Skywarp and Bombshell - All Hail Megatron #6

Catching up on my TF comic reading.

I thought this exchange between Skywarp and Bombshell in All Hail Megatron (AHM) #6 is hilarious.

Skywarp to Bombshell: "In the past hour I've single-handedly killed half the population of this city [Beijing]. What makes you think I'd have a problem killing you?"

Bombshell to Skywarp: "Touchy. Killing these creatures are meant to be impressive then?Strange notion, they're so small, insignificant, like - "

Skywarp: "Bugs? You're a bug! Is that supposed to be impressive? A bug?"

Bombshell: "Remarkably eloquent aren't you?"

Skywarp: "El - what?"

Bombshell: "Critizing another's form... tsk, tsk, vulgar. And from one of the identical tin soldiers no less."

Skywarp: "Tin - ... we pay homage to our commander's form. It's the seekers' way."

Bombshell: "Like you respect him. The Seekers. Makes you feel good does it, being a Seeker? Being rewarded? Cherished?"

Skywarp: "You annoy me. Since day one you annoy me. Your little mind games won't work."

Bombshell: "Yes, and with good reason."

Hilarious, like I said.

Y the Last Man

I have been interested in this Vertigo series from Brian K Vaugh from reading the reviews and critical acclaim that surrounds it. Didn't before have a chance to read it.

Today, there was a 20% sale for all Graphic Novels in Kinokuniya. That is, as usual, the perfect time to puchase entire series' because it's just so much more economical.

E and I decided to get the entire Y the Last Man series, all ten volumes.

I'm going to take a stab at reading it soon. I'm confident that it will be as interesting as other Vertigo series' like The Sandman and Fables.

Interior of Cybertronian: The unofficial Transformers Guide by Dlin and Tietjens

Further to what I said here about liking this little book more and more, I show as evidence how useful it could be...

Below is an interior shot of the Roadbuster pages (this book devotes more pages to characters that has more parts, other characters that are features using 2 pages are Jetfire, Omega Supreme, Scorponok, Fortress Maximus and all the Gestalt/Combiner leaders).

I always wondered just how many parts Roadbuster came with. Short of having the instructions on hand or having a roaming internet connection to connect to TFU.info when I'm out shopping for Transformers (this would be in Hong Kong and Singapore but not Australia), this little guidebook is the perfect thing to bring along as a reference for those time when I come across a good deal but am unsure of 'completeness'.

As shown in the picture below, the book lays out each and every part that Roadbuster (or a particular Transformer as the case may be) comes with. As a bonus, it even includes a close-up shot of the robot head!

Kotobukiya Jim Lee Batman

This is one sweet Batman figure.

I have been 'considering' buying it since March this year. Every week, I walk into King's Comics and look at it: 'should I buy it, should I not?'. One of the push factors was price perhaps. I thought AU$195 was slightly pricey for a statue, even one as awesome as this one.

So it continued.

Week in, week out, visits to King's comics, ogling over this Jim Lee designed, Japanese sculpted Batman statue. E was on the verge of strangling me some days, 'just buy it' she would say. 'The price is not right', I would answer.

Then came a weekend at the end of May I will call the 20% weekend. This was a weekend where both Kinokuniya and King's Comics, quite simultaneously, decided it was time to have a 20% sale. For King's Comics, it was 20% off storewide except for new releases.

Quite naturally, my thought was 'Kotobukiya Batman by Jim Lee, here I come!'

On that day, E bought the statue to me as a present for my efforts of staring at it for so long each week. She even carried it home for me. No mean feat owing to the size of this monster of a statue.

Oh, and I bought the Kotobukiya Supergirl as well (one of the best Supergirl sculpts around I gotta say). So here they are, standing next to my cloth cape Superman...


Kotobukiya Batman, Superman and Supergirl (interestingly, the cloth cape Superman, which I bought way back in 1999 is to scale with the two Kotobukiya statues)


Kotobukiya Batman, designed by Jim Lee. Awesome, eh?


Kotobukiya Batman with Superman

Kotobukiya Batman

Unreleased Robot Heroes!

Apparently there are unreleased G1 Robot Heroes and its none other than Victory Saber and Deszaras, two of my favourite G1 characters!

(picture courtesy of TFW2005)

Wish I can find a set somewhere....

I'm liking this little book by Dlin and Tietjens

Cybertronian: The unofficial Transformers Recognition Guide

I came across this handy little book last week, quite by surprise and hesitated whether to buy it or not because I have Transformers: Generations (Deluxe) which I thought would cover the purpose which this book is intended to serve.

After some hesitation, I bought it.

I've been flipping through it now and then over the course of the week, I'm finding that I'm liking this little book, more and more.

My favourite thing about the book is all the useful commentary that the author has for each Transformer figure. Mind you, these are things a Hasbro or Takara exec is unlikely to know, these are things that normal authors commissioned to write Transformers are unlikely to know, these are things that only long time fans and collectors of the toys know.

For example, the authors said this about Sideswipe:

"Sideswipe's specs mentions flares and a rocket pack, which appear to correspond to Sunstreaker's back mounted engine and should-stored missiles. Some take this as evidence that their specs were switched at the last minute."

Now, that's something real useful to know. Of course, the animators went with the 'Sideswipe has a rocket pack' thing and actually gave him one true enough.

Ok, let's try this again... another random flick through Cybertronian: The unofficial Transformers Recognition Guide... we have...

Doublecross
"Doublecross's dragon limbs make it the first TF toy to display organic-detailing."

There, something I didn't know, but is nice to know.

My other favourite thing about this book is the photo of all of each Transformers' parts laid out and at a good scale, below the picture of each Transformer toy. It's like having a portable version of TFU.info, how useful is that!

In short, I highly recommend this book to Transformers fans and collectors.

Historic event - Disney buys Marvel

I didn't believe this when I saw it, Disney has bought the Marvel Group for US$4 billion (for slightly more than half of what they paid for their previous big ticket item - Pixar).

This is the article from Yahoo!

Spider-Man joins Micky Mouse as Disney buys Marvel

"WASHINGTON (AFP) - - The Walt Disney Co. added "Spider-Man," "Iron Man" and the "X-Men" to its vast cast of characters on Monday with a surprise agreement to buy Marvel Entertainment Inc. for some four billion dollars.
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The deal, Disney's biggest since its acquisition of animation house Pixar three years ago, will combine the comic book giant and its huge stable of action heroes with the entertainment empire of Mickey Mouse.

"Adding Marvel to Disneys unique portfolio of brands provides significant opportunities for long-term growth and value creation," Disney president and chief executive Robert Iger said. "We are pleased to bring this talent and these great assets to Disney."

Disney and Marvel, in a joint statement, said that Marvel shareholders would receive a total of 30 dollars per share in cash plus approximately 0.745 Disney shares for each Marvel share they own.

It said that based on the closing price of Disney stock on Friday, the transaction value is 50 dollars per Marvel share or approximately four billion dollars.

Shares of Marvel soared 25.36 percent in New York and were trading at 48.45 dollars near the close of trading. Disney shares were trading 2.61 percent lower at 26.14 dollars.

The deal, which caught analysts and the market by surprise, was announced shortly before the opening bell on Wall Street.

Besides "Spider-Man," "Iron Man" and the "X-Men," Marvel's cast of over 5,000 characters includes "Captain America," the "Fantastic Four" and "Thor."

Marvel chief executive Ike Perlmutter said Disney is "the perfect home for Marvels fantastic library of characters given its proven ability to expand content creation and licensing businesses.

"This is an unparalleled opportunity for Marvel to build upon its vibrant brand and character properties by accessing Disneys tremendous global organization and infrastructure around the world," he said.

Disney and Marvel said Perlmutter would continue to oversee the Marvel properties, which include Marvel Studios, Marvel Animation and Marvel Comics.

Perlmutter will "work directly with Disneys global lines of business to build and further integrate Marvels properties," their joint statement said.

Disney and Marvel said the boards of directors of both companies have approved the transaction but it still needs the green light from US anti-trust authorities and Marvel shareholders.

Iger said the companies hope to conclude the deal by the end of the year.

He compared the purchase of Marvel to Disney's 2006 acquisition of Pixar Animation for 7.4 billion dollars, saying it presents "similar opportunities."

Pixar is the San Francisco-area studio behind such hits such as "Toy Story," "A Bug's Life," "Finding Nemo," "Ratatouille," "WALL-E" and "Up."

The agreement drew a thumbs-up from most analysts.

"Strategically, we view Marvel as a good fit for Disney," said Hale Holden of Barclays Capital. "We expect Disney to drive synergies across the Marvel characters at its parks and cable networks."

Standard and Poor's announced however that it was putting Disney's long-term 'A' corporate credit rating and short-term 'A-1' rating on credit watch with negative implications.

"In our view, Disney may need to issue debt to supplement its cash for this transaction," the ratings company said.

Marvel is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year. It was founded in 1939 as comic book publisher Timely Comics.

Besides comics, Marvel characters also feature in movies, animated features, videogames and toys such as action figures."

Original article can be found here.