More Than Meets The Eye

 Just reliving my '84 Christmas here...

Earlier this year I discovered, purely by chance, that WizKids had released a 'ready to paint' set of Transformers figures, based on the original Generation 1 cartoon.

Being a sentimental fool, and relishing the chance to paint them, I snapped up all four (then my family then caught sight and wanted a few for themselves - at £5 each for a 3" model it's a good price).

The models are sold as 'primed' so you can crack straight on with them, but they seemed a bit slippery with the paint in places (this was observation from the kids painting their models - I sent them over the top first), so I gave each model a quick blast of Grey Primer.

There's a theory of leaving the best until last (although that's literally the opposite of his name), but I couldn't wait to paint Optimus Prime.

And what a treat he was - Kantor Blue and Mephiston Red, then washed all over with Nuln Oil, and recoated with the same colours. I wasn't really after subtlety or realism, I just wanted to replicate the bold colours of the cartoon.

Celestra Grey was used for his legs, and that became a staple colour throughout. From rewatching the cartoons, I realised just how much 'light grey' was used to show metal on the Transformers, so it appears everywhere.

But he was fun to paint. So much so, that I did another one as a gift for a friend who's even nuttier for Transformers than I am.

Prime time!

I was expecting Starscream to be trouble (isn't he always?) with all that grey panelling that needed to be picked out. But he was very enjoyable, if a little time-consuming. Once the tedious Celestra Grey was out of the way, it was lovely to pick out the reds (Mephiston Red again) and blues (Caledor Sky).

As a bonus, this model was shown blasting off from his feet (presumably to declare himself the NEW LEADER!). The smoke and fire were done in transparent plastic, which is a nice touch, although I couldn't see how I get a good effect from it without a lot of faff, so I just painted directly over it.

Note: Starscream's Decepticon badge is upside-down - this is not user error, but actually how he was depicted (because his jet form reverses the direction of the wings). But really, that should have been Megatron's first clue about his loyalties.

Speaking of which, Megatron himself was next. One of my favourite characters, but not the most fun to paint. He's basically all grey, so lots of panelling work to be done, with the only variety being Celestra Grey on the body or Skavenblight Dinge on the legs.

The waist, hands and gun are all black, but rather than go for a direct black, I gave them two coats of Black Templar contrast, which worked a treat for depth and colour.

Speaking of colour, aside from the tiny dots of red and blue, the most interesting part was trying to get a blast effect on his fusion cannon - a combination of Vallejo Fluorescent Magenta, White Scar and Lahmian Medium.

One shall stand ... actually we're both on bases, so it's all good.

Last and least (in physical terms, that is, not in family-friendly marketing potential) we have Bumblebee.

Getting the yellow right was the big challenge here. Averland Sunset is still my go-to yellow, but it was just too dark to leave it there. So I went with Averland Sunset base, Agrax wash, Averland Sunset layer, then two coats of Uriel Yellow.

After that, it was just the black limbs (Skavenblight Dinge and Black Templar) and a few details. He's really the simplest of the lot.

And that's the whole of Wave 1 complete. It's been a fun little project, and a hell of a nostalgia kick. There is a Wave 2 out already (somewhat truncated to just two models and harder to obtain in the UK - I suspect pandemic-related delays rather than a lack of enthusiam), so that's already ordered.

I hadn't intended to use them for gaming - although now some ideas are forming, and the kids have already played a dozen games with them against their Warhammer collections.

So watch this space - 'till all are one!