Hey guys!  Gearing up for ConnectiCon here.  (It's this weekend!  Come see me!)

I also want to draw your attention to an eBay auction I just started.  It's for a bagged SG Ravage/Scorch and comes with a (practically) one-of-a-kind SG Ravage bio card!  The toy didn't come with one, so I made one up and printed it out.

So, woo, you get Ravage (unopened), his accessory Scorch (unopened), bio cards for both (one custom-made by me), and Scorch's instructions.  The auction ends in seven days, just in time for me to be back from ConnectiCon so I can mail it to the lucky winner.

Enjoy!

In the past week I've amassed four new Ravages.  It wasn't my intent!  It just happened!

First was Shattered Glass Ravage.  Why I own him is fairly obvious.

Later during BotCon I picked up a Beast Wars Shadow Panther.  A black and yellow Cheetor redeco, he was originally a Takara release, but Hasbro imported him and sold him on their website for a while.  They couldn't get the name "Shadow Panther," so they called him "Tripredacus Agent."  Later, they'd do another Tripredacus Agent out of Transmetals 2 Cheetor who was supposed to be Ravage, included with a bio that insinuated that Shadow Panther was also Ravage in one of his aliases/disguises.  And then years later Beast Wars Sourcebook said Shadow Panther was a different guy who just has the exact same personality as Ravage so I'm not sure why they bothered, but screw that.  He's Ravage.

After getting home, Graham found me a Legends movie-style Ravage.  He is tiny and adorable and due to the jointing in his paws, he is excellent at waving.  He is a waving fiend.  Legends Ravage, the tiniest of movie Ravages, is easily the best of all of the movie Ravages.  I suggest you get him.

And finally, the day after I picked up the newest redeco of the movie Deluxe mold.  He's all right.  Nothing special.  He just soothes my OCD, is all.

After musing over which of my BotCon 2010 exclusives I had given the least love, I realized the answer was Scorch, otherwise known as SG Ravage's accessory.  And with good reason, too, because he didn't hold together very well and so I left him up in my hotel room to make sure I didn't lose any of him.  I'm happy to report that only some of this was an actual problem.  His arm, for example, that kept falling off was actually just a matter of improper assembly, meaning I needed to pop it fully onto the balljoint.  So that's fixed!  However, he is still a little too floppy overall and his chest/bumper/cowcatcher thing still likes to fall out.  I might try to glue that in later or something.  At least only one piece is falling out of him now instead of two.

I also don't have much attachment to Scorch.  Hell, I didn't even really know he existed before this set! He is a yellow/orange redeco of a toy I really really like, though, so I certainly don't mind him.  And after seeing him in this year's comic book, I do have an attachment to him now that I know what he's like.  Or, well, now that he's been written to be like something.  He was one of those blank slates, y'know.  But now I picture him as the Kup of the group, the curmudgeonly mentor to the young Second Generation of Transformers on Earth.  I like Kup, so I like Scorch.

But the thing everyone's talking about regarding Scorch is his hood's flame deco.  It points backwards!  Like you know how flame deco is always blowing towards the back of the car?  Well, here it's blowing towards the front.  Ooookay.  I think what happened is that on the original Scorch, there was this block of unpainted hood where the head popped out through or whatever, and the flames sprouted outwards from there.  And so they tried to duplicate this exactly, but the problem was the block was on the opposite end of the hood and so the flames go the wrong direction!  And then nobody noticed this and it stayed. Whoops.

(Because of this, in the comic Scorch always kinda looks like he's wearing this orange feathered boa.)

So anyway, I guess Scorch just drives that fast.  He's got a speed of 8, right?  That's almost 10!

I do wish the gray was a little bluer and his flame deco was a little redder.  The flame deco just doesn't stand out enough on the hood, since it's orange-on-yellow.  And a bluer gray, I feel, might have been a little more visually attractive.  (The photos of the toy on BotCon's tall standee display thing had a much bluer gray, and it looked fantastic.)  A bluer gray also might have looked nicer on Ravage's tail, since that's where they share plastic.

Overall, he's a yellow/orange version of a toy I love (as I said), and he (technically) comes with my biggest canonical contribution to the Transformers mythos.  Plus I've grown to like his characterization.  It's just too bad about the small things.

I warn you, in the coming days I am going to gush over every single other toy in this set.  Multiple boners.

Howdy folks!  We decided to push on through the night on our way back instead of staying the night half-way, so we're all home again a bit early.  Since this morning, I've been trying to get back into the swing of things, especially with tomorrow's book signing event!

Throughout the con, I got the same two questions from folks a number of times, so I thought I'd take the time to answer them here:

1) Did you know about the Shattered Ravage toy?

I'm not one of the dudes who decides on BotCon figures, so it was those folks who put the set together and realized that the little jaguar that comes with the Hound mold should be SG Ravage.  They didn't ask permission or anything, nor should they have to - I don't own Transformers, Ravage, or the Shattered Glass concept!  Only the character conceit is mine.  But apparently my little Twitter character had endeared himself to lots of folks, so BotCon jumped at the chance to do him.  (And eBay seems to be favoring him at the moment over most of the others, so woo!)  I'm honored and humbled that I own a little Transformer that I created.  It's a new feeling for me!

But no bio card.  I may have to fix that somehow.

2) How do you feel about Dinobot winning the Hall of Fame?

I still don't believe that it happened!  This should not be real.  When they announced he was the winner at the dinner, there was some very happy swearing, and, as I had been filling myself with alcohol the whole night, I stood up on my chair and put my fists up into the air.  I was off in the corner so hopefully nobody saw.

People attribute the victory to me, but I don't believe that.  If I could order you folks around so easily, I'd be a heck of a lot richer!  No, folks voted for Dinobot because he strikes an emotional chord.  My linking and pleading wouldn't have worked unless there was a pull for Dinobot to begin with.

Not that I won't take credit if it suits my purposes.  Ha ha ha.

Check me out, u guys!!  i am TOTALLY at BotCon!  I hitched a ride in on the back of this yellow truck, I think his name is... um.. ... i think...

n e way, if you see the yellow truck guy with the backwards orange flames?  i'll be right there!  and theres this big pink scorpion guy.  lol he loves to play soccer????? we're seen together a lot, like inseparables, like we're in a big bag together, 4evah.  #BFFS!!!!!

(what is soccer???)

i also saw some lame cartoonist who like broke his glasses and had to tape them together like a NERD.  ha ha ha ha nerd

what a lamer.

lol it is me, Ravage!!!!  Cliffjumper is from a universe like yours and he says its backwards from ours??? like the decepticons are evil and the autobots are the good guys??? wts??

that is so weird

n e way, i can has trip in your universe for a bit??? yes??????  hooray!!!!

look at me!!! i am waving!!!! <3  i will be waving at you all week!!! and on the weekend too!!! i will see you on saturday and sunday and maybe on sunday two times!!!

hey look at my pal cyclonus.  huh well maybe he's not my pal because he totally shot up my boss!!!!  we'll see...

nibbles and scratches!!!!  gtg