#and am v jazzed with what i came up with design wise for them so i wanted to share them

[novantinuum]

some fun lil Guys that live rent free in my head

[thehopeofitalll]

"How am I attracted to you?"

read it on ao3.

I.

“I’m studying!” Percy announced.

Annabeth looked up from her book. “That’s good!” she said. “I’m proud of you.”

“But you know what that means,” Percy continued.

“What does it mean?”

“You-” he pointed to her for extra emphasis. “-have to stay away from me.”

Annabeth scoffed. “That’s a stupid rule.”

“What can I say?” he said. “You’re very distracting.”

“Is that a compliment?” she asked, smirking.

He shrugged, leaning forwards and kissing her forehead. “If you want it to be.” Annabeth watched as her boyfriend stood up and disappeared into their room. She sighed, standing up to get her laptop and opening it up to start on an essay she had to write for her Architectural Design History class

She had been working on it for a while when she noticed that she hadn’t seen Percy around for a long time. Annabeth stood up, curious, and walked into their room to find Percy asleep on their desk.

She stifled a smile, and shook Percy’s shoulder. “Perce, wake up,” she said softly. “Percy!”

“I’m awake!” Percy yelled, jolting up. “I’m awake,” he repeated, rubbing his eyes.

“Studying, huh?”

“I was studying,” Percy said. “It’s just that this desk began to look like a really good place to sleep.” He yawned.

“I could help you if you want,” she offered.

“Nope,” he said, firmly. “You’re distracting.”

She rolled her eyes at him, smiling. Her eyes scanned the desk, and she furrowed her eyebrows at one object. “Why is there a stuffed animal on your desk?”

“He's not a stuffed animal, he's Bob and he keeps me from losing my mind,” Percy replied, in a matter-of-factly tone.

Annabeth let out a soft sigh. “You know what, I’m not even gonna question it. Now, come, let’s go grab something to eat then maybe I can help you study, okay?”

II.

Annabeth’s eyes flew open, and she lay near Percy, staring at the ceiling and wondering why she woke up. Then, she heard her stomach grumble.

She groaned, getting out of bed to scrummage their kitchen for something to eat. She wasn’t exactly the best cook, but she knew enough to make something that looked edible. Well, most of the time anyways.

Pulling out a box of mac and cheese, she set some water to boil.

“Wise Girl?” came Percy’s voice, as he entered their kitchen. He ran his hand through his messy hair. “What are you doing up at what time is it?” He glanced at the clock. “Uh...3:30 in the morning making...mac and cheese?”

“I’m hungry,” Annabeth replied. “Duh.”

“And you decided to come and cook with what confidence?” Percy asked, trying hard not to smile.

“Look, I don't ask for much in life, but just this once, could you not question my madness for like 10 minutes,” She said, rolling her eyes at him.

“Wise Girl, I love you from the bottom of my heart but I don't trust your cooking. Stay out of my kitchen.” Percy said sternly. “You remember the last time you ‘cooked’ right?”

“Uh…” Annabeth recalled the time she tried to bake blue chocolate chip cookies to surprise Percy, after getting the recipe from Sally. To put it simply, it had not gone well. “Yeah, I do.”

Percy walked towards her. “So, maybe it’s best if I take care of this, okay?” He said, softly.

“Ugh okay,” she said, smiling at him. “Thanks, by the way.”

“Anything for you, Wise Girl.”

III.

Annabeth flipped through the pages of her book, her eyes scanning the words. She felt a tug on her hair, and glanced over her shoulder to see Percy freeze, caught in the act of playing with her hair.

She raised her eyebrow. “Percy, what are you doing?”

“Nothing,” he said. “Go back to reading.”

She stared at him, then turned her head back to her book. She felt another tug, and glared at Percy. “Percy, don’t touch my hair.”

“Ssh! Stop fussing. I’m braiding your hair.”

Annabeth rolled her eyes. “I don’t need my hair to be braided.”

“Don’t worry, you won’t even feel me braiding it,” he said. “Just turn around.”

She groaned, then continued reading, while Percy continued to braid her hair. A lock of her hair fell over her shoulder and she suppressed her annoyance. “Percy….”

“Yes?”

“You interrupt my reading once more, and this book will become a lethal weapon,” she warned him.

Percy scoffed. “At times, I think you love your books more than me.”

“Well, it isn’t a lie,” she said.

IV.

Annabeth played with a few strands of Percy’s hair, glancing down at his concentrated face—which consisted of him sticking his tongue out—as they watched a mystery movie.

“Quit staring at me, Chase,” he said, teasingly. “Eyes on the TV.”

“I wasn’t staring at you,” she said, even though it was extremely obvious that she had.

“Sure,” he said.

Annabeth smiled at her boyfriend. Percy’s phone chimed nearby, and when she glanced to see what it was, her heart nearly melted. She laughs softly, causing Percy to look up at her.

“What happened?” He asked her.

She held up his phone. “Am I your lock screen?” she asked.

Percy froze. “You weren’t supposed to see that,” he replied, trying to reach for his phone.

“Aw, Seaweed Brain, it’s fine!” Annabeth said, smiling. “It’s cute that I’m your lock screen, ‘cause guess what?” “What?”

Annabeth searched for her phone, then held it up for him to see: they had the same picture of each other as their lock screens.

Percy grinned. “Maybe we are made for each other.”

“You’ve been spending way too much time with Piper.” Annabeth turned her attention back to their TV. “I bet you, Jim killed them.”

“No,” Percy said, shaking his head. “It’s definitely Vanessa.”

V.

Annabeth groaned, walking into their apartment. “I could die.”

“Well, I certainly hope you don’t,” Percy said, glancing at her from their couch. “What happened?”

“Long exam,” Annabeth mumbled. “I can’t speak.”

He raised an eyebrow, then patted at the seat beside him. “How long?”

“Three hours,” she said, taking off her socks before collapsing next to her boyfriend. “So exhausted. Can I snuggle up to you?”

“Sure,” he said, putting his arm around her.

“What if we’re all just living in a simulation?” Annabeth asked.

“Oh no,” Percy pulled away from her. “We’re getting to Existential Crisis Annabeth.”

“It makes sense though!” she exclaimed. “Like, it makes sense, what if our life is an experiment?”

“I highly doubt that,” he said. “Alright, maybe let’s get you to sleep before we reach Giggly Annabeth.”

“Hm,” Annabeth glared at him, pulling her feet up, resting her head against his chest.

“Wise Girl, quit touching me, your feet are cold!” He whined.

“I. Sleepy.”

“Uh...how long have you been awake for?”

“32 hours, 20 minutes and 45 seconds.”

VI.

Percy groaned, shuffling through his clothes. “Annabeth?” he yelled, finally giving up his search.

“Yeah?” came her voice from the other room.

“Have you seen my hoodie?”

“...Nooo.”

Percy sighed. “You’re wearing it, aren’t you?”

“What makes you think that, Perce?”

He rolled his eyes, and walked towards her. “Give me the hoodie.”

“It’s mine now!”

“Sharing is caring, now give me the hoodie!” He said, reaching out for her.

“Nope,” Annabeth said, smirking. “You should’ve hidden all your hoodies before you decided to let me in your life.”

VII.

“Perce?”

“Yeah?” he asked, craning his neck to see her.

“This is serious, okay?” Annabeth said, focusing her eyes on him. “Am I...too competitive at Monopoly?”

“...No,” he said.

She rolled his eyes. “I can tell you’re lying, you know. Be honest, am I too competitive?”

“Maybe...maybe just a little bit,” he said. “And-ouch! Wise Girl!”

She looked at him innocently, like she hadn’t just smacked him with a pillow. “What?” Then she smacked him again.

“YOU SAID TO BE HONEST STOP HITTING ME!” He yelled.

VIII.

Percy walked across their apartment nervously. He called Annabeth when he was a few feet away.

“Percy?”

“Hey, so, um...totally random question here, but what would you do if I dyed my hair?” Percy asked.

“...Did you dye your hair?” Annabeth asked in turn.

Percy gave a fake laugh. “No! What makes you think that?”

“Percy…” The door to their bedroom opened up, and Annabeth peeked out to find a blue-haired Percy Jackson. She groaned. “Percy!”

“Surprise?” He said, giving her jazz hands.

“I think we need to have a talk, mister.” She folded her arms. “You dyed your hair blue?”

“I mean, you should’ve known it was coming,” he protested weakly. “I waste time trying to find blue maple syrup, how did you think I wouldn’t dye my hair?”

“You never find blue maple syrup! I thought you were gonna give up on your obsession one day or another.”

“How am I attracted to you?"

[levelrazearts]

Here’s a figure that I bet none of you were expecting, Custom Deluxe Class Cliffjumper, my first makeshift figure. Which makes sense as he only got about a full minute of screen time and at the time of this post, hasn’t gotten any official figures other than the legends scale repaint of Bee. And while I would prefer an official figure of him for the Studio Sereis line or even a MPM (gosh that would be so cool) be it a repaint of VW Bee with a new head or even a new cybertronian mold (to be repainted with a new head into Bee), I just wanted to test myself and see if I could make a decent figure with what I had, and after a couple weeks of work this is the end result, which I’m really happy with. With this being my first makeshift figure, there are some techniques that I haven’t done before but am willing to use in the future such as screwing in pieces from different figures together and the like.

Here’s a list of the figures involved:

Dotm Deluxe Cyberfire Bumblebee- Main torso, doors, shoulders, waist and v-mode

AoE Deluxe Lockdown- Shoulder assembly cut from the figure to allow ball jointed doors, screwed onto the underside of the hood.

FoC Deluxe Jazz- Front of car cut up to recreate new front, wheels replacing Cyberfire wheels, thigh pieces, and arm and forearms making the legs and the spoiler of v-mode as well creating heels of sort. Also cut a bit from the sides of the v-mode to help fill out the new v-mode.

GDO Generations Deluxe Cliffjumper- Head and feet.

AoE Deluxe Crosshairs- Gun and those littler guns.

Studio Series Deluxe VW Bumblebee- Forearms, that uh, I’ll have to replace.

So yeah, scraping 6 (more or less) figures to create 1. I started with a spare WFC Deluxe Cliffjumper head that I really wanted to use for this figure, but due to its ball joint connection, just wasn’t compatible with anything. Then that’s when I looked at the GDO Cliff and realized his head was far more compatible with other figures than the WFC one was. For the body, I went with the Cyberfire because it was a figure that had been customed in the past into a Dotm Mirage figure (that failed and was never posted) that was scrapped itself for parts for TLK Deluxe Hot Rod that never came into the spotlight, so it was all ready primed for being redone. And it was also red, so that kinda helped heh. I started on finding some ways to make the doors fold flush against the back to recreate the movie look. In the end, I decided to cut the shoulder assembly from the AoE Lockdown figure, shave it down a bit, and glued it on the underside of the hood. And then I decided to try screwing it in, which was a much better idea and much more sturdier. After that, I decided to replace the forearms with the SS Bee’s for a more accurate look, and that was that. For the legs I was originally going to use the figures original legs just painted up to look like their film counterparts, but opted on getting a different set due to the v-mode not being able to line up properly due to screwing in that shoulder assembly. That’s when I started looking at a bunch of figures to see if anything would look good or work as well which a lot of them didn’t and I ended up looking at a broken FoC Deluxe Jazz figure that I had bought to fix the current figure that I do have in my shelf a couple years back. Originally, I was going to use both the thighs and legs, but decided on using the forearms and arms to create new legs. As for the feet, I wasn’t sure how I was going to do them, but ended up going back to the GDO figure and taking his feet off, and poping them into the ball sockets that the hands were originally in, which I’m really surprised at the fact that they fit in so well, but hey, that’s luck for ya. I guess. After that, I had a slight problem with the legs, in that they had a tendency to not be that great at standing up. So I took the spoiler from the Jazz figure, cut it in half, and just tabbed them into the slots that they go into for that figures transformation, and they became heel spurs. And something that I just decided to add was the little guns/bombs from the AoE Crosshairs figure and have them be kinda filler pieces for the car-mode, and rotate down for bot-mode, kinda making the wheels look like they’re within the feet, despite the fact that the feet are on the complete opposite side. I also decided to cut a bit of the “doors” from Jazz to help fill out some space in the v-mode as well, and just tabbed them into the spot that they originally went on as well. And just another thing taken from that figure was the front of the car/chest which had to be cut into thirds with the middle piece being left out, and the two halves being glued onto the front. I wanted to screw them in, but there just wasn’t enough plastic on the undersides of those pieces to allow that. Afterwards I shaved some bits down throughout the figure to allow better transformation and more accuracy. After all that, I decided I wanted to try and recreate the gun he used in the film as well, so I took the same Crosshairs figure’s main gun, cut it in half, shaved both halves down, then glued them back together. Also cut the original post of just for fun and use the molded handle as the uh, well handle. And I think it turned out well. After all that, I started painting it all, mainly in flat red (for parts that weren’t originally painted in red) and then gloss dark red to help it give it a nice dark look. Also used flat black and silver throughout the figure to help it look more screen-like and yeah, das’it. In the end, a really fun project of mine and honestly glad I did this, even if it meant taking apart that very nice GDO figure. Were there some things I would’ve liked to have done differently? Yes. For starters the v-mode overall is crap. Sorry for the language, but it’s bad. But considering it’s supposed to be alien, it gets a 1% out of 100% pass. But it’s still bad. Transformation I made simpler in the legs but overall remains mostly unchanged. I’ll have a video of that up in just a bit so that’ll show that off. And for bot mode, I think it’s pretty passable to what it looks like in the film, which is what I was going for in the end anyways. Articulation is all still there, with the addition of some added movement in the feet. Scale-wise you can see how he compares next to the Studio Sereis figures, specifically Ratchet cause he was easier to transform but is passable for him to work in the line. As for my definitive display, he works out well. Considering that Bee’s height in the film is shorter than what he is later on cause it’s the past, it’s safe to assume that Cliff would also be of a short stature, and given that this is his first and probably last appearance, I’m fine with him being the height that he is for reasons that would be otherwise spoilery. Now will I be doing this for any of the other characters that were in this movie? No. Probably not. If anyone were to get the same treatment, it would probably be Brawl only, but I’m probably better off taking the Legends class figure, upsizing it, and calling that a movie figure, which I would rather not do cause that’s lazy. And I don’t really know the scale of him. But regardless, Cliff’s design was unique enough in my opinion to warrant this and I’m glad I did it. I do have a couple more pictures as well as the transformation video so being expecting that I guess. In the end, happy with how this turned out, hope Hasbro does do an official figure for him, and hope he’s in the Cybertron prequel movie.