100th Issue

by ZachC

It’s hard to believe, but his is my 100^th column in The Voice! This week please forgive me as I go back and review what’s been done, and wonder about where we’ll go next. Thinking on this took me to the archives where I reread my first column from back around December of 2005. There I laid out my plans for what I’d write about:

“I plan on interviews with various designers, maybe even some customers! We’ll preview upcoming designs as I find out about them, and reviews of what’s available. Not all items will be fresh out of submissions. You may find some retrospects, reviews of significant vehicles and maybe even items that relate to vehicles but you can’t drive. There will be announcements of upcoming events, racing stats, and whatever else that relates to the transportation in the world of There, like racing jackets for instance. If there’s something cool you’d like others to see, let me know and MAYBE I can include it.”

I may have been a little over ambitious. For instance I haven’t reviewed clothing of any sort, nor have I carried racing stats. I do occasionally get emails from designers, but I have yet to get one from anyone with suggestions on what they’d like to see or to contribute information to pass on. On the other hand, this is my 100^th column, not my last so who knows what we’ll see here in the future?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That first column featured two Holiday Season buggies. One was a ZMW. I do try to avoid reviewing my own designs, but sometimes it happens. I don’t look at this column as an advertising venue. On the other hand, sometimes a ZMW just makes sense to review here and I’ll continue doing them from time to time.

One of the things I’ve enjoyed the most with this column is bringing deserving new designers to your attention. Over the years some of those have included names you may be seeing a lot of and others who have returned to the real world and haven’t been heard from in years. To mention a few: BigD26, Anxious, Mullachops, ljordanl, TrickedOut, Nomad55, Haloeighty8, bluespy, vanderjos, and recently Optimize and aj_1988. I’ve probably missed many others, and for that I apologize in advance. I’ve met so many and reviewed even more. I’m sure I can’t remember them all.

 

There’ve been side by side comparisons and retrospects featuring designs by people like Spyderbytez, and Valentine_Wolfe not to mention buggies from the “big names” like Jinxed_Karma , Onus, Kortt, Marriesa, Colin25, Yoshitoshi, and xxxEvilxxx. There were also the shows where the newest released vehicles, like the 4 seaters, the TUVs, and the Scions were showcased. I tried to cover them all, and I hope those were informative and enjoyable to my readers.

Even from the beginning there have been vehicles other than buggies. We’ve seen hoverpacks, hoverboats, hoverbikes, and even an occasional hoverboard. Some of these have been by designers like Droopy, Nex3d, Sojka, and Jinxed_Karma.

For me, one of the greatest experiences from writing this column has been the opportunity to meet so many designers and be able to exchange ideas, talk about techniques, and share interesting stories. Interestingly, the best always seem willing to share with others who are interested in designing. It’s not just the designers either. There are the resellers and the collectors as well. I’ve enjoyed meeting and talking with them all. Who could overlook staff? Sonblock has been great and shared several of his “special” creations for me to show you here. All in all, it’s been an awesome experience doing my first 100 columns, and I’m looking forward to doing many more.