CyRaptor on DeviantArthttps://www.deviantart.com/cyraptor/art/Transformers-Legacy-Stormcloud-206648011CyRaptor

Deviation Actions

CyRaptor's avatar

Transformers Legacy: Stormcloud

By
Published:
52.5K Views

Description

STORMCLOUD
Function:
Aquatic Sentry
Alternate Mode: Modified Stingray 230 SX

Strength: 4
Intelligence: 7
Speed: 7
Endurance: 3
Rank: 3
Courage: 5
Firepower: 4
Skill: 4


Stormcloud is the very definition of a femme fatale - beautiful, cunning, and deadly. Unlike most other Decepticons, who operate out of greed, lust for power, or some misguided code of honor, she is bad simply because it’s fun. Deceitful and manipulative, Stormcloud makes liberal use of her charm and feminine wiles to exploit the more weak-minded of her allies (and even some of her enemies). She has little patience for the often juvenile antics of her teammates and prefers to keep to herself unless she can use one of them for her own ends. While she is rebellious and hates being ordered around, Megatron has spun this tendency to his advantage by assigning her to sentry duty guarding the Decepticon’s hidden aquatic base. The Decepticon leader has something of a love-hate relationship with Stormcloud; he admires her for her tenacity and scheming nature but quickly grows impatient when her defiance comes into conflict with his own agenda. Secretly he's even a little trepidatious of her, since he knows that she's the only Decepticon who might be able to outfox him if she ever mustered the ambition.

Stormcloud's vehicle mode is armed with a rotating M2 Browning machine gun, which can detach and combine with the exterior portion of the boat's engine to form a bore cannon for use in robot mode. The hull of her normally waterborne alternate mode has been outfitted with four banks of magna-repulsors, developed by Scavenger, allowing her to hover over relatively even terrain even out of water. In robot mode, Stormcloud is the fastest Decepticon by a long shot. She excels in hand-to-hand combat, and has been trained in multiple forms of martial arts. She is also armed with two retractable arm blades, which she uses in conjunction with her now forearm-mounted repulsors, which act as makeshift shields to deflect blows and repel physical projectiles.

-------------------------------------------------

Sorry this probably would've been posted earlier if Portal 2 hadn't been released!

Okay, the idea of a female Decepticon speedboat comes from Cybertron Thunderblast, and Stormcloud does take a few design cues from her (particularly the color). That's about where the similarities end, though. First of all, Thunderblast is a terrible name (and too close to Thundercracker), so I threw that out in favor of homaging Armada Stormcloud, a speedboat Mini-con. I never watched Cybertron (or owned many of the toys), so I admittedly don't know much about Thunderblast's character, but from what I've read on TFWiki, her personality's pretty much the opposite of Stormcloud - she's a total pushover. Stormcloud takes most of her characterization from early BW Blackarachnia and a little bit of Animated Blackarachnia - shit, except for Strika (and Slipstream who barely counts), I can't think of any other prominent evil females in Transformers fiction. As such, she's kind of a stereotypical femme fatale, which isn't the greatest female archetype, but what are you gonna do.

In creating Stormcloud I've discovered that boat Transformers, especially ones as lithe as she is, are really, really hard to design. One thing I knew I wanted to avoid right off the bat was making her a shellformer, especially to the degree that Thunderblast is. Giving her a feminine form without having her just curl up inside a boat shell is very difficult. Basically, her shoulderpads are the stern of the boat and the bow unfurls to form her lower legs, kneepads, arm blades, and "coattails". The remaining section of the hull origamis into her arms. Her torso basically forms what little of the deck is visible. All told it's still a bit shellformery and a lot of the connections are a little iffy, particularly the feet (windscreen) and hands (seats), but I think I pulled it off to a satisfactory degree.

Speaking of boats, I know nothing about them. I wanted a very sleek, fast-looking boat and not something like, well, what most pleasurecraft actually look like. I don't know how successful I was. At the very least, the paint job makes it look a little more exotic.

Man, the sketches I start from always look so much more dynamic than the final piece ever does. Stormcloud's sketch looked really provocative and wielded that arm blade with authority, the final (despite being drawn directly over the sketch looks like she standing on a parade float and waving at the crowd. :\ I don't get it, man.

Revision Edits (4/14/14): One teensy little correction: the orange swoosh on the side of the boat is now present in vehicle mode. It's always been there, but it was accidentally hidden under the shadow layer.

Next Up: The surprise Autobot! Don't bother guessing, I'm not telling. I'm very excited about the last two entries in Legacy and I think most of you will be too once you see them. Their designs are pretty much finished so they should be coming sooner than later.
Image size
1920x1080px 2.21 MB
© 2011 - 2024 CyRaptor
Comments72
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
PyaeSoneHein5676's avatar

why do i feel like she similar to some one