My name is Matt and I will be 20 this October (2002).

I live in a rural town of Dubbo (the one with the zoo). It’s a city of about 36 000 inhabitants who all seem to bore the crap of each other, located 5 hours drive inland from Sydney.

Born in Sydney in 1982, we moved here when I was 5, so I can be called a 'Country Boy', which was demonstrated on my last trip to Sydney. Most board members will already know THAT story! :)
Sydney is such a culture shock to me now. I’ve been there a lot of times and it never ceases to amaze me! This was easily evident during a train ride over the harbour bridge, with myself staring at the sights out the window while Sydney residents slept. The water in the harbour is BLUE! That in itself is a sight to behold! :)

During my life here in Dubbo I have fallen in with the local Salvo mob. Been attending ever since I can remember (which normally isn't that far), and became a member when I was 15, which means I wear that uniform with the blue things on my shoulders and hang around with a money box at the local Show once a year :)
I also harass the locals by pounding on their door one early Sunday morning a year (affectionately called the Red Shield Appeal. My parents are also members and Dad manages the local Salvo Family Store.

I graduated High School in 2000 with very mediocre scores. Now I study IT full time at TAFE and am doing pretty well: a lot better than high school! ;) No idea what I want to do next year when the course finishes. I can either find work (which has always been impossible for me) or do my IT Diploma which doesn't really sound very appealing. I think I’ll just see where my certificates take me, perhaps down to Sydney where I can fraternise with fellow TAAUers! Bewaaaare!

I used to be totally obsessed with Transformers when G1 was first airing, then I suppose I grew out of it; when that happened I just can’t remember. I can’t even remember what toys I had, though I can vaguely remember owning Dirge and Optimus Prime.

Then for about 10 years of my life I totally forgot about Transformers until January 2002, which was the month of my very first (and so far only) break up! The link between the break up and Transformers is very subtle. My girlfriend at the time and I had been dating for about 15 months, had been very close and became very dependant on one another. We were always used to the other one being there all the time. Overnight that all changed, and while a friend was busy telling me that I was too good for her and that kind of jive, we somehow got into talking about the old cartoons we used to watch as kids. It turns out she used to obsess over Transformers nearly as much as I did! I started talking about what I remembered of the TF Movie, but apparently she didn’t get it over in Venezuela (where she lives), so I started talking about everything I remembered about it: Optimus Prime dying, Megatron turning into Galvatron, giant planet robot thing eating other planets, when I started to feel the urge to see it all again, to relive the experience. So I loaded up my file sharing program and did a search for it. One of the files had listed “tfarchive.com” as the artist. So I headed over there and found a whole adult cult following of the series I so used to love. I downloaded the movie and after that began getting old G1 episodes and soon joined the forums over a tfarchive.com.

During my stay there a fellow TAAUer, Felafel, invited me to check out TAAU. I was a bit iffy about it at first as it mainly seemed to be concerned with the toy side of Transformers, a hobby which just doesn’t seem to grab me. but I stuck it out and got to know some of the nice people there. By this time the tfarchive forums were getting on my nerves! Heaps of stupid Americans just bickering and targeting people who didn’t have the same opinions as them! Yuck! I just up and left and TAAU has been my home ever since :) Now I realize that its not as much the content that matters, it’s the great people the inhabit it (yes, even Burn :P). I am still not into toys, but I now I actually enjoy reading everyone else rave on about them, and occasionally shove my 2 bobs worth in :D

Besides Transformers, my other hobbies include computers (obviously), which includes all the gaming that goes with it! Just finished Medal of Honour: Allied Assault (pfft, in a few days too, way too short!) and now waiting for my copy of Warcraft 3 to arrive so I can take a crack at that. I also enjoy classic 70s rock, including Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Cat Stevens, Jethro Tull, Supertramp, and a lot lot more! :) In fact my TAAU name “Stormbringer” is from the Deep Purple album and song of the same name, plus I thought it was a cool name :)

I like reading mainly fantasy nowadays, though I used to be into sci-fi and I occasionally dabble in the works of John Grisham. Currently reading Lord of the Rings for the 2nd time. Tolkien is a great author and LOTR is just legendary, but I am afraid the mantle of favorite author has to rest on Raymond E. Feist’s shoulders. He was introduced to me by my ex-girlfriend and I have been hooked since. His books are all set in the world of Midkemia, which is not unlike Middle Earth. I recommend everyone who has not heard of Raymond E. Feist to immediately go out and find his Riftwar Saga (consisting of Magician, Silverthorn, and A Darkness at Sethanon). You’ll be instantly hooked, I guarantee it! :)

And finally, I think I’d describe myself as shy and introverted. My idea of a Friday night is right here in front of the computer chatting up a storm with my fellow TAAU mates, though my tafe mates do occasionally manage to drag me out some Friday nights. Being a non smoker/drinker, I just feel out of place surrounded by drinkers/smokers, and it’s even harder when I am uncomfortable in large crowds at the best of times ;) Still, that’s who I am, that’s the hand I’ve been dealt, and I’ve just gotta live with it... and so do YOU! :D