instead is more of the same, with strains of the new tossed in. I like it but they could have done so much more had they wanted to go all out.
    All and all, a good effort. A solid release and worth checking out if you like instrumental soundtracks.


Verdict: Good.

Transformers on Roku

This is the screen shot of the Hasbro Studios channel on Roku. It is a free, ad supported, public channel available for Roku owners. You can get the G1 and BEAST WARS series on Netflix; however, this channel has the other TRANSFORMERS series like ARMADA, ANIMATED, CYBERTRON and ENERGON. So far, I have only seen one episode and the lag is tolerable. It also carries the other Hasbro TV shows like GI JOE and MY LITTLE PONY.

Transmasters Magazine, Spring/Summer issue in the works...

The Spring/Summer 2014 Issue of Transmasters Magazine is in the works! Submissions (art, stories, articles, etc.) are always welcome (stuff should be sent in any common, easy to open format). I hope to have the issue ready sometime in July. As always, submissions can be sent to tkphoton at hotmail.com

BotCon 2014 Report now up...

Read all my long winded musings about this year's convention here:


http://www.angelfire.com/ak5/thunder888/botcon2014report.html



- Thunder

Winter is over! Finished! But, it never truly ends...

Okay, so it's Spring! That doesn't mean I can't do a Winter 2014 issue of the Transmasters Magazine! :)  Here it is now, in all its glory...

http://www.angelfire.com/transmasters/tmmag/issue20/index1.html


Part three of my story, Crimson Destiny is also in there (and I hope to keep up on it better this year). Also, I'm trying some tweaks for the toy reviews (pop-up windows instead of flooding you with all the images at once. Makes it better for people with slower connections). Check it all out and let me know what you think! :)

- Thunder

Cyber Phasors Coloring and Activity Book

Yes, I know it might be a shameless plug, but I decided to share this with my Transmaster friends. You may have seen my post about this on Facebook, but that was a link to buy it. Here to you my friends is a free link to download the slightly bigger than 11 MB .PDF file of my Cyber Phasors coloring and activity book. (OK, originally I called these characters Cyber-Roids: Cyber Vehicles-Mighty Droids but of course Droids belong to Lucas, then I thought they phase forms so call them Phasers, but that's Trek, so Cyber Phasors is my ultimate name. I also changed the good guy leader's name from Max Track to Ultra Track again because there's too many "Max Track" applications like the shaving razors.)

Link to PDF file

Comic Review...

Cover "A" by Andrew Wildman

Transformers Regeneration One #99

Writer: Simon Furman
Artists: Guido Guidi (breakdowns), Stephen Baskerville (finishes)



Summary:  THE WAR TO END ALL WARS! Can the Autobots prevail against JHIAXUS’ New Cybertronian Empire? The disastrous invasion ends in dramatic and shocking fashion with twists, shocks and surprises galore, and STARSCREAM right in the thick of things. Dark forces are stirring for the final chapter of the original TRANSFORMERS epic!

Comments:  One thing really stood out in my mind about this issue: it felt rushed. Starscream is apparently possessed by the Underbase and it uses him to track down and absorb Jhiaxus. Why? Who knows... Elsewhere, events seem to imply that either Primus has gone evil or the dark Matrix monster from before has taken control of him (which itself was an aspect of him). And is Galvatron now possessed by Unicron?
   Also, like all other storylines in this series up to this point, Jhiaxus' empire is abruptly over. We didn't get much of a sense of his personality (beyond preferring order and going to any means to get it). In the space of three issues, his empire attacked, was retaliated against, got the upper hand and is abruptly stopped by Shockwave and Starscream (with some help from the Wreckers).
   I blame IDW's "write for the trade" style for this. In the old Marvel series, stuff could percolate for ages in the background. While this series has had some of that, it hasn't had enough. I wish we could've gotten an issue from Jhiaxus' stand point. Discussing his imperative to create his empire and why he chose the whole "Hub" style for it. At best, we get snippets of this but not a true reason in the story that makes sense. Furman only had twenty issues and he doesn't really explain it beyond "genetic imperative" to create order.
    On a related note, we don't get much fallout from the other storylines either. Megatron is dead; his zombies are destroyed. Bludgeon's ship is destroyed and his play for power is done. Scorponok is apparently killed and we get barely a mention of the after effects. It all feels rushed to me and it could've been integrated much better overall. Instead of just "five issues and done", I would've preferred more story lines bleeding over and into each other, then wrap it all up at the end of the series. The way it's been done, it makes the overall story feel a bit, well, hollow.
   I still look forward to seeing the final issue next month and seeing exactly what Furman is going to do to end it all off. I just wish more planning had been put into the overall arc of this series.


Verdict: Good

Retailer Incentive Cover by Geoff Senior

Cover "B" by Guido Guidi

Review: Intrada Transformers: The Movie soundtrack

Transformers: The Movie soundtrack
        
Studio: Intrada
CDs in Set: 1
Price: $19.99 USd
Available: Now
(Buy it here: http://store.intrada.com/s.nl/it.A/id.8506/.f?sc=13&category=22848 )

Album artwork images courtesy the Intrada website

     At long last, those who have wanted to own a copy of the instrumental soundtrack to Transformers: The Movie are able to do so. And unlike the very limited BotCon releases from the late nineties/early oughts, this version should be more widely available.
    If you already own one of the BotCon releases, there really isn’t anything new here. In fact, this release is strictly instrumental music only. The title theme isn’t even on here (either version).    
    The sound quality on this release is noticeably crisper then the BotCon versions. I’m not a sound technician so I’m not entirely sure what the difference is on a technical level but this is definitely better sounding then its predecessor releases.
    The CD comes with a color booklet with several pictures of the animation (as one would expect for such a release) as well extensive liner notes detailing the lead-up to the creation of the movie and thoughts on Vince Dicola’s scoring talents as well as some comments from the man himself and Flint Dille (it’s standard CD soundtrack stuff. Interesting reading to some, irrelevant to others, depending on their interest level).
    The actual packaging is much nicer then the older versions as well. The front is the movie poster art of the Autobots shooting up at Unicron while the back has several head shots of the characters and the track information. The disc itself is black labeled with orange titling and white supporting text.
    Of note, they’ve rearranged some of the tracks, merging them together by theme and outright renaming others. For example, the track called “Autobot/Decepticon Battle” merges together the original “Autobot/Decepticon Battle” and “City Under Siege” into one track (they do go back to back in the film, but this is technically a difference). Another example is “Optimus Prime vs. Megatron” which takes the older “Showdown”, “The Death of Optimus Prime” and “Witness to a Funeral” and merges them into one track (all the music is still there, it’s just all on one track now instead of however many the original had).
    Some tracks have been renamed. “Pursuit” is now “Closing In” (I preferred the symmetry of “Escape” and “Pursuit” better). “Unwelcome Visitors” is now “Twisted Planet” (actually an improvement). “Their Darkest Hour” is now “The Fight Continues”. And so on.
    Again, depending on your level of interest, this might infuriate you or leave you indifferent. It annoys this reviewer because I got used to the original track names on the 1997 BotCon release and it would be confusing discussing the tracks someone who might not possess the various iterations.
    Another thing that has occurred to me about this soundtrack in the recent era: It has no real ending. It ends off with the battle inside/around Unicron. The final track is “Legacy”, Dicola’s demo track for the audition to get the job in the first place. Over time, I really wish he’d done up an end title of some kind for the overall suite. He went into the movie knowing it would have a rock song to wrap the film so he apparently didn’t bother to compose anything and I think that’s a shame. Especially since we have never ever had a complete release of the soundtrack together (that is, instrumentals and songs in one release. It falls to the listener to track down the various discs so they can assemble the complete soundtrack on their own). Some films--Batman (the Tim Burton film), for example, have an end title while the finished film uses songs to wrap it up instead. I wish Dicola had elected to do the same here.
    On a related note, I wish someone would’ve done an “Ultimate” version of the soundtrack with two discs, if need be, and every song and instrumental together on it. The CD is copyright “Sony Music”, who did a songs disc back around the 25th Anniversary of the movie so it stands to reason they must either have the rights to everything–or easily possess the power to license them. As cool as this release is, imagine how much cooler that would’ve been!


Verdict:  Very Good. A must-buy for those who don’t already own an earlier release.