Make Mine Marvel...I mean Disney

BT Toons - The Marvelous Magic Kingdom

So. The surprise news of the day took the interwebs by storm. Disney, everyone's favorite massive media conglomerate, is buying Marvel for 4 billion dollars (plus stock).

Naturally, the internet was immediately filled with panic/FUD/ZOMG THEY'RE GONNA KIDDIFY MARVEL.

But I have a few responses to refute these points:

1. Kiddify Marvel? Have you SEEN any of the promo stuff for the "Superhero Squad" cartoon?
2. DC is owned by Time Warner. I don't see Bugs Bunny running amok in Superman.
3. No mature stories? Again, look at DC - they still have their Vertigo imprint.
4. But Disney is kiddy! Yes, Disney the BRAND NAME is, but Disney the COMPANY is definitely not. Like any other entertainment company, their aim is to make money, and so they diversify. The reason the Disney brand is kiddy is because they WANT it to be seen as kiddy. Miramax? NOT kiddy. Touchstone? NOT kiddy. ABC? They air cartoons, but NOT kiddy. Pixar? Well, those carry the Disney brand, but people know them as PIXAR films, not DISNEY films.

My point is that odds are nothing will change at Marvel. If anything, this works out for the better for them. As they've made the decision to finance their films themselves, to retain creative control, now not ONLY do they have deep pockets behind them to finance, but when their current contracts run out they have someone who WILL DISTRIBUTE THEIR FILMS. Because Disney, as I said, cares about making money first and foremost. So you don't mess with something that makes money.

And that's all ignoring the fact that Marvel does VERY well from selling comics. I saw a statistic today that indicated that 40% of the revenues from comic books are pure profit - comics have the highest profit margins in the publishing business. (And these are printed on inferior card stock, not the awesome stuff that IDW Publishing uses!)

So yeah. It's all gonna work out fine.

I mean, we get Marvel characters at Disneyland (they're rolling them out ASAP). We get more Marvel cartoons with a ready-to-air-them network. We get more movies. And they get more money. It's win-win for everybody!

The ONLY concern I have is that in a few years, maybe Hasbro will lose the license for Marvel figures due to Disney using Mattel heavily. For what you're paying, their posability is second to none. And I'm spoiled by Hasbro-level posability.

The Queen of Blades

BT Toons - Treacherous Typecasting

So, I decided to try something new with the borders on this comic. Myself, I quite like the white border now that I'm using it, and I'll have to do so more in the future.

As for the subject matter itself... yeah. Tricia Helfer's voicing Kerrigan in Starcraft II. I don't quite get WHY they felt they needed to change the voice when the original VA is still alive and quite willing to reprise her role, but in the end, I'm probably more glad they went with Raynor's original voice. Kerrigan may be iconic, but Tricia Helfer is pretty darn iconic as well and her name will bring the fanboys in. Given she's not new to the voice/game acting gig either, she should do fine.

However, with complete seriousness, she needs to get a new agent if this is all the work she's getting. Tricia's gonna be stuck at sci-fi cons for the rest of her life at this rate.


On to other things, on Sunday chance decided to intervene, and place a TFA Shockwave (grey version) at the Walmart I happened to be going to (it's one I rarely visit). Given I've been looking for him for almost a year, this is awesome. Now all I need to finish up my TFA Grail List before the new waves come out is Skywarp.

(And then, as for Universe, there's still Inferno to acquire. But that's another story...)

End of an Era: RIP Metropolis Toys

So, as the title suggests, it's the end of an era for me. Metropolis Toys, the comic/collectible store 5 minutes from my house on a bike, is closing their doors today. For the last 5 years or so, it's been a great place for me to browse and buy stuff - I'm sad to see them go.

Sure, I'm getting my file moved over to one of the other stores in the chain, but still - I'd rather see Metropolis stay open. I'll miss popping in there on the way home from work and chatting with Andy about what just got announced/what's up on preorder/what's in the comic books I picked up that day (I tend to read them as soon as I buy them).

However, at least they've gone out with a bang. Namely, a 50% off EVERYTHING sale. I cleaned up pretty well, and got the following items...


-TF Movie 1 Incinerator
-TF Movie 1 Landmine
-ROTF Dune Runner
-ROTF Scalpel (as a gift)
-TF Movie 1 Trans-scanning Bumblebee
-TF Henkei Hound
-GI Joe Cobra Legions 5-pack (the one with troops in it)
-GI Joe Cobra Commander (hopefully THIS one doesn't have a nonbending right arm...)

So yeah, I did alright today, as I've done over the years (I've gotten a number of Henkei/Masterpiece/GI Joe items from there in the past). Most everything I got for original retail price minimum, which was nice.

RIP Metropolis, and good luck to Andy, the store manager, who's now moving on to other things.

Anime Observations

BT Toons - When Madmen Collide

So, I've been cracking open my Animethon DVD haul of late, and watching stuff.

Watched the 16 episodes of Excel Saga I had yet to see, and I'm now starting on SatAM. Ripping as I go, to store copies on my Allspark (network storage device).

Excel Saga is awesome stuff. VERY awesome stuff. Not for everyone (it's quite random) but very entertaining indeed.

Now starting in on my SatAM (Sonic the Hedgehog - the Saturday morning cartoon from the early 90s) complete series boxset. So far, so good. I love me some classic Jim Cummings Robotnik and Charlie Adler Snively ("But sir!") Given there's a LOT I haven't seen from this series, it'll be great to watch.

Only criticism so far... watching episode 3 ("Sonic and Sally") - did Ken Penders lift the robot duplicate idea from the SatAM bible or something? I know doppelgangers is a common idea, but it reminds me of the Princess Sally mini where the SAME THING HAPPENS.

A Cosplayclasstic Comic!

BT Toons - Hypocriticism

So, I finally got another comic done! For a one-panel comic, it was a lot of work. Especially when you consider that the way I draw these, I drew full pics of EVERY character there. All with roughly the same LoD (save for the two guys at the back table there).

That said, let's have a little contest, shall we? Who can name who everyone in the comic is cosplaying as? To make this interesting, whoever gets all the characters correct will get a freebie commission from yours truly of someone cosplaying as something.

Again, to clarify - the ONLY two characters not cosplaying as someone are Ratbat and Nya. And I'm including the two guys at the back table there. I want a list of who everybody's cosplaying AS, not who everyone IS.

Good luck!

Where's the comic? and fun with PHP/CSS

So, as people have most likely noticed, there's no new comic yet.

Obviously, this isn't a very good thing. I usually manage to keep to my schedule. So what happened? Where is the comic?

The answer: a motivation drought. Not having had that much time to pump out a comic so far this week (Yes, I COULD have done it in theory mind you) and not sure on an idea, it has managed to shoot motivation in the foot.

And now that I DO have an idea, motivation has further been slaughtered by my sidetrip into having fun with PHP/CSS. See, I on a whim decided to see if I could get the potential webserver functionality on my DNS-323 working.

Needless to say, I did. And I've since been distracted adapting my blog parser code into a pretty page. With no buffer, this is obviously a bad idea. But it hasn't stymied me unfortunately.

So, check out my fun fiddling around at http://allspark.mine.nu in the meantime, while I pull myself together to get comics out there. Since I've got all the basics I want to get working complete, hopefully this lets me pull myself back together motivationwise.

Meanwhile, in other news, Metropolis Toys, the store I've been frequenting for the last few years to acquire my comics and collectibles, is closing its doors :(. Which means I lose my convenient 5-10 minutes away-not-to-mention-on-the-way-home-and-not-far-from-a-TRU one-stop shop for neat stuff, and have to relocate my file to one of the other stores in the Happy Harbour Comics chain.

Back from Animethon!

Well, as the title suggests, I is back from a fun-filled weekend at Animethon.

Got a bunch of DVDs (some Sonic sets, Last Exile, and Excel Saga), got upset over nobody selling Revoltechs I want (I mean, really! Anyone heard of importing them from Japan?), watched some neat shows I want to check out more of down the road (Baccano and Claymore), enjoyed some Q&A panels which included Paul Dobson (Matrix from ReBoot!) and Brad Swaile (He's Light in the Funi Death Note dub - don't watch the show but he was a fun guy), saw some cosplay that was both awesome and scarring, and enjoyed the wierdness that is whatever is shown in the Room of Mystery. Plus, I ran into both people I expected to see there, and people who I hadn't seen in several years - it's always a bonus to meet up with people you haven't seen in an eternity! (And credit to those who recognised me from high school and earlier, given I didn't have a beard then.)

Best surprise: When I bought the Last Exile DVD set, the cashier, upon noticing what I was buying, said he had something for me. Turns out he had the little Alvis ministatue that came with the original boxset in the back, and he gave it to me for buying the DVD! It is an awesome little figurine - comes with a necessary stand, the coat she wears in the series at points, and the little stuffed cow that fits in her arm!

Worst moment: Overweight women should NOT be allowed to cosplay as Liz from Soul Eater. CAN NOT UNSEE.

Overall, it was a blast, and it shall be fun to go to again next year!

...now then, I still have a comic to draw for Tuesday... :( I fail at getting back into the groove, evidently.

And with that, I leave with you a quickie pic of the Alvis ministatue:

Off to Animethon...

So, Animethon 16 is on this weekend in town, and I have a desire to head down and check out the 'con.

In other words, I'll be getting squat done this weekend comicwise, which means Butt-Busting time! I haven't been this unprepared for a few weeks now (I have ideas, but nothing drawn).

Meanwhile, damnit. I have a massive urge to watch parts of the Rocky and Bullwinkle live-action movie. Which has flaws, but also MANY awesome bits to it (which include Robert De Niro's awesome cheesy take on Fearless Leader, which has influenced my own evil personae to this day).

Sadly, Youtube has failed me. And I lack the forcepowers to choke Eric Schimidt, Sergey Brin and Larry Page's necks until they upload something.

Cobra has risen!

BT Toons - Other M, Part 6: Nya: Nefarious Notary

So, I have now seen GI Joe: Rise of Cobra. Got a double pass for free, and my brother and I were literally the last ones to get in (as usual with these things they overprint them, and we got the last pair of REAL tickets. So we got the front row.)

To quote a post I did over on another message board, as it sums up my thoughts best:

Just saw GI Joe.

The negative hype is misleading. It's a good, FUN movie.

ROTF didn't have the fun feeling that GI Joe did.

Was the plot predictable? Yep. But the movie was fun, and Wayans wasn't all that bad.

Cobra Commander was great though, I gotta say. Reminded me of Resolute CC. As for the ending... I went with my brother, and he agreed it felt too rushed (as in the VERY end - if you've seen the movie you know what I'm talking about).

Also - what's up with these Neo-Vipers? They know no fear or pain, and YET they have tendencies to scream/react to pain in the final battle scenes.

Action sequences were fun, CGI was pretty bad in some sequences (The Pit for instance), and I still hate Snake-Eyes' mouth.

It's gonna be a great opening weekend for it. Heck, though I won't go out of my way to see it again, I would pay to see it. (I didn't pay for this screening - got the tickets free)

Also, today was a good day as I finally got my Aveo Swerve Transformers toy! It's a promotional item GM comissioned back in 07 that inexplicably turns into a Chevy Aveo (why THAT car?). It's been barely available, but thanks to one of my cousins in Toronto, where the promo was held, I got my hands on one. And he is GLORIOUS.

And these shall be your minions...

Woohoo! Lookit at who I got today! At long last, Henkei Cyclonus is mine!
As you can see, he's a MUCH lighter shade of purple - more of a lavender -but he does have his pros and cons, like the painted face and more uniform robot mode colors. (And his Nightstick is FAR superior to the US release's.) Chrome usage on this baby is great as well.

By the same token, Universe Cyclonus does have darker colors, which look alright. And the red highlights add to the figure - if only the Henkei had those.

So, the question is - Who's better - Henkei or Universe? Given I couldn't decide, the Cycloni decided to put the question to their leader, the mighty Galvatron...

...on second thought, that was probably a mistake.

Seems he equally hates them both.

New comic and new blog logo

BT Toons - "Other M, Part 5: 'It's 3 A.M...'"

This comic is the beginning of the end of the current storyline. It's a result of planning out stories on the fly, and finding "Crud - I can get another comic out of this, and I'd better do another one or it'll be rushed to cram it all in to one."

Meanwhile, woo! I can has new logo for my blog!

Or rather, old logo. Since all I did was update the logo I've been using for some time.

The acronym "TOBOMI" itself is old as well - older than the logo is. And it has always had the same acronym.

(It occurs to me I could easily swap in "Blog" in lieu of "Broadcasting" - but the current acronym is general enough to work for anything I produce.)

And as for the random pic of the evening... it's Total Ownage Time, movie style!

Blugggh....

So evidently I fail.

I lacked the will to get anything done that I wanted to today.

Which naturally means I'll have to do some comic writing tomorrow. I need one for later this week, if I want to run them biweekly. (And then, there's next week...)

Naturally, both ideas have stricken me with writer's block. As in I have the idea but can't work it out. Joy.

As for the pic, I just wanted to take some random picture. So here you go.