I had a four hour flight from O'Hare to San Diego this evening and a laptop. So I decided to start writing a Transformers story. Those of you familiar with the Marvel Comics will understand the context. Those of you who aren't... well, I plan to beef this up a bit later with better detail. I had two hours of power on my laptop. I started writing when I turned it on, and stopped writing when I was about to run out of juice. So it's a bit bare in places, it ends abruptly, and I feel like I need to address more the weight of the universe that's been placed on these characters.

Regardless, enjoy.

"Symphonies of Terror!"

Donate to Child's Play or Hasbro's Children's Hospital. On Tuesday, when I return from Comic-Con, I will tell you why Beast Wars is awesome.

Those two sentences are not related; this is not an "if, then" proposition.

At the end of the day, there won't be a tally.  This won't go on my resume.  I will not personally benefit in any way.  I will not use this as a stunt to belittle and shame other people.  Kids will receive help, in whatever amount.  And next week the stories that brighten our lives will get a short spotlight.  That is all.

I have to go get on a plane now.  See you then.

I get on a plane this afternoon for San Diego, because there's some sort of convention there that I need to be at.  It's full of people, most of the dressed as the Joker, and their Twilight panels can be heard from space.  It's Comic-Con San Diego, the con so huge it might kill you!  Over and over.  In fact, I've been dead for years.

I've got a bunch of stuff for you this year.  Book 3, of course!  That's new!  And I've still got Roomies! Book 1 and Shortpacked! Book 2.  And if my memory serves me correctly, I left a handful of Shortpacked! Book 1s in Maggie's closet in her/our parents' home, so I'll have those to sell for the first fifteen minutes or so of Wednesday.  They're all I have left.  If you want one you better be first in line!

And there's the bumper sticker and the magnet and the "Brings Back the Eighties" poster!  Oh, and something new I'm trying are Sketch Cards!  You can see a batch of them in the image on the left.  They look super pretty, if I may say so myself.

I am going to see SO MANY OF YOU this week!  I'm excited!   I expect to be super energized by your presence.

Right before crashing from exhaustion on the way home.

I've been putting off talking about Leader Class Starscream because he's just so massive and huge and awesome and I could probably talk about him forever.  So to keep me from doing that, since I should really be spending more time getting ready for San Diego Comic-Con (I leave on Tuesday!), I figgered I'd pick an aspect of him and ramble about that instead of everything about him.

But I just know I'm gonna break this personal restriction.  Let's get out our stopwatches.

Anyway, I heard a few folks on the Internet talking about how sucky Leader Starscream's jet mode is.  No jet mode could be cleaner than the ROTF Voyager Class release, after all.  That was one slender jet mode.  The front end's undercarriage is smooth and limb-less.  It's rough to beat.  I can imagine why it would be considered the gold standard.

But I think the Leader Class version gives it a run for its money anyhow.

Yes, the Leader Class jetmode is thicker, proportionally.  But not really by all that much.  If you supersized the Voyager up to the size of the Leader, I think the Leader would have a half-centimeter on the Voyager, tops.

And let's not forget that the Voyager has those robot mode claws hanging prominently out of the backside.  That could be considered a major downside, especially since the Leader carefully hides away those claws.  It's the first version of movie Starscream that hides the arms completely.

Also, let's not ignore the matter of kibble.  Yeah, the Voyager has that clean piece of jet underside, but that just means it hangs off the robot mode's back.  The Leader uses that area more efficiently.  The robot mode feet condense into a shape that recalls exactly the curve of the Voyager's underside.  It's so compact, it's actually kind of awe-inspiring.

Finally, the Leader is fucking huge.  Jets are always better when they're fucking huge.  This is a Fact.  So if you don't agree with me, that means you are stupid.  Pretty simple, really!

(And holy crap, his mouth opens and he has weapons that pop out of his forearms and he has a missile launcher that can attach to his arm or store on his back and his torso is as poseable as hell and...)

(He is sex on legs.)