Dave's Transformers Magazine Rant: Official Transformers Collectors Club Magazine #1 Well, after numerous delays, the Winter 2004 issue arrived (in late April 2004, oops). I'm not going to Capsule this one, since it's not something you can get in the store...it's only available to those who join the OTFCC, so the price is a bit stiff if you're JUST joining for the mag. :) The magazine was mailed loose, not in a bag, wrapper or sleeve, and fortunately didn't arrive on a heavy mail day for me, or it'd've been crumpled in my apartment's mailbox. The cover is a painting of Optimus Prime by Dan Khanna (well, probably computer colored rather than painted, but the style used evokes painting), a bit oversaturated but good. The cover is 21cm wide and 30cm tall...given that it comes out in odd inch fractions, I'm guessing it was printed to centimeter specs. The RiD/Armada Transformers core logo is used in the upper left, and there's the 20th anniversary logo in the lower left. The inside front cover has an opening letter from Glen Hallit, a rather incomplete credits section (some contributors are linked to their pieces, but not all) and then a table of contents. The table of contents would be a little more useful if: A) it had credits listed with each title B) the magazine had page numbers (sigh) A Superdeformer Arcee also graces the inside front cover. The feature article is an interview with Simon Furman, continued on the unnumbered page 16. He does clarify a few things, like his love for using Unicron. He also states his dislike for Beast Machines (too dark, didn't like what was done to the characters). Next we get MTMTE-style pages for Dreadwind and Smokejumper, with the addition of techspecs. On the one hand, I really like that they kept the format and added techspecs. On the other hand, would it be too much to ask to make the techspecs text readable? Pale purple on black makes my eyes hurt. Oddly, despite being Decepticons, they're listed as "Child of Primus" in the allegiance tab. Probably not a typo, though, as Sunstorm set a precedent for being an adherent of Primus and also a Decepticon. Next, in what's a pattern of uncredited pieces, the Primal Prime versus Cryotek piece from the Genesis book is used in an ad for OTFCC. Page 5-12 is Primeval Dawn, part 1, the origin of Primal Prime. The writer and artist are not credited, which is a bit of a nuisance. Especially since both story and art are a bit weak, and it'd be nice to know if these are established creators having a bad day, or newbies. Yes, I know I could probably look this up online in a heartbeat, but that's not the point. This sort of information should be IN THE MAGAZINE. Page 13 is the recent Megabolt recolor's MTMTE entry, which does a nice job of explaining why he's called Emissary. Namely, he's an advance colonizer for the Decepticons, a sort of "Herald of Galactus". Page 14 is Jhiaxus, explaining why he looks nothing like Jhiaxus. :) Page 15 has three pieces of fan art, and THESE are credited. Matt Nelson's Fort Max, MSipher's Arcee Cola, and Snarl (TFU) by Jesse Witterich. This page also has the guidelines for submitting fan pieces. Pages 16-17 are reviews, of the G2 Go-Bots and the BW Season 1 DVD set (reviewed by Phil Zeman, one of the few directly credited pieces). Given the lag time in getting this out, it would have been nice if the editors went back and made sure the information in the reviews was still valid (i.e. BWS2 has been released on its own, contrary to the statement in Phil's review about S2 and S3 coming out in a set). 18-19 is Lemony Fresh Sam's Club Optimus Prime. It establishes that this is a Post-RiD version, he'd gone back to exploring, then come back to Earth with an upgrade (and color change) only to be snatched up by Unicron along with several members of his team (i.e. Side Burn and Prowl at least). Sunstorm follows on page 20, and his entry would seem to give spoilers for the current G1 comic, regarding the source of his power. 21 is an ad for Dreamwave. 22 is a parody whose original I don't recognize, assuming that the term "parody" is being used correctly here and they don't mean "satire" instead. 22 also has a short piece on characters who only got single panel appearances in the comics, but it mixes up which picture goes with what paragraph, annoyingly. 23 is an ad for MTMTE:Armada, with the first page of the Galvatron entry blown up to fill the page and then some ad copy in the lower right corner. 24-25 is "Crazy Customizations", which is a misnomer. This is actually apparently to be a column about taking your toys and combining them in new ways without any actual customizing in the kitbashing sense. This time around it shows how to use Dreadwind and Smokejumper as add-on armor for Armada Galvatron. Looks pretty cool. 26 has more fan art. Wittenrich does Silverbolt (TFU) and Iguanus (TFU), showing he's one of those artists who doesn't know which details to leave out. WAY too many detail lines draw attention away from important parts of the picture. A small (and apparently cropped) Armada Wheeljack piece sits forlornly off to the side, and MSipher's Homebaked HoC techspec card for femme Nightbeat is at the bottom. The rules are repeated here. 27-28 has several pieces that were either dropped from the Genesis Book or never got past the pencil stage before being turned down. Jon Bauer's Slag (G1, dino mode) is pretty good, although the frill doesn't quite work for me. Figueroa's Fort Max is nice, but Guidi's BMac Deluxe Optimus Primal is...disturbing. The second page is all pretty much stuff I can see why it didn't make it in. Okay, but not great. The inside back cover has a full page, full color SuperDeformers strip. Yoink! The outside back cover is an ad for the Universe comic (only available through the fanclub, apparently, although there's no order form or anything...we're supposed to guess where to get them?), two issues of the Wreckers, and a shot of next issue's cover featuring Arcee. Okay...overall. I like the content, dislike the presentation. Despite the slick graphics, you'd never mistake it for anything but a fanzine. Even basic layout stuff is ignored or inconsistent. And given how long it languished waiting to be published, you'd think someone would have found the time to fix this sort of stuff while waiting for lawyers to get back to them. Assuming anyone at 3H reads this, here's a few suggestions to improve the subsequent issues: 1) PAGE NUMBERS. 2) Credits both in the table of contents and on every piece. 3) Increase the contrast in the techspecs on the MTMTE pages so people can read 'em more easily. 4) Given how release schedules change a lot in many fields, either do more last-minute factchecking, or just remove references to upcoming products that might be what you say. The content is generally good. It just needs work in the layout to be more readable and look more professional. Dave Van Domelen, "Well, that didn't go as planned..." - Thrust