Botcon: This Sceptred Isle 1

The third of my Botcon set concepts

This set is a celebration of the Marvel UK Transformers comic, and in particular, giving toys to many characters who really need them! There were so many to choose from, I will probably do a sequel set at some point, there were a lot of concepts that didn't make it in.

Story: On Cybertron, Autobot resistance leader EMIRATE XAARON has recieved disturbing news from Autobot deep cover spy WARMONGER: the Decepticons have managed to locate the body of LORD STRAXUS in subspace, thought dead after his battle with Blaster aboard the spacebridge. A recovery effort is taking place on a deserted island deep in the badlands of Cybertron. IMPACTOR must cut short a training exercise with a number of rookies, including the mysterious Terran robot CENTURION, and stop the return of Straxus before it is too late. But what he does not know is that the rescue effort is being led by the renegade Autobot scientist FLAME...


Box Set contents:
Emirate Xaaron (from Generations Perceptor; new head)
Fusion (from WFC Optimus Prime)
Centurion (from Universe Onslaught; new head)
Lord Straxus: Survival Mode (from Generations Darkmount)
Flame (from WFC Megatron)


I wracked my brain for a while thinking of a suitable Emirate Xaaron mold - the character model seemed based off Megatron, however I had already chosen WFC Megatron for the more appropriate Flame, and other Megatron molds seemed too fiddly or too large to be Xaaron. I think the Perceptor mold works well actually, it definately has the right generic blocky look for Xaaron.

Fusion is a chap from one of the UK annuals. We only ever saw him in vehicle mode, where he was based on Optimus Prime's Cybertronian mode coloured blue. I extrapolated this a bit, and hopefully made him different enough from Prime. For a 'hi then die' character, Fusion's death really had an impact on me, so I'm glad I managed to include him. [link]

I love Centurion, he's brilliant, and all the stories he shows up in are classics. I didn't want to use this mold because it was used in last year's Botcon set, but it works so well and at the end of the day, I think choosing the most suitable mold is far more important than not duplicating molds year on year. After all, Botcon seems more open to reusing molds in subsequent years now. [link](Marvel)

Lord Straxus: Survival Mode is of course based on Straxus's 'head in a bubble' look from the UK comic. Yes, I know he was green there because of the liquid he was bathed in, but to me, Straxus was green. I want a green Straxus. Here is a green Straxcus. Hasbro, give me a green Straxus, blue is just WRONG [link](G1)

I was going to give Flame a new head, but was surprised to see how closely WFC's head actually matches Flame's. While I didn't copy his flame deco exactly, I did aim to try to replicate his look without using too many costly paint apps. In the end I think he only needed two more apps than WFC Megatron. [link](Marvel)