[Kickback]

Community Spotlight - WhiteMocha

written by Secretcode

Every so often, TFWe will search through the TFW2005 Boards and, as a staff, nominate and vote upon a member of the forums to be featured in our Community Spotlight series. We interview the individual a little bit about themselves and what they do/have done on the boards.

One of the annual "guessing games" that happens throughout the Transformers fan community is the speculation on what the characters for the upcoming BotCon (Official Transformers Convention) will be. Not just WHO, but WHAT MOLD as well. One of the most popular art threads over the last couple of years was one by WhiteMocha, who did numerous (and I mean NUMEROUS) themes and digi-bashes for possible convention exclusives. And sometimes, he was right!

Our own Secretcode got in touch with WhiteMocha and asked him some questions regarding the work he's done and what's next for TFW2005's most popular digi-basher. But before you go on, check out all of the work he did!

Botcon 2010 Ideas (with Digibashes)

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SC: What inspired you to create all these digibashes?

WM: I've really enjoyed what Fun Publications has been doing with the Botcon sets since 2005. While some collectors dislike repaints, I love seeing how a mold can evoke something completely different with color changes or a new head. Creating a unified theme for each year, with a set number of figures and certain rules about mold re-use and remolding, seemed like a really fun challenge to me.

SC: What is your creative process? Any special routines or things to get you in the creative groove?

WM: Creating these sets was a good example of the old saying "limitations inspire creativity." I'm sure the folks at TFCC who create the actual real sets would agree. Each set was sort of a puzzle to be solved, based on which figures were available. Usually when starting one I would try to come up with one really solid, central figure or theme, and then sort of let the others fall into place based on that. The process involved a lot of scouring of TFU.info and the TFW Resource section, looking for similarities among figures. I tried to be aware of and avoid my preconceptions, too, to come up with figures I otherwise might not have (for example, the vehicular Dinobots set). If a character seemed like a significant departure from its source material (say, making Fortress Maximus a Voyager-sized figure), I would try coming up with a good in-fiction reason for it based on the theme of the set.

SC: What’s next for your work?

WM: I've kind of stopped the Botcon thread for the time being, but I do enjoy doing digibashes and will probably still do some occasionally. I'd like to do some Movie-based digibashes, since those were always off-limits from the Botcon sets. Also, it would be fun doing some more full-on scene composition, like the folks in the fan-comic section have become so good at.

SC: Any inspirations for your work?

WM: Well, of course the largest inspiration is the Fun Publications team, and the great framework they set up for recent Botcon sets. Mostly I was just mimicking their approach, or what I thought their approach might be. Also, there are lots of other members on these boards who consistently do great digibashes (a few of whom I borrowed ideas from for various sets). I was inspired particularly by the work done by Gryph and Ravenxl7, both of whom come up with very creative recolor ideas and execute them beautifully.

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Thanks so much to WhiteMocha for answering our questions and being a part of this Community Spotlight!

Do you have someone in mind that you think should be nominated for a Community Spotlight for their Fan Art work? If so, please contact us on our official TFWe Profile by clicking here and send us a private message with their user name, a link to some of their work, and if possible, an excert from one of their stories! If we like it, we'll use it, and give you a news credit for the nomination!

[Kickback]

Special treat ... a day early, the release of the Community Spotlight for Fan Art, featuring digibasher WhiteMocha!

This is a little over-due because of complications, but we finally got it to the level we thought was appropriate for release!

Stay tuned! The full issue of TFWe #04 releases TOMORROW! (Wednesday, August 31st)

[Altitron]

Well deserved. You have inspired a great many kitbashers with your excellent digibashes. I can't wait to see what you treat us to next, WhiteMocha. Keep 'em coming!

- Alty

[WhiteMocha]

Thanks guys! Very flattered to be highlighted. I gotta find time to do some more 'bashes, it has been a while...

[Saberfrost01]

Originally Posted by WhiteMocha

Thanks guys! Very flattered to be highlighted. I gotta find time to do some more 'bashes, it has been a while...

Now you mention it it has been awhile hasn't it.
When ever your work returns it will be worth the wait.

[taurusfire1]

the "Protect and Defend" should be for the next Botcon

[mikeyfuzz]

Now that we have seen all the characters and mold Botcon is using this year, I want to see what someone will talent would have done.