Them little monsters - They are Here!

After a two and a half week wait, they are here.

Them little monsters are here.

Strange toys they may be, but I'm liking them more and more. This set is beginning to grow on me, little by little. But wait, look, they have encountered the Dinobots...

Monstructor versus Grimlock, Slag & Snarl

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Read all 'Them little Monsters' chapters:
Chapter 01: Them little monsters
Chapter 02: A prediction of price increase
Chapter 03: They are here!
Chapter 04: Gunning the monsters

Metalforce Hot Rod - An Introduction

'I hate Hot Rod' I've been saying that since TFTM in 1986.

I hated him because he caused the death of Optimus Prime. Sure Megatron may have been primarily responsible, but if Hot Rod didn't interfere and get used as a shield, Prime would have shot Megatron before the latter could fatally wound him.

'Wow Hot Rod is cool. I like him' was what i found myself saying a few days ago. I was bewildered to hear myself say that after having hated Hot Rod for the better part of 20 years. What is happening to me? What is the reason for my change in heart?

The reason? Metalforce Hot Rod.

Here he is... boom

This baby is so hot that I can't take my eyes off him.

I am incredibly impressed with Hirofumi Ichikawa's design and Yujo Koike's sculpt of Hot Rod. So much so that I've decided to do a series in 4 Chapters to fully pay tribute to such an awesome figure.

Next: The Origin of Metalverse Hot Rod

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Read all chapters in the Metalverse Hot Rod series
Chapter 01: Metalverse Hot Rod- An Introduction
Chapter 02: Metalverse Hot Rod- The Origin
Chapter 03: Metalverse Hot Rod- My reasons
Chapter 04: Metalverse Hot Rod- The Photos

Forum discussions
OZ Formers forum
Seibertron forum

Upgrade 1.0 - heroicdecepticon domain secured

'You should secure the heroic decepticon domain' AR said a few hours after last week's site launch.

I agreed. So I should. So I did.

So here comes the first site upgrade after a week on the world wide web.

This little site can now be accessed with the following simple URL-
http://heroicdecepticon.com

I've also gotten an email with the domain and can now be contacted here or at-
secrets@heroicdecepticon.com

'till all are one!

-HD-

The Dragon and the Ape part 3: Reflections

Previous Chapter- The Dragon & the Ape Part 2: Apeface

Now I've got them both. The Dragon and Ape.

I got to thinking that they ought to be Scorponok's lieutenants just like Buster and Hydra were to Overlord; just like Cyclonus and Scourge were to Galvatron; and just like Skywarp and Thundercracker were to Starscream.

I know they were not exactly written in the comics or cartoons to be such but the profiles do say a lot. I'll illustrate my thoughts by comparing them with Galvatron, Cyclonus and Scourge

From a design point of view, Snapdragon and Apeface have complimentary colour schemes just like Cyclonus and Scourge have.

Now, a look at their Marvel Universe bios...

Scorponok: Scorponok, as Headmaster Leader and arguably the leader of the Decepticons after Galvatron, approximates to Galvatron as Decepticon Leader.

Apeface: Apeface's function is listed as 'Saboteur' while Cyclonus' function is also listed 'Saboteur'. Apeface and Cyclonus undoubtedly serve their respective leaders in the same capacity.

Snapdragon: Snapdragon's function is listed as 'Interceptor'. An interceptor is a type of aircraft which 'intercepts enemy aircraft and destroys them'. Scourge's function is 'Sweeps Leader' but the sweeps function collectively as 'Hunter-Trackers' that 'hunts down and eliminates' targets. Snapdragon 'intercepts enemy aircraft and destroys them'; Scourge 'hunts down and eradicate[s]' targets, - 'intercept' is similar to 'hunts down' because to intercept, one has to find the target first, one has to hunt the target down; 'destroy' is similar to 'eradicates'. It thus follows that Snapdragon and Scourge serve their respective leaders in a similar capacity.

Snapdragon's binary partner, Krunk, served as Lord Zarak's (Scorponok's binary partner) bodyguard before they became Headmasters. It is very possible that Snapdragon would serve in a similar capacity due to Krunk's influence whether conscious or subconscious.

Conjecture or conclusion?: I therefore believe that Snapdragon and Apeface are meant to be Scorponok's 'lieutenants' just as Cyclonus and Scourge are Galvatron's.

The Dragon and the Ape is to the Scorpion what the Hovercraft and Spaceship is to the Space Gun.

To me at least, it makes perfect symmetry and it makes perfect sense.

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Read the entire The Dragon and the Ape series!
Chapter 1 – The Dragon and the Ape part 1: Snapdragon
Chapter 2 – The Dragon and the Ape part 2: Apeface
Chapter 3 – The Dragon and the Ape part 3: Reflections

Blastin' with Blaster's box art

Previous Chapter- Blastin' with Blaster's comic persona

Blaster

For the second part of the tribute, I contributed an updated high quality scan of the Blaster box art to Botch's Box Art Archive.

I scanned the box art in from my MIB Blaster, which has his left foot and left ear cut off. With Photoshop, I touched up slight flaws and optimized its colour, contrast and saturation to make the reds and yellows more vibrant. I made his left 'ear' whole. Lastly, I had to re-construct his left foot from scratch by using the previous low resolution box art scan for reference.

The foot is perhaps the most challenging part. Many edits were done on this. I did an edit, which my friend found unsatisfactory. We then sat down together to do another 2 edits over 2 nights before asking for Botch's comment and together coming up with what is on the Box Art Archive now.

Blaster box art editing

So there it is, the current Blaster box art is from me. What an honour! It can be seen here. Botch's tribute post to Blaster can be seen here.

A great big thank you to Botch for giving me this wonderful opportunity to appropriately contribute to the Transformers fandom through such a core G1 character and one that is dear to me.

And that was it, my second tribute to Blaster. I enjoyed Blastin' with Blaster, I hope you did too!

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Read all Blastin' with Blaster chapters
Chapter 01: Blastin' with Blaster
Chapter 02: Blastin' with Blaster's comic persona
Chapter 03: Blastin' with Blaster's box art

48 Hours Later

It's been 2 days since launch.

Hits have increased to 408 but where were the readers coming from?

The first ClusterMap has been generated and this is the story it tells. Over the past 48 hours there were hits from Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Singapore, Malaysia, Greece, London, Spain, Germany, New York, Michigan, Georgia, Texas, Los Angeles, Kansas, Minnesota, Washington and even from Anchorage in Alaska!

A very big thank you once again!

Tomorrow, I will be releasing Part 3 of my Blaster Tribute - Blastin' with Blaster's Box Art. Hope you will like it!

24 Hours Later

It's been 24 hours.

Thank you for visiting this site. There were approximately 252 hits 12 hours after going live; there were approximately 313 hits 24 hours after going live; and there have been a total of 6 comments posted on the site.

There has been approximately 240 views and 33 replies at the topic I started on OZ Formers here; and there are approximately 154 views and 5 replies on the topic I started on Seibertron here.

All very modest figures, but I am delighted! I am happy to give a little back to the Transformers fandom.

Perhaps the most shocking thing I learnt today is that after 12 hours, a search for Heroic Decepticon on Google returns this site as the #1 result. This is still true after 24 hours.

I hope to keep up the good results with support from all you guys and gals out there!

'ta for now!
HD

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Heroic Decepticon #1 result on Google after 24 hours