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"Me Grimlock, no want ugly paint job!!!! Me pretty as am..."
Regardless, of Grimlock's wishes, my wife and attended the Botcon Customizing Class taught by customizing extra-ordinaire Shawn Tessman. I am fortunate enough to have this be my second Botcon customizing experience, both classes taught by Shawn and both a great time!!!
The class started at 9:00. We were each given ONE Grimlock mint on the sprues, fresh from the factory to paint and put together. This was a little different from last year, but people seemed to adapt fine.
Shawn talked to us about his choices for the mold, that he was told to make his choice, and his first choices, Starscream, and Mirage were being used in the box set (For 'seekers' and 'Translucent Mirage' respectively. He was trying to get something simple to put together, but that would make an interesting repainted character (Astrotrain--too difficult, and Rodimus--too hard to make look different than Rodimus)
Shawn took us through the process of painting the figure and showing us techniques, and offering guidance and hints on how to do this ourselves, with ordinary materials that will not cost a fortune. In fact, I believe he stated most can be found at Walmart!
Just so we would not forget, Shawn also provided us with a booklet to take with us on how to customize in general, and how to make the Overkill using a retail figure.
The class was fun as we expected it to be based on last year's experience, although we found this mold to be particularly difficult to put together after the painting. Many in the class did not end up leaving until well after 4:15 (Try about 9:00PM!).
Shawn did a fantastic job!!! He understood our frustrations, and worked hard with us to maintain our interest, and lower that level of anger that many of us now felt toward the CLASSIC's Grimlock mold.
For those wondering, yes, we were given a DECEPTICON rub sign to put on instead of an AUTOBOT that he would normally come with.
Was it worth $60 (double the price of last year, and no extra figure(s) to take with us that are uncustomized)? My wife and I thought so. Our only disappointment was that we did not get an extra set to keep sealed for our collections even though the price was increased.
Overkill's Unofficial Classics BIO written by Shawn Tessman
Function: Warrior
BIO: Once upon a time, OVERKILL served the Decepticon cause as a warrior and spy. While he had a penchant for ranting and raving on the battlefield, and showing off his abilities more than actually using them, he could still be a frighteningly effective warrior if forced to focus his energies on the task at hand. Occasionally, a glitch in his transformation protocols caused him to remain stuck in cassette size in dinosaur form. Eventually though, the problem became chronic, and then terminal. He was stuck the size of a rat, and his spark could not even be extracted, as his body was too small to safely remove and transplant it.
Overkill's leader also had a problem...a thornin his side named Grimlock. Everywhere he went, the Dinobot was sure to follow. Defeat followed defeat, as he had no soldiers capable of matching Grimlock's ferocity or physical power. Except possibly for Overkill.
The surgeons used data scans of Grimlock to construct a facsimile of his body. They inserted Overkill's cassette form into a special housing built into the chest cavity. Overkill could once again function as a member of the Decepticon military.
Now more powerful than ever, Overkill tends to fight his enemies beyond the point of defeat, but his leader is seriously considering ripping out his vocal processor...it might be the only way to shut him up.
WEAPONS/ABILITIES
Overkill's new body, while not quite the equal of Grimlock, is nevertheless extremely powerful. He carries his original body within the chest housing, and can still utilize it's recording capabilities. His new body has eight speakers that can project various recorded sounds at an excess of 1500 decibels. He is also armed with a combination missile launcher/sword that fires "motion missiles" which home in on the movement of any object larger than a baseball. His new body is quite strong, and he is capable of crushing cars in his jaws and demolishing buildings with the swipe of his tail. Since the spark is encased in his original body, his new form can be beaten to the point of deactivation without actually harming him.
WEAKNESSES
Overkill isn't used to using a bipedal robot mode, and so he usually only transforms when explicitly ordered to do so. He will often try to accomplish tasks in his beast mode that it is simply not designed for. His body is not as strong or resilient as Grimlock's, being constructed from Earth alloys instead of Cybertronian ones. If his chest cavity were to be infiltrated, the connection between robot body and cassette form could be easily interrupted, leaving him helpless. Since his "motion missiles" home in on movement, the best way to defeat him is to stand completely still.
STR: 8
SPEED: 2
RANK: 5
FIREBLAST: 6
INT: 5
END: 8
COURAGE: 6
SKILL: 5
NOTE: These images consist of Shawn's customs, and my wife Laura's (full white chest) that we put together.
