Geeze, I’ve been so busy with posting on other message boards and responding to threads about the convention this post weekend that I haven’t had any time to update my own Weblog.

Well, anyway, TransformersCon was awesome. But I knew it was going to be awesome.

I won first place in the trivia on Friday night. I’m awesome. In the final round, I was up against a good guy from LA who has a website that I bought from a long time ago, and who I had met at BotCon 99 in Minnesota. One of the questions we had to answer was about a toy that I bought from his table back then. The circle of life is complete. I won a piece of paper with my name printed on it. Yay.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the comic. I even signed a few.

My art contest entry was finished just about an hour before I got there on Saturday. It was a bit of a challenge to even be ready by then. I stayed up all night with only a few hours of sleep. My printer wouldn’t print on the large paper I wanted to use, and when I switched to regular sized paper, it was out of yellow ink. Then I got a paper cut. But it was all worth it because I really wanted to finish, having started it a year earlier, and people really liked it so I got to talk to some cool folks about my art. It’s now on my deviantART account, so take a look at Cybertron Forever, featuring Vector Prime and friends.

While I was hanging around the art table and overheard another artist badmouthing the other art to his friend. He was saying things like how this was copied, that was cheating, his was better, and so on, all with a very whiny tone of voice. Then he looked at my entry and said “Oh, look at this anime! That’s copied from a poster!” (or something to that effect, I forget exactly). So I questioned him on it, not letting on at first that I was, in fact, the artist he was talking about. When I finally clued him in that this was my artwork, that it was most assuredly NOT copied from anything, and that I didn’t appreciate the insinuation that it was, he continued to insist that he had seen it before and that he had no reason to lie to his friend who was listening to him ragging on the other art on the table. Of course, he wouldn’t look me in the eye and say any of that. Probably because he was scared. And rightly so! After all, I’m Ninjatron, dammit. Anyway, I’ll just take it as a backhanded compliment that he thought the art was so good that it had to have been copied. I don’t sweat it, but that was pretty much the only negative experience I’ve ever had at this convention in all the years I’ve gone.

The highlights were definitely the times spent sitting with friends and chatting over pizza. On Saturday Michael Bell even joined us, and listening to him share his stories about the voice acting industry (without having to worry about any kids hearing it) was something I will not soon forget.

I didn’t buy anything. At all. Unbelievable, I know, but it’s true. Didn’t need to. I was there to see my buddies and promote my artwork, and that was successful on both counts. Looking forward to next year!

I’ll make another post when the comic I drew is available online.

Sayonara.

Yeah, so, if you haven’t figured it out by now, last week’s post about the Transformers movie sneak preview was my April Fool’s Day joke. The first video was obviously real, and you may have seen that running on TV by now. The other one was obviously not from the movie at all. It was a scene from the terrible and thus hilarious international English dub of the Japanese Transformers: Headmasters series. These episodes were made for the Japanese audience and based on the toys that the Japanese market was getting, and they never aired in North America. However, they were (badly) dubbed in English for other countries, and these English dubs have pretty much become infamous as some of the worst anime dubbing ever.

There are more English Headmasters clips that have been floating around YouTube, and here are some of my favorites. So the next time you feel like complaining about how your most beloved show has been butchered in the transition to English, give some of these a watch and realize that it could have been worse.

This one is great. Watch out for MILOOOOOO!

I wish I had a job that was this easy. “Darn!”

It’s so obvious why this is funny.

Sayonara.

Some short previews for the upcoming Transformers movie have recently surfaced online, an will presumably be airing on television as well. There are two of them so far and they’re both pretty cool. Here’s one of them.

Well, I did some sneaking around and I think I have uncovered another movie preview that isn’t supposed to be viewed by the public yet! This footage has never been seen before. The imagery is really powerful and the dialogue shows a lot of depth to the story line, and I just have to share it to prove to all those doubters that this movie is going to be spectacular. I’m risking a lot by putting a link to the video up here on my website, but I just couldn’t keep it to myself. Watch this!

Awesome! This movie will seriously rock! Only a fool would disagree now!

Sayonara.

Or rather, all of Justice, for me. Justice League, that is. I now own every episode of Justice League on DVD. I’ve been watching random episodes, mostly from the final season. It rocks.

This show is damn good. They really shouldn’t have ended it. It could have continued until eternity. But no, instead quality is pushed aside in favor of shows with thinly veiled attempts to appeal to target demographics and toy companies. Shows like, for example, “The Batman“. That show is lame in comparison to JL.

Oh well, at least the DVDs will last forever.

Sayonara.

Everybody, listen to me. I need you all to go and do something very important this weekend!

I need you to go and watch the new CGI Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie.

Not only is there no doubt in my mind that this movie is going to be excellent, and I don’t particularly feel like I need to explain why, but there are other important reasons why this movie needs to be a hit.

It’s no secret that I am a huge fan of the Ninja Turtles. Without them, I wouldn’t be an artist. I would love nothing more that for this movie to be a huge success and bring these characters even further into the consciousness of the general public. But this isn’t really about Ninja Turtles. I think it goes much further than that. In short, I believe that if this movie is successful, then it will help to usher in a brand new generation of animated feature films.

TMNT is an action movie that just so happens to be animated. Why shouldn’t we have more movies like that? Why are people so insistent on all animated movies being about cute animals who are voiced by “real” actors that know nothing about cartoons? Why do we have to endure wave after wave of derivative CGI movies that are filled with lame pseudo-risque jokes, written in a vain attempt at being clever? Why can’t we have quality animation about a wider range of topics with darker themes and more action? The way I see it, TMNT is the first step in widening the margins of what an animated film can be. But that will only become a trend if it’s successful and makes money, so that’s where we come in!

The other reason why I believe TMNT is going to be an important film is because I’m an anime fan. Imagi Studios, the animators of this film, are also working on 2 more CG animated movies that are going to be very important to anime fans all over the world. The first one is based on the classic 70’s series Gatchaman, which is looking like it’s going to be a totally kick-ass action movie. The other is AstroBoy. Need I say more? AstroBoy is the single most important character in the history of Japanese animation, so for there to finally be a movie about that amazing story is just awesome. It needs to happen! These movies can help to proliferate awareness of these legendary characters and show everyone the true power and range of animated story telling. A movie like TMNT, which is not going to be a cute Disney-esque movie, can lay down the foundation for this to happen, and prove to people that animation can be so much more than it is right now. And, best of all, if movies like these are successful, who knows what else might be in development? I’m looking forward to finding out.

So, go and watch TMNT this weekend. Take your whole family. Not only will you be sitting down to what looks to be a great film, you’ll also be doing something for the greater good of the animated medium. You’ll be standing up for what you believe in and making a difference. You’ll be proving to all of those people who wear suits and make decisions that cartoons are not just stupid kids stuff and that this is the sort of flick that you’ll pay to watch.

And that’s Turtle Power.

Sayonara.