Really? OfficeMax and OfficeDepot merged not too long ago, so that would make for one major nationwide brick-and-mortar office supply store that I know of. I don't. Was that a regional chain?

For a while in north Atlanta there was a sort of electronics superstore that was like the entire Radio Shack catalog x3... and then more stuff thrown on top of that. I think it was Tech America or something like that. Pretty cool place; alas, it was gone after a short stint.

I honestly can't say that I've ever been in a Radio Shack with useful (or friendly) staff, or prices even close to the norm, so this doesn't surprise me except in that it has taken this long. The last time I was in a Radio Shack was maybe two years ago, half of the store was basically a cell phone store, there was one wall dedicated to computers (with most of it being laptops for sale).

It has always depended on how you file.

Not that anyone on these forums cares, but Radio Shack didn't file for a liquidation. They filed for a reorganization. Filing chapter 11 isn't really - for all practical purposes - anything more than a strategic cost-cutting measure. It sounds ominous, but only to people who don't actually understand business law. This is a fairly good, concise explanation of the difference between what people think of when they hear bankruptcy (chapter 7), and the legal process businesses use to avoid having to pay back their debts as originally agreed (chapter 11).

Of course, as always, a more detailed explanation is better if you have the time and interest.

EDIT: fixed link

Nope. No rumors,

On either issue.

soundwave yes
the autobot symbol is based on prowls face ( and by proxy smoekscreens and bluestreaks face too )
spreaking of bluestreak there is a "myth"of a bleu bluestreak in sealed transformer packaging instead of the silver one that was actually released
this myth originated because there was a blue diaclone bluestreak which was used in the folders
and because of his name

bluestreak
so he had to be blue right ?

yes all the smal ones
the "super deformed" cars are penny racers or choro Q if you prefer

more liscense "fun"
because the series is mostly takara fueled they demanded that jetfire ( skyfire in the cartoon series )
was remodeld in both the cartoon adn the comic so they wouldnt give bandai a rival any more exposure then was neccesary

well blame hasbro for all that
megatron died in 25 gone but not forgotten and optimus prime in 24 afterdeath
and they both died in the 1986 animated movie
by that time they were old product old toys that werent produced anymore and had to make way for new toys
ultra magnus galvatron rodimu sprime
so they were killed off
hasbro had nto counted on the fact that the fans and kids had grown attached to these characters

the issue with sky lynx is us 37
grimlock had been the autobot leader for about 10 issues now and gone a bit ...loopy
it doesnt help that bob budiansky wa suffering from a burnout by then
and most of his uninterest shows in lacklustre plots
he still had a few good stories left in him ( the headmasters trilogy issues 38 and 39
the underbase four parter ) but on the whole it wasnt up to much

the UK comic was by this time a lot better ( long story short the uk comic was weekly and tended to split the us comics in 2 parts because the main comic was 11 pages so that left the uk team usually with a gap to fill which they did with their own home grown comics which slowly but surley became massive epics interwoven in between the story lines of the us comic
on the whole the uk comic is considered to be better by most fans )

buadiansky really should have been let go by this point but he soldiered on untill us 53 when tf uk scribe simon furman took over
and furman has been writing transformers on and off ever since

but lets not sell budiansky short his influence and impact on transformers is massive
he thought up all the names
all the toy bios
all the functions
edited the first 4 issue mini series
and then wrote 53 tf comics
without him there would be no transformers just like there wouldnt be much of gi joe with out larry hama

yes they were alla motley size because a good chunk came from different toylines
the mirochange toys were in scale with each other but nto with diaclone
the diaclones werent even in scale with each other
the penny racers made even less sense
and the other toylines just ,ucked things even further up
it wasnt until 1987 when the diaclone lines have been finally spent
takara and hasbro even appropiated unproduced lines ( the combiners )to fling at the transformer brand
by 87 the G1 line got all new molds

RadioShack has been dead here in Canada for a number of years now. They were replaced by The Source, which was formerly property of Circuit City and when they went tits-up, Bell bought the stores. Meh, I don't mind. Greetings from Joe Smith of 123 Street!

Those links show that Office Depot and Staples are merging, not that Radio Shack has been sold to Sprint and/or Amazon.

As a native of Fort Worth, Texas, this is sad.

As a current resident of Reality, however, this was inevitable...

No, but they show that Radio Shack is selling half the stores to Sprint in a deal as part of the closure.

But where am I gonna buy computer moniter cleaning cloth wipers and Cans of Dust Blowers for my CPU now :(

I get all of that on Amazon. Do they deliver to PR?

i still want to know how they've stayed around this long. how?! selling our info? sacrifices to the old gods? cannibalism? I used to work near one, and I swear no one ever went in there. ever.

Yes. I got a great gaming mouse in newegg.com But its much easier and faster to buy it at a store instead of waiting for days to get it and I sometimes don't trust mailmen. Have you seen that FedEx employee just tossing packages in the truck all willy nilly not giving a damn about what damages are you doing to some of the stuff inside the packages.

An Ofiicial of FedEx had to make an apoligy video on Youtube.

hahaha i worked for a shipping store that dealt with UPS. Once they managed to bend a golf club in half and faulted the customer for not boxing the club properly. Another time they put a fork lift through a painting. good times.

I just google image searched diaclone and it is wild to see stuff like a diaclone optimus prime - it's like looking at an empty shell, a husk of a robot. I'm thinking it was bob budiansky who originally had the creation matrix.

I think it was issue 33 here that first had a UK story. the legend of the giant iron man. it was definitely different, less action-oriented, more slow-burn myth-making story-telling - I dunno, it was the only UK story I read so maybe it was the exception.

We had a bunch of good issues though here stateside: The Smelting Pool was memorable - Lord Straxxus and that little yellow scout with the special hand the only one like it in existence.. - that was some dramatic stuff. The two you mentioned were great - where Optimus chooses to die because he took a virtual life but a sentient life nonetheless, and uh was it the Predaking one in which Megatron died? That was seriously the coolest where half his face was missing and he was screaming like he'd lost his mind and he was going to have revenge.

I wonder if there's a nice thick collection of all the issues. A graphic novel would be nice. I can google it, but I figure you might know better. I'd really like to see those UK stories that became a massive epic, and catch up on the US stories too.