Transformers: Legacy United Animated Universe Optimus Prime is Something That Exists

 

Animated Optimus Prime’s wiki picture

When you get right down it, Transformers: Animated was an anomaly. Effectively serving as a Plan B should the 2007 film fail, it didn't, Animated was by radical departure from the bayverse and Transformers in general. Animated stepped back from technical realism in favour of bright, dynamic, cartoony and above all else, characterful designs. The thing Animated did so well was creating Transformers whose mere appearance spoke volumes, only for the vocal performances and writing to utterly endear them to fans. Of course, that wasn't the only thing it did well, and I'd easily put it in the Top 3 Transformers media of all time. What Animated arguably did less well was the toys, the art style not being the easiest to replicate in plastic, and once the line concluded, Hasbro never tried something like that again. At least until Legacy got going and started drip-feeding those characters into the mix. Today I talk about the first voyager attempt.

The 2008 Transformers: Animated Optimus Prime toy, voyager class

 

So, Animated Prime, what's his deal then? Well, he's a fairly nuanced take on the archetype to be honest, with a debt to Optimus Primal. He's not the leader of the Autobots, Prime is a common rank in this continuity, and he's in charge of a Space Bridge repair crew. He's got the same idealistic, big good vibes as Optimi tend to have, but he's much lower in the hierarchy, and is depicted as young and inexperienced. Not the kinda guy you'd expect to be doing infrastructure. The precise reasons why he's in that command are actually very tragic, he's in disgrace, and his arc through the show is him overcoming that. This isn't an Optimus Prime that starts out at the top, in a rivalry with Megatron. Animated, though cut short, ends when he's god-damn earned that.

 

The actual toy then, and its vehicle mode first. Optimus' alt mode was honestly a bit ill-defined on screen and in plastic. He's more or less the front end of a scifi fire truck, although if you took the light-bar off, and you can here, you wouldn't know that. The show was a bit woolly about this, he had at least two trailers, but the actual toys didn't implement that. The original voyager had a functioning water cannon instead, for example. This new Legacy toy then focuses on the truck cab then, and its doing an OK job with it, but its not doing anything spectacular. On the plus side, it compares favourably with both the animation model and previous toys. There's a Generations greeblie filter being applied, but it passes the squint test. It not a Bulkhead or Skyquake situation, the likeness was prioritised here. There’s also some easily missed interior details, like a steering wheel, which is nice. The downside is however the feet, which ended up in the trailer hitch area and look a bit obnoxious, while the axe can stow but not integrate. The feet in particular are the subject of much speculation; there's a pair of slots there of no obvious use, prompting hopes of some Wingblade version down the line and the creation of at least one third party add-on set. This sort of visual flaw seems to occur a lot with modern primes, and I'd tolerate it more if something could obscure it, but this is at worst average as Legacy alt modes go. Shame about the production scars though.

If the truck form was more adequate than great, the robot form nails it. Lets talk about characterisation again. Optimus is a big guy, but big in a specifically heroic and cartoony way. He's very wide in the chest and arms, but thin in the legs and hips. He's a triangle of upper body strength, which is possibly more exaggerated here than in the 2d art, but its perfect for him. There's nowt brutish about it either, he's in bright, friendly colours, and most importantly, NO MOUTHPLATE. This adds so much, revealing his youthful face. Its a bit, umm, mainline Generations, but its him. He's Captain Carrot Ironfounderson, if he were a giant robot. And then there's the rocket axe. The vintage toys often didn't capture this right, but its perfectly replicated here with a blast effect port on the back, and an extending haft. This combines with the articulation to make a superlative robot mode. Its just about possible to do a two handed pose, and it presents posing options just not found in other toys. And its not just good articulation, its good articulation in service of character, and this robot mode has a lot of character. Maybe the forearms needed some details painted, but otherwise this is doing what it should with unexpected vigour. Oh, and its got the 5mm port thing covered.

 

In truth, Animated Optimus Prime was probably not the obvious choice for an update. Nowt wrong with him, and certainly someone you'd need eventually, but he's not one of the breakout characters from his show. And truthfully, even at the time, there were a lot of Optimus toys, and even more now. But this honestly impressed me. The altmode is at worst acceptable, and suffers from high expectations, but its doing OK. And the robot mode shines. While this toy seems to have gone under the radar and straight into discount, lost amongst so many other Primes, its well worth your time.

Kitbash: Wargames Atlantic Cannon Fodder Part 2

 

Today, I'm gonna talk about the Wargames Atlantic Cannon Fodder 2 kit (Females), how I used them for my Astra Militarum army, and how you can use this kit for general kitbashing. This is part two in a two part series, please take a look at part one, as I don’t want to repeat myself.

 

Why Kreig? I gave a brief overview back in part 2 of Project Chem-Dogs, but some context here won't hurt the word count. With one of the least subtle names in the 40k setting, the Death Korps of Krieg are more or less scifi WWI. We're talking folk memories of gasmasks, trenches, mud, bayonets, and absurdly wasteful expenditure of human life. They are a gasmask wearing death cult with no concern for thier own losses or individuality. This makes for a good addition to 40k in general and the Astra Militarum in particular, but their prominence is relatively new. Stop me if you've heard this one before, but the Death Korps were something Forgeworld was very interested in, that has since made the jump to plastic, and are due a range expansion shortly. Mechanically, they are one of those odd units whose options are (currently) dictated by a Killteam boxset. These feature more specialist weapons than the other battleline units, and a resurrecting model mechanic. The reason I wanted them is to act either as frontline troops or APC passengers, thanks to their weaponry and odd ability to become better fighters as they loose models.

 

Using Cannon Fodder as Death Korps of Krieg: The use of Cannon Fodder for these is somewhat head dependant. The bodies don't have anything about them that screams Verdun, but you do get full space helmets on the sprue. I'd made most of mine with green stuff gas masks, thus making them passable as Kreigers, incorporating wire and tiny beads for the hoses. That's fiddly work even if you've sculpted before, so don't be afraid to source heads from elsewhere. Otherwise, turning the girls into the Death Korps is a similar challenge to regular Infantry Squads; you don't need heavy weapons, but you are looking at a greater density of specialist weapons, and the need for a medic.

What I did: As before I made these as plugins for an Infantry Squad to simplify matters, while taking the opportunity to make a few weapon specialists to round things out. The heads here were often leftovers from the Bulldogs, as well as assorted bits from the Stargrave Mercenaries sprue. I probably need to talk in more detail about that last one actually, I use that kit a lot. Expect an article, um, Novemberish. Meanwhile some crude recasting was used to create the medpacks, and melta nozzles for use with the energy weapon on the Cannon Fodder sprue. I did the same thing for flamers and such in part one, you can do a lot with a new barrel and some new furniture. Menawhile, Sniper rifles were created by using the CF scope with a regular gun, a fiddly little bastard of a thing, with a bead as a barrel extension, and sculpted rags to hide the join. The grenade launchers are from the aforementioned Stargrave sprue, lengthened wih a bit of tube. Painting then followed, and turned out OK.

I hope this brief series was of use to you. Next week, back to Transformers.

Kitbash: Wargames Atlantic Cannon Fodder Part 1

Today, I'm gonna talk about the Wargames Atlantic Cannon Fodder 2 kit (Females), how I used  them for my Astra Militarum army, and how you can use this kit for general kitbashing. This will be part one in a two part series, because, well, I had ideas.

 

So, Ive played a few games with my Chem-Dogs, and I think Ive found my balance with them. The army has deviated from my original intentions though. Initially, I'd wanted a very old school infantry gun line sort of affair. A meat grinder designed to rope-a-dope a foe, and then jump on any mission objectives later on. That's why I have 40 basic infantry, 2 command squads, and 2 heavy weapon squads. That's more less a classic infantry platoon, with a few extras. Unfortunately, that isn't really how 40k is played at the moment. With the mission how they are, they may be different by the time you read this, need you to be active and playing to objectives almost immediately. The capitalised Infantry Squad does well with the home objective, and static dakka, but I find the other battleline choices more appealing. So I needed to expand and alter my footsloggers. My first instinct was to modify some squads into Catachan Jungle Fighters, but then I thought, “Why not others?”, and so this became a two-parter.

Its probably necessary to provide an overview of the kit in question. Coming from the Death Fields series, the Cannon Fodder (Females) box features 24 models, six to a sprue. These notably lack bases, an omission common to Wargames Atlantic's entire range, although thats more of a sundry expense these days. The individual models are largely setting agnostic, although their guns have a lasgun vibe, as well as a convict theme. These are ladies in jumpsuits, with the choice of head and colours affecting their overall vibe. One image of the box shows off the kit done up as 50's style silver spacesuits, whereas going for caps and green makes for a second line infantry look. There's also a fair few bionics in the mix too, as well as a bounty of alternative heads. Actual equipment though is a touch more limited. There is a bulky energy weapon, drum magazines, fiddly scopes to make a passable sniper rifle, and a few pistols on each sprue, but you don't get a fancy melee weapon for the squad leader, or a real choice in weapons. This seems to be a weakness of the male Cannon Fodder box too, and you may wish to look into compatible kits, like the Bulldogs. I got lucky during Project Chem-Dogs, I’d chanced upon an old Cadian BattleForce box which provided a lot of sundry bits and weapon options with made running them as regular infantry much easier. Recasting these bits was not entirely successful, and I would probably recommend other solutions going forward. My sarges where equipped with bolters, easily found, and power weapons, less so. Vox units were recast with wire aerials. I would likely just add an aerial to a spare cannon fodder backpack next time, its probably a more elegant solution. On the plus side there's a number of bits that lend themselves well to Heavy Weapon teams and similar, like binoculars and pointing hands. You have enough for the rank and file, but for the squad specialists you'll need some bits and some creativity. You'll also note that mine have a lot in the way of sculpted gasmasks and capes. I'm not talking about that too much today, and its definitely not required for your models.

 

So, how to make these as Catachan Jungle Fighters? Well, these have famously limited options, so making these is fairly straightforward versus the other battleline units. I built these as "swaps" for existing Infantry Squads, so I skipped the Vox units. You need a melee weapon for the sergeants, here being leftovers from my attempt at Rough Riders. The flamers were a combination of old Black Templar examples, and the energy weapon from the Cannon Fodder sprue. I cut the business end and canister off a flamer, and attached them to the existing weapon, which had been trimmed for length. These were then painted in my usual way, and came out pretty well.

 

At the same time, I took the opportunity to make a "counts as" Sargeant Harker. That’s a bit of change for me, I don’t think I’ve fielded a named/special/epic character like this before. At least outside of Bloodbowl. This was based off a Bulldog body for increased size, but had the same basic idea as the flamers above. While this worked out nicely, it does highlight a potential weakness with the Cannon Fodder, they are somewhat slight of proportion. I'm also not good at faces.

Up next: Death Korps

Transformers: Legacy United Star Raider Cannonball is Something That Exists

Eh. Explaining this one is gonna be like finding the end of a roll of sticky tape.

The 2006 Transformers: Cybertron Cannonball toy

 

 
OK, Cannonball is a pirate, part of the Star Raider group. He works under Thundertron. The origins of the group are fairly obscure, with thier best known iterations being a line of Botcon exclusive toys, and I recommend Chris McFeely's video on the topic. (It taught me things I didn't know.) This group has been chosen as another repaint/retool centric sub-line to Legacy United, of which Cannonball is one of the first I saw in person. Cannonball is basically a "Dread Pirate Roberts", and this new toy is a goddamn Gordian Knot of retooling, pretooling, and self-referencing. OK, the first Cannonball toy was a repaint of the 2005 vintage Red Alert toy, a deluxe hailing from the last act of the Unicron Trilogy. This chap had first appeared in Armada, had skipped Energon, but had come back for Cybertron, thus having gone from one design extreme to another. Red Alert started out as a big gimmick toy, and ended up as a small toy with an unusual transformation. Which was then a pirate. He wasn't really a direct update of the G1 character, so much as the team medic archetype that inexplicably looked a bit like Robocop. So, even before Cannonball existed, the toy he was repainted from was a bit of an odd duck. The reason why that toy became a pirate was likely that it didn't have the usual number of hands, instead having a gunarm with tool accessories. Which makes him a bit Robocop 3, but he doesn’t fly. Advance to the modern day, we have this toy, using the Skids mould, and pre-empting the presumed/certain Red Alert version. Moreover, this isn't merely a headswap, its a second and substantial retooling, omitting translucent plastics, while largely replacing the vehicle mode and accessories in the process. Its not merely shared engineering, they've reshelled Skids for a second time. I mean, its not totally unprecedented, but its not normal to get a toy that's a double retool and pretool at once. That's definitely something that exists.

 

The vehicle mode is where the changes are strongest. Its wheelbase and overall proportions are of course the same, and it retains the doors from Crankcase, but virtually everything else is new. Its a generic van or minivan rather than a legally-distinct Dodge like the original, but clearly distinct from its mould mates. The emergency services bit is granted by the light bar, but given the Mardis Gras vibe, I find myself wondering what the emergency would be. I mean, with the day-glo skull on the side... Has a rave run out of glowsticks? Mobile DJ? Don't get me wrong, its a great look. Black (p)repaints with metallic details always look grand, and this one clearly does. Its a good time, with numerous 5mm ports and a decorative light-bar and cyberkey bit with a faux kibble scalp on it. Yes, this is one if those Transformers with faux parts to suggest the transformation of an older toy. I can take it or leave it, and it is removable so that’s easy, but I don’t think I would have minded if they used that budget elsewhere. As a van it rolls well-enough, and there’s certainly enough 5mm ports, if having some panel issues on my example. One door doesn’t fit well, but your mileage may vary. Otherwise, its same van you've seen before.

Robot mode is of course achieved in the same manner as the other Skids-reuses. This reveals many familiar robot bits, if nicely presented ones. New elements include the head, the gunarm which I will return to presently, and faux kibble doors on the shoulders. Unlike the light-bar this doesn't add to the effect so much as look odd. I mean, replacing the clip-on wheels with something better looking probably wasn't an option, but maybe taking a lead from some other version of Red Alert might have been a better call. Unlike a lot of retools though, we have a substantial change in play pattern, while retaining the character appropriate shoulder guns from Crankcase. The left hand is replaced with a Diaclone style gun barrel onto which you can mount a hammer or a claw. These even store in the legs, although I find tricky to remove afterwards. This is obviously quite fun, massively characterful, especially on conjunction with the head. Its got a visor, and thus no distinct eyes, but he has what can only be described as a half mask, or maybe the implication of an eyepatch, painted on. So, while the robot mode is definitely familiar, the best is being made of it, and it wasn't bad in the first place. Its got Legacy standard articulation, and all that, with no glaring flaws.

 

I’ve focused a lot on the differences here, as I have brought this toy twice before, but Cannonball is very much more of the same. I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, the base mould was sound, if not exceptional, and effort clearly has been made to differentiate this version. If you have to re-release a Transformer, modifying it as thoroughly as this one goes a long way to justify it. On the other? Well, I getting the vibe of a later Combiner Wars boxset or Power of the Primes release here. Just the slight feeling that an otherwise fine toy is being overused or remixed beyond a sensible point. He’s fun, but I’d be lying if I said that I wouldn't have preferred a new mould. Skids probably should not become another Sideswipe. Thus, should the appeal of being being a Mardi Grass Pirate Van isn't enough, or you have several of these already, you can probably skip Cannonball. If you do pick him up though, I think you'll have a good time.

Plamo: The UrbanMech Lance (BattleTech)

You know what? Let’s do a bonus article.

 

I've done UrbanMechs before, but its been two-ish years since I did anything BattleTech, so a brief summary is called for. Presented in 4 variations, the UrbanMech is a meme. How much of a meme? Well, Tex felt it necessary to do two videos on it, an initial short six years back, and a recent chrimbo special which was more extravagant. Think something along the lines of a Ball, or a mobile bunker. Its basic purpose is garrison duty in cities, and is known for being a light but slow mech, two words that do not go together well. The BattleTech setting is however not without some nuance, and if used correctly the humble Urbie can be a capable ambusher on its home turf. This lance box features models to represent the classic version and three variants with more specialist weaponry. I am especially fond of the one with triple missile racks in SRM6, I can see that being a nasty surprise for someone. I was certainly surprised to chance upon these in a shop.

when I painted these, I opted for a simple scheme which I then made over-complicated. My inspiration here was Robocop, specifically the blue tinted version seen on the Robocop 2 poster and some other depictions. You might ask why I didn't go for an ED209 scheme? Well, the Urbie isn't a chicken walker, and if you haven't noticed, the text of the first film is that the ED is objectively awful. The UrbanMech has flaws, certainly, but its not that bad. Applying the Robocop scheme to an Urbie prompted applications of blue ink over metalics, and experimental uses of glossy black for the cockpit windows. I'm not entirely happy with either aspect, although I can see the techniques having applications elsewhere. Maybe this idea would work better on a more humanoid mech...

 

The bases were also a touch experimental. I added a few random bits to the bases, before a layer of the GW Astrogranite Debris technical paint. This was then drybrushed with Dark Reaper, a bluey-grey I'd picked up for another project. This was a reasonable approximation of urban concrete decay, although I will admit my inexperience with such terrain at this scale. I need more practice and more size appropriate bits. The three donuts on the base of one was a happy accident; the three beads I'd put there were intended to be vaguely industrial at first, but I painted one in brown, and things flowed from there.

 

I remain a bit unsatisfied with the end result, but that may just be perfectionism. I'm a bit rusty, but people seem to like these.

 

Kitbash: Rough Riders

A lot of my modelling starts with a desire to do something new. True, doing a robot kit is the creative equivalent of comfort food, but I often get bored and insecure. So I look for something just slightly outside of the box. And maybe the end results will prompt some positive feedback to left me up a bit. Thinking about it, that's basically all that Project Chem-Dogs was/is; I'd always wanted a guard force, but that quickly went from doing it easily and cheaply, to being a gender balanced army where every model is some level of kitbash or notable greenstuff modification. Although still hopefully cheaply, even as I increasingly want to build things for tactical reasons. With that in mind, Rough Riders.

The fact that the GRIMDARK Imperium still maintains units of horse cavalry is one of the odder bits of 40K. Their tactical role has been largely supplanted by bikers and jumppack infantry, not to mention the average troop transport. Cavalry in general is pretty rare, with arguably only Chaos Daemons being the only faction being seriously into equestrianism, and they pull double-duty with the fantasy ranges. Actual horsey Rough Riders went without proper rules for a while, and it was looking like they were being put out to pasture, as it were. Sorry. They were however given a new kit for 9th edition, which along with Beast Snaggas suggests that GW is happy for cavalry to be a bigger thing in the setting. The fictional justification for this is basically the same as the use of Abhumans in the otherwise very xenophobic Imperium. Simply, if you have a planet that regressed into a society of horse tribes that look suspiciously like a reference/parody of something, like the famed Attila, you might as well use them as such. Its not like you can expect these equestrian weirdos to make lasguns, so just let them do their thing at today's enemy.

I've never built cavalry before. I don't generally do historical or fantasy wargaming, and while I am English, I am a city boy. Horses are a touch odd to me, especially in the military context, as they don't cleanly fit into the pet/food dynamic, but I digress. Anyway, so making some is a welcome novelty, but one I had to do some research on. First was finding the raw materials, as I didn't want to go for the nice if expensive GW kit. Wargames Atlantic do a very similar kit for their Les Grognards, but that wasn't the look I wanted, and they come in an unhelpful squad size of 9. The look I did kinda want was that of the original Chem-Dog kitbashes seen in White Dwarf magazine, but as those used long OOP metal components that was a non-starter. So I opted to find a fairly basic cavalry model, the specifics not mattering too much, and then dress them with bits in much the same manner as my convict infantry. Eventually, the source material selected was a loose sprue of 5 Oathmark Human Cavalry.

I'm not gonna talk too much about the base models here; they seem fine and are made by the Stargrave people, but I don't have much of a frame of reference. These had the more medieval aspects either removed or obscured, horse and rider painted separately. The spears were lengthened with beads to make hunting lances, although they ended up looking more like those bombs-on-poles they use in Mad Max. That actually isn't bad though, because that's pretty much what a hunting lance is anyway, a pointy grenade on a long stick. A sword was picked to represent a power sabre, although it defied my attempts to make it more visually interesting. The riders were, as mentioned, built like my infantry, which meant lots of green stuff, and a female head. Not that its easy to tell at this scale, with a gasmask on. There's probably an article on gender coding in there somewhere. Anyway, the horse received gasmasks too, although not the full-head WWI style ones as those are fucking terrifying. I sculpted on some rags/barding in the same manner of the riders, and straps for the assorted spare weapons this unit has. Its weird to see a model with a rifle, pistol, and a polearm, but maybe that's just me. Painting then followed in my usual manner, with horse and rider joined just before basing and finishing touches. Painting a passable horse proved easier than I expected too, I just needed some new shades of brown, in a drybrush/wash/drybrush sorta affair.

While there was a prolonged "this looks kinda shit" stage, these came out entirely acceptable by the end. Not the best thing I've ever done, but tableworthy. I dunno if I'd make more, but its nice to know that I can.

 

 

Scratchbuild: Ork Deff Dread

This tale begins in much the same way as those Killer Kanz back in April. It was TFNation week and I was in a holding pattern, expecting a joyous but likely expensive weekend. There's always a tightening of the old belt before that, and I had two weeks off, so I wanted to save something for week 2. But I needed something to do, and an Ork discord server has doing its monthly challenge, specifically the "The "Waaaghust Walker Challenge" held by the 40K Ork Community Discord. " so here we are. A change of pace following all the humies I've been doing lately.

As to why its a Deff Dread? Well, its me falling back into old habits with something comfortable. The thing about Orks for me just now is that I feel I've done all I want to at least twice. What remains is modernization busy work, which would be a chore, or unit types I'm not into. Yeah, I could do Beast Snaggas or bikers or such and such. But they look both expensive, potentially annoying to kitbash, and a ball-ache to paint. By comparison, your average ork walker is a more relaxed and fun form of creative expression. I have too many of these already, but, fuck it, its something I'm good at.

Now, with this I had no real plan beyond making a legal unit with proven techniques. Most of the raw materials came from the bitzbox, old toys, and robot kits that displeased me. We're talking assorted tubes, water pistol bits, choice fidget toys for joints, beads, and a lot of hot-glue. The weaponry was something that took a while for me to settle on. I wanted to go full melee with an asymmetric arm set-up, but it didn't look right, so I went for a klaw and shoulder rokkit combo. The overall form was inspired by the current GW plastic kit, but I ended up giving it a fat gut and an arse-mounted fuel tank. I think I was channelling the Gorkanaut, although its also somewhat cute with those eyes.

I had most of this done before leaving for TFNation, just before weathering and basing. I could have pushed harder, but I saw no point in rushing it. The end result turned out pretty well. 

 

Job’s a good ‘un.

EDIT: And I came third in the challenge!