Glad to hear you're all enjoying Depthcharge so much! I used Privateer Press' paints for this, also known as Formula P3. They're nice and flat, which is a plus for Animated figures, but the real selling point for me is how ridiculously smooth they go on. I just brushed them on by hand, and I expect the results speak for themselves. I'm absolutely going for the loose-cannon cop feel, which will be even clearer once we meet his partner; at least one of you has guessed that character correctly, but you'll just have to wait to see! I'm a horrible tease, I know. The Elite Guard symbol is sort of a funny thing. I mean, neither Longarm Prime nor Cliffjumper, ostensibly the two highest ranking members of Elite Guard Intelligence, sport the ol' wings of honour, but Blurr, an undercover field agent does. That's just odd. Anyway, I figure Depthcharge was the equivalent of an honest beat cop who worked his way up and was put in charge of babysitting a bunch of scientists over on Colony Omicron, the sort of guy who was more concerned with doing his job well than snagging promotions. The Elite Guard is a little bit more like the FBI or something. Well, never say never, I suppose, but I've no immediate plans for those. Free time is at a premium these days, and I'd rather fill out the cast first. Oh, certainly, I just don't think the original Depthcharge pulled that off very well. Looking at official Animated characters, most of them are only one or two colours, not counting black. I really never cared for Rampage's look, so my version of him is shaping up to be quite the departure. Ha! Well, that's fairly gratifying, actually. Thank you, sir! All I can say is stay tuned!
Autobot scientists, repeating the experiment that created the Jet Twins using programming from the captured Bitzwing, implanted their test subject with reinforced Autobot ideals to counteract the Decepticon’s insanity. The result was the impeccably chivalrous and honourable Silverbolt, proving that perhaps one can have too much of a good thing. The Elite Guard foisted him off on the grim Depthcharge, but Silverbolt doesn’t mind; a ‘rescue mission’ is right up his alley. Just don’t ask him to hit a lady. Blitzwing seemed like an obvious choice for Silverbolt, since tank/jet is roughly analogous to wolf/eagle. I started thinking about how excited guys like Perceptor and Wheeljack would get over the potential of copying triple-changing tech on top of the huge upgrade we saw the Jet Twins receive from Starscream's programing. The obvious problem is introducing code from a total madman into the equation. You'd need to take precautions, but what if you overcompensated? The idea that they managed to reverse engineer all of that firepower, but it's attached to a guy who doesn't like to use ranged weapons because they're 'unsporting' is pretty much hilarious. I mean, these are the guys who specifically made Omega Supreme too dim to disobey orders. Nobody in the Guard wants to deal with 'Bolt, so they pawn him off on Depthcharge, which is even funnier. Buddy cop style fun times ensue. This is another head that turned out really well, I'd say; I really like his goofy grin for some reason. I wasn't sure how he'd look without a muzzle, but I think the Animated chin is a pretty good stand-in. I used the old 'translucent yellow over metallic silver' trick for the gold. His tabard and/or loincloth is made from sheet styrene and a metal hinge and miraculously doesn't interfere with his transformation! As you can see, I went with the off-center badge style faction symbol again, and I think it works even better of Silverbolt than it did on Depthcharge. The asymmetry really makes it 'pop'. These characters are each so committed to their personal concept of justice, and those concepts are so different, that the Batman/Superman comparison seemed inevitable. Plus, y'know, puns. And I do love my puns.
Oh my God I freaking love you so much man!!!! WOW. Silverbolt is simply EPIC. That's all I can say, EPIC! That head sculpt is so freaking perfect and as always an amazingly great back story. Damn you rock.
Whoooohoooo!!! I was right! Silverbolt! that is so awesome! Great thinking on using the triple changer! I would have never thought about using that mold!!
FML!!!! THAT SILVERBOLT IS DAMNED AMAZING!!!! you sir have just won the internet with that one. i seriously want to buy one of every figure i need for the entire team of animated best bots, pack them up in a box, mail them to your house, and let the magic begin. if i wasnt broke as HELL at the moment i would so do that
Everyone's already posted about how amazing they looks (which they do), but what I want to say is how much I like your characterizations. You do an amazing job of painting a mental picture of who these characters are, and I love their revisioning!
