| HEATWAVE
PROJECT #247
CLASSIFICATION: REPAINT
BASE FIGURE: HEROES OF CYBERTRON STARSCREAM (OTFCC REPAINT)
MATERIALS USED: ACRYLIC PAINTS
FIRST APPEARANCE: "MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE" PART 1
"Autobots! Stop them!"
Preamble: Apparently I'm not the
only one to have taken an interest in the generic Decepticon jets of
the G1 cartoon. In 2003, Takara actually took one of the background
troops from "More Than Meets the Eye" part 1 and released a toy in its likeness
named Sunstorm. It didn't really match the cartoon version very closely,
partly due to the limitations of the Diaclone jet design and, probably, partly
due to Takara not wanting to commit to a lot of extra paint applications
or costly mold changes. In any event, it's an orange-and-white toy
that's intended to represent the yellow-and-grey character shown
below.
Later, the folks at OTFCC decided what a novel
idea it would be to take one of the PVC jets and repaint it into a generic
background character, so they produced a Heroes of Cybertron
version of Sunstorm. Instead of consulting the episode, though,
they just based their version on the Takara toy, so their version was
also badly miscolored. Even Hasbro wanted to get into the act, so they
took a random Armada toy (Thrust, in this case), painted
it orange and white, and stuck it in the Transformers: Universe
toy line. Not one of these toy versions uses the colors of the character
as seen in his original screen appearance. (There have also been a
host of alternate versions of Sunstorm, like the Legends of Cybertron figure
and the Titanium Series figure, both of which utilize the "take a Starscream
toy and color it orange" approach.)
I've decided that Sunstorm is, in fact,
a brand-new character invented by Takara, along the same lines as Cramp
Down and Load Rage or whatever they're called. The character who actually
appears in the cartoon is named Heatwave. And, since he's
never gotten any toys in his likeness, here's mine.
Construction: The acrylic yellow
paint I was using was kind of runny and watery, so it took several
coats of paint before the toy's original colors were completely covered.
(I mixed in a couple of drops of red paint to give him a darker
schoolbus-yellow color, but I didn't want it so orangey that the color of
his canopy glass would be indistinguishable from the rest of him.)
Comments: I think it's kind of funny
that Hasbro and Takara left these generic characters alone completely for
20 years, and it was only after I took up an interest in them and started
assigning my own names and personalities to them that they finally got around
to releasing toys based on these characters. I guess I can't complain
that they scrambled to supplant the characters I created, since all they
really did was snatch up their own intellectual property, but I'm just going
to keep calling this character Heatwave all the same.
HEATWAVE
FUNCTION: TROOP SUPPORT
"When life gives you Autobots, make Autobot
junk heaps!"
Bright, cheerful disposition...happiest
when carrying out MEGATRON's orders. Capable of storing solar energy...used
as supplemental power. Can also release stored energy in bursts through
nosecone. Jet mode highly agile...has most sophisticated gyroscopic
balance systems of the Decepticons. As robot, uses starburst cannons
that fire sustained bursts of energy. Disliked by fellow Decepticons.
STR: 6 INT: 7 SPD: 7 END: 4 RNK: 4 CRG: 8
FPW: 8 SKL: 9
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