TF2 - Sniper Class Combaticon 03

Look out! Sniper! I like this guy a lot. The design came out well, and I also saw it as a bit of a redemption for the last games' Shockwave. I like how Shockwave came out, but through my own fault, I never gave an example of how his canopy could collapse as he moved his torso, and since my time/budget allowed only for full color turnarounds where the character stood straight up, he went into production that way, and appeared in the game very stiff.

So this time I attacked it with gusto. The funny thing is, when I do the block-ins for approval, I just place elements in as fast as I can, just to show where the vehicle cues are going to be, and the general size/shape - and the Luxo boys were right on me, "you gotta break up that canopy a lot more!' Good to know we were on the same page. Canopy = Broken up!


I'm really happy with the back, too. This guy all around is pretty cool, the missiles mounted in his forearm is the best...and I believe it was Luxo's idea the fan out the blades like a deranged peacock.


The characterization in the game came across great, I thought. As I was doing this view, I kept in mind the naked-ed Chamberlain from the Dark Crystal. Slouchy and ev-yil.

TF2 - Sniper Class Combaticon 02

Vehicle mode for the Sniper Vehicle Mode. This one went through a lot of legal revisions, to get away from the exact shapes of the real Comanche. But now, playing the game, it seems like they kept the original submission.


Which was this -and the original Decept Star, not only because it looks better, but it actually fit the space better, design-wise.

The front and back is pretty straightforward, I can't think of anything significant to say about, other than nearly every change to the side needed to be addressed in either the front of back views - which was a pain.


And again, the proposed transformation sequence.

TF2 - Sniper Class Combaticon 01

Some sketches for the Combaticon Sniper. Now, I knew he was supposed to be more slender, but some of these are to be intended to show a larger frame, but with much negative space to give the illusion of size. But, we just pared it down to the original idea, and went skinny.

I've been wanting to do a four armed TF for a awhile, (since I felt I had missed an opportunity with the cement truck from the first game) and tried to get Luxo to go with the idea. They didn't feel it quite fit with what they wanted, not to mention a lot of unique additional animation they probably couldn't justify into their budget.


Here's the drawing that went off to Hasbro for approval...bot and vehicle, a modified Comanche helicopter. The sniper rifle was about 2/3 the size originally, but the Luxo guys kept saying, 'Longer...just a little longer...' so he's now saddled with the long shot.

TF2 - Warrior Class Combaticon 03

And here he is, the Big Boy. With this one I finally started to hit my stride, after about a year off from making bots, it started to come together. This might be my favorite guy in the game, I thought JT and his team did an outstanding job bringing him to life. I really like how the 'torso skirt' came out, I was going for a samurai armor type...thing.



One of the biggest challenges is to find homes for wheels. Trying to hide eight tires was kind of a pain to figure out, but since he was an oversized character, I gave him those Popeye forearms, split the front tire in half, and slid the second in between. The back two acted as knee and ankle joints.


Whoops...I see this one has the old star on there...that might come up time to time for these...simple revisions never got an updated lo res flat file submitted.

But yeah, he's beefy all around, and a bitch to face two at once in the game.

TF2 - Warrior Class Combaticon 02

Vehicle form for the Warrior! You can see the revised Decept symbol...not quite as cool, but still works pretty good. Like I said, it's a modified Striker APC, with a missile array mounted on the back. For shooting at Autobots.


Though it's modified, I try to keep it as close to possible to the real thing, and in this case, it was more the small details like headlights and rivet arrangements that needed to be changed, instead of the overall body shapes.


And as before, the transformation sequence for animation.

TF2 - Warrior Class Combaticon 01

So. again to get started, I come up with a few ideas for the vehicle requested. In this case, a modified Striker. It was great in this game to at least have a vehicle to start with, the last game was kind of design as you go, due to the super tight schedule.

The concept for this team was to have a Scout, who was mid-sized, a Sniper (coming next) who was on the thin-sized, and this Warrior, who was the bruiser of the group. So that helps me keep it in the realm of a certain body type...which is why there's fewer thumbnail sketches to get started.

This guy came together pretty fast, and off he was sent to Hasbro for approvals...

TF2 - Scout Class Combaticon 03

I usually turn in something like this to get started, a very rough block-in, sometimes with color, sometimes just gray - depending on how I created the colors for the vehicles. Once it's approved, or with adjustments made, I get going on the final.

And here is the final turnaround for this bad boy. The design conceit for these Combaticons was to keep them sharp, but with flat planes to mimic modern military design. Over the last few years I've built up a library of car parts, from the web, car shows, and my own cars, to use to fill gaps, or start a bigger mechanical design from something real.

The front view takes on average around 12-14 hours to complete, including the block-ins, the back view takes around 11, because the silhouette is defined. I just import the outline and fill it in with rear view elements., making adjustments as needed. And yes, technically, his butt can light up.


The side view takes up to 2 days to finish, because of the additional elements that need to be shown; torso, arm, insides of legs, and any additional weapons. And I can't use the best cheat of all, copying one half and flipping it, like I do for the symmetrical parts of the front and back views.

So that's it for the Combaticon Scout - a full set of concepts, final vehicle views, and final robot views, that takes about two weeks altogether on average.

Tomorrow - Combaticon Warrior!