This page is a portal to websites about customized, kitbashed, or scratchbuilt Transformers toys. This serves the kitbashers who are listed because their hard work will get more exposure, and it serves the rest of us because we get to see all the really cool stuff that other fans have created. If you want to submit a Transformers kitbashes page (whether it's yours, or somebody else's that you happen to like) just send me an email: sstoneb@yahoo.com.
I've done a slight revamp with my first attempt at organization: Pages that feature an individual toy project versus pages with many toys. Also, I won't be linking to any front-pages -- it's all deep links directly to kitbash / customs areas. I strongly encourage everyone to explore these sites fully, but the point here is to take you quickly to custom toys, not to take you to a megasite that has some custom toys buried within it.
If you're looking for 'flat' fan-made artwork rather than toy modifications, try a few of the larger boards (Allspark and 2005 both have fan art forums; they have a few kitbashes in them, but they focus on 2D art). You can also try Greg Gaub's fan art page as a starting point, as he has example work from of a bunch of different fan artists.
|| Hosted Galleries | Multi-Project Pages | Single-Project Pages | Custom Stuff For Sale ||
Hosted Galleries and Forums
Unicron.com's Alterations by the Lukis Brothers -
Along with their own impressive work, the Lukis bros. have a giant
section of pictures and links submitted by other kitbashers.
Transtopia -
This site hosts submitted galleries and has its own forum, so check it
out! The piece that brought the site to my attention is an Anniversary
Prime figure that a fan named Dio modified into Soundwave.
Allspark's Iacon Art Gallery forum -
The art forum at the Allspark. Mostly 2D art, but there is some kitbashing
going on in here too. Don't forget to check the tutorial and works in
progress subforums.
TFW2005 Kitbashes -
The kitbashing galleries of TFW2005. Don't miss the 2005 Boards'
fan art and kitbashing forum, too.
TFKitbash.com -
Seems to be affiliated with TFW2005, and some of the gallery items
overlap with those on the other site, but seemingly not all.
TFans Kitbash Board -
The kitbash/custom forum on the TFans boards.
Custom TF's hosted by Remy's TF Kenkon -
Remy of tfkenkon.com fame hosts a number of galleries of custom TFs, mostly
repainted Beast-era stuff. Very professional-looking work. There's also
a really impressive scratchbuilt Arcee. (I still prefer the one by Kobayashi,
listed among the single-project pages.)
Multiple-Project Pages
Unicron.com's Alterations by the Lukis Brothers -
The Lukis bros. are very prolific toy alteration artists. Mostly they
modify Beast Era toys to make them match the TV shows, but they've done
plenty of other work, too. They also have a giant section of
pictures and links submitted by other kitbashers, so please take a look
at their lists, too!
Dog Figueroa's Macromasters, hosted by Steve Robertson -
Thanks to Steve Robertson, photos of Don Figueroa's scratchbuilt
"Macromaster" Transformers are available for your viewing pleasure.
This site actually hosts Don's Macromasters comics as well as photos
of the fully-transformable scrathbuilds that Don constructed based
on his characters. If the name Don Figueroa is familiar to you, you
may have seen his character designs and artwork in a bunch of TF comics
published by Dreamwave.
Altered Dimensions by Jarrod Trout -
There's a wide variety of work here including scratchbuilds and
traditional kitbashes. Not one to miss. Also, you MUST NOT miss the
special galleries of Jarrod's fully transformable War Within Prime, which
are linked to further down in the single-project section.
Kitbashes, Customs, and Repaints by Zobovor -
Is there anything Zobovor doesn't do? No. No, there isn't. Here
you can find his kitbash work (some non-TF stuff in there, too,
but we'll let it slide).
JD Productions -
This site actually sells custom stuff, but their projects are really beautiful
and they have some nice galleries posted. I'm especially fond of their G1
Devastator statue and the repaint of Energon Scorponok to look like G1
Black Zarak.
Customs, Repaints, and Kitbashes by Richard "ViceGrip X" Mistron -
Mostly spychanger redecos, but not all.
Dave's Kitbashes by Dave Van Domelen (DVD) -
Longtime TransFan DVD is well known for his kitbash work and for his
beautifully painted TF decoys. Check 'em out. Also, Dave has a
nice Kitbashing Guide that can help you get started on making your own
customs. (One of my favorites is the trailer he made for chibi-Scourge
with an M&M Minis tube.)
Fred's Workshop Customs by Fred (from Fred's Workshop) -
A lot of Fred's work is silly, such as the classic Toiletbot. The
picture quality here isn't the greatest, sadly, but there are lots
of projects to look at.
Minion Control Workshop by Phil Postma -
Minion Control (front page)
is a large artwork site, which I really recommend browsing through.
This link is to page two of the workshop area, where Phil's TF customs
can be found. They're mostly non-transforming models, but they are
absolutely gorgeous. Meched-out a bit and loaded with details and
great paint jobs. Both G1 and BW characters.
Powered Convoy's Customs by Randy aka Powered Convoy -
A group of repainted modern TFs (BW through RID) with small physical
modifications. The paint jobs are extraordinary. RID Optimus Prime done
up as G1 Hotspot (in a cool baby blue) made quite a splash on
alt.toys.transformers when this URL was posted.
Prowl Pants' Custom Masters -
There are a lot of projects at this site, most of them being Action Master
or PVC repaints/kitbashes. Some are established characters (repainting
AM Blaster as Twincast, for example) and others are Prowl Pants' own
creations, including some generic Seekers/Skyraiders.
Pyre's Creations -
Repaints of TF toys from many time periods, complete with character bios
for many of them. Some people get sick of black repaints, but his black
G1 Jetfire looks pretty cool to me. ^_^
Kidkorrupt's Customs -
Lots of repainted and kitbashed G1 cars. Also, if you follow the link
in his "Valkyrie Creations" banner, you can see lots of Macross
kitbashes (including a couple Skyfires) and another kitbashing guide.
And on top of all that, he also hosts a bunch of contributed custom TF
pictures!
Cybertronian Modes and other stuff! by Crazysteve -
There's a lot to see here! The main feature is a bunch of kitbashes
and resin-cast models of G1 TFs in their Cybertronian forms. It
started with a G1 Jazz customized to transform into the car mode he
sported in part one of MTMTE, but there's more in progress now,
including transformable Cyb-mode Bumblebee and Starscream! Crazysteve
has a lot of other projects up, too, including a big cast-resin statue
of G1 Megatron. Go, Crazysteve, go!
Walky's Kitbashes -
The rascally David "Walky" Willis has a few kitbahes for viewing,
including a Jhiaxus he made out of G2 Dreadwing. Of course, he hasn't
gotten around to linking to any of his non-blurry images or even the
Jhiaxus page itself, so... I went ahead and updated his page for him.
That's why the link above points to within my own site. You can view
his original
page, of course, as well as
his
Jhiaxus page, but they're not as cool as the ones I made for him.
Anyway, his site is not for the humor-impaired. You might want to
become familiar with the
World's Worst Fanfic, too,
to understand some of it.
Ken's Beast Wars Repaints -
Pretty much what it says. Lots of example pieces, each with its own
tech spec profile. Ken also did some
Mini Scourge work.
Transformer Customs, by Evil Porkchop -
Repaints of PVC and some RID figures repainted as homages to G1
characters.
Skyflight's Lab -
Some cute cast-resin items here, including a severed Optimus Prime
head for the Megatron bust from Hard Hero to hold.
Leonard Oliver's kitbashes -
Re-creating G1 characters with newer toys. Some are "just" repaints,
but there's some custom work here, too. I like the Seaspray made out
of Beast Wars toys.
Transformers: Legacy, by Deinonychus -
Some very nicely repainted toys from BW through the present. Some are
done as G1 homages, some are original. (Transmetal Megatron makes a
pretty good G1 Grimlock.)
Custom Transformers, by Spencer 1984 -
Some very nice work here including a pair of G1 Primes and a RID Bludgeon
with a customized head that matches G1 Bludgeon's pretender shell. Check
the rest of the site for more stuff including
model cars decoed
to look like TFs and
some technique tips.
Mark's Projects -
There's some impressive stuff here, all of which is for sale (although it's
kinda pricey). Among other things, Mark has created a scratchbuilt trailer
for 20th Anniversary Prime complete with Roller and maintainance drone.
Q's Corner -
Hosted by BotCollector, this page links to several kitbashes done by
Q. Most of them are G1 characters built out of Gundam parts. Some
nice work!
WombatKing's Kitbashes -
WK has repainted some recent toys into nice G1 homages. Nice
choices!
Single-Project Pages
BotCon 2004 Exclusive: G2 Breakdown by Charles Wallace and
Joseph Toscano -
A detailed site about the creation of Action Master Breakdown, a
toy exclusive for the unofficial TF convention, BotCon 2004. Based
on an AM Sideswipe, G2 Breakdown is a resin-cast figure with a custom
head. He commemorates the first BotCon, ten years prior, at which
a real G2 Breakdown was the toy exclusive.
Steelskin by John Spangler -
Probably the most thorough job I've ever seen. Steelskin is a G1-style
DeLorean who is, at his very core, based on a G1 Sideswipe, but he's
been so heavily rebuilt that calling him a kitbash isn't quite
accurate, even though he's not technically a scratchbuild because of
the Sideswipe frame. Steelskin has weapons, a box, tech specs,
instructions, and even an animated commercial. He won his category
in the art contest at BotCon 2001.
Redline by John Spangler -
The follow-up to Steelskin! A completely scratch-built 1969 Dodge
Charger. As with Steelskin, John has provided a detailed account of
how Redline was built, complete with many photos. Great work, John!
Can't wait to see the next one! ^_^
War Within Prime by Jarrod Trout -
This is a world-class project. If you are not completely awed by this
completely scratchbuilt, fully transforming piece, you have no Spark.
The extensive finished piece and in-progress galleries are graciously
hosted by the Allspark. You should also read the original
work-in-progress thread on the AllSpark where Jarrod describes
his work in detail. (This is the same Jarrod whose site, "Altered
Dimensions", appears earlier on this page.)
G1 Arcee by Hironori Kobayashi -
This is an astounding piece of work. So much so that many sites have
pictures of this toy and claim that it's an actual Takara prototype --
untrue. It is an art project that was entered at BotCon Japan 1998. (It
was the winner, not surprisingly.) The original page about the toy is now
down, so I have mirrored it complete with a translation of the original
provided by Doug Dlin.
Unicron, by Geoff Haradon -
Geoff has scratchbuilt a transformable, pretty movie-accurate Unicron.
The quality of the pictures on the first page isn't so great, but the
second page has much better ones.
Quintesson, by Geoff Haradon -
Another project by Geoff. This Quintesson judge doesn't transform, of
course, but it's a great likeness.
Skyfire, by Hirofumi Omichi -
The creator of this lovely toy doesn't, apparently, have a page about it,
but you can find it in a couple other places. Several nice pics of the
toy can be found on
a page hosted by Jettara,
and another picture, showing a bit of the custom-made box, is to be seen
in
John Runski's Transcon 97 report.
The Scavenger Project by Richard "ViceGrip X" Mistron, with
Scavenger Repaints by Zobovor -
Don't miss the exposé on the "CybCon" 2001 exclusive toy! A
joint project between Zob and ViceGrip (who did the toy work and the
packaging / instructions work, respectively), this is a beautiful
repaint of Scavenger as Scavenger! (???)
Mini-Scourge Trailer/Sword by Rik Ruff -
More spychanger Scourge accessories. Rik's pages contain extensive
descriptions of how he made his pieces, so anybody out there who wants
to duplicate his work, or is just looking to learn more about the
process should definitely check this one out.
Correcting Unicron by Sam Fulton -
This page shows the step-by-step process Sam took to kitbash his Armada
Unicron into a toy that more closely resembles the character from TF:TM.
Custom Stuff For Sale
Reprolabels by Delta Star -
Delta's reproduction stickers and rubsigns are well-known in the TF
customizing community. If you need to replace stickers for your old toys,
or even want to create a set of customized stickers, Delta can help you
out (for a reasonable fee).
Unicron.com's Stuff For Sale -
The Lukis brothers have made several custom toy accessories that you can
buy from them, including a stand for your Unicron toy's planet mode, and
a set of sparkly energon cubes!
JD Productions -
Selling custom and repro parts for a few toys, including weapons packs
for Alternators / BinalTech figures.
Jangar's Reproduction Accessories -
Similar to TransRepro, Jangar produces reproduction parts. Make sure you
check his site as well as TransRepro if you're in the market!
TransRepro (formerly KCC Collectibles) -
TransRepro designs and reproduces (and sells) replacement and original
parts for TF toys. They produce stuff of their own making, as well as
working with other parts designers to reproduce their stuff. There are a
lot of options here, so if you need anything, give their page a look-see.