| LADYBUG
PROJECT #260
CLASSIFICATION: REPAINT
BASE FIGURE: BUMBLEBEE (KEYCHAIN)
MATERIALS USED: PRECISION SCREWDRIVER, ENAMEL PAINTS
FIRST APPEARANCE: "BUGS" (FAN FICTION)
"I don't appreciate that
implication."
"What implication?"
"That I only manage to get by on luck."
Preamble: The collective Transformers
fandom has puzzled for some time over the existence of toys like the red
Bumblebee and yellow Cliffjumper (and the nameless toy known unofficially
as Bumblejumper), wondering why Hasbro would randomly stuff the wrong toys
in the packaging. Some folks are convinced these toys are just Takara
overstock, leftovers from the Microman toy line that Hasbro just couldn't
figure out what else to do with. Personally, I've come to believe they
were intended to be unique characters, just like Rumble and Frenzy are different
characters based on the same toy, but that there was a miscommunication at
some point (like, perhaps, Jim Shooter and Denny O'Neil being asked to create
28 distinct characters instead of 31). Anyway, I thought it would be
fun to create personalities for these forgotten toys, so I named them Ladybug
and Blow-Out and even wrote a fanfic about them. After I finished the
story, I realized I wanted to own the toys on which I'd based these characters,
but they're hard to find on eBay at a decent price, so I finally settled
on taking one of the plentiful Bumblebee keychains and painting it.
Construction: This was partly a repaint
and partly a restoration project, since I started with a Bumblebee keychain
that was in really poor shape, with split tires and a broken-off head. I
got some new tires from a Penny Racers toy (strangely appropriate, since
that's what Bumblebee was based on) and glued some new clips in place to
support the head. After that, it was just a matter of disassembling
the toy and painting it. I wanted it to look reasonably authentic,
so I repainted every surface of the original yellow plastic, even the inside
of the body and feet, so the toy would look like it was made from red plastic
from every angle. I also retouched the die-cast back panel, and even
painted the screws holding the toy together (because I'm a stickler for details
and silver screws look more G1ish than black ones).
Comments: I thought about painting
the toy to make it correspond more closely to the
color model
I came up with for Ladybug (who, in the spirit of traditional G1
not-quite-toy-accuracy, has red arms) but I decided I liked the
familiar disparity between the two color schemes. One new element
I did add was a reproduction of the Microman-style sticker on the chest,
as seen on Bumblebee's package art, since I'd originally drawn those details
on Ladybug to make her look visually different from Bumblebee. (I am
conveniently ignoring the fact that the actual red Bumblebees sold at retail
didn't have this sticker.) She's still got the original yellow sticker
on the back of her head, incidentally, which looks about as deliciously backwards
as the red shoulder stickers on Sunstreaker.
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LADYBUG
FUNCTION: ENTYMOLOGIST
"Lady luck is no substitue for skill and
training."
Sent to Earth to study the Insecticons
and their effects on Earth resources. Bright, contemplative, serious,
but easily irritated...sometimes misses the larger picture. Believes
serendipity to be primary contributor to Autobots' survival. Optic
sensors extend for microscopic analysis...magnification capability of up
to 14,000 times. Extremely cold temperatures can render her
inoperative.
STR: 4 INT: 10 SPD: 5 END: 5 RNK: 4 CRG: 8 FPW:
1 SKL: 8
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