I love Titans Return. The figures are simple but effectively engineered and a lot of fun to mess with. What I love less, however, is the bare-minimum paint budget the line has. So out came the paintbrushes!
First up: Cancer and Batora, AKA the only one with any airbrush work at all! This was originally a minor detailing project but thanks to an unfortunate overspill of silver it quickly snowballed into a complete repaint.
The silver is airbrushed Citadel Stormhost Silver. I seriously should have primed and clearcoated it, it's not very durable...Oh well, it's easy enough to reapply if it chips. The purple is Badger Ghost Tint Purple, handpainted directly over the purple plastic. I probably should have airbrushed it, but it works well enough IMO- the paint is dilute enough to go on really smooth without thinning so that's cool.
Rawr!
A new sticker was necessary as the paint covered up the original tampo. Unfortunately it looks a bit rough thanks to a crease and had to be glued down. Whoops!
"Transform!"
Batora in death-chicken mode. Needs a few more apps of Citadel Moot Green in some recesses (specifically a nostril and the neck details) but looks pretty good otherwise.
When not being used as a mount, I like to fold up the dino jaw against the back to look like a rooster tail.
As mentioned, Moot Green was used to give the WFC glow effect I love so much. Also I really need to touch up the silver...
Cancer himself. There's a surprising amount of detail on these little dudes.
And Headmaster mode!
"Oi! That's my Transtector!"
"Gah! Gerroff!"
Yep, up next is Skullcruncher! Rather than actually repainting him I did all the little details and panel lined him to give him the "WFC glow" look. By hand. Which took forever.
The head, which actually looks good when the visor is painted properly.
I love this dude. He's so much fun, and he looks so much better with actual detail work.
Originally I was just going to paint the "robotic muscle" detailing on the stomach, but I got carried away...
The gator/croc mode, complete with single gold tooth.
From above, his beast mode looks properly blinged out.
I also took the liberty of painting his gums and tongue to look properly gribbly. It's just silver with a clear purple coat.
"G'day!"
"Gee, sport, it sure is good of ya to pick the bits of Autobot outta me choppers!"
"No worries! Just keep your mouth open..."
"And then he said "I'm gonna repaint a Dropshot into Megatron!""
"Dohohohohoho!"
Finally, Hardhead!
This dude didn't require much repainting, but he did have a lot of recesses and panel lines.
This guy might be my favourite TR Deluxe so far...out of the two I own. Ahem.
The tank mode especially looks good with all that panel detailing...
...Which took absolutely forever.
"Hey kid- wanna ride in a tank?"
No detail is safe from the paintbrush of doom.
And finally, the last thing Decepticons ever see.
Thanks for looking!
