CLASSIFICATION: REPAINT/CUSTOM
BASE FIGURE: HEROES OF CYBERTRON SKYWARP (OTFCC REPAINT)
MATERIALS USED: POWER DRILL, MODELING PUTTY, ACRYLIC PAINT
FIRST APPEARANCE: "FIVE FACES OF DARKNESS" PART 3

"The Decepticons will eliminate the Autobots."
"Then, we will crush the Decepticons."
"And soon... very soon, now..."
"...Cybertron will be ours!"

Preamble: Phantom is yet another one of those ubiquitous generic Decepticons that I've become so terribly fascinated with of late.  This one's a third-season character, who shows up during the huge Decepticon assault on planet Goo, and again during the Quintesson-Decepticon alliance's attack on Cybertron (which used recycled attack footage from the previous skirmish).  Unlike a lot of the generic Transformers the animators inadvertantly invented, Phantom doesn't appear to use the color scheme from any existing character that I'm aware of.  As far as I know, there are no robots whose bodies are entirely grey.  (He's closest to Vortex, only without the teal colors.)  Therefore, I choose to believe that this is "really" a new character, and not just a careless recycling of Starscream's animation model.  (His name is sort of a reference to the fact that he's not a "real" Decepticon.  It was either that, or call him Stormcrowd.  Yeah, I know, it's not really that funny.)

Construction: Phantom appears to have one handheld weapon and one that's mounted to the underside of his forearm.  (That's probably because the animators didn't give a flying Froot Loop how they drew his weaponry, but once again, I choose to apply an unreasonable amount of significance to this particular design element.)  To emulate this function in the PVC figure, I filled in the holes in the sides of his arms with putty, and drilled one hole in his forearm and another in his fist so he could carry the weapon like a regular sidearm.  (Well, it's not actually a sidearm since it no longer attaches to the side of his arm, so... eh, forget it.  That wasn't funny either.)

Results: I rather like this guy.  He's incredibly drab and colorless, yes, but I just finished painting Decepticons whose bodies are entirely bright yellow and fluorescent green, so I could do with a hot, steaming cup of boring right about now.  (I'm still trying to figure out whose color scheme they used for him, though.  No Transformer from the show is entirely grey, but I'm just cynical enough that I'm unable to accept the possibility that somebody invented a new color model just for this background generic.  Maybe they used the color model for Optimus Prime after he died.  Heh.)

PHANTOM
FUNCTION: ENERGY SCOUT

"They just don't make 'em like they used to."

Primary function is to seek out new sources of energon, a job that has become even more important following the Decepticons' relocation to Chaar.  One of the last surviving Decepticon jets...resentful of the way the elite troops regard him as gunfodder.  Scanners in nosecone can detect energy sources as small as .001 astro-liters from up to 12 miles away.  Carries magnetized grenades and echo cannons that distort enemy visual tracking systems, resulting in residual "ghost" images that last up to 15 seconds.  Prone to mechanical breakdowns due to antiquated technology.

STR: 5  INT: 8  SPD: 6  END: 2  RNK: 4  CRG: 7  FPW: 5  SKL: 9