The Energon Pub

by **Gizmo_Tracer** » Wed Oct 28, 2009 4:45 am

Once the affable security chief for Colony Omicron, Depthcharge’s personality was irrevocably changed when the colony was brutally wiped out, leaving less than a servo-full of survivors. Obsessed with revenge against the perpetrator, he now prefers to shoot first and to the Pit with asking questions. When the Axalon mission went missing, the Elite Guard gave Depthcharge his chance to track down and destroy his foe once and for all. Unfortunately, they also gave him a partner.

Oh snap, folks! It’s the the first figure from GT’s Beast Wars Animated: Season 2! Okay, so, yes, Depthcharge didn’t show up until Season 3 of the real show, but this is my version, boys and girls. Anything can happen. It’s crazy, for reals.

Anyway, I always felt that the Transmetal colour schemes were a bit all over the place. Granted, that was part of the point, but that philosophy doesn’t really work with the Animated aesthetic. Now, Depthcharge featured blue, yellow, purple, light grey and chrome. Which is, y’know, kinda nuts. I replaced the light grey and chrome with a great colour called Underbelly Blue, and downplayed the yellow and purple. I actually though about doing away with the purple altogether, but he started looking a little too much like Thundercracker. I went with two shades of blue, Cygnar Blue Base and Highlight, to give him some variety while remaining cohesive. I think the black lines on the torso and legs really help sell it as a whole.

His vehicle mode is supposed to be a submarine. I... well, I favoured the robot mode on this one. I experimented with a few things to make him look more like a sub, but they all interfered with transformation to varying degrees. I figure the running gag is that everyone assumes he turns into a jet, which really ticks him off, since he hates ‘Cons so much.

My favourite part by far is his head. It turned out really nicely, and I was even able to make use of Starscream’s chin of doom, which makes this look like a specifically Animated Depthcharge. I placed the faction symbol off centre to give the impression of a badge. You’ll undestand why I’m playing up the cop angle when I introduce his partner next week! Woah-ho, segue into cliffhanger! I’m just that smooth.

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Jump to:

Season 2 Episode 2: Beast Machines Animated

by **mightwork** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 5:04 am

This is awsome! Just pure Awsome :APPLAUSE:

, can't wait to see who his partner is!

by **Trukkinmunky** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 6:32 pm

Amazing I would buy that in a heartbeat if it was sold in stores. Keep up the good work!!!

News Credits: 1452 · by **Blurrz** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 4:42 am

Damnit Gizmo. This is seriously too flagging awesome, that I need to totally try this out on my own. Depth Charge is my favorite character always next to Blurr.. and I think you can all tell how much I like Blurr!

I'm actually going to need you to tell me how to get rid of the rest of the Plane Nose!

by **Gizmo_Tracer** » Wed Nov 04, 2009 5:08 am

Glad to hear you're enjoying Season 2 so far! Blurrz, the nosecone on Depthcharge is actually still there; he torso wouldn't clip into his waist properly if it wasn't. I just messed around with the gears a bit to keep it retracted in both modes.

Autobot scientists, repeating the experiment that created the Jet Twins using programming from the captured Bitzwing, implanted their test subject with reinforced Autobot ideals to counteract the Decepticon’s insanity. The result was the impeccably chivalrous and honourable Silverbolt, proving that perhaps one can have too much of a good thing. The Elite Guard foisted him off on the grim Depthcharge, but Silverbolt doesn’t mind; a ‘rescue mission’ is right up his alley. Just don’t ask him to hit a lady.

Blitzwing seemed like an obvious choice for Silverbolt, since tank/jet is roughly analogous to wolf/eagle. I started thinking about how excited guys like Perceptor and Wheeljack would get over the potential of copying triple-changing tech on top of the huge upgrade we saw the Jet Twins receive from Starscream's programing. The obvious problem is introducing code from a total madman into the equation. You'd need to take precautions, but what if you overcompensated?

The idea that they managed to reverse engineer all of that firepower, but it's attached to a guy who doesn't like to use ranged weapons because they're 'unsporting' is pretty much hilarious. I mean, these are the guys who specifically made Omega Supreme too dim to disobey orders. Nobody in the Guard wants to deal with 'Bolt, so they pawn him off on Depthcharge, which is even funnier. Buddy cop style fun times ensue.

This is another head that turned out really well, I'd say; I really like his goofy grin for some reason. I used the old 'translucent yellow over metallic silver' trick for the gold. His tabard and/or loincloth is made from sheet styrene and a metal hinge and miraculously doesn't interfere with his transformation! As you can see, I went with the off-center badge style faction symbol again, and I think it works even better of Silverbolt than it did on Depthcharge. The asymmetry really makes it 'pop'.

These characters are each so committed to their personal concept of justice, and those concepts are so different, that the Batman/Superman comparison seemed inevitable. Plus, y'know, puns. And I do love my puns.

News Credits: 1452 · by **Blurrz** » Wed Nov 04, 2009 11:45 am

That's too awesome for words. Damn.

by **Predaprince** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 4:45 pm

Great Work!

News Credits: 1 · by **Venomous Prime** » Mon Nov 09, 2009 1:45 pm

Depthcharge is freaking sweet!

by **Rodimus_light** » Tue Nov 10, 2009 2:40 am

I <3 you for these beast wars designs Gizmo. It has made me like animated designs twice as much.

by **Gizmo_Tracer** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 10:03 am

Admit it, these are the photos you were waiting for. They're also why I had to make an exception to Animated's 'Autobots don't fly' rule for 'Bolt; he's here to rescue falling damsels and chew energon goodies, and he's all out of energon goodies.

I'm putting these up this week because Rampage isn't quite ready to go up yet, but he is coming, never fear.

News Credits: 3 · by **Name_Violation** » Sun Nov 15, 2009 4:49 pm

can't wait to see more

by **Gizmo_Tracer** » Wed Nov 18, 2009 7:28 am

When Optimus Prime returned from Earth with the partially reformed Allspark, a team of the top Autobot scientists were gathered at Colony Omicron to study the massive fragment's properties. Two projects were approved: Project Matrix and Project Infinity. The latter sought to replicate the immortal pseduo-spark granted to Starscream by a sliver of the artifact.

The result was the abomination known as Protoform X; an unstoppable killing machine which slaughtered scientists and civilians alike before Depthcharge was able to force it into stasis lock. Primal was secretly ordered to find a desolate rock and dispose of X. When the Axalon crashed on the primitive world where Blackarachnia was gathering her forces, however, the creature escaped. Now its mad laughter echoes through the jungles, as it attacks Autobot and technorganic alike.

Rampage was always a character I liked better in theory than in practice. He had a great back-story, great dialogue, a great voice... but I couldn't stand his design. The giant, top-heavy kibble backpack, the scattered colour scheme? Blech.

With that in mind, I took the opportunity to redesign him for my Beast Wars Animated series. I still wanted him to be big, and since his third, Transmetal 'vehicle mode' had been a tank of sorts, Shockwave seemed like a good place to start.

I decided to follow the cardinal rule of Transformers repaints: when in doubt, add more black. I replaced the lighter elements of his Beast Wars colour scheme and darkened up his red and purple as well. The gold and magenta highlights really pop now, which is an added bonus.

I kept his signature three-barreled cannon, of course, and his cool horns and pedipalps. His head is kinda huge, but I think it does a good job of showing that this is Rampage, just not the Rampage you might be used to.

Speaking of his cannon, here's a better look at it. The barrels were originally pens. The left over parts make a pretty snazzy missile that screws right into the cannon!

Here are a couple of recreated scenes from the episodes 'Bad Spark' and 'Deep Metal', respectively. Like I said, great dialogue.

News Credits: 3 · by **Samsonator** » Wed Nov 18, 2009 12:47 pm

"I'm called Rampage, now. A bit obvious, but to the point don't you think?"
Excellent work on a truly fearsome character!

by **Volcanus Prime** » Wed Nov 18, 2009 6:42 pm

Beautiful. This almost made me cry. I love beast wars and animated. You are the king of awesome when it comes to them mixing. Depthcharge is something I would try if I had a spare seeker. Silverbolt and Rampage will have to wait. By the way where do you get styrene. I want to get into kitbashing because of you, Jin Saotome, and DoubleDealer25

by **Predaprince** » Wed Nov 18, 2009 6:49 pm

Wow! Your Rampage is glorious!

News Credits: 1452 · by **Blurrz** » Wed Nov 18, 2009 10:21 pm

Damn, I didn't even expect Rampage from Shockwave, haha. That's brilliant man.

News Credits: 1 · by **Venomous Prime** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 5:48 am

Rampage is...beautiful... :shock:

by **Geminii** » Sat Nov 21, 2009 3:27 am

Those Silverbolt/Blackarachnia shots... wow. Brilliant.

by **Gizmo_Tracer** » Wed Nov 25, 2009 10:49 am

With the remaining Decepticon forces splintered, General Strika enacted a contingency plan put in place by Megatron. Carrying a back up of the deposed leader’s core consciousness, Quickstrike tracked down Blackarachnia and presented her with a proposition: create a powerful new body for the resurrected Megatron and raise a technorganic army for him to lead, and he would use his ship to rescue the spider from her primitive exile. Ostensibly agreeing, Blackarachnia had no intention of giving up control of the growing Predacon forces. Using designs conceived by Megatron himself while on Earth, she crafted a suitable form, but put a shell program in place severely limiting the new Megatron’s intelligence and instilling unquestioning loyalty to her.

Unbeknownst to the technorganic queen, Megatron’s core consciousness was able to override the shell program almost immediately. Dubbing himself Galvatron and declaring himself superior to his predecessor, he chose to bide his time, pretending to be a simpleminded buffoon while subtly manipulating events to suit his purpose. With all of the cunning and charisma of the original Megatron coupled with a technorganic’s instinct and a flair for the dramatic solely his own, that purpose may well spell doom for the entire galaxy.

Props so massive they have their own gravity go out to Nemesis Predaking for not only pioneering this mod, but posting a video explaining it in detail here. The short version is that magnets allow me to attach either a regular hand or the T-rex head to his right wrist, while the latter can still store on his back.

Story wise, this is gratifying because I'm finally getting to reveal some things that I've been planning all along. Quickstrike's 'special delivery' was mentioned all the way back on his bio. This bio incorporates a lot of send ups to Transformers lore, not the least of them being his in-story name. A purple, reincarnated Megatron? What else could he be called but Galvatron?

I also like the idea of arguably the smoothest, most manipulative Megatron ever playing the 'Starscream' role on the Predacons. Or, more specifically, the 'Tankor' role, for those of you who picked up those recycled elements in his background. Homages galore! Remember, Animated Grimlock was designed by Megatron while he was experimenting with constructing himself a new body. Apropos, no?

That's the Super Hero Squad figure that came packaged with the equally tiny and awesome Iron Fist, for those who care. Obviously I'm homaging the classic cover to The Transformers US #3: Prisoner of War and showing off a little ball-jointed neck action while I'm at it.

Ol' Megs has got him own opinions on spider-folk of all types, of course. 'Bad Spark' had a lot of terrific lines, didn't it?

Now, Beast Wars Animated Season 2 is going on a short hiatus while I deal with exams, but when we return the fate of the third stasis pod will be revealed! Be there!

by **Volcanus Prime** » Wed Nov 25, 2009 10:15 pm

That megatron is magnificent and clever too. how did you manage to make the dino head his hand. but you have a gift. a gift hasbro should use if they have any intelligence between them

by **Gizmo_Tracer** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 1:27 am

We have movie sign! This time it's based on The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

I originally had a version with a white background and black borders like the original, but it ended up looking really empty and unfinished. The borders stand out better this way anyway, compared to my first attempt. I also changed the text around a bit because I knew someone was going to go all mental trying to figure out why it said "and the Bad" instead of "and the Ugly".

Fun fact: there's actually only a single photo being used here; those are their actual relative heights standing next to each other. Considering that this is S1 Megs, and how tall both Depthcharge and Rampage were, it ends up being pretty accurate.

My Silverbolt is crazy tall, but it lets him carry Blackarachnia convincingly, so I can live with that.

by **Doubledealer93** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 9:55 am

i love megatron! u should use the prowl mold for something!

by **Gizmo_Tracer** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 11:48 am

Doubledealer25 wrote:i love megatron! u should use the prowl mold for something!

Tsk tsk, when are you guys gonna learn that I'm always a step ahead of you? (Scroll down to the third custom.)

Seriously though, glad you like Megs. While you're at it, you might want to take a look at my other Beast Wars Animated Predacons.

by **Doubledealer93** » Fri Dec 11, 2009 7:19 pm

"face palm"
****.
i forgot u used that already! well could u use the ratchet mould, BB mould, lugnut? i would love to see what u would use them for!

by **Gizmo_Tracer** » Sat Dec 12, 2009 4:08 am

The Bumblebee mold, you say?

Ratchet's a bit tricky, since his 'potbelly' makes his robot mode extremely distinctive and tough to see as anyone else. I have some thoughts regarding his upcoming 'Cybertron-mode' iteration, however. Lugnut's relative tininess makes my heart weep. I think he'd still make a fantastic pre-beast Scorponok, but I already went a... different route with that one!