I've got tons of tabs open in Firefox, so it's time to clear away some of 'em with another fun linkage post! I certainly don't expect you to go clicking them all, but here's some of the stuff I've been reading about recently.

Wikipedia pages open:

Shockwave (Transformers) -- Natch, in keeping with the recent Transformers obsession, I've been reading a lot about the characters. Shockwave is bloody awesome. Figure versions of him are also bloody expensive (especially when they're badass customs), so I currently lack a representation of him among my TF legions. 🙁

Ricochet (Transformers) -- I happened to pick up an Alternators Ricochet a couple of weeks ago, so I figured I'd read up on the character. From his tech spec:

Fellow Autobot warriors find it difficult to maintain friendly conversations with this quick-tempered, easily provoked Autobot, but Ricochet has an uncommonly strong sense of justice. Has the most accurate marksmanship of the Autobots. Can hit a tin can from 10 kilometers. Shoulder mounted automatic shell cannon fires shots at a rate of 30 per second.

Sounds like an awesome guy, eh? Ricochet's toy is a bit frustrating to transform -- apparently all Alternators have rather demanding transformations, which leads me to wonder precisely why they're so bloody popular and coveted -- but I'm glad to have him in the collection.

Cyclonus (Transformers again) -- Cyclonus is in a bunch of the episodes of the G1 cartoon, so I had to read up on him as well. Again, he's a pretty worthy character -- I particularly like his rivalry with Ultra Magnus on the show. It's also interesting to note -- insofar as you read the lengthy discussion concerning precisely which character became Cyclonus, anyway -- that the Ultra Magnus figure I have came packaged with Skywarp. Hmmm. Anyway, they need to make a new figure of Cyclonus so I can add him to my Decepticon ranks!

Hot Spot (Traaaaaaansformers o/~) -- Picked up a version of him in a knockoff Defensor set, so I was reading about him as well (namely to make sure I didn't confuse him with Inferno, who also turns into a firetruck). In other news, I was fooling around with the Defensor tonight -- Hot Spot's parts fit together so tightly that I literally got a headache trying to transform the dude. I ended up unscrewing his parts, dismantling him entirely, and reassembling him already transformed to pull it off.

Astrotrain (last one for now, seriously) -- More TF character research, as Astrotrain shows up quite a bit in the animated series. I'd like to get a figure of Astrotrain -- and there was a version of him released not too long ago that's still fairly easy to find online -- but it really bothers me that its coloring is vastly different from the animation version. In the cartoon, Astrotrain was decked out in grey and purple, but the Classics figure is red, white, and bluish purple. I don't like that at all! The Transformers' Collectors Club did recently release an exclusive Astrotrain figure that looks more like the cartoon version, but it costs in the neighborhood of $130 (the club membership itself is $45 or something). And as expensive as it is, I don't even think it can transform into a train. Screw that!

Gen13 and Caitlin Fairchild -- For some reason, I'd managed to entirely confuse Gen13 with Zen the Intergalactic Ninja during my childhood, likely given the similarity of the names and the fact that I never read either comic -- I was way too into Marvel comics back then to pay much attention to anything except the occasional Batman Adventures issue. Upon being shown some neat Gen13 action figures, though, I did a bit of reading about the series. Sounds cool -- might have to see about tracking down the animated film.

Supergirl -- 'Cause she's Supergirl! And I'm considering buying an action figure of her, so I wanted to read more about her to determine precisely which version I'd be getting.

Armin Meiwes -- After watching an episode of "The IT Crowd" in which this guy was parodied, I had to read about the actual case as well. It's worth noting that when I typed "german cannibal" into the Wiki search, it defaulted right to this article!

I have a lot more Wiki pages open, but we'll move on...

Mini Britney Spears -- I don't even know what to say about this.

6 die from brain-eating amoeba in lakes -- Way to dissuade me from ever wanting to go swimming again! I don't even want to take a bath now.

Texas legislation -- The system is SO broken.

Pee and Poo plush dolls -- For something so disgusting in theory, these things end up being pretty cute! That's likely because they look more like Hershey's kisses than bodily excretions, but still. Far too expensive for me, though.

Transformers G1 Megatron Box! -- Someone paid $64 for an empty box. Alrighty then.

eBay Bid History for G1 Transformers Dinobot Swoop & Snarl with Weapons auction -- There was no way I was bidding on this -- again, far too expensive for me -- but I did get a kick out of watching the auction in its final moments. Look at all of the bidding that goes on in the final minute of the auction! eBay is like a sport.

'Resident Evil: Extinction' Flick Based on Racist Video Game Series -- The Resident Evil series is catching a lot of heat lately for supposedly being racist, largely due to viewers' reactions to promotional videos of Resident Evil 5. The series has always (more/less) been about shooting and running from zombies -- who used to be members of the populace until they succumbed to the zombie plague -- and with RE5 being set somewhere in Africa you can probably guess at the nature of the criticisms.

I doubt that the game is overtly racist, but given that the promo clips feature hordes of infected Africans scrambling after the game's all-American hero as he mows them down with firearms, I can understand why folks unfamiliar with the series -- and even people that are -- would find the videos to be unsettling. But what I find most interesting about the article is its apparent promotion of an upcoming indie game called ICED! I Can End Deportation, which apparently, and I quote, "turns players into undocumented immigrants and has them face such things as separation from family, immigration raids and other aspects of immigrant life." Call me pessimistic, but somehow I doubt that this game is going to be taken seriously at all.

And somehow I am now down to 47 tabs, so we'll end this post with that. Hope y'all are having a great weekend! 🙂