As a child, it was impossible not to come across picture book adaptations of Aboriginal legends. Percy Tresize’s books are, in my opinion, among the best, if only because of how much I adore Dick Roughsey’s illustrations, and how the creatures looked like cave paintings that have come to life. The quinkan series was my favourite, and introduced me ( Read more... )

I count the Velociraptor in the Jurassic Park films as a separate entity from the actual Velociraptor, or indeed any actual dromaeosaurids, because it is much more of a film monster than an actual animal repurposed as a movie villain. Unlike Jaws, who was very much the latter in the original film (but later became a voodoo shark or something), the ( Read more... )

No-one seems to have told Australia that the age of reptiles ended. We have the largest crocodile, the most lizards, and most of the dangerous snakes on Earth. In prehistoric times, though, there were also land-dwelling crocodiles, giant pythons, horned land turtles, and number 15 on this list, Megalania prisca, a giant goanna. Growing up to 7m in ( Read more... )

We’re in the season of monsters, everybody. Halloween is fast approaching, and regardless of whether you actually celebrate it in some form, there is something in the air.

Penanggalan started this thing on her blog, and it has come to me via the Bogleech.com forums. So, 31 favourite monsters for each day of October-it can’t be that hard. As I’m ( Read more... )

Pokemon Black and White was released in Japan today, although some people got their preordered copies early. Thus, we know what the Gen V Pokemon are. I actually quite like most of them. Some of them are a bit, well, weird (ice cream Pokemon, srsly), but I'm very fond of the ones below.
( I want to hold them like they do in Isshu please. )

• Australia's first female PM not being a five-week-wonder. The election resulted in a hung parliament (neither of the major parties got a majority), so it was down to the independents to decide who to back. After 17 days, the government (Labor) got the support it needed. It's slim, but it's there.
• Generations Drift. Ignore the comic character and ( Read more... )

The Parramatta Fair was on again last Sunday. While it was more neatly organised than the last two, there was less interesting stuff there. So I spent not too much time there and more time hanging out with the Sydney members of the Ozformers board posing Micromasters in sensual positions.

Anyway, look what I got.


( Read more... )

Tomorrow, for the first time in my life, I get to vote. In a federal election, no less.

It's a pity, then, that it's been a rather lackluster campaign on both sides.

On one side is the Liberal party/coalition with the Nationals, led by Tony Abbott (note for foreigners: in Australian politics, the liberals are the conservative party). Their campaign ( Read more... )

News of the Hasbro designer panel at BotCon came in today, with even more news of stuff I may end up buying.

• First, the Dinobot PCC team has been confirmed. The core robot turns into a Styracosaurus and is named Grimstone. Hahahaha. I hope it really is a Styracosaurus and not someone confusing it with Triceratops because that will mean I don't have ( Read more... )

So this year, Hasbro were making a Transformers Hall of Fame! The inductees included Megatron, Starscream, Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, and some of the people who have worked on Transformers over the years.

But the fandom was allowed to pick their own fifth robot candidate. So, from a group of several transformers, nearly all of which were from G1, ( Read more... )