The more toys we see revealed for Botcon, the more motivated I feel to actually take a break from webcomics and get back to some custom ideas I've had in my head for a long time now. First on the chopping block was Black LioPrime... or whatever it is this mold is being called. Possibly one of the simplest customs in existence, the only difficult thing about this custom was getting my hands on a Dark Ligerjack for a decent price. Then just a splash of black, some silver for the ponytail, and a touch of red to bring out the eyes. Wallah! We have next year's Chicago Comic-Con's exclusive :)
But back to Botcon, I actually got moving on customizing Boss out of Classics Sideswipe.
I still really wish there was a better mold, but it was either this, Ironhide, or Prowl. So Sideswipe won out. I'm not a heavy custom modder, so the best I could do for his lack of a batmobile engine for a gun was to give him a targetmaster to match his colorscheme. Right now I'm debating whether or not to leave the black bits or cover them with blue. I know there was very little to no black on them save their tires, but eh, I'm a fan of black breaking up and adding to a colorscheme, so maybe I'll just leave it. Either way, Boss will be waiting for Thunder Clash. Heh, and he'll be fighting Snare, my other custom! I figure if I'm adding an Autobot Turbomaster, I may as well add to their rivals; the Predators. After looking through the cluster of them, I settled on Snare, I love the vibrant coloring on him, though I found a metallic Red that works just as well as the original coloring. If I have time, the purple menace Skydive will be next.
I tend to rotate when I customize, jumping between three to four customs. It works out nicely, giving the paint on each one time to dry before I come back to it.
Next up: Crosscut.
Why? I dunno. I was originally thinking Skidsz, even though he was *not* the same kid of vehicle as the original Ironhide. But, I think the mold would work nicely for him. Then I stumbled onto an e-Hobby recolor; Crosscut. I don't know why this recolor of the original G1 Skids caught my eye, but he did, so I'm now creating him out of Ironhide.
If I can get my hands on an extra Rodimus or Cybertron HotShot, I'll customize his female partner, Road Rage.
Other ideas in que for an inevitable repaint:
Pounce and Wingspan: NOBODY has thought to paint Energon Battle Ravage and Divebomb? Really? I would have thought we'd have seen these guys in the Universe line as a 2-pack a looong time ago.
Duocon Battletrap:
I actually had Battletrap as a kid, and for some reason I always loved the guy. he gets no respect! That's why I'd love to reimagine him into an updated Classics form. Now, being a Duocon, the idea of being two vehicles that combine into one is not something I have the time or energy to figure out... so I wanted to try the next best thing.
Let's push the character a bit and say, I dunno, the Decepticons wanted to maximize Battletrap's effectiveness on the battlefield, so they upgraded his individual components with the ability to take on individual robot forms. BUT, keeping in with the spirit of the original gimmic, those two should be able to *somehow* combine for maximum effectiveness. Enter Energon Barricade and Windrazor. Since Barricade is the center component for one of the combiners, his arm easily becomes a great holster to allow Windrazor to latch on and convert to its gestalt-arm form. Not quite what the Duocons were known for in G1, but *still* two vehicles "combining" to cause lots of destruction.
I figure these three customs will help bulk up my Botcon set. I'd like to do more, but I've already spent more time on these than I planned, and ignored doing some much needed work on feral ignition.
