Disciples of Boltax

G.I. Joe Field Manual Addendum - Ancient Greece (pt 2)

2013-06-11T10:40:00.002-07:00

Hola, amigos! It's nice to have a regular feature for the blog again. Last Tuesday I kicked off the inaugural G.I. Joe Field Manual Appendix, featuring some ancient Greeks from G.I. Joe and the Golden Fleece. This week I'll finish out these bygone Grecians. They're no sick kids, but they're fun. I still have a few more models from this episode, mostly focusing around the mysterious aliens whose tech sent our heroes (and villains) back in time.

G.I. Joe Field Manual Addendum - Ancient Greece

2013-06-05T07:26:00.002-07:00

First off, mea culpa. It's been a dog's age since I updated this blog. Fortunately, Monzo's been stepping in with some cool Transformers gems from his vault, and I much appreciate that.

The truth is I've been very busy, both professionally and personally. I've got a son on the way this fall, and that's been chewing up time and mental energy, and I've got several books I'm working on.

Still,I feel remiss. I know that animation models are a big focus of this blog, and here I am sitting on a metric ass-ton of them for G.I. Joe and not sharing them. Well, that's all going to change. While I've more-or-less exhausted my horde of G1 TF models (took a few years but I did) for Joe I'm just getting started.

Which brings me to my point. The G.I. Joe Field Manual V2 is hitting stores now. It covers animation models for the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero cartoon season 2, the Sunbow commercials from 1987-1989, and the DiC cartoon. 208 pages chocked full of goodness, including the S2 bigwigs like Serpentor (four pages!), Hawk, Sgt. Slaughter, Lifeline, Leatherneck and Wetsuit, Dial-Tone, Doctor Mindbender, Zarana and more. Plus I sneak in some earlier characters with new outfits, including virtually the whole Cobra command staff in formal wear (Cobra Commander, Zartan, and Destro in tuxedos. The Baroness in a stunning evening gown!) and the DiC take on Duke and Snake-Eyes. Throw in tons of minor characters and you've got a pretty neat offering, I think. With all that just coming out, what better time could there be to start spelunking into my archives of Joe models?

The question becomes, what to start with? Last night I did another episode of the What's On Joe Mind podcast and Mike Irizzarry reminded me about how much fun some of the guys had at JoeCon looking at material cut from the Field Manual V2. In particular, on a two-page spread of ancient Greece, the guys thought it was HILARIOUS that I had a set of models labeled 'Sick Kids.' So, I share them with you now in the inaugural G.I. Joe Field Manual Addendum.

For those wondering, there are models for these ancient warriors, sheperds, and, yes, sick kids because an alien artifact sent some of the Joes and Cobras back in time in the episode G.I. Joe and the Golden Fleece. I've got another couple of pages of models to share from this episode too, plus tons more covering the entirety of the Joe Sunbow tv show. So, what say you, Joe fans. Should I next week continue with G.I. Joe and the Golden Fleece, or visit another episode? Any particular requests for what I should do next? Let me know, I aim to please. And pick yourself up a copy of the second G.I. Joe Field Manual if you haven't already.

Comics Feature on Marvel Productions

2013-05-21T21:17:00.002-07:00

The January 1985 issue of Comics Feature ran a story on Marvel Productions, the company that produced the original Transformers cartoon. As part of this story, Comics Feature briefly interviewed Transformers story editors Bryce Malek and Dick Robbins, and included a piece of rare pre-production Transformers artwork. After learning of this story, I bought a copy of the magazine and made a high-resolution scan of the art, which is included in this post. This is not the first appearance of this particular piece of artwork, as it came into the hands of collector Alex Bickmore some years ago; you can see it here, where the corner isn't covered up by part of a Pandamonium promotional painting.

Transcribed below is the Transformers-relevant part of the interview.

Dick Robbins and Bryce Malek are two story editors at Marvel. Robbins is a veteran writer from the days of dramatic radio and live TV, who since 1972 has worked almost exclusively in the animation field, and Malek is a young man who used to work in Hanna Barbera's accounting department. It was Margaret Loesch who gave him his first writing assignment in 1980. Both Malek and Robbins came to Marvel in April of 1984, where they've been putting together the syndicated Transformers series ever since.

"It's based on a toy line," Malek says, "which a lot of Saturday morning shows are these days. They're similar to Go-Bots and about three or four other different lines. They are robots you can manipulate into jet planes and automobiles and all kinds of things."

The large number of characters in the Transformers series necessitated the hiring on of numerous freelance writers to get the scripts for the required number of episodes done on time.

"We normally would prefer to work with fewer writers," Robbins explains. "If we get a good writer to do a good script for us, we know his or her subsequent scripts will be even better. But we've been under the gun on this one. It's nice to have four or five writers for a series, but on this one we've had to have many more."

"In this case we were required to get out two scripts a week," Malek adds. "Twice as many as usual. We've had to work on several scripts simultaneously and some of our episodes are serialized. When we have a three-parter, it's not easy farming the information out to the person who's writing script #3 when you don't know what's happening with script #1. It can be pretty hectic and it gets very pressured."

Regardless of the pressure, Robbins and Malek are enjoying working on Transformers. Because the show is syndicated, they have much less stringent restrictions on depicting violence and action then they would have if it was a network show. "We can do a lot more," Malek confirms. "The violence is between the robots, so there's nothing that kids can really emulate. You can destroy a robot and then fix him up tomorrow. This show's got laser beams, crashes, explosions... it's real violent and I think boys will love it!"

The entirety of the interview is available here. Enjoy this bit of history!

The Napkin of Revelation

2013-05-08T09:21:00.000-07:00

Aaron Archer's original outline for the series that would become Transformers: Cybertron, drawn on a napkin (origin uncertain), shown to fans at Hasbro's booth during the final hours of BotCon 2005. With Aaron's recent departure from Hasbro, I have decided to reveal these personal photos to the general public for the first time, though one side of the napkin previously showed up in the Transformers Vault guidebook.

You did a lot of good during your time on the brand, Aaron, and you will be missed. I am sorry that our first run-in, at BotCon 2002, consisted of me inadvertently keeping you from the restroom before the start of a panel to ask what the deal with Movor's name was. Um, my bad.

Godspeed, sir.

Galactica personal spacecraft

2013-05-01T22:59:00.001-07:00

I've been enjoying the heck outta my Battlestar Galactica Roleplaying game. Those of you who know me know that I tend to get very obsessive about my interests, and this is no exception. We've recently hit the events of the Miniseries (and 33, for those keeping track.) We're in our own universe so not everything happens exactly the same way. Our fleet is a bit bigger than what we had in the show, including two military vessels besides Galactica and about an extra 10,000 civvies.

One thought that occurred was that there should be some personal spacecraft out there. After all, Blood and Chrome show us that Raptors have been around for at least fifty years. The technology exists, it just must be absurdly expensive. And yet, there are markets for expensive ships. Two that came to mind were express package delivery and the personal jet / luxury yacht level craft. I statted out one of each and figured I'd go ahead and share them with you.

These are done up in Cortex regular, so you could easily use them for a Firefly campaign with a few minor tweaks. I had fun with the logo for Hermes Express (a company from one of my PC's background fluff.) The font is Futurama Bold, a nod to the best interstellar package delivery spaceship to ever ply the spaceways.

What say you, faithful readers? Any other niches out there for a small, ftl-capable ship besides courier and luxury?

(Read all about my BSG game from my GM's perspective over at The Black Campbell.)

ROBOTECH!

2013-04-18T15:14:00.002-07:00

Sorry, gang, it's been way way too long since I've updated here. There have been a few things going on with me. Partially I've been really busy finishing up the G.I. Joe Field Manual volume II, and the Transformers 30th Anniversary Collection. Partially I've more-or-less run out of TF animation models that I am able to share. With the second Field Manual completed, I can now start to share some of the many extra Joe models I've tracked down, though, so Sunbow fans can look forward to that.

But my big news is that I'm working on a new Robotech RPG supplement. I can't talk about it too much yet, but it's exciting for me to get the chance to work with a new publisher, a new property, a new genre. I'm a big rpg fan, so the chance to play in that arena is wonderful. It's especially nice for me, because I grew up playing the Palladium Robotech game. In fact, their use of character designs from the original Japanese anime was part of what inspired me to create the Transformers and G.I. Joe animation model books.

My editor has asked that I help spread the word about one of their new line of products, Robotech Tactics. It looks awesome, and they've currently hit their Kickstarter goal of $70,000 and are well on their way to reach their stretch goal of $125,000.

Robotech® RPG Tactics™ Kickstarter – April 18, 2013

Palladium Books® and Ninja Division (the creative minds behind Soda Pop Miniatures and Cipher Studios) are proud to announce the launch of the Robotech® RPG Tactics™Kickstarter.

Robotech® RPG Tactics™ empowers you to take command of the fighting forces of the United Earth Defense Force (UEDF) or lead the massive clone armies of the Zentraedi Armada in pitched combat. Relive the massive battles on your tabletop, engage in stand-alone tactical games or use the dynamic game pieces to enhance your Robotech® RPG experience. Collect your favorite mecha from an expanding range of world-class game pieces.

Why should you care? The Robotech® RPG Tactics™ Kickstarterhelps Palladium to fund the launch of a compelling and expanding game line designed specifically for Robotech® fans and gamers. Six months of product development has produced nearly two dozen gorgeous sculptures (with many more to come), a mountain of artwork, and game rules that have been play-tested by more than 100 Robotech fans and gamers to ensure Robotech® RPG Tactics™ is everything you could want. And because so much is DONE, this project should go into manufacturing within 45 days after the Kickstarter!

More Robotech® adventure to enjoy. Ever consider playing a role-playing game? Check out Palladium’s Robotech® role-playing game line. Each book contains a wealth of information, artwork and sometimes never-before-revealed stats and information about the mecha, vehicles, weapons, characters and settings you love. The four core books – Robotech® The Shadow Chronicles® Role-Playing Game, the Macross Saga™ Sourcebook, the Masters Saga™ and New Generation™ – are worth owning just to have the reference they provide, even if you never play the game. Inexpensive and available now.

© Copyright 2013 Palladium Books Inc. All rights reserved.
Palladium Books®, Megaverse®, RPG Tactics and other titles, names and slogans are trademarks of Palladium Books Inc., and Kevin Siembieda.

Robotech® and Robotech® The Shadow Chronicles® are Registered Trademarks of Harmony Gold USA, Inc. © 1985, 2013 Harmony Gold USA, Inc., all rights reserved.

This press release may be reprinted, reposted, linked and shared for the sole purpose of advertising, promotion and sales solicitation.

Cobra Commander... In Space? (For reals, people!)

2013-03-19T04:06:00.002-07:00

OK, this one is just too cool for school. The G.I. Joe Field Manual V2 is coming out in a couple of months, (I just got the files to IDW last week!), so to celebrate Bill Forster, my co-author, actually shot Cobra Commander into space. Like, literally. Almost 20 miles up, 40,000 feet above the Armstrong's line, getting into the upper reaches of the troposphere. Check out our video here, complete with the curvature of the earth and everything.

Here's what he has to say about it:

After the G.I. Joe Field Manual Volume One was released, I was hard at work with Volume Two when I came across several videos taken of the curvature of the Earth. What was cool about them was it wasn’t done by NASA or the Air Force but rather by regular ol’ Earthlings. After showing one of these videos to my girlfriend Jillian she informed me that her brother had experience with these launches.

Jill’s brother, Jeff Wilschke is an engineer who for fun and research sends video cameras into the atmosphere. Jeff and I spoke about the details and then when the family got together for Thanksgiving he brought along the craft that would carry Cobra Commander over 100,000 feet into the air. It was a hollow Styrofoam cube which contained a GPS for locating the craft after it landed. It also had a video camera facing out a hole in the craft where a fiberglass plank extended from. There Cobra Commander would be glued in place. The craft also contained two tiny computers, one of Jeff’s own design, which would measure temperature, altitude and other sciencey stuff.

Jeff had fitted the craft with two wing-like panels that he had hoped would stabilize the craft and channel wind in an effort to reduce spinning. The panels served another purpose. The foil lining would be picked up by nearby aircraft sensors and would allow pilots to avoid crashing into our little experiment. Although FAA regulations state that our 4 pound craft was well below the weight required to use such tactics, Jeff felt it was worth the extra work.

Then one morning we drove four hours north of Los Angeles to a dirt crossroads of some orchard fields. There we set up the weather balloon. Using a huge helium tank we filled the balloon until it was a specific size which was determined by a large Styrofoam caliper Jeff had constructed. At which point the craft was connected to a small parachute which was then connected to the weather balloon. I had the honor of releasing the Commander’s craft and the payload ascended at such a rate that within seconds it was difficult to see and then soon after it disappeared into the blue California sky.

For the next few hours we followed the craft over miles using the GPS and constant updates from Jeff and Jill’s father Jack who monitored Cobra Commander from his computer at home. Once the balloon exploded from the increasing expansion of the helium it fell back to Earth. The GPS eventually showed no movement and we concluded the craft had landed. Traveling completely through a town and into an industrial park we followed the signal down a dirt road until we saw the craft’s yellow parachute lying in a dirt field. We could immediately see that Cobra Commander was no longer attached to the craft. Could he have fallen off before getting to the apex of the journey? As we walked toward the payload we could see Cobra Commander laying just a foot away. He had been thrown clear as the craft crash landed. Now he sits on my desk, I am fairly sure, having been the only Cobra figure to travel 102,000 feet into the air.

…COBRA!

Pretty awesome stuff, no?

Cobra Commander, in space. Tell your friends.

Cortex Bundles: War of the Worlds (the series)

2013-03-06T09:55:00.000-08:00

My Cortex rantings have apparently inspired my good friend Rob to run a Starship Troopers campaign, using the system. Kudos, Rob! Maybe he'll post some campaign reports here and let you know how it turns out.

In keeping with my low-tech sci-fi interests, here is a bundle for the aliens from War of the Worlds (the series).

Mor-Tax Bundle: D2 Cost

Assets:

Absorbtion: D12 Mor-Taxians can absorb a human host, merging their cells together. They gain access to all of the human's memories and, as long as the body is inhabited, the host's skill set. The host's ego and will are subsumed and, when the alien departs or is killed, whatever's left of the host dissolves into goo. Mor-Tax can only absorb human hosts after a host has been subdued.

Enhanced Manipulation (third arm): D4

Uncommon Knowledge (alien tech): D6 Mor-Taxians can typically do more with electronics than their skill set may otherwise indicate. Add to tech engineering and science rolls if concocting an alien device.

Complications:

Vulnerability (common cold): D12 Exposure to the common cold renders Mor-Taxians comatose within days of exposure. Radiation can keep the virus at bay, but that results in the destruction of any human hosts very quickly, or the overheating of an alien body not contained in a cooling suit.

Triune Nature: D4 Mor-Taxians almost always act in threes, and are uncomfortable in smaller groups. Take all attributes down a step when forced to act individually.

Prejudice (humans): D4 Mor-Taxians LOATHE humanity and have a hard time not showing it.

I'm aware that occasionally other powers were demonstrated, but since that was rare I'd assume those aliens took specific assets. The above traits were pretty much universal except for Quinn, who clearly didn't take the Mor-Tax bundle.

For those interested, the Morthren bundle would have a D2 cost and would consist of Uncommon Knowledge (alien tech): D6 and Prejudice (humans): D4. They've abandoned their triune nature, extra arm, ability to absorb human hosts, and have inoculated themselves against the common cold.

Cortex for ExoSquad and Gargoyles

2013-02-22T16:25:00.000-08:00

I've been a fan of tabletop role-playing games since I was nine or ten years ago, starting with D&D but branching off into Robotech (with the RIFTS system), Shadowrun, Paranoia, Call of Cthulhu. My new group is playing with two systems that are new to me, Battlestar Galactica (using the Cortex system) and Hollow Earth.

Cortex is a great system, and available for free download. I immediately fell in love with it, and think it works very well for lowish-tech science fiction universes. It was designed for Firefly and adapted for BSG and other universes. A buddy of mine asked me what system would be good to run a Starship Troopers and Cortex immediately popped into my head. This turned to a conversation of how well the system would work for such diverse universes as Alien, ExoSquad, and Gargoyles.

Of course, Gargoyles and ExoSquad both include pretty neat races that should be open to PCs, the Gargoyles and the NeoSapiens. We came up with some bundles, so I thought I'd share them.

Gargoyle Bundle: null cost

Assets:
Enhanced Movement (Gliding): D8
Enhanced Movement (Climbing): D6
Inherent Weapons (Claws): D4
Inherent Armor: D4

Complications:
Stone Sleep: D10 (At sunrise, Gargoyles turn to stone regardless of where they are and what they are doing.)
Memorable: D8
Duty: D4 (Almost all Gargoyles have at least a moderate compulsion to protect their home.)

I thought about doing one for the Children of Oberon race, but they seem to be too varied to stat out in a meaningful way. If a PC really wants to play one, the GM will have to just get creative. I would suggest giving them Immune - non-iron weapons (D12 + D2) as a pretty standard attribute, though. Mutates might be a fun bundle to make up, though.

Neo Sapien Bundle: D4 cost

Assets:
Enhanced Senses: D2 (Neo Sapiens see very well in low-light conditions)
Always Awake: D6 (Neo Sapiens don't need sleep)
Fast on Your Feet: D2
Lightning Reflexes: D2
Hardy Constitution: D4
Natural Athlete: D2
Tough: D2
Head for Numbers: D4

Complications:
Sterile: D2 (Neo Spaiens cannot reproduce normally, divorcing them from the cycle of life and denying them any form of familial relationship.)
Analysis Paralysis: D4 (Most Neo Sapiens are unable to think on their feet. The unexpected can confuse them. When encountering unfamiliar or unexpected situations, step down all attributes by one for D4 rounds.)
Conventional Thinking: D4 (When attempting be truly original or creative in tactics or technical matters, Neo Sapiens are often at a loss. Subtract D4 from rolls under such circumstances.)
Vulnerability - Trauma: D6 (Neo Sapiens who suffer sever physical trauma, such as the loss of more than half of their life points, are at risk for contracting Auto Mutation Syndrome, a degenerative and inevitably fatal disease. They must make a hard endurance check or contract the illness.
Memorable: D4 (in addition to being eight feet tall and blue, all Neo Sapiens have a unique geometric tattoo prominently on their forehead.)

Note: Most Neo Sapien villains have Prejudice (Humans) D4 to offset the cost of the bundle, though of course any Neo Sapien in the Exo Fleet would be unlikely to have such a complication.

This is obviously an extremely potent bundle, reflecting how they were portrayed in the series. For most campaigns, I would advise no more than one Neo Sapien per party. GnomeStew has an excellent article on the reasoning behind such a limitation.

Red Shirts!

2013-02-13T09:00:00.002-08:00

So, have you ever wondered what life on Kirk's Enterprise must have looked like to the poor grunts on the bottom of the totem pole? Those sad bastards who beam down and then get eaten by a dikironium cloud monster or struck by lightning or shot by a pod plant. Well, a good buddy of mine, Ben Warren, is one of the writer/producers of Red Shirts, a parody focusing on them. He's a talented and funny guy, and the videos they've released so far look hilarious.

Check them out on Facebook. If you like what you see, maybe kick in a few bucks. It's a small operation and every single dollar helps. I'd love to seem this series get made. http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/red-shirts/x/2398848?c=home is the place to visit if you're interested. Of course, there are incentives, up to and including an Executive Producer credit. Check them out, and be ready to laugh your butt off.

The Ark Addendum: Washington D.C.

2013-02-12T11:42:00.004-08:00

Hola, amigos! It's time for another Ark Addendum. Originally I intended to title this one Atlantis, Arise! Part II, but I realized that everything was a monument in Washington D.C. and changed the title accordingly. I suppose I could have called last week's entry Sub-Atlantica, but it's harder to separate the Sub-Atlanticans from Atlantis, Arise! than it is to separate out our nation's capitol. (Well, my nation's capitol. You might be in another country. SHOUT OUT, UK READERS!)

Funny story. Since I was starting with last week's entry as my starting point, I very nearly launched this page with Washington, D.C. next to a Decepticon symbol. (I'm sure my buddy Scott Rhymer would have appreciated that.) On my proofreading pass I realized my error and dropped in the Earth symbol. More appropriate, but less funny.

The Ark Addendum - Atlantis, Arise!

2013-02-05T14:39:00.001-08:00

Today feels like a good day for me. I finished the last of my G.I. Joe Field Manual--Appendix articles for the G.I. Joe fanclub magazine. They're kind of like the Ark Addendum articles I post here, only official and for G.I. Joe. It should see print some time around April or May. I also watched the fourth episode of season 2 of The Shield and chortled to myself when Wagenbach said that today is a good day for Gamblers Anonymous, what with it being two days after the Superbowl. Funny timing, that.

So, to get to the meat of the post, here's part one of Atlantis, Arise!. It's one of the sillier episodes, with the Sub-Atlantican race teaming up with the Decepticons. I feel like it'd be really hard for a modern TF series to indulge in this level of silliness.

AllSpark Almanac reviews, Ender's Game

2013-01-31T11:23:00.003-08:00

I like to keep track of my Amazon reviews. It's helpful to know what people think. I'd been very proud of the unbroken streak of five-star reviews for both volumes of The AllSpark Almanac. I ticked up to a combined 49 five star reviews, with no dissent, then stalled out. I figured I'd wait till 50 to start tooting my own horn. So, the other day, I check, and sure enough, I'd gotten review #50. Eagerly I clicked through only to find that it's... FOUR STARS!!! Noooooooooo! As far as I can tell, the reviewer wasn't pleased that their copy arrived damaged, though Amazon did replace it.

Only a few days later I got one more review, five stars this time, but the damage is done. I couldn't quite get up to 50 perfect reviews. I'll have to settle for 50 five-star reviews, and one four-star review. That's 33 fivers on The AllSpark Almanac, 17 fivers and a four on Volume 2. Sigh.

In other news, reread Ender's Game for my book club and was inspired to attempt to create an Ender's Game board game. I figured I'd use chess as my starting point. Thoughts?

(The book remains engaging, though the Locke / Demosthenes material strained my credulity and the denouement goes on and on and on. It's pretty apparent that Ender's Game is in many ways more a prequel to the later works in the series than a book in its own right.)

The Ark Addendum - The Immobilizer (part 2)

2013-01-29T08:34:00.000-08:00

Howdy, faithful readers and newcomers alike! This week's Ark Addendum finishes off The Immobilizer with some backgrounds. Now, it's true, they're nothing really spectacular, but on the other hand, the idea that Spike and Bumblebee meet Carly at a place called Robots Video Arcade is so delightfully Transformers that it brings a smile to my face.

Farscape Geekwatch: The Peacekeeper Wars

2013-01-23T11:26:00.002-08:00

Here we are! 88 episodes of Farscape behind us and only the movie to go. The Peacekeeper Wars ties up most of the loose ends left in the series and give things a dramatic send-off. John finally builds a wormhole weapon, one that puts the piddling bridge to a star built in Infinite Possibilities to shame. The FX department really sells just why it is that it was so imperative to keep this tech away from Peacekeepers and Skarrans alike.

We get some closure on the Eidelons, introduced in the early S4 two-parter What Was Lost. We witness the birth of John and Aeryn's son and the dramatic death of D'Argo, There's plenty for the Rygel and Stark to do, which is good because they're sometimes hard to write for. It almost goes without saying that there's plenty of delicious John / Scorpius interaction. Jothee makes a welcome appearance, which helps bring extra poignancy to his death. Little time is wasted on the reconstruction of John and Aeryn, which is good. I have no doubt it'd have made a fine episode, but it wasn't germane to what the PKW was trying to accomplish.

There are a few flaws, mostly in the things that were designed to be revealed over a season and instead are crammed into an episode. I'm thinking specifically of Chiana's new bionic eyes (the producers have said that they were going to let her be blind for 4-5 episodes), Jool's odd return (she's out of character with little explanation), and the reveal that Sikozu is a Skarran agent (too abrupt, not enough set-up.) On the other hand, O'Bannon has stated that Chiana's brother was slated to make an appearance but got cut for time. Probably wise. While the Nebari plotline is one of the biggest dangling threads, it was never all that engaging. Besides, our heroes need SOMETHING to do even after we stop watching them. Most of these would have been addressed in Season 5, I have no doubt, along with some other returns. (Furlow is another obvious candidate for a return.) I'm also glad they didn't shoe-horn Crais or Zhan in.

And, of course, the geek comes flying fast and furiously. John makes an almost out-of-universe reference to Farscape itself when, under interrogation from the Eidelon descendants, he tells his story "for the eighty-ninth time," borrowing from parts of the the opening credit narration. The Peacekeeper Wars is, of course, the eighty-ninth episode of the series.

"Next Ferengi we see, we run," he commands, nodding yet again to Star Trek. When the Eidelons later achieve some early success in negotiating with Staleek, John happily notes that they're "walking into federation-ville here."

When Scorpius reveals that he's being hunted by Peacekeepers and Skarrans alike, John ask "what the hell did you do when you left the fatherland, kill the goose that laid the golden egg," nodding to Jack and the Beanstalk while calling the Peacekeepers Nazis.

There is, of course, an extended Wizard of Oz sequence while John tries to convince the Eidelon's to help teach the gift of peace to their descendants. "I'm just the guy without a brain." (Points at Stark) "The lion here would like some courage. (Points at Scorpius) "Tin man... he needs a heart." (Points at Rygel) "Toto here just wants an easy birth." (Takes the arm of the Eidelon's descendant) "And Dorothy here, she is just looking for a way home. Now, we're not going to be here tomorrow, so I suggest you take a long, hard look at our broomstick." He later lists all the threats facing them and includes "lions & tigers & bears."

He also tells the Eidelons that the Skarrans are not "chirpy, saturday morning sleestacks," a Land of the Lost reference. He then calls Emperor Staleek 'Godzilla' to his face.

There's some repeated Geek too. In referencing the events of What Was Lost, he again calls the aquatic monster 'The Creature from the Black Lagoon.' While meeting Einstein in the snow, John calls himself 'Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.' He then repeats the Time... sequence ('sup, flies, Bandits, wounds all heals, rosemary and...') only to conclude it differently with "time ends."

When Braca asks if Crichton and crew are reinforcements, he replies "No we're the band. Looks like KISS was the opening act." Whew! Almost went all of Farscape without a KISS reference. (Aside: I love that Braca gets wounded and Scorpius puts himself in harms way to save him. Braca didn't have much to do this extended episode, but nice to see he wasn't forgotten. Trulys, his character peaked in We're So Screwed pt 3.)

As we pull into the home stretch, we get a Star Wars nod, when John asks Staleek how the wormhole weapon looks "from the Death Star."

And, finally, we get the death of Harvey in an extended visual homage to the ending of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Harvey notes that he toyed with Slim Pickens & the bomb, the iconic ending of Doctor Strangelove. I can't help but wonder if he was speaking directly for the writers, as that too would have been an amazing and appropriate fantasy ending for Harvey.

And, for the not-really-geeky stuff, we have a bit. John tells Staleek that he is "asking for a kilo of pure wormhole tech," a drug reference. He later references the infamous 'this is your brain on drugs' PSA when he crumbles up a snowball in his fist saying "this is your universe, this is your universe on wormholes."

"Things are looking grim in mudville," John narrates, alluding to the poem Casey at the Bat.

While talking with Aeryn about war and peace, John notes that "Woody Allen's version is better than Tolstoys. You know why? His version is funnier." He's probably referencing Love and Death, though of course there is the famous Woody Allen quote "I took a speed reading course and read 'War and Peace' in twenty minutes. It involves Russia," that comes to mind.

John calls Stark (containing the death-energy of the last full-blooded Eidelon) "the Johnny Appleseed of détente," recalling that little bit of American folklore.

Lastly, during his wormhole weapon demonstration, John addresses his announcement to "Ladies and gentlemen and all the ships at sea," the last bit taken from radio commentator Walter Winchell's opening address.

There you have it, folks! A fun project for me, cataloging every bit of pop culture and especially geek culture that finds its way into the 88 episodes and one mini-series of Farscape. Note that there is absolutely zero Doctor Who references here. No 'Doctor,' no 'Dalek' or 'Cybermen,' no nothing. Maybe John doesn't like the BBC. Or, heck, maybe it's the same universe. Tonally, I could totally see Matt Smith or David Tennant showing up on Moya. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it.

The Ark Addendum - The Immobilizer (part 1)

2013-01-22T16:37:00.005-08:00

Welcome to another edition of The Ark Addendum. I combed through my holdings and found enough models for not one but two outing from The Immobilizer. Sadly, I don't have the Immobilizer itself, but there are some pretty cool models from the episode. My favorite has to be the very Dery-esque board of Jazz's sound and lights show. I wish I'd had that one for the Jazz page in The Ark. Ah, well, perhaps all for the best, his page is pretty tight already.

Battlestar Galactica RPG

2013-01-21T17:35:00.000-08:00

Howdy, friends, strangers, neighbors, and readers! I've been pretty busy recently with writing, life, etc, but not too busy to try out a new RPG system. I've been playing the Battlestar Galactica RPG, which uses the Cortex system from Margaret Weis Productions.

For those of you who don't know, Cortex is a system designed to highlight the interpersonal drama of universes like Firefly and BSG. Attributes are expressed in terms of dice, and most rolls are resolved as a paired attribute / skill roll attempting to beat a static difficulty. It's light on crunch and heavy on drama, with a system that rewards in-character flaws with plot points that can be exchanged for bonuses to dice rolling or to make minor (or not-so-minor) edits to the story. I rather like it. So much so that I've been playing around with making some resources for the game.

First up, my one-page character sheet. I managed to squeeze everything on the two-page version into this except for the advancement table (our group house-rules a different system, but it's easy enough to look it up in the book.) You can see how it works out in practice with my Viper pilot Zoe 'Billboard' Arden. Colonial flags and rank pips can be found at the BSG Wiki. If you want to photoshop an actor into a BSG uniform, you're on your own. (One of the things our GM does is say which actor might play which PC/NPC. I rather like it.)

As I'm playing a pilot, I looked through some of the prop websites and found some neat documents that I've recreated. I have Viper and Raptor pre-flight checklists.

Here are some repair orders for Raptors and for Vipers.

Neat stuff, no? Check out my GM's website for a ton more BSG RPG resources.I also found this series of articles a great resource for what life on an aircraft carrier is like.

The Ark Addendum - The Autobot Run

2013-01-15T11:08:00.002-08:00

Well, after a couple of months off, I managed to find the time to put together one more of these. Not too many left, unless I find a new source!

This week (month?), I bring you the models from The Autobot Run. It's a good episode and it has especially interesting models. There's the Transfixatron, of course, but I'm especially partial to the model sheets labeled "metal crushing machine." The wiki makes fun of it as a tentacle monster, but it's really quite a frighting design.

I'm also rather partial to the idea of setting the episode in an old west ghost town. Why? Why not!

Here's a bit of trivia for you, by the by. The Transfixatron was originally called the Satsitron. That could be a typo on the model sheet for Stasitron, or it could just be a flurry of creativity on the part of Donald Glut. (This trivia note appears on the wiki. Did I put it there? I don't imagine there are too many other people out there with model sheets.)

Apologies for my long absence... and Farscape Geekwatch

2013-01-10T10:53:00.003-08:00

Well, here it is, January 10th, nearly two months since my last post. I didn't mean to let it slip this long. I got busy with the holidays, took a couple of trips to the East coast, got a nasty stomach virus... all the usual things when life gets in the way.

One of the factors is that, believe it or not, I'm running very low on Ark Addendum material. I've still got some pieces to share, but not a lot, and what I have needs more work. I'll try to share what's left. Does that mean no more animation models for you? No, no, no. I've got the next Joe animation model book due out in a few months, and after that, anything that didn't make it in (that I'm ethically allowed to share) will start to find a home here. Yo, Joe!

And now, the content! We're up to the series finale of Farscape on our geekwatch. The penultimate episodes are the three parter, S04E19-21: We're So Screwed. This is, incidentally, my favorite sci-fi episode title ever. The first part's subtltle, "Fetal Attraction", is of course a reference to the movie Fatal Attraction. (We also have "Hot to Katratzi" and "La Bomba".) Oddly, part one is a bit disconnected from the other two, featuring a raid on a Skarran outpost that results in Aeryn retrieved, but Scorpius captured. John would, of course, gladly let Scorpy go, except Harvey returns, claiming falsely that Scorpius has wormhole knowledge and John has to rescue him lest the Scarrans extract it. The other two parts are a more unified whole, featuring John's dramatic rescue of Scorpius. Crichton's journey is nearly complete. He's gone from a peace-loving scientist in search of truth to a nuclear terrorist, dancing on a table with a bomb strapped to this thigh. The imagery of him actually detonating said device in a strategically important field of flowers is terrific.

There are some hiccups, like the return of Stark. At first it looks like Stark is working with the Skarrans to torture Scorpius, something that seems totally in character for him given his hatred of Scorpius. We find out it's just another replicant bioloid, albeit one who can use Stark's Stikira abilities to torture. I think that missed a trick, frankly. Still, nice to have him back.

The geek is plenty. When Harvey returns, it's via an extended homage to Dracula. John calls an elevator with drilling capabilities, appropriately enough, a Wonkavator. (It's a silly plot conceit to have it there, but if you're going to have it there calling it a Wonkavator is almost a must.) In reference to Braca's loyalty to Scorpius, John rattles off "feel the love, Mr. Burns" to Scorpius, once again casting Braca in the role of Smithers. John describes himself as able to "leap tall galaxies in a single bound," paraphrasing the narration to the old Superman radio serials. And speaking of super heroes, John calls the secret chamber growing Skarran flowers the 'Bat Cave.'

There's lots of other pop culture too. Much revolves around the bomb. When he's describing what happens if the bomb goes off, he calls it "John Lee Hooker time." I had to look that one up, Hooker was a blues musician with a hit called "boom boom." "Get ready to kiss your ass goodbye, Castro," John quips to the Skarran emperor when the latter attempts to heat probe the former, for the Cuban dictator. "We didn't need no stinkin' code," John sneers, in a nice homage to the oft (mis)quoted line from The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. The bomb itself John calls Fat Man, the second and, hopefully, final atomic bomb ever set off as a part of active warfare.

The female Skarran war minister he calls Lady Macbeth. That's not the only nod to the Scottish play, when John paraphrases "If it were done when 'tis done, best it were done quickly." Ahkna is also called Minnie Pearl, the actress from Hee Haw, in reference to her enormous hat. When trying to convince the Peacekeepers and Skarrans alike that wormhole tech is for sale, he calls it a "blue light special in aisle 3, free set of steak knives and all the tea in China." The blue light special is from old K-Mart ad campaigns, steak knives call to mind late-night tv deals, and all the tea in china has been a phrase kicking around for over a century. Finally, John remarks on rescuing Scorpius that "Cadaver and Hutch" are back together, nodding to the classic cop show Starsky and Hutch.

The show's not quite over yet, though. The final episode, S04E22: Bad Timing, serves as a sort of Coda to the series. The Skarrans realize that Earth is a potential target for them, due to the special flowers that grow there that boost Skarran intelligence. John has to close off the wormhole forever, denying himself even the possibility of home. It's rather poignant, watching him have a last conversation with Jack by phone from the moon. After they collapse the wormhole and toast a Skarran scout craft, the gang rests up on a water world and John proposes to Aeryn, which the gang hilariously misinterperts. He puts the ring on her finger. With the series seconds away from ending, things look great... until a new alien comes along and blows Aeryn and John, literally, to hundreds of crystalline pieces. The End. I have to admire the producers for sticking to their guns and not cutting out the last action bit, even after they found out they were canceled. Given the very strong Peacekeeper Wars miniseries that ties everything up, it was the right call.

There were some nice moments. John's last conversation with Jack from the moon was pretty touching. Sikozu, when she and Scorpius are exiled back to Braca's command carrier (oh, yeah, he came into his own last episode and relieved Commandant Grayza of command. Good for him!), says of humanity "weak species," echoing what the Skarran spy version of her said in an unrealized reality. Foreshadowing for her eventual betrayal? Most of the pop culture centered around that scene. The Command Carrier is called the Queen Mary, and Sikozu is called both 'Miss Britannia' and Goldilocks. Later, John complains that he's "not fast enough, smart enough, alien enough, and you know what, there are people in the universe who dont' like me," inverting the Stuart Smalley-ism.

And that's Farscape! The show, anyway. I'll have one more geekwatch that covers the Peacekeeper Wars, and it'll be a goodie.

Farscape Geekwatch: Late Season 4

2012-11-15T11:34:00.001-08:00

Farscape marches on! The return to Earth has given the show a new purpose that had seemed sorely lacking ever since the gang blew up Scorpius' command carrier. We start off with what is the last stand-alone episode along the mode of season one: S04E14: Twice Shy. Chiana frees a pretty slave from some rough traders, but she turns out to be an emotional vampire spider creature! It's not spectacular, but it's fun. Some fun pop culture and geeky references in here. John tells pilot that he's "smart enough, good enough, and doggonit, people like you," slightly paraphrasing the SNL character Stuart Smalley. He also calls Aeryn "my Achilleus," for the greek myth. He also riffed on the nursery rhyme when he quips to the monster, "along came a spider, exploded beside her." We also get some nice continuity lampshading when John describes the spider creature's actions as "doing a T'raltixx." Cute.

S04E15: Mental As Anything splits up the gang. The men go off to get anti-Skarran mind probe training, while the women go off to the next episode. We get some unexpected resolution to the D'Argo / Macton storyline, as he's also here doing training. In retrospect, it feels like the writers are putting their ducks in a row for the endgame, and that's not a bad thing. John's references include:
* his frequent "riddle me this"
* the whistling of the Colonel Bogey March
*a nice Simpson's reference when he calls their instructor Mrs. Krabapple
* Doctor Seuss, as he lists off reasons as "Little Cat A," "Little Cat B," and "Little Cat C."
Scorpius also picks up the nickname Scorpy-Sue.

S04E16: Bringing Home the Beacon is a horrible pun that isn't apparent until the last minute or so of the episode. Aeryn and the gals stumble onto a Peacekeeper / Scarran meeting and witness the Scarrans double-cross Grayza and Braca. They disrupt the Scarran plans, but Aeryn gets replaced with a replicant with a built-in beacon. Due to the almost complete lack of John in the episode, no geek references here.

S04E17: A Constellation of Doubt seems to take a detour, as a distraught John watches and rewatches an intercepted broadcast from Earth about their visit. It was well set up back in Terra Firma, with his nephew Bobby walking around with a video camera. It turns out, his subconscious was trying to give him some critical information about where he'd heard the word "Katratzi" before. When Sikozu momentarily covers her face with a plate, he flashes back to the Stark/Sikozu hybrid, a fantastic moment. The only real geek reference was bobby calling Crichton the "first and only human to boldly go where no man has gone before," another Trek reference.

S04E18: Prayer is an uncomfortable episode. John and Scorpius finally come to an understanding; John gives Scorpy wormhole tech if Scorpius helps him rescue Aeryn. In the process, they wind up taking a wormhole to "Bizarro Moya" (ultimately a reference to Superman, of course, though Bizarro has entered the lexicon.) Things get downright nasty when Scorpius determines that Sikozu/Stark can only access the Katratzi information when crossing over a soul. He proceeds to slaughter many of the denizens of this strange Moya, including an Aeryn/Chiana hybrid. (Claudia Black plays an EXCELLENT Chiana, getting the mannerisms perfect.) It's also kind of cool to know why Scorpius was torturing Stark back in season one. Stark had said it was a place... now we know, or suspect, that place was Katratzi.

There's a bit more geek besides Bizarro. As John explains the concept of alternate realities to Scorpy, he illustrates it by saying that "somewhere the Cubs are winning the world series," a reference to the perennial losing baseball team. We also revisit one of Scorpius' nickname when Scorpius insists on sealing their deal with blood. "Nosferatu... my first instinct is always right."

And thus is the three part near-season finale set up. John has embraced life aboard Moya with Aeryn as his new reality, but to defend that reality he's forced to make a deal with the devil. We'll see how things play out in the next, and last, four episodes of Farscape.

The Ark Addendum - Traitor

2012-11-13T14:32:00.001-08:00

Welcome back, to another edition of The Ark Addendum. This week, the classic G1 Season Two episode Traitor!

Traitor is quite a fun episode. Mirage's anti-war sentiments were explored a bit in More than Meets the Eye, so it's fun to see the ultra gung-ho Cliffjumper confront him. The episode had enough resonance to be echoed decades later in All Hail Megatron, so that's something. There are some really neat Floro Dery designs, too. I love the Insecticon lair. Enjoy!

Farscape Geekwatch - Mid Season 4

2012-11-11T10:45:00.001-08:00

Hola, amigos! Let's return to some Farscape, when S4 starts to pick up again after meandering a bit unsuccessfully around the question 'how will Scorpius fit in with the crew of Moya.' (Spoiler alert: not well.) S04E11, Unrealized Realities, introduces some new plot elements and some much needed energy into what had been an unimpressive season. John, floating in his space suit outside of Moya, gets sucked into a wormhole and encounters a representative of the beings who created the ancients. Einstein, as he's dubbed by John, is deciding if John should be executed for the good of the galaxy. We get to see snippets of alternate realities, more and more strange as the episode progresses. From a world where someone who looks a lot like Scorpius is John's father on a Scarran occupied Earth to a Moya where the crew has all swapped species to a world where John is a Peacekeeper captain and Sikozu a Skarran spy, we see all manner of 'unrealized realities.

It's quite intriguing, especially when Einstein introduces the idea that wormholes bridge not just space but time. It makes sense... exceeding the speed of light, in a very real relativistic sense, allows travel backwards in time and upsets causality. The episode ends with John returned home... to Earth, that is, floating above the atmosphere in his space suit, wondering what exactly this portends. A great episode, and it was fun seeing Stark, Crais, Zhan, Jool again. There's also a couple of little pieces of foreshadowing embedded, such as when Stark/Sikozu mutters the word "katratzi" during a trance, or when spy Sikozu calls Peacekeepers "weak species."

Worry not, for it's also probably the geek-heaviest episode in the entire series. Where to start, where to start. Well, John, upon meeting 'Einstein' (I won't explain who Einstein is) says "Nanook, Bealzebub," simultaneously referencing Mork and Mindy and Christian mythology. Einstein repeatedly asks John "time," prompting the responses " 's up", "bandits", "wounds all heels", "rosemary and thyme." John managed to sneak in Simon and Garfunkle, Groucho Marx, and the cult classic Terry Gilliam movie all in a few lines. In response to Einstein's philisophical musings on time, John says "very Morrissey," a nod to the indy musician. The tiny snowy island created by Einstein for the interrogation, John calls the "island of misfit toys," in reference to the Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer claymation. In response to the alternate worlds Einstein was showing him, John stated "now I know how Copperfield got Shiffer," referring to illusionist David Copperfield's long engagement to model Claudia Schiffer. When Peacekeeper Captain Crichton attempts to save spy Sikozu and she expresses skepticism, he echoes Gone with the Wind and quips "frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."

But all of that, lovely that it is, pales in comparison to John's final speech of the episode. "I am not Kirk, Spock, Luke, Flash, Buck, or Arthur frelling Dent. I am Dorothy. From Kansas." So, Star Trek, Star Trek, Star Wars, Flash Gordon, Buck Rodgers, and even Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, rejected, in favor of the frequently referenced The Wizard of Oz. It's a lovely speech, summing up much of what we've come to love about Farscape.

S04E12, Kansas, continues the momentum set up last episode. Moya follows John through the wormhole and retrieves him, but there's a problem. It's 1986, and Jack Crichton is supposed to be on the Challenger. The gang has to keep him from going up, to his doom, while avoiding creating a stir with an early first contact.

It's light on the geek but heavy on the pop culture. Of milk, John says it "does a body good," the classic advertising slogan. Of Aeryn's outfit, he says she "kinda looks like Cher." When D'Argo wonders why their plans never work, John's response is "Murphy's law." And when the time schenanigans start to make John fade in and out of reality, he grouses that he's "Casper the freakin' joke." I also noted that, when Rygel is eating tons of candy, John calls him "Mr. Burroughs." I'm not sure what the significance of that is.

S04E13, Terra Firma, deals with the team in modern day Earth, and John's reverse culture shock at being home in a post 9/11 world. His dad seems unrecognizable and he fears what the US government will do with exclusive access to Moya's tech. I find placing John's homecoming in the middle of a season to be a bold choice. He's been seeking this for years, but now that he has it, he's not sure he wants it.

It's light on the pop culture, though. Caroline, John's ex, calls him Buck Rogers, which is cute. And John does an ET voice and places his finger on his sister's head. "Don't worry" was the line.

It's a very strong trilogy, expanding the universe and putting our characters in terrifically interesting situations. John finds Earth, only to have to abandon it. At least this time, it's a choice. And now, with that out of the way, John can approach the rest of the season with a lighter burden.

Groove High

2012-11-10T07:54:00.003-08:00

Friend of the blog Ras, who contributed some excellent pieces for the upcoming Transformers Legacy book, is starring in Disney's Groove High, premiering today! Check it out on the Disney Channel. He's playing The Baz, Lex and Sasha.

Kudos, Ras! I'm sure you'll knock our socks off.

The Ark Addendum - Changing Gears

2012-11-06T11:37:00.004-08:00

Happy Election Day, to all my US based readers. Hope that you informed yourself on the issues and voted. Sending those politicians a message by staying home as a clown only leads to gargantuan cyborg overlords.

It's Tuesday, which means it's Ark Addendum day. This week, we go back to Changing Gears, on of the last episodes that I have substantial background images for. The centerpiece is the Solar Needle, identified as the Star Needle on the model. It's quite a lovely design.

I don't really like the episode, though. The drastic personality alteration that Gears undergoes should have deeper implications than it does, really. That it's accidental only makes things worse. For a better examination of personality shifting, see the S1 episode of Beast Wars, Dark Designs. Evil Rhinox is pretty badass, as we learn there and confirm in late season one of Beast Machines.

Farscape Geekwatch - Early to Mid Season 4

2012-11-05T10:18:00.000-08:00

We enter the midpoint of the final season of Farscape with a truly fun episode, S04E08, I Shrink, Therefore I Am. A gang of raiders wearing mechanical armor boards the ship, leaving John to, in his own words, go "one by one, the Die Hard way" through the baddies. If that and the title (a reference to Descartes famous rebuttal of radical skepticism) aren't clue enough, there are plenty of geek references, nods, and movie titles bandied about.

Dargo is called "James T. Dargo." Sweet. John declares "I'm goin'... wabbit hunting!", a lovely Looney Toons quote. Even better, John calls the head armored baddie "Imperious Leader", after he comms "Paging the head Cylon," recalling the classic Battlestar Galactica. John utters "Klaatu barada nikto", the famous phrase from the 1951 classic The Day the Earth Stood Still. (That line itself has been referenced numerous times, from the Star Wars expanded universe to Army of Darkness.) After the shrinking starts, John declares that he's "gone from Die Hard to Honey I Shrunk the Prisoners," in reference to the Honey I Shrunk The... franchise. Less geeky but still of interest is John quoting Neil Armstrong, "one small step for man," and the "best laid plans", a paraphrase of the Robert Burns poem "To a Mouse."

Another terrific exchange in the "we're not Star Trek" vein is Sikozu's argument with Rygel about how shrinking is impossible. If the molocules were shrunk, how could they breath? If they lost atoms proportionately, how could they think? Rygel shuts her up with the wry observation that they clearly ARE shrunk, so it IS possible, so just deal with it. Lovely.

There's less going on in S04E09, A Prefect Murder. The gang needs some gear to survive in Tormented Space, but Chiana's loose ways and a love affair between Sikozu and a native complicate things, especially when the gang lose control of themselves and start bumping off natives. It's rather forgettable, really. There's a bit of the geek, when John assumes a Scottish accent and grouses, "I don't knew if I can get the system back on line, cap'n." That's about it, except for John singing "You take the high road..." from the old classic song, The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond. (Also Scottish!)

S04E10, Coup by Clam, is surprisingly fun, though I'll bet most fans don't appreciate it. True, there's a jumbled feminist message that doesn't really work. But the idea that the crew gets psychically linked together by eating mental mollusks is cute, and seeing the gang cross-dress is silly and fun in a very Farscape way. I also like the villain attempting to explain the technical specifics of what happened, only to have the crew moan that they just don't care. There's one fantasy reference here. John states that he isn't going to infiltrate a girl's only club "as Maid Marian," Robin Hood's sweetheart.

I think I'll end it here. As we hit the halfway point of the season, we start off on an exciting new plotline that propels the series through to the end. Much merriment and mirth awaits!