Shortpacked!

Dueling Bee-jos.

2008-05-15T03:00:42Z

Shortpacked!: Sexual dealing.

So I've had these Shattered Glass dudes sitting around my desk for the past few weeks, and I've yet to have any crossover mirrorverse-versus-counterpart showdowns.

Poor Bumblebee! Goldbug, his evil mirrorverse counterpart, outclasses him in many respects. He's faster, stronger, bigger... I imagine Bumbs would probably get tossed around a bit. It'd be an interesting matchup because there's a clear underdog, and it's not the villain. I'm not sure if Goldbug's rampant paranoia is a point for or against him, though, in this battle. As the monkey says, sometimes crazy works!

Whew! We're almost there! At the time of this writing, we've raised $940 out of the $1000 I need to order the full 2000 books. Just a handful of Shortpacked Book 2 preorders until I reach the goal and... I start making money off these things. Sweetness! Thanks to everyone for your support.

A crippling technical set-back for Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann

2008-05-14T02:59:57Z

Shortpacked!: A crippling technical set-back for Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann.

Book 3, when I get around to assembling it after Book 2 is put to bed, is to be titled "Shortpacked! Is Totally Gay." (Book 3 features the Ethan Realizes He's Gay storyline.) I've started doodling concept sketches for the eventual cover image, and the first one is to the left.

I showed it to Maggie, and her eyes went big. She thinks it's a bit much. It is a little over the top, but that approach tends to be hilarious to me. But does it go over the top in a way that won't scare people away? Can I sell that cover to passer-bys at Comic-Con? Americans can be squeamish about male sexuality. Hmmm.

Here's another concept. Guess the reference! I think it's funny (in an insular Internetty way), but I'm not sure if it suits the title as well as the first one.

In response to both of them, I kinda want a more dynamic character layout, instead of merely staggering layers of characters. Maybe inspiration will hit me. Maybe you'll all beg me to move in the direction of one of these displayed ideas. Who knows!

In the world of diminishing returns, the fund-raiser to afford two thousand books continues! We didn't nearly match the first day's tour de force preordering, but I didn't really expect to, either. Still, we must soldier on! Preorder Book 2, or bid on this original Batman art from me. The latter ends in under a day. Both serve the purpose of providing more books to everyone! Great thanks from me to everyone who's preordered thus far. You are the heroes.

I leave you all with this post from HeroGojira, who alerted us of an Amazi-Girl sighting in City of Heroes. It makes me so happy.

Percy the Cobra Viper!

2008-05-13T03:00:24Z

Shortpacked!: The suit is very becoming.

A fan from 4chan sent me a link there this morning, where some dudes are digitally altering Shortpacked!s to "fix" them. What a riot! It's really, really awesome, and I have saved every single one in case I ever need to do an impromptu guest week. (And good timing, as I may be moving soon...)

My fund-raising drive to afford a run of 2,000 copies of Shortpacked! Book 2 continues! Dude, we did half of it in under 24 hours! You guys are amazing! I just know we can do the rest. I feel it in my heart... my shining heart which burns for justice. Preorder a copy and help move the cause forward!

Speaking of merchandise-whoring, check out Real Life's Shirt Ninja figurine/statuette! That thing is shaping up really classy. If you guys ever want a figurine made of a Shortpacked! character, let me know, and I will totally scope things out. I am supremely jealous.

Oh holy mercy, it's a toy review! That's what we're here for, right? Since we're doing all this fundraising, I was tempted to pull an NPR and do the whole "here are your favorite moments in toy reviews" schtick just to seal the motif. But as funny as that'd be to me personally, I just have too big of a queue to drill through.

These here are Cobra Vipers! I wouldn't normally pay them no mind, except I am a huge fan of one of them in particular. Percy the Cobra Viper had a small part in Devil's Due's second crossover with Transformers. Y'know, the time-traveling one that was really awesome and fun. The few moments that Percy earned in that miniseries were comedy gold. He was the red shirt and he knew it, with hilarious results.

The toy itself would be excellent along the lines of pretty much every other figure in the line, what with their ongoing plateau of sameness, but there are some really annoying little bits with the Viper. First of all, I hate that damn goggles accessory. It's not molded into the helmet, and they like to adhere to my fingers when I pick him up more than the helmet they loosely sit upon. I need to get some glue. Second, his left hand doesn't like to wrap securely around his rifle when you attempt to get him to hold it two-handed. His left-hand seems to be sculpted specifically to hold the rifle that way, but it really doesn't want to. Grrr. And lastly, he doesn't seem to have universal-joint heels like several of the other 25th Anniversary figures do. Because of this, he falls over backwards a lot, because his backpack's pretty heavy, and the display stand's peg is towards the back. You gotta bend him forward a little at the hips and hope that a gust of slight wind doesn't come along.

It's a good thing one of the Vipers had that awesome part in that miniseries, or I'd probably hate these guys.

Book 2: The Home Stretch

2008-05-12T03:00:45Z

Shortpacked!@TNI: Impenetrable without YouTube.
Shortpacked!: Beginning of a new storyline!

Confused by the TNI strip? Educate yourself. After seeing the poor dude humiliate himself over something so mindbogglingly simple, I couldn't resist. Because I'm a jackass. Apparently "Waspinator," one of the members of our forums, posted the video response! I have never been so proud.

Here's the skinny on Shortpacked! Book 2 preorders so far. I've raised enough money to afford a print run of 1,000 books. That's how much I produced of Book 1, and I gotta tell ya, it's not gonna last much longer. I'm feeling the drain as my remaining Book 1s escape through my fingers, and I haven't been to more than two small conventions, much less a full-fledged Comic-Con. Buttloads were ordered just in the past few weeks, along with preorders to Book 2.

1,000 books of Book 2 would cost me roughly $6500. I've gotten that plus all the money I need for postage to mail the books out to y'all. That is an amazing show of support from you folks, and I am incredibly grateful. However, for another $1000, I can order TWO thousand books. That would mean I'd have these things in stock for quite a while, and peeps won't be disappointed when they come to see me at Cons and I'm all sold out. Now, to get that $1000, I'd have to get preorders for 76 more books. I think that's possible, and I think we can do this in a week.

Call it a Book 2 Drive, if you will. I've even got the prerequisite thermometer fund raiser graphic on the right.

To help put a dent in the numbers, I'm gonna put that Batman/Mortal Kombat original art I showed you at the beginning of the weekend up for auction, and dump whatever I get for it into the Book 2 funds. So even if you've already preordered your book, you can help this process along in another way.

It's weird, having upwards of $7,000 sitting in my Paypal account from preorders, because none of it's actually mine! I don't see any of that money. It all goes right into the book and sent to you. Some day in the future, I may make a profit from this book. Probably (hopefully) at San Diego Comic-Con, after everything's all paid off. But first, I have a duty to you folks. I gotta take care of ya. And in the weird fabric of things, I need help from you to do that.

So if you've hesitated on preordering Book 2, please take some time to do so now. It's heartily appreciated.

EDIT: Shortpacked! Extras are SOLD OUT! I'm leaving a few slots open for those who promised to pay for them through snail mail, but otherwise, they be gone. There's still oodles of the normal ones, though!

SUPER WEDDING WEEKEND

2008-05-11T02:48:55Z

Joyce and Walky!: SUPER WEDDING WEEKEND

Everyone's getting married this weekend. Everyone! If you think you know someone who isn't getting married this weekend, you're just misinformed. This includes yourself.

Gerald and Danihana, familiar folks to the forum, met through reading It's Walky!. They is getting married today. It is major sucks, because Maggie and I were supposed to be there, but something dumb happened and we couldn't. It is no fair, because I made this wedding happen by existing. The bragging rights are all mine!

Also, Hooper's getting married tomorrow. Finally, he can lose that virginity.

Joyce and Walky themselves may or may not have gotten married last month in the subscription strips. Not even they know for sure!

TINY HAMSTER RAGE

2008-05-09T18:51:48Z

El Talko

2008-05-09T02:59:37Z

Shortpacked!: This is why we can't have good things.

Hey, look! That original art has DIALOG on it! How can this be? The answer, after the break, may surprise you.

Preorder Shortpacked! book 2 now!

Vote for Cobra Commander!

No, seriously, vote for Cobra Commander.

Maggie had the genius idea to print out dialog balloons on our handy new sticker maker. Then we adhere them to the original art, and when people buy original art, they can have the dialog, too! It'd be sweet!

First, though, I gotta test how durable these stickers are. They're printed on high-quality paper, but the adhesive worries me a little. I'm gonna roll this up, simulating me mailing it in a tube to some lucky reader, and in a few days, I'll see how well it holds up. Then I'll auction this bad boy. See you on Monday.

Got lost in his own museum.

2008-05-08T02:03:39Z

Indiana Jones' horse is awesome.

Yeah, I finally found the deluxe set that has "Raiders of the Lost Ark" Indy and his horse. I found a buttload of them, plus multiples of every other toy. Woo! I only got the horse set, though, despite the way the "grab the idol" mini-playset tugs at me.

The horse is pretty damn articulated. He's got a little bit of motion at the base of the skull and at the bottom of the neck, swivel shoulders and hips, and universal joints at all four elbows elbows and all four... heels? His tail also sways. "Raiders" Indy fits on him pretty well, despite his legs not being splayed very far apart at the hips. His feet fit into the little stirrups, and he's got some reins to hold onto. The only other thing I could ask for is a little lateral head and neck motion, but that woulda been tough.

I got Sallah the other day, so there he is. He comes with a (very rubbery) shovel and that awesome torch. He, sadly, cannot fit on the horse. His, uh, skirt is rubbery but tough, and though he does appear to have hip joints (no knees), he's unable to move his legs much at all, much less fit each leg on either side of the horse. Oh well. So much for buying another horse set to give Indy a riding pal.

As I expected, "Raiders" Indy and "Crystal Skull" Indy share some parts. The only thing that really differs between them are the thighs, crotch, and head. "Raiders" Indy's hat isn't removeable, his hips are slightly wider, and his "purse" is underneath his coat, rather than over it.

Haha, purse.

We are wasting valueless time here.

2008-05-07T02:59:06Z

Shortpacked!: Everything old is ... old again!

Ultra Car just had to comment on this eventually.

Preorders for Shortpacked! Book 2 continue!

Phew! I'm down to the last group o' folks in this year's BotCon set. That's right, these are the Shattered Glass heroic Predacons, represented as Mini-Con redecoes. According to Razorclaw's bio information, he was once a professor at Tyrest University, and when the Autobots blew it up, he and two students retreated into the mountains to ~~have inappropriate relations~~ become ferocious predators.

More college professors should disappear into the mountains to become lion-dogs.

No explanation is given for their tiny size in the "real" fiction, but I would probably adopt the April Fool's version's "shrink ray" explanation anyway, so the absence of a real story helps soothe that into my personal canon. (Annoyingly, their size in the comic ranges from "same size as everyone else" to "dinky," depending on the panel. Don Figueroa is usually more consistent than that.)

I really wish Divebomb (the bright orange bird-thing) had more paint in robot mode. Other than his head, all his paint is dedicated to his sparsely-detailed wings, which are hidden in robot mode. I think I'd love him a whole lot more if that were the case. I love him anyway, what with my orange fetish. It is, after all, a delicious Sunstorm-like orange.

The other guys are cool, too, though less orange, and are much better in the area of paint layout. They manage to get paint in both modes instead of decoing just one.

Poor heroic Decepticons. These dinky dudes are half of their rebel forces.

BotCon 2008: WTF

2008-05-06T02:16:39Z

In yesterday's comic, Daredevil said that Iron Man was the best movie he'd ever seen. That was, of course, a joke. Apparently some people were confused!

(Though I usually question whether Daredevil is really all that blind if he has super-insane echolocation that lets him see the shapes of everything anyway, that probably won't help much at the cinema.)

Shattered Glass Sideswipe, Whisper (Mini-Con), Blurr, and Divebomb (not pictured) formed the BotCon 2008 souvenir set I like to call the "WTF pack." Very little here makes sense.

First of all, Sideswipe was an abandoned store exclusive of a much more interesting character. He was originally going to be a new Generation 2 Drench. But while BotCon did manage to save the toy from Cancellation Hell, they did it by making him a dude from 1984. Though they did add a buttload of more paint detail, which is appreciated, the "DRENCH" decoration on his doors was removed, which disappoints me greatly. Thank heavens that wasn't replaced with "SIDESWIPE," which means that I can at least pretend he's Drench in the privacy of my own home, albeit a Drench without his name tattooed on his sides, no Drenchy "8" racing number, and a big purple Autobot symbol.

With his dark gray, teal, and yellow, he has one of the most interesting color combinations of all the Shattered Glass toys.

And Blurr? Oh man, don't get me started. Apparently they wanted to put Blurr in the set. Well, hey, there's this toy that already has Blurr's head. Okay, well, nobody actually likes the body that the head is on, but he has Blurr's head, so you gotta use it if you want Blurr. So guess what? They didn't like the Blurr head, so they paid cash money to give him a totally new and different Blurr head! Which begs the question why they didn't put the head on a better toy. That head coulda been on ANYTHING. This toy should not exist.

(Also, Blurr came misassembled. His crotch is upside-down. You can pop it out and put it back the way it should, but it wouldn't be BotCon without one of the toys arriving put together the wrong way.)

People say Blurr's pretty, but I don't really see it. I do like the lightning deco in car mode, but I don't find his robot mode very compelling at all, other than the new eye-patch. (The eye-patch is great.) Maybe if there were more color contrast in robot mode, instead of being almost entirely black, dark blue, and dark purple.

Bitchity bitch bitch bitch.

I'm hoping future Transformers club fiction makes these guys interesting, or I'll probably ditch them later. Sideswipe was fairly important in the comic, and I do like my army of Heroic Decepticons for some intangible reason, but Blurr did practically nothing and his bio card did him no favors. Additionally, Sideswipe has his hilarious bio card motto keeping him teetering closer to my "keep" pile: "There is only one rule now: revenge!" I'm not sure that makes sense, as I'm certain "revenge" isn't really a rule, per se, but that it doesn't make sense is amusing to me.

Again, the hints of camp save these guys. Well, they save Sideswipe. Blurr's state is pending.

Edit: Hold the presses. I forgot Blurr's quote is "The smarter I am, the faster you die." Now that's quality camp.

shortpacked @ 2008-05-05T16:09:00

2008-05-05T20:12:38Z

I don't know anything about Casey Coller, this new Transformers artist, except that he is my new god.

Jonesing for Iron Man

2008-05-05T03:02:55Z

Shortpacked!@TNI: A winning streak?
Shortpacked!: Peer review!

Hello! If you sent me money by snail-mail for a Shortpacked! extra and your last name is Hoffman, couldja shoot me an email? Thanks!

(Just a handful of Shortpacked! Extras left, btw. I'm saving a few spots for other folks who mailed theirs in the slow way, but pickins are slim!)

This here's Spirit (Iron-Knife) and Wild Bill from G.I. Joe 25th Anniversary. They're a cowboy and an indian! Theme-y! I swear, all I need is a construction worker and I've got the Village People.

Wild Bill is basically Ace with a new head (and removeable hat), a vest, and holsters. He comes with little cowboy revolvers, but I guess they couldn't fit his huge-ass helicopter on his small blister card. S'okay, 'cuz I ain't got room for it anyway. I don't remember much about that helicopter other than my brother wanted it really badly when we were tykes.

His head is super tiny.

Spirit has Shipwreck's torso and arms, but everything else looks to be new to me. He's got a rifle with a detachable clips, and two more identical clips can be removed from or stored on his giant backpack. Also, he comes with Freedom, his super-patriotic eagle! (I miss Billy.) "Comes with FREEDOM!" should have been a huge starbursty call-out on his packaging, but Hasbro dropped the ball. How many toys come with FREEDOM?

The funny thing about Spirit is that while he has Shipwreck's arms, his hands are new. This does mean that one of them isn't clenched eternally in fisty rage, but the thing is his new left hand has a much wider wrist cuff than the right. This means one of his arms is now noticeably longer than the other. D'oh!

I also think he should probably wear some sort of protection on his arm if he's gonna have an eagle land there. On the other hand, maybe that can be the source of a single tear running down his cheek...

Swag update!

2008-05-03T15:24:41Z

1) The auction for my bagged set of 2008 BotCon toys ends in roughly ten hours.
2) Only SEVENTEEN Shortpacked! Extra editions of Book 2 are left for preorder!
3) Tony Stark makes me feel he's a cool exec with a heart of steel.

Duke... with PATRIOTISM!

2008-05-03T03:18:34Z

Joyce and Walky!: The continuation no one wanted to see.

This morning Maggie went out to some stores. She needed an Iron Man, since she's declared the film to be The Bestest Evah. I wanted to find me an Indy-on-horse. She got her Iron Man, but all I found were these... Wave 7 G.I. Joes! Woohoo! Not exactly what I was after, but not bad. It's the wave with the Vipers, the HISS driver, the Spirit, the knifey Snake-Eyes, the Wild Bill, and SUPER AWESOME FLAG-CARRYING JET-PACK WEARING DUKE FROM THE OPENING TO THE G.I. JOE MOVIE.

Yes, that opening.

Hee hee hee hee hee hee hee.

He, of course, comes with a super-patriotic American flag, which he can hold (a little too) loosely in his hands, or it can plug its base into a newly-added hole in Duke's stand. Duke's shirt is lighter from the previous 25th Anniversary version to make him differenter, plus he has a hole in his torso for his jetpack to plug in, something the original box-set version lacked but the single-carded version had. I don't have the single-carded version, so that was new to me, but it does prevent me from sticking the jetpack on the older, more "show-accurate" version.

Now all I need is a 3-3/4" scale Statue of Liberty and I'm set for life.

I decided Indiana Jones needed to be ridiculously patriotic, as well. Hey, this is Geezer Indy, after all, and Duke's not so young himself. It'd work better if he was Hawk, who's older, but still, they're only, like, a decade away from being contemporaries. Now that's geeky.

Dun-da dun-dun!

2008-05-02T03:24:16Z

Shortpacked!: Dun-da dun-dun!

Just got back from seeing a preview of Iron Man. It was really really really really really good. And it gets major points for using something, but probably not what you're thinking of.

Anyway...

Woo! The street date for Hasbro's Indiana Jones merchandise was this morning, so I hepped it to Target, where I found a full smattering of everything in the line... except for the Indiana-on-a-horse deluxe set I craved the most. Damn! Unfortunately, the couple of stores I checked in addition had nothing out at all, so back I went to the first store.

I came home with Old Geezer Indiana and Shia LaBeouf-- er, Mutt Williams. I decided on the jacketed Old Geezer version rather than the nearly-identical jacketed "Raiders of the Lost Ark" version because I felt the face had a better likeness. With all the wrinkles and what-not, it made for a better caricature. Plus, if I find the Indy-on-a-horse set later, I won't have two of the same style.

The detail on these figures is pretty amazing. Articulation ain't bad, either. Their legs are jointed more like a modern Star Wars dude than a G.I. Joe, but their arms remind me more of the new Joes. Their hips are the classic T-crotch, while their shins are balljointed and can rotate below the knee. The feet can also turn, but not up and down, like modern Joes. Geezer Indy comes with a Crystal Skull molded into his hand, but you can yank out that hand at the wrist and put in a new hand which can hold the revolver he comes with. Sweet. There's a hook on his belt for his whip, but the pouch for his revolver doesn't open (unlike the younger version). There'a box with an "artifact" inside it. It's some huge clear-plastic diamond. Huh.

Mutt I got because I want a G.I. Joe-scaled toy of Sam Witwicky. Hee hee hee. All I need is The Strokes sticker to slap on his shirt. He comes with a knife, a huge snake (bet he's not scared of 'em!) and his boxed "artifact" is the "Eye of Horus." I only know this because it comes with a little slip of printed paper that says so. Oh, hey, Geezer Indy's diamond came with a helpful slip, too. The "Eye of the Peacock," apparently.

Well, super.

Speaking of Joe-scaled figures, I think our Real American Hero team has a new member. Codename: Whipley!

I guess Annie is short for Anakin.

2008-05-01T13:21:55Z

So, hey, guess what?

Our little hamster Annie is a boy!

...

No, we don't know this because Snkrs is pregnant, but god damn if Annie hasn't started chasing Snkrs around her cage late at night, trying to mount her like a ham possessed. And then she suddenly finishes, immediately takes a nap, and her crotch is wet around THIS HUGE PINK NUB.

And then she tries it again.

Oh, hey, and apparently hamsters start the whole impregnation thing in April.

GREAT.

Shit.

fuuuuuck

EDIT: Oh, hey, they're both boys. Phew. The breeder we got these from apparently had her sexes confused. ...So I guess Anakin's just really gay for his brother. ...

Likes and dislikes

2008-05-01T02:37:52Z

A quick reminder while I spend a few days piling through my backlog of BotCon news and new toys to pore over -- Shortpacked! Book 2 is still up for preorder! Only a handful of Shortpacked! Extras remain! And my extra set of bagged BotCon 2008 toys is still up for auction. It's at $225 and climbing!

One of the two "souvenir" add-ons at BotCon 2008 was the set of Shattered Glass (mirror-universe) Megatron, Rodimus, and Mini-Con Rampage. IIRC, the set sold for $115 or so, which is probably the steepest price we've gotten for a BotCon souvenir add-on, though since it includes an Ultra, a Deluxe, and a Mini-Con, it's also the largest. Only 1100 of the set were produced.

I opined on Megatron the first night of BotCon, and I'm still sweet on him. He's my favorite toy of all the year's offerings, though I like his colors second only to Goldbug's. The combination of light gray, black, translucent blue, and pale red is an attractive one. Plus he has that sweet prototype Megatron head. (Though, damn, I wish they'd interpreted it less bucket-heady. Ruins the point a little.) The smaller, Japanese version of the Energon Megatron mold is also new to me, since I have both of the larger, American versions. It's basically the same, but smaller, as one would imagine, and it's electronics-less.

I wonder if that black tank Megatron carries around with him is OTFCC'04 Megazarak. Same colors!

Rodimus came with him, which was merely an unfortunate side-effect to me. Other than the awesome Evil Goatee, I really have no love for him. He's black and silver and purple. There wasn't much fun had with the deco; they gave him a new flame pattern. That's pretty much it. Again, the goatee is the only real twist.

More of these toys should have had goatees.

I figger I'll keep him, if only to round out the set. And there's upcoming Shattered Glass fiction coming up, written by the usually-engaging Trent Troop and Greg Sepelak. It's possible they'll get me to appreciate him for his characterization. The comic book has so far failed on that front, but it's not too late.

SPOOOON!

2008-04-30T03:00:06Z

Shortpacked!: Scraping the bottom of the barrel of my BotCon comics.

I drew tonight's comic first, of all of my BotCon comics, but I didn't run it because I had better ones. This morning I felt ill and I was still exhausted from my trip, so up it went. Whee, vacation.

This comic is weaker, I feel, because it insinuates this sort of exchange actually happened. It didn't, and it is a complete fabrication. I was merely sitting in on the first panel of the con, which happened to be IDW's, fiddling with some toy as always, and felt really guilty about it, like when you doodle during class. The man berating the audience member in the strip is none other than Marty Isenberg, the head writer for Transformers Animated (and co-story editor of Beast Machines), who was truly a class act and a wonderful human being. One of the best guests we've had at a BotCon, I believe. He was funny, engaging, intelligent, and extremely happy to be there. Today's comic, though it does not specifically say the speaker is Isenberg, does him a disservice. But hey, he's who was there at the panel when I needed reference.

Several new upcoming Animated toys were debuted at BotCon, but none were more anticipated by me than Sentinel Prime's. Visually he's, y'know, the Tick. As a Transformer. And voiced by Townsend Coleman, who is, y'know, the Tick. He's not at all characterized the same, as he's Optimus Prime's jerky rival who is a big jerk and acts like a jerk. But I love him, and I think he's my favorite Animated character.

But damn, his toy is tiny. He's a mere Deluxe, when he should be a Voyager class so he can push Prime around. And like Bulkhead and Lugnut, his toy design is very wide, so he puts all his mass into his horizontal, meaning he's actually quite short. I think he's shorter than Bumblebee, though that just was my rough estimate as the hand-painted sample in the Hasbro booth was squatting. And so I am enraged at the toy, yet I still love it because it is Sentinel Prime, my favorite character.

I'll, uh, just have to stick him in the back of my shelf so he looks... far away.

Today at Kmart I found a few cases of Indiana Jones toys on a palette. I was tempted to open them myself, since no one was around, but there's that pesky red-stamped "DO NOT OPEN UNTIL 5/1/2008" all over them. So not only would that be kinda shady, but they'd inevitably not ring up at the front desk, they'd call back, and then some employee would find a half-opened box left in the aisle, and I'd totally get busted.

Oh well. I'll check back in two days. Must have.

It's not my bag, baby!

2008-04-29T02:22:35Z

So these are the dudes from the BotCon 2008 "Shattered Glass" box set. I've already sorta beaten in my general opinion on them individually when they popped up a few months ago on the BotCon website, so going through that again seems redundant. So I'll just tack on my post-con feelings about them.

I think I like Prime the best, though that largely has to do with what toy he is. He's a fantastic mold. (He'd better be! I have three now!) The way his head can look down suits an evil character, as well, so that helps characterize him to me in person. Goldbug has the most striking colors, probably of the whole box set. The combination of yellow and electric blue works really well on his black frame. I find Grimlock more visually interesting in person than on the screen, so I like him more than I thought I would, but not by much. Jazz I am completely bored with, since he doesn't look very evil, nor is his toy's mold one of my favorites. Starscream is a nonentity that I keep forgetting exists. Razorclaw is all right. I... think I just realized I haven't transformed him yet.

The (real) comic hasn't done much to improve my feelings on most of these guys, since it focused mostly on the at-convention add-ons and Cliffjumper. It did give Prime some interesting characteristics, which helped build my appreciation of him. I have to reach into my memory for that April Fool's Day prank comic for reasons to enjoy the rest of the set, with its fun trio of erudite, British Grimlock and his wacky pals. They weren't given much panel time in the real comic, and in Grimlock's case, he was just generically dim, which was really disappointing.

Regardless, you should totally bid on my extra bagged set of the toys. I've begun the starting bid at-cost, though the other ones on eBay now seem to be going for $300-400. (Hot dang!)

Evidence shows that I am the most important Transformers fan.

2008-04-28T03:02:31Z

Shortpacked!@TNI: More comics about convention panels!
Shortpacked!: Seriously, panel-o-rama!

Enjoy a few mostly-unrelated-to-the-blog-post-text images today. There were so many new things that I kinda just want to image dump a little or I'll never get through it properly. Click back and forward through the images in the galleries for more. (Still have to upload more photos...)

As with most Shortpacked! convention comics, today's is grounded in a real occurrence. At Saturday's Hasbro Toy panel, a "25 Years" toyline was announced next year to celebrate Transformers' anniversary. While it's also a natural outgrowth and continuation of the Classics/Universe line that begins this fall, 2008's toys will branch out into celebrating Transformers of all incarnations, whether they be Generation 2, Beast Wars, Armada, or what have you. We were shown a sleeker, completely new deluxe Beast Wars Cheetor, and Robot Heroes Cheetor/Tankor and RiD Prime/Megatron. A set of new Legends-class Transformers featured a tiny new Hound and Jazz, but also G2 tank Megatron.

And that was the end of that panel. I attended the Hasbro Design panel the next day, where they discussed the nitty gritty of design choices they make and the inside references they sneak onto the toy decos. But they also had a few extra prototypes to show us (extremely) early into production. Aaron Archer, top Transformers dog, asked if I ("Walky") was in the audience. I said Hello! and he asked me to stand up. I did, and waved hello to everyone.

Next in the presentation was a very early gray prototype of a brand new, fully poseable, Anniversary Armada Hot Shot. With his Mini-Con, Jolt. A fully-poseable, translucent-windowed, Armada-styled Hot Shot with fully-poseable Jolt. He doesn't have the Axelzooka (it'd get in the way of his shoulder poseability), but he does have two arm-mounted missiles, which to me looked like they were connected to his back by clear tubes? His shins were much more athletic looking, versus the big blocks the original toy had for shins, though the old details were still there. He had a translucent plastic visor (which I forgot to ask if it flips down, though if it's a separate piece it probably does), car mode still has the hotrod engine (though it might not detach to form Jolt's gun), and his spoiler separates in two and hinge off his shoulders.

Hasbro made a new Hot Shot just for me! Well, okay, not entirely, but I choose to see it that way. Because I'm awesome.

Well, I say that, but clearly what happened today was so insanely crazy in a good way that I had to substitute it for something more humiliating in today's comic strip. Good things of this caliber don't happen! They just don't!

(Galanraff's much shorter account.)

shortpacked @ 2008-04-25T20:55:00

2008-04-26T00:59:05Z

Shortpacked!: Once again, this link will work at 11pm EST

I've got two comics "queued" in my sketchbook, and this was the better of them, so up it goes. Sorry about the aspect ratio! I should have planned it ... taller. Also, I should try to do comics tomorrow that are not about being in the panel room, or this is going to get old fast.

I have very limited time and the complimentary wifi here is hella slow, so photos are being uploaded gradually.

Video reviews of stolen toys from Asia are all the rage, so I had to get in on the action. This is one in a series of way, way, way too many, but here you go. EXCLUSIVE video review.

BotCon gives us such great head.

2008-04-25T01:02:29Z

Shortpacked!: This link will work at 11pm EST.

Phew! Steve-o and I drove down to Cincinnati this afternoon, tried a few stores for Animated, failed, and decided to give up and just go downtown to our hotel and the convention center. We got some food at a food court down the street (Chick-Fil-A!) and then went back to the Duke Energy Convention Center to get in the long, long line for registration. After that, we got in the long, long line for convention souvenir toys.

To the left is the head of mirror universe Heroic Decepticon Megatron. It fills me with such pure glee. It's a newly-molded noggin for the convention based on the prototype Megatron character model that formed the basis of his early Marvel Comics appearances, plus it showed up in the first toy commercials. Before the cartoon aired, it had been revised into the familiar buckethead most of us here are familiar with.

But dude! Prototype Megatron head! That rocks my intimates in ways you'll never know. The rest of the toy's pretty schnazzy, too, but that's just icing. The body of the toy is the smaller Japanese version of Energon Megatron. But that's not important. Prototype head!

shortpacked @ 2008-04-23T21:28:00

2008-04-24T01:39:44Z

So I put lots of black paint on my Animated Bumblebee. I added hings like the stripe on his right shin (removed from his deco between mockup stage and release), plus finished the black on his biceps, the insides of his torso, his "cleats," his palms, and the stripes on his forearms and head. His kneecaps should be yellow as well, but I'm wary of painting those. Yellow on black can't end well, at my skill level.

I tell you, it was a pain to paint those palms. Though his forearms are held together by a screw, there's a huge plastic bar right on top of that screw, keeping you from being able to remove it. What keeps the plastic bar there is a rivet... which doesn't go through all the way, so you can't hammer it out. That hand is there for keeps. So I used a veeerrry thin brush, and prayed.

Tomorrow we're driving down to Cincinnati for BotCon 2008. We'll probably hit a Toys "R" Us in town before we get to our hotel, but it will be futile. Reports are coming in that every store in town was ransacked by dealers, with folks coming into the convention center/hotel with carts full of dozens of freshly-bought Animated toys. (People are jerks.)

Anyway, I'll be out of town for the weekend. I have Friday's Shortpacked! comic done in advance, as well as Saturday's Joyce and Walky! and Sunday's TNI strip. Meanwhile, while I'm at the con, I hope to draw some comics in my sketchpad, and release them to you nightly by way of photography and (hopefully) free Intermanets. That's the plan, anyway. If not, we're all screwed!

Preorder Shortpacked! Book 2! You heard me. If I'm not out of Shortpacked! Extras (sixty remain!) by the time I get back, you're all grounded.

MORTAL KOMBAT!

2008-04-23T02:59:05Z

Shortpacked!: MORTAL KOMBAT!

It's true! A "Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe video game is coming. And it's rated T! For Teens! Woof.

That's right, it's still time for whoring out Shortpacked! Book 2! Way back long ago, I did a strip that made fun of Greg Land. Well, for maybe the first time I think, you can see the original assemblage of photographs that I traced to create this masterpiece, provided whole-hog in the appendix of this grand tome. See a small preview to the left.

The vanilla $14.95 version is available, but why shoot so low, when there's the $24.95 "Shortpacked! Extra" version? SP! Extra, limited to 200, is numbered, signed, and doodled in. They're over half gone, and won't last.

The quicker these are preordered, the quicker the book comes out!

Before I escape to BotCon this weekend, allow me to shower my manlove all over this G.I. Joe toy. A new Battle Armor Cobra Commander! Now this is an anniversary toy. At some point Cobra Commander got an armored (and air-conditioned!) suit, because, really. He was just wearing slacks and a jacket, before. Gearing up for battle involved covering his head. A little more manly, really, 'cuz that requires some balls, but why be manly when you can dress up like an Imperial Stormtrooper?

As far as I can tell, he only has one reused part, that being Beachhead's noggin. His helmet fits really snugly over it. Due to his helmet being a real accessory, his head actually looks like a real human size! Too often they scale down the heads of the helmeted folks to freakish mutant proportions, as if the helmet were their head. That is not a problem here. He's also got a newly-molded backpack based on the original, and he comes with a laser pistol.

I had the original dude when I was a kid. Not in 1982, but 1987! You have no idea how happy this toy makes me.

Whoring two-fer!

2008-04-22T01:21:55Z

A few weeks ago, I did a TNI strip about a "drunk and barfy green" Iron Man exclusive. Terrible, right? Well, Jin Saotome made it reality. A custom "Repulsive Armor" Iron Man figure is up for auction and it includes a one-of-a-kind marker piece by me.

But enough making fun of the tragedy of alcoholism.

Yesterday I put Shortpacked! Book 2 up for preorder. It is sweetness! The book is 136 pages, full color, and nice and glossy.. Included is special commentary under each strip. There's a few TNI strips thrown in there, plus some "behind the scenes" preliminary sketches showing early versions of the characters. Plus, at the beginning of each story chapter is an introduction by Robin! To the right is a sample page of one of her, um, endearing monologues.

You can order the plain ol' $14.95 version, but why, when there's the $24.95 "Shortpacked! Extra" version? SP! Extra, limited to 200, is numbered, signed, and doodled in. And in one day I've sold 70! They're almost half gone. You gotta get on this while you can.