It seems sometimes that I live my life one TFcon at a time. I couldn’t wait to get to the show this year, see all my pals, buy all the toys, and celebrate everything that it great about the Transformers franchise and the people who love it.  That said, I was busy getting everything together all the way up to leaving home for Mississauga, because I had a panel to present that weekend and plenty of prep work to take care of for it. So, in that sense I was too busy to get hyped. Somehow I managed to mostly get everything done on time, though I didn’t sleep much. In fact, I didn’t sleep much during the weekend of the show either so… whatever man!

Anyway, the entire convention was amazing as usual, though it had kind of a lower-key, more relaxed vibe all around this year. I’m not sure why that is, but I know other attendees shared that sentiment and I enjoyed it.

Here are a couple shots from the costume contest. This amazing Prowl costume was the winner of the event, and I really dug that Override!

My panel on the Japanese franchises that influenced Transformers was well attended and everyone seemed to really enjoy it. At least, everybody laughed at the parts that were funny so that was pretty good. The whole idea was to show how and why robots became such a huge part of Japanese popular culture, leading up to the transforming robot toys that we know today. There were a lot of twists and turns that make this story so fascinating, and when it was over a lot of people told me how interesting the panel was and how much they enjoyed my performance.

Honestly, I was incredibly nervous beforehand. Not about speaking in front of an audience, but about running out of time before getting through it all. When I finished with 5 minutes remaining for questions I was so relieved because those 5 juicy delicious minutes were a virtual banquet compared to what I thought I was going to be left with.

The tech crew did an amazing job at helping me out, and I just noticed in these pictures that they changed the lighting to cyan to match my tie. Right on! Yeah, I wore a tie for my panel. I felt I had to look the part to be a panelist. But I drew the line at tucking my shirt in.

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The main event of the weekend was certainly the appearance of the voice of Megatron, and one of Hollywood’s most prolific voice actors, Frank Welker. I didn’t get to meet him but I did go to his panel, where he was a very entertaining and gracious guest. But then something shocking happened.

As was the case with Peter Cullen’s appearance last year, questions were to be submitted via e-mail ahead of time to be selected by the guest. I missed the call for questions so I wasn’t expecting to get to ask anything. But, somehow… I did! To make a long story short, I did get called up with a few others as part of some group questions. We were so incredibly surprised and had no idea how it happened. When it was my turn to ask the question from the pre-approved sheet provided to me, I had to milk it for all it was worth! So I said “Hello sir, I’m not sure how I got up here, but I’m very happy to see you! Apparently, my question is as follows:” I was not supposed to say any of that extra stuff, and I sincerely apologize if anyone was upset by that, but it was funny and Frank laughed! It was a surreal moment and when I asked why this happened I was simply told to pay it forward. I absolutely will 1000 times.

[youtube]https://youtu.be/Pbijz9lA1Yw[/youtube]

This video comes from Neil Temple, who has uploaded many highlights from TFcon 2016 on his channel that you can check out.

This isn’t even scratching the surface of all the stuff that happened at the show this year. There was a fantastic panel with Dan Gilvazan and Flint Dille, a Faction Feud filled with drama, a script reading with a unique storyline and some unexpected cast members (Dr. Evil and the Swedish Chef?), sketching with cool artists in the lobby, Slurpees, and a bunch of other happenings that I probably can’t even remember, including some after-hours shenanigans.

A big shout out to the staff and volunteers at TFcon and the usual crew of cool people who I get to hang out with once a year. I especially need to thank my roommate, the TFcon legend Guber who let me use his pictures for this report. He needs to exploit his brand.

Here’s all the stuff I bought. You can check out this post of my Tumblr for the full rundown of each item.

When it was all said and done, this TFcon was exactly what the doctor ordered. I needed it. When Monday morning came around and it was time to go home, I knew that I was going to be exhausted very soon, but I still felt totally healthy and alive like I hadn’t felt in months. I was completely ready to do it all over again, and I still am.

Well, I would be ready but let me work on next year’s panel first!

Sayonara.

The Canadian Transformers convention, TFcon 2016, is this weekend! Still so much to get ready for!

I’ll be presenting a panel on the Japanese franchises that influenced Transformers, currently scheduled for Saturday at 3pm.

I did some artwork to serve as the title page for the panel. Take a look at Transformers X Anime!

Transformers X Anime by ninjatron on DeviantArt

It’s going to be a fantastic look at some of the important robots and characters that paved the way for Transformers to come into existence. Get ready to meet your robot grandpas!

Hope to see you there in Mississauga! If you won’t be able to make it, well… too bad for you I guess!

Sayonara.

Splatoon X Evangelion=Neon Genesquid Evansplatioon by ninjatron on DeviantArt

Why on Earth would anyone want to combine Splatoon with Neon Genesis Evangelion? Well, I don’t know why I did it, but I did. Of course I am a huge fan of both things and I suppose they were on my mind at the same time. I worked on it during streaming sessions on my Picarto channel. Some people watched. It was cool to have an audience!

After a long break, I went back to making new entries in the Ninjapocalypse universe. The first of 5 new characters is set to debut on Thursday, May 12, 2016. We are on the way towards the goal of 100 characters!

Sayonara.

I just added some recent art pieces to the Illustration page! You may have already seen them on Tumblr and/or deviantArt, but now they are here.  There is my artwork of Links and Linkle from Legend of Zelda, Megatron, Super Mario Bros. 2, C-3PO & R2-D2, and Pokemon. Yes, I drew Pokemon.

Actually, this is a lie. I didn’t just add them. I actually did it a few days ago and didn’t say anything. I’m sure nobody noticed, so this will be the official announcement.

Also, check out my Tumblr for a look at the process of creating the Pokemon artwork. Lots of images of the artwork as it was in progress.

I’m going to be working towards other things, like learning some new skills and refining what I can already do, so I don’t know how many more full illustrations I’m going to do for awhile. We’ll see.

Sayonara.

It is now the year 2016. Not a very futuristic sounding year, despite being further into the future than 2015, which still sounds so far flung and exotic. Anyway, a lot of great stuff came out  in 2015 and I figured I’d take a moment to talk about some of my most favorites. I’m sure that all of these 2015 releases are going to be things that I will continue to enjoy for years to come.

Favorite Game – Splatoon Probably not just my favorite game of the year, but my favorite thing of the year. Splatoon is a triumph of style and game design. Nintendo’s squid-tastic ink shooting multplayer game is easy to get into but with plenty of strategy and variety. You could spend all day playing, or just jump in an play a few matches here and there, and always have fun. One of the best moments in my life as a video game player was the Transformers themed Splatfest. I fought with everything I had over every last drop of ink in the name of the Decepticons. Seeing the Decepticons team win over the Autobots was the most euphoric victory I’ve ever experienced in a game before.
Favorite Book – The Art of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Full of detail, great behind-the-scenes info, and plenty of colorful artwork, this book is a must have for anyone who was ever a fan of the Masters of the Universe franchise. Some of the artwork collected in this book is so badass that it might be hard for some common Earth folk to believe it came out of a toyline.
Favorite Toy – Transformers Combiner Wars/Unite Warriors Devastator Actually, I’m cheating a bit on this one, as I do not have it yet. I got the Japanese version and have not had it shipped to me yet. But it’s a forgone conclusion that I’m going to like it a lot. Getting a near-full range of combiners from the original Transformers toy line remade into modern standards was a pipe dream for a long time, but Hasbro and Takara delivered. I’ve got Superion and Menasor, and they are really good, but Devastator is in a class by itself and it’s clear that they went all out on this release with each member of the team boasting impressive detail and size. The Japanese release goes even further with added articulation and accessories.
Favorite TV Series – Daredevil This show takes having a Netflix subscription from being a nice luxury to an absolute must have.  It makes some bold moves and does things that couldn’t be done on regular network TV. All of the Marvel TV shows have been really good in 2015. Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D. really hit its stride and Agent Carter was fantastic. Jessica Jones was amazing too. I don’t watch very many serialized TV shows any more, but I certainly made time to watch these.
Favorite Anime – Young Black Jack Uhh… actually, I don’t know if I watched any other anime from 2015. I watched shows from as early as a few years ago and some classics, but, unless I’m forgetting something,  I guess I missed out on most 2015 anime specifically. I’ll have to fix that. But Young Black Jack is pretty good, with some creative uses of Osamu Tezuka’s star system. The last few episodes are really powerful. Young Black Jack is not as cool as old Black Jack, but then again, who is?
Favorite Movie – Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens Obviously. It’s Star Wars, so of course it’s my favorite, and there isn’t much of anything else to say. Besides this, I enjoyed Avengers: Age of Ultron and Jurassic World, and Ant Man was really good as well. Overall a good year for movies that sets the scene for more good years to come.

That’s all for 2015. I’m looking forward to all the cool stuff that 2016 has to offer, and I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to offer some cool stuff to you as well!

What did you like about 2015?

Sayonara.