Nightstrike's Customs: New Products!

Note: As I grew up mostly on the Masterforce interpretations of characters, I refer to their US counterparts as such, so I apologize if my usage irks you. If you're having any difficulty understanding what I'm referring to, here's a key:

• Godmaster -> Powermaster

• Ginrai -> Powermaster Optimus Prime, with Hi-Q

• Hydra -> Darkwing (rechristened by Hasbro as Blackwing), with Throttle

• Buster -> Dreadwind, with Hi-test

• Darkwings -> Dreadwing (combined form of the brothers...)

• Cancer - > Squeezeplay (rechristened by Hasbro as Crashbash, which is frankly an awesome name), with Lokos

• Bullhorn -> Horri-bull (rechristened by Hasbro as Terri-bull), with Kreb

• Wilder -> Fangry, with Brisko

• Blood -> Bombburst

• Dauros -> Skullgrin

• Gilmer -> Submarauder

For others (Doubledealer, the Autobot Pretenders/Godmaster team, Piranacon) I use their US names, while "Go-Shooter" I simply refer to as Shuta. (I also consider Cab and Minerva to be separate from their mold counterparts in the US.)

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Wow, it has been a long time since I've written here! For those of you who haven't been following the social pages, I've been busy printing off PPE for medical staff who are out there risking their lives. In particular, I've been making large batches of face mask strap braces to relieve pressure behind the ears, so I've had little time for prototyping. However, I've had these two sitting on my queue for a while and figured it was about time I try and test them. So, one Shapeways order later, I have two cute, but mildly loose figures awaiting post-processing. After a few coats of glue on the ball-joints, and a surprisingly decent paint-job, I realized these could be a mini-series to their own! When I was younger, a lot of my exposure to Transformers was through comics and DVD's, as the series always ended up airing when I was at school, so much of my nostalgia is from Beast Wars, Masterforce, and Prime (as well as a bit of Animated!). While Masterforce does receive a lot of criticism, which is fairly understandable considering how old the series is, the Decepticons always caught my eye. When Hasbro/Takara released their Ginrai(Powermaster Optimus Prime for those of you Marvel comics fans) and later "Hydra and Buster", I was somewhat baffled as to the apparent LACK of God/Powermasters, and the core-bot for Ginrai. While Perfect Effect covered Ginrai and his Godmaster, the Darkwings brothers were left alone, and the closest thing to Godmasters that we got, were the Combiner fists slapped on top. The first detail that comes to mind, is the fact that in no way are these aerodynamic. It's supposed to be a way to incorporate the parts, but the fists are simply too big, which is why I use Perfect Effect's combiner gear, so that the fists can be stowed under the wings as guns. Still chunky, but less noticeable than a block sitting in front of the tail-fins.

After much thought, I realized I wanted to make my own versions of the two, though I played off the aspect of their conversion to Cybertronian biology a bit more, and made them more robotic in their appearance. However, until recently, I never got the chance to do a test print of these two, as I was busy with both the "Distance Learning" because of the current situation, and printing off the strap braces by the hundreds. These two are a similar size to Titanmasters, and will serve as the basis for any future Godmasters and Headmasters I may design in the future. I still have Bludgeon in the works, but once complete, he'll be sold in sections, due to his complexity.

Stay tuned for more, including a certain Cassette singer, and a long overdue project!

~Nightstrike out!