ZMFTS Update Log (2007)

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.  Always start from the home page to find the most recent links!  

(1/3/2007)

There used to be this tradition here at the ZMFTS where I saved up a whole mess of new content and uploaded it all in time for the new year.  Obviously, some traditions just don't stand the test of time.  

Here's where I stand right now.  I've got about five billion open-ended projects in the works, but I'd really like to get some of them finished up and move onto other things.  This is difficult for me, because a) I get new project ideas on a regular basis, but b) once these projects are no longer new, I get bored with them pretty quickly.  Some of you have probably noticed this.  (Not all of my incomplete projects are due to my own lack of follow-through, of course.  Sometimes the Transformers fandom as a whole ticks me off so much that I ask myself, "Why, exactly, am I doing this for these people?"  Yes, I think in italic fonts.)

Anyway, I would really like 2007 to be the last year for the ZMFTS.  This will mark the tenth calendar year for the site, which I'd say is a fairly decent run.  There are several projects that I plan to finish this year, but I'm afraid that if I mention them here, I'll feel trapped and refuse to complete them as a way of rebelling against myself.  (Maybe I'll accidentally spill the beans by way of a subtle meta-message.  I really love that V.I.N.CENT. model kit from The Black Hole; too bad they never made one of Old B.O.B.  Hmm, I wonder if I'm ever going to get that "Children of Cybertron" fanfic finished.  You know, I really should get around to painting up the rest of those PVC figurines into the generic Decepticon jets from the G1 cartoon show.)  There are some projects that simply won't be completed.  Accepting this simple fact can only make my life easier.  

BLOOPERS:

• After a hiatus of several years, I have at long last revisited the bloopers for The Transformers: the Movie and given it a serious overhaul.  I've completely restructured the page, adding new bloopers, new trivia questions, and brand-new image files documenting some of the bloopers from the film.  The images are linked to the relevant blooper entries (and vice versa) so you can quickly find the scene in question.  No other web site has such in-depth documentation about Sludge's zany detachable eyeballs, Hot Rod's perpetually-evolving transformation sequence, and comparison shots of every major movie character's original design and updated animation design.  (Which means, of course, this stuff will be all over the Internet in a matter of weeks.  Oh, well.)

(3/17/2007)

Before I get too involved in new projects, I really wanted to go back and fix up the pages of all the old projects that still had grainy, poor-quality images.  While I was at it, I went back and repainted the windshields, tires, and hubcaps on pretty much all of the applicable G1 vehicles since I wanted their colors to be more authentic to the cartoon series.  This mass-scale repainting, coupled with the photography session and the FTL upload, was a fairly major undertaking, which is why I've been putting it off for so long.  The thing about not having any employees to work on the site for me, though, is that this makes it really tough to delegate assignments.

KITBASHES:

• All the old die-cast pages featuring projects created during 1999-2003ish have been updated with new page formatting and over 120 new pictures.  Here's the list of affected G1 and G2 projects: Air Raid, Astrotrain, Beachcomber, Blast Off, Bumper, Bludgeon, Bluestreak, Bonecrusher, Brawl, Brawn, Breakdown, Broadside, Bumblebee, Chase, Cosmos, Dead End, Deluge, Drench, Fireflight, First Aid, Freeway, Gears, Gobots, Goldbug, Hoist, Hook, Hot Spot, Hound, Huffer, Ironhide, Jazz, Jazz (G2), Jetstorm, Megatron, Megatron (G2), Mirage, Mixmaster, Motormaster, Nightbeat, Nightracer, Onslaught, Powerglide, Prowl, Rapido, Ratchet, Red Alert, Rollbar, Sandstorm, Scavenger, Scrapper, Scrounge, Searchlight, Sideswipe, Sideswipe (G2), Silverbolt, Skids, Skram, Sky Lynx, Skydive, Skywarp, Slingshot, Smokescreen, Starscream, Steamer, Streetwise, Sunstreaker, Swindle, Thundercracker, Tracks, Trailbreaker, Turbofire, Vortex, Warpath, Wheeljack, Wide Load, Wildrider, and Windbreaker.  Just go to the die-cast page and click any project name that has NEW IMAGES! listed after it.
• I've also uploaded pictures of my G2 Go-Bots projects.  I've actually had several of these completed for a few years, but I kind of wanted to get them all finished before I unveiled them.  Without further ado, the original G2 Go-Bots Blowout, Double Clutch, Firecracker, Gearhead, High Beam, and Motormouth are ready for viewing as well as the Go-Bots that embody G1 characters, namely Bumblebee, Frenzy, Ironhide, Megatron, Mirage, Optimus Prime, Sideswipe, and Soundwave.
• I also did some tweaking to a couple of older projects.  My die-cast version of Optimus Prime got a significant upgrade, and I built a new version of the Laser Rod named Jolt.  I'm also ready to unveil die-cast versions of the other two Laser Rods, Electro and Volt.
• One other all-new project is a background character from Beast Machines I've named Minefield, one of the ancient Autobots whose sparks were stolen by Vehicon leader Megatron.
• Speaking of the beasties era, I also took some new photos of my tiny plastic animals painted to resemble the first-season Beast Wars characters.  I had originally unveiled them here in group shots, but this time I broke them up and gave each character his or her own page:  Airazor, Blackarachnia, Cheetor, Dinobot, Inferno, Megatron, Optimus Primal, Rattrap, Rhinox, Scorponok, Tarantulas, Terrorsaur, and Tigatron.  (The Rattrap project is brand-new, since my cat apparently ate the old one.  I'm totally serious.)
• I have been working one one or two new projects as well.  One of them is a PVC figure called Freakshow, a concept character who is built up entirely of six generic background characters who each share a design with one of the Constructicons.
• Also, I recently finished two repaints of characters who share a design with Cliffjumper.  One of them is Blow-Out, sold by Hasbro as the yellow version of Cliffjumper but to whom I've assigned a separate identity.  The other is Gearshift, a background character sharing a color scheme with Jazz, who appears in "Five Faces of Darkness" part 5.

(4/1/2007)

This is not a web site at all.  It is, in fact, a ham and cheese sandwich.  Heh.  April Fool's!  Wow, I really had you going there for a while, didn't I?  (It completely and utterly baffles me how many fans are hornswaggled by the festivities of April 1st.  As a general rule, don't believe anything you read today.  I mean it.  Toy sightings, upcoming release news... just suspend your disbelief for the next 24 hours.  If it's real, you'll hear about it again tomorrow.)

KITBASHES:

• Two new PVC projects today.  One of them is a generic background character from "Five Faces of Darkness" part 4 who shares a design with Perceptor, whom I've named Hindsight.  The other is a version of Ultra Magnus as he appears in Marvel Comics, specifically the cover of THE TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE #1 and TRANSFORMERS UNIVERSE #4.

(9/11/2007)

I'm still in the middle of taking new pictures of all the old projects, but it seems like new projects keep getting in the way of that.  I've announced a lot of these on alt.toys.transformers, but I never included links from the home page, so here we go.  For starters, I finally made a die-cast scale version of Shockwave in laser gun mode.  I also made a PVC figure of White Noise, a generic background character from "Five Faces of Darkness" part 4, as well as another one called Feedback from "Fight or Flee," both of whom share a design with Soundwave.  Additionally, I revisited my PVC figure of Slaughterhouse (a Decepticon jet from "Five Faces of Darkness" part 3) and made some changes to him, adding articulation to his arm so he can pledge his allegiance to Galvatron.  I also finished a Robot Heroes version of Ricochet and another one of Sunstorm.  Finally, I did PVC versions of Action Master Optimus Prime as well as cartoon-accurate versions of Ramjet, Thrust, and Dirge.  (Thrust also served as the basis for a generic character called Nosedive, and just for fun I also did a photomanipulated G2 version of Ramjet.)

(10/6/2007)

KITBASHES:

• The second phase of my site overhaul is completed, with over 255 new digital photographs of over 100 separate projects added to the kitbashing section, each image lovingly hand-edited, to replace the remainder of my older project images from 1999 to 2003ish (basically everything except the die-cast vehicles, which I took care of in a previous update).  Click here to see links to each of these individual projects.  Going forward, my plans are now to finish up some of the more important projects on my To-Do List before the end of this year and the arrival of the new baby in December.  As of this writing there are no new projects on the schedule after 2007, since I expect to have my hands full for the foreseeable future after that point!
• I've also made the kitbash pages a little more accessible by adding some icons.  Some of these projects now have downloadable movies associated with them, which I'm denoting with a movie camera icon  ().  Also, some of you know that I occasionally hide easter eggs on these pages, but since I'm terribly inconsistent about it, I've marked the pages that have them with another new icon ().  Finally, some of my projects are available for sale.  If you're interested in owning one of these one-of-a-kind creations, click the icon to contact me ().
• There's also some new projects.  One of them is a cartoon version of Boba Fett, as seen in the Star Wars Holiday Special.  (Yeah, I know Hasbro is making has made one of these now.  But mine's better.)  I've also uploaded images of two earlier projects that I created as gifts for ViceGripX.  One of them is a Battle Buddies plush version of R2-D2 (Dagobah), and the other is a Titanium Series Skywarp figurine.
• What's more, I've added a category to the kitbashing page called Quick Fixes, basically improvements to toys I've made that I really don't consider full-fledged projects.  The ones I've uploaded so far are a cartoon version of Omega Supreme, a minor modification to the original Cliffjumper toy, and an improvement to Action Master Shockwave.  (My older Laserbeak modification got moved onto this category, too.)

(10/19/2007)

KITBASHES:

• Finished up a handful of new projects last weekend.  One of them is a PVC figure of Freeloader, my name for a generic background character from the original TRANSFORMERS comic book by Marvel Comics.  (You remember him, don't you?)  Also, in the style of the Star Wars Comic Packs sold by Hasbro, I've done my own versions of C-3PO and Boba Fett, painted as they appear in the pages of the comic book adaptations.

(11/6/2007)

KITBASHES:

• My work on turning die-cast vehicles into the likeness of Transformers characters continues at a slower pace these days, not so much due to a lack of ideas but a lack of available base vehicles.  Well, I finally found a die-cast aircraft carrier suitable for Broadside, so that project is now completed.  This project is actually seven characters in one, since it also includes five tiny little Aerialbots (plus Powerglide) on the flight deck.
• I've also finished up some recent Star Wars projects, including R2-E2 and R2-F2, my completely made-up names for two astromech droids belonging to Queen Amidala who appear only on the Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace DVD menu screen.  I've also built a new and improved version of Princess Leia (Jabba's Prisoner), who is now able to sit on the throne room dais like a good little slave girl, as seen in Return of the Jedi.