Acting Magnus Optimus Prime commissions the Axalon, a top secret Elite Guard exploration vessel with orders to track down the technorganics Blackarachnia and Waspinator, with the hope that the pair might be cured. There’s just one catch. With most of the Autobot forces busy hunting down the remaining Decepticon cells left after Megatron’s defeat, the mission commander, a bot known only as Primal, must choose his crew from a pool of misfits and washouts looking for one last chance to prove themselves... Not much is known about the bot called Primal. He doesn’t seem to hold any official rank, but he’s treated with respect even by the Magnus. He’s surprisingly well armed and a furious fighter, but his true strength lies in his peerless leadership skills. There are even rumours that he’s somehow connected to the experiments at and subsequent destruction of Colony Omicron. Regardless, he seems the perfect choice to lead Axalon’s misfit crew. After all, sometimes crazy works. Part of the Elite Guard Exploration Corp, with special dispensation to investigate organic planets, Tigatron rarely spends time on Cybertron. That seems to suit him just fine, generating rumours that he’s gone ‘native’, going so far as to rename himself after an organic species he admires. An accomplished Metallikato practitioner with mods that make both of his modes virtually silent, Tigatron was happy to sign on as the Axalon’s security officer and field biologist. There’s something off about that Airazor femme. Maybe it’s the organic design elements she’s insisted on incorporating into her chassis, or maybe it’s that she doesn’t seem to understand that Autobots were never meant to fly. With a streamlined design that cuts through wind resistance and modified jump-jets that allow for amazing leaps, Airazor has never stopped reaching for the sky. Her tremendous skill handling the Chromia 10 made her a natural choice to be the Axalon’s pilot. This young Autobot graduated from basic training near the top of his squad, earning a reputation as a top-notch scout and the nickname Spottor. After eleven consecutive applications, however, he still hasn’t been accepted into the Academy. First he accidentally set the test course on fire, then there were the injuries to the adjudicators... Inevitably his enthusiasm and recklessness gets him into one sort of trouble or another. Nevertheless, Primal seems to see potential in the young bot. Well, four down, three to go (then the Predacons, then Season 2 and 3 characters, argh...)! You've already seen Tigatron and Airazor, but I figured I'd include them here for the sake of completeness; the posters are new, anyway. A few points of interest: Primal's sword, which is constructed from styrene and metal rings, is a fictional combination of the zhǎn mǎ dāo, a two-handed anti-cavalry weapon, and the appropriately named nine-ring broadsword, a theatrical variant on a one-handed dāo, both of Chinese origin. I wanted to give a nod to his swords from Beast Wars which keeping the mold's awesome two-handed chop pose. Primal's scimitars always struck me as a little ostentatious, though very cool, compared to his other weapons, so it seemed like a good fit. His pseudo-smokestacks become his wrist cannons as well. I took a cue from TFA Waspinator and went with a slightly darker colour palate, which is particularly noticeable with regard to the darker of the two reds. I was wracking my brain for a non-gun weapon for Cheetor, and a boomerang seemed to hilarious to pass up. It really seems to work with the character, though I'd be hard pressed to explain why. The shape of this particular boomerang is a bit of an homage to the one wielded by Sokka in Avatar: The Last Airbender. His spots were applied with bits of sponge, and I learned in the process of painting him that yellow paint is pure, undiluted evil. It kept drying with inexplicable dark streaks running through it; I eventually got something I'm pleased with, but I'm curious whether or not anyone else has had a similar problem. Oh, and it's tough to see here, but he does have freckles! The bios, Primal's in particular, drop a few hints about the storyline I've constructed for my version of the characters. You can probably expect to see some photo-comics at some point, but I will say that it combines plenty of elements from both Beast Wars and Animated in some pretty fun and unexpected ways. For now, however, it is too dark to take more pictures, so I leave you with a bonus: my version of TFA Tigerhawk: EDIT: See this post for an explanation of Dinobot and Rattrap, and this one for Rhinox.
Very cool! Its strange that the animated jazz mold works so well for the beast wars gang. can't wait to see more! Joe
These are sweet dude, can't wait to see Rattrap and Rhinox. I'm guessing you'll be using TFA BB and Bulkhead for them?
I really like Primal's face. Have you had problems with the white paint on his legs rubbing off during transformation? It seems like you'd have to sand that down a good amount before painting since there isn't much clearance between the leg pieces when you collapse the thighs into the "boots". Can't wait to see Rhinox and Rattrap!
dude these are amazing! when you talk about doing season 2 and 3 characters, i cant wait to see how you pull those off. i bet theyll freaking amazing like these guys!
Wow, these are actually impressive and the molds really work!! I've been watchin Beast Wars lately too, this gets...uh....season 1 Primal's beast mode 4 opposable thumbs up........
It's a real shame you've not taken more photos of each of these really nicely done pieces. You ought to re-shoot these, and submit them to the gallery.
Really digging these bashes. BW is my favorite era, followed by Animated, so these are perfect. One question- Why not Blurr for Cheetor? Seems like a perfect fit, with Blurr being based on Cheetor's TransTech design and all.
Yeah, the placement of Jazz's car panels in robot mode just happens to match up nicely with the BW cats' transformations. Plus I think he has the same compromise between chunky and lithe that their original designs had. At least one of those is correct. Ooh, mysterious! Oh, pshaw, sir! I was definitely keeping yours in mind when painting this one. As I said, I wanted to do a little darker and higher contrast to better fit my version of the character. Ultimately, I think the head is what makes it. Also: GIANT SWORD OF DOOM. Oddly enough, transformation isn't really an issue. Bending his knees, on the other hand... Grr, argh. As much as I love the look of the white, NP had the right idea leaving the legs unpainted. You know, I have no idea how to go about doing that! There are guidelines, one assumes? Minimum number of photos, and so on? Quite so, and had I been doing BM Cheetor, or even his TM2 form, Blurr would have been a shoe-in. I was going more for his original character model, however, which wasn't so exaggeratedly skinny, and I didn't want him to tower over everybody else! Besides, Cheetor and Tigatron have to share a mold, it's like... a rule. Speaking of which: This is sort of a companion piece to my picture of TFA Waspinator and Terroraur. Group picture! "Who the spotted heck are you supposed to be?"
Really like how Primal turned out. Surprised that you chose the Jazz mold as the base for Cheetor though, I thought you would have went with Blurr.
I know I'll be owing you some props, whenever I get around to doing my Cheetor. Everything you need to know is here. http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/radicons-blog/213906-gallery-submissions-guidelines-procedures.html
