Sunset Run

Sunset Run

The car mode of this figure is absolutely gorgeous. I just had to use it in a project before transforming it.

I shot Unique Toys Peru Kill on a sheet of dark sand paper while positioning my laptop screen so that the fullscreen photo of a sunset would reflect in the windshield. It had the added benefit of adding some nice purple highlights to the car itself. This saved me the trouble of trying to superimpose a sunset later. The soft shadows are also a result of the laptop screen. The sunset is one I had photographed at Shoreline Lake last year.

In Photoshop, I combined my shot with a couple of street texture photos that I found online, cleaned up the usual blemishes and dust on the car, and added headlights and tail lights. I used some motion blur to convey a sense of movement.

Direct link - https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Gt-jlJB7cdp569SXuBZXgXGXXcvWWWuP

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"You have failed me for the last time . . . again"

"You've failed me for the last time . . . again"

Starscream, the trope namer for the overly ambitious subordinate who's ready to take over for the big bad at the first sign of weakness. I've always found it hilarious how he was so quick to declare that Megatron had fallen and assume command of the Decepticons. I can't help but feel a sense of vicarious pride for the smug bastard during his crowning ceremony in The Movie, only to laugh when Galvatron finally shows up and does what Megatron should have done so long ago. I wish they had shown how Starscream managed to subdue all the Decepticons, including Devastator, after jettisoning a mortally wounded Megatron. My biggest complaint about his portrayal in the live action movies is that we never saw that traitorous aspect of this character.

I suppose I could have shot Masterpiece Starscream with his crown and cape accessories at the height of his glory, but I suffered from new toy syndrome with Maketoys Meteor. Although the mechanics of shooting Meteor and Despotron were simple, I did have to spend a bit of time finagling the figures into position because of Despotron's arm sculpt butting against Meteor's chest sculpt.

The final image is a composite of a couple of shots - one with purple gel and another with orange gel on my flash. In Photoshop, I combined them together, exposing whichever parts of each layer I felt worked against the background I had chosen. The background is a shot of some random fall evening. I also added some color overlay layers to further enhance the purplish and orange reflections. It's a subtle effect, but worth the effort I think because the figures would just be a somewhat plain off-white otherwise. The reflections of the clouds and trees on Meteor's body were done with a layer mask and a slightly transparent brush to allow the background to show through.

Direct link - https://drive.google.com/open?id=1h2BJ09Nmc3Way8CWS1R5ugpq_vIVVdMo

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The Coming Storm

The Coming Storm

I started out with a simple space scene to highlight Generation Toy Tyrant, but got bored since I've already done a couple of those. I also wanted something more than a sunrise backdrop. 

Tyrant and GCreations Ultra Maxmas were shot in my light tent. A combination of colored gels on my flash and Photoshop Curve and Color Dodge layers were used to color grade them. Tyrant already had purple energon lines painted on his body, which I spruced up with Inner and Outer Glow Layer Styles. His exhaust trail is a distorted polygon with Field Blurs applied at both ends.

The background is a sun rise shot over the Silicon Valley, taken after a long hike up Black Mountain. The explosion is from a stock photo I found online. I used a Levels layer to blend it into my photo, then I used Color Dodge layers to paint the sky and clouds on fire, more so than they already were from the sun. I finished the scene off with a lens flare because I'm channeling JJ Abrams.

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War Zone

War Zone

I was originally inspired by that highway scene between Optimus Prime and Bonecrusher in the first Michael Bay Transformer movie. Somehow it morphed into this scene between Jazz and Scrapper instead.

The background picture is not mine. It is from a 2014 AFP photo of a car bombing in Beirut. 

I shot Generation Toy J4ZZ and Scraper with some colored gel on my flash in anticipation of matching them to flames. In Photoshop, I used curve, photo filter, and saturation layers to further blend them into the picture. For Scraper, I placed a shadow layer under him and some dust to obscure where his feet "meet" the ground. His eye flare is from a lens flare render. For both figures, their faction symbols are actual stickers, but with inner, outer, and gradient layer styles enabled to provide that shimmering effect. As usual, I covered up obvious screws, filled in gaps in the form, and provided some subtle glow layers.

In the foreground, I blended in some embers from stock photos by placing them in front and behind J4ZZ. They add some more depth to the image.

Direct link - https://drive.google.com/open?id=1F5LK407pVpJ7_NPvvkmsTbnTmsbnkeFP

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We're all doomed

We’re all doomed

TransformMission Over Turn was shot on my garage floor, using my cell phone as a light source. The background is from a trip to Washington DC, taken from the deck of a moving boat on the Potomac river. No tripod, just a handheld shot. Don’t quote me, but I think it’s the National Harbor. The downside of these extremely dark shots is that my camera seems to introduce quite a bit of grain to the picture. I added a moon from a different evening. For whatever reason, it really was that reddish color in the night sky. Seems fitting for this nihilistic character. The reflection in Over Turn’s windshield is from a different shot from somewhere along the Potomac. I cleaned up some of the panel lines, added headlights with a couple of lens flare renders, and tried to clean up the unbelievable amount of dust from the car. The Decepticon symbol is a png file that I distorted and toyed around with the various layer style tabs to achieve the desired effect.

Direct link - https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bwxl1QbH6hwVcWJRNUlfdGNiZ0k/view

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Autobots - Season 1 (complete)

Autobots - Season 1 (complete)

With the arrival of BadCube Huff 2.0, I'm able to finally complete that collage of the Season 1 Autobots. Eye glows added, blemishes cleaned up, and figures scaled to taste in post.

There are a few figures I'll want to be replacing. While BadCube Sunsurge looks fine as Sunstreaker, I'm excited for the official figure from Takara. Reximus Prime will likely be switched out for FansToys Grinder X just to be consistent with the rest of the Dinobots in the collage. I'm not that happy with Ace Collectables Tumbler so can't wait to get my hands on some other rendition of Cliffjumper. I also wouldn't mind a more screen accurate representation of Sideswipe.

I'll try and work on the Season 1 Decepticons next, minus most of the Welcoming Committee and Rainmakers, unless someone makes Masterpiece-styled Tetrajets.

Direct link - https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bwxl1QbH6hwVcHVNcnRIVVlrY1E

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Bug Spray

Sometimes the accessories included with the figures lend themselves to fun ideas.

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Moo!

Figured I should join in the fun of putting my spin on the UFO-abducting-cows pictures people are doing with the third-party Cosmos figures. I used X-Transbots Klaatu for Cosmos and Mastermind Creations Bovis for Tantrum.

The background is a Hawaiian sunset, with Color Lookup, Curves, and Photo Filter layers applied to adjust the tone of the picture. I added the moon from a photo and the stars from noise layers. I also added several layers of fluffy clouds, which had an accidental effect of creating the moonlight reflecting in the water. The glare of the moon in the clouds, the exhaust trail, and the tractor beam were created from polygons, distorted and Field Blurred.

Direct link - https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bwxl1QbH6hwVSjdpdzk2NmhaUDQ

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And One Shall Fall!

I knew I should have used something besides my usual white background when first taking this shot of Spark Toys Spartacus and Alpha Pack. I simply could not reproduce the angles to my satisfaction while trying out different felt backgrounds. Thank goodness for the Multiply mode in Photoshop.

To add some mood to the picture, I used a foreground layer of clouds I had taken with a magenta filter. Without having to do any cutouts, which is very difficult when the edges are not sharp and distinct, Multiply mode pretty much replaced the white background and imparted some natural looking colors to the highlights on the figures. Several layers in Color dodge mode were added to alter the color some more. It was all a random, happy accident, and I probably wouldn't be able to reproduce the exact same image from scratch.

I added the sparks from a picture I downloaded to make more dynamic where Alpha Pack's axe is striking Spartacus' shield.

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Thunder Run

I took TF Dream Factory Tank Warrior to a local park and took shots of it on a large boulder. The sunlight and tree cover provided natural shadows across the figure and ground, something that would have been difficult for me to reproduce in a light tent and with Photoshop. I replaced the background of parked cars with a photo of clouds. The debris chunks and some of the foreground clouds and are drawn in with custom brushes. The explosions on the left and right are blended in from some photos I found online. I used Color Dodge layers to color grade the figure and the clouds.

One thing I took away from this excursion to the park - take a lot of shots. Half my photos were ruined by an unnoticed fly that had decided to rest on the turret.

Direct link - https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bwxl1QbH6hwVNUhhU1UybENuakE

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War Stories

Sometimes, I just want to keep it simple and quick. The veterans showing how to get it done.

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Independence Day

Happy Independence Day! This is going up early since I'm going to be too busy or too lazy to work on stuff the next couple of days.

I'm not a huge fan of of the Michael Bay movies, but find them to be mostly a fun if sometimes nonsensical romp. If nothing else, these movies have put Transformers back into the public mainstream. They didn't spur me back into collecting (that was the High Moon games), but made me remember my favorite childhood toys.

Movie Masterpiece Bumblebee is a pretty aesthetically pleasing figure, despite some design flaws. I put some color overlays on him and the Memorial to reflect the colors of the fireworks.

The fireworks are photos I took from last year's Independence Day show. The Lincoln Memorial picture was taken on a recent trip to Washington DC.

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Soundwave

Soundwave was definitely my favorite Decepticon. As a child, I found his monotone and synthetic voice to be unforgettable. Future iterations of the character have not managed to recapture that magic for me though. Forget the voice of Siri and Alexa, if NASA were to let me anywhere near the voice of their future shuttle AI, this is what I would program it to sound like. This was the Decepticon that instilled fear in me. Cold, unfeeling, calculating, and seemingly dispassionate - he was the one Cybertronian that ticks off that fear of the rise of the machines. His small army of extremely loyal minibots made him a force onto himself. It was fortunate for Megatron that Soundwave was unfailingly loyal.

This is also my favorite of the official Masterpiece Decepticons. The figure captures everything iconic about the character and is better engineered than any of the Seekers. The minions are smaller than I would have liked, but I can understand the need to make them fit into his chest. I can't wait to replace them with the oversized ones from Ocular Max though. Since I have the Hasbro version, I had to replace his yellow eye visor with a third party add-on. I suppose I could have painted it myself, but I didn't have the confidence to paint back then.

I shot Masterpiece Soundwave, Laserbeak and Ocular Max Jaguar in a light tent, propping KFC Mandy on a USB adapter. I used a purple filter on the lamps to impart some magenta highlights. In Photoshop, I added eye glows and cleaned up screw holes, especially on Mandy. I probably should have made Soundwave bigger, but I couldn't have without his legs and Jaguar disappearing off the bottom of the picture. Plus, I didn't want to obscure the background too much.

The reflection in the water is actually their real reflection. When the bottom edge of your subject is uneven, it is not a trivial exercise of copying and flipping the picture. Fortunately, my plexiglass surface is very reflective. I did apply a Gaussian blur to give the reflection a more watery effect. I also added water lines because I've been watching Bob Ross.

The background is of the Washington Monument during a recent trip to Washington DC. I woke up at 2:30 am PST and faced the 40 degree weather (still can't comprehend that number) to take pictures. I wished the sky had been more dramatic with clouds.

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"I am become death"

These space scenes are fun to create. One difficulty is knowing when to stop piddling with it - should I add more explosions and lasers, how about some fog, clean up the edges just a bit more, tweak the colors, etc. At some point, I just have to hit the save button and walk away so I can move on to other projects.

Mastermind Boreas was shot in a light tent. Various curve and photostyle layers were used for color grading and achieving the look and feel I wanted for him. The red body glow are from Inner/Outer Glow layer styles. I created his head lights from a white polygon by placing two Field Blur points on either end of it.

The planet is a Spherize distoration of a circular cut out of lava tiles. Various layers of shadows and glows were used to make it look like it has an atmosphere. The sun is a lens flare render. The nebula in the back is from a picture taken on a cloudy day. The stars are created from a couple of noise render layers.

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Jazz

Jazz was one of my favorites. Fortunately, he survived the great toy purge of the '86 movie, but he seems to have lost some prominence in the third and fourth seasons of the cartoon. For some reason, I always thought of him as Optimus Prime's second in command, and was disappointed that the mantle of leadership was passed onto Ultra Magnus and then Hot Rod instead.

Unlike my previous two portrait subjects, Jazz is definitely lacking in viable options. Generation Toys J4zz is more IDW-inspired; so is Reveal the Shield Jazz from so long ago. There is still no official Masterpiece version of this character. Is this a case of official car licenses getting in the way of toy releases?

I shot Maketoys Downbeat in my light tent, with a magenta gel on my key light to try and match the background I had chosen. Besides the usual time spent cleaning up blemishes, I also added some eye and headlight glows. Too bad the figure's hand doesn't retract to match the shot from the cartoon.

The background is a shot of some random summer evening when the setting sun was leaving visible light streaks in the sky, even to the naked eye.

Direct link - https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bwxl1QbH6hwVOGpnWC1mNjJLc1U

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Megatron

I haven't yet decided if I will do a full review of Megatron 2.0 because of advisory warnings about paint chipping during transformation. My copy of Apollyon has never been transformed because of the same issue. In the meantime, I decided to try another portrait.

For some reason, Megatron never instilled in me the same amount of fear and awe as Optimus Prime inspired confidence and respect. Maybe it was because just about every episode ended with his schemes being foiled and very often he was the one to sound the retreat.

This is another character not lacking in choices. I went with Takara Megatron 2.0 mostly because of new toy syndrome. I covered up some visible screws and a few out-of-the-box blemishes. Inner and Outer glow layer styles were used to add some pop to the eyes. His Decepticon symbol also has Inner and Outer glow layer styles enabled, with some experimentation with a Gradient overlay to achieve a subtle shimmering effect. I shot him in front of orange construction paper, which imparted an orange hue to the highlights.

The background is a sun I created from first doing some rendering Difference Clouds, cutting out a circle, Spherize distorting, and applying an orange Hue/Saturation layer. The streaks around the sun are from a Radial Zoom Blur. The stars are from a couple of Noise layers.

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Jurassic Battle

Giant robot dinosaurs! Why are they fighting on some moon in some distant solar system? Who cares. I justed wanted to use Planet X Apocalypse in a space scene.

Apocalypse, Vulcun, and Caelus were shot together because they are interacting with each other. Quirinus, Summanus, and Neptune were shot separately and dropped into the picture. I had to cut and paste Summanus' and Neptune's heads in from different shots because they can't look up like that. Blemishes and screw holes were covered up. Glowie bits are Inner and Outer layer styles. Quirinus fire breath was created from my custom smoke brush. I added a dust cloud by overlaying one of my cloud photos.

The stars are a couple of noise layers. The swirling galaxy in the background is from a NASA photo of a hurricane that I distorted. The foreground surface is a NASA photo of the moon's surface. The planets are from marble texture images I found online and Spherized. The sun is from a lens flare.

It's pretty fun and simple to create these kind of space backgrounds. Just another option until I get a chance to photograph some more sunsets.

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"I am all that is or ever was or ever will be."

Of course I would want to do a space scene with Toyworld Spaceracer. Instead of doing a simple star field or reusing the wallpaper I had found for Planet X Mors, I decided to follow some tutorials and create one from scratch.

The star field is made of two noise layers. The planet and moons are Spherize distorted circular cutouts from marble textures I found online. The nebula are created from a photo of wispy clouds taken on a summer day and one I found online. Finally, I threw in a lens flare to simulate a sun and because I'm apparently being influenced by JJ Abrams school of cinematography.

I purposely left his head sticking up a little bit. Floating up there all by himself all the time, he's probably a little bored and addle-brained.

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Optimus Prime

In addition to my usual write-ups and scene recreations, I've been thinking of trying out a portrait series to highlight each character. This was inspired by a drawing I found while browsing for ideas. 

Optimus Prime has got to be one of my favorite sci-fi characters of all time. I'm really only familiar with his depiction from the G1 cartoons, High Moon video games, and Michael Bay movies. His characterization as a noble protector and self-sacrificing leader seems to be constant across various sources. I readily admit that my eight-year-old self shed a tear when he died in The Movie. I hope the upcoming film doesn't go too far off the rails.

Although I have no shortage of choices with which to highlight this character, I ultimately chose MP-10 Optimus Prime. I covered up some visible screws and the inevitable nicks and scratches. Next time, I need to pay better attention and control my lighting so I won't have to paint over highlights that don't make sense for the scene. The glowing eyes are from Inner and Outer Glow layer styles. The smoke is from one of my shots of a blown out candle.

The background was taken at Hollow Bean State Beach. It was of an odd, mushroom shaped rock I saw amongst the tide pools. I enlarged the small rock to serve as a mountain backdrop. The sky is from a random summer evening because the skies over northern California beaches are, more often than not, overcast and a boring gray. Various photo filters were used to color grade the different parts of the picture. Finally, I added a lens flare, just because.

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Not today, Galvatron!

I tried to keep it simple today. No painstaking cut-outs this time. The background is just a blue poster board. There was a lot of fiddling with the figures and trial and error to get the composition that I wanted though. FansToys Sovereign stood in for Galvatron. His angry face works so well for this kind of scene. DX9 Carry stood in for Hot Rod's arm. I could have used Masterpiece Hot Rod, but I didn't want to deal with the height disparity between the two figures. The trickiest part was dealing with the Matrix. At first I tried to suspend it from string, but then realized I'd have to clean it in Photoshop so I simply resorted to balancing it on Sovereign's chest. The glow effect is from Inner and Outer Layer Style effects along with a Lens Flare render.

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Wings of Tyranny

This is a play on a picture I remember seeing as a kid. The caption for it was "The Sound of Freedom". I think it featured an F-15 Strike Eagle against a clear blue sky. Too many viewings of the Top Gun and Iron Eagle movies instilled in me a love of all things fighter jets. My poor eye-sight (and likely lack of skill, spacial awareness, and ability to handle such tense situations) would preclude me from living out any childhood dreams of becoming an ace pilot.

I used Universe Starscream for this project since it was already in jet mode. I had debated whether to put more jets into the picture, but decided against it since I don't have the other Seekers from the Universe line and would have had to resort to Hue/Saturation layers to change their colors. I didn't use the Masterpiece Seekers because I didn't want to bother transforming them.

Even as a child, I loved how the Decepticons turned the symbols of our defenders against us. Since the G1 cartoon seemed to be based in the United States, the animators could have chosen MiGs as the alt-modes for the Seekers, but even in the Bay movies, they chose our premier air superiority fighter. Maybe I'm over attributing this and the reason is as banal as easier licensing from a domestic company.

Also taking inspiration from The Force Awakens, I set Starscream against the sun rising over the Silicon Valley. It's actually a composite of a single shot taken from Black Mountain in Los Gatos. When I enlarged the picture so that the sun would be larger in frame, the clouds and mountains got pushed out of frame. I simply made a copy of that part of the picture and layered it back in.

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Sunrise Race

This was actually my first concept for Generation Toy J4ZZ before scrapping it in favor of what I'd posted for Sunset Drive. Maketoys Downbeat has a pretty good looking vehicle mode. It's not my favorite form factor for a Porsche, but it is true to the G1 cartoon. Be it the paint job or the build material, my rudimentary knowledge of Photoshop sliders had no effect on how Downbeat appeared.

To try and simulate the sun glinting off of the cars, I initially placed a flash off to the back, but found it blew out the "track". The same was true for using a lamp. In the end, I simply took a shot with only ambient lighting. I was afraid the sandpaper would be too fine grain to simulate a paved road, but it actually worked pretty well. I have more sheets of different grains to try out for future shots. The background is a shot of a sunrise at Black Mountain in Los Gatos (have I mentioned it was a 2 hour hike?) The low level fog seems to help to blend the horizon line. Instead of trying to draw the sides of the track, I downloaded a couple of pictures from a Wikipedia article on race tracks. Taking a cue from JJ Abrams school of cinematography, I also threw in a bunch of lens flares.

I completely overestimated the amount of depth of field I would get at f/16. Sideswipe, being slightly out of focus, was difficult to cut out because of his less defined edges. Next time I do something like this, I need to make sure the parts I intend to cut remain sharp and in focus. I can always blur it in Photoshop.

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Sunset in the Hills

I made use of my garage floor, but didn't keep any part of it in the final shot. The shadowy base actually helped me blend it into a picture of the road I had found. To simulate the glint of sunlight off the car, I placed a diffuser in front of a flashlight positioned about where the sun would be. The sunset and background were taken during an autumn evening at Communications Hill.

Transform Mission Carnage has a gorgeous vehicle mode, even if the paint application is a little messy in spots. It has very few panel lines to clean. Had I remembered to apply some stickers, I would not have had to add the Decepticon and Lamborghini logos. I also added some headlights.

I'm running out of sunsets and sunrises from my library. Going to need to get out there and take some more.

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Oceanside Drive

I composited a Waikiki sunset (must go back someday) with a shot of Masterpiece Tracks on my garage floor. I'm not satisfied with the transition of the cliffside road to the ocean, but don't have any ideas to address that yet. A flashlight simulated the sun glinting off parts of the car, but it made the shadow really hard so I had to soften the edges. I also cleaned up some of the junk visible through the side windshield and added Spin Blur to the front and rear wheels. The roadstrip is painted on at partial transparency, with both a Gaussian Blur and Sandstone Texturizer applied.

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