My favourite MTMTE covers

Today is the day when More Than Meets the Eye #28 will be released.

In other words, MTMTE Season 2 is going to start! After, to me, the non-really-exciting-event that was Dark Cybertron, I am so excited for MTMTE to continue!

Here I look back at some of my favourite MTMTE covers from "Season 1". 2 of my favourites were #7 and #18, but on the whole most of the Milne covers are pretty darn nice. There were some instances where I have opted for "Cover B" because I felt that convoyed the interior story a little better.

So here they are, my favourite MTMTE covers from Season 1.

Thanks to Maz for helping me obtain the covers for #1E, #3A, #9A, #10A and #17A (did I miss any?).

Oh and here is the #28 cover that I'm planning to get....

A very special gift - Bluestreak sketch by Alex Milne on Drift #4, Canadian C4 exclusive cover

After checking my letterbox this yesterday and then again this morning, I was sure that the comics loot from Maz (and a friend) would not be arriving today (Saturday).

After lunch with E, and a relatively long drive home because the traffic was so heavy, the concierge guys downstairs passed me a package as I walked through the front lobby - whoa, it was the package from Maz, it has arrived indeed!

Maz has kindly over the past months diligently helped with acquire past MTMTE comics with covers that I previously missed out on. Mostly, these were the nice Milne covers. Now, 'hidden' in this lot of about 10+ comics, I knew there was a gift from another collector buddy, that was passed to Maz to include in this comics package. Prior to today, I had no idea what it was, but just knew it was 'a surprise'.

After opening the package (immediately on reaching home), I soon discovered that this gift was likely to be a comic - because all that the package contained were comics. To compound matters, there were not 1 but 2 comics with double backing-boards, one on the front and another at the back, so that the entire comic was covered / concealed.

Ok, it's probably one of these I thought.

I removed the boards for one of them and it was the Roche cover for MTMTE #1. Ok, this I was expecting because its one of them that Maz told me he had obtained for me.

So, I opened the next one... and here it is.

I was stunned beyond words. I just gaped at the comic. I saw...
- "For Brandon"
- I saw it was Bluestreak
- I saw it was signed by Milne!

Charticon exclusives - Custom Tech Specs - G1, Movie, Headmasters, Masterforce, Victory and MTMTE

On 12 October 2013, I received a surprise package from a buddy collector friend. It was a good surprise for a weekend and I talked about the contents of the package in my post here.

These were the contents.

For this post, I want to focus on some particular items in the package – the Charticon exclusive custom Tech Specs!

Look at these wonderful slices of (neo) history

Before going any further, I would like to say that these look and feel just right – they are excellent representations of Tech Specs and have an unmistakably G1-esque feel to them.

Meticulously designed and laid out to be reminiscent of G1 Tech Specs.

These were created by Arkvander for the purposes of Charticon and he has written extensively about them here. They were used as sort of 'door gifts' that were blind packed and then later offered up for sale.

Make Toys MT-03: Hyper Novae (aka Nova Prime)

I was writing about this and thinking - what a different topic this is from the posts of the past couple of weeks. There has recently been so much to write about - G1 (as always), Japanese G1 (as always), comics (MTMTE), convention stuff (Charticon) and others.

Today's Transformer collector is spoilt for choice, and a very busy person it seems!

This is about a Third Party Product ("3PP"). I don't intend to go chapter and verse into what these are because they should be quite familiar even to the average collector.

MT-03 in brown mailer protective box

I recently (meaning when it was first released) acquired the MakeToys MT-03: Hypernovae, aka Nova Prime. Like FansProject and MMC, MakeToys is Third Party company whose releases are now synonymous with quality, great design and just pure awesomeness. The one downside is that their products are expensive.

MT-03 set me back close to USD$175. I consider that pretty steep for an unofficial product.

This is the very first release of MT-03 and therefore, it comes with exclusive clear orange parts and silver stickers.

Here, I have taken it out of the brown mailer box -

• bottom: actual MT-03: Hyper Novae box. I like the design. White background, grid pattern, lots of Japanese words!
• middle: Hyper Novae in "tanker" mode in his insert. The silver sticker sheet in front is supposedly exclusive to the first release.
• top: paperworks packet and first release exclusive orange parts. These requires cutting out model kit style and some assembly.

IDW's More Than Meets the Eye #22

I feel like I am 15 years old again - waiting with great anticipation for a new issue of IDW's More Than Meets the Eye, like how back in the 90s I waited for new issues of Jim Lee's and Chris Claremont's 'Uncanny X-Men' (then later 'X-Men') or Todd McFarlane's 'Spider-Man', then 'Spawn' or Ghost Rider.

Rewind.

This happened on 16 October 2013.

Maz messaged me to say MTMTE was going to hit the comic shops that day. I went straight to my local comic shop in the evening and grabbed a copy of MTMTE #22. It's that exciting. It cannot wait. Seriously.

Went home after entertaining some friends.
Took a shower.
Brewed a cup of tea.
Laid out my 'bots - Rewind, Tailgate, Swerve and Skids (which is an Encore, who cares. He forgets, I forget).
Sat on my comfy leather chair.

Started reading MTMTE #22.

Read it all the way through. Pausing only in the middle to whip out my copy of Transformers: Generations to have a look at the Thunderclash toy.

Blown away. Again.

Like I said, I feel like I am 15 again.

James Roberts made me feel young. James is awesome.

~ HD

***

Related Posts:

• MTMTE by any other name would still be the greatest Transformers comic series, ever
• MTMTE is a masterpiece, but what about other IDW Transformers titles?

Just received! Charticon exclusives from Arkvander - Landshark and custom tech specs plus bonus(?)

This year, I really wanted to go to Charticon, the inaugural unofficial Transformers convention in Charlotte, USA, organised by some of the nicest and bestest collectors around, including Arkvander and Flywheels.

Due to work (both E and myself), we could not go. However, there were just lots of goodies to be had there, exclusives, customs and other things.

Long story short, I requested Arkvander to help me pick up a small number of items, if he had the time. Very graciously, he did. And he's sent them to me and I received them today.

I will talk about each of these items in due course but would like to mention here that the biggest surprise and delight was actually receiving these 2 custom SCF figures - hate spore coated Ultra Magnus and Cyclonus!

MTMTE is a masterpiece, but what about other IDW Transformers titles?

I just cannot get enough of IDW's MTMTE (More Than Meets the Eye) title.

Over the weekend, I pulled Volume 1 of the TPB from my shelf and began re-reading it, again, for perhaps the 6th to 7th time, if not more.

Saturday brunch with E - Lobster Brioche with curly fries and MTMTE volume 1. Does-not-get-any-better. Thank you James Roberts.

I have previously talked about MTMTE being the best thing for TF comics since sliced bread, that by any other name, it would still be just as magnificent. However, I have not said too much about other titles and why MTMTE is so much better - after all, things do not stand alone and can only be 'better' or 'worse' relative to other things and in its appropriate context.

Here, I will discuss my thoughts on prior and present IDW Transformers titles. Except for life-action-movie related titles, I have read them all. It is my belief that having read them all, I'm in a (relatively suitable) position to compare them. I will make an effort to be objective, but tastes and all are pretty subjective matters so I may not succeed in being objective.

A full collection of all IDW's Transformers titles in TPB form (I do not have TPBs that reprints either Dreamwave's or Marvel / Marvel UK's materials however)

I won't go into the background of what led to MTMTE and it inter-relation with other IDW titles (if any). If you want to read into the development background, check out either TF Wiki or The Gassy Autobot's blog here and here.

So here we go, after the jump, my thoughts on the other IDW Transformers series'... [spoiler alert]