Guidelines to Making your ideal OC Transformer Look Awesome!
These guidelines for making your Transformer are similar to One-for-sorrow on deviantart; here's a link to the forum page: https://www.deviantart.com/one-for-sorrow/art/How-To-Making-a-Transformers-OC-367271434
Section 1: Basics
- Faction: Is your character an Autobot (good guy), Decepticon (bad guy), neutral/rogue, or other? If you choose "other," you can make any faction you want. ;
- Alt. Mode: Your Cybertronian has to have an alt. mode, or else you can't call it a Transformer, though a Cybertronian with no alternate mode whatsoever isn't unheard of in canon. What does your character transform into? A car, a jet, a truck, a helicopter, a boat, an animal, a tank, a city, or even a planet? Your alt. mode can be anything you want, as long as it's a vehicle or animal. If you want, of course, you can make your charcater a citybot (a Cybertronian that transforms into a city, which is kind of self explanatory) or a planet bot (also self-explanatory), like the Transformers god Primus and the chaos-bringing monster-planet Unicron. ;
- Function: What does your charcater do in their faction? Are they a field commander, a spy, an engineer, a medic/scientist, a warrior, etc.? ;
- Colors: What colors are your transformer? A few things to consider are:
- Number: If you only choose one color, it'll make your character look kind of dull. Too many colors, however, and they'll look like a clown (unless you're making it a camoflauge pattern or a mismatched transformer; then you can get away with as many color as you want). This is why it may be better to limit your color scheme to between 3 to 7 colors. ;
- Function: The colors may also have to reflect your character's role, faction, or abilities. ;
- Alternate Mode: Whichever type of altenrate mode you pick may be limited by what kind of vehicle mode you pick, or vice versa. Military vehicles are dark/dull greens or tans, construction vehicles are usually yellow, ambulances are usually white and red, police cars are usually black and white, etc. ;
- Optic colors: A transformer's eyes are called "Optics" and they can be any color you want, though Autobots usually have blue eyes and Decepticons usually have red eyes. You could make their optics black, white, or any shade in between to show that they're blind. ; ;
- Name: This is a fairly obvious and important step: what is your character's name? (Note: the name should reflect their powers, or what they can do.) ;
Section 2: Personality
Now this is an important thing to consider: what will your character be like? What are their traits? Are they smart or simple-minded? Funny and talkative or serious/stoic? Brave or cowardly? Kind or a bully? Optimistic or Pesimistic? Hot-headed or cold-and-calculating? The choice is yours.
Section 3: Backstory
As One-for-sorrow said in his guidleine page, this is probably the hardest thing to come up with, because there's a lot that you have to put in, but at the same time, you don't want to add so many details that your character's bio becomes a memoir. So, keep it simple; what was their childhood like? What was their job before the war? How did they wind up on their faction when the war started? A lot to unpack here, but you don't have to do all of it (or even any of it) if you don't want to, bust if you do, just focus on keeping it simple.
Section 4: Special Skills
Since every Transformers series is about a war of good and evil between two main factions of alien robots, your character is probably going to need some combat skills and weapons if they're going to survive and help their faction win. Things to consider:
- Weapons: What are your character's weapons and where are they stored? Do they have a sword that they can sheath on their back or a twin blasters on their arms? (Note: think about what weapons - if any - are commonly added to your alternate mode if it's a military vehicle.) ;
- Skills/Abilities: What can your chaacter do? How good are they at combat and what sort of special abilities do they have? Special abilities can include force field projection, laser vision, holograms, cloaking, sonic blasts, super-jump, super speed, super strength, etc. ;
- Fears/Weaknesses: Whatever strengths your charcater has, there has to be a weakness to compliment it. What does your character fear and what are they not good at? What limits do they have? If you make your character too strong, they'll be overpowered. If they're too weak, they're boring and pretty much useless. Balance the strenghts and faults. ;
Section 5: Other Stuff (Optional)
This is where you can get into other minor details about your character.
- Age/Creation Date ;
- Stats (Height, weight, top speed, strength limit, etc.) ;
- Fun Facts (such as likes or dislikes) ;
- Relationships (Friends, foes, family, etc.) ;
Ready to make your Transformer? Then let's get started; good luck on creating your OC robot in disguise and may this website satisfy your creative spirit 'till all are one!