A different toy
Just something else I'd been working on for a while. Thought I should get it out of my system.
Ex-experiment, ex-pitfighter, ex-black marketeer, mech of few words and a personal crawling horror about being forcibly drafted into the Decepticon military. Not that he minds the violence and destruction, but he much preferred working for himself, not being shot at by the other side, and not being a many-levels subordinate to an emotionless commander who doesn't yet know who blew up one of his bases, along with all its personnel, all that time ago. After, y'know, stealing most of its valuable components. And getting access to the military networks, even if it was just the janitorial programs. You'd think people would have moved on by now, sheesh!
Creator's notes: In-continuity and out, Fusion is based on the G1 Springer toy, in that it doesn't flip over when converting between its two vehicle modes. It does, however, swap front and back, which Springer didn't. The shoulder spaulders evolved from Springer's cartoon model. The guns are really just a solid block with a hole to grip them, and yes, someone already pointed out that they look like coffeemakers. :)
In tank mode, his legs originally transformed a lot more like G1 Roadbuster, with the shoulder armour having a pointed rear that the robot feet came to rest on, and the arms tucked under like G1 Springer. That's still a viable variation, mainly because his body's a solid block - it could be hollowed out for his arms to fit inside in tank mode. It would mean that he wouldn't have his napalm cannons in tank mode, though, which seems like a pity.
Yes, I realise that when the weapons are deployed, they interfere with each other's firing arcs. I worked that into the character as well - it's a deliberate facade he cultivates of not thinking things through.
His colour scheme comes straight from Cybertronian camouflage - black underneath to blend in with the endless night sky, planet-surface-grey on top to make spotting him from the air harder too.
In his original version, he had pan-directional motospheres on each corner of his tank mode. I wasn't sure how to incorporate those cleanly into the other modes, so I just retconned him to have the same antigrav tech that various Cybertronian vehicles sported in the original More Than Meets The Eye cartoon.
Yes, the legs rotate to swap places for one of the altmodes.
Yes, this should be able to be built in plastic, if anyone wants to have a go at it. His tank mode would have four tiny plastic wheels concealed under it. His interceptor mode wouldn't roll - it would land on its rear thruster block and probably a skid in place of a nosewheel, like an X-wing. His guns slide straight into the cavities in his shoulder armour, and could probably have some kind of click-in, click-out mechanism if a builder was feeling fancy. His leg-mounted plasma turrets should definitely have this, as they don't detach (merely spin) - something like those pens with the click-to-retract tip.
Oh, and yes, the face is supposed to look like that - a blank visor. His hands, however, are not supposed to be simple cylinders; just chalk that up to my lack of modelling skill. They do retract into the wrists, however.
The trapezoidal shapes on the outside of the forearms (and on the end of the interceptor wings) are attached using a mechanism similar to that in G1 Metroplex's left shoulder - they can slide around corners while still being able to rotate. Basically, just cut a slot in the two relevant pieces and put a dumb-bell shaped plastic connector between them. Springloading optional.
I thought about putting a Decepticon sigil in the traditional location in the centre of the chest, but it'd be facing backwards on the interceptor. Still, it wouldn't be all that noticeable. The other option is on the top of the round silver missile turret in the centre of the altmodes and on the robot back. Either the symbol would rotate with the turret, or the middle of the turret could be fixed and only the outer ring rotate.
Ex-experiment, ex-pitfighter, ex-black marketeer, mech of few words and a personal crawling horror about being forcibly drafted into the Decepticon military. Not that he minds the violence and destruction, but he much preferred working for himself, not being shot at by the other side, and not being a many-levels subordinate to an emotionless commander who doesn't yet know who blew up one of his bases, along with all its personnel, all that time ago. After, y'know, stealing most of its valuable components. And getting access to the military networks, even if it was just the janitorial programs. You'd think people would have moved on by now, sheesh!
Creator's notes: In-continuity and out, Fusion is based on the G1 Springer toy, in that it doesn't flip over when converting between its two vehicle modes. It does, however, swap front and back, which Springer didn't. The shoulder spaulders evolved from Springer's cartoon model. The guns are really just a solid block with a hole to grip them, and yes, someone already pointed out that they look like coffeemakers. :)
In tank mode, his legs originally transformed a lot more like G1 Roadbuster, with the shoulder armour having a pointed rear that the robot feet came to rest on, and the arms tucked under like G1 Springer. That's still a viable variation, mainly because his body's a solid block - it could be hollowed out for his arms to fit inside in tank mode. It would mean that he wouldn't have his napalm cannons in tank mode, though, which seems like a pity.
Yes, I realise that when the weapons are deployed, they interfere with each other's firing arcs. I worked that into the character as well - it's a deliberate facade he cultivates of not thinking things through.
His colour scheme comes straight from Cybertronian camouflage - black underneath to blend in with the endless night sky, planet-surface-grey on top to make spotting him from the air harder too.
In his original version, he had pan-directional motospheres on each corner of his tank mode. I wasn't sure how to incorporate those cleanly into the other modes, so I just retconned him to have the same antigrav tech that various Cybertronian vehicles sported in the original More Than Meets The Eye cartoon.
Yes, the legs rotate to swap places for one of the altmodes.
Yes, this should be able to be built in plastic, if anyone wants to have a go at it. His tank mode would have four tiny plastic wheels concealed under it. His interceptor mode wouldn't roll - it would land on its rear thruster block and probably a skid in place of a nosewheel, like an X-wing. His guns slide straight into the cavities in his shoulder armour, and could probably have some kind of click-in, click-out mechanism if a builder was feeling fancy. His leg-mounted plasma turrets should definitely have this, as they don't detach (merely spin) - something like those pens with the click-to-retract tip.
Oh, and yes, the face is supposed to look like that - a blank visor. His hands, however, are not supposed to be simple cylinders; just chalk that up to my lack of modelling skill. They do retract into the wrists, however.
The trapezoidal shapes on the outside of the forearms (and on the end of the interceptor wings) are attached using a mechanism similar to that in G1 Metroplex's left shoulder - they can slide around corners while still being able to rotate. Basically, just cut a slot in the two relevant pieces and put a dumb-bell shaped plastic connector between them. Springloading optional.
I thought about putting a Decepticon sigil in the traditional location in the centre of the chest, but it'd be facing backwards on the interceptor. Still, it wouldn't be all that noticeable. The other option is on the top of the round silver missile turret in the centre of the altmodes and on the robot back. Either the symbol would rotate with the turret, or the middle of the turret could be fixed and only the outer ring rotate.