This year’s TFcon Toronto was another good time, even though it seemed that everything went wrong for me before and after the show.

First, leading up to the week of the convention, my e-mail stopped working. It was a simple matter to fix it, but only after spending a whole day to figure out what was wrong. Then, while working on my stickers, my printer stopped working, seemingly running out of ink even though there was actually plenty still in the tank. After fixing that, my cutting machine stopped working. It’s like everything was going wrong. I just had to be patient and keep trying, and eventually I got everything done. That wasn’t the end of the problems, though!

I flew in to Toronto this year, which meant I was prepared to bring less with me and take less back, but I was not prepared for when my flight was delayed 3 times, with all the delays totalling up to around two and a half hours. Then, the person who had agreed to pick me up was sick, leaving me without a way to get to the hotel. I had to wait for the rest of my usual posse to arrive and tag along with them. All of these issues and delays meant that I had a lot less time than I wanted to put the final touches on my panel about “The 1980’s Robot Craze“.

I took as much time as I could, leading all the up to when the show started on Friday night. My presentation was the first event of the show, which was new for me. Instead of the typical PowerPoint-style presentation, I tried something a little different this year, but getting it to work along with the convention’s AV setup was a challenge. Eventually it got figured out, with many thanks to Paul the tech wizard, but my computer had to be plugged directly into the system, which was off to the side of the panel room, so I was not presenting in front of the audience. It started a bit later than it should have so I had to rush through a few things to fit within the time I had. It was jarring, but once I found my rhythm, everything seemed to go fine. There were a lot of people there, and it seemed like they were into it. Over the weekend, people were coming up to me to tell me how much they liked the panel. So, while it was a very flawed presentation, it went pretty well. I am not sure if there is a recording of it. I hope not! But I think that someday, one way or another, I’ll do it again, and I’ll do it better.

I have to admit, it was kind of nice to get my responsibilities out of the way on the first day and have the rest of the convention to enjoy, which was something I haven’t experienced in a long time due to being a presenter for the past number of years. So, for the rest of the time, I attended as many panels as I could, searched the dealer room for deals and interesting pieces you rarely see in person, and hung out with pals. Even still, there were a few things that I missed out on, just because I was busy having fun somewhere else.

I also sold stickers, both on my own to anyone who could find me, and with a selection available in the dealer room thanks to CringeMcCringle and TFormers2002 offering some space at their table.

Here is a look at what it was like walking around the dealer room. It was pretty busy!

There were a some interesting gems to be found this year. You can see some more images from the show here on my Tumblr.

It was awesome to see The Cybertronic Spree in town again! I bought 2 albums after their panel on Saturday and got some pictures. I’m hoping to see them in live in concert outside of a convention some day.

Saturday night was all about the Slurpee Run! It was the biggest turnout we’ve ever had, with nearly 100 people making the trip to get a slushy beverage. We had lots of bells and whistles this year, with the staff members in new uniforms, a knighting ceremony, a free giveaway of 3D printed cups that figures can hold, and there was even a wedding! How did a wedding happen? What we did not have were actual Slurpees, since the 7-Eleven we used to go to closed a few years ago, and the gas station we had been going to instead had run out of their brand of frozen drink. Oh well, it was all about the experience.

I wish I got more pictures of the guests and other stuff that happened, but I enjoyed all the panels with the voice actors and the other events I was able to attend. There were a lot of great guests this year. Here’s me and Guber with Dick Terhune, Neil Kaplan, and Xavier Paul Cadeau. I even shared an elevator with Mr. Terhune on Monday morning and got to chat with him a bit, proving TFcon never really ends until everyone leaves.

On Sunday night, after the show had ended, I appeared live on the Transformers Slag Podcast again. You can find me at about the 1hr49min mark.

Here’s the stuff that I took home! The gigantic Bowser figure was a very generous gift from another longtime TFcon attendee. Since I was flying home, I had to find a way to fit it in my suitcase, which meant I knew I would not have room for very much more. Still, it was a respectable enough haul. You can read all the details of the individual items here on my Tumblr.

All in all, it was another great TFcon, in spite of everything I went through before it started. This was the largest TFcon Toronto yet, with a huge attendance, especially on Saturday. I’m not sure what to attribute the bump in interest in TFcon this year, but there might have to be some changes in how things are run in the future to accommodate for all the people.

One thing I hope does not change is the fun social aspect of TFcon Toronto that makes it stand out from other conventions. I probably say this every year, but it really does feel like a family reunion. It was great to connect with old friends and see people I only get to see once a year. In fact, I wish there was more time for that, as even with as much activity as I crammed into the weekend, there were still people I didn’t get to see for very long and things I wish I could have done more of. I definitely noticed that a lot of people recognized me and said hi to me throughout the weekend, even though I didn’t always know who everybody was. I appreciate it though, and I especially want to thank everyone who bought stickers.

TFcon did not end on Sunday though! At least, not for me. I got to hang out around town for a bit on the Monday before heading back to the airport that night. I checked out a cool comic store and mall, and I bought some more stuff. It was nice to have an extra day and not rush out the door in the morning like I usually have to.

As great of a time as it was, the bad luck I was experiencing before the show continued after! I fell sick with a terrible cold as soon as I got home, and it got worse before it got better. I’m still catching up on life, which is why I am posting this in August. Oh well.

Plans are already in place for what I’m going to do for next year’s TFcon Toronto! New stickers, new panels, and who knows what else. See you then!

Sayonara.

It’s July, so as usual I’ll be at TFcon Toronto! The Canadian Transformers convention is always the best part of the year, and maybe that’s not saying much for this trash fire of a year, it’s still going to be great.

Once again, I am presenting a panel, and this time, rather than going on towards the end of the show on Sunday, I’m kicking the whole thing off! My panel this year is about The 1980s Robot Craze! It’s all about the time when robot toys were the hot new thing, Gobots and Transformers fought for dominance, and a myriad of other robots appeared to grab a piece of the action. It happens on Friday at 6pm.

As with previous years, I’ll have stickers with me. All the previous years’ stickers are still around (though a few of them are getting close to selling out), plus 8 more new stickers! There might be a surprise sticker as well, for people who buy a lot.

I don’t have an artist alley table. so if you want stickers, you’ll have to come find me, or send me a message. I’ll be around though, so it shouldn’t be too hard. Just look for the guy with the Skeletor bag.

But wait! New Challengers Approaching!

It’s been awhile since I’ve done a blog post that was just talking about movies I have seen recently. The world sure has changed, and now with streaming being what it is, people are not as excited about going out to the movies as they used to be when now they can just wait to see it at home. But I still love the experience of going to the movie theater. It was the thing I missed the most when we were all under lockdown during the pandemic, so I don’t take it for granted when there are new movies that look interesting or are based on something I’m into. There has been a lot of discourse over whether or not these movies are actually good, and that’s fair, but here’s what I think! No major spoilers, I hope.

Let’s start with Super Mario Galaxy. I had been dreaming about an animated Mario movie since I was a kid, but when the first Super Mario Bros. Movie was announced, I was optimistic that it would be good, even though I am not a huge follower of the works of Illumination studio. I just can’t get on board with the Minions, OK? What are they, corn? They’re corn, right? Yes, they must be. Anyway, I thought the first Mario movie was over all pretty good. It was fun and had some heart to it, but I knew that there was no way it would ever have a chance of being as good as that non-existent movie I had been thinking about for my entire life. Which is fine. I accept that. Now for the sequel, they decide to jump all the way ahead to the Galaxy games, a surprising move, but not unwelcome. Super Mario Galaxy is one of my most favorite games, after all, so I was hoping the movie would give me some of those feelings I got while playing it years ago. And it did… sometimes… kind of.

When the movie starts and you see Rosalina’s Comet Observatory, it really hit me that I had spent a lot of time there while playing the game. It was a nice feeling to kick the movie off, and I had hoped there would be more moments like it. It’s true that the movie was full of recognizable characters and environments and fun Easter eggs from the Galaxy games and the rest of the series, but they crammed so much stuff into it that a lot of it just zipped right by.  The Super Mario Galaxy games presented so many memorable moments to the player that give you the feelings of the epic scope of the adventure, the massive danger of the challenges you face, the whimsical sense of exploration and discovery, and the cold, lonely melancholy of being in space. The movie doesn’t really have much of that. It often came close, but before it can really make you feel something, it’s on to the next part of the story. Even the music, as great as it was, teased me with the nostalgia of a familiar tune at the perfect scene before it yanked the rug out from underneath itself and morphed into a different piece of music, changing the vibe entirely. Overall, I’m not going to say that I hated it. It did give us a lot of Mario and the gang for our money, plus all that other stuff that wasn’t even from a Mario game, and I have to credit them for stuffing as much Nintendo as they could into the film’s run time, but what I really wanted was an occasion to breath and appreciate it.

Mortal Kombat II was a decently fun time at the movies. I liked the first in the series, but I understand how some people were disappointed because it didn’t actually feature the tournament like you’d expect, and it also focused a lot of time on a character that wasn’t even from any of the games. Well, MKII gets right to it, pretty much giving you all the Mortal Kombat you could hope to handle. All the lore is there, all the characters looked pretty familiar, and it was mostly very faithful, which I appreciate as a fan because we all know how it feels to be disappointed by an adaptation of something we like that isn’t faithful and doesn’t even bother to try. The movie itself isn’t that deep, but it’s Mortal Kombat, so it doesn’t need to be. There were some cool fights, but I miss the kind of fighting you’d see in martial arts movies made in the 90s, which they just don’t do anymore. I found it interesting that, even though it was a sequel, the 2 main characters the story presented were not even in the first. If there is a MKIII, I’d like to see if they would do that again, and maybe make the main characters Smoke and the younger Sub-Zero.

Finally, there’s some new Star Wars! The Mandalorian and Grogu is a fun adventure movie, and a lot of the marketing seemed to position it as being akin to the old Hollywood serials. Yeah, there was a fair bit of that, and you’d expect that kind of thing from Star Wars, but I also picked up some vibes that reminded me of those cheap sci-fi movies you’d catch on cable TV back in the day. But in a good way! Obviously I am a loyal Star Wars fan and have seen all the episodes of The Mandalorian, so I can’t speak to it in terms of it being relevant to people who have never seen either show or any of the movies before, but I’ve been hearing that people are seeing this film and enjoying it even without knowing anything about either. It bewilders me that that anybody would want to go see a movie about a show they’ve never seen, but it stands to reason that every Star Wars could be somebody’s first, and I’m happy to see that this one could potentially still work that way. So, I’m not upset about anything like unmet expectations that other people might have, as it never promised to be the next big deal in the Mandalorian story, and I never cared about it showing any grand revelations or anything like that. I saw it as a chance to get one big start-to-finish adventure with these characters on the big screen, and that’s exactly what it was. I have a feeling I’ll like it more after I watch it again in the future.

All 3 of these movie had mixed receptions from audiences, and I think that’s just the way things are these days. People are more jaded in general, and I admit that I am too, and have been for a long time, but I save my jadedness for all the other stupid stuff that happens in the world. When it comes to movies, I generally try to find something to like. In general, I liked all 3 of these movie well enough, even if my mind wasn’t blown by any of them. But I think the buzz in the air is telling me that the main event of the Summer season is going to be the Masters of the Universe movie, and I’m looking forward to seeing that one for sure.

Sayonara.

I’ve finally taken the time to get some new artwork out into the world! Well, not all of it is new, most of it is from some time ago. It just needed to finally be put online. Take a look at these examples.

There’s way more than just this! I’m still thinking about how to best proceed with an easier way to add new artwork here on my site, but for now, you can find it all on my DeviantArt and NewGrounds.

Also, I’ve just recently started using Cara, which I heard some buzz about some time ago. It’s kind of like Twitter crossed with Instagram, but with a focus on artists. I’m just getting into it by slowly posting older pieces first, but they are finding a new audience, so it may wind up being worthwhile. I think I am on a couple other social media sites too, but every since the Internet started falling apart and all these alternatives sprung up, it’s been a lot to keep up with. We’ll have to see where the people are. I think all of the chaos in the art world has shown that the best thing an artist can do for themselves is have their own website, where they can control their own narrative, so SykoGrafix is going to stay my main base of operations and I’m going to do more to turn it into a brand identity with new, original creations. It’ll take awhile, though.

In the meantime, you can keep up with me on BlueSky, which I like a lot more than X formerly known as Twitter, as well as my Tumblr, which I try to post something on every once in awhile, even if it’s just toy collecting pictures or work in progress sketches. Maybe Tumblr isn’t what it used to be, but I still find it fun and useful.

Posting on art on social media has been pretty inconsistent for me in recent years, but stream on Twitch is another story. I’m usually live and doing something every week, and I’ve settled into a schedule of sorts, with Thursdays being my main streaming day, and there’s usually a good crew of regulars there to hang out with. Join us sometime, won’t you?

Sayonara.

OK, look, let’s just get it out of the way. This website has been neglected. I had meant to update several times, but just couldn’t get to it. It’s been a difficult year. I often did not feel well, there was a flood, there was mold, I didn’t have a regular job but found it hard to get much done, and the Internet just plain sucks now, so creating anything is demoralizing. Hey, it is what it is. But 2025 wasn’t all bad, or at least that’s what I’m trying to tell myself. I did do some interesting things worth talking about.

First, let’s talk stickers! I got a new printer and a cutting machine! Now I can make stickers myself in my studio. I’ll find a way to sell them online eventually, but for now you can find some of the designs available print-on-demand on my store page. More coming!

During the summer, I went to Toronto and saw BABYMETAL live in concert again! The was my second time seeing them live, and they were amazing. Though I wish I got a different seat. Here’s a video I shot of one of their songs.

Then, the next week, I was back in Toronto and saw Weird Al Yankovic again! This was my third time seeing Weird Al, and was by far the biggest concert I’ve ever been to. Here’s the encore!

A few days later was TFcon! It was another fun year with plenty of friends and robots. I did another panel, this time about Super Deformed Transformers. I got to meet Tania Gunadi, who played Miko on Transformers Prime. And I sold some stickers, including this special sheet.

Later on in the summer, I was back in Toronto for a third time for another concert! I saw the Evangelion Wind Symphony in its very first ever performance in North America. You can read about the experience here.

I sold some old stuff, some of which I wish I didn’t have to, but I did get some new stuff! Sometimes you can find me unboxing on Twitch. Streaming has been a highlight this year, especially over the past few months.

Anyway, I have new artwork, but I still have to upload it, so I’ll share that another time.

That’s all for now. Got this in before midnight, so it technically still counts as a post made in 2025. See you next year. But hopefully not in another year.

Sayonara.