Transformatorium, Transformer Toy Reviews

Toys Review – Cyberverse Deluxe Class, Wave 1

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The Warrior Class toys from the Cyberverse line had gotten a reputation for being pretty poor, and for the most part that rep was deserved.  The simplistic paint jobs, transformations and lacklustre modes have made many of these figures an easy pass for most collectors.

However thankfully, like the cartoon which got pretty damn good in seasons 2 and 3, the powers that be decided to improve the Cyberverse toyline too.  And they have done so by introducing the Deluxe Class.  This class is used by the Generations line and usually involves a higher degree of sophistication in all facets when compared to the Warrior Class, and of late has included blast effects that can be attached to characters weapons.

So lets have a look at the first wave of the Cyberverse Deluxe Class figures – Bumblebee, Optimus, Megatron and Shockwave.

 

Bumblebee

 

Sigh, it wouldn’t be a Transformers toyline without about a 150 different versions of Bumblebee would it.  Thankfully this Bumblebee is quite good.  He looks very screen accurate, comes with a lot more detail than the preceding Warrior Class figure, and comes with his stinger as well as a gun.  Very nice!

The vehicle mode is ok.  Quite compact with a decent amount of detail.  However this is one case where I would say the Warrior Class looks that bit more impressive.

 

Optimus Prime

 

Once again, a vast improvement on the Warrior Class toy that came before.  Optimus has good articulation, good proportions and it’s always appreciated when you can open an Optimus toys chest to find a Matrix inside.  And you can use this one to (simulate) blast the big baddies, just like in the cartoon!

The vehicle mode is ok, not bad but nothing special to write home about.  Perhaps a bit better than the Warrior Class due to the better paintjob (always irritates me when Optimus has red smokestacks).

 

Megatron

 

My son doesn’t own the Warrior Class Megatron so we had to compare him to another from the Cyberverse line which equated to no comparison at all.  Megatron looks very good here – very cartoon faithful and well articulated.  I particularly like the head sculpt.  Would have been nice for him to have an Energon Morningstar but I guess you can’t have anything.

A pretty decent looking Cybertronian Tank, full of nice angles and Megatron’s arm cannon taking centre stage as the tank turret.  Small but feisty and very cartoon accurate.

Fusion Mega Shot

 

Shockwave

 

Shockwave has gotten nearly as many Cyberverse toys as Bumblebee, having a figure in nearly every size.  And unlike many the Shockwave toys haven’t been half bad.  This Shockwave is good but doesn’t particularly stand out from any of the others, though its nice to see him get his arm cord back.

The beauty of having multiple Shockwave’s is that you can convert your other ones into the crab-tank modes to represent the army of drones he has in the cartoon.  Once again, this toy doesn’t particularly stand out from any that have come before, though there are multiple ports on the tank mode to put his extra blaster in, giving you more options.

‘My babies. My ugly, ugly babies’

 

Maccadams/Alchemist Prime Parts

Part of the lure to get these figure is that each character comes with a body part that, when combined, form Maccadams.  It’s very tempting as there has never been a toy of the famous bartender before.  If you end up with multiple Shockwaves you can always use both legs, which looks a bit odd but saves you buying other figures down the line if you don’t want them.

 

Cyberverse Deluxe Class – worth getting?

Well they are for the most part the best Cyberverse toys we have gotten so if you are a big fan of the show then you may want to pick them up.  If not then you can always bypass them.  I found these figures for a staggeringly cheap $12(AU) each on sale so I was more than happy to pick them up at that price.  And of course, the temptation is now there to get the next four in order to make Maccadams.

 

Related Articles:

Cyberverse Warrior Class Prowl

Cyberverse Warrior Class Acid Storm

Cyberverse Warrior Class Soundwave

Cyberverse Warrior Class Gnaw

Random Rants

Coronavirus Crisis: City Slickers leaving Country Stores bare

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As the COVID-19 crisis continues and cases within Australia and particularly NSW continue to rise, its been considered a good time to be a rural resident.

Out here where my family lives we are a solid 2 ½ hour drive from the nearest capital city where the majority of cases are taking place.  So far there is only a handful cases of Coronavirus within a hundred kilometres of us all together.

As such people in situations similar to us haven’t been panic buying.  We didn’t all go mad stocking up on toilet paper, we haven’t cleaned off shelves and we haven’t gotten into fistfights over a bag of rice.  For the most part us rural folk have taken it pretty calm, and in small communities like the one I inhabit, you don’t take ever single item of a product off a shelf as the people you are depriving are your neighbours, your community members and your friends.

Yep, the panic buying had been contained to the big cities.  But now its not.  It’s hitting small country towns and its not small country town people that are doing.

It’s Raiders from the Big City!

An sight no longer contained to capital cities

It’s been amazing!  Tiny towns with populations of well under a thousand are seeing more new faces than they have in years.  And these are not tourists – these are food-filchers!  People driving out from capital cities to hit up every butchers, every bakers and every small supermarket they can, to grab whatever they can, and then return home.  One can only assume the candlestick makers will be next.

In fact it’s not just people in cars – it’s entire busloads! Buses pulling up at little supermarkets in one-horse towns and twenty people disembarking.  These people head straight into the local stores and come out carrying as many bags of groceries as they can lift.  These raiders leave barren shelves behind and nothing for the local people, who depend on these stores, to buy.

 

Is it greed that is prompting these people to come out and grab all the tucker and toilet paper they can tote?  Is it desperation?

Because no matter the motivation – it is NOT ON!

 

Big City people don’t get it.  Country people are not surrounded by stores where if one store is out of a product they can simply try a half dozen others down the road.  If you raid a store, then that leaves NOTHING for the locals!  These stores, due to their remote, don’t get restocked every day.  And if that store is empty, the next store is usually a loooong way away.  The town I live outside of has one small butchers, one small bakers and one very small supermarket/bottle-o.  Besides bags of chips at the servo that’s it for places to get groceries.  If those shops are empty I have to drive an extra 10 minutes to the next town which also only has a few small shops.  If they too are empty, which increasingly they have been, my next option is to drive 60km to Mudgee where the major supermarkets are in the hopes that their shelves are also not bare.  Should I have to do that because Big City people have depleted their own stores in panic buying and now are doing the same to us?

You know what is even better than a clean fridge? A FULL ONE!

This isn’t just in our area, this is happening all over NSW and Victoria!  Small town locals going home without any food for their families because these busloads of city slickers have come out and nicked all the grub!  And it has to stop!  Not only because of the effect on the locals, but the potential spread of COVID-19.  People are coming from places like Sydney and Melbourne where the virus is growing ever more rampant, and driving through town after town where the entire populaces are so far uninfected. I wonder if these raiders realize, or care, that if country people get sick the food shortages will only get worse since we are the ones that grow all the food!

 

So, I say this to you raiders.  DO.  NOT.  COME.  HERE!  You are not welcome!  You take all our food and risk infecting us all!  And why?  Because you all couldn’t stop yourselves going nuts and panic-buying out your thousands of stores until there was nothing left.  Stay in your damn capital cities and wait for the stores to restock.  Because when you come here and take all our food, we have nowhere else to go.  We didn’t panic buy, we were sensible.  And now we are paying for it because our cupboards are not overflowing since we didn’t want to deprive our neighbours of their tucker – because, you know, that’s what good people do.

So please.  If you are from a capital city do the right thing, especially these school holidays.  Wait for your stores in the big smoke to restock.  Don’t come and take all our food and risk spreading COVID-19 into rural communities that have managed to remain unaffected thus far.  We managed to make it through the bushfires, we as a society need to pull together to make it through this too.

We, your rural cousins, thank you for your cooperation.

 

Related Article:

Coronavirus: The Toilet Paper Conspiracy

Transformatorium, Videos

Video: Generation One vs Beast Wars – the DEFINITIVE answer!

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Transformer fans sometimes fight over the silliest things – then I guess that’s what the Internet is for.  One of the most enduring arguments over the decades has been ‘which was a better series: Generation One or Beast Wars’.

Personally I’ve never really weighed in on the debate as I enjoy them both.  Both had some great cartoon episodes, both produced some fantastic toys, both have contributed a huge amount to the enduring Transformers mythos.  So why the debate even exists is beyond me.

But exist it does.

In an effort to bring decades of arguing to an end I have examined the issue and, through scientific experimentation and logical deduction, found an answer to this long pondered question.

So sit back and enjoy the following video which will prove beyond a shadow of a doubt which was better – Beast Wars or Generation One.

I hope this video has answered all the questions you ever had about the relative quality of both franchises in relation to each other.

Transformer Fans everywhere – you are welcome!

 

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Transformatorium

Moonracer & Cyber Bee Mouse Pads

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Well the Transformer Wrist-Rest Mouse Pads continue unabated. Having done the most popular and well known female Transformer characters such as Arcee, Black Arachnia, Elita-1 and Windblade, the makers are now moving on to the B-Listers of the femmebot world. And B is correct as while one of these characters is a Femmebot that has been around in the background for 35 years, another isn’t a Femmebot at all!

Moonracer and….. WTF?!

 So lets have a look at Moonracer and, quite strangely the Cyber Bee Cosplayer.

 

Moonracer

A very feminine face and a head that is very indicative of both the original 1985 G1 character and the Generations Toy that came out in recent years. A good enough mouse pad, though the shadowing/lighting they have used for the art causes a faded line to cross the Autobot Symbol on her chest, detracting from the artwork somewhat.

‘I thought my chest plate was more pointy than round. But hey, at least I’m finally getting more merchandise!’

 

Cyber Bee

Human, Cyborg, Pretender, really good Cosplayer…. what is she?!

I mean, what is this supposed to be? The armour and colour scheme is obviously in homage to the Movieverse Bumblebee. But the face and chest are most definitely flesh. But then she has eyes that are either robotic or supernatural as they are a solid blue. So is this Bumblebee in semi-human form doing a gender swap? Is he donning a Pretender disguise like Alice in ROTF?  Is it either a Cyborg or a Supernatural Girl dressed up as Bumblebee for Cosplay? I just don’t know! So I’ve gone with the rationale that she is a Cyborg (part robot part human) that is cosplaying as Bumblebee as, though that makes little sense, it seems to make more sense than any other explanation.

“I hate this weird depiction of me. Whaddya mean ‘thats not what my missile says’?”

 

So there we go, the latest in Transformers Wrist-Wrest Mouse Pads. Moonracer who is not too big of a surprise, and Cyber Bee, who is very surprising. It will be interesting to see who we get next.

Competition Update

For those of you that entered into the competition to win a Free Mouse Pad, take heart. Not a single person had either Moonracer or, unsurprisingly, Cyber Bee in their top 5 list. So all those who entered are still in the running!

 

Related Articles:

Black Arachnia Mouse Pad

Elita-1 Mouse Pad

Arcee & WIndblade Mouse Pads

Random Rants

Coronavirus: The Toilet Paper Conspiracy

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Right now much of the world is in the grip of panic. Like SARS before it, a new virus – COVID-19 or the Coronavirus – is spreading across the globe, with nearly 100000 cases worldwide so far and deaths in the triple figures. Thought to originate in Wuhan China, air travel has taken it to every continent on the globe and more and more countries are dealing with outbreaks of the potentially deadly disease.

But did it really originate in Wuhan? And is it really a natural virus?

 

Here in Australia, much like the rest of the world, supermarkets are experiencing massive runs on toilet paper. People are buying hundreds of rolls at a time to stockpile and shelves empty as fast as they can be restocked. So with stock in toilet paper companies rising  right now it’s a good time to own shares in a loo-paper company.

In fact one might say it’s a very good time to own shares. Almost a suspiciously good time.

 

That’s right – COVID-19 is not a natural virus! It is a synthetic virus. And who created this virus? THE TOILET PAPER INDUSTRY!

So much death just to sell some bogroll

 

Think about it – what’s the results of COVID-19 so far?

*Nearly a hundred thousand people worldwide are sick? What do you do when you are sick? Go to the toilet more often for a start.

*What do the authorities recommend if you think you may be infected? Quarantine yourself at home for 14 days. Being that bored you are going to eat more, therefore defecate more, therefore need more toilet paper. And being stuck at home for a fortnight, you are going to stock up on dunny paper big time before you sequester yourself away.

*What is half the populace of the planet doing right now in response to the Coronavirus. Simple – the general public are shitting themselves!

Depleted toilet paper shelves in Tumut NSW (Photo Credit; S. Addison)

Everybody has always known what a bloodthirsty realm the toilet paper industry is. Cartels fighting for power in the streets – many’s the bathroom-tissue brawler left with a sharpened dunny roll protruding from their bloody eye socket. Scientists working in the toilet paper equivalent of meth labs, each trying to come up with something more absorbent or to add yet another unrequired ply. It’s something we have all come to see as a necessary evil in order for us to not have to wipe our arses with the back of our hands. But now things have gone too far. The creation of synthetic viruses in order to sell more bogroll is an evil one could equate to the how the tobacco industry adds addictive chemicals to their cigarettes in order to get people hooked, despite the fact that due to their products their consumers eventually die. And lets face it, the Toilet Paper consortium’s have had the governments of the world in their pockets for years. Plus this virus came from China, one of the biggest toilet paper manufactures in the world. Coincidence? I think not!

No toilet paper on the shelves in Sydney – but don’t worry, there is plenty more for you to buy on the way! (Photo Credit: T. Munn)

Well I shall have none of it – do you hear me you putrid purveyors of poop-paper! I shall not be stocking up on toilet paper as this crisis continues. I shall use leaves, I shall use bark, I shall use the scarfs of co-workers while they are not paying full attention. And I shall decry you from the rooftops – you murderous bastards will not get me!

 

Cry havoc, and let slip the arse-wipes of war!

 

 

Note: The above it written for satirical purposes only. BigAngryTrev.com extends its sympathies to all those across the globe who are suffering from the Coronavirus, as well as to the families of those who have lost loved ones to it.

Games & Competitions, Transformatorium

Exclusive Card Reveal: Electro-Optical Visor. Transformers: TCG

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Thanks to Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast, BigAngryTrev.com has once again been given an exclusive reveal for the Transformers: Trading Card Game to share with the world! Rather than a new character, this card is an Upgrade – Armour card from the new Titan Master packs that will be available later in the year.

Note: Neither Hasbro nor WOTC have paid for this reveal and have in no way tried to dictate the content of this review. BigAngryTrev would like to thank both companies for the continuing opportunities to share facets of this card game with the public.

 

So let’s have a look at the Action Card Electro-Optical Visor. 

 

Using the card in game

The usefulness of the card will rely heavily on what cards you and your opponent are sporting. If you are sporting a team of all Autobots, when you place this on a character and it adds 1 Defence point via an Armour Upgrade to its stats and the cards usefulness stops there.

However, if you have any Decepticons in your team, putting this card on one of them will not only add 1 Armor Upgrade point, but also:

*Makes your opponent reveal their hand

*Your opponent must scrap an Autobot card of their choosing from their hand

Of course, your opponent could quite easily have no Autobot cards in their hand, which means they don’t have to scrap any card at all. But even if this is the case, it still means that you get to have a good look at their hand, see what cards they are sporting and prepare yourself accordingly.

 

The Artwork

The artwork is lovely, showing Soundwave wearing what one assumes to be an Electro-Optical visor. Oddly I don’t recognise the origin of the artwork, so I am making the assumption it is from the IDW Transformers comics reboot, as I have not read all of them yet. If I am in error, or you know which exact comic, please pop it in the comments section below and I will be sure to credit you.

Note: According to reader ‘Flip Flip Bang Bang’ this is probably new artwork as WOTC no longer uses IDW comic art.

 

So all in all, depending on the cards you and your opponent have, this could prove to be either an average or a very useful card to pick up. I look forward to getting a physical copy in my hands and trying it out in gameplay.

The new Titan Master Packs for Transformers: TCG are slated for a release on the 17th of April, 2020.

  

Related Articles:

*Exclusive Card Reveal: Private Stakeout

*Exclusive Cards Reveal: Dirge and Defensive Driving

Transformatorium, Videos

Transformers Siege trailer: Character breakdown and analysis

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Today at the New York Toyfair the world was treated to the teaser trailer for the new Transformers cartoon trilogy coming to Netflix later this year – War For Cybertron: Siege.   Even though this has been touted as ‘Anime’ we are getting a CGI cartoon like the Power of the Prime’s trilogy rather than some stylized Japanese animation.  Based mainly on the Siege Toyline, but also reminiscent of the opening sequence to the 2018 Bumblebee Movie, this cartoon has kept many of us in keen anticipation and is set in the final stages of their war on Cybertron.  Watch below:

Video from Transformers Official Youtube Channel

 

So let’s have a quick rundown of what characters we saw in this short video, what they did and what implications it could have for the upcoming cartoons storyline.

 

AUTOBOTS

Optimus Prime: Voiced by Peter Cullen, we see Optimus doing his usual – saving other Autobots, battling Megatron, protecting the Allspark and so on.  More interestingly, you get to see some of his warriors questioning his methods rather than talking about how great he is.

Elita-1: The only  Transformer from the video that did not have a toy in the Siege line or the upcoming Earthrise (her figure coming out in POTP).  Her line said to Optimus ‘This is not the life I imaged for us’ brings up the question: is she referring to her and Optimus indicating a relationship between the two, or referring to the Transformer race in general.

Ultra Magnus: Instead being his usual ‘Yes Prime’ self, we see him questioning Prime’s methods, and even going in secret to see the Decepticon command.  This potentially could be the most interesting we have ever seen him portrayed on screen.

Bumblebee: Another bot that is usually at Prime’s beck and call, we see him telling Prime his attitude to the war will get him killed.  Thankfully it seems he is based on his G1 self which will get a toy in the Earthrise line, rather being based on the Bumblebee Movie.

Chromia: Seen fighting Barricade, one wonders with the inclusion of her and Elita, does this mean we will finally get a break from Windblade and Arcee being the two main female Autobots in any given story?

Cog: Seen dying of an injury, but his parts being used by Sideswipe in Weaponizer fashion.  Oddly later in the trailer we see a bot that has Cog’s body type but is coloured like Six-Gun running after Elita.  A trick of the lighting or the first animation error?

Wheeljack: Like Bumblebee, he has a figure coming up in the Earthrise toyline, so will he transform in the cartoon?

Sideswipe & Hound: Both seen in fight scenes

DECECEPTICONS

Megatron: Not voiced by Frank Welker, but sounds good all the same.  Sporting some battle damage and some big Overlord-style lips.  Like Optimus he is doing his usual – inspiring his army and trying to kick Prime’s butt.

Soundwave: Seen standing off to the side of the Decepticon command table.  Does this mean he wont be as big a character as usual?  Or without Welker’s voice that he may remain silent?

Shockwave: Also seen at the command table.

Refracktor/s: Two Refracktor’s are seen firing over a barricade.  The powers that be have obviously gone for the choice of having them all identical like the G1 cartoon, rather than Spectro, Viewfinder and Spyglass getting their own colour schemes and weaponry.

Barricade: I guess this solidifies Barricade’s inclusion to the G1 universe.  Seen sitting at the command table as well as putting the smack down on Chromia.

Skytread: Seen getting punched in the face by Optimus.

Jetfire: In a few scenes with Megatron and most definitely sporting the Decepticon symbol.  Looks like we will get the inevitable ‘Jetfire swaps sides’ storyline at some point.

Impactor: Like Jetfire we see his Decepticon incarnation.  Will he, like Jetfire undoubtedly will, join the side of the Autobots at some stage in the series?

SEEKERS: From some shots it looks like there is going to be a lot of them, perhaps all of them.  Here are the ones that were definitely spotted:

Starscream: In both battle scenes and at the command table.  Given all the other story implications, we might actually be spared the ‘Starscream betrays Megatron’ story that has been played to death in the past.

Skywarp: Battle scenes and at the command table.

Thundercracker: In a few battle scenes

Redwing and Acid Storm:  Seen standing guard as Ultra Magnus approaches the Decepticon base.

 

So, seems like there may be some interesting story arcs and some interesting takes on characters.  One can just hope that this cartoon is better than the last CGI transformers cartoons we received.

What do you think of this trailer?  Pop it in the comments section below!

Random Rants, Transformatorium

Can the Transformers fandom just chill out a bit?

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Living in the bush I don’t get to see other Transformer fans very often.  I don’t get to pop over to a mate’s house to see his latest acquisitions.  I don’t attend meets, I don’t go to pop culture conventions, hell I don’t even get to visit toy stores.  So when it comes to talking to others about a shared hobby I have to rely almost solely on the internet.

But the way a large segment of the fandom has been going in the last few years, I find myself thinking more often than not why I bother.

The default expression of an online Transformers fan

I don’t know when this all started.  Maybe it was the live action Transformer movies.  Most people seemed to like, or at least tolerate, the first movie in 2007.  Those raising very vocal hatred for it being largely groups of GeeWunners who wanted it to look like the 1984 cartoon.

But then Revenge of the Fallen came out and a massive amount of the fandom started bitching, and it seems they have never stopped.  It’s been  years since a Transformers movie directed by Michael Bay (The Last Knight) has been released, and you still can’t surf a Transformers site without there being negative comments and memes threaded throughout screaming about how people hated them and it ‘raped their childhood’.  Now in 2024, it’s the same arguments and complaints about the new Transformers One trailer: “Why isn’t this part of the G1 cartoon universe?!  It’s a kick in the teeth to all the fans who carried the franchise for 40 years – Habro owes us!”  Fans treating it as a personal insult that an animated movie designed to sell children’s toys isn’t aimed soley at middle-aged men – the sense of entitlement is staggering.

‘I was created not for entertainment, but to piss off fans. Didn’t you know that?’

And it seems this negativity of the fandom has spread from the movies to encompass any and everything Transformers.  Be it comics, cartoons, toys – whatever.  If it’s toys it’s all nitpicking about release times, non screen accurate figures and online retailers.  If it’s the cartoons then it’s that the cartoon isn’t specifically aimed at demographic X – and if it IS aimed at demographic X then demographic Y kicks up a fuss.

When it’s about the comics people seem to get the most vocal of all (at least in years where a new movie hasn’t been released).  Pre the reboot at IDW it was all about the writers having an agenda and virtue signalling and what have you.  Now it’s about crossovers.  The amount of hatred on the internet about the My Little Pony crossover coming up has been frankly disgusting. Anyone who isn’t hating on the idea getting accused of being a homosexual or engaging in bestiality.  Grown men – grown men – talking about how they despise My Little Pony.  Why any grown man without a daughter has watched enough episodes to form such a strong opinion on a cartoon aimed at little girls is beyond me – but they must have watched it because they all seem to be experts on it and hate it.  Even one of the artists that did one of the front covers for the upcoming crossover comics has received enough abuse to comment about it publicly.  People abusing someone for doing their job and daring to draw a fictional horse on the same page as a fictional robot – way to make the fandom look good fellas.

‘You are destroying my franchise and deserve to die…. apparently’

Now bear in mind I don’t have a problem with people who have a genuine complaint.  If you’ve bought a figure that snapped the moment you tried to transform it, despite you being gentle and following the instructions precisely, then damn right you are valid in being pissed off about it.  Complain away and you will find a sympathetic ear in me.  You got ripped off by an ebay seller and your TR Trypticon turns out to be a pack of beach towels – yell to high heaven!  Preach brother!  And if you didn’t like a comic or cartoon or movie or toy, then I’ll happily read your opinion if you keep it civil, logical, factual and state your opinion once.

Like Insecticons, angry posts like to clone themselves over and over and over

But it’s the constant bitching I can’t hack anymore.  The people who didn’t like a movie and then years later are still writing post after post about how they hated it.  People talking about how much a toy or movie sucks before they have even been  released yet, like their opinion on something they have yet to personally experience makes it fact.  People acting like so-called experts when they know little more than someone who has just entered a toyshop for the first time.

And the bitching about nothing!  Sexuality in Transformers?  Seriously?  That is what brings people to boiling point?  People lost their shit when the first wrist-rest mouse pads were released, like the manufactures had made booby pads based on their mothers instead of fictional shape-shifting alien robots.  People scream abuse at each other over whether it is valid for Transformers to feel romantic affection for each other since they don’t breed.  Is such a thing really worth calling a stranger a ‘f**king c**t’ over?

‘Why does our love cause you such hate?’

So it’s sad to say I’m feeling pretty done right now.  I’m sick of clicking on a link or a FB post or a thread on a fansite to find out about some of the latest Transformer news and being confronted with a wall of vitriolic shit.  I’m sick of saying I like something and having a dozen people call me an idiot or a faggot or worse for daring to have an opinion different to theirs.  Sick of clicking to see if a toy is available only to see the people that got their toys and the people that didn’t, who ordered from the same online retailer, tearing each other a new one.

I know this kind of behaviour is not solely related to the Transformers fandom, it certainly happened in the Ghostbusters fandom with Frozen Empire.  Some days it seems it’s the whole internet in general.  Maybe I’m too old for the digital world.  Whenever I converse online I try to think about, if I said this to a bloke in the pub, would it earn me a punch in the face?  Because that was the reality I grew up with, with no internet and texting being easily accessible until I was in my 20’s. When you said something to someone you were saying it to their face.  But now we have people who have done nearly all of their socialization their whole lives online, and have grown up in a world where you can say whatever hateful shit you like to someone because chances are that person is on the other side of the planet and you will never have to face consequences for your actions.   Yes, the internet is getting too angry for even Big Angry Trev.

‘Can’t we all just peace out?’

Now people who live in GlassGas houses shouldn’t throw Cyberstones, and there are undoubtedly people out there that I have gotten into heated online arguments with over the years over very silly issues.  So I am guilty too.  But I pride myself that each year I get into less online fights, get into less pointless arguments and get better at cyber-walking away.  I’m not perfect but I’m getting better.  And maybe that it a goal we could all aim for – to improve our skill of walking away from the keyboard or smartphone when the blood begins to boil, and go play with our Technobots for a while.

So when I go home tonight, I won’t be surfing the big Transformer sites.  I’m going to try my best to practice what I’m preaching and be a chilled out fan.  I’m going to open up a bunch of new figures I just got and play with them with my son, as a reminder to myself that this hobby should be positive, should be fun, and in the end is about plastic toy robots.

 

Hey!  If you are a positive person who loves talking about all the things they LIKE about Transformers? Why not restore my faith and write something happy in the comments below!

 

Related Article:

Hard Times for Aussie Collectors

Hobby Farming, Random Rants

The RFS saved our farm from bushfires and friends & family saved our sanity

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Despite, thankfully, not losing our home like so many other poor souls, our family was affected by the unprecedented bushfires this summer. We had to evacuate our home for an extended period – twice, with the flames getting to within 500m off our back fence and 200m off our side fence. These were scary times for us, like many others across the state. If it wasn’t for the RFS fighting the fires tooth and nail for months on end, I have zero doubt our property would have been consumed and they have our families eternal thanks.

Image taken from the cab of a fire truck on our road the night we had to evacuate. (Photo Credit: R. Oldfield – NSW RFS)

These fires affected our entire family unit. We had to cancel our sons birthday party and all my wifes family coming for Christmas. We had to spend Xmas itself at relatives homes instead of in our own. We had to tear our farm apart to try and make it as fireproof as possible, and we are still now trying to put it back together. We had all our most treasured personal belonging stashed in three other people’s homes and likewise for our animals three more. We stressed and fretted and on one night drove for our lives as the police came down our road on their loudspeaker ordering people to evacuate, our animals and children in tow. We sat up until 1am at my mother-in-laws house watching the reports come in about a house destroyed on our road, wondering if it was ours and if we would have a home to return to.  We consider ourselves fortunate that all we lost in the end was a few fridges and a deep freezer full of food (a waste of good ducks though).

So yes, we were much luckier than many, but the NSW fire season was truly a horrible month for our family.

 

So the RFS saved our home, but what saved our sanity? Easy to answer – community, friends and family. Without these people my wife and I would have descended into madness long ago, and ours is a tale of how people pulling together made what was a terrible experience so much less worse than it could have been.

 

Here are some of the examples of how we were helped by truly wonderful people:

 

Community & Emergency Workers

*The Grader Drivers that came to our property on two separate occasions and put in fire break lines everywhere they could, in an effort to stop any grassfires that might make it in onto our land.

*The local branch of the RFS, who provided constant updates and were always able to answer any questions we sent to them, even at 2am while our road burned.

*The local member who posted constant updates and videos about what the fires were doing in our area for weeks on end and was an excellent source of information. I may have been a Greens voter all my life, but there is a National’s member who has earned my vote!

*My sister-in-laws friend taking in our chook and 8 of our ducks for a full month and caring for them, despite never even having met us before.

*Our neighbours across the road and next to us keeping an eye on our property in case there were spotfires while we were evacuated.

Grader driver putting in containment lines in our back paddock

 

Friends

*My friend Jordan driving over a hundred kilometres and spending 3 hours in 40 degree heat evacuating all goods from the Transformatorium shed into the main house (we thought that the firey’s might be able to save the house but would probably let the shed burn if they had to). Then in the hot sun helped me clean out gutters, that had never been cleaned before, of dead leaves and other flammable material.

*My boss and friend Toni from work storing my 3000+ Transformer action figure collection in her loungeroom for an entire month, despite it meaning she could hardly move in that part of the house.

*Our friends Lisa and Scott taking our pet goats for extended periods on two separate occasions and feeding and watering them every day despite the heat.

*Our new friends and neighbours down the road, Bill and Lynne, feeding the poultry we couldn’t evacuate, even though it meant a daily drive closer to the fire front.

*So many of our close friends messaging us with comforting words and emotional support, yet allowing us the space to breathe when we had to.

 

Family

*My brother-in-law Matt driving over a hundred kilometres with his chainsaw to cut down every tree within a 5m radius of our farmhouse, then staying the night so the next day he could seal breaks in our guttering so they could hold water in case of ember attack.

*My sister-in-law Jo storing so much of our personal belongings, taking our fish for several weeks, and making us Christmas dinner

*My mother-in-law Noelene putting us up for long periods – twice – while we were evacuated, looking after our dog and storing even more of our belongings (my wife’s family rules!).

*Our children, so young and yet so brave. Being evacuated twice, missing out on birthday parties, missing out on spending Christmas in their own home. That’s a lot for a 4 and 7 year old to cope with and they both took it in their stride.

*And more than anyone, my beautiful wife. By my side we spent so much of our summer trying to fireproof a farm that had never before been threatened by flames and was a tinderbox ready to ignite.

 

Ours is just one example of how families and entire communities came together to support each other during this horrible time for our state and indeed for our country. If ever there was evidence that the spirit of empathy and generosity is still well alive in this land, it’s been well and truly presented this summer.

 

So to all our friends, all our family, all the community and all the members of the RFS, on behalf of our family

Thank you!

 

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Video: Retrofitting a Ute to become a Spotfire Fighting Vehicle

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As of writing this the western edge of the Kerry Ridge Fire is about 5km from our farm.  Due to this being the worst bushfires in Australia’s history, our heroes in Rural Fire Service are severely overstretched.  As such, the RFS is extremely busy trying to fight the fire fronts and saving homes, they don’t have time to attend every single spotfire that is caused by an ember attack.

So as we can do our small part and try to protect  our farm from Spotfire/Ember attack, we converted my 22 year old bush-basher paddock-bomb Ford Courier Ute into a Spotfire Fighting Vehicle.

There are kits set up to do this already available, but they are all hideously expensive.  This video shows you how to set up your own for a fraction of that cost.

 

Enjoy, and stay safe this horrible bushfire season.

 

Related Articles:

Video:  Bushfires S.E of Rylstone & Kandos

Bushfire Danger: Packing Emergency Bags

 

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