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[20 May 2008|10:48pm] |
Shortpacked!: CRISIS: AMERICA IN PERIL
(link will work at 11pm EST)
We're just about to run out the door to pick up Maggie's mom from the airport, so I don't have much to blabber on and on about tonight. In the meantime, this afternoon I started that Amber fanservice auction, which ends in three days.
Be excellent to each other.
And PARTY ON, DUDES.
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| For craps an' giggles. |
[20 May 2008|04:19pm] |
 After doing some follow-up doodling to yesterday's Amber fanservice, I inked my newest doodle, took markers to it, and realized I should let somebody have it!
The colored doodle is being held hostage by some upstart mercantile service called eBay.
I can feel my boob-drawing powers slowly returning.
Non sequitur: I wonder, do the episodes of Smallville in which a major character is shot and/or hospitalized outnumber those in which ... oh, who am I kidding. A major character is shot and/or hospitalized in every episode. And regardless of location, flown into Smallville Medical Center. I hear they're the best.
I wonder how many potential strip ideas I lose by blabbing my thoughts in here.
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| Fanservice! |
[19 May 2008|11:05pm] |
Shortpacked!: Ethan should get his priorities realigned.
 It occurred to me the other day that I don't do nearly as much fanservice art as I used to. Maybe that's what's been missing from the equation since It's Walky! ended and Shortpacked! started. Seriously, where's the boobies? (Besides, ah-heh, in the adspace either on the left or right.)
I have to admit, I'm pretty damn rusty. My grasp of anatomy has gone to pot. When you draw nothing but headshots for years upon years, that can happen. But we'll figure something out. I promise.
On Saturday, Graham, Maggie and I went to go see Speed Racer. I was really worried about it, because reviews had been terrible and it seems to be bombing really badly. But, dude, I gotta tell you, it was awesome. Seriously awesome. Way, way too long, but full of concentrated awesome. Why is there so huge of a disconnect between my opinion and the critics? Is it because they haven't seen any of the source material? That can't be it. I've never seen the original Speed Racer cartoon. I'm familiar with the theme song and passingly with the animation and voice acting quality (or lack thereof), so I only went to see it as a curiosity.
No, I just don't think they've played enough Mario Kart.
Sure, the movie was crammed with references to anime tropes and the original Speed Racer series -- a real tour de force of an adaptation -- but if you renamed the movie "Mario Kart," it'd have been just as accurate. With the powerups, crazy courses, and the thrill of racing itself, Speed Racer wanted me to play Mario Kart until the end of time once I got home. (And we did have a marathon session afterwards.) Don't critics understand? Have they never blue-sparked around a curve? Never pulled out of eighth place into first at the last second with a well-used powerup? Murdered some dude with a red shell? This is my adrenaline, now on film, with some plot in between the Kart porn tentpole scenes.
If I have any disappointments with the film, they are few. First of all, it seemed way too long, but I have no idea how they could have cut it down. And secondly, I think the emotional peak was too early, in the first scene. At least, it certainly was for me. But then, I think that has to do with Mario Kart again. You'll understand, if you've seen it. If you've ever chased a ghost across a Mario Kart course, but then married that with a buttload of emotional meaning, you've got the first scene.
It was beautiful.
You should go see it.
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| Nerd alert! |
[19 May 2008|11:24am] |
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mood |
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Hee! Okay, so I'm going off to MarCon this weekend. For Christmas I got a sewing machine, and this weekend I really broke it in.
I sewed my very first costume, all by myself. Mom helped me with the pattern, but I did all the sewing. It was a blast, and I'm very excited to wear it this weekend.
What is it I'm going to be, you ask? A Night Elf. :D
After the dress was all made, I got to thinking that I needed a little something else. That's when it hit me, I needed a non-combat pet!
So I started one of my very own, with no pattern to speak of. All in all I have to say I'm pretty excited about it.
So here he is: My Hippogryph Hatcling (He's not finished yet, this is just a preview.)
I think his beak is a little long, but I don't care. Isn't he absolutely fabulous? I love him <3<3<3.
And for all you non-warcraft people, I'm sewing this little fellow:
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| Prezzies! |
[18 May 2008|10:36pm] |
Shortpacked!@TNI: This must happen, but it won't.
Shortpacked!: Maybe somebody's entry on the cast page needs a little rewrite.
So, like, I love all of you. Every single one! (Well, maybe not Jin Saotome. That guy's a chump.) Rest easy on that knowledge. You don't have to earn it. You don't gotta buy books, buy buttons, buy art -- nuffin. This has always been my free content, a gift to you. (Also, I really like doing it.)
 So at BotCon, a reader of mine approached me with presents. Presents! I do not expect it, I do not require it -- I want to make that absolutely crystal clear.
But this guy was pretty awesome to me. I asked for his name at the time, but I'm retarded and my brain doesn't remember anything except which old Transformers issue titles end with punctuation. (One's got a period. Usually, when the title of a comic is the end of a sentence, they don't really bother with the period, but one time, Budiansky's all "what the hell. Period time.") So as a thanks to this guy (I remember he owns a comic book shop!) here are the things he got me. I wanted him to know I ain't forgotten. He was so cool.
So check out these DC Direct Batmen. Batmans? On the left is Recent Justice League of America Batman, from that arc that Brad Meltzer wrote. And on the right is Trinity Batman, from some one-off miniseries, I believe. The latter comes with goggles and some sort of radar assprobe. I really have no idea of the significance of the accessories, but the sculpt is really clean and sharp in that way I like, and I have to admit I was tempted by it a few times in the store.
 I also got a buttload of Super Mario Bros candy/mints. Everything came wrapped in comic book pages, like stuff from World War Hulk: Frontline. That was an extra layer of greatness.
So, dude. Guy who was so cool to me? If you want me to let these folks know who you are, maybe plug your store, just give me a doodle. If you don't, tell me anyway, just so I can properly remember and thank you. These guys have been standing proudly on my bookshelf since BotCon.
I hope this turns out better than the last time someone gave me BotCon presents. Years upon years ago, on my website I thanked some girl who gave me these little Head Alien figurines she made. Turned out she was just a prepubescent male with long hair. Whoops!
And then a few years later I ended up having to ban him from the Transformers Wiki.
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| We are Venom! |
[17 May 2008|01:12am] |
Joyce and Walky!: He's trainable!
 After yesterday's Thunderwing rambling, I wanted to recolor some old Marvel Comics art. Maybe do some of the later Geoff Senior art in the toy's actual colors! It would be swell.
So I did.
Click the picture, where a more awake version of me from this morning explains in more detail.
Do you know what a fucking awesome San Diego Comic-Con G.I. Joe exclusive is? This is a fucking awesome San Diego Comic-Con G.I. Joe exclusive. Okay, it'd be more awesome if it were Destro or Robo-JOE, but this will totally, totally do.
2009 can't come fast enough.
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| He wants something of Optimus Prime's put deep inside him. |
[15 May 2008|11:00pm] |
Shortpacked!: Shouldna been standing there, Ronnie.
 Last month for my birthday, my pals pitched in together and got me a complete Generation 1 Thunderwing! Though it had all its parts, it was missing some stickers, so I ordered some Reprolabels. A week or so later, the stickers came in, then I got some Animated toys, found a buttload of Joes, went to BotCon... so talking about him in more depth was pushed off quite a bit! (I toldja I got a full queue.)
Thunderwing is a Pretender!
No, no, wait, don't click away! I know Fans! is back, but I promise, Thunderwing is cool anyway! Hell, he didn't even use his inside robot guy over here in the Marvel US comics, and the shell itself can transform, so it's like he's not even a Pretender!
(Ha, you see, Pretenders are unpopular.)
 Thunderwing is one of those dudes in the waning years of the original toyline who would have slipped right off the shelves into obscurity if it weren't for the Marvel comics. There he was a powerful Decepticon leader, obsessed (eventually) to the point of insanity with possessing the Matrix. He got his paws on it, and Optimus Prime was forced to kill him and forfeit the Matrix to keep him from destroying all his men. (And Thunderwing's men, come to think of it.) Despite ending up a complete nutjob, he was pretty charismatic, and he got lots of pagetime, so he's quite loved on eBay. (Thus why Graham, Steve-o, and Ron had to team up to afford him.)
Thunderwing is a Mega Pretender, meaning that not only can the robot transform into vehicle and back, so can the shell! And the two can combine in either mode. The concept is a lot cooler than the execution. As you can see from the photo above, you basically stick the tiny Thunderwing jet under the nose of the big one. Inelegant! On the other hand, much is forgiven when a toy has giant honkin' guns like those. (The single four-barreled gun he carries in the comics is a complete fabrication.)
 My enjoyment of the toy's mechanics would be increased if I could slip the robot in and out of the shell more easily. It's either a really tight, precise fit to shove his tiny robot legs into the cavities of the large shell legs, or this thing's just not that well engineered. What I do enjoy, though ironically, is how little his tiny jet mode looks like a jet without the stickers. It doesn't even have a cockpit! It's just a wedge! Oh, late G1 toys.
And in a cruel twist of fate, he's actually smaller than the Small Headmasters. That's just wrong! So much for their scary Big Bad.
Oh man, I should not be knocking this toy like this. It is one of my most favorite birthday gifts. Thunderwing was really cool in the comics, I swear! That's what makes him so awesome!
I'm just digging myself deeper, aren't I?
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| Climax! |
[15 May 2008|11:46am] |
That's right. All along this "thermometer" was really a penis! You've been tricked!
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| Dueling Bee-jos. |
[14 May 2008|11:00pm] |
Shortpacked!: Sexual dealing.
 So I've had these Shattered Glass dudes sitting around my desk for the past few weeks, and I've yet to have any crossover mirrorverse-versus-counterpart showdowns.
Poor Bumblebee! Goldbug, his evil mirrorverse counterpart, outclasses him in many respects. He's faster, stronger, bigger... I imagine Bumbs would probably get tossed around a bit. It'd be an interesting matchup because there's a clear underdog, and it's not the villain. I'm not sure if Goldbug's rampant paranoia is a point for or against him, though, in this battle. As the monkey says, sometimes crazy works!
Whew! We're almost there! At the time of this writing, we've raised $940 out of the $1000 I need to order the full 2000 books. Just a handful of Shortpacked Book 2 preorders until I reach the goal and... I start making money off these things. Sweetness! Thanks to everyone for your support.
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| A crippling technical set-back for Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann |
[13 May 2008|10:59pm] |
Shortpacked!: A crippling technical set-back for Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann.
 Book 3, when I get around to assembling it after Book 2 is put to bed, is to be titled "Shortpacked! Is Totally Gay." (Book 3 features the Ethan Realizes He's Gay storyline.) I've started doodling concept sketches for the eventual cover image, and the first one is to the left.
I showed it to Maggie, and her eyes went big. She thinks it's a bit much. It is a little over the top, but that approach tends to be hilarious to me. But does it go over the top in a way that won't scare people away? Can I sell that cover to passer-bys at Comic-Con? Americans can be squeamish about male sexuality. Hmmm.
Here's another concept. Guess the reference! I think it's funny (in an insular Internetty way), but I'm not sure if it suits the title as well as the first one.
In response to both of them, I kinda want a more dynamic character layout, instead of merely staggering layers of characters. Maybe inspiration will hit me. Maybe you'll all beg me to move in the direction of one of these displayed ideas. Who knows!
In the world of diminishing returns, the fund-raiser to afford two thousand books continues! We didn't nearly match the first day's tour de force preordering, but I didn't really expect to, either. Still, we must soldier on! Preorder Book 2, or bid on this original Batman art from me. The latter ends in under a day. Both serve the purpose of providing more books to everyone! Great thanks from me to everyone who's preordered thus far. You are the heroes.
I leave you all with this post from HeroGojira, who alerted us of an Amazi-Girl sighting in City of Heroes. It makes me so happy.
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| Percy the Cobra Viper! |
[12 May 2008|10:59pm] |
Shortpacked!: The suit is very becoming.
A fan from 4chan sent me a link there this morning, where some dudes are digitally altering Shortpacked!s to "fix" them. What a riot! It's really, really awesome, and I have saved every single one in case I ever need to do an impromptu guest week. (And good timing, as I may be moving soon...)
My fund-raising drive to afford a run of 2,000 copies of Shortpacked! Book 2 continues! Dude, we did half of it in under 24 hours! You guys are amazing! I just know we can do the rest. I feel it in my heart... my shining heart which burns for justice. Preorder a copy and help move the cause forward!
Speaking of merchandise-whoring, check out Real Life's Shirt Ninja figurine/statuette! That thing is shaping up really classy. If you guys ever want a figurine made of a Shortpacked! character, let me know, and I will totally scope things out. I am supremely jealous.
 Oh holy mercy, it's a toy review! That's what we're here for, right? Since we're doing all this fundraising, I was tempted to pull an NPR and do the whole "here are your favorite moments in toy reviews" schtick just to seal the motif. But as funny as that'd be to me personally, I just have too big of a queue to drill through.
These here are Cobra Vipers! I wouldn't normally pay them no mind, except I am a huge fan of one of them in particular. Percy the Cobra Viper had a small part in Devil's Due's second crossover with Transformers. Y'know, the time-traveling one that was really awesome and fun. The few moments that Percy earned in that miniseries were comedy gold. He was the red shirt and he knew it, with hilarious results.
The toy itself would be excellent along the lines of pretty much every other figure in the line, what with their ongoing plateau of sameness, but there are some really annoying little bits with the Viper. First of all, I hate that damn goggles accessory. It's not molded into the helmet, and they like to adhere to my fingers when I pick him up more than the helmet they loosely sit upon. I need to get some glue. Second, his left hand doesn't like to wrap securely around his rifle when you attempt to get him to hold it two-handed. His left-hand seems to be sculpted specifically to hold the rifle that way, but it really doesn't want to. Grrr. And lastly, he doesn't seem to have universal-joint heels like several of the other 25th Anniversary figures do. Because of this, he falls over backwards a lot, because his backpack's pretty heavy, and the display stand's peg is towards the back. You gotta bend him forward a little at the hips and hope that a gust of slight wind doesn't come along.
It's a good thing one of the Vipers had that awesome part in that miniseries, or I'd probably hate these guys.
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| Book 2: The Home Stretch |
[11 May 2008|11:00pm] |
Shortpacked!@TNI: Impenetrable without YouTube.
Shortpacked!: Beginning of a new storyline!
Confused by the TNI strip? Educate yourself. After seeing the poor dude humiliate himself over something so mindbogglingly simple, I couldn't resist. Because I'm a jackass. Apparently "Waspinator," one of the members of our forums, posted the video response! I have never been so proud.
 Here's the skinny on Shortpacked! Book 2 preorders so far. I've raised enough money to afford a print run of 1,000 books. That's how much I produced of Book 1, and I gotta tell ya, it's not gonna last much longer. I'm feeling the drain as my remaining Book 1s escape through my fingers, and I haven't been to more than two small conventions, much less a full-fledged Comic-Con. Buttloads were ordered just in the past few weeks, along with preorders to Book 2.
1,000 books of Book 2 would cost me roughly $6500. I've gotten that plus all the money I need for postage to mail the books out to y'all. That is an amazing show of support from you folks, and I am incredibly grateful. However, for another $1000, I can order TWO thousand books. That would mean I'd have these things in stock for quite a while, and peeps won't be disappointed when they come to see me at Cons and I'm all sold out. Now, to get that $1000, I'd have to get preorders for 76 more books. I think that's possible, and I think we can do this in a week.
Call it a Book 2 Drive, if you will. I've even got the prerequisite thermometer fund raiser graphic on the right.
 To help put a dent in the numbers, I'm gonna put that Batman/Mortal Kombat original art I showed you at the beginning of the weekend up for auction, and dump whatever I get for it into the Book 2 funds. So even if you've already preordered your book, you can help this process along in another way.
It's weird, having upwards of $7,000 sitting in my Paypal account from preorders, because none of it's actually mine! I don't see any of that money. It all goes right into the book and sent to you. Some day in the future, I may make a profit from this book. Probably (hopefully) at San Diego Comic-Con, after everything's all paid off. But first, I have a duty to you folks. I gotta take care of ya. And in the weird fabric of things, I need help from you to do that.
So if you've hesitated on preordering Book 2, please take some time to do so now. It's heartily appreciated.
EDIT: Shortpacked! Extras are SOLD OUT! I'm leaving a few slots open for those who promised to pay for them through snail mail, but otherwise, they be gone. There's still oodles of the normal ones, though!
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| SUPER WEDDING WEEKEND |
[10 May 2008|10:40pm] |
Joyce and Walky!: SUPER WEDDING WEEKEND
Everyone's getting married this weekend. Everyone! If you think you know someone who isn't getting married this weekend, you're just misinformed. This includes yourself.
Gerald and Danihana, familiar folks to the forum, met through reading It's Walky!. They is getting married today. It is major sucks, because Maggie and I were supposed to be there, but something dumb happened and we couldn't. It is no fair, because I made this wedding happen by existing. The bragging rights are all mine!
Also, Hooper's getting married tomorrow. Finally, he can lose that virginity.
Joyce and Walky themselves may or may not have gotten married last month in the subscription strips. Not even they know for sure!
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| TINY HAMSTER RAGE |
[09 May 2008|02:51pm] |
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| El Talko |
[08 May 2008|10:59pm] |
Shortpacked!: This is why we can't have good things.
Hey, look! That original art has DIALOG on it! How can this be? The answer, after the break, may surprise you.
Preorder Shortpacked! book 2 now!
Vote for Cobra Commander!
No, seriously, vote for Cobra Commander.
Maggie had the genius idea to print out dialog balloons on our handy new sticker maker. Then we adhere them to the original art, and when people buy original art, they can have the dialog, too! It'd be sweet!
First, though, I gotta test how durable these stickers are. They're printed on high-quality paper, but the adhesive worries me a little. I'm gonna roll this up, simulating me mailing it in a tube to some lucky reader, and in a few days, I'll see how well it holds up. Then I'll auction this bad boy. See you on Monday.
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| Got lost in his own museum. |
[07 May 2008|09:46pm] |
 Indiana Jones' horse is awesome.
Yeah, I finally found the deluxe set that has "Raiders of the Lost Ark" Indy and his horse. I found a buttload of them, plus multiples of every other toy. Woo! I only got the horse set, though, despite the way the "grab the idol" mini-playset tugs at me.
The horse is pretty damn articulated. He's got a little bit of motion at the base of the skull and at the bottom of the neck, swivel shoulders and hips, and universal joints at all four elbows elbows and all four... heels? His tail also sways. "Raiders" Indy fits on him pretty well, despite his legs not being splayed very far apart at the hips. His feet fit into the little stirrups, and he's got some reins to hold onto. The only other thing I could ask for is a little lateral head and neck motion, but that woulda been tough.
 I got Sallah the other day, so there he is. He comes with a (very rubbery) shovel and that awesome torch. He, sadly, cannot fit on the horse. His, uh, skirt is rubbery but tough, and though he does appear to have hip joints (no knees), he's unable to move his legs much at all, much less fit each leg on either side of the horse. Oh well. So much for buying another horse set to give Indy a riding pal.
As I expected, "Raiders" Indy and "Crystal Skull" Indy share some parts. The only thing that really differs between them are the thighs, crotch, and head. "Raiders" Indy's hat isn't removeable, his hips are slightly wider, and his "purse" is underneath his coat, rather than over it.
Haha, purse.
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