CIRCUIT BREAKER

CLASSIFICATION: KITBASH
BASE FIGURE: BATTLE BLASTER JEAN GREY (X-MEN SECRET WEAPON FORCE)
MATERIALS USED: ALUMINUM FOIL, ACRYLIC PAINTS
FIRST APPEARANCE: TRANSFORMERS #9 (MARVEL COMICS)

"There are no good robots or bad robots--just dead robots!"

Preamble: Josie Beller was a brilliant computer engineer under the employment of G. B. Blackrock before a power surge fried her nervous system during a Decepticon attack.  Determined to get revenge on the robots who crippled her, she devised a bodysuit that not only duplicated her ruined motor functions, but enabled her to fly (by repelling herself magnetically from nearby metal objects) as well as eject surges of electricity through her fingertips.  She renamed herself Circuit Breaker, and proceeded to cause trouble for all the Transformers, regardless of allegiance.  Later, she joined Blackrock's group of paranormal freedom fighters and became a member of the Neo-Knights team.

While I didn't actually make any physical modifications to the figure, I'm still classifying it as a kitbash due to the painstakingly-arranged, strategically-placed tin foil.

Construction: The skin-tight outfit on the original Jean Grey figure was ideal, since you don't find too many ready-made naked female toys on the market these days.  (Well, not at retail, anyway.)  The figure cracked in two with minimal effort, allowing me to work on each piece individually.  Unfortunately, I made painting the figure far more difficult than it needed to be.  At first, I'd just been attempting to match the flesh tone since I didn't want to have to repaint her face, but after several batches that didn't quite match, I gave up and painted the whole figure except her hair.  This was probably a good thing, since the figure was made from black plastic and needed several layers of paint anyway.  Her hair is actually four different shades of yellow, in an attempt to simulate highlights and such.  I painted her eyes and eyebrows with a sewing pin.

Next, I came up with a model sheet for Circuit Breaker from the comic book, using issues #9, #23, and the cover of #45 for reference.  I ignored Andy Wildman's rendition of her in later issues, in which she's drawn with a different, far more simplified outfit.  To my surprise, I found that some thought was actually given to her costume, which could easily exist in three-dimensional space.

Now came the tricky part.  After drawing some light pencil marks on the figure to serve as a guide, I began the long, tedious process of cutting tiny pieces of aluminum foil into the shapes for her circuit armor.  I found that as long as I was using a sharp knife, I could cut the tin foil without tearing it, but I still spent a lot of time slicing strips of circuitry, crumpling it into a little foil ball, and starting over again just because I wasn't completely satisfied with the results.  I found it was easiest to glue tiny pieces of the circuitry in place, one at a time, rather than trying to with with entire circuit strands since they tended to rip easily.  I knew any tin foil inside her joints would impede movement and probably tear, so I was careful to securely glue down any foil that touched the inside of a joint.  

After that was done, all I had to do was glue the figure back together.  She retains all five points of articulation, and looks particularly nice under strong lighting.

Comments:  This was only my second kitbash, but I'm still quite pleased with her.  She stacks up quite nicely against even my most recent projects, if you'll pardon the pun.

(click for alternate view)