Hello...

It's been a while, my net-friends.  For that, I apologize.  The last post I created was on my birthday of this year.  Things have been rough since coming back to the states this time around and motivation to post or write or draw has been halted to a bear minimal.  I have drawn a few pics here and there but, honestly my time has been focused on finding a j-o-b to get the bills paid to keep the house we live in and the cars we drive going.
Needless to say, I have now started working again and I have a goal to start sketching again this weekend on the third Chocolate Tales book in the series of 5 books.  I have written a story to a certain conclusion that I am good with, and I will start getting those fingers on pencil and pen again.  For now, take a look at a recent piece I drew and colored for my beautiful wife.  She loves BB-8.

Transformers Review: Rewind

Hi again.  This review is for a little Autobot named Rewind.  I use the term Autobot loosely as Rewind isn't auto in any sense.  Well, he is in this iteration, as he has three modes here.....robot, tank, and, wait for it...tape cassette.

Yes, when Rewind debuted in the Transformers: The Movie 30 years ago, he was one of the cassette warriors that belonged to the Autobot named Blaster.  Check it out here.  So, the technology is outdated as we've gone digital these days.  But, can you imagine buying a figure that you only see in the cloud technology?  Yeah....no.

Anyway, as you saw from the link above, Rewind is part of the cassette warriors on the Autobot side.  In the IDW continuity, Rewind is a historian and video recorder of all the Autobots on the ship Lost Light.  He's got millions and millions of hours of footage stored and is best buddies with Headmaster Chromedome.  In IDW's run, rewind did die and this caused Chromedome to ballistic.  Due to some time continuum event, another version of Rewind came into this time stream, but he wasn't friends with Chromedome.  I believe that friendship is still developing but, as I've said in other posts, I haven't caught up on all the IDW comics.  hahaha

Here are some pics of Rewind for the days of old (1980's):
 
 

Some versions of Rewind were cool, like the first one that ever was released, some not so good.  I actually had some of the cassette warriors when I was a young boy, but I never had Blaster or Soundwave to put them into.  LOL.  

Here are pics of the newest version of Rewind from the Titans Return line.  I must say, I like this figure and can't wait for Chromedome to be released so that the friends can be paired up.

 
 
 

Well, that's it for now.  Take care.  Transform and roll out!

Transformers Review: Galavatron

This review is for one of my FAVORITE characters in the Transformers lore.....Galvatron.  In the original animated movie, Galavatron is the reformatted version of Megatron after his final battle with Optimus Prime on Earth.  A deadly world eating planet/robot named Unicron changed Megatron and a few other Decepticons in hopes that they would comply and become his subordinates.

In Season 3 of the original Transformers cartoon, it seemed that the reformatting process made Galavatron insane in the membrane and he became unhinged.  I'm not a big fan of that part, but hey...I didn't write the series.  In IDW's continuity, Galavatron is a separate character from Megatron and hails from years and years of being a gladiator and would-be leader of the Decepticons.  I haven't read all the issues of the IDW comic, but that's the gist of what I read.

Below, are a few pictures of Galavatron in his previous incarnations:
 
I don't think there's ever been a version of Galvatron that captured what he looked like in his debut.  Until now.  Galvatron is part of the Titans Return line and I have to say that this is probably the closest we'll get to what he looked like in the movie from Hasbro.


As for the figure itself, I'm really digging it.  I know some will complain that the Headmaster feature doesn't really work with this figure and I'm pretty sure that a third party company will probably make a replacement head that is a 360 degree version of the actual head.  But, at this time, I'm good with this version.

 

Overall, great figure! I've never owned a Galvatron and my wife ended up picking this up for me as an early birthday present.  What a sweetheart!

Transformers Review: Titans Return SDCC 2016 Gift Set

Every year, the San Diego Comic Convention (SDCC) has exclusives that can (most of the time) only be bought there.  This year, SDCC had three for the Transformers, one of Fortress Maximus, a Titans Return 3 pack gift set, and another that combined with another line called G.I. Joe.  I asked a good friend of mine to pick up the 3 pack gift set and, low and behold, he was able to snag one up for me.

This pack comes with three characters with special paint jobs only found in this set.  The characters are Sentinel Prime, Brainstorm, and Windblade.  Sentinel Prime is a Prime that preceeded Optimus and was only considered a Prime by name, not title.  This iteration of Sentinel comes from IDW's comic and I really like him because he looks like Optimus in the face.  Also, Sentinel is a crazy mutha in the comic.  Gotta love types of characters.

Here are some pics of Sentinel Prime from the SDCC 2016 pack:

 
 

 

As you can see, Sentinel Prime is a triple changer.  This mold is actually for the triple changer named Astrotrain, which will be out in the third wave of the Titans Return series.  We're currently on wave 2. 

I like how posable Senitnel Prime is.  He kind of reminds me between a mix of a Gundam and Optimus Prime. 

Next up, we have Brainstorm, another character from the Headmaster series.  In the IDW comics, he was a Decepticon double agent that carried around a briefcase that never left his sight.  I haven't read the entire series so I'm not exactly sure what happened to the briefcase but he's now an Autobot again.  

This version of Brainstorm is painted in homage to his comic book colors more than his anime colors.  I hear that that version is a Walgreens' exclusive and is the only place you'll be able to pick him up for now.  Check out some pictures of Brainstorm below:

Here are some previous incarnations and drawings of how I remember Brainstorm looking like.

 
 
 


The last figure in this set is of Windblade.  She's a newer character that the fans actually got to help make by voting on certain characteristics and features.  Windblade is also known as a city speaker. She can speak to the Titans (like Fortress Maximus) and guide them by thought, kind of like Aquaman speaking to fish.

 

I threw in a couple other pictures there to show you what she originally looked like when she debuted.

Overall, I am impressed with this set.  It cost a pretty penny so, it's gotta impress, right?  I like all the transparent pieces on Sentinel Prime and I like the light blue colors on Brainstorm.  Even Windblade is colored to match Fortress Maximus that was released earlier this year.

Up next, I'll have a review of Galvatron and another new acquisition....Rewind.