CLASSIFICATION: REPAINT
BASE FIGURE: HEROES OF CYBERTRON SKYWARP (OTFCC REPAINT)
MATERIALS USED: ACRYLIC PAINTS
FIRST APPEARANCE: "FIVE FACES OF DARKNESS" PART 1

"Me, Grimlock, like big fight!"
"Good, 'cause you, Grimlock, have got one."

Preamble: Ever since I got myself a nice, big batch of Decepticon PVC figurines from the now-defunct otfcc.com (great prices, slow shipping), one of the first repaints I wanted to do was a third-season character which Derik Smith discovered.  He's one of the miscolored Decepticons who shows up during the end of "Five Faces of Darkness" part 1, when Cyclonus is leading the charge against Rodimus Prime and Grimlock on Chaar.  (In my defense, I never noticed him before because he gets chopped off the edge of the screen the way the episode is formatted for television.  You can't spot him unless you're watching the DVD version.)  

Anyway, I really liked the idea of an Aerialbot-colored Decepticon (the animators used Silverbolt's color model for him), and the name which Derik coined for him was too delicious not to use.  That's him on the far right of the screen.  (As you may have guessed, that's the only footage of him in existence.  We never get a full body shot.)

Construction: When I'm painting a toy like this, I always try to paint the hardest-to-reach areas first (in this case, the eyes and the middle section of the torso).  This gives me a lot more room to make mistakes, since it's much easier to paint the eyes and then paint around them for the face and helmet, for example, than painting the face first and then trying to get the two little recessed spots for the eyes.

Deadbolt's actually got red-colored Decepticon insignias in his animated appearance, but it seemed like a waste to get Delta Star to print me up a batch of red Decepticon symbols just for one project.  So, I tried my hand at painting them myself.  I used a new hobby paintbrush, one with super-long bristles that come together at a point for really fine detail work, like painting doll eyelashes and things.  SinceI was painting the symbols anyway, I made sure to add the extra top spike in the crest, which is the "correct" design for the G1 cartoon.  (It is in fact a misinterpretation of the three-dimensional style symbol that came from Hasbro's original Transformers logo, but it was consistently drawn this way throughout the G1 show.)

Comments: The Decepticon symbols turned out a little less precise than I would have preferred (and I only just now noticed that they're actually right-side up in the cartoon, not upside-down like a traditional Decepticon jet), but aside from that I'm quite pleased with him.

DEADBOLT
FUNCTION: SECURITY & DEFENSE

"I have the right to remain violent."

DEADBOLT is a bitter, angry robot.  Upset that he was not among those Decepticons to receive an upgrade by UNICRON, and resents the Decepticon elite guard as a result.  Jet mode adapted to function in outer space.  Carries two microwave jammers that cause the moving parts of mechanical devices to seize up.  Has chronic, paralyzing fear of organic creatures.  

STR: 6 INT: 5  SPD: 9  END: 9  RNK: 3  CRG: 1  FPW: 5  SKL: 4