When Hasbro first revealed the Generations Nightbeat toy, they used the RTS Jazz body with a new head and some spotlights instead of giant speakers.
This caused a small rift among fans; some liked the new figure because of the base toy (the RTS Jazz body really is great, and if you don't own some version, you should). But others didn't like the figure, sgain because of the base toy. Nightbeat has generally been a "flat-chested" (similar to Hot Rod or Wheeljack) character, versus a "barrel-chested" (for lack of a better term) charcter, in the case of Jazz or Prowl.
I was among the latter group of fans. I wanted a Nightbeat that more closely resembled the character as we've known, because I'm shallow like that and opposed to new things. (Not really.
).
But when I finally got my hands on him, I found him...lacking. Rather, I found the minimal paint apps lackluster. Most of the toy is colored only by the plastic used in the mold, and what little paint is there is only on his forearms, the wheels/tires (which look nice, actually) and any of the yellow detailing. Now, the color used on the arms is actually a nice shade of blue, but as anyone who tries to paint yellow over a darker color knows, it requires more layers than Habro applied.
I resolved to remedy this. I also purchased a new chest piece designed on Shapeways by our very own GlauG, based off of Alex Milne's design for Nightbeat in the MTMTE comic. Many thanks, GlauG, for your time and effort to bring us this piece, which really does wonders to distinguish Nightbeat from Bumblebee.
- "Nemesis Maximo," you say, "isn't yellow your least favorite color?" Well, yes. But for a faithful Nightbeat, I was willing to make that sacrifice. I also added another layer of yellow to his face, so he no longer looks to be in a state of perpetual jealousy.
- I was somewhat inspired by some artwork by Blitz-Wing of Deviantart, which can be seen...
...here.
- I made him his own little magnifying glass with lego pieces. I get a kick out of it, but without wrist swivels, cool poses with it are limited.
- "Elementary, my dear Botson."
- I've thought about blacking out the windows so they stand out more against the blue paint. I probably will eventually.
For those curious, I mixed my paint myself. The darker blue for his vehicle trim is Testors brand Gloss Blue and just a few drops of Gloss White. The lighter blue is that darker blue with some more of the white. I just expirimented until I was satisfied.
Overall, this has been the easiest and fastest custom I've ever done. This mold doesn't have very many pins, so it comes apart pretty easily. So if anyone has been wanting to do some cracters with a similar body type as this figure, or for those looking to try out customizing for the first time, this might be a good mold to get.
