TRANSFEST COMIC

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TRANSFEST COMIC

Post by Metal Vendetta » Tue Mar 20, 2007 11:59 am

Okay boys and girls, it's that time of year again, and I'd like to invite the good members of the board to contribute towards this year's Transfest comic. I want to do something a little more ambitious this year, jam-packed with Transformery goodness, so here's a little run-down of how things look to be panning out:

Main strips - these will be Transformers, in a loose G1 continuity. I'd like to have 10 5-page scripts - each by a different writer/artist combo - to give it a real anthology feel, and for all the stories to link up to tell one big story arc running through the comic. So far I have 6 of them scripted and they're in the process of being sent to various artists, but we're going to need another 4 to tell the rest of the arc, and there's some juicy moments that need telling. In the interests of not spoiling the plot for those who don't want to know it, select the text below for those bits that have already been written and to see where the gaps are...

STORY 1
"Beginnings"
script - emvee, inks - emvee
Sky Lynx and Slamdance arrive at a supposedly Decepticon base. They are there on intelligence from Smokescreen's team that a renegade faction of Decepticons have discovered something ancient and incredibly dangerous. They arrive to find Smokescreen's team in pieces on the floor, only to be greeted by the leader of the renegade Decepticons...Overlord, flanked by Fangry and Flywheels.

STORY 2
"Suspicions"
script - Lee Chrimes, inks - tbc (Karl?)
Megatron is apoplectic about the situation with Overlord, and has called his loyal Decepticons to elminate the renegades. Ravage is given charge of a mission to destroy their supply lines, but the mission is undermined and sabotaged by Razorclaw - making Ravage look bad and raising Razorclaw above him in Megatron's hierachy.

STORY 3
"Burning"
script - emvee, inks - Mrs. V
On a remote fire planet, Megatron has sent the Firecons (who else?) to investigate what appears to be a lost Autobot shrine. However, the locals revere the shrine as their most sacred place and have built their entire civilisation around it, and they are not giving it up without a massacre. Hot on the Decepticons' heels is Repugnus, who is not averse to a bit of a massacre himself, unaware that he himself is being tailled by Squeezeplay, on Overlord's orders.

STORY 4
"One way to skin a cat"
script - emvee, inks - Addy
Above the jungle planet Animatros, three ships are facing off in a Mexican standoff - an Autobot shuttle, and representatives of the two Decepticon factions. Suddenly another much older Cybertronian ship shoots past them to crashland on the planet's surface. Each ship dispatches their best trackers to the planet. Steeljaw is on the scent, being watched from a distance by Mirage. Razorclaw and Rampage attack Steeljaw, and Mirage manages to take out Rampage, leaving himself open to Razorclaw's retaliation. Razorclaw is blown away mid-leap by Ravage (emerging from the shadows) who proposes a temporary truce between himself and Mirage, as they continue the search. Meanwhile, the crashed ship has already been found...by Fangry!

STORY 5
"Explorations"
script - emvee, inks - Tim
Smokescreen's team are exploring an old, supposedly abandoned Decepticon base, acting on a tip-off from Mirage. They discover an ancient but sophisticated space bridge gate. They are about to investigate further when they are attacked and obliterated by unseen assailants. The sole survivor, Hubcap, makes a run for it, but is discovered and seized by an enormous hand - one that we now know belongs to Overlord...

STORY 6
"Confrontations"
script - emvee, inks - Matt
Picking up fom the end of story 1, Sky Lynx and Slamdance face off against Fangry, Flywheels and Overlord, who is casually holding a struggling Hubcap by one leg. Overlord is cocky, and his troops eager to tear into the Autobots, when they are interrupted by the arrival of Mirage and Ravage, who reinforce the Autobots. They accuse Overlord of murdering Smokescreen's team, but he insists that he cannot take the credit, and tosses Hubcap back to them. Things are about to kick off when the broken body of Squeezeplay is thrown into the arena, heralding the arrival of the new faction - Skyquake and Stalker.

A couple of notes - the Autobot shrine on the fire planet is intended to be the last resting place of Pyro. Fangry will have his robot mode redesigned a little bit, I want him to keep his wings and beast feet in robot mode, and his wolf's head will be relocated to his right hand, like TM2 Megatron. Sky Lynx will also have a new robot mode - the combined form of his bird and lynx modes. Could also be interesting how three of the robots present (Overlord, Slamdance and Flywheels) can separate into a tank and a jet...oh, and I'm drawing Flywheels a bit more like a Valkyrie to give him that little extra threat


That's all I have so far, so if anyone would like to contribute a 5-page script to fit in with those (either remotely or directly - I've left it on a bit of a cliffhanger) then please get in touch either through PM or email - robleesejones at gmail dot com. Ideally I'd like to get 50ish pages o TF action in this one, so I'll need four more scripts and four more artists to make it work, plus anyone who can supply colouring.

We'll also need all the other stuff too - letters page, profiles, all the usual fun and games.

Oh, and as a back-up strip, the last ever Molestrangler :) It's possible that Matt and I will be working on a non-TF back-up strip as well, or maybe a crossover with an 80s computer game. More on that as it progresses.

[edit] I forgot about text stories, as our esteemed sprunk has just reminded me...or indeed anything else that you think might look good in print. If you have ideas, let me know them :)

So, lemme know what y'all think. Post here, PM or email me, or send me a postcard :)
Last edited by Metal Vendetta on Tue Mar 20, 2007 12:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Impactor returns 2.0 » Tue Mar 20, 2007 12:06 pm

you know im good for the usuall riff-raff - and luckly, im entering the easter break at Uni... ah!
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Post by Brendocon » Tue Mar 20, 2007 12:09 pm

I'm good for my regular contribution.
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Post by Metal Vendetta » Tue Mar 20, 2007 12:10 pm

Good stuff - there's a possibility I can get hold of a painted cover this year, I know a really good artist who says he'll do it as long as I give him a decent storyboard to work from...but I haven't had any ideas about what would make a good image yet...
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Post by Brendocon » Tue Mar 20, 2007 12:13 pm

Flywheels.

[EDIT] Or a Giant-Size X-Men style homage. With the original style TFs bursting through an image of the New Movie cast...

[EDIT 2] Which also serves as a homage to UK #200...
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Post by Metal Vendetta » Tue Mar 20, 2007 12:18 pm

I thought Flywheels too...I'll see if I can knock up some sketches and see maybe put it to a vote.

[edit] Goes to look up UK#200
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Post by Impactor returns 2.0 » Tue Mar 20, 2007 12:37 pm

I dont mind doing the layout again, and perjaps even taking a stab at colouring some backdrops, ive got pretty good at the old matte painting recently...

If your friend doesnt do the cover I dont mind having a go again aswell.
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Post by Metal Vendetta » Tue Mar 20, 2007 12:42 pm

Cool beans - I'll talk to him this week and see if he's available, he really does paint photorealistic stuff, so it should look great. If he can't make it, I'd love to see some more of your 3D stuff. Maybe we could use that for a centre-pages spread or something anyway?
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Post by Impactor returns 2.0 » Tue Mar 20, 2007 12:51 pm

Yeah, sounds like a plan - Im dying to render somthing on my new computer that isnt a new phone, or some other random product, which is all I do now... I need to create !
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Post by Predabot » Tue Mar 20, 2007 1:21 pm

HOLY FLARKIN' DINGO-FECES! :eek:

It's TIME! :D

I am as per ussual, at yer' disposal. Molestranglers or otherwise. :) But it can't really be the last one, can it?? :eyebrow: Terribly sad if Prime doesn't get his revenge on the big grimmer in the end... :(

I just got a real big brainstorm here, why not have a look at some classic Silver Age Marvel covers, for some inspiration? :)

http://www.samcci.comics.org/

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Post by Impactor returns 2.0 » Tue Mar 20, 2007 1:24 pm

Whilst those covers are great an all, in context to this fan-comic, being a transformers comic, i could just 'marvel at any decent artwork for insperation.

Im always under the impression that the transfest comic should at least pay some homage to the G1 comic covers in someway...
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Post by Brendocon » Tue Mar 20, 2007 1:35 pm

Predabot wrote:Terribly sad if Prime doesn't get his revenge on the big grimmer in the end... :(
Not if you think Prime's a ****, it's not.
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Post by Metal Vendetta » Tue Mar 20, 2007 1:56 pm

Impactor returns 2.0 wrote:Im always under the impression that the transfest comic should at least pay some homage to the G1 comic covers in someway...
Yeah, I'm a fan of this idea. I'll browse through the archive and have a look...I'm thinking something like "The Good, The Mad...and the Ugly!"
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Post by Predabot » Tue Mar 20, 2007 2:01 pm

Metal Vendetta wrote:
Impactor returns 2.0 wrote:Im always under the impression that the transfest comic should at least pay some homage to the G1 comic covers in someway...
Yeah, I'm a fan of this idea. I'll browse through the archive and have a look...I'm thinking something like "The Good, The Mad...and the Ugly!"
And *I* am thinking about something like: "YOU ASKED FOR HIM! YOU GOT HIM! OMEGA SUPREEEEME!!!" ^^

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Post by Brendocon » Tue Mar 20, 2007 2:16 pm

And I'm thinking "give me a gun and a plane ticket to Sweden"...
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Post by Impactor returns 2.0 » Tue Mar 20, 2007 2:46 pm

Metal Vendetta wrote:
Impactor returns 2.0 wrote:Im always under the impression that the transfest comic should at least pay some homage to the G1 comic covers in someway...
Yeah, I'm a fan of this idea. I'll browse through the archive and have a look...I'm thinking something like "The Good, The Mad...and the Ugly!"
Always liked that cover - so how do u suggest a play on this cover could be made?

Its open for some kind of character replacement and word play...

As this new transfest could tie in with the new movie, i was thinking somthing along the lines of.

under the word 'good' - we have a G1 character, under 'bad' his movie equivlant, and under ugly, the new movie megatron or somthing like that.
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Post by snarl » Tue Mar 20, 2007 3:08 pm

I dont mind doing a goatse for the centre spread.
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Post by Metal Vendetta » Tue Mar 20, 2007 3:10 pm

*gets camera*

remember snarlos, we need all eight fingers...
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Post by Hound » Tue Mar 20, 2007 5:29 pm

I'd like to help in some way, although I will admit to my talents being quite limited.

The offer is there anyway :)

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Post by Best First » Tue Mar 20, 2007 7:07 pm

so, just so i am clear, the whole thing is based on a story idea you have right?
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Post by Metal Vendetta » Tue Mar 20, 2007 10:33 pm

The main story idea I came up with was:

I'd like to introduce the Predators to the G1 universe

so I wrote a few stories around that, using mostly obscure characters, and thought if other people wanted to contribute to the plot arc, that would get the comic a cool anthological vibe. My friend Lee (who mostly writes TV and film stuff) offered to write one, though it has little direct bearing on the main plot save for setting up a nice confrontation in a later story, so they don't have to heavily linked to the plot arc. I was thinking like an overall season of Buffy or something...

Of course other stories don't have to fit in at all, they could even be set in different continuities or universes, after all, this is a democracy isn't it, oh benevolent one? ;)

Work in progress if anyone wants a gander...
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Post by Best First » Wed Mar 21, 2007 8:37 am

in terms of democracy, that's kind of my concern, it might have been better to discuss how we were going to aproach this as a community before people went off and created a load of content and presented it as "this is what 'our' next comics going to be" - i appluad your level of effort but i think it would have been nice to have had a bit more transfans involvement from the get go. The whole note of a shared endevour is a bit undermined if one person plans the majority if it and then offers to let everyone else help finish it off in my honest opinion.

and an aside, no transfans avowedly is not a democracy.
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Post by Metal Vendetta » Wed Mar 21, 2007 12:25 pm

If people want to do something else for the comic then that's fine - I'm not dictating "this is how it's going to be" I'm just saying "this is what I've done so far". If you don't like the direction it's going, write something else and send it to me.
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Post by Best First » Wed Mar 21, 2007 12:55 pm

How about we discuss the direction its going to go in as a group before kicking things off in the first place?

I don't see how that can be considered an unreasonable suggestion for a Transfans comic for a Transfans event.

I know this has been stuttering for a bit but if you want to get things motoring i would suggest that that is a more appropriate way to go given the projects nature.

Fact is turning up and saying 'ive already decided on 30 pages of content' is dictating things to some extent.
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Post by Metal Vendetta » Wed Mar 21, 2007 1:23 pm

Where did I mention that there's an upper page limit on this?

This is democracy by participation. If you want something in this comic then do it and send it to me.

Or you can pooh-pooh my ideas from the comfort of your armchair.

Or we can just keep stuttering until July.
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Post by Best First » Wed Mar 21, 2007 2:08 pm

Metal Vendetta wrote:This is democracy by participation. .
Generally works better if people know they are supposed to be participating, which is my point.
If you want something in this comic then do it and send it to me.
again, we have a forum set up for editing/planning this, so why aren't we doing editing/planning in a more community orientated fashion?

These questions remain reasonable if this is supposed to be a Transfans project.
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Post by Metal Vendetta » Wed Mar 21, 2007 3:10 pm

Best First wrote:
Metal Vendetta wrote:This is democracy by participation. .
Generally works better if people know they are supposed to be participating, which is my point.
I posted on these forums last November that I was going to be working on this. It's not like I've been deliberately keeping people in the dark. And the purpose of this topic was to encourage people to contribute - thanks to Brend, Impy, sprunk, Karl and Hound for offering to help - so I'm not sure I see your point here. It's not too late. You can write something and make a contibution or you can continue to complain that I've taken the initiative, written something, sourced artists and will no doubt spend many lonely hours in front of photoshop editing and colouring this thing. Carry on.
Best First wrote:
If you want something in this comic then do it and send it to me.
again, we have a forum set up for editing/planning this, so why aren't we doing editing/planning in a more community orientated fashion?

These questions remain reasonable if this is supposed to be a Transfans project.
I'm not sure...perhaps because the only idea in the "script ideas" topic is a lighthearted tale about the adventures of a teenager and his Optimus Prime costume?

'Twould be a thin issue indeed, would it not?
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Post by Legion » Wed Mar 21, 2007 3:15 pm

Metal Vendetta wrote: I'm not sure...perhaps because the only idea in the "script ideas" topic is a lighthearted tale about the adventures of a teenager and his Optimus Prime costume?

'Twould be a thin issue indeed, would it not?
So you're saying you don't like my idea? :(

Besides, with the particular teen in question, it wouldn't be that 'thin' an issue ;)

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Post by Metal Vendetta » Wed Mar 21, 2007 3:24 pm

Legion wrote:So you're saying you don't like my idea? :(
Not at all, I'm actually quite taken with it . Why not write it up and send it in?
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Post by Best First » Wed Mar 21, 2007 4:30 pm

Metal Vendetta wrote: I'm not sure I see your point here.
I’m sorry you can’t see the point that deciding on the content and direction of a book with the Tranfans name on it could have been kicked off in a more collaborative and involving fashion. Like last time.

I’m also sorry that when I comment as such you decide to try and state that this is me complaining that you have sourced artists and whatnot. Its not though is it? Might have been nice to source artists and then discuss how they would be used as a group thought mightn’t it, for example?

You are right there was a paucity of ideas in that topic but I think this was probably largely down to there being no clear plan for the event (although Karl’s Pipes idea, which was in there, sounded good) and, maybe, if you had some ideas, posting them to address this there and then might have been a better way to proceed.

I have hawked a Bludgeon script before but general suggestion at the time was it was too long (Ironically as it turns out), which was fair enough given how we were operating on a short script basis.

Anything that is produced now is looking to be disproportionately the effort of one member of this community (given that you seem to have already decided on a significant amount of content and appointed yourself as editor as far as i can tell) and that’s a shame in my book. Personally I don’t think its an odd thing to say that 30 pages of content written by one person seems a tad odd for this kind of project.

And strangely I don’t feel like a terrible person for making this assertion.

I’m genuinely sorry you don’t like me saying this but, non of thee points are unfair and I would suggest a back to the drawing board approach and some date setting as well as putting together a proper editorial group rather than one person would be a better way of doing this. As i say, like last time.

Having ideas is fine, deciding in isolation how a large chunk of this gets done doesn’t seem to be to me.

Incidentally, if what’s posted above is set after G2 Mirage, Smokesceen and Razorclaw are dead. If its only set after g1 at least one of the Firecons is dead.
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