True. Now, Whirl as a hovercraft with some big ol' fans for foward movement? That makes sense.

Hmm, Sentinel as Skids?

 

We need this way more than fucking Slipstream or any of the other crap TFCC has been dishing out. 'Cept Ultra Mammoth and Jackpot.

How does that not make sense?

You know the word "glide" can mean things besides flying, right?

 

Thanks for the interest and enthousiasm, everybody! Cool to see you guys thinking about possible molds, as well. Keep it up!  

Thanks sir!  

I'm working on Skids right now. Unlike Rung and Chromedome, I have the feeling the mold I picked for him might not please everybody, but I'm very happy with the way he's shaping up, myself.

I'd say Skids is my favorite MTMTE character..but I'd be lying: they're ALL my favorite characters! Amazing how this book has turned total nobodies into fan-favorites within the span of, what, three issues? One day I will kidnap James, Alex, Nick and Josh and force them to keep this comic book going until eternity!

Swerve from Soundwave is exactly what I'm doing, but I don't see Pipes from Prime. I mean..the deluxe Prime does have the pipes on his truck mode, but I think he looks a bit too heroic and specific.
Mind you that I'm not trying to create an endless list of MTMTE characters, all with new heads - my goal is to create something that could be feasible as a Botcon set. If dlx Prime got a new head he could work, I guess...

I'd love to have a DJD member somewhere, but let's be honest here: is there anything about the Animated figures that could make them work as DJD members? I don't see it (yet)

FunPub is invited to shoot me an e-mail or PM when I'm done and we will work out the details  

Thanks!

I DID retire (from Transformers). Only a couple months back, I was so done with it. With the third Bay movie, a new cartoon show which I find very lackluster (sorry Prime fans!   ), and just not really enjoying collecting anymore, I quit.

But after going (or still being?) on a sabbatical, travelling to some other parts of our little globe and taking some time off to do other things, I now find that I still enjoy *some* parts of Transformers - especially now that we got cool things like Fall of Cybertron and these new ongoing comics from IDW!

So yeah...am I back from 'retirement'? In a way, but I'm not going to be as active as I was before. Will just pop in once in awhile and be active when I feel inspired (like right now!), but Transformers is still definitely on the backburner for me.

(although I did break down and buy a couple of figures in the meantime...)

Yes...and please fly me to Botcon as well and stuff...oh, and I need a hotelroom with a kingsize bed  

NOTED. I will keep a close eye on your monetary adventures from now on. Expect a call when you finally do win the lottery!  

Thanks!  

At first, I thought: Uh? There's no way Whirl is going to work as a Shockwave repaint...then I remembered that Animated Autobots are not (yet) able to fly, so Whirl having a tank/crane altmode wouldn't be weird.

After that I thought: what could possibly be a good reason for him to have a second robot mode that doesn't look anything like Whirl (since the mold sports it, it should have a reason)?
I came up with this crazy idea that he was originally a watchmaker who was always aware of his 'different' look and his less-than-stellar behaviour (MTMTE references, of course), and as a mirror to Dr. Jekyll creating a potion to turn his sociopathic side into Hyde, Whirl would have used his excellent watchmaking skills on his own transformation cog to seperate his two halves: one now looking more like a regular nice Autobot, the other the crazy one-eyed maniac with a gun we all love.

Initially I thought this was a pretty cool take on the character and the toy...but now I just feel it's a really contrived way to try and make a character fit that just doesn't fit.

I dunno...what do you think? You could, of course, just blackmail me into creating a picture of Whirl. I don't want to see a MTMTE book without your otherworldly gorgeous colors, so I would be at your command.  

I sort of have to agree - a hovercraft as HeroicC300 suggested works better, because then he could still have those rotors on his arms, but alas: this is me trying to fit characters into existing molds, not coming up with new designs, so we will have to make do with what is available (not always a bad thing, thankfully!   )

Thanks!  

Yiippeee, thanks! Soundwave for Swerve is a given, although I am forseeing a little problem with the head: that toy has a pretty specific space for his head to fold into...will have to check if a more Swerve-like head will fit!  

I don't see the Jet twins for Rewind, though.

I have thought about Blitzwing/Flywheels (altmodes make it a given), but his feet aren't big enough to do Flywheels justice  

Kasploooge...nasty! But thanks!  

Whirl as a hovercraft would make perfect sense to me, so if I was doing this to create new Animated designs, he would totally get that. But like I said, I'm doing this to see what fun is still in the toys themselves!  

I personally think Slipstream is pretty decent (although I have no idea who would be interested in a Slipstream toy that is NOT an Animated version - the only continuity where she actually appears in, apart from a multiplayer model in WFC. Or does she appear in one of those new books somewhere? Haven't read those).

I'll give them Scourge. People want it so yay, Funpub delivers. All the others announced though: what the hell? To me, the TFCC/Botcon is of course a perfect place to get your hands on toys of characters that are less important than Prime and Bumblebee, characters that are just as appealing to us diehard fans, but are not of much worth to Hasbro or the mass market, but yeah - I really have been scratching my head looking at some of the character choices that have been made by Funpub the last couple of years.
Sometimes it looks as if they know what the fandom currently thinks is 'hot' (Beast Wars set, Animated set, releasing an Overlord toy - the succes of the last one is debatable), and, being a business, they make the smart decision by following up on that to earn money (yay!) - and then at other times they do a 180 degree turn and release a really poor (or poor looking) character that makes me wonder if they get their character choices from a bewitched dot matrix printer, or some other ancient device that has suddenly come to life to bombard them with random Transformer names.

But hey, I do not work at/for Funpub, so I have no idea how characters are selected.   For all I know, there could be a huge limit in what molds and trademarked names they can use!
If someone working over there reads this though, yeah, this would be my 'complaint'.


Thanks everybody!

 

Hmm, Swindle as Skids?

Failing that, the Swindle mold needs to appear somehow. Blurr as Drift?

And Blitzwing's toy feet are HUGE. Trying to think of a good mold for Tailgate. Maybe use him and Chromedome as the mold used twice?

 

Oh yeah I forgot about Scourge being in the TFCC SS.

 

There are things I would say  

 

Tease!!

O hey, I was initially working on Skids, but today I felt more inspired to work on Swerve..so here he is. Kept the sort of washed out color from MTMTE, what do you guys think...perfect or too pink?

Found out that the Soundwave mold's headspace shouldn't be a problem, you can even turn the head in case it's too high. That way it can still go back in.  

 

Dude. Digilaut. Dude. Help me to help you help one another to help the world. I've got all of these ideas and NO time to draw anymore since I've started my new job as a police officer.

My idea for another Botcon TFA set revolves around the idea that Swindle created 2 Starscream clones- Dirge and Thrust- as body guards (an idea from the Allspark Almanac 2), and through his black market dealings manages to get his servos on a scrap of Ultra Magnus to add another, super powerful clone to his entourage- in the form of Clench!

Cliffjumper, somehow finds himself involved and his best buds Brawn and Trailbreaker tag along. Hijinks and shenanigans ensue.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Exclusives might include:
-G2 Swindle
-Dirge & Thrust (vygr Starscream mold w/ new coneheads)
-CliffJumper (dlx Bumblebee mold w/ new head)

(2 of the above 3 already have character models in the AA/AA2, so save energy IMHO... though a G2 Swindle would be cool to see.)

-----------------------Now the juicy stuff I HUMBLY request you draw-----------------------------

-Brawn (dlx Soundwave with new head)- when drawing this, making the wheels on his shoulders actually look like wheels and not like speakers would help this character model greatly (kinda like how Botcon Drag Strip included the Arcee toy fins in her model)
-Trailbreaker (dlx Earth Ratchet with new Head)- why would Trailbreaker have all those mechanics tools on his back though? Cuz he's not a mechanic, he's a one-bot ENTRY TEAM! If you know anything about police and SWAT you know what i mean :]
-Clench (ldr Ultra Magnus with new head)- Kudos would be had if your take on the character model dropped the hammer and instead had all of the toy's blaster weapons deployed! Also, I have a sketched head for you I'd love for you to see, please please pleeeeeeease?

-Dreadwind and Darkwing (Jetfire and Jetstorm repaints) to form Dreadwing Fight or Flight modes. Give Jetfire a plate mouth, and the combined mode a new head, and voila!

Boxset could be Swindle, Trailbreaker, Cliffjumper, Brawn, and Clench. Attendee exclusives would be Dirge & Dreadwind, Thrust & Darkwing

 

That Swerve is genius soup.

And I want it on my body.

 

dat swerve!!!! <3

 

Wow, those look awesome!

If I had to offer some constructive criticism, Swerve looks to me like he had a bit too much red. (And the banner at the bottom still saws 'Rung from deluxe Prowl'  )

 

Hey, that's a pretty awesome Animated Clench head you got there!
To be honest, your ideas don't really have anything to do with what I'm trying to achieve here - namely, a (sort of) feasible Botcon set starring the MTMTE characters. But I do like your idea!

Here's an Animated Clench I've made once for fun, I think it was an April's Fools thing - not really intended to be the 'real deal': I used voyager Bulkhead so he looks less than imposing with his tiny legs. Ultra Magnus is a great mold to use (but not for Botcon).


As you can see, it looks ridiculous with the small feet  

Tell you what, I'll whip you up an Ultra Magnus repaint with your Clench head, but just that one. Way busy as it is already... 

TAKE IT, and thanks!

Thanks!    

WHOOPS...should pay more attention next time   thanks for noting!

You're right that Swerve looks a bit too red. I mean, he's pretty red, but in the comic he just has some extra white bits next to his head, as well as bigger white parts on his feet, so it balances out a bit better.

The Animated Soundwave toy is molded in blue for a big part though, so when used for Swerve, all of that blue would be red - hence some parts that are red that might not be on the actual character (such as the red box on his back).

G1 Swerve pretty much had a red altmode though, and the MTMTE does have red shoulders/arms/legs/head. I might take another look once I get to the vehicle mode, but for now, I'm going to keep him as is. Thanks!  

 

So is Skids Sentinel or Swindle?

 

Neither one, actually.  

 

Only other mold that comes to mind is Ratchet. This'll be interesting.

 

Words cannot describe how glorious this idea is. Your artwork is simply astonishing- you've hit Mr. Wyatt's aesthetic on the head, and you've done it with style! It's great to see you return to Transformers.  

For Whirl, I've always had the idea of ignoring the Longarm face and painting over it, which would have the effect of making the vehicle modes look less like a robot lying down. And the switching symbols could alternate between Autobot and Wrecker, considering how Whirl is an ex-Wrecker in MTMTE. Still, I really like your idea, which would also add some character to the toy...

 

I always liked Chromedome. He was my first Headmaster toy when I was little. This would be great.

 

I want that Swerve!

 

Thanks guys!

Here. Have some Skids.





Not too sure about the head yet, but I will leave it for now. There's more work and I will go over it all at a later moment to see where I can improve. I've already had second thoughts about the size of Swerve's visor, too!  

So...initially I was thinking of using the Rodimus mold with the Breakdown head (Breakdown's helmet is already a close match to Skids'), but reading the comic again it just didn't feel right: Skids is way more blocky & bulky than Chromedome, so I needed/wanted a bulkier form, and also important: a vehicle mode that works!
I picked earth mode Ratchet..good fit in my personal opinion - maybe the old man belly will rub some people the wrong way, but I like it, and I think the actual toy looks less geriatric than the cartoon model (no hanging shoulders, for example).  

I did give Skids the lines underneath his eyes, make him look a bit older as well. Hmm...

 

Yep, these are freaking fantastic.

Not sure on Skids, though. It goes a bit against his MTME portrayal, though you are on the right track. What about using the Cybertronian version of Ratchet as a basis for Skids?

Also, as for Whirl: What about Oil Slick? He's thin and spindly, the claw hands are appropriate, and you can set him apart from Oil Slick really nicely with a new head that's not stuck in a dome! You could also replace the goat skull with something else to further set him apart.

EDIT: Actually, Cybertronian Ratchet may work better for Tailgate...