Transtopia Monthly Newsletter - December

Welcome to the Transtopia Newsletter. We are proud to give you an update for the month of November. Lots of things are happening in this hot forum – from artwork to customs, from updates to upgrades. Our members have been hard at work. To better reflect the community’s artistic talent we have changed the name of this newsletter from “Custom Monthly Update” to “Transtopia Newsletter”. Over the next few months we will be rolling out several new sections to the newsletter. Stay tuned. Until then drop by Transtopia for the latest work. -Stormrider



A Message from Ryan

Hey everyone,

In a few short weeks, an all-new feature section will make its debut on Seibertron.com called "Transtopia". This new section will feature the creative work of the many talented Seibertronians that make up this website. Transtopia will be the place where members of Seibertron.com (we're looking at YOU) will be able to showcase incredible custom figures and kitbashes, beautiful artwork, and amazing fan-fiction.

Transtopia will be dedicated officially to one of the greatest members of the Transformers community, Bill "TFmaster" Koshorek. Bill was the very proud owner of the fantastic Transtopia community that used to reside at tfmaster.com. Bill approached me at BotCon 2006 about moving the Transtopia community over to Seibertron.com. I took over the hosting of tfmaster.com in November 2006 after agreeing to create a new Transtopia here on Seibertron.com that merged the best of the Transformers mega sites with the best of the creative minds within the Transformers community. Before plans and ideas could be completed, Bill had a massive heart attack in March 2007. Sadly, Bill did not make it and it seemed that Transtopia might die with him.

Over the next year and a half, I felt an immense amount of guilt over not completing Bill's dream. That was until 2 staff members on Seibertron.com, First Gen and Stormrider, came along and really started pushing for the creative content in the Transtopia forums to be featured on Seibertron.com once again. Their interest is in making sure that the Transtopia community thrives and breathes life back into the Transtopia project and ultimately Bill's dream. In November 2008, I began programming the new Transtopia gallery section that will feature Customs and Artwork, which was the primary focus of Bill's Transtopia.

Transtopia will be different than any other application on the major Transformers websites. You'll be able to create your own galleries, add images to those galleries, select which categories those images belong within, automatic on-the-fly thumbnail creation, the ability to easily change the sort order of your galleries and images, easy search functionality, view galleries by users, and more!

In addition to the customs and artwork sections of Transtopia, I am also working on an all-new Fan-Fiction section that will allow you to add fiction, chapters and many other similar advanced custom functionality that will be built with writers in mind.

I have three goals that I hope to accomplish with Seibertron.com's Transtopia: 1) Create a fun and easy to use section for fans to showcase their creative talents, 2) bring back some of the incredibly talented Transtopians to Seibertron.com and 3) make Bill very proud. I'll know #3 will happen when #1 and #2 happen. If I can accomplish those goals, I'll be a very happy person.

Check back later this month to check out the all-new Seibertron.com Transtopia! In the meantime, here's Stormrider's monthly update for Transtopia ...

Ryan Yzquierdo
Seibertron.com

How to Showcase Your Work
The newsletter is your opportunity to show off your work and talent. We rely on your articles, artwork, and customs to make it interesting. Submissions will be reviewed on a monthly basis. Presently we are accepting submissions for customs such as: repaints, kitbashes, and scratchbuilds. We will be rolling out other types of submission work in the future. Make sure to submit your custom in the proper subforum. You will see a sticky in each forum saying “Submissions for Monthly Newsletter”. When submitting, give us the title of your custom and a link to your gallery.
Repaints, Kitbashes, Scratchbuilds



Make a Difference, Join the Newsletter Team!
Want to contribute to the Seibertron community? Why not join the newsletter team? We are looking for volunteers to help out consistently each month. Past experience is helpful but not necessary. Roles to fill include editing, design & layout, writing articles, and overseeing sections. If you are interested send me a PM: Stormrider.

Special thanks this month goes out to Overcracker for the new banners!




Click on the links to see additional images.

Coptor by Omega666



Movie Brawl by Omega666



RedAlert by Sentinal Supreme



Slipstream by Sentinal Supreme



Stratotrain by Sentinal Supreme



Thunderstorm by Sentinal Supreme



Blockade by Sentinal Supreme



Onslaught by Flix



Animated Galvatron by Zero-Kaiser



Sunstorm by Sentinal Supreme



Siege by Sentinal Supreme






Zoom Zoom by Sabsabby85



Movie Roadbuster by Spurt Reynolds



Animated Thundercracker by Spurt Reynolds



Dust Off by Spurt Reynolds






Last month, Spurt Reynolds gave us a refreshing look at his collection of kitbashed Animated Seekers - Sunstorm, Skywarp, and Acid Storm. Curious of how he made those whimsical faces? Well Spurt Reynolds now shares his secrets so that you can make those eye catching sculpted grins.




Animated Starscream Face Resculpting Guide
First of all thanks to Maximo Prime (of SECTOR70)who's idea it was that i write this guide.

Tools you will need;a modelling knife,a selection of small needle files,some very fine wet & dry sandpaper,
some spray undercoat/primer and most importantly some sculpting material (personally i use Green stuff).

Step one.
Take apart the head and using a file or modelling knife open up the mouth area as wide as possible



Be carefull to not to damage the "lug" that the screw fits into when the head is reassembled..


This is how the front of the head looks at this stage..


Next fill the hole with Green Stuff..


Trim off any excess with a modelling knife..


Now using a sculpting tool begin to carve the mouth..

When you are happy with the shape leave to dry for at least 12hrs.

Now using a wet finger lightly smudge over the green stuff,this smooths out the surface nicely(please note i don't know how well this will work with other sculpting materials).


Next using a fine grade sandpaper sand down the green stuff as smoothly as you can..


Now i spray a light coat of undercoat..

This will show any imperfections or areas that require any additional sanding.

Using VERY fine sandpaper sand again..

And undercoat again.

Repeat this process until the face is smooth..


Finally a couple of general tips.
Look in comic books for some great expressions to copy & if you don't have any sculpting tools get friendly with you're dentist,chances are you might be able to scavenge a few of his old sculpting tools.


Do you have a guide that you would like to share? Send your ideas here.



Featured Artwork
Venksta has been chosen as the November featured artist. Check out Venksta’s inspiring takes on Universe Cosmos. This exciting toy will be released next month. Click here to see the original pictures and read what Venksta has to say about his work.














Would you like to have your artwork featured in an upcoming newsletter? Submit your work here.



Bonus Corner

Make your own Allspark.
Special thanks to Seibertron’s staff member, Nekoman for the designs.