Pardon me while I ramble a bit, this is a big one to me personally. I've decided to focus a lot less on customizing transformers. I want to focus more on the books I've been writing and the card games I've been designing, and this hobby takes up too much time for too little profit. That's not to say I'm done entirely, just that I'm going to be a lot less frequent. So I wanted to clear through most of my backlog of customs I wanted before I changed gears. I was definitely rewarded for what I put in, since everything I've made has sold quickly. And that feels great. What used to be a "maybe someone might buy this" career has turned into "Maybe this'll take as long as three weeks to sell", and I'm really proud of that. Then there was this project. I started it almost three years ago now back when Superion&Menasor were just released. I was unclear on a lot of things back then, my methods weren't as effective and I was also so much physically weaker that things like cutting/sanding/chopping just took too much out of me. Ultimately, I dropped the project because of something I was just awful at back then : Attaching/making/transferring pegs&ports. I also had no confidence in my painting back then, so building something I'd have to sell for around 200$ just felt like I would be ripping people off. I thought this would be a good way to climax my career as a customizer. Even though I'll be taking this one slowly and focusing more on books&card development, it seemed appropriate to show myself how much I've improved. So let me show&explain everything I had done already, before I start slowly building it up over the next month or two: ~ Snaptrap ~ - Built out of CW Silverbolt. I modified the face pretty heavily and added a plastic faceplate. I do need to work on it to get it more accurate now that my skills are better, but you can see how little left there is to fix. - The turtle shell is made out of a Animated Bulkhead rooftop with two CW Silverbolt guns attached to it via hand-carved pegholes. They are VERY secure, made use of the steel handle to make sure of that(since it can take more strain than normal handles). Fully rotatable 360 cannons. - The back of the shell has Silverbolt's original wings attached and folded under, as the entire shell is meant to be the combiner chest just like in G1. The shell itself comes from a Beast Wars Transmetal Scavenger. - The shell itself actually hides the combiner head. Due to the head-fins, it couldn't fit inside the torso. So instead the head stores inside the shell on a small rubbery plastic peg made out of...And I kid you; A capri-sun straw tip that was reinforced. This way the head can't get stuck, but also holds securely inside the shell. This was also an easy way to bond the peg to the plastic back then by just melting the straw into place. Surprisingly, this holds up better than most modern peg attachment methods I use. - The plane nosecone was removed and a Beast Wars Sky Shadow lizard head was put in it's place, the jaw still functions perfectly. * Still needs working * - Since I didn't do pegs well back then, the two shells actually lack any connection peg for both beast mode or combined mode. The front shell is meant to peg into either the back shell or the nosecone 5mm peghole for robot mode. Whereas the back shell has two attachment pegs that plug into either the combiner chest or robot backpack for beast mode. While the pegholes exist, the pegs themselves do not. ~ Overbite ~ - CW Vortex using a headswap with CW Firefly for G1 accurate heads. Some paint was added just so I could visualize how well it worked. - Entirely resculpted forearms to remove the missiles and get a more atlantean design by using RotF Fallen's toes as gauntlets. - Beast mode toes from BW Tigahawk wings, each on a hinge joint. - Tail rotor had contour putty added to become shark tailfin. Shark torso fin from CW Dragstrip sword(1/2). - Entirely new beast mode arms that form robot mode assault rifles from CW Firefly guns, RotF Fallen toes, and CW Cybershark kneecaps. * Still needs working * - Minor contour putty work here and there just to even out the toes&tailfin. Possibly mess with cockpit to add more teeth. - Need to clean the head to remove previous pink paint. ~ Tentakill ~ - CW Firefly using a headswap with CW Vortex for G1 accurate heads. - All three plane tailfins were removed as was the tip of the nosecone. - Toes added to beast mode feet, not sure where they're from anymore. - Eyes attached to nosecone for silly G1-accurate face. RotF Fallen was a donor again. - Wings were chopped and four 5mm gun ports were added instead. One-sided ports so they can be painted effectively and hide the handle color. Four guns form 4/6 tentacles and robot arms form the last 2/6. * Still needs working * - Nosecone needs some minor reworking for more accuracy. - All four guns shown are stand-ins. Because my handle work was so shoddy back then, 2 of the original guns didn't last through the years and the remaining two don't fit correctly. - The plane is for there to be two small rifles and two small bayonet pistols, the pistols are important as they will form the hilt of the combiner sword. ~ Seawing ~ - Made using a CW Skydive with CW Dragstrip's arms swapped in. - Nosecone removed so that the manta tail can be formed by the CW Dragstrip sword(2/2). * Still needs working * - Pretty much everything. I planned to have the manta ray face plug into the back of the groin with a figma stand port, but that part was never created. The wings/legs/arms all need severe resculpt work to blend in together, as does the face. - I'm considering just re-attaching the nosecone&arms and selling this skydive. If so, I'll be starting from scratch using a modern PotP Jazz as Seawing. I think I've turned enough jets into manta rays to prove I can do it, I might go with something new. ~ Skalor ~ Nothing to show anymore. Originally this was a CW Dragstrip with Skydive's arms...But I never liked how the beast mode would end up looking too much like a mutated HotWheels obstacle monster even without wheels. I've decided to just use a PotP Rippersnapper and modify the beast mode head into a pirana, along with swapping the legs out with PotP Blot's legs. ~ Nautilator ~ Nothing to show anymore. Originally this was...An abomination. I had a CW Bombshell that had all four CW combiner hands attached to it as super-armor, along with two Energon Starscream swords and two FoC Swindle guns as feet. The idea was that Nautilator would carry all the combiner parts to form a super-mode as tall as a deluxe limb...It wasn't stable or good looking. I've decided to just use a PotP Blot, swap out the legs with Rippersnapper to give it a shrimp tail, and then add shrimp legs to it, along with modifying the beast mode claws. Yes, that's right. I've decided on using five deluxe-sized limbs. Which brings me to... ~ P I R A N A C O N ~ - Much like G1; Snaptrap's shell forms the back cannons&chestplate. Currently they're held onto the figure by twist-ties just to show a roughdraft. - The head actually attaches back to the original Superion neck joint. It simply splits in half and clips back together around the joint. The pivot point and seam of the head has been reinforced so that it won't come apart while attached together, but also so that it's very easy to pry apart. - The silverbolt wings are on specific joints that allow them to pivot up&down and bend in&out, so that they don't hinder the arm articulation. - Overbite's massive shark arms form the thigh enhancers. I may end up adding a crotch plate, but haven't decided yet. It'd be as simple as drilling a hole into the hidden plate of Snaptrap's chest and then creating the crotchplate as a seperate piece. We'll see. - The hands shown are stand-ins now. I have a 3D printed set on the way I intend to modify into oblivion to get just right. - The feet will need to be scratch built so they have enough weight to support the very last insane thing I'm doing with this build. * Seacon Sword * - Roughdraft, but you get the picture. Snaptrap's sword combines with Overbite's fin&Seawing's tail to form the top part of the G1 seacon sword. - Tentakill's bottom pistols will plug into the handle to form the sword's guard. - The sword's guard itself will likely be a piece not unlike the Swindle gun pictured. It's barrel will be the 5mm peg that goes into the combiner hand. - All five parts of the sword will have to be chromed silver and nothing else. Sadly this means they will SLIGHTLY stick out on the figures' beast modes. However, I think I'll just work some subtle silver into the paintwork so it's less jarring. * Limb Cannon * Why yes, I am insane. How'd you know? - Since I already destroyed a CW Optimus Prime's legs for my CW Menasor custom and then removed the arms from Prime to make the Techno Organic Primal custom. I had a spare set of combiner ports leftover. - I intend to take one of the prime arms and use it as a way to feature ANY of the five limbs as Piranacon's gun. Obviously, just like G1 : This will look silly and some(ie Seawing) will look REALLY silly as a gun, but nonetheless I want it so I'm doing it. - This mechanism will have to attach and lock INTO the combiner arm. Meaning you will split the limb's legs and combine them AROUND this mechanism to allow it to stabilize the arm enough to hold the gun upright. This will likely lock the elbow from any articulation, and that's fine because the shoulder works just fine since the chestshield can move in&out. Like I said from the start. This is a massive project and will likely take atleast 2 or 3 months before it's finished, so I'll be posting updates whenever I find the time to work on it inbetween writing more books&building my cardgame. This will be my Magnum Opus. I'm going out with not a bang, but very loud bubble. Gurgle Gurgle.
Oh man I always liked seeing all your customs here You can turn anything into anything Good luck with the books and cards Nice job so far with this !
Glad to see you pick up where other customisers left off on that Helicopter-Into-Overbite idea. Can't wait to see these guys all painted up!
Man, love the creativity here. I've enjoyed your customs, even if I've not always commented. It will suck to see less of you, but I wish you the best of luck in your other ventures. You have truly grown as a customizer, and I look forward to seeing this finished.
Woah dude,this is seriously awesome man I love how you nodded them and everything and since the seacons dont get that much love it's cool seeing a custom of them
