Presenting: The Alternator Predacons

Razorclaw feat. Ford Mustang

This was my first Alternator Predacon, made in May 2006. His head, and the fact that he had a double-piped gun and a sword, sold me on the idea of him as Razorclaw. In fact, I was waiting for Hasbro to do this obvious repaint for the longest time until I caved and made one myself. I bought two Grimlocks, possibly intending to make a spare one to sell, but seeing the immense amount of work, as well as being totally dependent on the weather since I could only do the spraying outside, I kept the other one in pieces. At the time, I had no plans at all to make any more. It wouldn’t be until the summer of 2007, after moving to a new house with lots of working space, that I went on with my plans.

Divebomb feat. Chevrolet Corvette

However, back then I slowly began to figure out how to produce a complete set of Predacons. Since I was unemployed at that point, there was no way I was going to import a bunch of Alternators to chop up, so I looked at what I had in my shelves. Divebomb was the first I decided on. Swerve, while rare in the States, was easy to find in Sweden for a short time, but seeing as he’s a really obscure character he didn’t really mean anything to me. The missiles over his shoulders, the wing-like hip guards and the retracted wrist blasters made him the perfect Divebomb. Of course, the head would be perfect for...

Headstrong feat. Jeep Wrangler

Headstrong was the second one I decided on. The sides of the car made for a perfect color mix when sprayed red, giving him some color on his shoulders and lower legs, also saving me a lot of trouble with having to actually spray the yellow parts. He ended up a bit like Swindle but very much his own character, especially with that nice (and rare) head. The springs in his legs gave me all kinds of trouble so I eventually just threw them out. He’s gonna stay in robot form pretty much, so why bother.

Rampage feat. Ford Mustang

Kind of the odd man out, but still a good fit. There wasn’t any mold that screamed Rampage, at least not one I could spare (there’s no way I would destroy Jazz or Shockwave). But after all Rampage has a very similar build to Razorclaw and very similar color distribution with legs and chest being the same color. This meant that the Ford Mustang fit very well. He also needed a mouthpiece but no visor, so I just removed Grimlock’s. I was just about to cut the horns for a more Rampage-looking head mold when I changed my mind.

Tantrum feat. Honda S2000

And finally, Tantrum. What? Not a Jeep, I hear you say. Well, to begin with I had no Rollbar to work from (I’m on a budget, remember?), so I had to go with what I had. Also, while Tantrum is a big bad bull, the original G1 mold with his weird arm pose always gave me kind of a lean cowboy vibe. Windcharger, with his wide-legged pose and kind-of-gun-holster-doors, was certainly the cowboy out of the Alternators. Also, halfway into painting I realized that his chest design made for a great bull (if you look hard) and that his cab roof would make excellent horns. So yeah, I’m standing by my decision that Windcharger makes a better Tantrum than Rollbar. Oh, and I made him a gun barrel from a crappy paintbrush.

Well, that’s it. Hope you enjoyed the show. I would make more but I’m all out of Alternators now.