Some of the lights I'd been using started dying on me, so I hope you can actually see how this team is recolored from the originals. I've been stringing this out long enough, so I'm posting it now anyway.
And I'm assuming someone familiar with the originals can tell me if I really did enough to make them acceptable G2 Cybertronians. The last 2 teams in the vehicle group shot are gestalt teams repainted from Big Lots KOs of Machine Robo Rescue. At the time, I certainly recognized the designs known better in the western world as Screw Head and Fitor, and knew that GoBots were descendants of Machine Robo toys produced by Bandai, but nothing about their story, or that this line had a then-current anime backing it up. All I knew is that the bulldozer guys reminded me enough of the Cybertronian construction crews seen in G2 issues 1 and 5 that I could recolor them into passable representations of those 'Cons.
BUT, I do want feedback from anyone reading this who's familiar with Machine Robo Rescue, as to whether I went far enough. I could've covered up more orange and black, but G2 #1 established that some construction crews get to be more colorful than the warrior Cybertonians, so I kind of did a minimal paint job on the leader, and painted just two squares on each limb guy after they were dyed (I'll explain that later). If they don't look different enough from MRR bots, then I might just add more paint, and post a few new pics in the future.
As to G2 Cybertronians having gestalt teams, they had combining Thunderjet pairs, so why not? They could even come out of the spawning process as one huge metal blob that hasn't completely separated into five before shaping up into something solidly robotic. And Mindset was some sort of counterpart to Onslaught, which implied he could also be a gestalt team leader, right? I do reject TFWiki's assumption that Onslaught was the "parent" Mindset blobbed off from, since their "bond" was not properly explained. I think it was more like Primus encoded some sort of plan in his life force that determined what type of Transformers would form down through the generations, resulting in Cybertronians of a certain archetype coming into existence long before their G1 counterparts in some cases, due to the spawning process being forced along so much faster than new TFs were made by the Creation Matrix and Matrix Flame.
So this team is the Cybertronian counterpart to the Constructicons! Maybe. If not-Screw-Head counts for Hook and Long Haul. I'm not set on names for these guys yet, but I developed a rule with my
next team (led by not-Fitor) that these guys should have names with the same number of syllables as their G1 counterparts, preferably in reverse-cadence.
If you skipped reading all that, I don't blame you. I just put more thought than effort into these guys.
I haven't put faction symbols on them yet. I should probably place them over the numbers like I did with the shuttle team (which I'll post next batch), but they work better on these guys. Maybe there are multiples of this team out there. Lotta' planets to cyberform and align.
The dye made the dozers look kind of dirty, appropriately.
Here's where shifting sunlight started screwing up the shot.
Hi-ho. Hi-Ho. We're lined up in a row.
You can see the squares on this side a bit better. They were supposed to denote which Constructicon each limb-guy corresponded to:
Grey => Scavenger
Green => Bonecrusher
Black => Scrapper
Purple => Mixmaster
But the black acrylic paint on all my projects has had an odd tendency to turn grey over the last decade. It looks kind of like dust accumulation, and turns black again when I add water, but I forgot that before I took these pics.
Luckily, no one but me gives a crap. Sigh.
And just like the G1 Constructicons, and many subsequent gestalt teams, you can achieve battle mode by slapping huge weapons on top that largely obscure their vehicle modes, and don't store neatly in bot mode!
Well, there's always subspace just outside of the shot.
Nothing hidden behind their backs.
I know the drill-tank looks more repurposed than customized, but there's hardly any part of his torso where paint wouldn't rub off during transformation, just as true of the shoulders of not-Fitor in my next team. I did paint his arms green, but the #*%&ing lighting...
Okay, NOW you can see the green. And the different indentations I painted yellow to look like lights. They all surely spend long stretches underground.
Oh right, they
can wield their guns in bot mode, it just looks awkward, and I don't see them aiming well. No, if a serious fight breaks out...
...they want to combine, ASAP.
So, this guy needs a four syllable name.
Terrastator? Terra-Crusher? Cyberformer...sounds too generic for a character name, but that is their function.
Mecha-Shiva! Mecha-Shiva! Mecha-Shiva! (Anyone get the reference? I made these guys a long time ago...)
Ah, he found the cannons again, just as I took them from a different MR KO, the smaller red version of the Fitor and shuttle team. I guess they're
supposed to combine into this huge vulcan(?)
I can see this thing firing fast and powerfully enough to keep most Firestormers at bay.
Here's my tentative list of list of names for 5 individuals, based on their supposed Constructicon counterparts:
Hook + Long Haul =>
Screw-Crusher or
Foundation Bonecrusher =>
Composter (assuming that's how he puts organic waste to use)
Mixmaster =>
Quicklimer (assuming he's also a chemist, and see above)
Scavenger =>
Faultfinder (what he'd use his power-shovel-sensors for)
Scrapper =>
Scraper (he makes sure the ground's level; some KOs deserve unoriginal names)
The composite gun is attached by sliding it over one dozer-con's arm. Stable enough for display.
Works just as well on the other side.
My other Cybertronian gestalt team is also based on a G1 counterpart. COMING SOON!
(No one loves the '88 checklist more than me)
(And that's not a hint at the year of the gestalt team I'm referencing)