Shortpacked! by David Willis
Toys are serious business.
Convention appearances:
Calgary Expo Calgary, AB: April 26-28
Phoenix Comicon Phoenix, AZ: May 23-26, 2013
BotCon San Diego, CA: June 28-30
San Diego Comic-Con San Diego, CA: July 18-21
SPX Bethesda, MD: September 14-15
Phoenix Comicon Phoenix, AZ: May 23-26, 2013
BotCon San Diego, CA: June 28-30
San Diego Comic-Con San Diego, CA: July 18-21
SPX Bethesda, MD: September 14-15
Multiplex
Sorcery 101
Templar, AZ
The Transformers Wiki
Hail to the Slash
80 page GIANT
Axe Cop
The Book of Biff
Butt-Taco
Comics Curmudgeon
College Roomies from Hell!!!
Diesel Sweeties
Dinosaur Comics
Dr. McNinja
Dresden Codak
Fans!
Fleen
Gastrophobia
Girl Genius
Girls with Slingshots
Goats
Hark, a vagrant
Hijinks Ensue
Intrepid Girlbot
Legend of Bill
Medium Large
Not Invented Here
Octopus Pie
Overcompensating
Penny Arcade
PhDcomics
Power Nap
Questionable Content
Real Life
Rob and Elliot
Bad Machinery
Schlock Mercenary
Sheldon
So Far Apart
Something Positive
Two Lumps
Wapsi Square
Wonderella
Wondermark
Frumph.NET
Sorcery 101
Templar, AZ
The Transformers Wiki
Hail to the Slash
80 page GIANT
Axe Cop
The Book of Biff
Butt-Taco
Comics Curmudgeon
College Roomies from Hell!!!
Diesel Sweeties
Dinosaur Comics
Dr. McNinja
Dresden Codak
Fans!
Fleen
Gastrophobia
Girl Genius
Girls with Slingshots
Goats
Hark, a vagrant
Hijinks Ensue
Intrepid Girlbot
Legend of Bill
Medium Large
Not Invented Here
Octopus Pie
Overcompensating
Penny Arcade
PhDcomics
Power Nap
Questionable Content
Real Life
Rob and Elliot
Bad Machinery
Schlock Mercenary
Sheldon
So Far Apart
Something Positive
Two Lumps
Wapsi Square
Wonderella
Wondermark
Frumph.NET
Tags
amber
animated
batman
botcon
conquest
conventions
dark of the moon
david willis
dinobot
drew
duncan
ethan
faz
galasso
generations
gijoe
guest strip
hamsters
homosexuality
jacob
jesus
joe
justice league
ken
leslie
malaya
megatron
merch
mike
ninja rick
nipple
optimus prime
politics
religion
robin desanto
ronald reagan
roz
sdcc
sg ravage
shattered glass
star wars
tni strips
transformers
transformers prime
ultra car
©2005-2013 David Willis | Powered by WordPress with ComicPress | Subscribe: RSS | Back to Top ↑
I more than like would do the same if I owned an Alternators Tracks.
Screw the money, he’s having fun.
It is fun! We used to do this in college at my all-girls dorm. We’d store any broken electronics and “Office Space” them during finals week.
reminds me of the sqawking bird episode of family guy
or, ya know, the Officespace scene that was based on. lol
Thought the Squawking Bird episode was the one where the endangered bird nested in his beard… The Surfing Bird/Jesus episode is the one with the Office Space. (Which I kinda think she meant, but still, wonder if there’s a different scene we’re missing)
Oh, I’ve got a hard drive or two I’ve wanted to do this to…
I have literally lost count of how many small appliances and consumer electronics devices I have beaten to scrap over the years with whatever blunt instrument was handy.
Remember this equation for future reference: DIRECTV receiver (shorted out during important football game) + 7/8oz 20ga. slug x 1125fps = EXTREMELY SATISFYING AFTERNOON
PULL!
So, does Ethan have a strict “one of each character per collection” policy? ‘Cause I kind of do with my G.I. Joes, except my ‘extras’ just live in a box, and aren’t utterly destroyed.
And army builders. I must have more Cobra soldiers! More!
I kinda sorta do, with wrestling figures. But I pretty much own every Kane and Miz action figure (With two Big Shows thanks to buying a TRU exclusive 2-pack and the regular pack), but it’s just cuz the Mattel line is still young and I like their figures better than Jakks.
Nah. It’s just Alternators Tracks is apparently an evil toy (Willis mentioned it in his review of the new Tracks), and he’s having his revenge now that he no longer needs it.
I have a slightly different policy. I try to only get one of a different character, but if i somehow manage to get more (by accident or by deciding that it was too cool not to get) i just pretend it’s the same character from the future.
Man I totally couldn’t do that, as much of a pain as the Alternators toys can be to play with… They make great display pieces. (I love my Alternators Sideswipe and Shockblast*cough*wave*cough*)
BEST scene from Office Space
And Oh Cheese yes, I want to do that to most Alternators I’ve owned!
Shit, if you can flip it, go for it.
He’d just get used for Wheeljack kitbashes.
I lol’d at this.
Why doesn’t Amber try dragging him away?
because deep down, she understands.
Considering how long she’s known him, she’s probably used to this by now (this can’t be the first time he’s done this).
I like to think that this question is just another Office Space reference
It is, thanks. Peter and Samir drag Michael away from the fax machine after a bit when they’ve cooled down but he’s still smashing the damn thing. PC LOAD LETTER will do that to a guy.
It would also fit rather nicely with Ethan and Mike dragging Amber off the computer in this Friday’s Dumbing of Age.
Hey, I like my Alternators Tracks. I won’t have any use for him soon, but I like him.
Ah so that where i recognised the family guy scene from! it’s been driving me nuts for ages….cheers to whoever pointed that out earlier in the comments.
I think this may be my new favorite SP strip of all time. Bravo, good sir.
This is one of those pop culture references, isn’t it.
(totally stealin’ panel three for image macro purposes)
Yes. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2130970494980077764
THANK YOU!!
I’ve been scouring youtube for that scene all morning, but all I keep finding are crummy reenactments by unoriginal film students!
Same here. :p
(Yes, you also had a camera and an old printer you wanted to do something fun with. Great. No one cares.)
Fox apparently pulled all real copies off of Youtube some years ago, and aggressively keeps anyone from uploading a new one. But this clip was actually put up by Fox itself… it did take some searching to find it, though. Glad you enjoy.
Why isn’t he burning it as well?
Because then no one would get the Office Space reference.
Yeah, smash it good! Ending is better than mending!
Transforming Alternators Tracks is the only time a toy has made me genuinely angry. It’s the legs. Oh man, those stupid goddamn legs.
I didn’t have any problems with Alt. Tracks. Wheeljack and Grimlock on the other hand… oh sweet science that’s painful.
Back when I was in college, I suggested to the library staff that they take the laptops (they loaned out laptops to students) when they finally stop working, and have a fundraiser of something like this. Say, $5 for 5 minutes, you, the laptop, and a hammer, no questions asked. Sadly, this suggestion was not well-received.
As for the comic, not much on the music, but it was indeed one of the best scenes of the movie.
Probably not a good idea because of the mercury in the backlight bulbs.
So are we just old, or are your readers THAT sheltered?
LOL THIS IS JUST LIKE THAT GREAT FAMILY GUY SCENE!!
(motherfucker you know there hasn’t been a single original thought in the history of that show!)
Uh yeah, that’s the point. Family Guy’s entire point is making fun of pop culture. at any rate, I bet the people who made Office Space got the idea from somewhere else. Originality is rarely original…
i had the pleasure of doing this when my brother got rid of his computer. we must have been out there for a couple hours smashing it with a sledgehammer and an ax.
i really should have done this to alternators wheeljack when i moved. would’ve been a lot quicker than spending a week trying to turn him into a car.
Took a shotgun, a .22, and a .308 to one of ours, and then left it there in the yard as a warning to the rest of the tech to smarten the hell up.
…Boy do I sound like a redneck now. XD I’m not; we’re really not; we’re just well-armed techs lol.
Officespace reference ftw!!!
Suddenly I want to buy Universe Smokescreen and Silverstreak. Then my Alternators will be completely redundanted… redundantized… redunded… made completely redundant, and I’ll never have to look at them again.
(So naturally, the one HTS still has in stock is Prowl.)
Can someone explain why this is funny for those of us who don’t speak Cybertronian? I get the Office Space reference.
As mentioned a few times in the various comments, Alternators Tracks is notoriously frustrating to transform. Now there’s a new Tracks toy. Somehow this means that Alternators Tracks, which was once needed to fill a hole in Ethan’s collection is superfluous, so he can get his violent, Office Space based revenge on it.
Yeah, Ethan, I’m going to need you to stop smashing your toy there and get back to the office. Oh, and if you could come into work on Saturday that would be great.
My friends on Council and I are going office space on the old shitty computer sometime next week. This is a great preshowing of what its going to be like. I’m going to show them this. Thanks David Willis!
Ah yes; the reason I never bought any alternators. My friend did but, that’s what gave me my reason. Never buy toys that make you want to break them (or Transformers that you come close to breaking by simply transforming them).
Maybe its been a while but I don’t remember the alternators being that hard to transform. Was it easier with the die-cast ones? I own the japanese metal versions of most of them.
Heck if I know. I never had a problem with any of them. With tracks it’s just a matter of doing things in the right order, down to when to shift the kibble where, and a relatively small amount of massaging.
Of course, I’m one of those primitives that actually reads the instructions, so maybe that’s it. (Not that the instructions have all the tiny steps, mind.)
I’ve got several Alts, and the only transformation-wise problems i’ve ever had are Grimlock’s shoulders, and Smokescreen’s midsection doesn’t like to stay pegged into his waist for very long. BT/Alt and MP figs are like algebra; it’s not necessarily difficult, there’s just a lot of steps, time, and patience involved.
Yeah I had the metal ones too and don’t remember having all that much trouble with any either. Fiddly yes, but not Office Space Printer anger inducingly though.
Never had any problems with Tracks. WheelJack and Grimlock make me want to throw them against a wall. Grimlock got crazy scratches on his hood when I tried to transfrom him back to vehichle mode. I Literally had to take Wheeljack apart to transform him; those TWO waist twists are a friggin’ nightmare.
But I still like my Alternators. Wished the line had gone a little further so we could have gotten that sweet Cadillac XLR Megatron they were planning.
I loved Alternators Tracks. http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Alt/Tracks
im in the minority. i like it when they base transformers on actual vehicles.. wish i could have gotten a few more alternators/binaltech.
Being a licensed vehicle isn’t the problem. The problem is how it poops on your face as you try to transform it.
Its not so much pooping on the owner as it is being completely unfun to do.
With Toynami and Bandai out there even Alternators at least look kinda good.
But.. not fun. I ended up selling all mine, complete but with box for cost or slightly above cost.
I do not miss them or regret doing it.
Especially Cliffjumper. Never could close the sides of his legs properly.
I never took a baseball bat to anything – but I did once take a computer backup tape and ran back and forth over it with my car when it decided not to give my rather valued data back.
This is funnier than it should be.
Do all Alternator’s Tracks say PZ LOAD LETTER?
PZ load letter? What the fuck does that mean?
On this date next year, Amber gets to do this to a My Little Pony. Just because.
This is *much harder* to do with a pony. You can do some pretty evil things to Ponyvilles, but you have to sit there with sub-boiling hot water and pull and pull and *pull*.
Once upon a time, another cartoonist had, in his comic, a box marked “My Little Pony Glue Factory Playset. 100 Watt Lightbulb not included.” I wonder if this was from personal experience.
Nice reference! XD Also, “Damn it Feels Good to be a Gangsta” is pretty much the only rap song I listen to
And yet Alt Tracks is one of the EASY ones.
Guess he isn’t referring to PFC Manning or Julian Assange. DANG it!
I’m considering doing this to my Alternators Meister when I finally get the new Jazz.
Ha, I remember doing this when I hit the age where I didn’t play with toys anymore. Since they were all going to be gone anyway, I uh, kinda took the time and destroyed them all myself. Not the same as replacing, but, still, it brought back the image.
I don’t get it. Is this some kind of meme?
Look up the movie Office Space. It’s a good movie anyways, but a certain scene involving a printer might answer your question…
For some reason, I imagine Ethan doing this to the metal version of that song, complete with bat-whacking perfectly timed to the beat.
Justice has been served.
Whats the name of that song so that I can buy it?
“Still”, by the Geto Boys.
Wow. Bonus points for it being the same band as in the original.
I actually wanted to get Alt Tracks, but by the time I had the money to spare for him he was gone. I’m gonna grab the new one (and Jazz) though, I’m not missing out again!
Umm.. not really following this. He was perhaps the best of the Alternators, it didn’t take me hours to transform and parts didn’t fall off him everytime I touched him. I’d do this to Alt. Wheeljack, or Jazz, though. Thankfully I sold them long ago… Wheeljack’s rear trunk door broke off the first time I transformed him, and it only got worse from there. I hated that toy.
I wish I could do this to Tuner Skids and Mudflap.
Ethan made the right damn decision, and I would help him beat the shit out of that asshole. I would literally take a dump on it and beat the shit out of it. Yes.
I want to do this now.
With a first release xbox.