Transmasters Magazine. Issue #6, SPRING 2010


Introduction

Welcome to the latest issue of the Transmasters Magazine. As you might have noticed, this is the first TM magazine since late 2007. Previously, Peter Phelps had been producing both the TM Magazine and TM Comic. Since that time he’s been busy with real life matters and no one picked up the slack for him–-until now, obviously. For simplicity’s sake, I have decided to call this new iteration issue six and just continue forward (otherwise it will become like a professional comic series where we have twenty reboots for a given concept and rabid confusion among the casual reader).

But, why bother, you ask. Isn’t Transmasters dead and gone? Well, yes and no. It’s true that Transmasters hasn’t been that popular in the last decade or so but everything’s relative. I read over some early TransAction issues from 1992 and noticed even back then that people were decrying the lack of member involvement and forewarning of the club’s doom. Since the whole membership dues fiasco in 1992-93, many have considered the club dead. But Tony Buchanan preserved through the nineties, carrying on the name through his activities as best he could. In the past five years Peter Phelps helped keep the name alive with his website, TM Blog and fan efforts (like the magazine and comic). If Transmasters died tomorrow, would the fandom at large care? I don’t know. And why do another Transformers based website when there’s so many already? But we can also take that logic and turn it around–would it matter if Seibertron.com, Tformers.com or whatever died tomorrow? After all, there’s so many other TF websites around who would really care?

Having said that, I do believe we need to evolve faster into the electronic realm. If we could’ve kept the club better organized back in the early nineties we could’ve had the premiere TF website now instead of trying to play catch-up. Or perhaps the fracturing of the fandom was inevitable considering it’s sheer size.

In the end, it doesn’t really matter. The club’s always been what people want it to be–either dying or thriving. I choose to believe the latter and at least try to keep things moving along into the twenty-teens.

I hope you enjoy this latest issue. Comments are always welcome, be they praise, criticism or just general questions. The next issue is planned for August 1, 2010 and contributions are always welcome!

Til All Are One!
- Thunder



 

REVIEW: GaoGaiGar DVD
REVIEW: TF:A Shadow Blade Megatron
  FICTION:  Legends: Shockwave
COMIC: Me and Vegatron
  FICTION: Legends: Alphatrion
  Knock-Off Korner (various G1 KO toys)




This entire issue was produced by Tony "Thunder" Klepack. Contributions for future issues are welcome and encouraged!

(Some stock graphics were designed by Peter Phelps. Thanks to him for his many efforts).


The Transformers are Copyright and Trademark 2010 Hasbro/Takara Tomy. All rights Reserved. The TransMasters are a Non-profit club for and by Transfans.


Magazine Index