The second Transformers Collectors' Club exclusive this year was Shattered Glass Drift.  I was not expecting him to sell out nearly as fast as Runabout, but he sure did.  I mean, he's Drift, who most folks seem to hate, and he's Shattered Glass, which is kind of a marginalized universe.  Folks like their a) G1 characters who they b) remember from their childhoods, and Drift was neither of those things.  Yet he went in a couple of days.

It's possible it's because his toy kicks that much ass.  It really does.  Despite your feelings on the character, the toy itself is amazing.  It has all these swords and they can stow everywhere and everything about it feels top notch.  SG Drift even comes with extra weapons, the pair of smaller guns that his retool, Blurr, came with.  They can't fit in the hip storage in the Drift version of the mold, but there they are just the same.

(Some Drifts were packed with two of the same gun rather than one of the "right" guns and one of the "left" guns.  It doesn't really matter if you have a mismatched pair since it's not the Blurr version of the mold, 'cuz there's no large gun for them to attach to and no way to store them, but that's a problem some folks have noticed.  I got a correct set of small guns.)

Drift's colors are striking, but I think I'd find them more striking if he didn't arrive in the same shipment as Runabout, who's also red and black.  Red and black are pretty safe colors to use.  I wish they'd been a little more bold with them.

I also wish they'd been a little less weird with the symbol they put on his hood.  Apparently it's a character that can mean "decided," in that "your fate is already decided," in that "he has already killed you."  They only arrived at this character after wanting to put a character that means "a doom" on his hood, but that didn't exist, and so apparently "decided" was the closest match?  I don't know.  It's just... I dunno.

He also has Arashikage stripes on each of his swords.  You know.  Snake-Eyes stuff.  Huh.

But what really attracts me to him is his function.  I couldn't care less if he's supposed to be "Transformers Deadpool" or not.  I just like that his job is hunting down folks who cross universes.  If you've been paying attention to this blog for any amount of time, you know I'm big into Transformers multiversal stuff.  And so I imagine he's probably out there looking for Cliffjumper, who's a G1 guy stuck in the Shattered Glass universe.  And probably also now SG Ravage, who we know because of certain comics drawn by certain people has been to a Marvel Comics universe, is on his list.  And judging by this year's BotCon box set theme, imminently a buttload of other folks as well!

Yay, more guys for SG Ravage to play with.  And/or avoid being assassinated by.

This year's "get free with your membership" toy is Runamuck, and the Beavis to Runamuck's Butthead, Runabout, is one of this year's Transformers Club "you pay for this one" exclusives.  Runabout (renamed "Over-Run" because of trademark reasons) is gonna be on sale very soon!  And the sweet part is, Runabout comes with a box that fits both him and Runamuck, since the freeish Runamuck is a bagged exclusive.

My favorite of the two is Runamuck, the membership-included one.  The orange and white and gold makes me happy.  Runabout intrigues me less, since  he's black and red, which isn't as uncommon a color scheme, but you can't have one without the other.

So if you want the Battlechargers, I'd sign up for the Club to get Runabout and then keep your eyes on the web for Runabout/Over-Run to go up for order.  I'm pretty excited for them.  And for their box art!  It's Marvel-tastic!

Oh, and I guess there's a Shattered Glass Drift going up for order, too.   If you like both, uh, Drift and Deadpool, you'll like SG Drift.

One more thing: With your Club membership, you get a Recordicons strip by me in all six issues of the magazine.  I may show off a sweet panel from the first strip tomorrow or the next day.  I am super excited about it. Actually, my copy of the magazine just arrived, so I'm gonna blather about it now.

Simon Furman's not the only guy revisiting a branch of the original Marvel Transformers universe this year, 'cuz BotCon (and Shattered Glass) are Marvel-bound this year as well!  This gives me the opportunity to feature all sorts of new little tape dudes I didn't previously have access to.  And so in the first Recordicons of the year, I pit Ravage against Ravage.  And in subsequent installments, I have some similar ideas I plan to attend to.

Anyway, I'm just super stoked, because I just wrote my first canon-for-thea-Marvel-Comics-continuity bit of fiction.  That old stuff was my best friend when I was a kid.  I am not joking.

So, dudes, if you want a year of Collectors' Club magazines featuring my Recordicons strips, plus the Runamuck toy included in the subscription price, that'd be pretty swell.  If you dig Transformers, I recommend it!  Here's the website.

Remember, the one with the "b" in the name is the black one.  ...except for in this case, because Runabout's name is now Over-Run.  Dammit, FP, you broke my mnemonic device!

I have been slow in mailing out orders to people who ordered from my store these past few weeks.  I apologize!  I need to get back in the game.  Speaking of which, the "Moving Sale" will probably end soon, what with me not moving any more!  Hop on those sales before they go away.

Preorders for the Ethan statue are over.  Those will be shipped out soon.  I didn't receive a lot of orders for this guy versus the other statues, so I'm gonna have to re-evaluate whether I should continue designing more of them.  Maybe I'll see if statues for Dumbing of Age are met with more interest?  We'll see.  Regardless, I'm super excited to receive my Ethans!

Moving has put a huge damper on getting Book 4 printed, what with my address being in flux and all.  But with things settled, that should move forward now.  I also still need to send out some of the original pages and whatnot for those who donated above-and-beyond.  Yay, moving!  You are not good for my job.

Threadsafe has posted some photos of my new t-shirts on their Facebook page.  The "Honor" shirt looks really great!  I might have to get one for myself.

A while ago I did a guest strip for Questionable Content, which turns 8 years old today!  It was a guest strip about butts. And today I have a guest strip over at Real Life, which I drew several weeks ago in anticipation for the birth of the Deans' baby girl!  It is a guest strip about horrible birth defects.

And finally (I think) in the new Transformers Collectors' Club magazine, there's a new Recordicons from me.  It stars Ravage.  And Ravage.

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.

Just a random war.

Y'know.  For Cybertron.

Oh my merciful lord, I actually have a new toy to talk about!

My Recon Ravage arrived in the mail today, the one I sent away for with my proofs of purchase and shipping and handling and what have you a number of months ago.  Yay, mail-in toy exclusive!  (For the US, anyway.  Elsewhere he's exclusive to Toys"R"Us.)   He comes in a big white cardboard box with N.E.S.T. markings, with a letter from Optimus Prime and a coupon inside.

He's friggin' pretty, is what he is.  The colors are stolen from the Voltron Black Lion, and used to great effect with the chrome-plated silver they gave him.  This is just plain-ol' vaccum-metalized chrome with no additional coloring, so I can rest easy that it's not gonna spiderweb and flake off.  Other chrome-related hazards may happen in due time, but flaking is crossed off the list.

(Oh, hey, and he's retooled a tiny bit.  There used to be an extra joint in his tail, a tiny balljoint just above the middle hinge.  It's gone now.  Guess tails were popping off too much?  It was kind of an inconvenience on the original version of the mold, and the articulation added little.)

And, hey, guess what, he's a Mini-Con.  What, you say!  Today Hasbro began unveiling the five fan-choice nominees for their new Transformers Hall of Fame, and Soundwave was nominee #1.  (Surprise!)  He got a entirely new bio for the occasion, and, uh, hey, his little animal partners are apparently Mini-Cons now.  Ha ha.  Weird, but not something that bothers me.  In fact, the impotent rage from others who ARE bothered will be fun enough in itself.  I'm an asshole like that.

So.  Biggest Mini-Con toy ever?  Naw, I guess that'd be Alternators Ravage.