Weekly Update 9/28/26 — Yo Joelanta!

 

It's Monday again, Zone Base readers, and this weekend I attended Joelanta 2026 to host the Transformers panel!

I haven't been to a Joelanta since it was split away from Toylanta, so it was really nice to attend one again. Joelanta serves as Toylanta's fall convention, with Joelanta, Toylanta, and Rangerstop and Pop all being part of the same family of conventions run by Good Journey LLC.

As normal, my report from the show will be written below on my phone as I eat breakfast Monday morning. So once again, please forgive any grammatical weirdness that may result from me trying to turn convention brain into coherent sentences before I've finished my first meal of the day.

Please share the site with your friends, and please follow Zone Base on TikTok and Instagram, which are quickly becoming nice companions to the main site. I'd love to see them grow.

Thank you all for reading Zone Base, and as always, be excellent to each other.

Joelanta 2026-

I was only attending Sunday, which made for a great break after spending Saturday helping my mother finish moving. I tore myself away from looking at pics from All Hail Cybertron 24 while eating breakfast and headed to the con center stopping by the ATM for a little cash. Most dealers take cards and Venmo at these things now, but alot are still old fashioned, and those are usually gold mines. Being Sunday morning, I made the drive in pretty good time and looked around a little before panel time. Dusty had gotten there before me and we chatted a bit before the panel started. Sunday panels are lightly attended half the time, but we had an awesome group and even went over time just chatting. The group even went outside the panel room to talk even more afterwards, talk about a fun time!

Dusty left shortly after and I walked around the dealers room chatting with folks and handing out Zone Base stickers. I wish I'd had time to make some more pins in time for the show, but oh well. I'll definitely have more made by Toylanta and maybe even a few more cool things to hand out if everything goes according to plan. It was great to see Matt and Marty as always. Riot Press was there and I was tempted to get another Last Seeker figure. The alternate colors are really sharp, but I can never decide on one. He has a Voltron colored one on display at every con, but it's a print that's not for sale unfortunately. By Toylanta I'll decide between the desert camo and white one. They've got alternate heads from the Euro G1 version I've got and as nice as the black one looks, it has the same head. 

I eventually picked up a Gobots Dozer for $5 that was pretty beaten up, but good for tge price. Another guy had a Hans Cuff I was tempted in, but it was just a little too beaten up for $15. At $10 I would have grabbed it. I was plased to see Rock Lords returning to decent prices as they've been really jumping in price more recently, unfortunately I didn't see any ones I needed. There were lots of awesome Transformers for sale ranging from premium priced vintage bots and newer sets and a solud range of more recent toys at respectful prices. Though aside from a few Gibits for the Mrs, I didn't buy anything else. I really just enjoyed the atmosphere and didn't find myself shopping. Just enjoying the show and exercise from walking around. I did spend some time at the Southern Fried Gaming Expo area as usual and spent some time playing a Miner 69 clone on a Atari XEGS they had set up. They were giving away drawstring bags so hurray free swag! I'd been actually wanting a new one, so just in time. 

It was a fun time and great to see Brett and the Good Journey crew again. Much thanks to them for inviting me out again for another con. Between Toylanta, Rangerstop and Pop, and Joelanta. 2026 has been a solid set of conventions they've run that I've enjoyed. Of course I always enjoy them, but we're talking this year! I can't wait for Toylanta in April! However it's time to get back to the real world and enjoying more pics from All Hail Cybertron 24. Thanks to thousands of you who read Zone Base every day. It's really flattering to see so many of you joining me on enjoying our hobbies together.

You're Doomed

This is... something.

We've all seen the various ways theaters advertise their snack bars or special events, but this animation promoting the theater's horror movies is the first time I've seen one outright tell you it's safer to die than watch their films.

I'm, uh... guessing they're not in business anymore.

Springer (Car and Attack Helicopter) [Wheels CO2 & CO3 Wreck 'n Rule 2 & 3]

@robfromzonebase Springer (helicopter and car) [Transformers Blokees Wheels CO2 & CO3 [Wreck 'n Rule 1 & 2] #zonebase #transformers #blokees #blokeestransformers #blindbox ♬ Witching Hour - NECRONOMIDOL

When it comes to my name, people automatically assume it's a screen name or ask if I'm related to Jerry.

Ironically, I'm related to a Jerry, yeah—the guy on TV.

No, not that one. The guy who robbed a gas station.

Either way, the answer is no, and it just happens to be a slightly common name. For example, an artist on the original Transformers comic was named Frank Springer. However, Springer allegedly wasn't named after him either.

I say allegedly because the name apparently comes from his special ability to jump or his tendency to jump into battle. Transformers are more than meets the eye, and getting "Springer" from that is a pretty big leap.

I'm guessing Frank pissed someone petty off somehow.

In 1986, Springer made his big-screen debut in Transformers: The Movie. I was there opening weekend, drinking my cherry ICEE next to my Mom, who kept nudging me with a smile every time they said his name. My brother was sitting with a kid from the bus who'd apparently been there all day watching every showing.

To this day, I wonder if I know him now as an adult fan.

This past weekend, like many of you, I went to see the 40th anniversary showing at the theater. This time without the cherry ICEE, because I'm older now and that's too much sugar.

In case it isn't completely obvious, this post is my way of observing the occasion.

Springer's Wheels releases were spread between the two different cases in the Wreck 'n Rule series, with the car appearing in Part 1 and the attack helicopter in Part 2. Both also have special editions, the Hologram and Titanium versions, in addition to the standard releases.

Both of mine are the standard editions, which I'm perfectly fine with. Though those Hologram versions are mighty neat looking.

Springer's Wheels kits are based on his appearance in IDW's Last Stand of the Wreckers. The car looks a bit different from his traditional design, while the attack helicopter isn't too far removed from what we're used to seeing.

Blokees Wheels are specifically sharp-looking kits, and Springer definitely falls into that category. Both kits use that super-satisfying compound known as Solidex, and it just brings them both to another level.

Seriously, Blokees. Just make the entire thing out of the stuff. I love it.

The combination of the design, Solidex, and the smaller scale makes these completed kits feel like a high-caliber product. Blokees Wheels almost feel like a more sophisticated model kit.

Does that make sense?

I had absolutely no problem assembling the car. None.

The attack helicopter gave me some trouble, though. A lot of that had to do with my ongoing issues with reading the instructions clearly. The main body piece that everything assembles out from? I had it backwards for what felt like forever while trying to decipher what I was supposed to be doing and what I was doing wrong.

I enjoy the helicopter blades resembling swords. I don't recall if they did this in Last Stand of the Wreckers, but since the helicopter blades normally become his sword, it was a nice touch.

Another nice touch is that the Wreckers Hammer that comes with Cosmos in Wreck 'n Rule Part 1 can also be mounted on the car.

Overall, these are just neat kits, even if I had a little trouble assembling the attack helicopter. Like I've said a few times before, I'm surprised by just how much I'm enjoying these Wheels kits.

They're just really freaking neat, you know?

Attack of the Demon Programmers

Demon Attack is often forgotten about these days due to... well, it was just another copycat game for the Atari that added to the growing problem that caused the video game crash.

However, the commercial is pretty great. You've got a room full of Imagic employees, and apparently a freaking monstrous demon is a programmer there. Just straight-up sitting there in the...

Wait, why is this company's office all dark and smoky? It looks like the back room of an illicit business where mobsters meet.

Man... the programming world is scary.