Emerald City Comic Con 2019 Cosplay Music Video!

This was my third trip to Emerald City Comic Con and I had an amazing time! Thanks to all of the cosplayers for participating in this video! And if you can identify any of them, please let me know!

Fifth Element Police
https://www.instagram.com/bhcosplay/
https://www.instagram.com/foamfriction/
https://www.instagram.com/wildkarde/

Thor: Ragnarok Group
https://www.instagram.com/pirate.angel002/
https://www.instagram.com/kyntari_cosplay/
https://www.instagram.com/missxboof/
https://www.instagram.com/pinkofy/
https://www.instagram.com/deathbright/
https://www.instagram.com/veloria.solo.cosplay/
https://www.instagram.com/rawrbomb/
https://www.instagram.com/wunderbarcosplay/

Wonder Woman & Batman
https://www.instagram.com/carmacosplay/

Space Ninja
https://www.instagram.com/winterskiss54/

Rhino
https://www.instagram.com/northcitycosplay/

Galvatron
https://www.instagram.com/thearmoredgarage/

Spider-Man
https://www.instagram.com/countcola/

Spacesuit Man
https://www.instagram.com/jeremyrathbone/

Spider-Gwens & Spider-Noir
?

Skyrim Nordic Carved Armor
https://www.instagram.com/wexylex/

Avatar
?

Doc Ock

Cyberpunk 2077
https://www.instagram.com/modulusprops/

Real Armor

Loki & Thor
https://www.instagram.com/kyntari_cosplay/
https://www.instagram.com/missxboof/

Death's Head
https://www.instagram.com/jonathanlaflesh/

Skyrim Dragonscale armor
https://www.instagram.com/bhcosplay/

Torbjorn
https://www.instagram.com/baldguycosplay/

Spacesuit
https://www.instagram.com/sophywongmakes/

Halo ODST
?

Cyberpunk 2077
https://www.instagram.com/sksprops/

Moira
https://www.instagram.com/sercoco.cosplay/

Thai Armor
https://www.instagram.com/spicythaidesign/

Cyberpunk 2077 NCPD
https://www.instagram.com/wildkarde/

Valkyrie & Thor
https://www.instagram.com/veloria.solo.cosplay/

Steve Harrington
https://www.instagram.com/jhushlordofthesith/

The Cybertronic Spree at GSCF

I went to Garden State Comic Fest in Atlantic City mainly to see the Cybertronic Spree live in concert and boy did they put on an awesome show!

The Cybertronic Spree is a group of Transformers brought together by the power of Rock! From the Bourbon Room in the Showboat Hotel, Hot Rod, Arcee, Rumble, Unicron, and a Quintesson brought the house down. Here are some of the highlights from that show!

Garden State Comic Fest Atlantic City Cosplay Music Video

Here's some of the awesome cosplay I saw at Garden State Comic Fest in Atlantic City this year!



Many thanks to the following cosplayers!

The Cybertronic Spree
https://www.facebook.com/TheCybertronicSpree/

Kylo Ren

Harley Quinn

Daenerys and Beast

Star Sapphire
https://www.instagram.com/sassykatcon/

Wolverine Mech

Scooby Doo group

Cobra Commander
https://www.instagram.com/zanygeeks/

Sith Lord

Wonder Woman
https://www.instagram.com/sharonrosecosplay/

Furry TARDIS

Mandolorian

Ursula
https://www.instagram.com/katicoe/

Carnage

Voltron
https://www.instagram.com/outlaw2lk/

Father Evil
https://www.facebook.com/fatherevil/

Transformers: The Movie 30th Anniversary

Thirty years ago today, Transformers: The Movie came out. And little did I know at the time, it was a ploy by Hasbro to get little kids to get their parents to buy a new line of toys. If the movie came out today, I'd probably complain that it essentially obliterated all the characters I knew and replaced them with new ones that I had no attachment to. But the 11 year old me just accepted it, moved on, and proceeded to collect the new toys.

Looking back, I can see that the movie isn't that great. There's animation errors, the plot is razor thin, old characters were tossed aside to make room for new ones, but I don't care. I still see it through a child's eyes and I love every cheesy minute of it.

While everyone remembers "The Touch" as the main song of the film, my favorite is "Dare," and it continues to be on my workout and running playlists for its inspirational message.

Devastator Weathering Project

One day I looked at my Combiner Wars Devastator, which is BTW still available on Amazon, and said to myself, "He looks way too clean. Constructicons should be dirty!" And so started another project. This time to weather the crap out of Devastator and make him look like the filthy Transformer he's supposed to look like.

This was really just a simple weathering project using black and brown acrylic paint, watering it down a little, slathering it on Devastator, then wiping most of it off leaving the paint in the low areas where grime would naturally accumulate. This highlighted a lot of the detail on the figure that got washed out because it was all one color. Anyway, here are some before and after shots of the individual Constructicons.

Scavenger before.

Scavenger after. I also used an airbrush to paint the tire treads.

Transformers: Devastation Rolls Out Today!

Just a friendly reminder that Transformers: Devastation is out today! The game is about Optimus Prime and the Autobots trying to stop Megatron and the Decepticons from "cyber-forming" the Earth. Devastator has been featured pretty often in the trailers, I mean c'mon, his name is pretty much in the title of the game. But it looks like Menasor is in the game as well! And as Bumblebee says in the launch trailer below, "I did not see that coming."

Transformers Devastation Is All About Nostalgia

Transformers: Devastation looks to be the badass offspring of the G1 cartoon series and Devil May Cry. Add to that the original voice actors, and you've got a healthy dose of nostalgia mixed in with a lot of hack and slash combo action. Just check out the latest gameplay trailer and you'll see these Autobots know kung fu!

Connecticut ComiCONN 2015

This past weekend I went to Connecticut ComiCONN. Last year, it was a one day event at Webster Bank Arena. This year, they expanded to three days at Mohegan Sun, and it was a great decision. While the convention itself has gotten much larger, it's still not the utter crowded chaos that New York Comic Con is, and that ultimately is a good thing. It was a well organized event and Mohegan Sun is an excellent venue. I'll admit, by midday Saturday, I was getting kind of "conned-out." But I took a breather in the casino, played some slots, had a couple of drinks, and after that I was ready to head back in. I guess you can't really nerd out for three days straight. So here are some of the highlights of my Connecticut ComiCONN experience.

It's the Batmobile! The car from the 1966 series was on display along with a few cardboard cutouts of the Dynamic Duo.

Transformers Generation Stop Motion

I've talked about stop-motion aficionado Harris Loureiro before. He did this awesome Optimus Prime vs Devastator video last year, and recently did a Megatron stop-motion video showing off the new third party figure, Apollyon. Now he's at it again, this time with 15 minutes of stop-motion goodness that includes plenty of Transformers. Watching the video, it goes to show these Masterpiece and third party figures are super detailed and very poseable. This was a labor of love for Loureiro as this video took six months to complete. This definitely has a G1 feel to it, and hopefully there will be a sequel. I'm willing to wait another six months for it. Good job Harris!

Megatron Stop-Motion

Stop-motion aficionado Harris Loureiro is at it again, and this time he's working his magic on a Transformer that's not even available yet to the public, X-Transbots Apollyon, or as you can see, Megatron. This is probably the closest representation of Megatron in toy form yet. I think he even beats the Masterpiece edition released a few years ago mainly because his legs are the correct proportion and not the thin toothpicks he had in the MP figure. Check out the stop-motion video below and see the badassness of this figure.



The X-Transbots figure was marked with delays and rumors as to the build quality, but Harris confirms that the figure is solid and sturdy. You can preorder your figure at tfsource.com for $150 which is scheduled to release sometime in April.

I Have Been And Always Shall Be Your Friend

Thirty-plus years later, that quote from the end of Wrath of Khan always gets me. Leonard Nimoy passed away today at the age of 83 from complications from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. It's impossible to sum up his 60+ year career since he'll forever be remembered as Spock from Star Trek, and I'm not even going to try. The only way I know how to honor a man who has influenced me so much growing up is to share some moments that I enjoyed the most.

The Big Bang Theory

Nimoy retired from acting in 2010, but that didn't preclude him from doing voice-over work. Nimoy is one of Sheldon's idols, and in the episode "The Transporter Malfunction, he dreams about his Spock action figure giving him advice on what to do with his newly acquired Star Trek transporter toy.

More Than Meets The Eye Part 1

On September 17, 1984, The Transformers animated series premiered and a fandom was born that is still going strong 30 years later. True, the comic predates this by 4 months, but this cartoon is what hooked me and millions of other little kids. Sure it's crudely animated, and the theme song is overly simplistic, but it's vehicles that transform into robots!!! C'mon! Who couldn't resist that?!? So let's take a look at this seminal first episode and see what the big deal was all about.

Warning: This post is super long...

The narrator literally gives us the history of the Transformers in less than a minute. Coming from Cybertron, the Decepticons were bent on total domination against the peace loving Autobots. There you go, bad guys & good guys set up right from the beginning. And the war had robbed Cybertron of all its resources.

Optimus vs Devastator Stop-Motion

This is the best Transformers related video you will see this week, and I'm including the recent Michael Bay movie. It's a stop motion video featuring a Laser Optimus Prime squaring off against Devastator, aka Make Toy's Giant, a third party manufacturer of Transformer toys. It's a beautifully edited video complete with special effects and a a certain famous Transformers song. If you love Transformers, I guarantee this will make you smile.

Casey Kasem was the Voice of My Childhood

Casey Kasem passed away yesterday at the age of 82. Kasem was the voice of my generation in the 80's and 90's on the radio, you know that thing they had before mp3's made it obsolete? It's hard to think of a song from the 80's without thinking of him introducing that song prefaced by a listener request letter. But more than that, he was also the voice of Shaggy on Scooby Doo,

Mark Wahlberg Shows His Acting Range

Okay, it's not really Mark Wahlberg, but in this animated clip from FOX's Animation Domination, Wahlberg meets Optimus Prime and I'd imagine the exchange is going to be very similar to what it's like in the movie.



And because I still find it extremely hilarious:

Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark

Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark is the latest game in the War for Cybertron series. While I played the first game, I never finished it due to its difficulty. Or maybe it was my general ineptitude with these kinds of games. Anyway, I love the robot designs in these games as they are very G1 inspired. And if there's anything I love more than robots it's robots that combine to form bigger robots. From Voltron to Devastator to even the Power Rangers, it always awakens that wide-eyed inner child in me. So here's a trailer of Bruticus combining!

Weird Movie Tie-Ins

Lately I've noticed a very disturbing trend of really weird movie advertising tie-ins. It's one thing to have toys from your movie in a McDonald's Happy Meal. It's entirely something else when your movie is promoting something it has no business being connected with. I first noticed it in 2012 when The Hobbit was being promoted by Denny's.

We Need A New Army

It's been more than two months since we've had a trailer for Transformers: Age of Extinction. Last night, we finally got a new one, and here it is!

Transformers 4 and Imagine Dragons

The new TV spot for Transformers 4 features the band Imagine Dragons and their new single Battle Cry. According to the trailer, they will also be performing the single live on June 19th for the Hong Kong premiere of Transformers 4: Age of Extinction. This "new" trailer rehashes a lot of old footage, but there are new shots of Grimlock breathing fire, Hound, & Optimus actually riding Grimlock. You can check out the the trailer below.

Don't Be A Fool Today

You can be a fool any other day in your life, just don't be one today! Because so many of us are aware of April Fools' now and have no reason to believe anybody or anything on this day, companies have turned April Fools' Day into a marketing opportunity designed not to fool us, but to entertain us. Here are three of today's nerdiest "pranks."

You've hopefully already heard about Google's April Fool's joke this year, and it involves catching Pokemon! If you've got a lot of time to kill, just head to Google Maps on your iPhone or Android device, click search, hit start, and then you gotta catch em all! I've got about 50!



Have you ever wanted to learn another language? Is that language Klingon? Well you do know that Shakespeare can only be truly experienced in the original Klingon. Now you can as Rosetta Stone has finally released a language pack for when you want to propose in the most aggressive manner possible. The thing I learned most from the video? "Dad" in Klingon is "Dad."



And something you have to see to believe, it's Optimus Prime in Titanfall.