Brainbox

Hey Tricalix! :-) Where are you from and what are you interested in Lego-wise? Do tell.

The touble is, you've got to cater for people who live in the very South (Plymouth, Corwall), the South (London, Bristol), the North (Lancashire, Yorkshire), the very North (Newcastle), Scotland, Wales and (possibly) Ireland. Then of course, you have to find a suitable venue. I mean, what've you got in the UK? Legoland Windsor. Nope, not central. Um, that's about it. So then you have to think what you can do instead. Do you, say, hire a hall and use that? Or perhaps we could all pile into someone's house... :-D Actually, you've also got to take into account accessibility by motorway/rail/etc. And you need to consider how far people can actually travel. For example, a student who doesn't own their own car may not be able to travel as far as someone who does. I'm perhaps taking it too literally here, but if you look at this map, then the 'centre' of the country is between Birmingham, Manchester and Middlesborough. But it all depends where everone lives though.

I meant in a sense of time, money, etc. as opposed to literally getting there. *raises eyebrow* ;-) Dunno, probably not. But that's not a bad idea.

Harvey Dent is Two-Face. I heard somewhere a while ago (so it could've changed) that this next film would focus on the Joker, and introduce Harvey Dent. Then the third film would show Harvey Dent become Two-Face at the Joker's trial. There wasn't a trailer for TDK with the Simpsons when I went today.

On Saturday I went to see Transformers (finally) with my dad. See my full thoughts in the TF thread. And today, I went to see The Simpsons with my family. See my thoughts in the Simpsons thread.

You know, that's just what my mum said. And I think I agree. But does that mean I didn't like it? Does it hell, it was great. I've just got back now, and I have to say, I thought it was really funny. It was good, becaue there weren't too many people in the cinema, so I didn't really miss any jokes and stuff. Best bit? I'm inclined to say 'Spider-Pig', but I think for me it was Comic Book Guy talking about the meaning of EPA. "It was the noise that Green Lantern made when Sinestro dropped him into a vat of acid." I mean, that was there for people like me. Pure genius! :-D

I meant who, as in new characters. But 'what' is also fine. :-) I'll come back with my suggestions soon. I wasn't expecting alt modes as well, so now I've got my work cut out to make good choices. Much like I've done (in my opinion) with my WWII redesigns. More on those later. I did see the end credits with Screamer. I made a point of staying. I think I've heard that IDWs Movie-verse will hava a 'Search for Starscream' storyline. And I think I've also heard that Barricade's disappearence may be a plotline for TF2. The IDW Movie Adaptation and the Novel both have Barricade die (I think), but they're not canon. He's not seen in the film, so presume he's still out there, kind of thing. Obviously Megs'll survive, they can't have another TF film without Megs. Producer Tom DeSanto said somewhere that he had a good idea of how to include the Constructicons, the Dinobots and Soundwave in the sequel. Bay also said he had some idea, including 'an aircraft carrier character.' Perhaps Broadside. Oh, and Bonecrusher was a Constructicon, Brawl wasn't- he was a Combaticon. And the Decepticons were based underwater in the G1 cartoon, apart from 'Heavy Metal War' where they had a mountain. And obviously the new IDW series has the Decepticons in a mountain. Actually, one other thing about the Movie. Everyone calls Prime 'Optimus' rather than 'Prime' as they do in the comics, cartoon, etc. That's probably right actually, as Prime is the 'add-on,' denoting his special status. Just an interesting point. Now, speaking of the IDW series, I've now finished the books I bought last week in Manchester. I've already discussed Infiltration and Stormbringer, so all I'll mention of them are the covers. You know those book covers that use the regular cover, then almost emboss certain bits of picture in a gloss? Well, all four books use that. Infiltraion has the IDW logo, the TF logo, Jazz on the front and Screamer on the back embossed; Stormbringer has the TF logo, the IDW logo and the blurb box embossed; Escalation has the IDW and TF logos, Hardhead and Astrotrain on the front and Jazz and Prowl on the back; and Spotlights has Shockwave (that's really cool). I didn't notice before, as the books from the library were in those protective wallet-things. Escalation A nice continuation of what's gone before. Not much Bumblebee this time, and Sunstreaker's taken out pretty early on, but Wheeljack and Jazz get bigger roles. And obviously Megs and Prime arrive properly, and have a mammoth fight in Brasnya. That's pretty cool. Hot Rod and Nightbeat arrive from their Spotlights, and Hardhead arrives from nowhere as well. There's also a bizarre error on the subject of Hot Rod's legs. They keep switching colour between pages. One minute they're the correct red, the next they're inexplicbly blue. Then the whole thing ends on a cliffhanger, which I won't spoil. There's also an in-joke bonus as well, with the garage that Ratchet and Ironhide stakeout being called 'Idea and Design Works' (IDW), and leaflets in the garage advertising 'Seibertron Cars' and 'Binaltech Airfilters.' There're also less bonuses this time around. Because a cover gallery is included, the artists sketchbook is limited to a sketch of Blitzwing in robot mode, a diagram of Wheeljack's shoulder missiles and a few faces. Spotlights Shockwave First off, it's Shockwave. Need I say more? Well, I'm going to anyway. The story ties in nicely with the rest of the IDW-verse, and features the Dinobots, who take on Beast Wars style alt modes with synthetic flesh to protect themselves from Shockwave's energon deposits. Nick Roche's art is, frankly, fantastic too, which is an added bonus. All that and I managed to read it in rehersal yesterday! :-D Nightbeat Not really sure what to make of Nightbeat. MD Bright's artwork seems to harken back to the Marvel G1 comics of old, and it all ends on a slightly sininster cliffhanger (ha, I almost wrote Cliffjumper there, accidentally), foreshadowing something to come... Hot Rod Nick Roche again. Hot Rod comes across well, with the classic daredevil personality we know and love, but something deeper hidden behind it. And it all ends on, yep you guessed it, a big cliffhanger. Sixshot I dunno, it just didn't engage me. It's not bad, I just didn't enjoy it as much as the others. Ultra Magnus Better. I quite like Magnus anyway, so this was bound to be a good read. We also get to see more of Nebulos, and a 'transformable man.' Ooh, tantalising. Roll on volume 2! :-D Last thing, my WWII designs. There're more coming, I promise. I'm mainly focusing on planning/sketching the designs first, before drawing a proper, neat copy for presentation here. They're on their way... EDIT: I nearly forgot. Last weeks in TRU I had a look at the Voyagers just to see which ones they had. All I could find were the usual suspects- Blackout and Ratchet. But then, tucked away behind something else was... Starscream. I didn't buy him, I just felt it was worth pointing out. That means Wave 2 Voyagers, and possibly Deluxes could start popping up in some places. EDIT 2: Oh, and the opening scene, I forgot about that as well. You know, I didn't realise that it was the first scene until I actually saw it. I thought it would've come later on. But it was good. Even though I was expecting it, as I knew Blackout's alt mode, it was still good. And it had the G1 sound. Actually, that's another thing. All the transformation were a lot more acrobatic than they've ever really been. Not that that's a bad thing, just different.

Actually, I believe that the original agreement stated that Lego could draw on any medium in which Batman appeared. That doesn't mean we won't get any in Summer, or around the same time as the film release. I think the game's coming out in Summer. And there's plenty more Batman baddies to do: Man-Bat, Ventriloquist/Scarface, Harley Quinn, Lady Shiva, Ra's Al Ghul, and a whole host of other, less-well-known ones. And as for Bat-vehicles, there're more Batmobiles, the Bat-sub, a Bat-bike, a Bat-glider, a Batplane (yes, a Batplane. We've had a Bat-wing, there is a difference), a bike for Robin, etc. And there's always Batcave add-ons. There're a few allies left as well. Jim Gordo, Oracle, Batgirl (yes, I know she's leading the League of Assassins now), Huntress, Black Canary I suppose.

Hi. I've never been to Leicester. It's always great to have more Britons here, seeing as how we come from what seems to be the back-end of beyond compared to the rest of the world... Oh, yes please. Trouble is, you've only got Windsor, which is difficult (or at least hard) for a lot of us to reach. See, people just don't think about the North when building attractions, do they? :-D

We even have a topic on it here: http://eurobricks.hosting.ipsyn.com/eurofo...showtopic=10228 It said that there would be Batman sets next year, but none based on "the Dark Knight" film.

Well, I just got back, and I have to say that there's more to this movie than meets the eye... sorry, couldn't resist. I really, really enjoyed it. I ended up going with my dad, despite my earlier assertions, and he really enjoyed it too. He's definitely not a Transfan, not by any stretch, but he thought it was great. Now, I am a Transfan, and I thought it was, well, great. And he only asked one question in the end. Whether the Autobot that scanned the truck as an alt mode was Prime. And, obviously, it was. However, my view of Bonecrusher's transformation was slightly spoiled by someone in the row in front standing up |-/ . The robots themselves Some people have said that they didn't have enough screen time, but I disagree. They're supposed to be "in disguise" and as such, are, erm, in disguise. They spend a lot of time in vehicle mode, but that's no different to the new IDW continuity. The Autobots Prime: Oh, it was so good to hear Cullen as Prime, in that voiceover at the beginning, especially. It just... worked. Jazz: Interesting first line, that's all I can say. And I really hope he's back, Jazz is great. Bumblebee: Ha, talking through the radio. That got a bit of a laugh. Ratchet: "His pheromone levels indicate that he wishes to mate with the female." :-D Ironhide: Actually, did anyone notice how all the voices sounded just a little bit like the original voices. Different, yes, but somehow reminiscent. The Decepticons Perhaps their personalities could've been improved on slightly, but it is primarily an action film, so I really don't care. My dad said that Frenzy irritated him though. :-D All the alt modes were cool as well, especially the Autobot vehicles. Oh, that convoy looked really good. My dad "mmmfff"ed at Brawl/Devastator, as well. G1 homages Not too many, which was good, but there were a few just to keep the fans happy. Prime's two catchphrases, the yellow Beetle and "MTMTE" to name but three. The final battle Ooh, explosions, falling buildings, smashing things up, etc. What more can I ask for. The advertising I tried not to look for it, especially after the long list pointed out earlier. Obviously the GMC one was a biggie, but so what? The humour ... Was actually pretty funny. But I bet some of the parents there regretted bringing young children. Still, it's their responsibility, and their own fault. Overall A fantastic film, close enough to the original TF to be clearly Transfandom, but different enough to stand on it's own. Wow! Sequel? And, of course, Prime's final monologue leaves things open for new characters to be introduced. So, on that, note, I ask you who you want in the sequel. Obviously, Shockwave and Soundwave are must-haves, but who else?

My friend's just told me that there was a headteacher somewhere that read the epilogue in an assembly, to demonstrate 'moving on.' Unfortunately, all the kids were mad because she'd spoilt the end.

Finally off to see the Movie this afternoon. That means I'll now be able to join in the discussions properly. On a side-note, I've finished Infiltration, and I'm half-way through Stormbringer. Spotlights I'm saving for my panto rehersal tomorrow! :-D

No, that's an Oboe. The new Jacko? Do I sense a cruel dig there? ;-)

Watched 'Daredevil' on the BBC the other night. Nothing to report really. Not a bad film, but nothing particularly brilliant about it. Then on Sunday night I watched 'From Russia With Love' on BBC2. Classic Bond. I love it!

Ha, it's great how the Bulldozer is listed as "pay nothing for three months" in the catalogue. :-D

Not to be cruel, but a hobo is essentially a tramp.

Wow, that Bane is really cool. I'm definitely going to get this, but not for a while. I'm spent up for the moment, after a trip to Manchester the other day. The blue Bat is nice as always, and the Bat-Tank is a bit >:-) . But I will MOD the bike. I'll probably change it so it's just a normal dirt bike, rather than the weapons trike. And I love the second panel of the comic. Or more specifically, I love Bane in the second panel of the comic. Actually, I couldn't have bought this tday from TRU whether I had the money or not. It wasn't there. Neither was the Castle line, or the Batcopter.

Which Arcee MOC?

Well actually, it's just occured to me that IDW's Infiltration gave the TFs a little bit of a backseat. Only a little bit, but it was kind of done from a human perspective. While we're on the designs, I nipped into Woolworths today, just for a look, and a woman was offering to buy a TF for her (young-ish) son. He accepted and was in the process of choosing, when she suggested Protoform Prime (still no Deluxes in Woolies :-| ). And do you know what he said? "That's not Optimus Prime." Just goes to show how different the Movie designs are. Just to totally change track here, once agin, but I went to Manchester the other day, and found Forbidden Planet for the first time. I must say, it's a spectacular shop. So anyway, I found the TF section and immediately noticed the nice selection of 'rarer' (at least to me) toys. They had Revoltech Megs, Titanium G1 Magnus, Wave 1 Movie Deluxes (finally, they're available somewhere :-D ), the statue-things, and a heap of Titaniums. They also had Wave 2 Classics, which I know have been a bit difficult to find. Actually, while I was looking a guy in a suit (obviously out on his lunch break) was trying to decide whether to get Magnus or not. I felt like telling him to just "go for it." In the end though, he decided against it. Anyway, I digress. I eventually settled on Infiltration, and also picked up 52 Volume 1, Batman #666, and two packs of Minimates. Now, it's lucky I did pick up Infiltration, because I went into Waterstones later, only to discover a 3 for 2 offer on lots of books. Then I found a large-ish (okay, not that large) stand of TF graphic novels. I decided to pick up Escalation, Stormbringer and Spotlights volume 1 (that was the free one). I've not had chance to read them yet, but I'll be sure to post my thought when I do. They also had the Movie guide, War Within volume 1 and G1 volume 2 (IDW DW reprints). I may geyt WWI sometime, and maybe BW: The Gathering. But not just yet. I've got enough reading material for the moment. :-D Oh, also of note: TRU has the Classics for

Mmm, a likely story... ;-)

And they shouldn't be. The whole of TF fandom should be united despite it's difference in opinion. By that same reckoning, BW fans are different from other TF fans. Same as fans of the Unicron Trilogy are different from fans of RID. Each era of TF is different, but still recogniseably TF. I think that someone can be a Transfan but still dislike one particular generation. "Till all are one."

Yeah, I noticed this the other day. It's nice and organised, just like S@H.

Happy Birthday both of you! :-)