#Microcon

[sepublic]

Ok ok listen. Soundwave would love Bakugan, they’re just like his cassettes. The whole gimmick of the same 3-D shape, but different versions unfurl into different animals and creatures that have to work within the limitations of that universal template. Sometimes they talk, sometimes they don’t. He thinks it’s the best thing ever and is enraged Bakugan aren’t more popular.

Soundwave commissions Shockwave to make Cybertronians just like these and we get the Microcons. Soundwave insists he take it a step further and add as many variations to Microcons as possible, Shockwave agrees. Soundwave just continues saying

His autism loves it. Some human gets swarmed to death and in their final moments realizes the Microcons look suspiciously like their favorite plastic orb toys from Japan...

[twincitiesgeek]

The Twin Cities Geek 2024 Minnesota Convention Guide

Our guide to the coming year of conventions in Minnesota is here! Which ones will you be attending?

A new year is here, and that means it’s time to update your convention calendar. There’s at least one con happening in almost every month of the year, with events focusing on gaming, comics, sci fi and fantasy, anime, horror, LEGOs, Broadway musicals, general pop culture, and more. Fandom-specific events include conventions dedicated entirely to Doctor Who, Pokémon, The Vampire Diaries, and…

[blueskywater-happiness]

GUYS

Have ANY of you not notice the new micronation?!

The Empire of Stomaria is a micronation based in the United Kingdom. It was created by Andrew Stott in 2019.

While Stomaria was initially held in high esteem by the greater micronational community, its reputation suffered after Stott released a series of videos on YouTube criticising the attendees and organizers of MicroCon 2023 and MicroCon in general.

First the 2 years old Slowjamastan now the 4 years old Stomaria, when will Wy, Sealand, Ladonia etc grow up xD

[nordic-italian-german]

Just saw the latest hws chapter. I got a little sad thinking about Hutt River, he is now 'dead' as nation (dissolved in 2020) but who knows if he'll still make an appearance or not for that MicroCon event (there will be a second part, probably) 😢

The last time he appeared:

[thunder-jolt]

The character on the left is Beatboxer Cookie (also named Condensed Milk Cookie) and on the right is her pet, currently unnamed. I'm putting up a poll to see what Beatboxer Cookie's pet shall be named.

Here's some info about the pet.

[im-just-a-dumb-gay]

Bayverse characters organized by generations

Generations: Characters (listed from oldest to youngest within each generation unless specified)

Primes: Alpha Trion, Megatronus, Amalgamous, Onyx, Micronus, Quintus, Solus (all built the same time)

Knights: Dragonstorm: Stormreign, Dragonicus, Skullitron, Steelbane, etc (all built the same time)

Warriors:  Alliance submarine, Jetfire, Lieutenant, Bulldog, unnamed Seekers in movie, 

Soldiers: Devcon, Bonecrusher, Trench, Grindor, Blackout and Scorponok, Dreads: Hatchet, Crankcase, Crowbar, Berserker, Dreadbot, Enforcer, Assaulter; Alice (she is a shifter and modified herself when she was given her mission in the 2nd movie) 

Explore and Conquest: Dinobots: Grimlock, Slug, Strafe, Scorn; Shockwave, Soundwave, Sentinel Prime, Que, Driller+Giant Hatchet and Tank Beast(built by Shockwave), Ravage+Reedman(Microcons) +Insecticons+Frenzy and Laserbeak (built by Soundwave), Scalpel and Scalpel’s assistant (built by Sentinel Prime) Watch-bot and Watch that killed Hitler (built by Que) 

Soldiers Transformium: Sideways, Onslaught+ Garbagebot+Demolishor and Constructicons: Mixmaster, Scavenger, Scrapper, Hightower, Scrapmetal, Overload, Long Hual, Skipjack and Rampage; Megatron, Starscream, Brawl, Barricade, Nitro Zeus, Loader

Hunters: Infernocons: Skulk, Trash, Rupture, Gorge, Glug; Lockdown and Cogman (I’m making Cogman Lockdown’s minicon)

Allspark: Drift, Crosshairs, Ratchet, Elita-One+Arcee and Chromia, Ironhide, Canopy, Hound, Daytrader, Wreckers: Roadbuster, Topspin and Leadfoot; Brains, Wheelie, Mohawk, Optimus Prime, Sideswipe, 

War: Jolt, Jazz, Mirage/Dino, Hot Rod, Bumblebee, Mudflap and Skids, Sqweeks, 

Earth: movie one Sam drop Allspark: Dispensor; Appliancebots, Decepticon Hatchlings, KSI: Stinger, Junkheap triplets, Sentries, Boss, Two Heads, etc; Pterry, Tops, Sharp-T

 (I didn’t give them their own generation as the generations were supposed to focus on Cybertron/before the movies)

Note: I’m also doing some slight redesigns. For example, noses don’t appear till the Allspark generation so Jetfire, Lieutenant, Sentinel, Que, etc will have platings but don’t appear to have noses. Also the same goes to the Creators after they get upgraded with mechanical parts so Quintessa will look different. Not everyone in the Allspark generation will have noses, it’s just simply an option now. This was due to the Allspark having information of organic life from the Explore and Conquest generation. 

[popculturebuffet]

Transformers More Than Meets The Eye Retrospective: Annual #1: Ultra Magnus, What A Joke (Patreon Review For Brotoman.EXE)

Hello all you happy autobots and after a long side trip for beetlemania, we're back on the lost light!

In full too as for the next few months at least, we're back to the main story. Kinda. This story takes place BEFORE Shadowplay, our last covered one, but was put here so it could be paired with avengers annual #10 patreon review wise, but other than Rung still being headless it's not so out of synch that it coudln't be moved around.

Thankfully after this it's a straight shot to the end of season 1 with just three arcs to go, which teneatively will be covered in novemeber and december, with another break for a specail halloween suprise in october. After that we have the big crossover Dark Cybertron, which while serving as the end of Season 1 of this era of transformers, feels more like a big finale movie. It still has ramificatoins for both.. but both sides also had a proper finale before this.

So before things get explosive we have a character piece here.. and like with Shadowplay my general view was

The art didn't help. . As I said in another review of a great comic's less than well done annual, I TRY to be positive and for the most part the art on this book is great, but the art for this annual is pretty bleh. It's this weird mix of very 90's faces and very bland coloring that just dosen't not work.

The story itself however is pure setup for the finale, setting up a mystery to be solved there, some character growth with dire consequences for Magnus, while also, as tends to be standard for Roberts, setting up a plot point for much later in the story. So let's take a close look at MTMTE Annual #1 under the cut and see some smiles, some beaurcary and a giant robot man.

We open with an action set piece that dosen't do a lot for me. The art just isn't fluid enough and it's especially a downgrade from the regular artists, making it even more noticeable. It dosen't help the microcons their fighting look more like live action transformers,

And you can see the dullness I mean too. Our heroes still have their designs.. but the colors try to make them more realistic. Concidentally this scene is set in ultra magnus' mouth as some nanocons a decpitcon shot him with long ago have awakened and threaten to combine and kill him and then the ship, so our heroes have been shrunk down to deal with it. The only way to stop this realistic scenario that happens to everyone all the time is for Magnus to smile, destroying the generators in the pistons he uses for that.

This opening is a great example of just.. how much fun James Roberts has with MTMTE. While at it's core MTMTE is the kind of high concept sci fi you'd find in say Star Trek or Fantastic Four, he also doesn't forget he's writing giant colorful merchandisable battle robots that can turn into those nitro burning funny cars, vroom vroom! Besides the various jokes on the toys, he's not afraid to just go balls out silly.. while still having lots of nice genuinely deep sci fi couched within. It's essentially what i've heard Star Trek Lower Decks is before that existed: taking the piss out of a stored decades long franchise.. while still staying UTTERLY loyal to that franchise and why people love it.

Magnus tries to do his normal grumbly telling people ot straighten their badges and such , but everyone mocks him, something he takes with grace dignity and plans to resign as soon as possible.

First we get some smaller character stuff as everyone prepares for Tailgate's cermony, but it's all good: Rewind worries about Chromedome who is having a flash of ptsd... someone else's ptsd from the memories he's absorbed, Tailgate tries to get Cyclonus to attend but he's still being a mopey puss about it and Swerve passes by shock and or ore.. only for them to speak.

We'll table that problem for now as Drift's forced to have an invtervention for Hot Rod. He's been wearing a giant foam cowboy hat for 8 months now. He can take it off any time he wants he just dosen't want to, so they instead pivot to another problem: He's been saying "Till All Are One" every five minutes. Rodimus deflects it.. and i've noticed as i've re-read season 1 that it's a pattern with him, and one that carries till the final arc of the series: Rodimus prefers to dance a little side step instead of face most of his problems. Just put it off to the side and let it sort itself out or let someone else handle it. And when he does tackle an issue, he usually handles it recklessly, impuslviely and half assedly

It's not that he's lacking any talent, his improvisations often work as seen with the very first issue, or that he's a terrible person: he loves his crew, as seen both with the red alert incident during shadow play and in this issue as when Magnus comes barging in demanding a new crew.. he explains that it's their way of showing affection. I mean granted i'm sure some of those are just jabs at his humilation, Magnus is a fun character but not exactly someone people like and he liked it that way, but his point is clear: it's okay for Magnus to be a person and not just the duly appointed enforcer of the tyrest accord. It's that humanity, for lack of a better term, that makes Rodimus likeable even when he's being a whinybabyasshatbot. He simply wants to be loved and respected, and this quest is more about personal validation by the universe than it is real enlightnment. He just wanted to do something big and showy to show he really earned having the matrix for a time and he really is worthy of being a prime. He just wants to be loved and can't accept that maybe.. he's just not the big sweeping hero go. A big sweeing hero guy sure, but he's not optimus and that's okay.

While Magnus stews on this advice, we also find out our heroes next stop: The Crystal City, home of the circle of light. Something that confused me as whlie this book is good at expositoin normally they kinda dropped the ball explaning these guys in a way that made sense if you hadn't read the drift mini.

The Circle of Light is a group of cybertroninan ninja monks who preach non violence and live in a walled off city, having largely skipped the war. They took in Drift at his lowest and the kind treatment and mentorship of their leader, Dai Atlas, convinced Drift to turn face and the circle in turn backed him when he needed their help.

This series recontecutlaizes them as having been avid followers of the knights of cybertron, a nice little addition, and thus seeing them, while also a homecoming of sorts for Drift, is important as if they can get them to join, they have all the help they'll need. The only problem is... Magnus can't raise them on coms and while Drift is assured given their badassery their fine.. as we'll soon see Magnus was right to be worried.

The ceremony itself goes off the rails: not only does Hot Rod fail to not use some form of till all are one, but Tailgate dosen't get to do his speech.. and his autobrand turns out as anceient cybertronian. Something is channeling through Hot Rod, and the bots who fell out of the airlock as we find out via an expesition dump during the ceremony.

Our heroes have even better concerns as the galactic council shows up.

While they explain it after this scene, i'll go ahead and filll any newcomers in, as Magnus does for Tailgate. It's a great part of having tailgate around: it allows Roberts to do worldbuilding without having to work too hard for it , as most of the cast would know this. Their essentially this universe's federation, a group of higher order plaents bound together to protect each other. They've recently taken on more policing, a red flag if their ever was one, and aren't fans of the cybertronians due to their war, having blacklisted them and being right dicks to Rodimus, having anxexed this territory as the Crystal City is abandoned. That itself.. is a dick move as they didn't bother informing cybertron, and the war's been long over enough, of any of this so they could investigate, instaed scavanging. It's some nice show don't tell: it shows that while these guys DO do some good and claim to be benevloent.. their really beucractic wankphesants who blame a whole race for the war.

Luckily the Lost Light has a secret weapon...

After Mags has finished hermes conradding this guy into a corner, in part because he's the only person here M Bison IN SPACE respects, we find out the deal: one hour to investigate for "religious reasons", which both sides know is basically bullshit but they need to look into this.

We get a brief interlude with Swerve, who has a heart to heart wtih Shock.. and also lies that he's pipe as like most people Swerve didn't make the best first impression. He confesses about the shooting of rung if from a third person and agrees with Shock's assetment he's a scumbag. It also explains WHY Swerve's so willing to help the next arc: he feels deep guilt for it and while it was on orders.. that makes it worse. Swerve admit she was more scared about loosing his bar than doing what's right. Later on drift further muses about feeling... a lack of purpose. That the war ending was supposed to be awesome and everything resolved.. but it really isn't. There's no real ending to life after all and as Shock puts it he's lucky to be alive if nothing else.

On the surface we get an away team consisting of most of our main cast but notably lacking Magnus, who we'll get to in a moment. They find the crystal city but..

Drift naturally mentally wigs out a bit: his people are missing, the city is ransacked and their biggest lead is now a massive dead end. It's only Rewind suggesting that he uses his sword to try and commune with the city that snaps him out of it... and only punching a mocking Whirl that fully gets him on mission. Instead of getting any graet message stabbing his sword into the city instead makes autobots go down the holeeeeeeee

We then find out where Magnus is: turns out the Council abducted him.. so they could ask thim to join him, having found him just over these decades of wars and never wavering. Essentially it's everything UM could ask for: defined rules, structure, order and respect. and metro titans are their ancient cousins, apparently created by the knights of cybertron, they can touch into other realms and such. So they decide to learn more about this thing to go on a BRAIN QUEST!

Six minutes later the brainquest is over and they found it. Great joke. And at the center... Cyclonus is in reverent awe as he used to worship at th efeet of metrotitans and gives his own version of the cybertronian creation myth, with Rewind naturally recording it since he dosen't have this version in his archives.

So once upon a time there was primus

Who found cybertron and some sparks and wanting to give it life, split himself into five gods

But like most media portrays mythical death gods, Mortilus eventually rebelled, wanting to conquer and war were declared. While our heroes won they were left in bad straights, each dying but becoming part of cybertron itself: Primus became Vector Sigma, the computer at the heart of cybertron and the source of sparks, Solmus became the Matrix of Leadership, and Epistemus and Adaptus the model for brain moduels and transformation cogs. And out of them came a new generation of Cybertronians to spread peace: The Knights of Cybertron. All of this will naturally be very important later.

For now though Ratchet is doing his usual over the top athetist schtick and Drift calls him out for being a dick: Being an Athiest? Fine. Mocking someone else's beliefs simply because he doesn't think their true. Not okay. Ratchet further digs himself deeper by outright stating Drift is so religious because he wants absolution for everyone he killed as a decpticon.. and nearly gets a sword in him for it. Not the best way of showing your not a murderer anymore, but well warranted. It's okay not to be religious, especially given how much harm some religions do. But it's not okay to mock someone when their beliefs aren't harming anyone.

So naturally Rodimus' next move .. is to have Chromedome try to braintap the giant... and it goes as well as you'd expect.. heavy feedback.. and the titan waking up screaming, rumbling the planet and leading M. Bison IN SPACE to assume this was all a trap.

So he plans to burn the lost light and EVERYONE on board in retaliation, and is leeching off their warp drive so they can't escape

Magnus has rejoined them, having turned down the offer , we'll find out why later and giving Rodimus a fond farewell, telling him to say hi to the knights of cybertron for him while Rodimus ORDERS him not to die, begging him. Their one hope is activating the drive.. but that involves swerve telling Shock the truth.. and he simply.. can't. And while this could come off as dickish.. the why is as heartbreaking as it is glorious

It's a hard choice.. but it was his. And inspired by this... Rodimus chooses to set the titan free instead of having him shrunk for his knoweldge. And it calls back to something Drift said earlier I glossed over: that when the right time came, Rodimus would save them all. And.. he does. By doing the right thing, the Titan warped everyone out of there and since he was linked up to Ore, it also freed the lost light.. and Ore is gone. Why? No one knows. But our heroes are safe and for once Rodimus has an actual plan, having relalized from this experince his winging it... has consequences.

So with our course for the next arc set, we end on the Council.. and just WHY Mags turned down his dream job

Naturally for this comic, M. Bison IN SPACE will be back. For now though it's the last part that's important: that despite not wanting to change, despite his inflexiblity.. magnus sees that .. maybe inflexiblity isn't a strength. That not accepting any change, not changing will only make him tyrants like the council. It's being faced with everything he could want and everything he could become.. that gets him to evolve past what he's been... and smile.

This issue, as you can probably wager is excellent. The art is.. not good and I won't slag it further, and it does drag the issue down slightly.. but the character work, from Swerve's chats with Shock and or ore, to Rodimus' desperation at the end, to Magnus growth is phenominal and this one issue spotlights the series at it's best: introspective, engaging and reallyf ucking weird

Next time: Tick tick tick....

[agentsquirrelsgotrobots]

"Oh. Hi." Blades said, inching awkwardly towards the scary, scarred up bot currently sitting on the steps of the courthouse. "Uh, well, you see, you kinda can't have open engex here? It's not safe for the humans."

"Uh. Cool. Yeah, I will put a safety cap on." The bot grabbed a cap and straw out of his ragged duffel bag and twisted it on. Have a good one, officer...?"

"EMT Blades, but no, I just drew the short straw. At least you're nice? Are you staying here?"

The bot smiled, relaxing from his easy-going but cautious mood. "Yeah, I will be looking for work later on. Just wanted to watch people. You don't mind me using the stairs as a seat? I didn't see anywhere else I could rest for a moment. I'm Rattlegun, and i have a microcon named Squeak around here somewhere. Trust me, i don't like the name either, but he likes, and that's what matters. "

Blades noticed that Rattlegun's arms were covered in scratched engravings, scars that never quite matched in age. There were some dress paint, fresh from his retirement ceremony, including several for exemplary service and extended contracts. Blades wondered if it hurt to get them done. He just had to ask. "Did it hurt getting the engravings done?"

"Yeah, no worse than the autobrand, though. Better than engex after a battle, am I right? Huh, wait, no, you look too well fed. You must be someone recovered from some stasis pod somewhere."

"Yep. You got me. Ran into a sparkeater, had to rush into stasis, no time to signal for help."

"Eh, you didn't miss much." Rattke gun though for a minute. "A war, a couple genocides, war crimes, collapse of civilization, and the death of the planet. You're lucky you missed it, really. This town is nice. Got any recommendations for a warehouse rental and a local construction or shipping company looking for labor?"

"Unfortunately, no. Griffin Rock is too small for big construction. Try the docks? Warehouses are hard to get. Land is expensive here. You are better off renting a space in the underground overnight parking next to the courthouse until you save up a little nest egg to buy a more dilapidated one and just get some permits to rebuild it. I know that my buddies, Heatwave and Chase, can make sure everything is up to code and won't be a hazard to the humans, and my friend Boulder and I could help with construction. Also, thank you for your service. "

"Eh, to be honest, joining the army branch of the Autobots wasn't the greatest life decision. But at least we eventually won in the end." Rattlegun chuckled, and Blades flinched as the plating on Rattlegun's throat vibrated and shook. "You wh-eh-wanna get out, buddy?"

Rattlegun cleared his intake before lifting his hand towards his mouth, opening it as far as it can go, and coughing as a microcon the size of Cody climbed out of Rattlegun's throat. "Blades, this is my microcon friend Squeak. Squeak, this is medic Blades. Be nice to him. He seems to be good people, and we need to keep some of those." Squeak, well, squeaked, in that high pitched cybex that was just barely out of Blades's audible range without his translator.

"You better treat my amica right, medic. I'm watching you."

"Squeak, I promise Rattlegun will find nothing but allies here. You got an alt mode that's comfortable for the night? I can pay for parking? As a measure of thanks for your service, I noticed your exemplary service markings."

Rattlegun gave Blades a strained smile, fed up with hearing about the worse mistake he had made in his life yet again being framed as his greatest honor. "That would be lovely. It's getting late, I'm getting tipsy, and the walk isn't getting any shorter. Let's get going."

Blades paid for the parking spot, and Rattlegun folded into his humvee alt mode, his military badges morphing into bumper stickers proclaiming him a proud veteran. Squeak settled into the driver's seat, and the two of them settled in for the night, hoping to find work in the morning.

[blueikeproductions]

G1 Transformers S4 notes

Continuation of previous write up: https://at.tumblr.com/blueikeproductions/transformers-g1-s4-notes-set-a-few-years-after/agphdrav3jp3

Micromaster teams.

Both Autobot and Decepticon Micro teams are primarily generics, especially for the Decepticons. Most of the generics are cars and some assorted jets, red for Autobots, purple for Decepticons.

The main Decepticon Micros are the Sports Car Patrol and the Military Patrol. They’re arrogant and dumber than a box of rocks. The Construction Squad assists the Constructicons in maintaining Trypticon and Scorponok. When the Constructicons are permanently fused into a downsized Devastator, the Construction Squad become overwhelmed by the increased workload.

The main reoccurring Microcons are Spaceshot and Blackout, who work directly with Shatter, Backdraft, Cyclonus and Scourge. Being the dim but highly loyal soldier and the cowardly dork, they don’t have the most upstanding fans among the Decepticons, but they mean well. They pilot the anti air craft base that functions as an extension to Trypticon. Greasepit runs a bar, creatively called “Greasepit’s”, in Trypticon’s city mode, and assisted in the study and implementation of Nucleon. Later, with RatBat, he tries running a gas station scam on Earth in an attempt to harvest more energy for the Decepticons, but was foiled by the Bee Team and his own foolishness. When Transforming his gas station into Battle Mode to attack the Autobots, Greasepit wound up using all of the stolen gas just for that alone… The Airwave air port base is also attached to Trypticon and used to deploy Decepticon flyers. It was later hijacked and relocated by Starscream’s team as a base for his own operations.

The main Autobot Micros are Ironworks and the Construction Patrol, who help maintain Autobot City with Wideload and Quickmix. The Rescue Patrol, Hot House, and the Monster Truck Patrol are also reoccurring, with Pretender Eagle Eye being good friends with the chronic complainer Slow Poke. If something needs done, Eagle Eye is usually the one able to coax Slow Poke into it. Medic Fixit of the Rescue Patrol often works with the Bee Team, and suffers from a glitch where he struggles to get the right word out every other sentience. Multiple Tanker Truck and Missile Launcher teams are fixed at Autobot City to supply power and defense. A Tanker Truck filled with Nucleon under the watch of Pipe Line and Gusher was stolen during a Decepticon attack and taken back to Char for experiments. The Astro Squad work alongside Cosmos and Sky Lynx for space missions, and assisted in the original discovery and acquisition of Nucleon with Optimus Prime, Wheeljack and Perceptor. They also were monitoring the black hole when Nucle-Ai emerged from it. Later on the team split in half, with Sky-Lynx’s half investigating increased Quintesson activity while Cosmos’s half stayed to monitor the black hole. Feeling a bit exposed without Sky Lynx, he requested assistance from Countdown and his rocket base when the Decepticons aboard Scorponok made an attempt on the black hole later on.

When Hot Rod was downsized into Micro size by testing Nucleon on himself, he was installed as the commander of the Micromaster patrols. Hot Rod takes to the leadership role with gusto, enjoying another shot at being an Autobot Leader but without the stress of leading the ENTIRE faction. He’s since even returned to going by Rodimus to embrace this, with some Autobots playfully calling him “Rodimus Micronus”. He has a particular affinity with the Race Car and Hot Rod Patrols, and it’s implied Hot Rod named the later after himself to the team’s mild annoyance. When the Bee Team and Nucle-Ai need a Micro’s touch for a mission, they call on Rodimus to pick the best for the job.

A mysterious pair of Micromaster twins would later emerge from the black hole. One called Caliber and the other Scabbard, they combined to form the immensely powerful Nucleon Saber. The Quintessons instead dub it as the “Nucleon Key”, with Nucle-Ai as the “Nucleon Ignition”, and see it as paramount to their plans with dealing with the Transformers once and for all.

The Saber itself seems linked to Nucle-Ai, realizing its full potential when in her presence, and was initially under Autobot custody and wielded by Bumblebee the most. However, a Decepticon attack by Backdraft’s unit trying to acquire the sword saw Scabbard captured by Iguanus and Shellrazor. The reptilian rapscallions assumed they could still use ONE of the twins for their purposes but were berated by Cyclonus and Backdraft for instead creating an unintended stalemate.

In the companion Heathers AU, Dan Braverman has been looking for the Nucleon Saber to add to his collection. Caliber was sold as a pack in accessory for an Autobot, a special Nucleon Mode Pretender Bumblebee, while Scabbard was sold with a Decepticon, a Nucleon Mode Pretender Starscream which instead used a unique human woman Pretender shell seen in an off beat plot in the comics based on the S4 storyline. This Starscream was hard to find, making it difficult to fully assemble the sword for kids and collectors. When comparing the Heathers to the Decepticons, Chandler is the draconian Backdraft, McNamara is the withdrawn Shellrazor, with Dan specifically comparing Duke to the female Starscream toy because of the toy’s green colors and Duke’s Starscreamish tendencies.

[usedcarheaven]

Leaders from 29 Tiny "Micro Nations" around the world converged on Las Vegas for MicroCon 2022. Hosted by Westartica.

Grand Duke Travis I of Westarctica (left) receives an award from Emir Charles of Raphania at the 2022 MicroCon in Las Vegas.

[redwop-chemicals]

MICROCONE RGL

Micro Concrete in RCC Repairing works with high Workability

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[sepublic]

            All right so. I get that one of the whole gimmicks of the Studio Series is a consistent scale, accurate to the films. But when characters like Bumblebee are tiny Deluxes, that means characters such as Scorponok, Ravage, etc., can only be little non-transforming figures. Too small to have a variety of moving parts at that scale.

         So I think it’d be really neat if the Studio Series did a… Out-of-scale line? Or something like that. Where it’d focus on creating new, accurate toys of characters who would normally be too small to fit into the main Studio Series line, so scale and size is thrown out the window to have a proper transforming toy, alt-mode and everything. So even though Ravage is way too big, at least we get a fully functioning toy of him again, hopefully with a fish alt-mode based on the original animatics for Revenge of the Fallen.

         We could have the Microcons, which would basically be Bakugan. Wheelie and Scalpel, the latter with an alt-mode accurate to the one he actually had on-screen. Dunno about Brains, since his transformation into a flat laptop seems impossible; Maybe they’d HAVE to come up with a new alt-mode for him, like a Cybertronian USB drive. Scorponok can transform into a helicopter engine, and as for characters like Laserbeak and Frenzy…

         Well, those two are harder, since they can transform into anything but retain the same robot mode no matter what. So they’d probably have to come up with a new alt-mode, or stick to one; I could see Frenzy being a stereo like in his first appearance.

         If we REALLY want to get silly… Well, there are two transforming watches we’ve seen in the movies, so what if they made Studio Series versions of them that to scale with real life, actual humans? Identical in size to the actual objects they represent? Though I imagine there’d probably be licensing issues with the Nokia bot… Imagine if they made an accurate Dispensor. And Ejector. And OREOBOT.

         Also, and I get that it’s kind of impossible to do a truly accurate toy of him. But a toy of Reedman would be fun, just for the sole novelty of seeing how they’d pull it off. Or not a toy, but like… A cardboard cutout with Reedman’s left and right printed on both sides. Comes with spares in case you break it, obviously. I doubt they’d make a proper plastic, posable toy of Reedman unless they took a lot of liberties with his width, nor would it transform. Which, technically he’s a combiner, and people don’t expect those to transform to begin with. Not that I expect the Studio Series to have a Reedman combiner, given he’s composed of millions of Microcons. That’s a LOT of Bakugan to interlock.

         In the end, we’ll probably get redone versions of previous figures before we get a scaled-up Microcon. Not that I’d complain about that, either; ‘Crankcase’ needs a SERIOUS remold (or reuse of a pre-existing one that was literally right there), KSI Boss needs an accurate head. The Shadow Raiders need to resemble themselves instead of Lockdown but with some orange. And the KSI sentry… Literally just a recolored Stinger with a different head. Which sucks, because the KSI sentry is the most plausible KSI transformer to make a toy out of, they could easily pull it off if they managed to do a better Galvatron!

         I dunno why I care about toys of obscure side characters. But then, I’ve always loved the obscure side characters, so that may be exactly why. And I think the allure of finally getting proper, accurate, transforming toys of characters you’ve seen on-screen since over a decade ago… There’s something very nostalgic and wish-fulfillment about that to me. It’s never too late for your childhood dreams to come true, it’s part of why I appreciate the Legacy line, even if I haven’t really engaged with most of the shows it represents.

         Anyhow, I guess I’ll ramble about Studio Series figures I want to see, because lord knows we don’t need another, slightly-altered version of Bumblebee (unless it’s his Stinger lookalike form with a proper battle mask). Again, give some love to the neglected characters who have never had the chance, just for the fun, not characters we’ve seen over a million renditions of! And yeah I get it, it’s because they’re recognizable and so sell well.

         A Studio Series protoform would be great; As well as a Decepticon counterpart, which is just a different head, comes with a gun, and has back spikes. The Decepticon Protoforms were VERY common through the movies and would function as army builders. And even though they were never Transformers, just regular vehicles…

         I’d LOVE to see an Orbital Assault Carrier, from Dark of the Moon. Give him a robot mode, but mostly prioritize his vehicle mode (a change for once), and its ability to open up and house a deluxe-sized character, ideally a Decepticon Protoform. And also, do one of those Moon Protoforms, the ones with four eyes and the more bestial appearance! I’m sure somebody has access to the original CGI models to work with, so we can finally get a good look at them. And while the regular Decepticon Protoform has to transform into a comet, they could potentially make up anything for their moon variant.

         …Would they do the freaking Hatchlings? Who knows. Devcon would be great, he actually looks like his alt-mode, which got frustratingly rarer with the start of Dark of the Moon. And since we got a Studio Series Thundercracker that they basically completely made up, it’d be nice to complete the trio with a Studio Series Skywarp. In the same vein as Thundercracker, he’d probably be another flying character, but repainted and with a new head. Maybe they’d use one of the older molds from when the films first came out, like Mindwipe or Breakaway.

         The submarine from The Last Knight would also be fun, and like the OAC, it’s a case of the vehicle mode being prioritized, and making whatever you want for the robot mode. Could they even do a transforming Driller, given the size? Would it just be a Leader-class, but only come with one segment of the Driller; With the idea that if you buy multiple, you can extend its length to be more accurate? And what would it transform into, besides… A cybertronian train?

         Infernocus is a challenge, but if they TRULY wanted to be totally accurate to him being comprised of six identical Infernocons… Well, the best scenario is to just make a single, Voyager-class Infernocon toy. Which sounds simple enough, except this Infernocon has to be a quintuple-changer, forming into an arm, leg, lower torso, and head with upper torso for Infernocus. The arms and legs would have to be symmetrical so as to avoid having to make new transformations for Left and Right versions.

         Admittedly, I think this is fairly impossible unless they employ some Third-party level complexity in transformations, and make the limbs fully static. Pretty sure Infernocus’ head and torso are too big to just be two Infernocons total, when compared proportionally to his limbs. The Studio Series Infernocon would come up with each of the melee weapons that the individuals wielded, as well as a large arm cannon for Infernocus. Buy five more and you can complete him! Sure you’ve got a lot of extra weapons, but there’s no way to work around that.

         Again, it really boils down to if they can pull of a quintuple-changer Infernocon, whose different body parts are actually to scale with one another. And it’d have to be Voyager class… Or maybe a Leader-class, since they did that to DotM Megatron, who is about the same height as the Voyager-class RotF Megatron, but has more mass due to his involved transformation and alt-mode. In the end, they’d probably just do different Infernocon molds for different body part… In which case!

         Release a ‘Limbo Infernocon’, so-named because of the Hell-theming, and the fact that it forms a limb. It’s a triple-changer, turning into either an arm or a leg; Still an involved transformation, but a lot more plausible than a quintuple-changer. Then there’s the Infernocons for the lower and upper torso with head… The lower torso would be named ‘Torment Infernocon’ to subtly get the idea it forms part of the torso, specifically the lower part. And the other would be ‘Head Infernocon’, because it forms the upper torso and head, and is like the leader of the group. Torment and Head would just have one alt-mode each, the usual.

         What would REALLY be insane, however, is Dragonstorm… The Knights of Iacon transforming into him makes zero sense. Let’s be real. But I’ve seen what Third-party figures have pulled off, so there’s a morbidly curious part of me that WANTS to see them try. Each Knight is Voyager-class, and Dragonstorm himself is… Whatever you call Devastator, except even bigger.

         Given the Knights of Iacon only transform into Dragonstorm, each would only have a single alt-mode, their combined form. There’d be some heavy-duty ratchet joints involved, and it’s a similar case to the Infernocons, where it’s same the robot mode more or less, but re-engineered to have a different alt-mode. This does get me into my conspiracy theory that their leader, Stormreign, forms one of Dragonstorm’s front legs.

         It’s been criticized that Dragonstorm was somehow formed without him, but! We only see a brief silhouette of Dragonstorm, in which his two front legs aren’t visible. And then there’s a minor but definite cut to a bit later on, in which Merlin has ridden some distance back to the battle going on, and Dragonstorm is flying beside him. So, let’s just say that during this brief cut, Stormreign joined up with the other knights to finish Dragonstorm as his missing leg!

         As for the dilemmas of Skullitron and two other knights dying, only for Dragonstorm to be formed whole regardless… Well, Skullitron only fell, we never saw him actually die. And yes those two knights got stabbed, but so was Optimus in the previous film, and he walked it off just fine somehow? So let’s say the same thing. Maybe when Optimus and Bumblebee were duking it out, the other Knights of Iacon took a while to arrive, because they were busy repairing their three fallen comrades.

         Let’s say they had… A repair chamber or something. And that it fixed all three as good as new, especially Skullitron; Removing the decay so that he’s unrecognizable by the time the Knights of Iacon head outside, now resembling the rest. What am I, Trans Theories, coming up with explanations for the obvious flaws of the Bayverse? Maybe. Reminds me of a post I reblogged earlier, about seeing flaws and plot holes as opportunities to come up with your own stories and explanations. I really like that post and you can see how that applies here with Dragonstorm.

         And yes, I know there’s one more Knight of Iacon(?) unaccounted for, the green dude who dies at the beginning and gives Cade the talisman. But he’s evidently a lot smaller than the other Knights of Iacon, who are the same size as each other; So he’s a blatant outlier. So let’s just say that he’s a servant and not an actual member or something. Would he even get a toy? Honestly.

         Speaking of, the actual logistics of a Dragonstorm toy. I’m not even a toy designer, why am I discussing this? The Knights of Iacon would probably be panel-formers, turning inside out to reveal the textured armor of Dragonstorm, like the toy we got in TLK’s line, the one comprised of Stormreign and Dragonicus. When combined, Dragonstorm’s belly and the inside of his legs, as well as his wings, will probably be hidden to hide the obvious Knight kibble.

         How would Dragonstorm be split up? Well, there’s twelve Knights of Iacon. I already suggested Stormreign as one of the front legs, so each leg is a Knight. That leaves eight Knights left. We’ve got the three heads with long necks, so each is a Knight. That leaves five Knights. The wings, easily the hardest part, will probably be downsized and be a single Knight each. Three Knights of Iacon, to form the front torso, back torso, and tail.

         There’d be obvious spots where you can see the knight armor that breaks up the barbed aesthetic of Dragonstorm. But that’s okay, because it’s such a Herculean task to pull off a functioning, accurate combiner of him, that nobody is going to be critical of a minor flaw here or there, as long as it generally works. Hell, Dragonstorm might actually benefit from those spots, because they’d make him actually resemble his components more!

        I dunno why I bother with all this ruminating. I guess a part of me just LOVES the idea of some line actually going out of its way to do EVERY character justice, even the most obscure ones.

[twincitiesgeek]

The Twin Cities Geek 2022 Minnesota Convention Guide

Our annual guide to Minnesota conventions is here—featuring a few new events on the scene in 20231

Doom Patrol cosplayers at Twin Cities Con 2022. Madeleine Vasaly If you’re like me and your 2023 New Year’s resolution is to make more adult friends with similar interests but also keep up with the young ones and make more trendy TikToks, then you probably want to hit up as many conventions as you can this year. As always, Twin Cities Geek is your go-to resource. Check out our list below to find…

[blueskywater-happiness]

Trivia for the new micronation

While Stomaria was initially held in high esteem by the greater micronational community, its reputation suffered after Stott released a series of videos on YouTube criticising the attendees and organizers of MicroCon 2023 and MicroCon in general. This has led some to ponder whether or not to label Stomaria a "joke" micronation intent on trolling other micronations through social media.

On 27 September 2022, Emperor Andrew posted a 23-minute video announcing that he had been invited to attend MicroCon EU 2023, but he declined the invitation because attending such an event would not benefit Stomaria in any way. He then went on to disparage most of the micronations which have attended previous MicroCons, including the Republic of Molossia, Westarctica, and Slowjamastan, among others. The overwhelming response to this video was outrage at his statements, tone, and attitude.

The following day, the Sultan of Slowjamastan released a music video remixing Emperor Andrew's speech called "Friends Without Benefits." This video was met with widespread acclaim. On 3 October 2022, Emperor Andrew posted a lengthy reply video addressing the outrage and ridicule. During this speech, he further insulted many prominent members of the micronational community, calling out anyone he felt had criticized and mocked him, including at least two individuals who had not weighed in on the matter publicly. Emperor Andrew was further derided for his second video.

After researching Andrew Stott's background, Grand Duke Travis directed top Westarctican government officials to cease diplomatic contact with any states affiliated with Stomaria. Andrew himself was declared persona non grata shortly after.

As the events of MicroCon EU 2023 were underway, Andrew launched a hate-laden YouTube tirade directed toward the attendees which lasted for a staggering 1 hour and 40 minutes.

Tldr he is a black sheep of Miros now :v Arthur, come and control yo child, no wonder why Peter is annoyed at his brother and why in the Google translate did Slowjamastan said about making a video about him and how he is unforgivable.

[pathologylab]

We are thrilled to announce about our participation at the 45th Annual Conference- #MICROCON 2022. Do visit us at our Stall Number -12 to witness innovative products and solutions by #Genes2Me. Meet the Genes2Me team to discuss partnership opportunities. Location: KIMS KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha Date: 24th to 27th November 2022 See you there!!

[flipjack]

Deborah Ann Woll & Krystina Arielle at MicroCon