Botcon '12 Exclusives

[Dominic]

I visited with Lewis last night and got to fiddle with his exclusives. He got everything but for the custom class figure. I was pretty tired last night, (not having fully recovered from finals). But, the toys are repaints that share moulding with toys that I either have or have fiddled with, and I never intended to do detailed reviews of each figure.

And, yes, I read the comic. And, yes, there will be more detailed thoughts on that.

The pin: The attendee pin is a "Cold Slither" pin. Lewis half-jokingly expects it to be re-used for this year's "GI Joe" convention. I cannot say he is likely wrong.

The comic: Transformers Timelines #7 "Invasion"

There are plenty of point by point summaries to be found elsewhere. Go read them if you want a detailed summary

Apparently, the prologue and some earlier club/con content gives a good idea about who was on Earth at the time of this story (and by extension, who survived). But, as has been pointed out, there is no definitive list given, so Yee and Sinclair can more or less do what they like with this question. A few characters are strongly implied as being fated to be rebuilt from their G1 forms to their TFG or RTS bodies.

At least one summary I read says that superheroes are visible in a couple of shots. I saw one character that vaguely looked like Spider-Man. But, I am putting that down to bad colouring/art. The "worms" that the Junkions use to convert other robots somewhat resemble the anti-body tendrils inside of Unicron at the end of the 1986 movie. Given that the visual representation of the characters being converted in to Junkions strongly resumbles the conversion effect that resulted in the Sweeps during the movie, I am willing to bet that this is intentionally.

As much as I like Yee personally, and have nothing against Sinclair, I have to say that they have hit a new low with this comic. It is not unusual for BotCon, (or even TF comics in general), to read like fanfic or otherwise be too derivative of a given genre. But, "Invasion" reads like a *bad* fanfic. It reads like the sort of fanfic that started with a "kewl" idea, ("blowing up teh uuuuniverse!!111!"), and was then written around that idea. And, as bad as the core concept is, the execution makes it worse.

I am not normally one to complain that we do not find out everything about character motivations. Normally, I can wait. But, the fact that Magnus' plan is never explained here bothers me, especially because I am pretty sure that Yee and Sinclair have not put as much thought in to it as some of the fans have. Magnus shows up, specifies that he had no intention of allowing Earth to survive whatever it is that he was planning (but that Earth's destruction is not necessary to whatever his plan is), steals Earth and wipes out a universe in the process. Along the way, there are all sorts of "cute" and "clever" Easter Eggs, like references to the 1986 TF:TM and inverted Furmanisms that appear to have whole scenes built around them. Clever stuff there.

In all seriousness, Yee and Sinclair made me nostalgic for Sipher and Troop, or even Wittenrich. (I say this without sarcasm.) I am honestly having a hard time listing examples of badness from this atrocity in print. But, one scene does stick out. On the last page, there is a narration box, (at least I am assuming it is a narration box rather than character dialogue), explaining how the timeline that the non-SG characters hailed from was destroyed. And....the characters are shown looking up at the narration boxes and reacting to them. (I swear that I am not making this up. THE CHARACTERS ARE REACTING TO NARRATION BOXES!)

By way of comparison, this is easily the worst thing that Fun Publications has thus far produced. It is worse than "Balancing Act", which at the very least had an earnestness to it and tried to build on itself and other sources. It is worse than the navel gazing tom-foolery of "Timelines" #1, the "Beast Wars" issue, which was burdened mostly by being to slavish to a television series from a decade before.

In larger terms, "Invasion" is on a level (or, perhaps at a depth) with "Countdown". It is not as bad as "Countdown". But, "Countdown" came out every week for a year and had tie-ins. "Invasion" is, mercifully, one issue. But, the fact that I am even thinking to compare it to "Countdown" should be a pretty good indicator of how bad "Invasion" is. (DC comics took more time to establish the doomed Earths 15, 51a and 51b, making their destruction less predictable than the destruction of the origional "Classics" timeline was in "Invasion".)

Fun Publication's output tends to be derivative of, if not downright incestuous with, the specific TF franchise or broader soft sci-fi genre. But, this is bad even by that standard. I felt like I was reading a comic based on a child's play session, and that the kid made a point of smashing as many of their toys and trashing as much of their play room as possible.

Grade: F And, I am only giving it an "F" because a "Z" given in hyberbole would undermine just how piss poor this book really is.



And, now the toys, in no particular order beyond "the order that I thought of them". I am not bothering with letter grades here. The simple fact is that all of these figures are going to be expensive enough that deciding if they are "worth it" is going to come down to idiosyncratic factors even more so than other purchases related to a hobby. Anybody who seriously considers buying a BotCon toy is probably familiar enough with the base moulding and is basing their decision on things like being a completist for the line, likeing a mould, liking a character or something similar. I would be much tempted by Tracks and the Junkions if they were not "Shattered Glass" toys. But, that is probably better for my wallet...



Overlord/Gigatron: (head swap and recolour of RotF Bludgeon)
The new head and face sculpt does not look as out of place on a movie moulded body as I thought that it would. (Creative painting goes a long way.) But, it still does not look quite right, if only for being too big. Along with aesthetic concerns, Overlord has mechanical problems. The head is too big for the cavity that it is supposed to fold in to while in tank mode, leading to obvious paint scraping. And, both copies that I saw last night (belonging to Lewis and Zab) had mis-assembled feet or legs. Zab was confident that it could be fixed, but some collectors might balk at having to modify/repair such an expensive toy. The new head moulding on this figure, Metal Hawk and on the custom class Shockwave/Longarm are unlikely to ever be released at retail, which may make them more attractive to collectors.)

Tracks: (recolour of RTS Tracks)
This is a damn good mould cast and painted in damn pretty colours. The wing tips and missiles that appeared to be blue in early photos are actually purple on the figure. Anybody planning to use this as a base for a Roadrage, or a Takara red Tracks, will either have to paint or replace those parts with blue/black.

-Ultra Magnus: (head swap and recolour of RTS Prime)
The "helmeted skull" look likely would have worked better on a movie style toy in a Bayformer line. But, the basic sculpt looks wrong in a set that is so heavily rooted in RTS/TFU. The clear plastic does not help it to look better. The figure seems under-sized with other figures in this set.

-Treadshot: (head swap and recolour of RTS Jazz)
A good use of a passable mould. I only fiddled with it briefly, and thus cannot speak about questions like plastic quality and joint tolerances.

-Kick-Off/Kick-Out: (head swap and recolour of RTS Jazz)
An excellent use of a passable mould. This figure feels a bit more firm than RTS jazz did.

-MetalHawk: (head swap and recolour of TFG Darkwing and Sky Shadow)
While not as severe of offensive as the case with Gigatron, Metal Hawk's head seems out of place on the figure's body. Similar to Overlord, creative colouring goes a long way to making the figure look suitably heroic.

-Spinister: (head swap and recolour of yellow card Tomohawk and Gentei Vortex)
This figure is case from a mould that I do not own any other figures from. The bright colours do not quite work on a Bay-former influenced sculpt. And, anybody who just wants the mould has other (much cheaper) options.

-Octopunch: recolour of (RTS Sea Spray)
Ugly colours can ruin a good mould, and they certainly do here.

-Optimus Prime: (recolour of RTS Prime)
I tend to agree with the common complaint about this figure, specifically, that it feels almost perfunctory. And, similar to Ultra Magnus (this figure's mould mate), it feels undersized when sold with this set. Like (the more common) RTS Prime, it is not a bad figure but nothing to go crazy over.

-Junkions: (recolours of Junkions using all 3 head sculpts from various other lines)
It is a crime that there is no common pressing of the moulding used for these figures. The US releases (in RTS and TFG) were both in poorly distributed waves. And, the Japanese release was part of a box set that was expensive on the Japanese market. For all of the complaining about how Fun Publications priced this set, $100 for 3 figures that would retail for ~$15 is not that bad. (It is too rich for my blood, but it ain't a wholly unreasonably price.) If anybody wants to sell one of the non-Wreckgar figures, drop me a line.

-Bard of Darkmount (Straxus): (recolour of TFG Darkmount/Straxus)
A yellow recolour. Some people are whining about the name. But, in context, "Bard of Darkmount" makes sense, even if the concept is dumb.

-Soundwave (w/headband): (head swap and recolour of TFU Ironhide and Ratchet)
The plastic seemed to be a bit looser on this figure than on previous uses of this mould. The Cold Slither logo on the alternate mode, (apparently a promo van), arguably makes this a cross-over toy. I cannot say that it will be the most expensive toy in the set. But, I would anticipate it holding over the years. (Lewis did not have the head band accessory handy, so no thought on it here. I have heard plenty of accounts of it being over-priced trash. I would imagine that few people are going to not get it, if only to complete a figure they have already payed through the nose for. But, it is pretty cheap of Fun Publications not to include it in the boxed set to begin with.)


Dom
-but, man, that comic is awful.

[BWprowl]

Man, if this comic is as bad as you say it is, I'm going to need to see if there's scans around just so I can check it out. Morbid curiosity, ho!

-Sea Spray: recolour of (RTS Sea Spray)
Ugly colours can ruin a good mould, and they certainly do here.

You mean Octopunch, right? I think this one actually looks good, the colors are hardly outrageous or anything, in fact I daresay the hues are used very tastefully. Also: Ducks! Not gonna lie, this one is trending fairly cheap right now, and I'm tempted to grab one. I kind of like his bio too, so that helps.

[Onslaught Six]

Tracks: (recolour of RTS Tracks)
This is a damn good mould cast and painted in damn pretty colours. The wing tips and missiles that appeared to be blue in early photos are actually purple on the figure. Anybody planning to use this as a base for a Roadrage, or a Takara red Tracks, will either have to paint or replace those parts with blue/black.

I disagree--the "purple" is more kind of a blue-purple that I've seen on...er, several figures in the past, any of whom I cannot currently remember. (Think back to Armada.) The purple is blue enough that nobody should really be bothered by it. (And also, the original Road Rage's "blue" was the same dark blue-purple that G1 Optimus Prime had.)

-Sea Spray: recolour of (RTS Sea Spray)
Ugly colours can ruin a good mould, and they certainly do here.

I...wait, what? Dom, you know this guy's Octopunch, right? His colour layout is pretty much identical to the original G1 toy. The way Octopunch was coloured in the comics was a little more liberal, with more yellow, and darker greens. But there's no beating around the bush, this is definitely coloured Like Octopunch. (The "ducks" deco isn't really something that bothers me, and the helmet is done up well enough that it actually looks like Octopunch is wearing a helmet, as opposed to being his head.)

-Bard of Darkmount (Straxus): (recolour of TFG Darkmount/Straxus)
A yellow recolour. Some people are whining about the name. But, in context, "Bard of Darkmount" makes sense, even if the concept is dumb.

I'm whining about the concept and the colour scheme, which is particularly awful for no reason. At least guys like AM Thundercracker have a nostalgia to them, a kind of legitimate "This was actually made in the early 90s" look. Straxus reeks of trying too hard.

-Soundwave (w/headband): (head swap and recolour of TFU Ironhide and Ratchet)
The plastic seemed to be a bit looser on this figure than on previous uses of this line. The Cold Slither logo on the alternate mode, (apparently a promo van), arguably makes this a cross-over toy. I cannot say that it will be the most expensive toy in the set. But, I would anticipate it holding over the years. (Lewis did not have the head band accessory handy. After paying through the nose for this figure, a few more dollars for the headband is probably not going to make much of a difference for most people.)

It'd be different if the headband actually looked good, but it doesn't! It's a really crappy piece of shit, got mould lines all over the place, and it's not even the right colour! You could do the same thing with a $1 teal ribbon from a hobby store.

[Dominic]

Yeah, I meant to write "Octopunch". Sorry. (That toy still looks awful though.)

Tracks's secondary colour might be blue, not purple. Maybe the lighting in the room made it look more purple than it actually is. In any case, it is far from the Road Rage's indigo blue.


Dom
-agrees that the headband is inexcusable.

[Onslaught Six]

I dunno. Looks accurate to me:

[BWprowl]

I think Dom's point was that, accurate or not, the colors still don't look good. I mean, he's wrong, because it's a very nice deco, but we can't all be winners everyday, right?

Yeah, that helmet is very well done.

[Onslaught Six]

Yeah, it's all teal and minty green. The yellow's a little jarring, but it and the purple bring him around to being coloured like Bludgeon. (Sure, it doesn't work with ROTF Bludgeon, but still.)

[JediTricks]

I think Dom's point was that, accurate or not, the colors still don't look good. I mean, he's wrong, because it's a very nice deco, but we can't all be winners everyday, right?

Yeah, that helmet is very well done.

As a Pretender, I think the colors work, but as a Transformer robot not so much. And as an above-water watercraft vehicle, they're hard to justify - although if he submerged, then I'd consider it.

[Dominic]

I picked up "Time Lines" #7 today.

There is nothing new. The formerly online-exclusive prelude is reprinted here. But, there is no properly new content, such as the epilogue from 2010 or the character profiles that would be assumed from previous years.

On the one hand, it means that there is nothing newly bad about this comic. On the other hand, it is still on a level with, if not somewhere below, "Countdown".


Dom
-not much to add. The comic still sucks.