RIGHT, my bad dude, I just got REALLY excited at talk of TFA and Botcon and completely missed the point of the thread. And THANKS SO MUCH for offering to bring my Clench idear to life!

Anywhos- my vote, Blurr mold into Whirl. Lanky, skinny, and if one is creative enough with the transformation you can give it a fan-vtol mode! Downside right off the bat though, the character colors are already very similar :/

 

I don't want to use the Cybertronian turtle tank for Skids because:
1) It's been overused last time..I already have 1 Ratchet, 1 Ironhide, 1 Ironfist and 3 Autotroopers on my desk  
2) The altmode just doesn't feel right for Skids to me, whereas the earth mode ambulance is blocky enough and has wheels    
3) Cybertronian Autotrooper/Ironfist is a perfect (or as perfect as it gets using existing molds) Tailgate, as you already said yourself. In fact, I'm already putting the final touches on that guy's robot mode!

I will definitely keep tweeking on that Skids though!
Oil Slick for Whirl...not feeling that one - too much remolding needed too..
I did play around with some slight alternate transformations of Voyager Shockwave and I guess it doesn't even look that bad. Just have to imagine him in different colors...will definitely create a mockup for that one to see if it will work.  



sidenote: I thought it would be funny that Animated Skids would be a bit 'out of shape', being a theoretician. He would still have the big amnesia gap and stuff..and for a reason he doesn't fully understand himself, he'd be really adept at martial arts. All of the tools that were included with Ratchet could serve as Skids' household appliances he find and uses to kick your ass with. Kind of like the martial arts joke that 'in an ordinary house there are 1,089 items Steven Seagal could use to kill you. Including the house itself.'

Plus, his hands have flip out...things, man! THINGS!

 

Skids is supposed to be really fit and skilled. "The world's deadliest theoretician" and all that. I'm not sure Ratchet's older, tubbier form fits him.

 

Will look at some alternatives for Skids, thanks guys!

Meanwhile: Tailgate!

 

tailgaaaaate <3



as for whirl  
quick mock-up [maybe rip off the ear antennae if you really wanted to  ]



as for skids, here's a wild suggestion: swindle? the cannon might be a bit much but the alt mode sorta/kinda fits. and he's got flip out shoulder weapon thingies. ? i dunno. just spitballin   i do think the cybertron mode ratchet works better but you're right, that mold has been used a LOT

 

Ooh, nice.

Yeah, maybe Shockwave does work, especially with some deliberate mistransformations...


On using Swindle as Skids: he just seems way too 'funny' to me, with the comical big hands and feet. I find the old man gut to be alot less annoying than that. Sentinel Prime then? I don't really like that toy, and he seems too bulky (not to mention his original toy is already blue as well).

Will continue to look for a better alternative, but this isn't the first time an Animated character isn't a full 1 on 1 copy of an existing one, right? Although I will admit right away: making Skids older would kind of defeat the purpose of this set: people kind of want to see the MTMTE Skids!

 

Skids and Tailgate look awesome!   Just keep Tailgate away from the Starscream clones.  

 

Swindle works if Skids uses his fists and feet. Then those big limbs work very well. And who's to say he didn't loot a gun off of a Decepticon?

Re-use Rodimus as Drift so we get two molds in the same set?

 

Continuously good work!  

 

Whirl!

 

"Cool."

 

That works surprisingly well.

Now I can see the alt beinig a hovertank, like how in War/Fall all the tanks don't have treads.

 

these all look awesome i especially like whirl!

 

Whirl is my new favourite

 

I'm loving your art, very true to both source materials!

On the subject of Skids, would Bumblebee work? I mean, G1 Skids had a hatchback alt-mode, and whilst you wouldn't have the bumper chest, there are shoulder wheels. Plus, the mold has pop-out arm weapons, like Skids has in MTMTE. The proportions aren't too ridiculous either...

 

Lovin' all of these. Only one that'ss slightly buggin me is Skids...but it works given what's available.

 

Whirl looks very very good. Without any remold it looks like a different character. Very nice.
And I really like the bizarre backstory that you give to him.

I don't like Tailgate. It looks too much like an Autotrooper.

Swerve, Chromedome and Skids are very good. Those three plus Tailgate and Whirl makes a full Botcon boxed set. Now is the freebie and souvenir sets time   Remember that you need to re-use some molds.

EDIT1: Trailbreaker or Hoist from Skids (same head) and Gears from Swerve   are good reuses.

 

Everything about this is fantastic.

EVERYTHING.

 

Ok. Just bought the MTMTE Vol.1 and... Tailgate using Autotrooper mold is TOTALLY comic accurate. Looks like Tailgate's character model is based on Animated Autotrooper.

 

I was wondering why you thought it wasn't an appropriate fit, but I guess that was before you had read the comic?   He does look like a smaller Autotrooper in a way, yes!  


By the way, to anyone suggesting the Sentinel or Swindle molds for Skids: do you think this works? I'm not feeling it, and I'd rather have the character have a little gut than look something remotely like this (taking into account that, yes, I could draw a different head)  

Swindle: proportions are just too clowneske: giant hands and feet. Sentinel: just way too beefy, even if the toy has shorter legs.