The name Bill Koshorek might not spring to everyone's mind, but when you utter the online username of TF Master, many bright little eyes of Transformer-kitbash fans start to twinkle. Add the name of the website Transtopia, and the oohs and aahs are heard all over the world as images spring to mind of Transformers kitbash figures.

The Transformers fanbase was given a legacy, which got silenced three years ago on March 11th 2007, when this kind and talented person was taken from our lives. One person on our spacestation-online staff wanted to express his feelings for his dear friend. The following is a letter written by Dennis Westmaas aka Black Arachnis, who himself has worked at one time on Transtopia with Bill. With these words of remembrance, we would like to honor the memory TF Master and all he has given to his fellow Transformers- and Kitbash fans.

I learned of him through unicron.com's custom section, admiring things like his Dinobots and Beast Wars Starscream. He inspired me through those early bashes, tempting me to try it with their awesomeness. And after much deliberating I did just that, giving my season 1 maximals a much more series accurate paint scheme and still to this day I receive compliments for them. From there it spiraled out of control. I soon bought new toys, scavenged my old decals and re-tuned my airbrush skills for kitbashing, ignoring the pile of model kits I had lying to be built... Even the way I looked at toys changed considerably to the point I see potential uses and parts instead of “cool toy”.

Then one day I heard from a friend about this new site for transformer customizing or as the owner called it, kitbashing. After some looking around on that site I joined it and started doing more stuff, getting more and bigger idea's from all the other kitbashers that were there but there was one kitbasher that stood out, Bill. The very same man that first inspired me. I had unknowingly chosen to join HIS cabal, his group... One could say it was coincidence, one could say it was luck... But me, I'd say it was destiny that I went to Transtopia, to the site of the very same man that first inspired me.

As time went by I started contributing, putting up news I found on his site, his forum and soon I was no longer a normal poster, I was one of the staff, the news hound. I had the time back then to be a news hound, I was unemployed and spent most of my time online trying to get a job or relaxing. When I became the resident news hound at Transtopia, I was very honored, I felt privileged that Bill would allow me to help his site get news and after a bit he and I started talking off the forums in messengers. If I was stuck on something, I'd be able to just ask him his advice and he would give it and he told me honestly, I wasn't the only one. Every day people would contact him on messengers and he'd help them out, give them his opinion, share a technique or just joke around.

After a bit others joined, Transtopia grew and I was no longer the only news hound. But, with the growth came new friends, new people to ask advice or just have a good laugh with. People such as Devastator, Fighbird, Pepie and others. At one point we even had Don Figueroa as a member and he got his own contest there, man everybody wanted in on that one...heck, even I entered and my drawing skills aren't that good... but we had fun, we laughed and I had about half a dozen or so galleries on Transtopia, ranging from original characters like Mudbuster and Megalita to homages like Armada Pipes and Armada Menasor/stunticons. Sadly those galleries are no more but I still have all of my kitbashes, I might re shoot them some day... but in all fairness, no matter what all of us did, we'd always be blown out of the water by Bill's creations. Even when we got a little peek at one mid process, we'd all drool over it like starving wolves before a barbecue...

But my time as staff at his site did come at an end when he convinced Anemis to join up. I could see why he'd want him on staff and didn't hold a grudge. But, Bill didn't just kick me off the staff, he contacted me and explained his intentions and asked me if I was okay with it. That, that just showed you that even though we were across the world, he considered me a friend. He was the boss, he could have just kicked me off the staff and sent me a message to tell me but he took the time and effort to tell me in person the how and why I was being taken of the staff. Now some might feel offended but the way he treated me felt like he showed me respect, that he acknowledged my contributions to the staff but felt I was no longer of use. Now I should mention that during that time I was readjusting to working again and found myself severely lacking in time to hunt news down.

Anyways, that was my time as staff there but I of course stayed as member, I wasn't being banned after all... and slowly due to working again, relational stress and other things I drifted away from actively kitbashing things for a while but I never lost my love for it, my eye for potential and I kept formulating plans, ideas to do when things would lighten up again on me... and I kept stockpiling for it... man, I got so much projects in limbo I'm sure it's more then my old model kits pile... and yes, I frequented Transtopia less and less...but Bill and I did talk from time to time... about things, idea's, joking around...things friends do. He even once confided in me that the reason he always had such fast turnarounds from idea to finished project because he was an insomniac, mostly due to his personal situation and how he felt about it. So instead of brooding on it, he poured his heart and soul into his projects, his little babies. He truly loved all of his bashes a lot but to him his wife and child ALLWAYS came first. Even if it meant selling his bashes. Heck, sometimes the paint on them would be barely dry before the ebay listing would go up... But, his bashes sold and sold well. His work usually went very high, I've even heard of them going over a 1000 dollars. But, I'm sure that every time he did that, his heart broke a little. And I am certain some of his work will go a lot higher if it were to be sold again now. Bill was a genius, a visionary and a kitbasher through and through. His presence was there even if he was off the net to sleep or spend time with his son... heck, any of us at Transtopia knew he'd be there for you if you needed some advice when he'd log on again. But... then came the day... the eleventh of march...the day us kitbashers lost him, I dare say that that day we lost a friend, our inspiration, heck, in a way he was our saviour. His work, his passion for it made it cool. No longer were we the nutcases that ruined perfectly good toys, we were kitbashers, proud inventors of new TF that weren't available through normal means, the new characters, the homages in new toylines, the completely scratchbuilt things we thought would never come... it's all widely accepted now due to one man's passion, Bill's passion... in ending, I would like to make this little statement to my friend Bill, may he read it where ever he is now...

Bill, may you remain the guide to our hands, the inspirator of great ideas and the patron saint of us kitbashers. We have lost a great man that day, and after his loss we lost our gathering place, the name now no more then a hollow shell maintained by someone who has no drive for this hobby of ours and the staff of it scattered across the sites, barely, if at all, staying in contact... but you're in our hearts and souls, the one, the ONLY TF Master.

Man, I miss you my friend....


Dennis Westmaas

TFormers.com a very extensive Preview has online put to the Game War for Cybertron. In this is to be found out more to three sea cores. But also to the spiritual differences between robot and vehicle mode there is something to read. And if you want to know what has it with inhabitants in the depths of Cybertron on itself, then read the complete report here! We have the pictures in addition, they here already for you.

Reprolabels puts something new sets in March. Also this time these are different sets again. These are for:
- Movie Sideways
- Animated Freeway Jazz
- WST Blaster und Shockwave
- Alternity Convoy ( silber ), damit wird zu Jazz
- Micromaster Patrol Offroad
- Micromaster Patrol Racecar

The pictures come from Frankell Baramdyka which has already signed for the Movie Games. The Concept Arts show / mention among other things the Junkions, the planets lithographs (known from the 1986th film, the first snack of Unicron) and the Jungle planet (known from TF: Cybertron). Whether some of these draughts in the third film really use find is still absolutely open of course, but it makes desire to speculate.

Pictures were removed, because there are quite juridical problems with Hasbro.

Source: tfw2005.com

There is it something new of the row WST (World Smallest Transformers). Pictures of the G1 Blaster on have appeared Actoys.net. One sees the packaging, but also the figure himself. As a comparison one has put G1 WST Soundwave besides.

On Allspark.com a picture was shown what will probably be the label of new HUB, the TV chanal of Hasbro/Discovery. Well Bumblebee is to be seen, probably, however, also in a little bit changed form. It should look younger, because it could be of the Bumblebee which should play in the new series which is shown on this TV chanal.

With Amazon.com there is a new minirow the comic IDW row to the advance order. It concerns a comic row of already a very much known character. Now the Drift to which already in All Hail Megatron his appearance had gets his own small miniseries by Shane McCarthy. 104 sides strong book contain, I quote literally from Amazon:
What was it that caused one of the Decepticon's most ruthless soldiers to turn his back on the Decepticon army and what is the ancient secret that lies hidden deep within an alien planet? All this and more as the origin of the newest Autobot, Drift, is finally revealed!.
The minirow costs 17.99$, without dispatch and is delivered from the 10th of November this year.