Ah, the best laid plans... Last year, after 8 years of organizing the "Trannies" Transformers fan awards each January, Rob Jung had other priorities. So Phil Zeman, EiC of Altered States Magazine (www.alteredstatesmag.com) and I were going to pick up the torch and run the 2004 awards. Then various things got busy for both of us, and it just didn't happen. Which brings us to present day - even with (or especially with) the mosaic of TF sites, groups, and discussion boards out there, we think there's still a place for the annual global TF fan awards, so we're bringing 'em back. For certain relevant sections, the ballot will cover 2004 and 2005 separately so there isn't a 'lost' year, and the voting period will extend beyond January this year since we'll be starting a little later than the old Trannies. Look for the ballot announcement by Monday, Jan 9. Our ballot/awards will feature a new name to reflect new management, mostly same format as years past, same crazy antics, and a few surprises! Best regards, Malin
The 2004/05 Awards-Formerly-Known-As-The-Trannies (UPDATE) As promised, an update. First off, the new name of the internet's longest running Transformers Fan Awards, for the 2004/2005 voting season is..... THE GOLDEN DISK AWARDS Why the change? To begin with, just to put a new stamp on it. As the old awards were a takeoff of the comic awards the "Squiddies" which were in turn inspired by the Oscars and the nickname more inspired by the Emmys, "The Golden Disks" felt like a nice homage to another set of entertainment awards (Golden Globes), with a TF spin. Secondly, as some of the feedback from my last message echoed, the name "Trannies", however amusing, seemed to put off some fans, so hopefully this will be more inclusive. I've also taken note of other comments on a.t.t. and the web boards and streamlined the ballot. The 80+ question ballots of years past were fun, but were also probably intimidating to new voters - so we're trying to keep it simple and dropping a number of the more obscure questions. If your favorite question is gone this time, there will still be a Free For All section where you can write in whatever award you like (though please keep it as concise as possible- for the results, these will probably be posted separately from the main awards, to appease those who disliked having a book of Free For Alls at the end.) If enough people respond wanting a certain question back, we can certainly add them next time, after all, as fans these are OUR/YOUR awards Questions with a specific set of answers, like "Best TV Episode of 2005" will provide a list of choices, either on the online ballot (see below) or via a link to other online resources where you can quickly refresh your memory. There will still be space for comments about your votes, after all that's where the best material of the awards comes from! But filling them out is definitely not a requirement, just vote for whatever questions you like, and comment whichever ones you like. There will be 2 ways to vote: 1) Fill out the ballot via an online, web-based form, either all at once or in sections (Characters, Toys, etc.) at your leisure. This is the preferred method, to make our lives easier when it comes time to tally. 2) More like the old ballot, fill out a form offline and submit it to us. Or, you can combine the two, and still help us from pulling our hair out consolidating the ballots- fill out the offline form at your leisure, then cut and paste your answers into the online form. We're putting the finishing touches on the ballot and it should be ready to go this weekend, at which point I'll post again with complete instructions. The voting period will run through February. Finally, we have something special in mind for the actual awards "presentation"... but more on that later Malin
