For those of you who like Dead End ficlets, there's ONE claim left in my ancient 28 Dead Ends meme: On Vacation. Go for it!

As mentioned previously, I've been re-watching Season 3 of the G1 Transformers cartoon lately. It's better than I remembered, and sadly under-appreciated by most.

( discussion )

Last night I watched a bunch of G1 season 3 episodes for the first time in quite a while, all the way through "Ghost in the Machine", and realized something.

( My attitudes toward the episodes and the characters have changed... )

Last night, conversation in chat touched on Transformer zombies and the wonderful "City of Fear" arc in the old Marvel Transformer comics.

( Cut for comics discussion )

Something I haven't posted in quite a while: another Dead End 28! Down to the last few, actually.

Excited Dead End
Action/Adventure
[G1 Transformers] Wildrider inflicts more "culture" on Dead End; this time, it's the Arena. Dead End is bored; Wildrider tries to make it more 'interesting'.

Also, for those of you who overlooked it, last week I slipped in Disheveled Dead End in my 28 Dead Ends.

Today's TF:Animated episode was a lot of fun!
( Cut for spoilers )

Another Dead End 28:

Why We Don't Let Dead End Give Combat Briefings, aka Obedient Dead End

[G1] Dead End is ordered to give a combat briefing by Starscream. This was not a good idea.

Set just post-season 2, with an early S3 framing sequence.

A short character study for y'all:

[G1] What does Megatron see in Starscream?

View from the Top

After I boiled a Seeker to death and recorded the results, I got another Classic Starscream and disassembled him (will document that another day). I took him apart a bit more thoroughly, so that parts like the legs wouldn't have air chambers in them and float around in the dye. I also left out parts that did not need dyeing; those that needed painting got sprayed with a light gray primer instead.

After my last experience, I was paranoid about exposing the parts to heat....

( Rest of article, including pictures... )

For those of you who remember my unfortunate mishap with my first attempt at dyeing a Classic Starscream navy blue, here's a few low-res pictures.

( Cut to avoid inflicting pics on everyone's friends page )

[G1, post-TFTM] Sequel to Friends No Longer with Me. Starscream's unexpected post-mortem reunion with Skyfire leads to conversation between old... friends?

Go to Lost and Found

So, I'm trying to do a re-paint/mod for the first time. I want to turn a Classic Starscream into a Classic Duskwing, and the first thing I'm doing to it is dye it navy blue. I'm following advice from experienced modders--use RiT dye, boil it for best results. I disassembled the parts I didn't want dyed (cockpit canopy, head)--and those pins were a PITA to get out, and stripped off as much of the paint job as I could.

Tip: Classic figure paint comes off with alcohol and vigorous rubbing. Just take a cotton ball soaked in rubbing alcohol to it.

Washed it, and then put it in a pot of dye and water, enough to cover the parts plus an inch or two, and boiled it for about 45 minutes. (I wanted it dark). I'd been assured this was pretty much S.O.P. for dying toys.

Well, apparently the Classics figures are a bit sub-standard on the heat sensitivity. My Seeker figure had two noticeable parts warp and partially collapse from the heat of the pan that if I can put it back together, it won't transform. One leg is sort of squashed and won't collapse to transform to jet mode, and the back plate of the torso piece is a bit collapsed and warped along the right top--won't close properly for either mode.

It also came out darker than I wanted. Fortunately, I found another Classic Starscream over at Toys 'R' Us. I'll try cold dyeing that one.

Tip: DON'T BOIL Classic Transformers

Edit: Now I have pictures.

Like the previous article about the F-15 Seekers, this is very image-heavy below the cut. All history text is from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center web site. As in the previous article, all the images are from the NASA Dryden Research Aircraft Photo Collection.
( Colorful jets )

For those of you who are not familiar with NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, they do... flight research. They develop and test interesting new systems that wind up in next generation aircraft. For whatever reason, their testbed aircraft include a small fleet of rather colorful fighter jets. Thanks to their resemblance to certain jet-mode Transformers, I've dubbed them "NASA's Seekers". I've named several of them for my own amusement, and herein I'd like to introduce you to them and tell what they've been up to... that we know of.

It gets picture-heavy below the cut, so be warned. Images all from the NASA Dryden Research Aircraft Photo Collection. NASA has images available in several resolutions, low-res, high-res, and gawd-awful huge-res, suitable for your viewing, wallpapering, and printing pleasure.

( On to the F-15 Seekers! )

Here's one of the other stories that came out of writing Autobot Angels. My thanks to ravenclaw_devi for some heavy-duty beta-reading and critiquing.

Decepticon Ghosts

[G1,TFTM] An offbeat tale of the death, afterlife, and life of Thundercracker and Skywarp. With flish. And Starscream gets his two cents in.