Allspark Check-in

[Kalidor]

Hey all!

I've had a lot going on the past year+. I've missed being here more but I'm glad to see everyone is still plugging along.

So let's catch up? Tell me about yourself, what's been going on? Anything good to report?

I'm curious what you've been up to. How was your 2025. I'm talking about your personal live, not the latest news in P&R.

What are you looking forward to in 2026?

I'll catch you all up with myself in a bit. I just wanted to get the ball rolling

 

[CoffeeHorse]

In March I had to rehire my attorney because people totally did not care about the final estate court orders I had in my hands. In April I finally got all the estate work done after over a year of work. The very next week the city handed me a list of code violations on one of my dad's properties. Amazing how fast things go from "You are not allowed to paint" to "Why isn't this painted?" I spent the next three months straight doing yard work at the height of this year's crazy heat wave. Wild animals were concerned for my well being. I finally got everything done and had one whole month off. Then the city got on me about an expired building permit at another of my dad's properties. I did not have the permit, or the plan, or the drawings, or the name of the contractor or any contact information whatsoever, and had to just figure it out somehow. It turned out to be six permits that had to be dealt with individually. It took another whole month to get all that resolved.

Other than that things have been pretty good I guess. October and November have been pretty comfy.

 

[LordGigaIce]

I got married! And just recently got back from visiting my hometown to be the best man at my friend's wedding.

Work's going well too. We're having to adjust to AI in an arms race we can't win on a technological level, so we've been pushing in-class essay writing again, which suits me just fine.

Currently in the midst of planning Thanksgiving with my husband's family and doing some holiday shopping, while trying to stay ahead of grading. So you know, typical holiday rush panic/fun.

I've also lost 70 pounds over the last year!

 

[Sabrblade]

Biggest thing for me? I went to and extensively covered BotCon 2025!

Also been doing some heavy research for a big Beast Wars-related project I've been working on all year (which will probably spill over into next year at the slow rate I'm currently going). What is this project, you ask? Can't say. Y'all'll find out in due time.

Also spent a good chunk of the year really diving deep into the lore of The Legend of Zelda games, watching complete walkthroughs on YouTube of all the games I never got to experience before (this is why my BW project has slowed down).

 

[Kalidor]

Biggest thing for me? I went to and extensively covered BotCon 2025!

Also been doing some heavy research for a big Beast Wars-related project I've been working on all year (which will probably spill over into next year at the slow rate I'm currently going). What is this project, you ask? Can't say. Y'all'll find out in due time.

Also spent a good chunk of the year really diving deep into the lore of The Legend of Zelda games, watching complete walkthroughs on YouTube of all the games I never got to experience before (this is why my BW project has slowed down).

Oh wow! Sorry I wasn't able to be around to experience all that.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

Oh I forgot the part when I took an Uber ride somewhere (because I still don't have a working vehicle after a car accident two years ago) and I could not get a ride home because my stupid phone somehow could not get even a single bar in the middle of modern civilization, and all the wifi networks around me were password protected, so I walked home. For miles. In the middle of the 2025 heat wave. In Florida. It hurt.

As a paying customer at one of the surrounding businesses I probably could have used their wifi, but I was too annoyed to ask. I was so annoyed that I bonded with my annoyance, you know? I couldn't let it go that easily. I was committed.

 

[Dvandom]

I got tenure, although it doesn't mean as much at a community college. Planning to go for full professor next year, because for reasons lost to the mists of time, my school separates tenure status from rank.

---Dave

 

[Sciflyer]

I work at a CC too, Dvandom; I feel you. Congratulations on winning tenure though!

Let's see, January through May were spent being a primary caregiver to my mother as she battled - and beat - ovarian cancer. June through July were spent catching up on all of the life that I had to put on hold while we dealt with cancer. In the fall though, things started to change, as her health improved and my attention turned once again to the world of transforming robots. It's been a challenging year for all of us, it seems, but I am eternally grateful to have spent a significant amount of it in the warm, familiar glow of this community.

 

[Kalidor]

Alright, so here's what I've been up to. Probably extended prior to 2025 I've had a lot of issues in my life going on. Got divorced, sold the house, moved into an okay apartment but for a long time I after being laid off I was without a job. I got a job in Feb that I was pretty happy with. Not IT like I was used to doing but it pays okay for what it is.

In May I got injured at work. For the first time in my life it was relatively serious and wasn't something I could just bounce back from. I was categorized as "disabled" and was put on medical leave. After a few months of back and forth with work comp stuff I ultimately had to get shoulder surgery in August. I've been recovering from that for quite a while. Go to PT about twice a week and it's only just now starting to feel like I'm going to get to the other side.

I've been in a relationship for about a year+ now. There are struggles but it's mostly going okay.

I really missed out on most of the year because even though I didn't have to work there wasn't a lot I could do anyway. I do feel like I've not gotten as much done as I should have, but I've been pre-occupied with a variety of things.

I actually have a totally different social media presence that most people here aren't aware of (a few are). But I've neglected this place for too long and I'm trying to get back into the swing of things. Hence me making sure I can keep up to date with news and reveals.

I got a bunch of Missing Link stuff that I'd like to take some pics of this week.

I also have a ton of stuff I need to sell simply because I just don't have enough room for it all and it could probably do someone else some good rather than sit in totes in storage.

Ever since we got hacked several years ago I've been pretty gutted about it. Nothing is as "good" as it used to be and some days I don't know what to do in order to make it better.

I hope I can get a read on what people actually want in the community, but after 25+ years I don't think I have it in me to chase the "next big thing" like I used to.

My primary goal right now is just to keep this place going and hopefully make it attractive to people who want to be a part of something they enjoy without the headache of the corporate slop social media has become between forced content, algorithms, shadow censorship and ai slop.

What do I mean by "shadow censorship"? I'm not talking about opinions so much as how places like Facebook, Twitter and others will just outright suppress content for the dumbest reasons. Like how people have to write k**l instead of kill or if you post a link to something you like they will make your post almost invisible to people unless you're paying for a checkmark or something. And that's true across the board whether it be those places, Youtube, discord, or whatever. These companies want to control who gets to say what and the churn is awful

I hate it and I want to go back to the days of a feeling of being a part of a community instead of being a product meant to sell to advertisers. I don't know if the younger crowd would ever be up for anything like that but I'm not going to give up on the idea.

Anyway, kind of an accidental rant but that's what I've been up to and what's been on my mind.

 

[The Predaking]

So Sunday I lit a burn pile so we can toast some marsh mellows and make smores with the family. The pile was wet, so I splashed on it some old 2 cycle fuel mix we had. Not much mind you, but when I lit it at arms length with a long lighter, the explosion sent my glasses flying ten yards behind me, burnt off some of my beard and side burns on the right side, sent grass debris flying in a 50 meter radius. Fortunately, I was okay, especially after finding my glasses weren't in the fire, and everything was contained inside the fire pit. On the positive side, we still had smores and they were delicious.

I have been collecting TFs and old Video Games lately, but raising three kids leaves very little time to play any games and I don't know if I have opened a TF in the past two years that I have bought. So I still have this massive dragon horde of sealed TFs that I need to open and display. I might do a stream of me and the kids opening them all one day. Could be a fun project!

I was trying to learn Gadot to program video games, but my children's tutoring took over all that time during the week, so that had to be pushed back a little while. I still have some great game ideas, but until I can get some more free time, I doubt I will get them done anytime soon. Fortunately, I am about 6 years away from retirement.

This past year has been a wild. Dealing with three young children while working full time takes a lot out of you. And now that I am 44, I can't physically hold up as well. This past week has made that clear. My blood pressure shot up so high that I passed out at work at my desk. My new cardiologist informs me that even my "Normal" blood pressure is way too high and that I needed to start using meds to bring it down. So I have started that and hopefully in a few months we will be able to get a better plan on how to deal with it. Until then, I am going to be here with the community that I have spent the last 25 years with. And if I one day just stop posting here, just know that I am gone and I will miss you all terribly. Except Wheels. He knows what he did!

 

[wonko the sane?]

I'm not dead. That is all.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

A bare minimum victory is still a victory.

 

[Stepwise]

I relate to some of the previous posts. Bare minimum victories count.

Laughed a little at the s'mores post . . . I know someone who used to blow up appliances on the 4th of July instead of lighting fireworks, until they got asked politely to stop. (They live in the middle of nowhere, so they were presumably asked by the closest fire department.)

Responding to this one thing, though -

Ever since we got hacked several years ago I've been pretty gutted about it. Nothing is as "good" as it used to be and some days I don't know what to do in order to make it better.

I hope I can get a read on what people actually want in the community, but after 25+ years I don't think I have it in me to chase the "next big thing" like I used to.

I'm not one of the younger members on the board - I've been here for a while - but one thing I like is the consistency. Things don't all of a sudden become flashy and new and different and whatever - it's easy to find what I'm looking for and it's easy to catch up on what people have to say.

I also get really funny looks when I tell people that I get some of my news from the politics forum on a Transformers message board.

 

[Sabrblade]

I relate to some of the previous posts. Bare minimum victories count.

We're out of bed and dressed. What more do people want?

 

[Tuxedo Prime]

November's been something of a bad month for me ever since... well, 1998. At least one here will know what that's about.

But overall 2025 has had some progress, good and otherwise.
I was gifted a motor vehicle earlier this year, and have insured it.
I helped my mother finally be recognized as the inheritor of my late father's car (the last item left of his estate).
(The two were not the same vehicle, just for clarity.)

A metaverse virtual real-estate program that I signed on to has crossed the threshold of withdrawable income. (This is also the source of wergild that I have occasionally mentioned elsewhere.)

I keep getting knocked down a few pegs every time I try to nail down that Hierarchy of Needs, but I am, at least, no longer worried about laying low as I was. Still, I am doing my best not to have a mid life crises -- as 27 years ago the quarter-life one was devastating. (Or it was a prelude to devastation. Take your pick, really.)

Work-life balance remains elusive, but I am employed and paid well, at least.

 

[Echowarrior]

I'm still alive. I have a house, and have been regularly paying a mortgage on it. My display shelving is being rebuilt and refilled, I'm getting customizations done on my toys at an excellent pace, and while I'm not getting much done as far as writing goes and my viewing backlog just gets bigger and bigger (plus, y'know, my job is driving me up the wall), I feel like I'm in a better place than I was two years ago.

 

[unluckiness]

I started work as a dog of the government about a year ago but the job's not terrible. Gonna start private practice soon at a private hospital but I don't expect that to be reliable income for a while, hence the need for the government work. Still occasionally lecture at the hospital's affiliated medical school. My relatives from the US came over to visit, meaning I got my Omega Prime earlier than if I were to go to the USA.

First serious relationship in a while. A year and change so far.

New transformers stuff doesn't interest me as it used to since my idealized cast of characters is more or less completed. My outstanding preorders tell me I'm more into dinosaurs and Godzilla right now. Between juggling the different jobs, working out and relationship time, haven't had the time to customize or paint as much as I used to in college and medical school.

Old betta died but got replaced quickly.

 

[LBD "Nytetrayn"]

I honestly never know what to say about myself. Count me in the "alive" pile, I guess?

A fair bit of writing, I guess there's that. Projects coming and going, cancelled and postponed and moved up and so forth. It's been a wild ride...

"You rang?"​

...not you.

Currently, I'm just hoping that I get my next check with time enough to take advantage of Black Friday sales.

 

[Thefakelink]

I’m still here mostly lurking, but thanks to the Allspark, I’ve developed a Blokees habit that’s hard to break. The upside is it makes me engage with the board a bit more.

 

[lastmaximal]

Still dying, still playing chicken with graduate school and seeing who'll blink first (and praying they don't realize I'm almost at the limit for residency), still grateful to have the Allspark br a source of comfort and community, still trying to declutter and unfk my habitat, still trying get enough footing under me to be of better use (here and elsewhere).