Hey

[Baxter]

Hey.

That's all.

[Denyer]

Still here. Not sure how many faces around you'll recognise, but quite a few people are on social media if you go by real names.

[Baxter]

Not sure why but thought about this place yesterday and decided to check and see of its still around. Good to see it. Wow.

I signed up almost 20 years ago. We're getting old.

[Denyer]

Creeping towards thirty for those who remember the 1996 site. Can't find an older snapshot than a few years after that, though: https://web.archive.org/web/19990508233 ... chive.com/

On at least the fourth forum, no-one's got any time, etc, but still likewise checking in.

Anything interesting happen(ing) in your neck of the woods? The UK's been a f*cking shit show for pretty much the past decade and the US seems to have been similar for a good chunk of that.

[Baxter]

Pretty much the same here.
Luckily the Mrs and I both have remote jobs so we work at home. We have weeks where we might not venture out at all.
We had some health issues a few years ago. But we are both better now.

[Auntie Slag]

Its great that this place is still around. I like to check in fairly regularly and read the messages. Its also fun picking old random threads and seeing the names of posters I haven't seen in Donkey's years, and yet it really doesn't feel like that long ago.

I think we're now as far away in time from the PS2 Armada game as the Armada game was from the original Mario Bros. That's nuts!

[Denyer]

Cool. Glad people are bearing up.

Can't say I look back much on the past, except in the rather literal sense of being surrounded by 80s and 80s inspired stuff, but we're aiming to keep things running and if Brendan gets sick of it hosting's gotten a lot less expensive over the years.

[Auntie Slag]

Going back over old threads is really interesting, and helpful/insightful too when it comes to poring over old issues of the G1, G2, Dreamwave, IDW comics.

MTMTE totally reignited my interest in comics and I loved the rather intense banter that would accompany the release of a new issue here on the board. I really miss that, and hope the new publishers are doing a good job with the TF brand. I flicked through the first issue at Forbidden Planet, but other than Prime suplexing Starscream I can't quite say I got that real zing like I did when looking at Last Stand of the Wreckers or the Shadowplay issues of MTME. The art had some good er... kineticism to it (not used that word before), and was cool to see people other than Megatron being a threat to the Autobots.

So yeah, that aside, this place has been a great constant over the years although I feel like newcomers wouldn't be attracted without some sort of social media component, maybe that's just the way things are now.

[Denyer]

There's not much to really be a newcomer for... movies have been diminishing returns for years, and IDW killed their comics continuities first by accepting Hasbro's shared universe wants with the Furman/Roberts continuity and then a generally lacklustre follow up continuity. The toys have become a scattergun "every line has a handful of everything to try to appeal to the fragmented interests of a diverse and increasingly older fanbase" sort of thing. So FB groups, Xitter, etc, have largely taken over. TFW and Seibertron are still somewhat active, although a lot of it's just reacting to product releases.

Overall it's managed decline and keeping the lights on for a group of people and anyone who wanders back or in. We've probably had the golden age of nostalgia as adult fans, although TFs is still a fairly heavy hitting brand that stands up to some comparison with DC/Marvel. (Also comics as singles are losing even more traction with what happened with distributors due to pandemic, costs, etc).

I read the first issue of the new book, and the characters seemed quite off? A lot of the dialogue didn't recall past versions and could have been given to other characters. I'm not sure how much mileage there is in a re-tread of that era of Sunbow/Marvel stories or how much new can be done with it.

The action figure market is pretty much over for kids, too. There's more value in a mobile game, or anything that's not a heading towards thirty quid chunk of plastic like Marvel Legends or 'deluxe' TF. And with adults, poor distribution and the way Hasbro is flinging out product to see what sticks, lots of it being remaindered, etc, doesn't paint a rosy picture.

Interestingly some of this ties in with their mismanagement of D&D, Magic, etc. Plus what's an entertainment company to do in global economic crises and with parts of the planet literally catching fire or at increasing risk of being underwater?

[Auntie Slag]

Well it was certainly fun to be here when it was buzzing. And I've stumbled upon a really cool page here that I never knew existed; TF:TM '86 song lyrics!

https://www.tfarchive.com/cartoons/info ... lyrics.php

For all these years I've been getting the words to 'Nothin's Gonna Stand In Our Way' wrong:

"The fortunate ones
To be fast and free and yoghurt
I want to count myself apart
The fortunate ones... "

I can still accurately air-guitar the solo to Lion's TF theme though!

[Sades]

I like it. Sounds very cultured.

I'm kind of still here, quietly stressing out about life in the background.

[Auntie Slag]

@Denyer, Comixolgy seems to have semi-imploded in that the name Comixology has gone but its still exists in what feels like a very half-arsed fashion. I read somewhere that other companies tried to take Comixology's mantle but failed because comics themselves are either in decline or the digital market isn't as fertile as everyone thought it would be.

In that article were links to two new companies who were/are attempting to be the big new thing in online comics, but I've totally forgotten what they are now. Meanwhile (and I'm pretty sure I've written this before, but I don't remember when), I asked a guy working at Forbidden Planet whether the shop was in any trouble due to digital comics and he assured me that they were doing just fine, pretty well in fact and that digital comics have only helped them because its garnered more interest in the shop.

Now I guess of course he would say that, but I'd like to believe that is the case.

[Denyer]

I think digital favours smaller publishers on the whole, and lets people (officially or unofficially) sample what they might like to pick up in TPB form. So given that comics shops are more collected editions and collectables than singles, it might be an overall plus for them... if they can compete with Amazon.

On the other hand what's happened with Comixology and Amazon has rudely reminded people that the rug can easily be pulled and it might not be worth paying for digital products that are inferior to piracy.

[Auntie Slag]

I've just read that article, god that's pretty awful what Amazon's done, downgrading people's purchases from HD to lower res etc. I always imagined when a big company fails it would at least give you the option to download your digital purchases across a limited time frame.

And I don't know why I even think that... I got burned almost straight away on iTunes when I bought my second or third movie; a film which changed publishing hands and I lost my digital copy as a result. A clear warning that we don't own any of this stuff; merely the right to view the content until the contract changes.

[Denyer]

I generally don't "buy" anything that the DRM can't be removed from. With Amazon/Audible that's trivial with normal ebooks/audiobooks. They don't really have any strong interest in making things too awkward for paying customers, and the publishing industry doesn't have that much leverage to make them. The same with music, Amazon's mostly straightforward MP3s these days. Would check Bandcamp first, of course.

Video is trickier. For example, this hasn't had a non-DRMed release and it's very niche (highly recommended) so the odds of just stumbling across a convenient copy are low, or were. Individual tracks are available but I think I rented the show from Amazon to confirm it was worth having, then "bought" from YouTube because it was more flexible/convenient. Gave up on getting the video file directly. For now.

CD and DVD is still where it's at. For that matter, MP3 and MP4 are good enough versus other file and container formats.

[Claypool]

Sup