Transtopia Newsletter - February Edition

The excitement continues to build in Transtopia. Lots and lots of repaints, kitbashes, and scratchbuilds. New members and veterans have posted many awe inspiring figures. If you are interested in doing customs but don’t know where to begin, then check out the Transtopia forums for tips from the experts: Transtopia

The newsletter has undergone a face lift, thanks to Seibertron member, Flix for his creative design work. We also have a winner to announce from our banner contest featured last month: Technically Weird gets the bragging rights to show off his artwork as one of our subheaders.
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/Angelic_Prince/seibcontest.jpg

We thank everyone for their participation. You can check out the other entries here

And remember, to check out the Transtopia forum for the latest action.

-Stormrider


How to Showcase Your Work...
The newsletter is your opportunity to show off your work and talent. We rely on your articles, artwork, and customs to make it interesting. Entries will be reviewed on a monthly basis. You can submit your work here:
Repaints, Kitbashes, Scratchbuilds
Fan Art
Fan Fiction
Guides


Newsletter Credits:
Design - Flix
Formatting – Mattyc1007
Fan Art - Mykltron
Fan Fiction – Sledge
Editing – Stormrider





Shattered Glass Aerialbots – Trikeboy




Cyndicate/GESTAULT OPPRESSOR - sentinal supreme



Alternator Dinobots (with special guest) - Broadblasts short shorts



Shattered Glass Cyclonus - Trikeboy



BW Animated Blackarachnia – Psyke



Animated MotorMaster - sentinal supreme



G1 Unicron – Trikeboy



WST G1 Waspinator - grimlockprime108



Rain Makers - sentinal supreme



Premium Barricade – flix



Shattered Glass Prowl – Trikeboy



Hoodswipe – Grimpoo


MovieRepaints - Hakka



Hearts Of Steel Optimus Prime - Sabsabby85



Starscream – Mykltron



WIP Ironhide - Zero-Kaiser



Revoltech Skywarp & Thundercracker - Chris-morada



Abominus Prime/ Medic Prime - Sentinal supreme



Legends G2 Beachcomber - grimlockprime108



Legends Electrum Beachcomber - grimlockprime108



Mercenary Driveshaft – Grimpoo


WIP Shattered Glass Wheeljack - Trikeboy



Universe Dinobot - Softimus Prime



WIP Cybertron Classics Sideswipe – Shadowstream



TFA G1 Prowl- grimlockprime108



Arcee WIP - ServO






WST Shattered Glass Sideswipe - grimlockprime108



Universe Runabout - grimlockprime108



Classics Hydrostorm - Spurt Reynolds



Animated Starscream – Spurt Reynolds



Animated Snarl - Spurt Reynolds



Animated Slag - Spurt Reynolds



Animated Sludge - Spurt Reynolds



Animated Swoop - Spurt Reynolds



Reflector - wan_de_real



Movie Optimus Prime – Sabsabby85



BT Bumblebee - wan_de_real



Custom alternator Perceptor - Customtoysandmore



Jetfire - Transtopias Rodimus Prime


Classics Special Ops Shockwave - Asepticon



Movie Custom Starscream – Crefigz



Alternator Ratbat and Overkill - Broadblasts short shorts






Plush Trailer - mattyc1007





- by Mykltron

This month’s featured artist is Kyrie with his computer design Valkyrie, a female quadrochanger.


(click the link to see larger pictures)

Not only has Kyrie designed a fully transforming character, but he also has presented it beautifully as if it were a photo gallery of an actual figure. The transformation process between modes gives us an indication of how much thought and planning must have gone into it, while touches of realism are included - such as light glinting off the corners, shadows and reflections.

Using the extremely sleek car mode as the starting point, Kyrie used engineering drawing techniques to design the robot, followed by the other two modes. Once those stages were complete, Maya 8.0 was used to create the 3D work of art presented here.

The first thing that struck me about this figure was the amount of blue that was used. Beautiful as this colour is, a little more variety of colour may make it easier to understand, although gold and dark grey have been used for some internal parts.

What I particularly like about the robot’s design is how femininity is suggested through slenderness of build rather than actually giving her breasts like Blackarachnia. Another noteworthy feature is what appear to be gun holsters on her hips in robot mode, although we can’t see any guns. If that’s what they truly are then it’s very cool and this should be used on some real TF toys. Perhaps the only thing missing would be fold-out claws for the front feet to match the rear in tiger mode making her more ferocious.

I’m sure Kyrie would appreciate your feedback on this stunning creation, so please leave your comments on the Valkyrie thread here.

Honorable mentions this month go to Nench for his eye appealing Unicron creation. Click here.


Send us your artwork!
Art entries are reviewed on a monthly basis for the newsletter. Send your entries here by February 28th for the March newsletter.





Do you have modeling or art tips to share with other members? Why not write a guide? Feature tips from - repainting, kitbashing, drawing, sculpting, and even computer graphics. Send an email to Transtopia.Guide@gmx.de for details.




- by Sledge

Hello, fellow Seibertronians, and welcome to the Fan Fiction section. First things first, last month's winner. Sabrblade takes it with the first installment in his "Machine Wars: Transformers – The Fanfic Series." In his own words, it's "within both the U.S. and Japanese G1 animated continuities without interfering with each other." I don't know about you, but I think that's pretty ambitious, and I'll be interested to see how it pans out. Chapter 1 can be read here, with chapter 2 here. If you enjoy those, start pestering Saberblade to write more. Well done, Saberblade, and I hope to see more writing from you soon.

This month is going to be slightly different, as we're setting two contests:

The first is for the end of February. As that's only two weeks away, and that doesn't leave much time to come up with an idea AND get the final version written, February's competion is open to any TF fiction you've got ready for judging at the end of the month. So if you've got something already written, or have a great idea ready to go, this is for you.

The second is for March. For this one, I've decided to mix things up a little by setting a theme. What I'd like to see is something on the topic of "Transformers Go To The Movies." What does that mean? Whatever you want. Transformers starring in films, TFs watching films, TFs covered in a pile of DVDs, whatever that topic suggests to you is what I want to see. Funny, serious, romantic, tragic, anything. If that topic immediately makes you think "Oh, that would be a story about..." start writing it down.

A quick recap of the rules (don't worry, there's not many):
1) 10,000 word limit. Rough guideline to start with, I won't be automatically disqualifying anything that comes in over.
2) Decent spelling, grammar and punctuation. Run a spell check over your story, and maybe get a friend to read it before submitting.
3) Be specific as to where/when the story is set. So what continuity is it in (G1 comic, G1 cartoon, Armada comic, etc) and where is it set? Before the events of the show/comic, after, during? If during, where does it fit?
4) Fan characters are fine, but please avoid making them those annoying "I am more powerful than any other Transformer!!!" types. Also, consider if there's an under-used existing TF who'd fit the needs of the story just as well as someone new. Existing characters are almost always more interesting to everyone else.

And that's all there is to it. Now you have the easy bit of writing it, which involves (if I may paraphrase Douglas Adams) staring at a blank screen until blood appears on your forehead. Please don't bleed on your keyboards, just have fun.

Send your entries here.





Hey Transtopia folks - Burn wants to interview you. How did you get into Transformers? Why are you addicted to kitbashing? What was your first repaint like? What do you do with your spare time?

Don’t keep Burn waiting any longer – he’s getting bored at work. Send him a PM here.