Reveal
Reveal the Shield Lugnut As Advertised Image
Transformers
Transformers Animated Lugnut

I actually bought this figure not knowing much about Lugnut's background, I just thought he looked really cool. To me, Lugnut is a "newer" Transformer. By newer I mean not G1. After I got him, I started to do some research on him and ended up liking the character as well. He's tough, devoted and loyal.

For me personally, I do not like his original color scheme as seen in Transformers Animated. I feel very few bots can pull off the color purple, shockwave being one of them. I felt the character could look a lot more bad ass and intimidating if the colors were changed. I didn't want to take away all the signature colors from the figure so most of my planning was trying to think of different ways to make the character look more sinister and frightening while paying homage to the original.

Inspiration and Methods:

C-17
C-17 Globemaster

So in my interpretation I took influences from the actual C-17 birds I've flown in when on active duty and the original animated character. I aimed to go for the "Maintained but weathered look". Which to me is an asset in service that is well maintained (Clean) but shows wear from heavy use.

I started the figure by some minor sanding, and modifications to the face. I wanted to change the face, mainly the lower jaw because I felt it took away from the intimidation factor. The original jaw reminded me too much of Bulkhead from transformers Prime or the Iron Giant from the "The Iron Giant" which makes large characters that could easily crush someone come off a little "doofy" and "approachable". (As seen Below) Lugnut

After the modifications, cleaning and priming, I used various shades of military grey on the body to simulate patch jobs and add a multi-tone look. I made the eye dark and not super bright to add more to the "intimidation factor".