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I'm not around all the time. Without boring details, I live in the shadow of two long term illnesses. Which eat into my spare time more than I'd like ideally.


I am also Very forgetful. Hence, completely dropping out of conversations. Abandoned threads that I actually wrote. All the missing collection pics and the fact that I am very behind with Transformers FanFic I have in that thread. Just as an insight into the latter, When I finished writing the Doctor Who FanFic in November of last year. I had planned to finish the Transformers one by December. There are two volumes left to transfer over from my original notes. The reality turned out that between July '22 and the end of January '23, I've written one chapter.

The combination of these two(three) factors leaves me with a backlog I do aim to catch up with. Eventually.

VERY short staffed at work, did 49 hours this week (normally only do 40, 44 if I do a Saturday morning) and it'll be like that for the next six weeks at least. Also just finished another 3 hours here at home. So basically I get Sunday off completely. But even then I'll probably spend a few hours doing that silly Pokemon Go community day thing when I'm not manipulating spreadsheet data for work.

Partner is battling cancer so I try to spend as much time as I can with her (not terminal, but gotta keep the spirits up.

Oh and I find the discussion on these forums to either be on the dead side, or certain members will tell you your opinion is wrong, or your post will often go overlooked (it's become very cliquey here now that active members are way down) plus the TF's fans on Twitter are so much more pleasant.

TL:DR - Life finds a way ... of getting in the way of TF discussion/banter.

Getting the hang saving more time to myself,family and goals while still maintainning the job.

Burn wrote:Oh and I find the discussion on these forums to either be on the dead side, or certain members will tell you your opinion is wrong, or your post will often go overlooked (it's become very cliquey here now that active members are way down) plus the TF's fans on Twitter are so much more pleasant.

I don't have a twitter account, but I think I can relate. Sometimes its nice to find positivity in random Youtube comments.

TulioDude wrote:

Burn wrote:Oh and I find the discussion on these forums to either be on the dead side, or certain members will tell you your opinion is wrong, or your post will often go overlooked (it's become very cliquey here now that active members are way down) plus the TF's fans on Twitter are so much more pleasant.

I don't have a twitter account, but I think I can relate.

Same on both counts. I dunno, I just thought it was me. Because I join in conversations less and less. But it seems like some people just enjoy arguing that night is day. And I just don't have the energy for that anymore.

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:

TulioDude wrote:

Burn wrote:Oh and I find the discussion on these forums to either be on the dead side, or certain members will tell you your opinion is wrong, or your post will often go overlooked (it's become very cliquey here now that active members are way down) plus the TF's fans on Twitter are so much more pleasant.

I don't have a twitter account, but I think I can relate.

Same on both counts. I dunno, I just thought it was me. Because I join in conversations less and less. But it seems like some people just enjoy arguing that night is day. And I just don't have the energy for that anymore.

If you find yourself enjoying this hobby less and less, take a step back and look at why. I did it a few years ago, it was the main reason I stepped down as forum admin, I wasn't enjoying the "community", the figures being put out at the time were of no interest to me, so I stepped back and concentrated on my own collection.

That was also around the time I started exploring Twitter some more, started following a couple of accounts and found people to be much more friendly and open to different opinions. I'm still not fussed with the current offerings (it's all getting a little repetitive and there's characters I couldn't give two shits about) but I'm here for me, no others, and certainly not the validation of others.

Interesting to think about the hobby. I'll give a little backstory:

I was done, with Transformers. Up until about eight to nine years ago. The Furman-written IDWverse got me back into comics. But the last figures I'd bought were from the High Moon games. It was the enthusiasm of two avid TF friends that made me think "well there were one or two I did want, back in the day". That's how I ended up with the four Modern City Bots. Also finishing off my redeco collections of BM Jetstorm, BW Cybershark, Wolfang/K-9 and the rest. Then BW Masterpiece came along and I was in it for the long haul.

Fast forward to 2023. I haven't bought anything new for me since MP Tigatron. HasTak putting the BW Masterpiece collection on the backburner literally killed all my enthusiasm for the line. They are all I want. Not interested in new comics or new shows - since Siege put me to sleep and Earthspark was put behind a streaming service/paywall. New toylines haven't done anything for me. G1 redux' do even less. When the last MP Beast Wars figure drops. I think I'll be done with Transformers.

Meanwhile, from having no collections on display circa 2015. My collecting hobby has evolved far beyond TF's now.

Personally, the thing I found myself enjoying less on here was that discussion devolved into hostility almost immediately. I just don't take fiction that seriously.

There's a saying, at least in the US, "When it rains it pours."

That pretty much sums up my last 6 weeks of life. I nearly became homeless and had a 6-year relationship crash and burn almost simultaneously. She did swear that the 2 had nothing to do with each other, though I am skeptical, considering she had been lying to me for at least the last 2 years, as I found out later.

How does this relate to Transformers? Well upon my unforeseen and immediate financial hardship, I had to plan on selling off some parts of my collection, or even all of it if that's what it came down to. What surprised me was, I had very little reluctance to do so. It made me realize that I wasn't so attached to parts of my collection any more, and was actually happy to get rid of some of it. It's given me more space and allowed me to focus on the parts that I still care about, which are mainly the figures representing G1, especially the characters that were prominent in the comics, from the beginning of G1 to the conclusion of RG1. Also I kept the Beast Wars figures released during WFC as well as the select Studio Series 86 figures I like.

As for the circumstances that brought this about, I do have steady adequate income now, though my now-defunct relationship continues to wreak havoc on me mentally and emotionally. 6 and a half years is not easy to get over, though I do take small solace in the fact that I didn't actually marry her even if we got engaged. That bitch actually had the nerve to accept a ring from me even though she was already cheating on me when I proposed.

Also, my brief unemployment allowed me to take time to reflect on my life in general. I had realized I was getting wrapped up way too much in online life and social media, and it was dominating my actual real life I was living. It was the main cause of my employment issues, and what happened was a bit of a reality check regarding my priorities in life.

So now that I'm coming out on the other side of things (the money issues being much easier to overcome than the emotional ones) I have a somewhat new view on life, with a lot of my habits changed. I can honestly say that aside from dealing with soul-crushing heartbreak, I'm actually a happy and stress-free person. I used to spend hours on Facebook, these days I skim it for maybe 10 minutes a day. And I don't feel like I missed much. I stopped following the news online as well, and it makes for a much better day, because quite frankly, I just don't give a f**k.

I used to get into debates and arguments about politics and social issues and it was making me miserable without me realizing it. No more. These last 6 weeks have cleared my head on how important my life actually is and time shouldn't be wasted on pointless garbage, because time is the 1 thing in life you can't get more of.

Transformers as a whole has been going downhill in my opinion as well, in every aspect except maybe the newer figures being released. Otherwise, I have 0 interest in any new media, though the new comic does intrigue me mildly.

So all of those things combined (along with a couple issues I already had with a few people here) have caused me to become a much less active poster on the boards, and it will remain that way until the quality of the content and posts rise. I will continue checking the news for updates on new releases and news in general, but otherwise I have found that I lost my enthusiasm for Transformers in general, except for the rare aspects still near and dear to me.

But that's fine, my life is taking new direction in many other ways as well, so far looking like for the better.

I work in Gower Street, Central London. I just went to the George Farha cafe, next to Euston Square tube station. They have a variety of sandwiches, wraps, melts, salads and microwave meals. Also, they have ice cream and frozen yoghurt. I never had frozen yoghurt before. It's quite expensive at £3 per small cup but it's nice on a warm day like today.

My main works canteen is closed for the whole of August 2023 for refurbishment. I don't know why this is necessary. They had a total refurbishment only a few years ago. Perhaps they will finally fix the faulty plumbing and drainage?! Anyway, I now have to get my food from other places like the George Farha cafe. It's not terrible, though. That's where I've been!

Two weeks ago, I went to the Wat Tyler Nature Reserve on the south coast of Essex (UK). The place used to be an explosives factory during the World Wars, other wars and also peace time. In those days, all workers had to be searched for metal objects to prevent sparks. Metal objects weren't allowed. The on-site railway line had to use wooden rails and carts to prevent sparks. Altogether, I walked four miles that day. There were plenty of trees, bushes and small creatures to view. The site was covered with earth mounds, which helped stop the spread of explosions during the manufacture of blasting powders. Views beyond the reserve were not the best, with mud flats, a power station, a rubbish tip and many electricity pylons. To compensate, there were two cafes in the middle of the reserve, plus a miniature railway that only ran on the busiest days of summer.

I have a folder


A leather, zip-lock folder. It belonged to my Grandad. I've had it since his passing in 1998. Beyond sentiment, what it contains means more to me than anything else I own. My (peak) imagination. Every single sketch, doodle and written piece I made in my younger years. Where such things as the original source material of my Transformers Fan Fiction lives. The written scripts for the whole series as well as concept art for Terrorcon, TM Dinobot, Snapdragon etc

I go through it occasionally to reminisce (and for inspiration). As I did yesterday. All my own work, born of my influences at the time: Transformers, X-Men etc

It's nice to think back to when I was actively pursuing a career in comics. Before "real life" really kicked in and the rest as they say, became history.

When I do things online it is mostly playing city of heroes Homecoming. I barely log on to any of the forums anymore. I am on a couple FB Tf groups but so many are complete d-bags (like most of the collector FB groups filled with people that think they are "elite" and others that are just douchy).

Outside of my immediate family I have little to no tolerance for anyone anymore.

I came here originally from a different Transformers forum that shut down years ago to focus more attention on its Facebook page. Unfortunately, at the time Seibertron was almost *too* big and active to scratch the same conversational itch.

Since then I've dabbled in Reddit's Transformers subreddit, but lately its become very Bayverse-centric as the kids that grew up on those movies have started reaching adulthood, and I'm really not a big fan. Not that I'm complaining, as a Unicorn trilogy kid I get liking a piece of the franchise that the generations before dislike, but it's not really what I was there for.

Since then, I've been returning to these forums to discuss the franchise, but now I have the opposite problem, the forum isn't active enough to really get engaged.

A brief hiatus

Roughly two weeks ago, my PC died. Granted it was only 6+ years old. But it was both low spec and secondhand/refurbished. So it was probably older than that. The only thing that kept me from upgrading was the fact that it was working.

My shiny new PC arrived a week ago. There was however, a catch. My old PC died with everything still on it. Every picture, document etc I had. Things like the fanfic and picture posting will be on hiatus for a while. Until the data can (thankfully) be migrated on Thursday.

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:My old PC died with everything still on it. Every picture, document etc I had. Things like the fanfic and picture posting will be on hiatus for a while. Until the data can (thankfully) be migrated on Thursday.

For years I've regularly backed up to an external hard drive (which I replace every couple of years) using an old Microsoft program called "SyncToy" and it's never given me grief. Highly recommend backups.

There's always that cloud stuff too, depending on how much data you have.

Burn wrote:

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:My old PC died with everything still on it. Every picture, document etc I had. Things like the fanfic and picture posting will be on hiatus for a while. Until the data can (thankfully) be migrated on Thursday.

For years I've regularly backed up to an external hard drive (which I replace every couple of years) using an old Microsoft program called "SyncToy" and it's never given me grief. Highly recommend backups.

There's always that cloud stuff too, depending on how much data you have.

I know, I know. Lesson learned. I do actually have an external hard drive. But it is not really used for the standard documents and photos. Mostly for downloaded Big Finish Audios as well as Movies, TV shows etc The stuff that used to heavily eat into the 320GB memory of my old PC (the new one is 1TB, for contrast).

You never really think something like a PC will just stop working one day. After being perfectly fine the day before.

So after the pandemic (or right around it was winding down), I started volunteering at the local museum up the road from me. In the process, I met my now fiancee while helping out and we eventually moved in together. She got a new job (something more permanent) and we have moved to PA where she lectures at the college here. It's been an interesting change as I thought when I got my diagnosis no one would love me because of it, but honestly I am surprised she did and I have enjoyed every moment I've had with her. There are trials and tribulations with any relationship and it has been quite the adjustment to say goodbye to my life in OH, and hello to my new life here in PA. Recently I proposed in December and now we're getting married later this year. I'm excited and looking forward to getting on with the rest of my life.

While it's been a process to resettle as we had to throw a lot of my old furniture out since it was pretty junky, so we're slowly building up the apartment. I know I haven't gotten all my Transformers out on display (mostly just my Jurassic Park/Jurassic World), a couple of select Megatron figures that stand on my computer tower, and my Star Wars Imperials/Sith forces. The cool thing is not only is she a paleontologist and we both love dinosaurs, but she's also into a lot of the same stuff I am interested in too. Since she loves Star Wars we made the one wall in the bedroom a more unified theme and that was how I got my Imperials out and did my base diorama like I used to have before. I'm looking forward to mobilizing my Decepticons on the next shelf we buy though because I miss having them out. *sniff*

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:You never really think something like a PC will just stop working one day. After being perfectly fine the day before.

You could pretty much say I've been the "IT Guy" at both jobs I've had since I left high school, plus with my home computers, I can safely say, they're cantankerous little **** at times.

Tyrannacon wrote:While it's been a process to resettle as we had to throw a lot of my old furniture out since it was pretty junky, so we're slowly building up the apartment. I know I haven't gotten all my Transformers out on display (mostly just my Jurassic Park/Jurassic World), a couple of select Megatron figures that stand on my computer tower, and my Star Wars Imperials/Sith forces.

There's no rush! We moved into our house five years ago and I still have stuff in boxes because I haven't gotten display cases for them yet!

Burn wrote:

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:You never really think something like a PC will just stop working one day. After being perfectly fine the day before.

You could pretty much say I've been the "IT Guy" at both jobs I've had since I left high school, plus with my home computers, I can safely say, they're cantankerous little **** at times.

I'm convinced that when I played IT in the past I may have made some type of Faustian pact to get a specific computer working that really shouldn't have worked. I say this now because seemingly every time I try to do anything simple like buy groceries or frankly anything involving another individual operating a computer, the machines show active dislike towards me.

Burn wrote:

Tyrannacon wrote:While it's been a process to resettle as we had to throw a lot of my old furniture out since it was pretty junky, so we're slowly building up the apartment. I know I haven't gotten all my Transformers out on display (mostly just my Jurassic Park/Jurassic World), a couple of select Megatron figures that stand on my computer tower, and my Star Wars Imperials/Sith forces.

There's no rush! We moved into our house five years ago and I still have stuff in boxes because I haven't gotten display cases for them yet!

Well, yeah we've been going slow with it. I got my Jurassic stuff up and my Star Wars figures for my Imperial base diorama. I do have a couple of my favorite Megatrons' on top of my computer tower next to me in the interim as I said: Combiner Wars G1 Megatron, Studio Series 2007 Megatron, Legacy Armada Megatron, WFC Kingdom Galvatron, Legacy Transmetal 2 Megatron, Studio Series WFC Gamer Edition Megatron, Earthspark Megatron, Shattered Glass Generation Selects Megatron, 35th Anniversary Classic Animation WFC Megatron, and Generation Selects Super Megatron. I kinda miss having my big display out as I had just picked up the Megatron helmet designed by Modern Icons that I'd love to have displayed once more. Not to mention a good friend of mine got me the Bishoujo Megatron statue as well for my last birthday to be displayed with everything else.