Earlier today, I posted that the first figure in the Botcon box set had been revealed last week. That figure was Dirge. I’m pleased to say that the second figure in the set has been announced today. Thundercracker. “The ringing in your ears is the sound of your own destruction.”

For those who keep track, it appears Thundercracker will feature the running change on the seeker mold that I mentioned in this video on Classics Skywarp.

Outside of that small factoid, there’s not much else to say. The figure is pretty much exactly what we were expecting (and hoping!) to see. A straight up repaint of Starscream/Skywarp with the appropriate colors. As always, images mirrored below.

Source: Botcon.com

 

Botcon.com has posted images of the first exclusive from the Transformers convention boxset “Games of Deception”. Dirge is a direct repaint of Classics Ramjet featuring a paint scheme pretty close to the G1 version. I have mirrored the images below. It should also be noted that this exclusive has nothing to do with the Botcon 2005 Exclusive Dirge.

The pictures were followed by this quote: ” Talk all you want loser! The only sound you
make that I’ll listen to is a death rattle. ”

 

I have also included a couple side by side shots with the G1 version of Dirge and the Botcon photos for comparison

 

You’ll note that the nosecone is flipped down in robot mode for the G1 figure. The boxart for G1 Dirge shows him with the nosecone of the jet down, whereas in the original cartoon it was straight up, giving he, Ramjet and Thrust the nickname of the Coneheads. There are also no vertical tailfins on G1 Dirge. That was specific to Ramjet’s wings which is carried over from the original mold for this figure. G1 Dirge’s wings also featured a small wing just in front of the main wing. Most of the differences that will exist between the G1 versions and the Classics versions of the Coneheads will be localized to the wings and missiles. Those are the main identifiers for each of the first Coneheads from G1 outside of color.

More exclusives will be revealed in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!

It’s the third and final day of Wizard World LA, and… well, not much to talk about.

• CBR has an interesting interview with comics veteran Peter David on the “3 act structure” of writing. It’s actually a really good read, even if you’re already familiar with the methods he describes.
• CBR also has a great interview with Simon Furman regarding the upcoming Spotlight: Galvatron (with Guido Guidi on art), like how Galvatron ISN’T a rebuilt Megatron, or how his nemesis is mostly Ultra-Magnus (?), and how you shouldn’t expect Unicron to show up… outside of the upcoming Beast Wars: The Ascending book.
• Diamond Select Toys has announced an upcoming Dr. Strange Minimate, from what Minimate Headquarters suspects could be a Defenders line.
• Toy News International has images of DC Direct & Art Asylum’s 6th wave of Minimates, featuring “Battle Damaged” Wonder Woman & Cheetah, Bizarro & Supergirl, S.T.R.I.P.E. & Stargirl, and Sgt. Rock & Blackhawk. Images mirrored below:
  

DC and Marvel scrimped on the news today (what, tired of talking World War Hulk, Amazons Attack, and World War III already?), but some interesting news did surface about IDW’s Scarface prequel, Gene Simmons diving into the comic scene, and some great Heroes DVD (and HD-DVD) news. Read on!
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I missed it yesterday, but Wizard World LA is featuring an exclusive two-pack of Minimates – Spider-Man and black-suited Spider-Man, as seen in a little movie called Spider-Man 3. The unique thing about this toy exclusive is that it’s also available for sale online, for the exact same price as that it’s selling for at the convention: a mere $7. You can buy them here, at the Diamond Select Toys site. Well, you can preorder them, at least. Estimated availability date is on March 26th.

Yes, I realize we JUST had two separate conventions. Clearly, this is nowhere near enough of them. Clearly.

Continue on to read about Avengers Classic, Booster Gold & Infinity, Inc., and 9 new Marvel busts from Bowen Designs. All that, and the rest of the Day 1 roundup after the jump
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Yesteday there was somewhat of an uproar over Maxis developer Chris Hecker calling the Wii a “piece of shit” and “two gamecubes duct taped together” and implied that Nintendo doesn’t care about games as art.
Here is Super Mario Galaxy, shown today.

Now Hecker apologizes. Does a Mario game need to look any better than that? I mean, thats beyond all my wildest expectations for Mario! Really delivers on Wii being more than just a funny controller.
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Even though Game Developer’s Conference should by name be about developers coming together and networking and talking about how to make better games, the big names all bring tons of new info and use their keynotes to stump their product. Sony’s Phil Harrison actually showed Killzone on PS3 last night in playable form but touted it as an exercise in their new game engine and developer tools. Whatever, Phil. You wanted to show Killzone to someone.

Sony came out swinging after almost a year of bad press following their E3 announcement of the PS3’s pricepoint. The bombshell is Playstation Home (trailer) is a service thats part Xbox Achievements, part Mii, and part Second Life. Its almost… too much. It lack’s Mii’s simple charm, and 360’s slick menu system in favor of stocking an apartment full of trophies earned in game and having an avatar you can clothe and send around the virtual world. I have a feeling this sounds cooler than it will be, but at least it sounds cool.

Another feather in Sony’s cap is LittleBigPlanet. Its a platformer. A platformer! Its community based, so you can make and share your own levels. Just Look, we’ll talk about it later. I’ll just say this is a game I’d buy a PS3 for.

Nintendo has good news and bad news. Bad News: This summer has no Mario Galaxy or Metroid Prime 3. No wonder Reggie’s driver looks mad. Good news? [Read the rest of this entry…]