Headmaster Micromaster Transport Actionmaster Elite "Guncrew"

    The first thing I needed to do was remove stuff. I unscrewed the fake Micromaster and removed the front part of the vehicle mode, noticing it looked kinda like a cabover tractor if you did that. The head was already gone from poor Alfredsson, and then I hacked away the lower legs. I initially tried using a hacksaw (newly purchased to help with this kitbash) and then my Dremel, but the plastic was so soft that persistence with an X-Acto worked the best. I left small pegs on each stump to fit into the holes on the Zord legs (if you're wondering why Guncrew's so leggy, it's because his new shins comprised more than three quarters of the leg length on a 5" figure). Another major structural change was to cut away much of the shoulderblade region of the figure so that the Micromaster head could fit snugly onto the top of the figure. I drilled a hole down and attached a piece of 1/8" plastic rod to act as a post for the head. I also cut out the appropriate pieces of tank and jeep toy from my cheap $1 set. Then I drilled holes in the chest and back of the figure. The chest hole was so that the tank turret connection point could stick through into the figure's body, and the back hole was to hold the turret in robot mode. I also used the sander attachment of the Dremel to seriously shape the back, although I didn't do that until after doing some of the puttying.

    The next few bits tended to overlap...while waiting for putty to dry I might work on the Micromaster, and so forth. I attached the turret base to the chest with glue and then used putty to fill in the gaps and make the whole thing look more angular. I carved notches in the shoulders to fit the tank tread pieces, then puttied those on (in two stages...connection and then making the surface look nice). I used putty to attach the jeep guns to the figure's wrists and make the already bulky hocky gloves more gauntlet-like. I also used some putty to create more robotic detail on the pelvis, but that doesn't really show up in the scan. Finally, once everything else was sanded and shaped, I used putty to attach the Zord legs to the figure's stumps. As for the Micromaster, I filled in his hollow back with putty and used some plastic sheet pieces to create facial details. I think I made the eyes a bit too big. Sigh. I drilled a hole in the "grille" of the Micromaster so that the little robot can ride the assault mode, as the neck-rod of the big robot also fits through this grille hole.

    Now I needed a color scheme. The figure was made from off-yellow plastic, so I needed to incorporate that somehow if I wanted to keep the joints usable. I also wanted a scheme appropriate to a good name. Then it hit me. The Columbus Crew, our Major League Soccer team, had just started its season. Their colors are black, yellow and white, which matched both the color of the base figure and of the Zord legs (which I couldn't completely paint over, due to moving parts). So he would be...Guncrew! The pattern of the color scheme was inspired by "dazzle painting," a camoflage method used to trick submarines in WWI, although it didn't quite turn out as I'd have liked. Still, it does consitute camoflage in a setting where the main light comes from weaponfire...he looks like a random bunch of shadows cast by shellfire bursts. For some continuity of design, I took the pre-existing pattern on the toes of the Zord legs and applied it to the fingers of the figure. I also painted an Autobot symbol on the Micromaster's back, but it's metallic red paint and didn't show up well in the scan (reflected all the light away from the scanner lens). Speaking of the Micromaster, it needed a name too, and I decided on Header, which is a multi-level pun (engine part, the fact he's a Headmaster, plus a soccer in-joke).

    During the early experiments that led to the creation of the Actionmaster Elites, one proposal was to Binary Bond someone to an Actionmaster. The theory was that the combination of mental resources would let the Actionmaster regain control of his transformation. They had an Actionmaster volunteer in Guncrew, but there were no willing organics. Then someone suggested using a Micromaster as a Binary Bonded partner. It seemed just crazy enough to work, so they did it. The experiment was a limited success. Header retained his own transformation ability, but Guncrew only picked up a limited ability to transform...it was good for transportation and realignment of firepower, but useless for disguise. Still, the two got along, and became a valued part of the Autobot team.
    Header is used to long-distance travel, and loves the open road and relative solitude. His mind often wanders while he drives, leaving Guncrew to be a bit bored. Header's powerful engine and truck gearing let him pull Guncrew in transport mode, saving the larger Cybertronian valuable energy between fights. Header is pretty weak in a direct fight however, having only low power lasers built into his forearms.
    Guncrew is all about firepower. His main gun is a turret-mounted artillery piece with variable magazines. Solid AP shot can penetrate a meter of tempered steel, while high-explosive rounds can scatter a force of Decepticons at a range of several kilometers. He also has a few special-purpose rounds, such as flares and burrowers, but he tries to save them for the right occasion. On his left arm is a pair of needle lasers that are extra-collimated for longer range. In atmosphere, they still pack a powerful punch out to 20 km. In space, their effective range is several megameters. Twin ion cannons are mounted on his left arm. These short range weapons are excellent for personal combat, or can be set on a wider apeture to attack massed ranks. In robot mode he is unable to use his main gun effectively (except on targets in the air), but he compensates with four shoulder-mounted lasers that can automatically sweep the battlefield and deter less-well-armored attackers. There are two side effects to the fact that he carries so much armament. One, he's slow. It's almost faster to let Header just pull him most of the time. Two, he's strong. You need strength and stability to be a good artillery platform, and he has both characteristics in spades. Guncrew prefers not to transform to robot mode alone, but if Header is missing or injured he can function with reduced accuracy in robot mode. Otherwise, Header performs the main work of calculating fire trajectories when the two are together.

STR: 8  INT 7  SPD 3  END 9   RNK 5  COUR 8  FRP 10  SKL 8
   Avg: 7.25