Let me start by saying yes, I know I could have bought the Universe Hot Shot. But that Hot Shot isn't toon accurate. I set a side my Powermaster Prime upgrades and my Sideways upgrades to finally do what no one has before: Fix Armada Hot Shot. I'm still figuring things out and so far I have plans to: -Integrate the spoiler on to the shoulders thus tightening up his profile. -Figuring a way to replace the screw in the new shoulder with a joint to allow me to pull the shoulder up and out. -Replace stock shoulder outward swivel with a ball/universal joint -Move some of the arm kibble to either the outside of the legs or his back. -Buy a Jolt, fix a Jolt -Integrate a new engine block right onto the hood like the Universe Hot Shot. -Ball jointed wrist. -Patch up alt mode front end
Hot shot was the first figure I ever opened so I have a soft spot for him. I like the idea of making a the figure more posable as I've always loved the sculpting but never dug the limited articulation. I will say this though: the way you did the head is the way the Universe figure treats it which triggers a minor gripe I have with both those and the animated incarnation, In the show that bottom part of his head wasn't part of the helmet. It was more of a collar on his torso withing which the head was thus the head moved independantly (it isn't the chin strap more recent interpretations seem to take it as). Anyway looking forward to seeing more.
I like how instead of settling for a sub par figure of the character you like, you're putting in the effort to make the best version possible. Very cool.
This is a very big project your taking on I admit I'm impressed your literally making something out of nothing. good luck. Actually jolt only has two problems I can think of 1.not standing 2.lackluster helicopter mode #makeamericajAamagain
I've actually side lined Sideways until I'm done with this. Some day I may tackle Smokescreen, but he scares me...
This is all easier said than done so you likely know more than I do. But I think Smokescreen might actually be easier. His biggest articulatin faults are lack of knees and elbows. Then biggest inhibition on his elbows is his arm armor which just wither needs to extend out of the way (like classics Astrotrain) or rotate just enough his knees might be harder although they'd just need to extend slightly to reveal a knee joint (much like both Armada Primes already do.) He already has decent shoulders with outeard arm movement and the legs have rotation and ball jointed hips plus the crane moving the head gimmick....rotates his head which was one of Hot Shot's issues. Hot Shot's biggest hurdle is his shoulders because he has that show accurate backpack which really make for a difficult arm design. I see you pull that off and I'll honestly wish you were an MP designer.
That Hot Shot's looking better already! And if you find a way to preserve the wheel/gun gimmick, you will forever have my respect.