A short preview of something I've been working on:

[chrisl]

Art: Ed Pirrie, Colours: Me, Text: George Morgan.


Art: Ben Pirrie, Colours & Lettering: Me


A short guide to the Victory cartoon.

I'm just waiting on one last contribution to arrive so I can colour it, and send it out to the printers.

[Pinwig]

Looking good!

[chrisl]

So, everything is finished now other than a proof read and sending it to the printers. It's US Comic size, 28 pages and full colour. Initial estimates of around £2.75-£3 (depending on how many copies I order) including UK postage - it'll be around £6 for the USA. All contributors* will receive a copy for free. Once I receive the fanzine back from the printers I'll contact the contributors separately for addresses (assuming you actually want a copy).

I'd just like to gauge interest in physical copies before I put the order in. - I'll only open up actual ordering once I've got the fanzine in hand.

*This includes a couple of people who have been a massive help to the project behind the scenes as well as people who will have something printed inside the first issue.

[Pinwig]

Definitely put me down for one.

[Bogatan]

interest here.

[chrisl]

Hi All,
The fanzine is now with the printers and should arrive back on the 1st September. I've purchased the board-backed envelopes and checked with the Post Office for the postage costs and the final prices have been updated in the post above: (£3.50 UK / £5.40 Europe / £6.50 USA approx $9 ).
If I haven't done so already via the TMUK Facebook, I will private message everyone who has replied to or liked the thread with paypal details now - hope that is ok, sorry if it comes across as spam. If you haven't received a message from me or can't use paypal but still want a copy please let me know and I'll try to sort something out.

[browny87]

i am a bit late to this apologies, but if you have any extra spares i would like one!

[chrisl]

Aug 25, 2021 12:10:22 GMT browny87 said:

i am a bit late to this apologies, but if you have any extra spares i would like one!

PM'd you .

Anyone else still interested in a copy that I haven't already messaged, please let me know.

[The Doctor]

Copy ordered.

-Ralph

[chrisl]

So these have arrived from the printer today! Please can everyone who previously expressed an interest & received a pm from me confirm if they intend to order a copy as I’ve currently reserved one for those people but have 4 issues remaining. They will be sent out as soon as the packaging material arrives.

pbs.twimg.com/media/E-MJQThXMAItcMF.jpg

[chrisl]

So, the good news:
The first batch has gone out & I've also discovered that the printer sent an additional 5 copies of the zine! So there are now 8 copies spare & available. Massive thanks to everyone who has ordered a copy - I really hope you like the finished issue and look forward to any comments you might have. I also want to say a MASSIVE thank you to all of the contributors to the first issue - I really appreciate your help in putting this together and I know it's been a very long and drawn out process.

The bad news:
So, I'd appreciate a bit of advice about an unforseen issue. I'm not having a moan but I've got a significant amount of 'reserved' zines which remain unpaid for (members of the Transmasters US Facebook group, rather than the lovely people on here or the TMUK Facebook group) and the USA shipping on the issues I posted out today came in much higher than costed for due to being them suspiciously being 3 grams over the weight limit on the post office scale - but strangely the UK & Europe ones (including the package that had 2 copies in!) weighed the same as I'd budgeted for! Given the increased costs and lack of response to polite "let me know if you don't want it anymore" messages, do I set them a time limit to confirm/pay their order before offering the issues out to other people on a first-come-first-served basis? Do I also increase the cost for USA orders by £1.50 each to cover the postage gap or would that be considered bad form?

If I do end up with a load of unplanned extra zines, I'd be grateful for anyone who likes the issue recommending it to their (preferably UK-based) friends who aren't on here.

[Philip Ayres]

I forgot to ask for one so will take one if there's a leftover

[chrisl]

Sept 2, 2021 11:10:27 GMT Philip Ayres said:

I forgot to ask for one so will take one if there's a leftover

Sure, no problem Phil

[The Doctor]

I'd say to reversists that an issue is held for 7 days and if not paid for is released for general sale.

-Ralph

[Pinwig]

I don't see anything wrong with what the Doc's suggesting. A week should be long enough, eBay's only three days isn't it?

And if you're starting again from scratch with the selling you can charge what postage you like.

[chrisl]

Thanks for the advice Doc & Pinwig - I'll do that now

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Received with thanks! I now have two fanzines to read!

Martin

[Pinwig]

Mine arrived today! That is one tactile cover. Love it! It almost purrs quality.

[Benn]

Mine has arrived too. It's bloody surreal seeing this in print after so long! Good stuff, man!

[chrisl]

Sept 4, 2021 8:42:25 GMT Benn said:

Mine has arrived too. It's bloody surreal seeing this in print after so long! Good stuff, man!

Definitely a surreal experience to see it finally finished. Glad you like it
Massive thanks for all the help with putting this together. Apologies it took so long to get the thing in print, hopefully this format does some justice to the amazing (10 year old) art from you & Ed.

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Finished reading the RiD mag and followed it up with Desolation #1 for dessert.

Unlike RiD, it features Transformers that I recognise, and is inspired by a series I've seen, which is nice (even though I don't rate that series very highly compared to the one preceding it).

Desolation has an old-school TMUK feel about it for sure, although the production values are absolutely 2021 quality. The story got me interested when it fooled me into thinking something had happened which actually hadn't - nice scene-changing sleight of hand there.

The Breastforce profiles do tempt me to revisit (and re-do) my old idea of giving the animal partners secret lives where they are actually more intelligent than their 'masters'... The Secret Life of Pets, TF-style. Hmmm.

Martin

[The Doctor]

Got my copy!

-Ralph

[The Huff]

Bit late with my review on this one, but it was so nice to receive this through the post. As others have said, it's like a good old fashioned TMUK Fanzine but with the quality and presentation of a professional magazine! (I remember when it was a far fetched pipe dream to think of a Fanzine with a colour cover let alone FULL colour back in ye olden times).
Being a Victory fanzine also gives me nostalgia, as that was always the 'new' thing back then and most fanzines were influenced by it.
Nicely organised content - one main strip and then lots of articles - particularly liked the one on the 'guest appearances' in the cartoon, some of which I never noticed before.
Nice set of profiles so we know who is who in the main strip. Wonderful art throughout (with the possible exception of the Dinoforce pic). Speaking of which, thanks for the nod to my old Dinobot Quiz from one of the old Convention 'zines. Though I'm sure my original was 'influenced' by something similar I think I must have seen in Viz or somewhere.
Looking forward to the next issue!

[chrisl]

Thanks for all of the kind words guys - I'm slowly working on issue 2. My aim with this fanzine is to pay homage to some of my main influences from back in the day (like Matt's awesome Dino Quiz) while bringing something new to the party. I'm a big fan of the old-school TMUK zine format, so the next issue will roughly follow that format. I'll start a separate thread with an update on the content.