KFGatri

Playing with the new cell phone camera - 20 MP! Here's a shot without flash. And a shot with flash.

I've got the video processing on Youtube now. You'll be able to see it at soon.

Maybe I'll rip my DVD of my footage and try to upload it then.

I was wondering if anybody was at that convention and recorded the contest. My cousin Michelle was one of the winners, but I wasn't able to tape the contest, as we'd come in at the last minute after lunch. Michelle had done the contest to be a good sport after embarrasing me at Gibson's Bar at lunch, and was the last contestant - she never expected to win! I have footage of the script reading, including the rehearsal, that I could trade. Michelle really wants to see just how good her Waspinator impression was, and I need some blackmail material! :lol

I picked up Orion Pax and Trailbreaker a couple days ago. Trailbreaker is a good solid figure, could have stood being a little bigger, but with the cost-cutting in figures these days he is still a winner. I wish the head were a little more G1 animation-like, though. The sculpt doesn't quite match the comic's portrayal anyway, so why not throw a bone to us classic-G1 types? Overall a very good update of the character. Orion is decent. I'm a classic G1 fan who doesn't care for IDW, so a lot of the intended appeal of the figure is lost on me (just as with Trailbreaker). When I think Orion Pax, I think of Sunbow's dock worker, not IDW's relatively inexperienced Autobot warrior. So for me this isn't "Orion Pax" so much as "Young Optimus Prime". Technically the same thing, of course, but you get my meaning. Very good robot mode - just a faceplate away from being yet another good Cybertronian Optimus toy. Vehicle mode is a little unstable. I would have liked to see the weapons integrated in the altmode somehow, but the storage we get is adequate. I'm not sure if I would have picked this guy up if he weren't a version of Optimus, though.

Rediscovered BWII Galvatron while sorting through the collection.

"Think you can take me, pipsqueak?" "Bzzzt-Yippie-kai-yay mother--------! Kzzt" "Kzzt - Hail to the king, baby! Bzzt"

Part of me wants to give Predaking a try, since this will likely be the most affordable chance to get him I'll ever have, but I can't get over how odd the bots look, or the proportion problem caused by Razorclaw being the same size as the limbs. How is he in hand?

Prime should really give up the Beast Hunting. He's not very good at it.

Magnus decides he deserves a field promotion.

" "You won't be hunting this beast, noooo!" "I'll drive, you shoot! I'll keep the faces!"

Just pulled Trypticon out of storage, and decided to have some fun.

Is it crazy that I think Blitzwing might actually be a little better than Springer? Yes, the shoulders don't work right on Blitz, but Springer's aren't perfect either. Springer might not be as bad, but both figures have unstable chest/shoulder assemblies, a flaw I hate. But comparing the other molds of the two, I find Blitzwing far better. Blitzy's flight mode actually attempts to peg together fully, unlike Springer (and I might get even better results on later attempts with Blitzwing). And Blitzwing's ground mode is solid once you peg it all together, and you literally can't peg Springer's car mode together fully. If the shoulder issue on Blitzwing had been fixed prior to release, he'd be indisputably the better of the two.

Defender and Springer: Robots - both have decent robot modes Choppers - Defender pegs together solidly. Springer . . . doesn't. Springer's car mode is bigger, but also much more unstable. Nothing at all pegs together right on Springer, although this shot shows my best attempt to date. New and old

My last major purchase was Springer, and I think he's mediocre at best. Robot mode is ok, though the left chest section has a tendency to unpeg when I move the arm. Unstable chests are a pet peeve with me, but this is far from the worst case I've seen (nearly every movie Ironhide for example). I don't care for the lack of pegging together involved with the helicopter mode - the "side sections" are basically just supposed to stay in place due to friction - a big no-no IMO with a figure this big. Car mode is garbage. I'm very glad I never even considered getting rid of Defender. The transformation is a lot more complex, but everything actually stays where it's supposed to on Fansproject's version. If this is the better of the Triple-Changers out right now, I'm not sure I want to try Blitzwing. If most people think Springer is almost perfect and I think it's poor, what will I think of Blitzwing, whom a lot of people say is terrible?