[MOC] Warhawk - An Original Transformers Character

[ZORK64]

I got finally around to complete and take pictures of my first MOC using the new smaller Balljoints - and it's a Transformer!

Warhawk is fairly poseable, can transform into a Cybertronian Truck, comes with removable arm cannons and is pretty much inscale with official Transformers toys.

It took me something like a weekend to build him, and yet another day for some fine tuning.

While he does have some issues, I'm ultimately happy with how he turned out.

For more pics and infos, check out my MOCpages entry for him.

Edited October 28, 2014 by ZORK64

[zero1312]

Very well done!!! I was surprised to see that you're on NTF as well.

zero1312 aka Megatron_Zero

[Zerobricks]

Lovely small scale mech. Those mixel joints sure open a lot of new possibilities.

[ZORK64]

Thanks for the feedback.

Very well done!!! I was surprised to see that you're on NTF as well.

zero1312 aka Megatron_Zero

And I'm just as surprised to learn the same.

How goes that German saying? "Die Welt ist ein Dorf", right?

[DuckBricks]

Loving the Surge mini-robot head inclusion! Also, amazing Transforming feature.

[bacem]

wow, nice! this is pretty cool, and the transformation is pretty optimus-esque. surge head surpirsingly fit in well there. i especially love how you did head transformation and how you made the cover, and the fact that the arms actually locks in on vehicle mode.

if i'm allowed to give a critic, it is that name "warhawk" implies a flying transformer, so it doesn't really fit him. but then againt, i'm not a transformers name expert, so i guess i could be wrong here.

Edited October 30, 2014 by bacem

[ZORK64]

Loving the Surge mini-robot head inclusion! Also, amazing Transforming feature.

When I began to think about the scale, I realized that the only way to give this fellow a convincing head was by using a Minifig head/helmet, so the mini-scaled Heroes sure came just around the bestest time.

Long time before I began to work on Warhawk, I was thinking about going non-purist and pick a fitting Kre-O head to give him the head he has in the Fall of Cybertron video game (it's Soundwave's, just so you know), but I had no idea how to get specific Kre-O parts and I didn't want to get a whole set of non-LEGO just for one specific piece. Also, I'm pretty sure the closest options I'd could get (Optimus Prime and Soundwave - I actually have a Kreon of the former) are a bit wider than the Hero helmetes, meaning it wouldn't have worked anyway due to space issues.

wow, nice! this is pretty cool, and the transformation is pretty optimus-esque. surge head surpirsingly fit in well there. i especially love how you did head transformation and how you made the cover, and the fact that the arms actually locks in on vehicle mode.

Not kidding here, it took me almost an entire night to create the cover for his head. I tried various other ways (moving panels from the side, flipping the head much deeper in...) which all turned out to be totally terrible in practice until I got the brilliant idea of giving him this panel thing that is connected by a ball joint.

The locking in of the arms on the legs was one of the later additions while I was updating Warhawk, but it was extremely necessary because otherwise half of the vehicle rear just kept flipping apart.

if i'm allowed to give a critic, it is that name "warhawk" implies a flying transformer, so it doesn't really fit him. but then againt, i'm not a transformers name expert, so i guess i could be wrong here.

Your critic is certainly justified here, as Transformers names are indeed very often connected to their alt mode (except for a few noticeable exceptions and very iconic folks). Back then when I created the character in Fall of Cybertron, I was rather spontaneous/uncreative with choosing a fitting name so I picked the first thing that came to my mind, and that was Warhawk, and since I liked the ring of it, it kinda stuck to him. The fact that I was actually kinda oblivious to the actual meaning of the term (I'm German, and most Transformer names - thankfuly - don't get translated, it wasn't until Beast Wars that I figured out that the character names have an actual meaning, and even to this day I tend to miss that on vehicle characters as I'm not a genius about this stuff in general) doesn't help either.

I could try to justify this with his Hover Slam ability (one of the two chooseable specials of the Destroyer class - it allows you to hover upward in the air, hover there and then slam a mighty punch into the ground, hurting opponents nearby), but I'll admit its kind of a stretch.

Edited November 3, 2014 by ZORK64

[TerminalTitan]

Yes, mixel joints are great. Very nice MOC.

[ZORK64]

Sorry to bump this, but I'm not sure where I should ask this instead...

I'm currently thinking about revamping Warhawk with the intention of giving him proper hands. I actually already redesigned the cyan part of his lower arms to look sleeker, but it still irks me that his "hands" look somewhat puny when compared to actual TF figures.

Now, for new hands, my first thought were the Chima Hammer heads, as those are vaguely fist-shaped and actually also have the right size, but the thing is they are to my knowledge currently only available in flat silver, meaning I'd be required to overhaul Warhawk's colour scheme as well so the hands don't stick out too much.

So, does anybody got ideas how to fix this issue? Like good-looking builds for TF-fists in the proper scale? Or are there any news of the Chima Hammer Head coming in other colors yet?

[bacem]

I have some experience in building legoformer, but i don't think i can help you yet. Usually, when building a legoformer on this scale, i just use a clips to represent hands. It seems most people who build in this scale also use this method too. So for now, guess i just help bumping the thread so that when someone who knows appear, this thread hasn't gone yet...

[ZORK64]

Actually, by comparing a few hands, it seems that the clips are more fitting for figures in the Legends Class scale (in fact, the Cyberverse figures ofen had clips for hands to hold their weapons), but many Deluxe figures also happen to have rather sleek-looking hands. I think the closest thing to these would be bricks with holes (like the Technic 1x1 Brick), though these parts also look very blocky, so the Chima Hammer Head seems to be the next best thing.

Edited July 29, 2015 by ZORK64

[Saberwing40k]

Look at these links:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/legodoumoko/

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=147020

These guys are Japanese Lego fans that build lots of Mechs/Robots, and some of them have hands that might fit.

[ZORK64]

Thanks for the suggestions, Saberwing.

At first I thought all those MOCs weren't at a comparable scale, but the chibi-styled robots built by Moko show a hand design that might work, though perhaps with a few adjustments, as it would be otherwise a bit too bulky.

Though to be frank, I'm already leaning more towards going flat silver, as that would give me the opportunity to use Bulk's head (which looks cooler IMHO). I just have to order another hammer head and some slopes at BrickLink, and I'm good to go.

EDIT: On second thought, I think I will try the custom hand design nonetheless. I could just pick up another Mixel to get the parts I need for custom silver hands.

Too bad there aren't any Mixels with the 2x1 curved slope currently available, as this piece would be also pretty perfect for overhauling the coloration of Warhawk.

Edited August 5, 2015 by ZORK64