Subject:
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Re: Starscream, Prime and Megatron Preview
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.build.mecha
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Date:
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Tue, 17 Dec 2002 20:16:11 GMT
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Viewed:
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1920 times
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In lugnet.build.mecha, David Thomas Jr. writes:
> I've posted a preview picture of my 3 finished Transformer figures.
Absolutely amazing work. Inspirational. I was lucky enough to see the
original series air in chronological order starting back in back in '84(?).
I might be dating myself here, but we're talking Lego & TF's! We would rush
home straight from school in gr. 9 to watch everyday. There was nothing even
close to this stuff in terms of coolness on TV back then.
> using
> primarily the Dreamwave comic covers as reference
The Dreamwave comics are excellent. But if you can, try getting a hold of
the artwork used on the original Japanese boxes. Actually, even the larger
Kenner(now Hasbro) boxes were good too. The toy 'instruction manuals' are
also a must, though. They have the TF drawn to spec in both modes perfectly
in B+W against a grid-like bkgd. I would use these as reference for my
pencil drawings because many of my boxes "went missing" :(
> Let me know what you think
Excellent work undoubtedly. Would love to see the new pics. Hard figure out
from the one picture some of the pieces you used. I hate to ask but, did you
paint or modify any of the actual Lego? Some of the plates on the legs look
unique, but I'm not totally up to date on many of the current Lego pieces
produced these days.
The last Lego set I got was in '85, & didn't buy another until '99 when the
SW sets first came out.
But back to TF's!
Your work is inspirational & somewhat a trip down old-school Lego memory
lane! In '87(yes, 1987! I'm 31!) I built a 36" tall non-transforming
all-Lego "merge-bot" (nickname then for a Constructicons->Devastator type of
Transformer). We called him "Giganticon" because it was 3x as big as any of
the real TF's! None of the five seperate vehicles transformed, but all I
cared about was what they all transformed into a huge robot!
One arm was a racing-car, the other was jet, each leg an indentical tank(so
the thing would stand!, the torso was a huge truck trailer & the truck cab
attached for front armour. The 'hands' were seperate blue fists which
doubled as extra engines for the race-car. One held the missiles from the
jet which connected to make a launcher, & the other held the exhaust pipes
from the cab which made a gun. The jet wings also were detached & put on the
shoulders for a 'Mech' effect. The head was completely seperate (like
Devastator's) & was stored in the truck trailer. A 9v 'black box' for the
lighted head was stuck on top of the already huge trailer while in truck mode.
The head turned side-to-side on a 4x4 circular disc(from a late-70's set), &
tipped down (on 2 2x4 hinges)until stopping on the front armour. The head
details incl. trans. 'yellow' 1x2 bricks w/ 2x4 lighted bricks(similar to
the current train headlights) behind to make the eyes glow amber from the
front, & to illuminate the 'cockpit' for the driver! Yes, driver! I made the
head open from behind so I could put the real Frenzy TF inside to operate
the controls! All I had were several original Space sloped 'computer'
elements for the side screens & one large blue sloped 'screen' for the
center control. The wires which came out of the light bricks looked like
hoses or cables which Frenzy could use for controls. I also tried a steering
wheel & a two-piece shifter, but took them out to leave more room for a
bigger throne for Frenzy. A big sophisticated robot like that wouldn't need
to be 'steered' anyway(hello power rangers?)!! I also used trans. bricks for
the nose(blue) & mouth(red), so you got a bit of glowing effect there as
well. You could see that something or someone was behind that face!
Unfortunately only the tank-legs & front section of the head are still
together today (Giganticon took 'heavy damage' in the final ultimate TF
battle we staged!), & are packed away with all my 'old' Lego(abt 10000 pcs).
I don't have any good pictures either, but your work has got me thinking an
attempt at rebuilding Giganticon might be in order! It would be old-school
for sure, but all the newer SW Lego combined with the classic Town & Space
might be perfect for a retro Lego Giganticon v 2.0! Let me know what you think!
Back to YOUR current work! I'm sure you're going to get the question, "but
do they transform?". This is a long dead issue for me. If you can build each
as a 'robot' & vehicle seperately, then it doesn't matter. The original TF
toys (myself & a friend collected the entire original series) most often
looked good & were sturdy as toys in either one mode or the other, rarely in
both (I know everyone has their opinion on this). The way they actually
transformed in the cartoon wasn't (obviously) accurate to each toy. Neither
were the relative scales. Megatron was half the size of Shockwave as toys,
but was similar on the show. Many Autobots towered over Optimus as toys and
vice versa. This was all part of the fun of the watching the show & buying
the toys. You had to suspend your disbelief, and use your imagination.
> Any suggestions on which autobot to do next? There are so many to choose
> from I'm having a hard time picking one.
Oh, this one's easy in my opinion. In 'robot' mode, nothing compared to
Jetfire, with full red body armour & huge black cannon-gun. Only problem is,
& I'm sure you know, he's an Autobot-ized Macross. There were legal issues
back in the day. Bandai(I think?) filed some lawsuits. I think Kenner only
obtained the rights to use the mould for the toy, the image for the box &
nothing else.
On the show Jetfire was rendered totally & very disappointingly different.
His character was changed from the Macross-like Scientist/Warrior (his
'stats' on the box averaged out only 2nd behind Optimus), to wimpy &
wishy-washy! Totally awfull!! In the original Marvel comic(TF#12) his nose &
cockpit were totally changed, & again the character was wimped-out. From the
size & price of the toy, I think Kenner originally intended him to be second
in command, & to give the Autobots some air power against all the Decepticon
jets.
If you want any pics of Jetfire, just email me: buttonscomics@aol.com
I have the original box w/ color art & profile in exc. cond. & the
instructions with the B&W art.
Keep up the awesome work!
You've inspired a veteran. I feel like old Ben Kenobi seeing a young brash Jedi!
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Starscream, Prime and Megatron Preview
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| I'm 27, not exactly Luke to your Obi Wan. I think your giganticon sounds cool, I once had imaginings of putting together a Devistator out of several of the yellow technic sets (I could only build one vehicle at a time though back then). The technic (...) (22 years ago, 17-Dec-02, to lugnet.build.mecha)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Starscream, Prime and Megatron Preview
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| Hi all. I've posted a preview picture of my 3 finished Transformer figures. You'll recognize Megatron of course, but he's had some refinements since you last saw him, including custom stickers and a black gun. Optimus and Starscream are new, I think (...) (22 years ago, 16-Dec-02, to lugnet.build.mecha) !!
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