MTV exclusive clip, The Veiled Threat, Knockout, Slipstream, Botcon 2009 poster, EDIT: Matrix confirmed

Oh lawd. I must admit, that was more of a tease than an actual clip, but we got a damn good look at the Decepticons--most of the Constructicons were there, and we got especially good glimpses of Ravage and Starscream. The effects look good, as they did in the first movie, and overall, the 'clip' just makes me want to see the movie more.

Also-- I wanted to share a couple tidbits I found in Transformers: The Veiled Threat, the official prequel to ROTF. 'Bonding' or 'sparkbonding' is mostly a fanon term that revolves around sex and a form of 'marriage', and Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, along with various other twins, are assumed to share a bond between their sparks as well. While there have been mentions of this in canon comics and episodes, the majority of the knowledge about sparks comes from fan ideas. Well, the two short bits in The Veiled Threat lended a little more proof to fans' assumptions.

In the novel, there are a pair of twins, Tread and Trample, and the passages center around them.

"He would not be able to sustain this kind of mauling for much longer, he knew. Intimately linked to Trample, he could tell that his other half was also in desperate difficulty."

"A sudden surge of pain shot through him. He staggered. It was the mutual awareness of another Decepticon's Spark going out: one that was more intimately linked to his own than any other. Trample was--dead."

I found those two passages to be very interesting, and very noteworthy when it comes to determining whether sparkbonding or bondmates is close to canon.

In general, I found The Veiled Threat to be better than the two previous novels for the franchise that Alan Dean Foster has written. There were more mech-only scenes, which lends a bit more credibility to Michael Bay's statement about ROTF including less human-only scenes and more Transformer-centered ones. There was also more emotion from the mechs, as well as more references to them as 'he' and 'she' rather than 'it'. All in all, it wasn't fantastic--I sincerely think there are fanfiction writers that could do better--but it wasn't horrible. Pick it up if you have a few spare dollars (it's $7.99 US) but don't save up for it. I have yet to read the actual movie novelization, but I do hear that in the last few pages (SPOILER), there are mentions of just what the Fallen came to Earth for-- and it's the Matrix.

When I was reading The Veiled Threat, however, I became quite attached to one of the characters, which is normal, and I was delighted to find that he has a figure out-- I must buy it! The character's name is Knockout. He is an Autobot scout, young, cocky, and a little too self-assured, but in the end he proves himself and I found him to be quite endearing. I hope he makes an appearance in ROTF, preferably a speaking role, but if not, I'll have to settle for this fabulous figure:

On a slight side note, the female Starscream clone from TF:A has been officially named. While I previously thought her name was Lazer--.... something, it has been released as Slipstream.

And, for my last bit of news, I bring you the poster from Botcon 2009, drawn by Alex Milne. It was sold at the convention, but my guess is for those of us who were not lucky enough to be able to go, there will be some sold on eBay or other sites.

Here's the link:

http://markerguru.deviantart.com/art/botcon-2009-poster-124064604

Also: I changed the layout a bit, colored some things. Everyone liking it?

Edit: At the official Botcon showing of a clip of ROTF, Sam was shown protecting his father and holding something, when he shouts, "Wait! It's not you he wants! It's this-- the Matrix!"