| BATTLEFIELD
PROJECT #459
"It's Prime! He's been hit!" Preamble: Just when I thought I'd found every last generic character in the G1 cartoon, I spotted another one completely by accident. I'm a big fan of the show, but I've gotten to the point where I'm so familiar with it that there really isn't anything new to enjoy about it. This is one of the reasons why I love spotting new background characters so much—it's a brand-new discovery about a show that I've known and loved for over 25 years, and that's a rare feat indeed. Battlefield, as I've named him, appears very briefly in the three-part Transformers pilot episode, shown in a crowd scene, looking on at Optimus Prime's failed attempt to single handedly stop the Decepticon space cruiser. We only see him from the back, and it's easy to mistake him for Sideswipe at first glance since they have identical color schemes. In fact, he shares a body design with Hound, who like Sideswipe also has a windshield on his back and a rocket launcher on his shoulder. Nameless Wonder does not appear after this scene, which leads me to suspect he may have been lost immediately following the crash of the Decepticon space cruiser—perhaps during some unseen salvage expedition to find the remains of the ship after it fell into the ocean. We may never know for sure. Construction: Sometimes when I paint these things, I also modify the sculpt—either to make it better fit the character, or just because I don't like the pose. Hound was originally doing this weird this with his arm that made it look like some Decepticon had wrenched his arm right out of his socket, so I fixed that for Battlefield. I also repositioned his other arm so he's raising his weapon instead of cradling it in the crook of his arm. (The changes I made affected his center of balance, though, so I also had to adjust the position of his legs so he could still stand up.) I've decided that Battlefield is an unpleasant character, so I literally turned Hound's smile upside-down, cutting off a piece of his face and attaching it the other way around to create a more angry-looking scowl. We only see Battlefield in one scene, from the rear, but figuring out what this guy looked like from the front wasn't too tough. Sideswipe's color arrangement carried over to this toy surprisingly well, though I did make one or two concessions to account for the fact that Hound's got features that Sideswipe lacks, and vice versa. (It made sense to paint his headlights white, even if they're higher up on his chest than Sideswipe's are.) I had originally planned to use silver paint for his face and arms and feet, because a lot of Robot Heroes toys use metallic paint, but it looked really bad to me this time, so I just used flat grey instead. (It's a bit more true to the animation colors, too.) Comments: Hound is a very friendly Autobot with a really cool special power, so when it came time to create a personality for Battlefield, I tried to go as far the other way as possible—making him utterly unlikable with only the most basic of equipment. (I still don't exactly know why he disappeared after the pilot episode, but I'm sure the other Autobots don't miss him much.)
BATTLEFIELD "There is no excuse for failure."
Loud, brash, and demanding...role is to
teach Autobots how to fight. Skilled in combat arts and the use of
all types of weapons...unapproachable on a personal level. Answers
only to OPTIMUS PRIME. Others reluctant to follow his orders. Drives
110 mph...equipped with self-targeting energo blaster...drops magnetic grenades.
As robot, uses self-propelled heat-seeking rocket launcher and thermal
liquifier rifle...melts Decepticon armor. Would be more effective if
he were more respected by others.
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This Page Created 11/12/2010
Last Update: 11/17/2010
©2010 Inspiration Studios
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are trademarks of Hasbro, Inc.
Now that's my idea of a proper Battlefield!