Auto Assembly 2013

Wow, it's been a while since I posted on this blog...*blows away the cobwebs*.

Okay, so I figured that I'd post my thoughts on this year's Auto Assembly (held in Birmingham, UK, just this past weekend). However I'm sure you'll all realize before long that this is a rave review, so I suggest that anyone who's on the fence for conventions where we deal with robots and putting them in dodgy poses, then they should just come along for next year's con.

Okay, first things first, my journey into Birmingham was pretty uneventful, the train from Reading was a bit late, but not by much, so that's in itself an improvement over last year :) The only problem of course as that I had to leave later than usual (though a day earlier) so I didn't arrive in Brum until about 4pm (no shopping on Thursday for me then). I decided to head into Brum on the Thursday rather than Friday like I have every other year, simply because I wanted to go into the town as well, and last year I had no time to, so I used the extra day as a shopping day of sorts :)

My bedroom this year was on the 3rd floor from the B lobby (Room 316 if you want to retroactively stalk me). It was a nice room, one bed, one bathroom etc, there was only 2 issues though:

1) The TV was very weird, it basically had to go through about 6 menu screens just to turn it on...very annoying, but since I was only in the room for sleep and drop-offs, it wasn't so much of an issue

2) The shower head was just basically like another tap, it didn't cover any sort of large area, and was mostly ineffective in my opinion.

These two things aside, it was a nice room though.

 The lounge area this year was basically the same as last year (duh) but as part of my ongoing mission to act more human, I tried to socialize more again, so I spent most of the time with different groups, just trying to socialize more, which I think went well in the long run.
This place was the site of many interesting moments, like a very long conversation with John-Paul Bove on the Thursday night about his travels around America, and his wonderful new variation of the term "lol"...which is "lolocaust" ....let's see how far that one goes!
The lounge was also one of the areas where the Transfans and the "Quilters" of Quiltcon 2013 (we have no idea what it was actually called, but this was our name for it). They seemed like nice old ladies on the whole, and some of them even agreed with us that they're actually geeks as well as us, juts for different things.

This was also the place where Jim Sorenson was trying to get me to buy the Japanese versions of the Cybertron Recon Team, even after I told him various times I already had them, such a weird moment...Also, a funny anecdote, all day on the Friday I was looking for someone, so I could deliver a Vector Prime I sold to him online, and when I eventually found him in the afternoon, it turned out to be a guy I was chatting to about Arms Microns earlier in the day!!

That said, even in this section I have a minor quibble, the coke that was sold at about the Friday onward tasted a bit like the horrible Tesco Value coke that I so often avoid (it's like just coloured fizzy water rather than something good). The food was lovely though!

 Ah Swerve's you were my port of call for Lunch :) Nice food, reasonable costs and tables filled with nerds talking about nerdy things. My type of place :)

The convention hall was the same one as last year, but it felt different as well. The mountains of toys on sale were all beckoning me, but sadly I wasn't able to give everything a home :( There were several moments and memories made in this hall, too many, and too confusing to all put to words, or were just things you had to be there to get. But a short list would have to be:
1) Me coming 3rd in the Quick Switch contest (transforming a G2 Laser Optimus)
2) Some kid called Jack going head to head with Andrew Griffiths on TF knowledge, and even stumping all the guests on some obscure trivia as well. He is out future!!!

 On the last night, things got sad, so to get over it we all convened in the lounge and made out toys do unspeakable things (unspeakable, but not unshowable!)

 The morning of my departure arrived on the Monday, and no-one wanted to leave (even Evac) so once again, everyone went to the bar, until their respective rides were ready (mine being the giant metal train shaped dragon a few buildings away). There were some more small stories from that morning, but nothing that particularly grabs my attention...excpet maybe one point when a kid was hiding from someone, and used my giant suitcase as a hiding place, which confirmed my theory that it could easily hold a small child in there!!

Okay, I got home on the Monday afternoon, and spread out all my haul on the bed (a bed I still have no access to :( ) and started crying over not seeing my friends again for another year (you know, internal tears, not real ones). Though I was sad, it's a pity I can't live closer to some of the other convention goers, or Transfans in general. Oh well, maybe after I win the lottery I can buy up a small town and move everyone from AA there!!! BWAHAHHAHAHA (I'm not insane)

All right then, some highlights of my haul this year include:
1) Encore Twincast and Soundblaster - Liked these guys since Headmasters, and they came with new cassettes too!!
2) BW Moon - YIKES! Got him for just £7! not a bad find in the slightest! One of theleg joints is a bit loose, but otheriwse he's fine :)
3) The Ride's Deluxe Evac - Seriously, I became obsessed with this guy since he was first announced, so me finally getting his full sized toy is like a wonderful dream:)
4) Final Battle Megatron - I didn't get him for Megatron in particular, but rather his Dark Energon Saber Microns, who I've liked the looks of for some time now
5) Convention exclusives - I picked up Robot Manuel X, Robot Basil Z and the Bad Cop set (not assembled yet). All three look good though :)

One thing I really wanted, but didn't end up getting (due to funds really) was the Botcon 2013 Kreon set...now I need to find a set going cheap on Ebay or something :(

Anyway, in summary, as I said at the start, this was a great weekend, with very minor issues, certainly not things to put me off going in the future, and I plan to buy my ticket for 2014 in just 2 weeks :D
Hope to see you there!!

The Rochert Effect

Hey look! I'm posting on this blog again too!

I thought I'd post here about a new(ish) phenomenon I've been noticing over the past couple of years, so please bear with me... 

Okay Everyone knows about the Furman Effect, which is where a relatively unknown character from the Transformers Archives is used by him and instantly becomes popular, his old toys start getting bought up on Ebay, and for much higher prices etc (case in point, Razorclaw) whom was a relatively unknown Transformer until he used him in the IDW Beast Wars stories, suddenly this Basic class figure with a one step transformation sequence is going on ebay for hundreds rather than just a couple of pounds like his wave mates would.

Now as for my actual reason here...the Rochert effect, named for Nick Roche and James Roberts, in which the Furman effect happens again (unknown characters suddenly become firm favourites) but with the added bonus of a new toy being created for this forgotten character as well, or the sudden usage of that character after many years of nothing in other media, when used in media created from either of these two wonderful men.

Some Examples of this:

Ironfist = Botcon 2011 Fisitron figure

Pyro = Botcon 2010 Pyro figure

Overlord = Botcon 2012 Gigatron figure

Guzzle = DOTM Guzzle figure

On top of these figures we also have just had the announcement of a new Swerve figure in Asia, just after he became a main character in MTMTE

Of course some other characters used prominently by this duo have also had new toys in recent years (Rodimus, Perceptor, Kup to name but a few) but since they were already popular characters already they can't really be counted (which is the same reason why the Furman Effect doesn't work toywise either, since characters like Grimlock, Nightbeat, Bludgeon and so on , who have gone to get new modern incarnations in toylines, were always popular anyway)

I'm sure there are many I've forgotten on this list, but if you look through the character lists of their works and then look at any new toy releases, you're bound to find a fair few correlations.

And remember, when you see a Skids, Tailgate or Whirl toy produced in the next year or so, always remember...Aesir told you so!

Transformers 4ever!

As I'm sure everyone has heard already, Transformers 4 has been confirmed for a release date in 2014, and once again will be directed by Mr Michael Bay.

I'm personally quite happy about this, I'm pretty impressed and happy with the movies thus far (and of course the toylines and comics associated with them as well) but there is one thing that does annoy me about this particular part of the franchise...the fanrage....

The moment this news came up there were angry posts about how Bay has destroyed the fandom and how he's doing it again and whatever. Now I appreciate that these guys are just angry that they didn't make the characters look exactly like their antiquated G1 counterparts or that they actually look life-like etc but that's no reason to besmirch the franchise for a different aesthetic touch to what they were expecting.

Of course I'm also expecting the usual "I CAN'T SEE WOT THEY'RE DOIN!!11!" posts regarding the designs again...which I've never understood...how can anyone get mixed up between the character models on these guys? They all look so different and most have vastly different colour schemes to one another (Bright red Dino vs a Dark Black Dread for example)

What else? Oh yeah all we know about this new film so far is that Optimus and Bumblebee will be returning most likely (:<) and since they're using "4" in this preliminary title it's likely to be in the same continuity (although with a soft reboot most likely as a start of a new trilogy as Sam won't be returning, so they'd have new Human and Transformer characters) again this time.

Due to Megatron's death in DOTM (and them already using a "revive him" plot in ROTF) he's likley to stay dead now, but don't worry kiddies! There's plenty of psychotic characters in the Archives of the franchise (Overlord, Deszarus, Bludgeon to name but a few) and this most likely means a goodbye to other popular villains from the previous films like Starscream, Soundwave or Barricade (unless they can make out that they didn't really die in the battle effectively)

Well in summary, despite the film being a good 2 years away still, it's still worth us having these fun speculation sessions and talking rationally about it. So have fun and don't take it too seriously like most fans do.

Not much going on....

Not really that much to talk about right now, since I have very little money, and nothing too exciting has been happening in the Transformers franchise lately

Although I have started playing the latest Pokemon Game though, Pokemon White

I beat the main part of the game within 3 days (ie when I saw the end credits) and I'm now doing random training around the Eastern Unova Region (which has trainers with Pokemon at level 60-68!)

This leads me to question the game's logic...

The Legendary Dragons Reshiram and Zekrom are both found at Level 50 (The one that N has is at Level 52 by the time you battle him though)

Now...somehow N (the leader of Team Plasma) uses this Reshiram to defeat the Unova Champion, Alder...whose Pokemon are level 75-77. I mean I bet that if I challenged Alder with my Zekrom, whom is only level 51, then even though he's a Legendary Mascot Pokemon I'd be pummelled into the ground!

Also this brings up some other issues I have, now during the story Alder tells you that you (the player) are the only one who can stop N if Alder was to fail...yet it's revealed later in the game that Cynthia (the Sinnoh Champion) is actually in Unova (WHY DOESN'T SHE HELP?!?!) and every character in East Unova is at least 8 levels higher than N's Legendary Dragon, couldn't they have stopped him???

Anyway, N leaves Unova after Team Plasma has been disbanded and is now in a far off place with his Dragon (most likely a plot point to be picked up on in the next games at some point)


Soo, yeah, my main team are all at level 71-72 now, and I'll be training them up until I reach at least a few levels higher, whilst simultaneously training up some of my weaker Pokemon (since the Wild Pokemon aren't really worth it for my main team at the moment, and there's only SO many daily battle trainers for me to train against)

Anyway, hopefully I'll have something more exciting to talk about next time, but no promises

LATERS!

Collectors Club Confusion

Nooo...I'm not confused, but I know it can be confusing to follow the continuity of the collectors club, so here I am to help (supposedly <<)

Okay all the stories released in Botcon are connected in some way (no matter how obscurely)

Okay, Descent into Evil is a post G1, Pre Beast Era story which COULD connect to the Dawn of Future's Past storyline, but apparently isn't (don't ask me why) HOWEVER the toys released that year have mostly reappeared in the Wings of Honour continuity recently, menaing that that boxset is now easily connected to the Elite Guard toys

Dawn of Futures Past is an immediate prequel to Beast Wars, which connects it potentially to G2 Redux since both are supposedly prequels to Beast Wars as well

The Balancing Act and Revelations stories are both set during the "Cybertron Series" and begin the storyline that has been connecting for coming up to 7 years now

Starting from Games of Deception, the Botcon and Bi-Monthly comics stories are connected, connecting the Nexus Prime storyline and continuing stories from each of the new continuities made

Games of Deception - Crossing Over
Transcendent
Shattered Glass - Reunification
Wings of Honour - The Coming Storm - G2 Redux

After Crossing Over, the story splits in 2, one following the (then) group of 3 limbs of Nexus Prime in Axiom Nexus, and one following Classics Cliffjumper in the Shattered Glass Universe, until both storylines connect in Shattered Glass, where the Nexus Team combine, and they leave the SG universe for the Wings of Honour one, After they leave they will never be seen again in the club (Hasbro have STOLEN HIM!)

However it's later shown that Nexus Prime was in fact in the future of the Wings Universe, which also happens to be the G2 Redux universe, menaing that the Wings and G2 universes are both connected, and are also part of an alternate version of the G1 Cartoon series....

I need a breath lol

Is it racist to have an accent?

Seriously, why do people consider characters with accents to be racist?

This is mostly because of what was said a while back about the Ferrari in DOTM having an Italian accent. I personally think this fits perfectly, but some people have been saying that it's clearly racist and they hope Bay gets shot or something for it or whatever

what's your point of view on the subject

There's something about Galvie

Galvatron is a very manic little fellow..not just because of the whole insanity thingie but because of how he's been portrayed, so here I am trying to make things a bit clearer for you guys:

In the G1 Cartoon, Galvatron is simply the reformatted Megatron who's turned insane because of plasma baths. He eventually gets killed off my drowning or something in Headmasters (seriously, how did that kill him?!?!?!)

In the comics however, it's more confusing, there are at least THREE Galvatrons running around!!!!

Galvatron 1: The Decepticon who travelled back from the year 2006 and started the whole Time Wars storyline, culminating in his death by being torn apart by a time/space vortex
Galvatron 2: The Decepticon whom Unicron had kidnapped from an alternate future of 2009, where Unicron ate Cybertron and the Autobots are all but dead. He is eventually also frozen or drowned by the end of the comic series
Galvatron 3: The Galvatron who travelled back from some undisclosed date to the present day (well, present form their point of view) and tried to recruit some Autobots into his unknown agenda, but fails, and ends up in a dream like state on the Ark

On top of that, there's ANOTHER Galvatron!!!

Galvatron 4: After Galvatron 2 went to the past, and Cyclonus and Scourge followed, the Autobots followed, however after Galvatron etc are destroyed and the time/space rift is destroyed, the Autobots return home, but they find Galvatron alive again!!
Now this is a time distortion, basically they returned to a slightly alternate version of their home universe, where Galvatron etc never went back in time, however Rodimus and his team DID, meaning Galvatron conquered Cybertron in his absence

AND!

Galvatron 5: In Armada, Unicron sends a very G1-looking Galvatron to the Aurex universe to prepare it for his arrival. This Galvatron is of course killed by the local Megatron (AW)

Technically also, In the Fun Pub series Galvatron has been given his Universe toy as his body, but this is just for Toy-Accuracy

In Beast Wars Galvatron is some different guy who just took Galvatron's name, who is a narcoleptic but he does end up being an avatar for Unicron

In the Unicron Trilogy Galvatron is just an upgraded version of Megatron in each series

IDW have Galvatron appearing nowadays, BUT he isn't an upgraded Megatron, he's a totally separate character, but now he's gained the power of darkness, and will be appearing in the upcoming Infestation storyline (YAY!)

Galvatron is mentioned as being a future version of Megatron in Animated as well, but he hasn't been seen yet

Shattered Glass Galvatron has a Purple Helicopter mode and is a rebuilt form of him created by Primus and Nexus Prime. He seems to be quite a lovely guy though