The 1986 Aerialbots adds Fireflight to its roster. Fireflight turns into an F-4 Phantom II jet. This drawing is from 2017. I recently redrew him for his Generation Two release here .
From the 1986 toys is Skydive, Aerialbot warfare strategist. He turns into an F-16 Fighting Falcon. This drawing is from 2017. This newer drawing from earlier this year is of his Generation Two release.
The 2017 drawings catalog the 1986 toys, kicking off a run of Aerialbots. This was the first team of jets the Autobots could boast, and consisted of five members. Air Raid, the warrior, turns into an F-15 eagle. This figure was released in 1994 as part of Generation Two with a new paint job.
The abbreviated car assortment from the 1986 Autobots concludes with Blurr, Autobot courier. This mile-a-minute hero was famously voiced by John Moschitta Jr., a record-holder for world's fastest talking man. Blurr turns into a sleek futuristic Cybertronic car.
Here's a memorable Autobot from the cast of 1986's Transformers: The Movie. Kup turns into a futuristic pick up truck, but his story is that he's an antique. And old Transformer who will never retire, Kup complains all the while about the youngsters today or the misalignment of his elderly parts.
A major character introduced into the mythos in 1986 -- it's Autobot cavalier, Hot Rod. He's a somewhat divisive character, for those who grew up with the original Transformers: The Movie. There are those who blame him for Optimus Prime's death (I tend to think Megatron is the guilty party there), and refuse to accept he was Prime's hand-chosen successor. As a result, when it does surface in the fiction, Hot Rod's leadership tends to be short in comparison to Optimus' eons-spanning tenure. Hot Rod turns into a red race car with huge chromed exhaust pipes and bitchin' flame decals. This drawing is from 2017.
Finally, filling out the Metroplex playset is this illustration of Slammer, a tank made up of one of Metroplex's towers. And just for kicks, I paired Slammer with Roller, a pack-in that was included with the original Optimus Prime that fit in his trailer and otherwise was a small rolling scout. Slammer came out in 1986.
This early 2017 drawing is of Scamper, a small robot included in the Metroplex playset in 1986. He turns into a black sports car of futuristic design, with six wheels, and a roof-mounted guns. He is scaled to interact with Metroplex's garage and ramp features.
A component of the Metroplex playset, Six-Gun is literally made of six guns from the Metroplex battle station mode, attached to a tower that forms Six-Gun's torso.
Metroplex, the Autobot city, was the largest Transformer released to date when it came out in 1986. The hefty robot turned into a city playset designed to interact with mini-car scaled figures as well as that year's crop of "Scramble City" type combiners. A secondary mode of rolling battle station put Metroplex on the mobile offensive. Included in this drawing are Slammer and Scamper, two small vehicles included in the set, who'll get their own drawings posted soon enough.
As a pack-in bonus in 1985, the original '84 Autobot mini-cars came bundled with - at no extra cost - a second Transformer. This little car had a pull-back motor, and was available in one of four styles and one of four colors, and the utterly anonymous bot's allegiance would be revealed to be Decepticon or Autobot via a heat-activated sticker. So 24 possible combinations in total for these mini-spies, based on those criteria; factor in other variations, and that number goes even higher. Pictured below from left to right are the Toyota FX-1 concept car spy, the 4WD Jeep spy, the Buggy spy and the Porsche spy.
Here's the third and final of the randomly shipped mail order Powerdashers. For years, he had no proper name, though he's now known as Zetar. Like his Powerdasher buddies, he has a pull-back motor that sends his toy driving across smooth surfaces. This drawing is from 2017.
The next in the mail order Powerdashers first available in 1984 is Aragon, though for years he did not have an official name. The pull-back motor equipped toy turns into a Cybertronic race car.
One of the earliest mail order exclusives in the Transformers line were the Powerdashers. For a measly three bucks and two "Robot Points" (proofs of purchase), you could send away for a Powerdasher and get one of three small, colorful, pull-back motor equipped transforming toys. They had zero story, character bios, or even names, and you couldn't choose which of the three you'd get. The jet Powerdasher would eventually be named Cromar in fiction.
The last of the Omnibot trio available only through mail-order in 1985 is Camshaft. He turns into a Mazda RX-7 Series 2, a car ironically that does not have a camshaft. This drawing is from 2017.
Downshift is the second of the three Omnibots. This figure was available via mail order in 1985, He does not come with a sword at all. Just fell like giving him one while this drawing came together. It happens. He turns into a Toyota Celica.
In 1985, a trio of Omnibots was available only through mail order -- you'd collect proofs of purchase on the back of Transformers packaging ("Robot Points") and order exclusives from a pack-in catalog available in boxed toys that year. Overdrive turns into a red Ferrari 512 Berlinetta Boxer sports car.
Shrapnel is the leader of the Insecticons, and an electronic warfare specialist. He turns into a stag beetle, a mode that lends him large horns in robot mode. In the animated series, he's memorable for a peculiar speech impediment that causes him to repeat the last word he says in a whisper. He's also memorable for summoning lightning with his horns / pincers, which I've dramatized here in this sketch.
Fittingly, this drawing of Ramjet, Decepticon warrior, was done in an airplane. Ramjet was released in 1985, and turns into an F-15 jet with a specialized delta-wing design.
Dirge, Decepticon warrior. Released in 1985, he was part of a second wave of Decepticon jets that have the same molds as the 1984 initial assortment, but with unique weapons and wing designs. He turns into an F-15 fighter jet with a delta wing and mid-body canard.
This is Blitzwing, a Decepticon triple changer released in 1985. His two vehicle modes consist of a Soviet MiG-25 fighter jet and a Japanese Type-74 combat tank.
Astrotrain, Decepticon military transport, was one of a pair of "Triple Changers" released in 1985, a new subset of toys that boasted three modes total -- two vehicular forms and a robot mode. Astrotrain turns into a space shuttle and a JNR Class D51 steam locomotive -- two extremes in terms of size and modernity.
Venom, Decepticon psychological warfare specialist, is part of the deluxe Insecticon line of toys designs imported from Takatoku Toys. His bio describes him turning into a bee, but his insect mode more resembles a cicada.
To fill out the 1985 line, Hasbro licensed toy designs from companies beyond Takara, including a line of insect-robots from Takatoku toys that were rebranded as "Deluxe Insecticons." Here's the gunner of the group, Barrage, who turns into a rhinoceros beetle.
Shockwave, Decepticon military operations commander, dates back to the very first episode of the Transformers animated series in 1984, but his toy did not come out until early in the second series, 1985. He turns into a laser pistol. His design did not originate from Takara, but rather from ToyCo, a Korean company, who had let the design slip into the US under a number of different product names, including a gray Radio Shack edition that fans took to calling "Shackwave."