Spark and Sketch

A dream many years in the making: my Tigatron cosplay is complete!

See you at MCM London this Saturday. Come say hi if you're there!

Watch me work:

I'm so pleased with the final result, and very proud of myself. I adore Beast Wars and this is my way of celebrating it and the impact it's had on my life over the last 30 years (urrrrk!).

Please enjoy this incomprehensibly mechanical photo I took 13 years ago of a 737-400's main gear bay (I stood on the ground up into one of the wheel cutouts to take this, it felt very intimate)

Have some ships too :]

Do not use Discord to host your files. Do not rely on Discord to preserve your text. DO NOT RELY ON DISCORD FOR ANY KIND OF PRESERVATION OR HOSTING!!

It CAN be lost, it WILL be lost! You must consider Discord as a part of the Core Internet, controlled by one company that hosts the servers.

I thought it was impressive at first that it replaced IRC, but now I am horrified. If the company behind Discord went under today, how many friends would you lose?

How many relationships? How much writing?

You may think this won't happen, but I remember when AIM went down and along with it, entire novels worth of interaction with my oldest friend.

IT CAN HAPPEN TO YOU. IT WILL HAPPEN AGAIN. NO COMPANY IS INFALLIBLE.

Purpleheart Wood: Peltogyne genus, native to Central and South American rainforests. Freshly cut it's light brown, then turns into rich shades of purple. It turns brown in UV light so it has to be finished with a UV inhibitor to keep those gorgeous colors.

Namnu (various): A type of precious wood found in China/South Asia, sourced from various different species of trees, hence the different examples shown here. High grades of the wood are known for the optical effect shown in the video. Unfortunately the types of trees that produce the wood are all critically endangered, which is why the examples shown are all items or pillars or fragments of pieces. The species are all strictly protected and new trees cannot be harvested.

That example in the video is just that one video that goes around with the inside of a tree that's been struck burning while it still stands, but sometimes trees that have been struck by lightning and are cut down can have neat burn patterns in the wood (example), as the lightning goes to ground, so some people might want that. Who am I to judge.

Chicken-blood vine wood: Species is Spatholobus suberectus and it's only that bright when it's cut, it dries to a more woody color. Here's a page with examples of what the wood looks like when it's dried and some things made with it.

Amber wood: This one took a while. There's a video out there claiming this is "petrified amber wood". That's not possible, I'm a geologist I would know. Since the video is in Chinese originally I presume, "amber wood" must be a translated local name. It's sandalwood, which has that gorgeous bright red color. Even tracked down the video the clip is taken from. "Chandan wood" is another name for sandalwood. Which smells amazing.

Rosewood: The most well known of the woods here in my opinion. There's a number of rosewoods, all in various shades of pinks and reds. True rosewoods are from the genus Dalbergia. Sadly they're all endangered, but illegal harvesting continues.

Purple hainan huanghuali: Dalbergia odorifera, the Chinese rosewood.

Pink oak - Likely pink ivory (Phyllogeiton zeyheri). You need a permit to cut down one of these trees, but it really is that pink. One of the most expensive woods in the world, up there with sandalwood.

Burmese huanghuali: Rosewood...3! This is either Dalbergia oliveri or Pterocarpus indicus, but given that Pterocarpus indicus is descripted as having purplish heartwood, I'm guessing it's Dalbergia oliveri. Though it's not a true rosewood, Pterocarpus indicus is also sadly endangered.

Part 1 The Human Nuclear Reactor

Part 2 The Human Slinky

Part 1.5 Big Ass Eyebrows

Part 3 The Doctor's Lament

Dreadwing’s: The Sky Claw

Wheeljack’s: The Jackhammer

I beg of thee

It’s ridiculous o’clock on the start of my weekend, so I bring you cat boys. Big cat boys.

Ravage and Tigatron (human names undecided yet) are examples of feline-based ‘‘Beast Men” (Beast!Formers) in this universe, coming in two variants which are government made for black/spec op missions (Ravage) and the result of a hereditary unstable gene sequence as a result of mass genetic tinkering under the Quintesson invasion going back to the 1920s. (Tigatron) ‘‘Beast Men” were considered a mistake even by Quintessons who regarded them as failed experiments but as people do, quite a number of them lived through the experience and escaped.  Given the radically different features they tend to sport, they’re ostracized from conventional society and if not attached to the government as assets like Cold Constructs, tend to form their own secluded communes in the wilderness. Their  animal-based traits (Whether it be a keen sense of smell, a much higher tolerance for cold, etc) help them survive there better than normal people.  They tend to be fiercely insular and mistrustful of outsiders for good reason—-there are times they are illegally hunted for sport by the upper class and and most governments don’t provide them support—- and instead see themselves as stewards of nature. 

shockopweek day 5

“Don’t worry– panic keeps me focused.” -Tailgate