For those of us out there that love variants, I'm pleased to report that
Fred's Workshop is back up and running. If you are not familiar with Fred's work, he was the man that, with the aid of many contributors, first undertook the seemingly insurmountable task of compiling and documenting ALL Transformers variants and variations, and did so for YEARS, in the form of Fred's Complete Transformers Variations page.
Unfortunately, due to the closing of Geocities, the site was left to die (and the people cried), before being partially revived by the Reocities archive (and the people cheered). Practically everything was brought back, with a few exceptions. This resurrection was short-lived, however, and the site inexplicably went defunct (and the people cried again...only louder this time). But, there was new hope! The original site was born again via the Oocities archive (and the people cheered yet again, with cheers eventually diminishing to a collective "meh" as the Oocities version was plagued by annoying ads and a multitude of dead links and missing photos). While both were valiant attempts at preserving the legacy of Fred's Workshop, both the Reocities and Oocities versions of the site were shadows of the original's former self.
However, it seems that Fred has found himself a new webmaster and a brand-spankin' new
site, complete with all the existing information (including links and pictures) from the original site, plus some more recent variant documentation.
We at
Shmax.com have utilized the information provided by Fred's in an effort to provide the most accurate database of Transformers information that we possibly can. We have also tried to pick up where he left off, documenting more recent and current variants - things like the three
versions of
Crankcase's hands. With that said, there are still some "more obscure" variants that we don't yet cover, but will in the future once variants are able to be handled in a more elegant fashion on the site (in a way making both pro- and con-variant collectors happy).
So, for those of you that appreciate a good variant, I recommend that you check Fred's site out. Just click on the link on the left of the page that says "The Complete Guide to Transformers Variations) or just go
here. It will blow your mind. For those of you that don't particularly care for them, it still makes for an interesting read. For those of you that really, really abhor them, however, I'd advise you to stay away from Fred's...it will drive you insane.
