The Energon Pub

OdeeanRDeathshead wrote:From memory, I don't think Dreadwind had that much chin. I seem to recall him having closer to a cylinder like face plate?

What will you make the nebulon out of?

No, the chin I just liked and kept from the Jetfire fig. I don't think it would have looked quite right without it.

As for Hi-Test... I don't have any plans to do him at the mo. Maybe he's become part of DW, like when Action Master Prime was created in the comics... I dunno.
Like Darkwing, I may do him, but only if I get the inspiration. I'm not considering him a must.

pretty sweet. i have been wanting to see more stuff from that post movie era.

Quick update, no pics or anything.
It's not close to concrete yet, but thanks to EmeraldBeacon over at Seibertron (the git ), there may yet be a Darkwing to go with this fella. I'll have to do some more pottering before I'm sure, but yeah, it could happen...

just saw the official version and yours already looks much better.

I have to agree with jimsloth, yours looks much better than the official one!! Actually any of the official ones in the botcon set that I have seen, I have seen better bashes here on this site! I.E. Thundercracker, Thrust and Dirge.

Well of course. You have to remember that the guys at Botcon have a budget to work with when doing the exclusives. Which limits what they can do a bit. They also have deadlines in which everything has to be done and sent to Takara from mold making if any remolds are made so that the stuff will be produced and shipped state side before Botcon.

On the other hand Kitbashers have more time, they can play with thier budget a little more for things, an they aren't in most cases mass producing the figures. Half the time the stuff Kitbashers put out looks better to me then the stuff Hasbro produces.

And I can't wait to see this thing completed. I'm happy that I'm getting the Botcon Dreadwind, but Ramrider's version is looking sweet.

ok, point taken, but just the head mod alone is better on this one than the botcon one. You'd think if they were only modding one part they could do a decent job on it.

And the price they are asking for mere repainted models that already exist, with the exception of Dreadwind's new head, is a little steep. In my opinion.

lol! they may have a budget but its not as if they dont get it back in the process.

Either way i like ramraiders it seems truer then the bot con one i mean what the second head all about pre head version of something on there. I think they dont wanna end up with all those heads

Yeah they get back in the end, but look at the first year of Botcon, they still have 200 boxed editions of that one sitting in the store. That one hurt them. This year of course was an easy sell, but I think they are still being a little timid with remolds since they don't want year where they get stuck with a bunch of stock. Ramrider's head remold is nice, I'm really not sure which version I like better.

As to the prices being steep, you have to remember that these are smaller runs then Hasbro. They production run on these is 1450 of each. Hasbro does I'm guessing at least 10000 of each figure it releases, probably more. The more you produce the more the cost gets spread out and the per unit cost drops down. Botcon is probably paying triple or more per figure to what Hasbro pays. The actual cost for just the figures is the 179 you pay for the bagged guys, the cost for the packages included all the Botcon stuff whether you go or not. Which I don't exactly agree with, but I can understand their reasoning.

jimsloth wrote:just saw the official version and yours already looks much better.

Mega-Prime wrote:I have to agree with jimsloth, yours looks much better than the official one!!

Thanks, guys!

Having seen the official one myself now, I quite like it, but it really doesn't scream Dreadwind at me - the robot mode pretty much looks the part (except when it's got the armour on, which completely throws it out), but the jet mode's just way out. And they missed out some key paint app opportunities that would have boosted the resemblance, like the light blue/turquoise colour on the wings, shoulders and pelvis. I know they've got that aqua colour, but it's almost green, and in the wrong light (or if you're colourblind) it almost just looks like another shade of grey.
The new headsculpt's not bad, but while a nice idea, it wasn't really necessary to do a completely new headsculpt when the original's pretty close anyway.
And they missed out on the lightpiping..!

Ramrider wrote:

jimsloth wrote:just saw the official version and yours already looks much better.

Mega-Prime wrote:I have to agree with jimsloth, yours looks much better than the official one!!

Thanks, guys!

Having seen the official one myself now, I quite like it, but it really doesn't scream Dreadwind at me - the robot mode pretty much looks the part (except when it's got the armour on, which completely throws it out), but the jet mode's just way out. And they missed out some key paint app opportunities that would have boosted the resemblance, like the light blue/turquoise colour on the wings, shoulders and pelvis. I know they've got that aqua colour, but it's almost green, and in the wrong light (or if you're colourblind) it almost just looks like another shade of grey.
The new headsculpt's not bad, but while a nice idea, it wasn't really necessary to do a completely new headsculpt when the original's pretty close anyway.
And they missed out on the lightpiping..!

it looks cyan to me, which looks like the G1 version. then again, I don't own the G1 version. then (yet) again, we don't know for sure how the BotCon version looks compared to the G1 version, since photos aren't always accurate.
They have the color on his wings and pelvis. They only missed it on his shoulders. Turquoise is actually more green than cyan, so I don't know why you're saying their cyan looks more green than a turquoise would. He does have very greenish paint apps on his wings, but that's something else. I don't know if the G1 version has such green on his wings, but it does look more green than the cyan he has on the rest of him.

I do agree with you on the head (I've said it before)

This really is looking so good, that I so wish I never had seen it

After seeing this the botcon version just couldn't live up to it and it looked bland in comparison. (I definitely agree they should've left the head as it is and just make new wings: would've made the figure look much more G1.)


I will from now on keep an eye out on all those CL Jetfire at the local TRU. Should they ever drop in price, I'm probably going to pick up two to copy your Dreadwind and adding a Darkwing.

RavageX-9 wrote:it looks cyan to me, which looks like the G1 version. then again, I don't own the G1 version. then (yet) again, we don't know for sure how the BotCon version looks compared to the G1 version, since photos aren't always accurate.
They have the color on his wings and pelvis. They only missed it on his shoulders. Turquoise is actually more green than cyan, so I don't know why you're saying their cyan looks more green than a turquoise would. He does have very greenish paint apps on his wings, but that's something else. I don't know if the G1 version has such green on his wings, but it does look more green than the cyan he has on the rest of him.(I've said it before)

I don't see anything I'd call cyan on the Botcon version, it looks too green, and even that's just on the wings.
I'd actually say turquoise is sort of midway between blue and green myself, but to be honest it's probably best not to quibble over definitions of turquoise, cyan and the like, since the names vary according to who you ask (look at several paints with the same name from different manufacturers, you'll see what I mean).
My point is, the G1 version had a greenish-blue colour on its wings, shoulders, pelvis etc - it was a lot more prevalent than just the edges of the wings. And the colour Botcon used, I think is too muted and looks almost like another shade of grey to me (like I said, admittedly I'm a little bit colourblind, but still...).

Rawhide wrote:After seeing this the botcon version just couldn't live up to it and it looked bland in comparison. (I definitely agree they should've left the head as it is and just make new wings: would've made the figure look much more G1.)

Thanks. I think the head needed modding, there's no doubting that. They wouldn't have been able to make it look DW enough without some structural changes (I basically added the ledge under the eyes and gave him a faceplate). But they didn't need to completely resculpt the head. It might not have saved them much money in the long run (I don't know how much they pay for sculpting vs mouldmaking), but it might have been enough to add the wing changes.

Rawhide wrote:I will from now on keep an eye out on all those CL Jetfire at the local TRU. Should they ever drop in price, I'm probably going to pick up two to copy your Dreadwind and adding a Darkwing.

Look forward to it. Bear in mind if you do that, Darkwing probably won't be very G1 in robot mode, as it'd take a fair chunk of modding to do that. But if you can do it, and get them to combine, I'll be proper impressed...

Ramrider wrote:

Rawhide wrote:After seeing this the botcon version just couldn't live up to it and it looked bland in comparison. (I definitely agree they should've left the head as it is and just make new wings: would've made the figure look much more G1.)

Thanks. I think the head needed modding, there's no doubting that. They wouldn't have been able to make it look DW enough without some structural changes (I basically added the ledge under the eyes and gave him a faceplate). But they didn't need to completely resculpt the head. It might not have saved them much money in the long run (I don't know how much they pay for sculpting vs mouldmaking), but it might have been enough to add the wing changes.

I think with the limited funds available to the Botcon project, they could only remold one part. Going for the head which is only visible in robot mode when you remove the helm, wasn't the best choice IMO. If I'm going to change Cl Jetfire into Dreadwind and I can only change one part, I would go for the wings: the jet will look more like the G1 jet, while the robot will also look different and a bit more like the original.

Ramrider wrote:

Rawhide wrote:I will from now on keep an eye out on all those CL Jetfire at the local TRU. Should they ever drop in price, I'm probably going to pick up two to copy your Dreadwind and adding a Darkwing.

Look forward to it. Bear in mind if you do that, Darkwing probably won't be very G1 in robot mode, as it'd take a fair chunk of modding to do that. But if you can do it, and get them to combine, I'll be proper impressed...

Yeah, me too

Rawhide wrote:

Ramrider wrote:

Rawhide wrote:After seeing this the botcon version just couldn't live up to it and it looked bland in comparison. (I definitely agree they should've left the head as it is and just make new wings: would've made the figure look much more G1.)

Thanks. I think the head needed modding, there's no doubting that. They wouldn't have been able to make it look DW enough without some structural changes (I basically added the ledge under the eyes and gave him a faceplate). But they didn't need to completely resculpt the head. It might not have saved them much money in the long run (I don't know how much they pay for sculpting vs mouldmaking), but it might have been enough to add the wing changes.

I think with the limited funds available to the Botcon project, they could only remold one part. Going for the head which is only visible in robot mode when you remove the helm, wasn't the best choice IMO. If I'm going to change Cl Jetfire into Dreadwind and I can only change one part, I would go for the wings: the jet will look more like the G1 jet, while the robot will also look different and a bit more like the original.

True, but Pete has mentioned in a few posts that remolding a head is far cheaper then remolding larger parts like wings. Its one of the reasons they went with Dreadwind's head instead of Dirge's wings in the first place.

Ramrider wrote:(like I said, admittedly I'm a little bit colourblind, but still...).

Yup, you are. It's definately not green. Not even turquoise. Teal maybe. point is it's closer to cyan than green.

Again, no pics at the mo (possibly in the next couple of days, depending on how it goes), but it's official - Darkwing will be part of this. Based on a Classics Starscream, the plan is he'll actually combine with Dreadwind to form two different modes for Dreadwing, for maximum tactical flexibility.
I've cut out his wings, but I need to work out the new mountings for them. And I've started resculpting his head too; I'm just waiting for the putty to cure so I get to some more cutting and filing.

I have a good feeling about this...

i am trying to work out how to combine them myself first thing that springs to mind is a putting the lever for the Plane nose on top so it folds up and goes back then the second is using the Feet from the jetfire to Attach to the Two vents either side of the star scream head. Thats my First thought

I think I see what you mean. Are you referring to flipping Jetfire's nose onto his back? And I'm not sure how you'd get JF's feet and SS's vents to fit together; I can't help thinking it'd look pretty flimsy if you did.

Well if the Starscream is Going is Attaching to the back of the Jet fire am Trying to figure out a method but with the Starscream i was thinking have the Flip on the Top of the Plane Mode so it Flips back.

I think i may look into this myself as this is just an idea out of the blue to be honest. Will have a think but that was the First thing that Sprang to mind

Okay, I couldn't resist it. Here's some early pics of Darkwing. Most of what I've done to him so far is filing of the parts I don't need, but I have resculpted his head now. No vehicle mode pics yet, mostly because the putty on the forehead hasn't cured yet, and I don't want to accidentally get nose prints on it.




And close-up on the head. It looks a little rough at the mo, but I'll try and clean it up once the putty's cured. That and the paintjob should make all the diff.

that looks like the green putty from gw if i am not mistaken i may be wrong but how long does that stuff take to harden. As i use plumbers mate for putty

You're not; that's exactly what it is. Hardening time and final consistency kinda depends on the proportions of blue to yellow you use (more blue hardens more quickly and winds up harder when it is), but I usually work 50-50 and leave it for at least six hours, or overnight, or something. It often cures quicker, but the last thing you want is to squish the work you spent ages on because you couldn't wait.

plumbers mate goes hard within 20 minutes give or take and as hard as hell when done. but if i have to make a Part Fully then that may be something for me to get in future