My halo's got a hole in it so it don't keep me dry

[venta]

There are a few things I want to know. So here they are, all collected into a big, fat poll whose questions bear little relation to each other.


[Poll #350986]


Irrelevant comment: LJ should make the 'current music' field bigger, for those of us who listen to albums with long titles.

Comments

[venta.livejournal.com]

I don't believe I have any evidence at all of what sort of music you might like. I doubt you'll ever have heard NMA on the radio, but if you go to oldish rock nights or goth nights at clubs you might have heard 'em.

The ghoul question was prompted by a track on the album I was listening to, which reports on a "ghoul problem" in the US, and the government's advice on how to deal with it. Jeffrey Lewis. He's great.

[panzerpenguin.livejournal.com]

All human communities have ghouls, and always have done. The only problem is with the less traditionally minded ones who attack living humans rather than waiting for death and decomposition to occur first, and the ones who abduct children and leave 'changelings'.

If you need to go up against ghouls, use a big shotgun with a large magazine capacity and wear heavy gloves and padded armour to reduce bite and claw injuries. Anyone wounded by a ghoul should get a rabies shot and antibiotics, and also be tested for HIV and hepatitis.

Be sure to take a strong light source, and a good supply of magnesium flares. DO NOT go into their tunnels in pursuit - pump poison gas, explosives or flammable liquid down there first, then seal the entrances with concrete afterwards.

[blackmetalbaz.livejournal.com]

Bloody hell, a Bludgeon icon! Respect!

[panzerpenguin.livejournal.com]

And a Bugly icon to boot. :)

These are kitbashes of mine, which were gushed over and photographed by Messrs Furman and Wildman at the Transforce 2004 convention. I am one of the biggest Bludgeon fans you'll ever meet, and believe that only Shockwave seriously rival his greatness as Decepticon supreme commander. :)

[blackmetalbaz.livejournal.com]

Superb :-). I'm also a big Bludgeon fan. And Bugly, Mindwipe, Banzai-Tron etc. Shockwave is also truly great, but surely none can rival Ratbat as supreme Decepticon commander?

Er, I may have been joking about the last one...

[panzerpenguin.livejournal.com]

I do also have a kitbashed Mindwipe to complete the trio. :)

Banzai-Tron will be a future project - I aim to build a transforming version of the character whose alt mode is a motorbike (with Razor-Sharp becoming the sidecar).

I am genuinely an admirer of Ratbat myself. His rise to such eminence from his (presumed) prior position as Lord Straxus' accountant is an impressive achievement, and his leadership devious and intelligent.

[blackmetalbaz.livejournal.com]

You see, I really liked Straxus. Subtle - no. Inspired - yes. I was also a big fan of some of the other genuinely deranged Decepticon leaders - Galvatron (obviously), Thunderwing, Jhiaxus. There a fantastic artist (I forget his name but will look it up... calls himself fourth_heir I think. Steve someone or other) who's been doing computer-generated images of various classic characters with alt modes - Impactor, Xaaron, Rack 'N' Ruin. Good stuff.

[panzerpenguin.livejournal.com]

I've not seen these! :)

I like Straxus too, though he is scarcely a great leader. I think Ratbat must have thought up the smelting pools - they fulfil a vital economic function in recycling superfluous bots, whilst gratifying his leader's sadism into the bargain...

I wouldn't call Straxus deranged. Extremely brutal and unsophisticated certainly, but quite sane.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Go on, I'll ask: Decepticon ? My brain has the word filed with 'transformer', but I'm not sure that's correct.

I'll also be humming Deceptacon by le Tigre for the rest of the day, and it's your fault.

[blackmetalbaz.livejournal.com]

Yes, the 'evil' and therefore superior faction in Transformers.

[blackmetalbaz.livejournal.com]

Oh, I don't know. I suppose there is a fine line between madness and stupidity, but repeatedly instructing his troops to commit suicide by walking onto an unstable space bridge is one or the other, and I personally wouldn't like to call it :-). The plan to take over Megatron's body was however inspired although it went wrong. On the other hand, if he had already made a facsimile Megatron body, I must have forgotten the logic behind try to take over the original instead. Hmm.

I'm afraid I struggle to take Ratbat seriously, although the 'War Within' version, in which he has a sensible anthropoid body is pretty cool.

[panzerpenguin.livejournal.com]

That's extreme pig-headedness on Straxus' part. He refuses to admit he might be wrong in front of his underlings, and poor Crosscut dies horribly as a result.

The key to taking Ratbat seriously is to remember that he has Trypticon 'on call' via space bridge...

[venta.livejournal.com]

And while I'm on asking questions - what's a kitbash ? A game where cats get beaten with sticks ?

[panzerpenguin.livejournal.com]

:-0

In this context, a TF toy that has had the black arts of fine-scale modelling applied to it.