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Transformers Collector Club 2012 Exclusive Figure Review part 1 SG Drift

Posted by aptkane on

TFCC ’12 figures are in and shipped, which is all kinds of awesomeness.

If you are not familiar, the Transformers Collector Club, linked in the blog roll, each year releases a FREE, exclusive figure to active members every March.  Additionally, they also have annual exclusive figures for purchase for members and non-members alike.  These purchasable figures however, sell out FAST.

This years Free figure is a remake of the G1 Decepticon Battlecharger, Runabout.  The purchasable figures this year are Runabout’s partner Runamuck (Renamed OverRun due to licensing issues) and continuing the Shattered Glass (alternate) universe where good guy are bad guys and bad guys are good guys, TFCC released SG Drift!:

 

SG Drift is, for all intents and purposes, Deadpool from the Marvel Comics universe.  He’s a mercenary.  He doesn’t shut up.  He’s Ruthless.  He’s Red and Black.

HE’S AWESOME!

He comes packaged in his special edition case, with tech-specs, two battle pistols, dual short swords and of course, his extra large ancient cybertronian long sword.     The paint job on SG Drift is just amazing.  He is very vibrant and well detailed.

His alt mode looks just as good as the robot mode, with the Kanji on his hood meaning “Decided” (a foil to normal Drift having changed factions)

 

 

SG drift is my first “official” SG figure and I couldn’t be more happy with him.  Unfortunately, TFCC sold out of him within the first 36 hours of his availability, so special thanks to my iPhone for allowing me to get online and order him as soon as I got the notice.  YAY!

Tomorrow, I’ll be covering my second SG, custom figure, SG Squawk Talk and the second TFCC Exclusive (and just as awesome as ol’ blabber mouth Drift here) Runabout.

 

Stay Tuned!

Heavy Fire at the Crossroads Part 3 – The Stunticons – Decepticon Dead End

Posted by aptkane on

I finished Dead End a while back, but woo doggies, its been a rough couple of weeks.  Anywho, on to Dead End:

Dead End is a fatalist.  He doesn’t really care about anything given that he knows everything has to end eventually.  Of course, this makes him a bit of an asset on the battlefield seems he’ll take on missions most Decepticons wouldn’t think twice about.

I used the Reveal the Shield Jazz mold for the custom.  I replaced the head, and removed the spoiler.  I have to admit, I had some trouble with the paint and I’m not too thrilled with the final result, but I’ve learned some valuable lessons for the next project.

While Dead End looks a bit ‘beat up’, I suppose it kind of works for a guy who spends his time crash racing around.

I used liquid masking tape for the head lights, and that was a mistake, seems it gooped up and became unworkable post-painting.

There seems to be a connection issue that I can’t quite pinpoint in the back.  So yeah…meh…not my best work, but a decent enough start.

Much, MUCH more to come!  Stay tuned!

Heavy Fire at the Crossroads Part 2 – The Stunticons – Decepticon Drag Strip

Posted by aptkane on

Done.  Well that was easy.  Of course it sure helps that Takara/Hasbro did the job for me, but who’s complaining?

Part 2 – Drag Strip:

Drag Strip’s kind of a bragging jerkwad, but that’s fine, that’s why I like him….that and he was the first G1 toy I ever bought for myself (granted I was about 7 at the time.)

Here’s new Drag Strip, they used the Classics/Henki Mirage mold for him…which is also fine, because I would have too.

His blaster is from a 3rd party set of weapons.

He’s super pose-able, which is surprising for a classics figure, he almost has the articulation of a Revoltech figure.  Almost.   I’m not too thrilled with the way the head is mounted on the mold, but its the only complaint I have, he looks great!

He even has a bit of a jerk-wad smirk on his face, which is awesome.

His alt-mode is awesome too, though some people complain that the yellow is too bright, but BAH! I say, BAH.  He is missing his signature second set of tires up front, and there is a simple mod that you can use to install them, but you need another Drag Strip or Mirage so PFFFFFT to that.

His front spoiler is his actual weapon, but it looks a little bit like a cross-bow/wookie bow-caster so I keep it tucked behind his back so it gives him a bit of hips.

Two down – three to go.  I’ve started on Dead End, he’ll be a bit more involved seems I’m removing the spoiler and swapping the head out of the Jazz mold.  I also have to paint him the right maroon with gold trim.

Stay Tuned!

-Till all are one -

Heavy Fire at the Crossroads Project Part 1 – The Stunticons – Decepticon Wild Rider

Posted by aptkane on

Back in 85, the my brother and I tried to collect all the Stunticons.  In the end, we ultimately met our goal, but only after my brother received Motormaster for his birthday.  Being so close in age, this was actually a terrible situation for me, seems he had the full set, and could now form Menasor, where as I was left with only Breakdown, Dead End and Drag Strip.

…..ah well..
As my first “customization” project, I’m going to attempt to replicate a more updated version of my favorite race-car baddies using the much cooler Classics-Generations series.

Starting with the OTHER Stunticon I never had, WildRider:

Before KO Toys went out of business, I was able to pick up the “Do it yourself” SideSwipe kit, in black.  I was originally going to do a G2 version of Swipe, but when the kit arrived, they had thrown in all the various heads HasTak has used for the mold, including the head sculpt for G2 Breakdown given out at BotCon a few years back.  Well, while the head wasn’t perfect, I technically re-purposed another figure as Break Down, so I thought I’d make Wild Rider here.

Here he is in robot mode.  I actually sacrficed my Red Alert to get some spare parts as the DIY kit was GOD AWFUL in quality.  (also, don’t mind the background, future projects will be taken in my mock-studio) – I gave WildRider two energon daggers from the 3rd part Head Masters “Butcher” kit.  I think they work well with his red limbs and such.

And here he is next to “Break Down” (Wal-Mart exclusive Breakaway) – at first, when it was just going to be these two, the size difference was fine, but now that I’ve decided to do the entire team and possible Gesalt combination, he just wont’ work, he’s too big.

Here’s Alt-mode for Wild Rider followed by a side-by-side with BreakDown.

So there we go – I’m happy with how Wild Rider turned out, but because I didn’t actually paint him the way I would normally paint something, he suffers from scratches quite a bit.  Coupled with the horrible quality of the kit, I need to take a lot of precaution when transforming him.

At this point, I’m going to start working full force on this, I have all 5 figures figured out for the team:

Wild Rider – done.

Drag Strip – I just bought Universe Drag Strip – he arrived today, so I’ll post on him this weekend.

Break Down – I just bought a cheap Classics Rodimus for like 10 bucks on Crave – so I’ll repaint him and replace Break Away here.

Dead End – I Picked up a relatively cheap RTS Jazz, and that’ll require some mods to the head, and a full repaint.

MotoMaster – I had trouble figuring this fella out…but it turns out I have some great ideas for using RTS Grappel, which will be a strong enough figure if I go ahead with the combination aspect (which I think I will).

More to come!

- Aptkane (Till all are one)

Opening Pax Cybertron today -

Posted by aptkane on

This blog is a sister-site to my other blog www.korewagundam.wordpress.com – a site devoted to my appreciation of Mobile Suit Gundam and my various Gunpla projects.

I started Pax Cybertron because my appreciation for Transformers has grown strong enough now that I have started projects with Transformer figures as well.

Much like Korewa Gundam, I’ll have pictures of works in progress, final products, product review and more, all accompanied by pictures.

Hope you enjoy the site

Till all are one

- Aptkane