LEGO "Alone Again" Hardhead

Character Bio

Hardhead was  a Headmaster , a faction of Autobots from the 80s Transformers Cartoon series,. Once  bonded with Duros (who transform into into Hardhead's head), as a form of alliance to the Nebulans to counter Decepticon threats in that planet.

After the alliance ended, Hardhead bid goodbye to his head eeer Nebulan partner, regained his original head and  headed (ok ok enuff with the term head) back to his Cybertron hometown , gets an Elvis-like haircut ( *hic* notice my *hic* MOC's head later) and a  fresh, cheerful paintjob . He also undergone re-engineering to remove his vehicle cockpit , never to allow other fleshlings from riding him again.

About this MOC

Original G1 Hardhead , and box art image

I started this  project earlier this month  by building a prototype without a definite color scheme in mind . After a few days, I thought perhaps I can make make a triple changer Blitzwing but the core MOC transformation structure have been established and I can't seemed to find ways tweak /modify it to form a decent-looking 3rd jet plane mode (yes I've tried but the treads are too big to be obscured / hidden in jet mode). So I quickly settled down with just "mere" 1 alternate mode.

PS: Actually at that point of time, I already had an sudden eureka moment of what's the next MOC I want to make. So I guess I wont be spending an awful lotsa time on this Hardhead... so that I can get started on the next one which I deemed to be jawdropping in many levels. stay tuned!

Why Hardhead (he's not a particularly memorable character to me) ? Well, one of my favorite color is green, and It's been a while since I make anything green out of LEGO, and of coz I've got a decent number of green parts (thanks Ninjago Fangpyre Mech!) too.

Trivia:

• The treads doesn't not roll when I push the tank about . There are just too many stuff crammed underneath (robot chest plate/feet) scraping the surface.
• If it kept the tread length unchanged as the lower legs, they will look ugly proportion-wise, . so I make them fold to compensate for the wider footprint. Such folding doesn't loosen the tread nor causing them to almost snap, luckily.
• I almost Beast-Hunter-ify this MOC (aka adding more spikes all around especially at the front of the tank)... but I changed my mind  (is that a good thing?)
• The only red part used (abdomen panel) is just a lil homage to the original G1 Hardhead toy
• My last minute amendment to the MOC is both the tank turrets unplugged to become a pair of rifles (ensure they can be pegged onto the hands)... that after seeing the original G1 Hardhead official image holding rifles with both hands.
• The long spikes on the bot arms are connected by one stud each... and they're sturdy!
• I took the chance to utilize "obscure" shaped parts in this MOC. namely the green curved parts at back of the tank mode. 

 Let's move on to the photos!

Tank Mode

Transformation Sequence

^ spread the arms

^ fold out the knees

^ rotate waist and fold in the chestplate

^ form the legs (tank fenders folded down to give more mass to the lower legs)

^ fold the turret part to the back of the body.

Robot Mode

Tank Turrets as hand-held rifles

Ladies and gentlemen... I have just found my favorite photo of his (below) 

And finally.... whole "turret-hood" detached as hand-held weaponry:

Well uhmm it's too heavy for him to wield the weapon straight ahead.