crazy customizing and creativity questions and discussion

[Dominic]

Well, there is precedence since G1 Tracks was released in Europe in red.

It was less a question of precedent and more one of redundancy. I am fine with my "black Ironhide" even though it is a same character recolour. Similarly, I am not troubled by "blue Convoy/Prime" , "red Mirage", or "police Sunstreaker" which have no actual characterization or precedence beyond being based on pre-TF colour schemes used for toys that share moulding with TFs. (Oi, follow that awkward sentence...)

But, in this case, it would have been yet another Tracks recolour along wth "black Tracks". Black Tracks can hang out with Ironhide and Mirage. But, two Tracks recolours? That seemed like overkill, as much as I love that mould.

I'll go you one better; I once saw red Euro Tracks advertised as "Traxx".

Badabing!


Dom
-Overdrive? Hmmm....

[Shockwave]

Powered up Side Burn. That would also solve your problem. Barring that, the others are right, just call it whatever you want. I myself could repaint Tracks red, call HER Roadrage and not lose a wink of sleep over it.

Now, here's one for you: What would you call a red Mirage?

[JediTricks]

He could also be Swerve, since it seems red car repaints are now *always* Swerve.

Well, by that logic, I suppose it could fit the movie 2 character since he was a red Corvette and Tracks is always supposed to be in the Vette family, and that Sideswipe mold he's a repaint of has a ridiculous amount of backpack kibble.

It was less a question of precedent and more one of redundancy. I am fine with my "black Ironhide" even though it is a same character recolour. Similarly, I am not troubled by "blue Convoy/Prime" , "red Mirage", or "police Sunstreaker" which have no actual characterization or precedence beyond being based on pre-TF colour schemes used for toys that share moulding with TFs. (Oi, follow that awkward sentence...)

But, in this case, it would have been yet another Tracks recolour along wth "black Tracks". Black Tracks can hang out with Ironhide and Mirage. But, two Tracks recolours? That seemed like overkill, as much as I love that mould.

-Overdrive? Hmmm....

Yes, it is too many, especially when you have multiple alternate angles to take that are acceptable choices.

I myself prefer Overdrive to Swerve only because of the wings and the lack of Overdrive figures.

[Dominic]

Now, here's one for you: What would you call a red Mirage?

That is a tough one. And, I have been wrestling with it for a while. Red Mirage, Police Sunstreaker and blue Optimus have no official names. Blue Optimus is arguably Ultra Magnus. But, that colour scheme itself is arguably dodgy.

Black Ironhide, (or green Ratchet if I made one), would be Ironhide and Ratchet, as per their official names. In my gallery on MySpace (still standing as of a couple of weeks ago when I plundered it for photos), I listed red Mirage as "Red Mirage" and police Sunstreaker as either "Police sunstreaker" or "PoliceStreaker". (I do not recall.)

I have toyed with the idea of naming the Sunstreaker "Speedtrap" and the Mirage "Red Line". They would be good "generics", and compliment my "based on half remembered background characters" Decepticon trooper display.


New querstion (because the old one is not vexing enough):

RTS Cyclonus: Ferak (Decepticon soldier from "Return to Cybertron" and member of Squadron X) or "Dirge coloured Cyclonus" from FFoD?


Dom
-gonna paint over the break.

[Shockwave]

Green Ratchet I would probably call Flatline and make it a Decepticon (there is official context for that somewhere but damned if I can remember where I saw it). Red Mirage could also be called Bloodline. I thought about doing a red version Diaclone esque Bluestreak and calling it Bloodstreak. Of course, now we're getting into the realm of fan characters and I think we all know where you stand on that. At least with Red Mirage, black Ironhide, and Green Ratchet there is official toys produced without identifying names or specs that justify such things.

What about the blue Trailbreaker?

[Dominic]

I am not against fan characters so much. I once had a notebook, long since lost, full of rough character profiles for a whole team of seekers (At the time, I am pretty sure that "seeker" was not official, so I listed them as jet troopers.) They were all designed around the 1984 principle of the guy having a gimmick beyond transforming. (It was purely coincidental that one had a fire based gimmick and another had an electricity based gimmick at around the time that Sunstorm came out.)

What I am against is when a particular group of fans starts tossing around their fanfic as if it were official, on par with or above the official content. (Hell, if you do not believe me, I will write up a profile for SpeedTrap at some point this week, in this very thread.)


On a semi-related note, what does everyone think of the idea of a Decepticon seeker Target Master, sort of an opposite number to Stepper and Artfire? Shoulld it be a basic F-15, or based on Thrust or Dirge? (I do not have a spare Ramjet. And, the next two I get are already allocated for other projects.)

Points of information:
-red Mirage never came out in TF packagine, at least as far as I know.

-blue Trailbreaker would go under teh same header as red Mirage or Police Sunstreaker, having no official name or character.


Dom
-needs to make Legends Megaplex.

[Onslaught Six]

Well I don't think any of us treat our bad fanfic as More Official Than Official. Talking about fanon and talking about official context are two different things!

[Shockwave]

True, but I think there's more... credibility maybe? to assigning names and character traits for officially made toys that previously or currently don't have any. I guess maybe I'm kinda hijacking the thread and saying "Hey, let's all make up names for those Diaclone dudes that didn't have any."

Ok, so we've got:

Powered Commander (Diaclone Ultra Magnus): Novum
Red Mirage: Bloodline
Blue Trailbreaker: Piston
Police Sunstreaker: Speed Trap
Blue Optimus Prime: Lonewolf
black Ironhide: Punchout

Well that's all I got for now.

As for the Targetmaster seeker, I think probably Dirge or Thrust. Stepper was a repaint of the Jazz mold, which is similar to the Prowl/Bluestreak/Smokescreen mold but different. The Seeker counterpart should follow that.

[Onslaught Six]

We had a discussion once about Black Ironhide, a few years ago maybe. We may have even written a profile. The idea was that he was a security van--like a government ops van. Kind of like the black Suburbans that Sector 7 had in the first live action movie. That was him. He was a super-paranoid guy who liked to make sure everything was in order. By-the-book to a fault. I forget what we named him though.

I think if you're just going to throw out names they ought to have meaning, you know?

[Dominic]

True, but I think there's more... credibility maybe?

Yeah, more or less. A big part of the reason I do this is to fill in gaps in my collection and/or to get other possible uses of moulds that I happen to like. (I did not make myself crazy to make a green Ratchet as I am not a huge fan of that mould and it would just be a same character recolour. But, I will take any excuse possible to customize a StreakerSwipe, as that mould is the greatest thing since sliced bread.)

As for the Targetmaster seeker, I think probably Dirge or Thrust. Stepper was a repaint of the Jazz mold, which is similar to the Prowl/Bluestreak/Smokescreen mold but different. The Seeker counterpart should follow that.

Okay, so is it worth making a Target Master from Thrust at the expense of nat making a "package art" variant? Even if I do not use Thrust, Dirge would be an option for the Target Master, even if a less attractive one. The peg-holes on Black Shadow/Thunder Wing are such that the Target Master gun will not fit in the wings reliably.


Point of information about the names: Blue Optimus is based on Powered Convoy. (My plan was to get custom armour and paint it as need be.) The UK comics once showed a minor blue Optimus recolour (in pre-Earth form) named Fusion. But, he was not a leader, and was never (as far as I know) shown in robot mode.

Black Ironhide is Ironhide. There is no getting around that. (Blue Ironhide, on the other hand, may not have a name.....)

Powered Commander (Diaclone Ultra Magnus).Blue Optimus: Convoy/Fusion
Red Mirage: Redline
Blue Trailbreaker: Piston (eh, why not)
Police Sunstreaker: Speed Trap


Dom