Dirty Weekend on Cybertron, Part 2
- The highlight of pretty much every major Transformers convention is the script reading, where the guest voice actors get together with a few convention attendees (chosen by audition) to perform a short, funny script, which usually mashes up a few different Transformers continuities (especially if this can be used as an excuse to get the voice actors to do a number of the roles they've performed). The Auto Assembly script readings rock even more, because they're invariably penned by Simon Furman, a near-legendary writer of the Transformers comics.
It's difficult to convey why the script reading was funny, given that it's about twenty minutes of rapid-fire in-jokes (some of them unique, not just to the franchise, but to that convention). For example, the central joke of the script reading this time was that one of the comic artists has voiced Megatron (from the era in which David Kaye played him) at the last few conventions, but that this year, David Kaye himself was actually there. So the script revolved around the idea of Megatron returning to depose the "imposter" who had been in his place for the last few years. :) I'm not sure that I can explain any of the other jokes without twenty-seven years' worth of backstory, but they included the pretty boy doing a samurai velociraptor impression (Transformers: giving innocent viewers kinks you didn't realise were even possible, since 1984!); a GIANT rubber duckie; and one of the weakest continuity jokes ever that, miraculously, became funny - and then hilarious - because they just kept hammering it again and again. It's very, very rare for a writer to be able to pull that off without making their audience want to puncture their own eardrums.
- I spent ages trolling up and down Artist's Alley, checking out the (pretty phenomenal) work of some of the current Transformers comic artists. I really wanted a sketch, but I was having a hell of a time deciding which Transformer to get; I thought that the Morally Ambiguous Decepticon scientist Shockwave (check out my icon - that's him) would be awesome, but I had a particular artist in mind for that one, and her table was always completely swamped with people getting sketches. And while I was dithering, I noticed that one of the other artists, Lee Bradley, had some gorgeous group shots of all the Autobots for sale, and a familiar face jumped out at me.
A familiar debonair, yet tortured, face. :)
This is Mirage, my all-time, hands-down favourite Autobot. Back when the war started, he was a little bit conflicted about which side to join, a fact that (combined with his reserve) didn't exactly inspire confidence or affection in his fellow Autobots. Now he's an ass-kicking Autobot spy with the power to turn invisible, but he's still isolated, haunted by his comrades' distrust. He's also the main character in the slash story I wrote for this year's Connotations zine, which Liz heroically betaed for me. Because the world needs more mechaporn in it, dammit. :)
And this is what Lee Bradley drew for me:
I adore this sketch. I love the badass pose and the grim set of Mirage's mouth. His face looks a little skeletal at first glance; that's because, if you look closely, the top part is actually a battle mask, extending down to just above the upper lip. In sketches like this, artists actually use whiteout (that's Tippex to the Brits) to create light and negative space, which I thought was cool.
I had a great conversation with Lee while he was drawing me this. We talked about how he got into drawing comics (I was pretty blown away by his persistence; apparently, he drew and submitted stuff for fifteen years, while doing manual labour to pay the bills, before he got a break, and now he's making a living off his art), and about how I got into Transformers as an adult. And then he wanted to know why I asked for Mirage, who's requested pretty rarely. So we had a really good chat about Mirage being an outsider, not really knowing how to relate to the other Autobots, always suspecting deep down that there must be some way to reach out to the Decepticons and end the war. It was awesome. I did not mention my penchant for writing about Mirage having filthy robotic sex with the Decepticon second-in-command, because I felt it would only upset Lee. :)
Lee also gave me his card. He draws tiny sketches on the backs of all his cards: check out the one he picked for me.
Unexpected Mirage is unexpected!
It's difficult to convey why the script reading was funny, given that it's about twenty minutes of rapid-fire in-jokes (some of them unique, not just to the franchise, but to that convention). For example, the central joke of the script reading this time was that one of the comic artists has voiced Megatron (from the era in which David Kaye played him) at the last few conventions, but that this year, David Kaye himself was actually there. So the script revolved around the idea of Megatron returning to depose the "imposter" who had been in his place for the last few years. :) I'm not sure that I can explain any of the other jokes without twenty-seven years' worth of backstory, but they included the pretty boy doing a samurai velociraptor impression (Transformers: giving innocent viewers kinks you didn't realise were even possible, since 1984!); a GIANT rubber duckie; and one of the weakest continuity jokes ever that, miraculously, became funny - and then hilarious - because they just kept hammering it again and again. It's very, very rare for a writer to be able to pull that off without making their audience want to puncture their own eardrums.
- I spent ages trolling up and down Artist's Alley, checking out the (pretty phenomenal) work of some of the current Transformers comic artists. I really wanted a sketch, but I was having a hell of a time deciding which Transformer to get; I thought that the Morally Ambiguous Decepticon scientist Shockwave (check out my icon - that's him) would be awesome, but I had a particular artist in mind for that one, and her table was always completely swamped with people getting sketches. And while I was dithering, I noticed that one of the other artists, Lee Bradley, had some gorgeous group shots of all the Autobots for sale, and a familiar face jumped out at me.
A familiar debonair, yet tortured, face. :)
This is Mirage, my all-time, hands-down favourite Autobot. Back when the war started, he was a little bit conflicted about which side to join, a fact that (combined with his reserve) didn't exactly inspire confidence or affection in his fellow Autobots. Now he's an ass-kicking Autobot spy with the power to turn invisible, but he's still isolated, haunted by his comrades' distrust. He's also the main character in the slash story I wrote for this year's Connotations zine, which Liz heroically betaed for me. Because the world needs more mechaporn in it, dammit. :)
And this is what Lee Bradley drew for me:
I adore this sketch. I love the badass pose and the grim set of Mirage's mouth. His face looks a little skeletal at first glance; that's because, if you look closely, the top part is actually a battle mask, extending down to just above the upper lip. In sketches like this, artists actually use whiteout (that's Tippex to the Brits) to create light and negative space, which I thought was cool.
I had a great conversation with Lee while he was drawing me this. We talked about how he got into drawing comics (I was pretty blown away by his persistence; apparently, he drew and submitted stuff for fifteen years, while doing manual labour to pay the bills, before he got a break, and now he's making a living off his art), and about how I got into Transformers as an adult. And then he wanted to know why I asked for Mirage, who's requested pretty rarely. So we had a really good chat about Mirage being an outsider, not really knowing how to relate to the other Autobots, always suspecting deep down that there must be some way to reach out to the Decepticons and end the war. It was awesome. I did not mention my penchant for writing about Mirage having filthy robotic sex with the Decepticon second-in-command, because I felt it would only upset Lee. :)
Lee also gave me his card. He draws tiny sketches on the backs of all his cards: check out the one he picked for me.
Unexpected Mirage is unexpected!