Shaxper

This site is a portal to my numerous web projects and activities, the whole of which reflects my variety of hobbies and interests. Many of these remain half finished, yet all have been the recipients of a lot of hard work and dreaming. I hope you'll find them as interesting as I have.

Current Projects

Construxion.tripod.com
A pretty bare bones attempt to display and archive my various experiments with the Construx snap-together erector system. I add between 3 and 4 new designs each year.

The Complete X-Men Resource
My attempt to summarize and review virtually every X-Men story ever published for the purpose of tracing character evolutions and developments. A lot of it needs to be reworked and reconsidered, and it's tremendously incomplete as is. I'm not sure I'll ever come close to finishing this project, but I do work on it from time to time.

Spacebridge2000
My long-running fan site/resource devoted to Transformers and other robot toys. This is my most heavily trafficked site, even though I don't update it nearly as much as I should.

Completed Projects

As Cybertron Turns
My toy-based web comic, which ran for 139 episodes and went in some crazy directions. I may eventually bring the characters back and continue the story in another web comic.

Projects On Hold

A History of Action Figures and Transforming Toys
Possibly my biggest project to date, which may eventually become a book. This project attempts to piece together a history of toy making in order to chart its evolutions back to the end of the 19th Century and explain when, how, and why certain developments and toy series began. Though largely complete, this history needs a lot of revising, and contains a few missing and/or inaccurate sections. If you're going to read this, understand that it is not complete. Incidentally, the information contained here is copyrighted. Please do not plageurize.

There's a Place...
My weblog, named for the Beatles song that so easily describes my inward contemplations. It's mostly a site where I post lengthy articles about comics and comic culture, but I haven't touched it in a very long time.

Projects In Total Limbo

The Boar's Head Tavern
My discussion board devoted to Shakespeare and his Renaissance contemporaries. Though I still appreciate Shakespeare quite a lot, I'm nowhere near as obsessed with him as I used to be. The community is pretty much dead these days. The board is still fully active though, so another energized soul could always get things going again.

Heimy Schmendrick: Intergalactic Neon Pig Extraordinaire
My first attempt at a weekly comic. Though the character is still very endearing to me, the series fell by the way side years ago. Though I often think about bringing him back, I have no real plans to do so anytime soon.

My Online Reviews

Amazon.com
I don't do many reviews on Amazon anymore, though I've done quite a few in the past.

Internet Movie Database
This is mostly an incomplete duplicate of my Xanga reviews, though there are at least two half-hearted reviews here that don't appear anywhere else.

Xanga Reviews
I was really into Xanga's reviews section until they stopped supporting it. I did quite a few in-depth reviews here.

Boards and Forums

Action Figure Archive
I don't often post here since the community isn't particularly friendly, but it is the best place to discuss and learn about vintage action figure collecting.

Apt. 610
A little online community for our close friends, which used to enable us to stay in touch over distances, or bounce back ideas with next door neighbors. We stopped posting a long time ago, but it's still fun to re-explore old threads.

CBR
The only forum I actively post to these days. It's a major site for comic book discussion, and I can often be found posting in the DC Comics, Batman, and Classic Comics sections.

Hall of Justice
I go here for DC Superhero action figure news, but rarely post.

Robot Japan
A mature community devoted to collecting robot toys. I haven't had much to say here as of late (I'm no longer actively collecting robots), but I adore the community.

Transfans
A Transformers fan community that's evolved into a lot more. Some of the most fascinating debates in which I've taken part, concerning everything from spirituality to world issues, has happened in their General Discussion. I seldom ever post here these days, but I still respect the community tremendously.

Usagi Yojimbo Dojo
Author Stan Sakai's official forum for discussing Usagi Yojimbo comics. Mr. Sakai often replies to posts himself. My involvement in this forum wavers inconsistently, but you may see me around from time to time.

Valiantfans.com
A board devoted entirely to Valiant comics (independent company from the 1990s). I rarely stop by anymore, but it's a good forum with excellent resources devoted to an AMAZING body of comic book work.