"The Real Effing Deal" about my love of Transformers!

So, I should say that I'm a big fan of the Transformers toys, comics, and cartoons. Well, maybe not all of the above, but certain ones from each line. I've got to say that the original "G1" cartoon that debuted back in 1984 is my favorite of the bunch. It's what's started my love of the characters, and still pulls me back to this day...

When I was young (or so my mother says), I had an Optimus Prime that I got from my grandmother. My grandfather was a truck driver, and I absolutely adored that toy because he was a cab-over semi like my grandpa drove!!!!!
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y131/Methusalen/Kitty%20Truck%20WIP/100_0758.jpg

Heck, in the last year or so, I even went as far as taking a reissued Optimus Prime (actually, he was something I'd won from the Mountain Dew "Transform Your Summer" promo they ran prior to the 2007 live-action Transformers film), and repainting him to look like 'The Kitty Truck". It turned out beautifully, everyone I've shown it to thinks it's cool as hell, and I have plans on doing a few more versions of it (assuming I ever get the money to do them).
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y131/Methusalen/Kitty%20Truck%20WIP/2008-04-26012.jpg

Now that the Transformers have come back into the spotlight, I've begun to pick up the occasional figure, both old and new. Of course, I've been picking up Optimus Primes; but my wife (hereby dubbed "Smurfette") has fallen in love with the character of Bumblebee. Everyone's favorite VW Bug-turned-Camarro. She has a few of the different figures from the recent movie line, as well as the recent Classics, Legends, and Reissue (Keychain) figures of her hero. I shit you not, in the 2007 Transformers movie ("TFTM"), she tears up and starts to *CRY* when Bumblebee is being captured by Sector 7... We've seen the film COUNTLESS times, and she *STILL* starts crying, like clockwork, EVERYTIME! -She loves her 'bug, what're you gonna do about it?



Anyways, since my lack of hours at "The Big Blue Box", I've started to whittle down my 150+ toy collection down a little bit, eliminating the figures I either:

1)Haven't displayed in a while, and have kept in a bin for the last year or more

2)Just don't have any interest in anymore

3)Don't know why the hell I even bought it in the first place

4)Think it might have a chance to net me a little bit of decent money, and I don't really need it anymore anyways... (like the Rhino G1 DVD sets I bought back in 2000).

I've been selling off a few of the figures pretty regularly through a Transformers fansite I frequent (http://www.tfw2005.com/), but I just haven't had the money to be able to pick up any of the new figures that are coming out for the 2nd Transformers movie (Revenge of the Fallen).



At this point, I'm not really planning on picking up that many figures. It looks like there are a good number of repaints from the previoius movie's toyline, which I already have, or have sold off... I would like to pick up the new Leader Class Optimus Prime, possibly the Leader Megatron since I passed on the last one, a couple of the new Bumblebee figures for Terasa, and there's one Deluxe Class figure I'd like to pick up just for the novely of it... In the upcoming movie there are two characters (refered to as "The Twins"), who start out by combining into a pink Ice Cream Truck... I laugh everytime I think about it, so I have to have him...



On a different note: I'd like to take a second to talk about something I found a few years ago, a little fan-convention in Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin called "Dairycon"! I discovered it back in 2007 after another forum user at TFW2005 named FenderBender had mentioned it in passing. I thought it was pretty neat, a Transformers fan-convention based (compare to the other TF Conventions, it was relatively) close to where I lived? Pretty slick! I checked out their website, found the humor they used regarding their show to be right up my alley, and petitioned for membership to their Yahoo group (the "Dairyland Transfans Association"). Lo-and-behold, they let me in! I missed out on going to the first convention immediately after I'd joined the group, as Terasa and I just didn't have the funds (or transport) to make it out to Fond Du Lac that year, although we *did* make it to the next one in 2008! Terasa and I (as well as a couple friends) had fun, to which (most of us) agreed that it'd be fun to make it a yearly thing... We made plans to attend this last year, but money became tight, but more importantly; there was a death in the family on Terasa's side of the family...

Fred (the person who claims to be in charge :D ) was kind enough to send me a 'Non-Attendee Package", as I'd been working with him on a couple of things, had been showing a LOT of enthusiasm about the upcoming show, and was pretty devastated when we were unable to attend... (*shhhh....* Don't tell anyone, it was supposed to be kept on the 'down low'). This year sounded like a blast, and the 'exclusive' figure that came with the attendee package was pretty cool, a robotic donkey named "Ass-09". Inside the handout was another pleasant surprise as well, an old 5" floppy disc with "Optimus Prime" written on its label, a nod to the old Marvel comic books where Prime sacrifices his life because of some actions in a large VR-like video game, and the human that was running the game saved his entire memory to a single floppy disc... Just wow... I'm still curious to know if there's anything on the disc, but I don't ahve acces to such an old floppy drive! Terasa and I (along with a couple friends who WERE able to make it to the show this year) are DEFINITELY planning on making it to next year's show! (not to mention the 2011 show, as Fred has commented that he plans on using a couple of my character bios as the exclusive for that year!)

And that brings me to "The Real Effing Deal". I'll start out by saying that prior to the 2007 movie, there was a viral marketing website/Alternate Reality Game ("ARG") where they leaked information about the upcoming movie, as well as driving interest in the movie itself. It worked out rather well, and I was lucky enough to be asked to help out as a Moderator on their website... I got a neat 'thank you' from them in the way of a TFTM poster signed by Peter Cullen (the voice of Optimus Prime) made out to me...
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y131/Methusalen/Cullen%20Poster/100_1029.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y131/Methusalen/Cullen%20Poster/100_1030.jpg

So, when I heard that there was going to be another Viral Marketing site for the new film, I had to check it out...
http://www.therealeffingdeal.com/
and
http://www.gianteffingrobots.com/

Unfortunately, they started up pretty slow, and haven't had the amount of interest I think they deserve, especially after they've started to really pick up some steam! The premise behind both are each are "UFO Conspiracy" wesbites, with their respective owners posting news articles about UFO sightings, Robotics news pieces, and most recently, GIANT ROBOT SIGHTINGS!
The Real Effing Deal (TRED) is 'operated by' the main character's college dormmate; while Giant Effing Robots is 'being run' by a former Government Agent (now calling himself "Robo-Warrior") whom we've met in the first movie.
I've loved the back and forth nature of the two sites, as neither one like the other, and they each lay claim to one person stealing something from the other, etc,etc... I can't wait to see how their characters interact in the movie itself...

With any luck, I will have the funds to pay for the movie tickets for Terasa and myself to enjoy the show when it comes out... Wish me luck!