In other news...

[Starlord]

Decepticons are Transformers.

 

I'm sorry...it had to be said.

[dmjalund]

1 hour ago, Starlord said:

Decepticons are Transformers.

 

I'm sorry...it had to be said.

"both sides!"
 

[Dravencour]

On 4/12/2022 at 2:37 PM, Old Man said:

 

The global implications of that war are far reaching and devastating.  It will cause worldwide food and oil shortages, inflation, and debt defaults.  Which is why I don't understand the hesitancy on the part of some Western powers for stronger action.  Fights like this need to be ended.  Violently.  With overwhelming force.  Half-sanctions and man-portable weapons are not going to cut it.

 

On 4/13/2022 at 4:13 PM, Lord Liaden said:

 

One word: nukes.

 

Indeed. Much of our efforts have been aimed at finding a way to oppose this lunatic without escalating things to DEFCON 1. Because if the nukes start flying, we can pretty much kiss our species and planet goodbye.

[Dravencour]

On 4/15/2022 at 11:45 AM, Starlord said:

Decepticons are Transformers.

 

I'm sorry...it had to be said.

 

Yep. The Autobots and Decepticons are just the different factions of them. Or Maximals and Predacons if you're going by Beast Wars.

[Michael Hopcroft]

On 4/16/2022 at 4:53 PM, Dravencour said:

 

Yep. The Autobots and Decepticons are just the different factions of them. Or Maximals and Predacons if you're going by Beast Wars.

Is it possible there are other potential factions? Transformers: the Movie had a universe where every species encountered other than humans was some sort of robot or sapient mecha, as if silicon life was the default in the Universe and Earth was the outlier. In-universe, we have no idea how (or even if) Transformers were designed and built, what they were made for in the first place, and how they are made now.

[Cygnia]

Powered chopsticks use electricity to make food taste 50% saltier

[Cancer]

I hesitate to consider the phenomenon of electric chopsticks or any other self-wielded appliance stuck into my face, considering my no-longer-at-lifetime-peak-6-DEX.

[Duke Bushido]

19 hours ago, Michael Hopcroft said:

Is it possible there are other potential factions? Transformers: the Movie had a universe where every species encountered other than humans was some sort of robot or sapient mecha, as if silicon life was the default in the Universe and Earth was the outlier. In-universe, we have no idea how (or even if) Transformers were designed and built, what they were made for in the first place, and how they are made now.

 

 

According to the first issue of the old Marvel comic, they were a natural result of the coming together the naturally-occuring cogs, gears, and springs that once filled Cybertron.  These made life in the form of simple machines, and they evolved from there.

 

No; I am not making that up.

 

I have told you guys before that I am not a comic guy.  A lot od my friends where, but I wasn't.

 

At one point in the 80s, I was getting gas and a drink and there was a comic book rack (remember those?) by the checkout.  There was issue #1 of GI Joe and issue #1 of Transformers.  Neither were superheroes, so I thought I would take a stab at one.  In spite of the truly hideous cover art, and because giant robots appeal to me more than commando fiction, I chose Transformers.

 

 

 

 

I chose....  Poorly....

 

 

 

[Michael Hopcroft]

2 hours ago, Duke Bushido said:

At one point in the 80s, I was getting gas and a drink and there was a comic book rack (remember those?) by the checkout.  There was issue #1 of GI Joe and issue #1 of Transformers.  Neither were superheroes, so I thought I would take a stab at one.  In spite of the truly hideous cover art, and because giant robots appeal to me more than commando fiction, I chose Transformers.

 

I chose....  Poorly....

 

I disagree. The G.I. Joe comic was probably even worse.

 

The jingoistic/propagandistic nature of that series led many of the major animation writers at the time who would normally work on a show like that to refuse it point blank.  That and the need to write a show about a war where nobody ever died led to some really bizarre results. Famously, an entire episode (possibly the best in the entire series, not that that says much) was built around the hoary old joke that ends "I'm da Viper! I've come to Vipe da Vindows!" And of course, it was never entirely clear what Cobra was and what aims, if any, they had.

[unclevlad]

So, Michael, you're saying it was like the torturer saying...your fingernails, or your toenails, your choice!

 

I don't recall either series...which clearly should be listed among the highlights of my life.  Mid 80s still saw a few B&M comic shops, and comic racks in bookstores and supermarket book/magazine areas were common.  I don't exactly remember when the artwork went to hell in a handbasket...I think that was later.  IIRC, what killed it for me was the storylines being a) rather long, and b) getting split among *multiple* titles.  So, it was hard to follow the stories.

 

Given that...neither title would appeal.  I was trying to keep up with the ones I knew.

 

Huh...WIkipedia says GI Joe was Marvel's #1 subscription seller in 1985.  And it had a 12 year run.  So it didn't bomb...quite the opposite.

[Old Man]

1 hour ago, Michael Hopcroft said:

I disagree. The G.I. Joe comic was probably even worse.

 

The jingoistic/propagandistic nature of that series led many of the major animation writers at the time who would normally work on a show like that to refuse it point blank.  That and the need to write a show about a war where nobody ever died led to some really bizarre results. Famously, an entire episode (possibly the best in the entire series, not that that says much) was built around the hoary old joke that ends "I'm da Viper! I've come to Vipe da Vindows!" And of course, it was never entirely clear what Cobra was and what aims, if any, they had.

Yes, but the show also brought us the Baroness, which makes up for all of that.

 

My recollection was that the late eighties were the heyday of the FLCS. But as prices went up, and titles proliferated, writing and art went to hell, and the whole thing crashed in the mid nineties. 

[tkdguy]

Technically, it was the comic book that introduced the Baroness. But perhaps more people watched the cartoon before reading the comic book and were more familiar with the show.

[Cygnia]

As Dollar Stores Proliferate Food Deserts, Some Communities Push Back

[Asperion]

13 hours ago, Duke Bushido said:

 

 

According to the first issue of the old Marvel comic, they were a natural result of the coming together the naturally-occuring cogs, gears, and springs that once filled Cybertron.  These made life in the form of simple machines, and they evolved from there.

 

No; I am not making that up.

 

I have told you guys before that I am not a comic guy.  A lot od my friends where, but I wasn't.

 

At one point in the 80s, I was getting gas and a drink and there was a comic book rack (remember those?) by the checkout.  There was issue #1 of GI Joe and issue #1 of Transformers.  Neither were superheroes, so I thought I would take a stab at one.  In spite of the truly hideous cover art, and because giant robots appeal to me more than commando fiction, I chose Transformers.

 

 

 

 

I chose....  Poorly....

 

 

 

 

Then came the Gen2 comics and Prime had a flashback to the time while they were suspended on Earth.  On Cybertron, the war continued and Cybertronians had replicated through a process of "splitting " to create new versions of themselves. Fortunately,  this has been lost in time. 

[Duke Bushido]

2 hours ago, Asperion said:

 Fortunately,  this has been lost in time. 

 

 

Perhaps, but either way serves to demonstrate that no one built them: mechanical life can occur, at least in comic books.

 

Given the odds of _any_ life occurring, at all, ever- particulalrly in the light of the pointlessness of it (not philosophy: every living thing of which we are aware will die when the sun goes out, and the sun voing out is an acknowledged eventuality), 

 

Errr.... Given the astronomical odds of life happening _at all_, on as objective a level as I can manage, mechanical seems no less improbable than that with which we are familiar.

 

Here is the wiers thing:  not knowing "how" to read xomic books, I read every word; even the adds.   The credits, etc.  The end result is that I read the civer artist's name, and since the art was so spectacularly bad, the name,just stuck.  I mean, all I could think was "who would want to be remembered for this?!"  (The interior art was okay, I guess.  All I remember was how much better it was than the cover.  Not much od a benchmark, but hey....)

 

 

The cover lookes like an abstract pen-and-ink "painting," and was intentionally blurry, but what stood out most was how horribly misproportioned the figure on the cover was (which I eventually figured out was some uber-dark and shadowy T-rec version of Optimus Prime).

 

 

The guy's name was Bill Something-that-starts-with-and-S-and-struck-me-as-possibly-Polish-or-Slavic-and-I-remember-telling-myself-"give-up;-you-are-_never_-going-to-pronounce-it-correctly."

 

I don't know what other comic book things he might have done, but for you guys that like comics, I really hope it wasn't many.

 

 

 

[Duke Bushido]

2 hours ago, Cygnia said:

As Dollar Stores Proliferate Food Deserts, Some Communities Push Back

 

 

They can say what they want, but I dont think a moratorium on "stores smaller than Wal Mart" is ever going to be a great thing.

 

And I am not proud of this, but id it wasnt for rhe Dollar General in Lyons, we would have had to five up wheat bread and produce.  God know we cant afford it anywhere else in this county.

[Cygnia]

24 minutes ago, Duke Bushido said:

 

 

Perhaps, but either way serves to demonstrate that no one built them: mechanical life can occur, at least in comic books.

 

Given the odds of _any_ life occurring, at all, ever- particulalrly in the light of the pointlessness of it (not philosophy: every living thing of which we are aware will die when the sun goes out, and the sun voing out is an acknowledged eventuality), 

 

Errr.... Given the astronomical odds of life happening _at all_, on as objective a level as I can manage, mechanical seems no less improbable than that with which we are familiar.

 

Here is the wiers thing:  not knowing "how" to read xomic books, I read every word; even the adds.   The credits, etc.  The end result is that I read the civer artist's name, and since the art was so spectacularly bad, the name,just stuck.  I mean, all I could think was "who would want to be remembered for this?!"  (The interior art was okay, I guess.  All I remember was how much better it was than the cover.  Not much od a benchmark, but hey....)

 

 

The cover lookes like an abstract pen-and-ink "painting," and was intentionally blurry, but what stood out most was how horribly misproportioned the figure on the cover was (which I eventually figured out was some uber-dark and shadowy T-rec version of Optimus Prime).

 

 

The guy's name was Bill Something-that-starts-with-and-S-and-struck-me-as-possibly-Polish-or-Slavic-and-I-remember-telling-myself-"give-up;-you-are-_never_-going-to-pronounce-it-correctly."

 

I don't know what other comic book things he might have done, but for you guys that like comics, I really hope it wasn't many.

 

 

 

Bill Sienkiewicz...he's done a LOT of stuff.

 

[Old Man]

1 hour ago, Duke Bushido said:

 

 

Perhaps, but either way serves to demonstrate that no one built them: mechanical life can occur, at least in comic books.

 

Given the odds of _any_ life occurring, at all, ever- particulalrly in the light of the pointlessness of it (not philosophy: every living thing of which we are aware will die when the sun goes out, and the sun voing out is an acknowledged eventuality), 

 

Errr.... Given the astronomical odds of life happening _at all_, on as objective a level as I can manage, mechanical seems no less improbable than that with which we are familiar.

 

Here is the wiers thing:  not knowing "how" to read xomic books, I read every word; even the adds.   The credits, etc.  The end result is that I read the civer artist's name, and since the art was so spectacularly bad, the name,just stuck.  I mean, all I could think was "who would want to be remembered for this?!"  (The interior art was okay, I guess.  All I remember was how much better it was than the cover.  Not much od a benchmark, but hey....)

 

 

The cover lookes like an abstract pen-and-ink "painting," and was intentionally blurry, but what stood out most was how horribly misproportioned the figure on the cover was (which I eventually figured out was some uber-dark and shadowy T-rec version of Optimus Prime).

 

 

The guy's name was Bill Something-that-starts-with-and-S-and-struck-me-as-possibly-Polish-or-Slavic-and-I-remember-telling-myself-"give-up;-you-are-_never_-going-to-pronounce-it-correctly."

 

I don't know what other comic book things he might have done, but for you guys that like comics, I really hope it wasn't many.

 

 

 

 

Bill Sienkiewicz's art really did tend toward the expressionist.  It worked okay for certain titles. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[pinecone]

17 hours ago, Michael Hopcroft said:

I disagree. The G.I. Joe comic was probably even worse.

 

The jingoistic/propagandistic nature of that series led many of the major animation writers at the time who would normally work on a show like that to refuse it point blank.  That and the need to write a show about a war where nobody ever died led to some really bizarre results. Famously, an entire episode (possibly the best in the entire series, not that that says much) was built around the hoary old joke that ends "I'm da Viper! I've come to Vipe da Vindows!" And of course, it was never entirely clear what Cobra was and what aims, if any, they had.

I told my son Cobra wanted to Ban NASCAR! Lol

[death tribble]

17 minutes ago, pinecone said:

I told my son Cobra wanted to Ban NASCAR! Lol

Does that mean I would be in your version of Cobra ?

[pinecone]

3 minutes ago, death tribble said:

Does that mean I would be in your version of Cobra ?

They are everywhere!

[death tribble]

And so are lawnchairs. And here is proof

 

[assault]

More Bill Sienkiewicz:

[Duke Bushido]

Well Bill S clearly got way, way better over the years.   That Transformers,cover, though....   

 

Wow, that was awful.

[csyphrett]

2 hours ago, Duke Bushido said:

Well Bill S clearly got way, way better over the years.   That Transformers,cover, though....   

 

Wow, that was awful.

he started out on Moon Knight as a clone of Neal Adams. He slowly worked his way toward being more nonrealistic painting. Warlock from that era's new mutants was one of his creations.

CES