That's the poster I got recently. It's a near-complete print of the 1986 back-of-the-box battle scene, omitting only some of the landscape at the very bottom. It measures 20" x 17" and it is AWESOME. That photograph doesn't do it justice, mostly because photographing anything that's behind a reflective surface is a maddening struggle against glare and reflection.

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After our aborted attempt to buy a house back in 2009, Dollface and I settled very comfortably back into enjoying our fabulous apartment. Spacious, stylish, comfortable and centrally located in one of the coolest sections of Portland, there was very little not to love about the place. However, after several years of rent increases, I was becoming increasingly aware that renting builds no equity and is essentially throwing money away. Additionally we were fed up with having a landlord and upstairs/downstairs neighbors to consider. It was time to start searching again.

Turns out that on our first and only day of touring various available houses, after about ten unsuitable locations we happened to find a house that felt about as close to perfect as we were going to get. To make a long story short, in a whirlwind 2 months we negotiated, inspected, repaired, bought the place, painted and moved in. It's now six weeks later and, having finally resolved all the top home-making priorities and settled in, I feel I can now break my blogging and social media silence to reflect on the whole experience.

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I know, it's been forever since there's been an update to the Box Art Archive. What can I say? When there's no new images submitted, there's nothing for me to post. Or is there....?

Remember those "Find Your Fate" Transformers books from the '80s? You know, the "Choose Your Own Adventure" knock-offs that featured our favorite robots in disguise? Well, I have a complete set, and wouldn't you know that the penciled art heavily borrows from the Transformers box art, oftentimes reproducing the line art exactly. The Transformers art that isn't directly lifted from the box art is, like the box art itself, extremely faithful to the actual toys. I LOVE IT.

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Check this out. From an eBay auction that I happened to see, it's unpublished Garbage Pail Kids art featuring a distressed GPK Optimus Prime:

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Elections in Decepticon-held territories are done by a show of hands, usually at gunpoint, often with little warning other than the very recent murder of the previous leader. There was just such an election recently, so I can tell you who my choice was for Decepticon Leader and Supreme Commander: GALVATRON.

I voted for him for several reasons, both professional and personal:

• I support Galvatron's pledge to crush Ultra Magnus and every other Autobot;
• I agree with his plan to expand and invest in our long-term economic prosperity by reducing Earth, Quintessa, and every other troublesome planet into a massive energon refinery that will exhaust the world's natural resources and leave it a barren, lifeless husk;
• his disintegration of Starscream showed both political savvy and a willingness to reach across the aisle;
• his views on treating murderously insane Decepticons as a health issue rather than a criminal one seem more in line with modern sensibilities;
• he has leadership experience as a former City Commander and Postmaster General for Trypticon;
• lastly, he would have killed me instantly if I had not voted for him.

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Elections in Oregon are done through the mail, so I've already voted and can tell you who my choice was for President of United States: Gary Johnson, the former Governor of New Mexico, who is the Libertarian Party candidate.

I voted for him because I agree with him more closely on the political issues of the day than any other candidate:

• the restoration of civil liberties that have eroded in the last two administrations, including repealing the Patriot Act and re-strengthening the Fourth Amendment;
• reducing military spending and moving to end our expansive military presence and interventionalist policies overseas;
• ending the failed drug war, specifically marijuana prohibition and the criminalization of non-violent offenders that has made America the world leader in incarceration with more than 1% of our population behind bars;
• and legalizing same-sex marriage.

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Why am I collecting Transformer Kreons?

Do I really love cute and/or kitsch versions of Transformers that much?

Though I immediately saw the appeal when they first debuted, I resisted because the brick sets were too expensive to buy just to get hold of the little Lego-style TF figure that came in the package.

Then my friend Ryan gave me three. Optimus Prime, Skywarp and Bluestreak.

Just gave them to me. Just like that. Like it was nothing.

What a bastard.

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I haven't been blogging as much, I know. I've been busy. With stuff. All of which I will tell you about right now. (If you care about my personal life, there's a lot about that to follow. If you only care about Transformers, skip down to the pictures below.)

Notably, Dollface and I flew to the east coast for my brother's wedding. Which I officiated. (I've done it before.) Except this time I was mercilessly hungover. Don't worry, the attendees couldn't tell. Everything went off without a hitch, no one could see my suffering. This time, instead of memorizing the service -- which included writing their vows and lots "they've already been together eleven years" humor -- I read it off my Android phone. Welcome to the future.

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Let me briefly tell you why the new third-party Alicon is AWESOME (despite what some reviewers have been saying).

First let me begin by saying that I love pretty much all the third-party toys I own. From FansProject Crossfire (Bruticus) to iGear Rager (Huffer), from TFC Toys Hercules (Devastator) to ToyWorld Hegemon (Megatron)... I love my third-party toys. Each of them sit in my TF Classics case and make my "modernized" G1 collection that much more complete and perfect.

But my Alicon won't be joining them. Why? Because he's not a Classics-style Transformer; he's a G1-style Transformer! Everything about him -- the colors, the angles and contours, the feel of the plastic, the style of transformation -- screams GEEWUN. An improved G1, to be sure: he has greater articulation in his arms and legs than most any G1 toy ever had. He comes with no instructions, but that's okay because his transformation is fairly intuitive. (His box art effectively answers any question about where certain pieces should go.) He has a very little bit of accessory kibble, just enough to be G1-endearing. (It did take me a little while to figure out I had to remove the forward-facing spikes on his shoulders.) He is a soul brother and companion to my G1 Sharkticon. They were made for each other.

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Some months ago, Camson Tran brought to my attention a Japanese variant I was missing. It turns out that the art for Road King -- the Japanese release of the Autobot Powermaster Slapdash -- is different in the, um, chest area. (Hey! My eyes are up here!) Whereas Slapdash is wearing his "yellow engine" halter top, Road King has his Powermaster engine protecting his modesty. Those crazy Japanese. So I emailed heroic_decepticon, who forwarded along a scan from his friend ZFEAKYE (pronounced "huh?") of The Cave Collection, which I promptly passed along to Ginraii, who took time out of his busy schedule doing CGI for the Transformers movies to edit it. And NOW, FINALLY, BEHOLD! (Road King left, Slapdash right.) Thanks, everybody!

Are you wondering what else has been going on in Botch's Transformers-Filled Life...?

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