ZMFTS Update Log (2006)

I'm always making little changes here and there to the site that won't merit a mention in the updates log, but just about anything new that I've added to the site can be found here.  Keep in mind that some links on this page will no longer work as the site continues to evolve (this will be particularly problematic this year as I make a half-hearted attempt to move everything to the new server).  Always start from the home page to find the most recent links!  

(10/22/2006)

One of these days I really need to stop immersing myself in kitbashes and start devoting some time to other, more worthwhile endeavours.  That day, however, will not be today.

KITBASHES:

• It is the year 2006... and while I haven't done too many projects to commemorate the 20th anniversary of The Transformers: the Movie, I did take an extra version of Unicron from Galoob's very nice Titanium Series assortment and turned it into the preproduction concept version of Unicron, who at the time was known only as The Entity.
• Also inspired by the movie, I came up with two different PVC versions of Arcee.  One of them is based on Takara's original unproduced Arcee prototype toy (complete with backwards arms!) and the other is based on an alternate Takara concept for Headmaster Arcee (poor Chromedome will never live this one down).
• I finished up another PVC repaint based on one of the many generic Decepticons from the original cartoon, this one a trooper named Seafoam.  (I plan to do all of them, eventually.  Problem is that I'm running out of jets.  Must do some eBaying to rectify this.)
• Seafoam actually served, very briefly, as an alternate project.  I admit this is a little cheatsy, but after I put his primer coat on, he reminded me of Thundercracker's marker in the Decepticon crypt, so I snapped some quick photographs and erected a page to reflect this.
• Finally, I recently rediscovered a sixth and seventh Dinobot (they can be found in "Five Faces of Darkness" part 3 and "Thief in the Night," both of them miscolored background characters) and I turned one of them, a Grimlock-colored-as-Rodimus-Prime, into a PVC repaint named Sweep.

(9/15/2006)

KITBASHES:

• I've got two more die-cast projects ready for viewing, namely representations of the last of the Microman-era Mini Autobots, Outback and Hubcap.  (The paint is literally still wet on these, so please don't touch.)

(9/6/2006)

Excuse me while I rant for a moment.

I've always said that the reason I paint all these tiny little PVC figures and toy cars and things is because it's fun for me.  It's an enjoyable hobby and one of the ways in which I celebrate my love for Transformers.  The whole reason I take the time to take pictures of them and photomanipulate them for clarity and upload the images and erect web pages to display them, though, is so I can share these projects with other people in the fandom.  This may seem like a really obvious thing to say, but I just wanted to make that clear.  I don't maintain a web site for my own benefit; I do it for you, gentle reader.

The problem that I've run into from time to time is that I find it really disappointing sometimes when I go to the trouble to put together an update, but I get very little in the way of feedback.  You see, while I enjoy working on these projects very much, I also enjoy hearing what other fans think about them.  When I can see that people are visiting the site (this is why I have hit counters) but they can't even take the time to fire off a quick e-mail, even when I post updates to the newsgroups and ask specifically for feedback, it's pretty discouraging for me.

Yeah, I know that alt.toys.transformers isn't the central hub of the online fandom that it once was.  I know there are people who still read the newsgroup, though.  They sure don't hesitate to pipe up when I've said something offensive, but trying to get any kind of constructive criticism is like pulling teeth.  And yeah, I know that the projects I put together are pretty esoteric in nature and probably don't appeal to a particularly wide audience.  And sure, I know that Transformers as a whole isn't the most exciting franchise in the world right now, with the prospect of a (possibly) very bad movie looming on the horizon for next year and the past few cartoon shows, if I may express an opinion, being generally lackluster.  Not everyone's an oldskool G1 fanboy like me, so it's understandable that some folks have lost interest in the fandom and moved on.  And I know that the ads on Fortunecity are annoying and are probably deterring people from visiting.  And yeah, I know that the ZMFTS having moved last year killed off a lot of my regular traffic, and I haven't made any kind of effort to rebuild the site so everything points to the correct home page.  I'm aware of all of this.

My point is that, despite all of this, I would still really appreciate it if you've come to this page and have checked out my latest work, you might take the time to let me know what you think.  It would mean a lot to me.

(9/3/2006)

Here are some really fun projects that I've been planning for a while.  I insist that you click the links immediately.  No, I'm serious.  Do it right now.  Just stop reading this.  Why are you still here?

KITBASHES:

• Some time ago I painted die-cast versions of the Decepticon Powermasters, Darkwing and Dreadwind, but building their combined form, Dreadwing, required substantially more work.  It's one of my very favorite die-cast projects, and I'm excited to share it with the fandom.
• Also, I've wanted to do die-cast scale versions of the Insecticons for a long time, but for some reason Mattel is really taking their sweet time producing cars that look like giant metal insects.  (I know.  I don't understand it either.  Lazy bastards.)  Anyway, I took it upon myself to design and build tiny little scale versions of Kickback, Bombshell, and Shrapnel.  (No, I am not planning to do the Dinobots.)
• A few days after I posted this update, I also finished the four G2 Rotor Force characters: Leadfoot, Manta Ray, Powerdive, and Ransack, so they're online now as well.  (Yeah, I'd already unveiled Ransack previously, but I've made some alterations since then.)

(8/5/2006)

I've been spending the past few months working on some new stuff, but it's not ready yet.  So, basically, I'm being a big tease and letting you know there's all sorts of huge, exciting stuff on the horizon that you can't see yet.  I'm so naughty.  Oh, I do have a few new projects to share with you, though.  (See?  I'm not completely evil.)

KITBASHES:

• I did a couple of new Starscream projects recently.  One of them is a die-cast vehicle based on his oddly-colored Pretender form, and the other is a PVC figurine of his even more oddly-colored Action Master incarnation.  (They're sort of companion projects to one another, since I used the same batch of paint for both of them.)
• A while ago I did a handful of tiny cassette versions of Transformers characters like Rumble and Laserbeak, designed to accompany my collection of die-cast scale vehicles, but eventually I ran out of tiny little toy cassettes.  More recently, I started making my own so I could (sort of) complete the assortment.  (I'm done with the characters who appeared in the cartoon, anyway.)  The new projects include the Autobot cassettes Rewind, Eject, Ramhorn, and Steeljaw; I also did the Decepticon cassettes Ratbat, Overkill, and Slugfest, as well as the auto-scout cassette from "A Prime Problem."
• On the TMNT side of things, I recently completed construction of my new and improved Shredder figure, which was built out of the 1987 Playmates action figure but has 15 points of articulation and is a much more accurate likeness to Shredder as he appeared in the original Ninja Turtles cartoon series.
• Finally, I did a version of the character Mater from the Disney/Pixar animated film Cars.  He's a rusted junker of a tow truck, but in a flashback sequence from the movie we see him in his younger days.  Mattel's toy version of the young Mater wasn't very good, though, so I made some substantial improvements to the toy.  And then sold it.  And then spent the money on Nitroade and Leakless.  And then found both of them at retail the following week.  Sigh.

(4/30/2006)

KITBASHES:

• I finished four new projects since the last update, namely miniaturized versions of Blaster and Skyfire (neither of them are die-cast, but they're on the die-cast page anyway) and two new generic characters, both Autobots this time: Fender Bender, who can be seen in The Transformers: the Movie, and Tire-Iron, a background character from "Five Faces of Darkness" part 5.

(4/13/2006)

Here's the latest batch of projects I've been working on lately.  (Some of this stuff is actually several months old, but I'm only just now getting around to uploading it.  No, I'm not lazy... just efficient.  You know, like Razorclaw.  And don't you dare ask me, "Which Razorclaw?"  Grr.  There's only, like, twelve of them now.  Sigh.)

KITBASHES:

• Well, the recent project that I consider the most significant is a wedding cake topper that I sculpted and painted for my wedding this past February.  (I think my gift registry at Wal-Mart is still good for a year, so it's not too late to send me something.)
• 2005 seemed like a good year for Star Wars projects, being a movie year and all.  The most recent of these is the Horse Pilot figure I made for my daughter for her birthday.  (What can you do?  She loves horses.  I think she wants to be a horse when she grows up.)
• In keeping with the theme of the Target-exclusive Lava Reflection Darth Vader (an action figure depicting a scene from the movie that never took place), I made my version of Lava Reflection R2-D2, which also got some structural improvements and modifications.  I gave this to my good friend ViceGripX as a Christmas gift.
• Also, after months of procrastinating, I finally put up a page showcasing my Darth Vader Halloween costume for 2005.  (Yes, it was store-bought, but I made all sorts of alterations and additions to it, so it's officially one of my projects.)
• And now for the Transformers projects.  A while ago, I finished building an alligaticon, which some of you may remember as the creature that the Constructicons rebuilt Optimus Prime's body into during the events of the G1 cartoon episode "City of Steel."  I have discovered a kind of sick, delicious thrill in creating projects based on such abominable episodes.  (Let's hope it's a temporary condition.)
• I've also painted a few more die-cast cars to resemble vehicles from the Transformers cartoon.  My favorite of these is the battle taxi (yes, I revisited "City of Steel" for another project idea), and I also painted up a version of Auggie Cahnay's race car, as seen in "Trans-Europe Express," and the car Carly was driving in "Desertion of the Dinobots" parts 1 and 2.  I also did a "zone defense" edition of Tracks, as seen in the episode "Triple Takeover" when he gets trampled by Blitzwing.  On the more toyetic side of things, I did a version of Bumper, the unofficial character who snuck his way into the toyline back in 1984.  I've uploaded my die-cast version of Seaspray, as well as updated versions of the Protectobots Blades and Groove.  Octane got a minor makeover, and I finished versions of the Mini Autobots Swerve and Tailgate as well as the Battlechargers, Runamuck and Runabout.  I also did a version of Arcee as she might have appeared as an Earth vehicle.  I've also completed several characters from Transformers: Generation 2, including versions of G2 Starscream and G2 Ramjet, as well as die-cast versions of Decepticon leader Windrazor; Laser Rod Sizzle; Rotor Force Ransack; Cyberjets Skyjack and Hooligan; and a Powermaster named Meanstreak.  I recently completed my first Robots in Disguise die-cast car, which is a representation of Prowl as he appears in his super-secret undercover disguise from "Sideburn's Obsession."  Finally, I've continued doing representations of the Transformers: Alternators characters, and my latest creations include Dead End, Silverstreak, and Tracks.
• I'm still working on building my collection of PVC figurines painted into background characters from the G1 cartoon show.  My latest ones are characters called Strikezone and Symphony, among the many generic Decepticons on Chaar in the year 2006.  (I guess they're both there at this very moment, then.)  I also did a battle-damaged version of Thundercracker as he appears during his final scenes from The Transformers: the Movie.