FLIPDUDE

Thanks, guys! I'm glad you got your book and are happy with how it looks, Erik Israeli printing may be significatly more epxensive than American, but at least the books come out a bit more polished looking. I really hope you enjoy it! And yeah, it's weird going back to the trip via the comics. In order to remember exactly what went on in some of the cases I had to go back and read my TRs from that time and flashback to the corn fields I hope you enjoy the book, and it was nice seeing the name on the shipping address for someone I remember from the trip. (well, to be honest, I have a bad memory for names so other people could've been form the trip as well, but still). I would love to hear what you think of it after reading! I should point out that copies have almost run out (There weren't very many of the english to begin with), so if you want a copy and don't want to have to wait until I decide to have a 2nd printing, I'd suggest getting it soon. Also, third shipment went out earlier today.

Uhm... thanks for the tip, but... I've been back for 4 months now. o___O Kinda slow to repsond there. Ended up going to SFGADv and had a blast.

^Seriously? Wow! What's it about? Anything online that I can see?

Thanks, guys! ^^I'm honored that my comic book is your first! Be gentle. Just came back from the post office, shipment 2 is on it's way! Nice seeing some names I recognize on the envelopes! Enjoy, folks!

First shipment of books has been sent on it's way and they should arrive at your doorsteps in 7-10 days. Enjoy, and I will be more than happy to hear your opinions of them!

^Awww, that picture made my day

Thanks, guys! ^^^I did contact him but I knew even before I asked that the TPR store is for official TPR merchandise, which this isn't. Perfectly understandable I'm just happy I can sell it this way. ^^Lol, I should give you fiar warning, though, Max, you're not in this book's stories much, only a sighting here and there. Maybe you'll appear more in the next one.

^Thank you! The thing is, I made a concious effort to draw REAL looking coasters because I didn't get why everyone always draws them so darn cartoony. After drawing them I finally realized why. It's freaking HARD! The pages with the detailed coaster tracks probably took me the most time out of everything else. Oh, I should probably point out that I will go mail the ordered books right after the weekend.

Thank you! I think of these as a huge improvment form the lil robby robb comics, though. Which were more bizzare than "ha ha" funny, really. Also, I edited the pricing to answer your pre-edit question.

Those of you who have been following the comics I used to upload here know that since 2007 I have been working on a comic book. Well, I have finally finished it, it is 120 pages long, and while it covers many topics, not just coasters, over half of it is about TPR's 2007 Midwest trip! I actually finished it months ago but couldn't sell it online yet because paypal was giving me issues and I wanted to make sure I have Robb's permission, as well (and thanks again for it, Robb!). But the time has come and I present to you - Oy Vey! Oy Vey is a collection of funny true stories from my life. The first half is about life in the city of randomness - Tel Aviv, where many amusing things happen, from inflatable giant ducks atop city hall to trampoline-hopping, brainwashing robots trying to sell you velcro. And again, it is all true! It has taken me two years to finish the book. The 2nd half of the book contains comics about some of the funny things that happened during TPR's Midwest 2007 trip. The book also contains several multi-page stories. Here are two pages from the Kings Island comic: There are more books in the series planned (oy Vey is my 7th book in general, and my first one to also be printed in english), and the next one should cover the things about the TPR trip that this book hasn't. I'd personally recommend it to every coaster fan, if not for the sole reason that it is most likely the first comic book to feature anatomically correct rollercoasters, as opposed to those flat-track cartoony ones you always see everywhere. Parks featured in Oy Vey 1: -Holiday World -Indiana Beach -Cedar Point -Mt. Olympus -Riverview Park -Kings Island The price of the book is $15, and delivery to US is another $1 (I can check and see if it varies for other countries but overall I assume it should be about the same). I realize this is a little steeper than comic books in America but printing costs more here. If you really want, you can also buy the book at Midtown Comics Times Square in NYC or at Jim Hanley's Universe, also at NYC for a little over $10. You can also order it from the Midtown comics website: http://www.midtowncomics.com/store/dp.asp?PRID=1107241 However keep in mind, each one of those stores only has 5 copies, and I really rather have them be sold to the General Public of NYC for some added exposure, so if you don't mind the extra $4 I'd really appreciate it if you ordered it from me. Now, I have never used Paypal to sell something before, nor have I dealt much with overseas shipping, so please be patient with me as this is all very nw to me. Payment is done through paypal, either by going to this link: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=8CXUEJSF5C38A or sending the money to tomixcomics @gmail.com (no space) along with your shipping address information. That is also the email you can contact me on for any questions or notes. So come help support a coaster loving cartoonist in doing what he loves!

Disney said in an interview that they are in no way opening a park in Israel. As I suspected, the reporter simply blew "Trying to buy some rides off of Disney" way out of proportion and other places that picked up the article did the same. In other news, my awful home park of Luna Park Tel Aviv is building a little kidie coaster, apparantly. Right in time for Passover, which is when they open new rides each year, which leads me to wonder if Superland is building anything and if so, what, seeing as they are sister parks and usually get new rides at the same time.

^^^That article was pretty much a direct translate on any of the multitude of hebrew articles spread aorund the Israeli web. The phrase "Are in talks with" is key to udnerstanding that this could very well be a mistake on one interviewer's behalf (as someone who's been interviewed or read interviews of people he knows I know how often this happens), so it's not any more reliable now than it was before. Going by the phrasing of many of these articles it would seem they're all coming from one source since they all seem to feature exactly the same information. I still remember that when they planned a huge park for Eilat, the newspapers immediatly jumped on the Disney train and said stuff about Mickey Mouse and whatever coming to Israel even though the park ended up having nothing to do with Disney besides the level of theming it had planned. On the other hand, however, Disney does occasionaly have smaller complexes that are not an enitre Disneyland park. I was at a Disney play area in LA, it was official, it looked nothing like anything super-themed that Disney would make, and it was pretty small, but it existed. Either way, the relations to Disney will probably end up being very minor. I wouldn't go digging out your old mouse ear hats just yet. I gotta say, I'm kinda HOPING there won't be any connection to Disney, that way we might have a chance of getting some extreme thrill rides!

^Mostly for exclusivity. That's also part of the reason Disney likes to design it's own rides whenever possible rather than rely on outside manufacturers. Ande ven when they do rely on outside manufacturers they try to amp up the theming to make sure rides elsewhere don't come near it.

Here in Israel there is a chain of mega-cinemas called CInema-Cities, which are basically a combinatoion betwen a movie theater and a mall, with a lot of theming and flare. And I just read an article that says the following (translated form Yediot Aharonot newspaper): "Cinema City complex to be constructed in Haifa: Will include giant amusement park" Now, let's ignore for a second that I knew "giant" was a gross overstatement before I even read the article, because the average amusement park around here is the size of someone's backyard, and move on to the fact I am already VERY excited because there are only two "magor" parks(I.E. the size of a US fairfround) in Israel and both of which are curently beying boycotted by me for having horrible service. So this means a park I can actually go to. The article says (with the irrelevant parts cut out): Usually I would not get this excited about any park this small being announced (okay, I would, but not justifiably so), but anyone who's ever been to Cinema City in RIshon knows how extravagant it is, and the fact that unlike most projects in Israel who never make it past the concept stage, Cinema Cities actually get BUILT. Also, since it's in addition to an eisting complex which will have heavy foot traffic, the small size does not necessarily indicate a lack of extreme rides, especially if it will end up being indoors. I got word from a local waterpark manager saying he's planning to build a small amusement park section in the distant future as well, but that is still in the concept stage. Anyhow, I'm excited!

Actually it doesn't look that scary to me... Layout-wise it practically seems boring. The only thing that's scary about it is it's death-machine-ular look, and when your home park rides are notorious for only being scary because they look like they're about to fall apart, you stop worrying about that sort of thing, as long as all the beams are in the right place. It does look interesting though.

I'd hit that.

Hey, seems like B&M is finally upgrading that slightly boring curved drop! Starts steep, ends with a low, high G turn! Me likey!

Holy freakin'... WOW, man!

I'd like to see Zamperla buy the cyclone, I guess, as long as no magor changes will be made, we don't need no tacky replacement trains. But it will make more sense for the Cyclone to be included in the wristband price for Luna Park, and that way it will also run for a larger part of the year. When I was there in Ocotber I went to Luna Park expecting to see everythign open and was disappointed that pretty much nothing else was.

IAAPA shows are only open for members of the industry, right? Otherwise, I am so planning a vacation to Orlando around that itme!

If I had to guess I'd assume the junior boomerang is a shuttle junior coaster, that goes in reverse as well on a mild layout. Not a smaller version of the Boomerang. OG the headbanging on that sort of thing!

Wow! Fantastic photo TR, Robb! I love IAPPA, and hope to go there one day, somehow. I'm a totaly geek for miniature models, so all these little coaster models and waterslide models are making me drool... Those slides look like they belong in a gift shop! I WANT THEM!

^Well that would keep us less at the edge of our seat, now wouldn't it? Bad marketing strategy. Anyhow, sure, it would be nice if owners of the current game get a discount, but I don't think it's necessarily going to happen, and quite frankly I'd pay full price for it without batting an eyelid. I don't like how the track looks in those screenshots, but Jesus Mary and Gertrude if those trains don't look awesome.

That is so beautiful! It almost looks like an artist's impression, rather than the real thing! Beautiful ride, and good photography work, too! Hopefully the ride experience is up to par with them!

I wonder what the going rate for plane tickets to China is these days...