More of those little Data Disk guys are out, and this time they're Autobots for Blaster!  There's the usual folks you'd expect, like Ramhorn and the Eject/Rewind twins.  However, rounding out the set of four (since Steeljaw comes with Blaster himself) is a character new to United States toy shelves.  It's Sunder!

From Kiss Players.

Well, okay, in Kiss Players, we'd translated his name as Sundor, but "Sunder" is an actual English word, so there's that.  (There's a non-toy Animated Sunder as well, from the AllSpark Almanac books, which is likely where the name interpretation comes from.)  But yeah, enjoy your Kiss Players homage dude.

And you will enjoy him, because he's friggin' beautiful.  I don't know if my photography captures it exactly, but he's the most striking use of bright orange,  yellow, red, and gray that I think is humanly possible.  He's way more striking than the original Sundor, who's more of a John Boehner orange than glorious day-glo.  I just want to put him in my mouth.  Sunder, not John Boehner.

Y'know, I sought out the original Kiss Players Sundor only because he was orange.  Coincidentally, he came with two other Recordicons, Rosanna and Glit.  I didn't care so much for them, I just wanted the orange Laserbeak/Buzzsaw guy.  And even then I wouldn't have bought the three to get Sundor if I hadn't had BotCon's clear Classics Mirage to sell to Big Bad Toy Store first.  My budget was only so stretchy for picking up tiny dudes (from Kiss Players) who cost me $50.

But without all that, we never woulda had Shattered Glass Ravage.  

So, uh, thank you BotCon clear Mirage for sucking and Sundor for being orange.

And helloooooo awesome new Sunder.

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 needed Bane because he fills an important slot in both of the arenas of DCUC I'm collecting: Batman villains and Secret Six dudes.  So far, there's been a 100% overlap!  It's a really uninteresting Venn diagram so far.  ...well, okay, I didn't pick up Parademon, but he really didn't look, y'know, proper.  Needed to be beefier and wear a fluffy vest or something.

If I ever do get a respectable Secret Six display, Bane may have to go through some minor changes.  See, in Secret Six, Bane has been off the Venom for quite a while, as he's decided it's a weakness and a crutch.  In fact, Bane is a very interesting character all around in Secret Six.  This should not really be possible, since he should be, by all rights, no more than that goofy muscle guy in the luchador mask who breaks Batman's back over his knee.  But under the insanely awesome care of Gail Simone, Bane is a compelling character in his own right.  Kinda weird in the head, but fascinating nonetheless.  And so I might have to get rid of that Venom tube that runs from his head to his arm.  It just wouldn't be proper!

But, hey.  Let's not delude ourselves.

I know why you're all here.  I know what the money shot is.

Let's do this.

[gallery columns="2"]

Hey, guys!  It's a custom Alternators-style Shattered Glass Ravage, painted expertly by Rod!  He was kind enough to show us his work in the forums, so come check out his image gallery.  Dude, he painted a black toy white.  Do you know how hard that is?  It's friggin' hard core, is what it is!

Seeing this gallery makes me want to dig out my Alternators Ravage again.  That was one fine-ass toy. (Well, the second one was.)

So, hey, Transformers: Drift #2 came out today. Last week, I made fun of Issue 1 for casually killing off G2 guys with reckless abandon, and Issue 2 does it one better! In the second and third panels of the first page, we see both Hot Shot and Shattered Glass Ravage all endeadened.  Well, that's conspicuous, isn't it?  The character I famously have a shrine of and the character I created?

And it's not just a coincidence.  Artist Alex Milne writes on the IDW forums:

when i started issue 2 i had a battle scene between the autobots and decepticons and i asked a few of my friends who to draw in there. a few of them said i should draw hot shot, and i was like hot shot??? why the hell do i want to draw him??? i'm not the biggest fan of armada anyways. then one of them said it was Walky's favourite, but i still don't know if that's true or not, and i laughed, and i said, if you want me to put him in, i will. personally i don't care. so at first i asked my friends what characters to add, they gave me a few choices and when i then wanted to know the reason behind there choice they told me, and i got a laugh out of it.

so, no lie here. no favourite characters of anyone who i hardly know in issue one. in issue 2, there is. did i do it because that guy upsets me. no. i don't really care what he says. i did it because my friends thought it was be funny and it's a character not in the G1-G2 line that will be used. oh, and i'm not the biggest fan of armada, so theres that too.

Sweet!  So basically, Alex Milne has a friend who not only hates me, but also has incredible control over what he draws in his comics for Hasbro.  I'm genuinely flattered!  I'm serious.  I made a difference in someone's life.  And I can't really throw a fit or anything.  I make fun of IDW's comics plenty.  I have little room for outrage.  I'm mostly happy they (or their friends) know who I am.

I like attention.

The only thing that really bothered me about this whole affair was Editor Denton Tipton's response to people being upset that their favorite characters were being casually offed in the backgrounds.

I have no control over what Milne says (outside of this forum). Just like he doesn't have any control over what characters live or die. For the record: All those characters are generics. This wouldn't even be an issue if it weren't for the fascination with "canon."

"Fascination with canon"?  Really?  You're going to condescend to us for caring about the stories you sell to us for $3.99?  If we see characters dying and we get upset, it's our fault for caring?  Great.

And if Milne really doesn't have any control over who lives and who dies, maybe you should tell him not to draw characters dying. Because from where I'm looking, he sure does seem to be determining who lives and who dies.  Or are we to disregard what we see in the comics we're reading?

Comic books are still a partially visual medium, right?  Or did I miss a memo?

(The 2002 Destro is my favorite Destro. This is not a shared belief.)

Hey, dudes!  Those of you who are members of the Transformers Collectors' Club, I've got some nifty news for you.  Starting with the very next issue of the magazine, which should start arriving in mailboxes soon, there is a new ongoing comic strip feature by me!  It's titled "Recordicons" and features Shattered Glass Ravage and his cassette tape brethren.

It is absolutely adorable.

I'm serious.