Charging at you with snorting fury is Tantrum, the fueler of the Decepticon sub-team, the Predacons. He turns into a mechanical water buffalo. He was available at retail starting in 1986.
Next in the 1986 Predacon team is Rampage, the unit gunner. Whereas his leader Razorclaw is lazy, Rampage is hyper. According to his bio, he's addicted to television. He transforms into a mechanical tiger.
Onto the 1986 Decepticons, kicking off a series of Predacons (no relation to the baddies of Beast Wars), a subteam of predatory mechanical animals. First up is their leader, Razorclaw, who turns into a lion. A sleepy lion, as mentioned in his bio.
From 1986 comes the Autobot city commander, Ultra Magnus. A popular and well-received toy, Ultra Magnus turns into a semi truck hauling a car carrier trailer. The semi cab is basically a white repaint of Optimus Prime, but the transformation and addition of the trailer into battle armor turns Ultra Magnus into a towering titan. He was voiced by Robert Stack in Transformers: The Movie, the media that introduced the character.
The third of three Autobot Triple Changers released in 1986, Broadside is a scale riddle in that his two alternate modes are jet fighter and aircraft carrier.
Next in the line of Autobot Triple-Changers from 1986 is Sandstorm, Autobot reconnaissance. Aside from his robot mode, he turns into a dune buggy and a Sikorsky MH-53 Pave Low helicopter. This drawing is from 2017.
In 1986, the Autobots got their first subteam of Triple Changers, catching up with the Decepticons who fielded them the year before. Springer is a macho bot who turns into an armored car and a helicopter, and his design was dictated by his supporting role in 1986's Transformers: The Movie.
From the 1986 series comes another toy of a character who debuted in The Transformers: The Movie. Wreck-Gar is the leader of a tribe of scavengers called the Junkions - though for years, he alone would warrant a toy incarnation. In the movie, he was voiced by Eric Idle, who spoke in fragments of TV catchphrases. He turns into a motorcycle. The toy is spotless, so I went to town with the junk weathering in this drawing.
Arise, Rodimus Prime! This 1986 toy has no indication in the packaging bio that he's the new Autobot leader, perhaps to keep the spoiler from the then-current Transformers: The Movie under wraps. In that story, Optimus Prime dies and the Autobot Matrix of Leadership finds its way to Hot Rod, who is transformed by its power into Rodimus. Rodimus's toy is simply stated to be an "Autobot Protector." He transforms into a beefed up fire-decaled car of futuristic origin. His large camper shell led some fans to call him a Space Winnebego.
And finally, the last of the 1986 mini-car retools is Swerve, fun-loving Autobot metallurgist who turns into a pick-up truck that is a repurposing of the design that made Gears and Pick-Up . This drawing is from 2017.
The next of the 1986 mini-cars is Hubcap, Autobot communications specialist. He is a slightly retooled version of Cliffjumper / Carrera , turning into a Porsche 924 Turbo, but modified to be without the spoiler and a different head design. A recolored version of Hubcap with a chromed finish was released at teh start of the Generation 2 line in 1993.
From the 1986 mini-cars, here is Tailgate, Autobot scout. A retooled version of 1984's Windcharger (who also became Camaro) , Tailgate turns into a Pontiac Firebird Trans Am sportscar. This drawing is from 2017.
The one 1986 mini-car with a completely new design is Wheelie, Autobot survivalist. He turns into a futuristic Cybertronian-styled car. He was one of the new characters created and designed for the 1986 animated Transformers: The Movie feature. The limitations of toy design meant his plastic incarnation doesn't really look like his animated incarnation that much.
This 2017 drawing kicks off a run of 1986 Autobot mini-cars. Most were repaints of the early 1984 mini-cars, like Outback here was a repaint of Brawn, the very first drawing I did in this exercise. (Who was also repainted as Jipe ).
Sold bundled with yesterday's Steeljaw at US retail in 1986, Rewind is the Autobot archivist. He turns into a micro-cassette scaled to interact with Blaster or Soundwave.
Here's Steeljaw, who kicks off a line of Autobot mini-cassettes scaled to interact with Autobot communicator, Blaster. Steeljaw was sold in a two-pack with another cassette, Rewind, in 1986. This drawing is from 2017.
And this here is Defensor, the combined form of the five Protectobots. As a "Scramble City" type combiners, all of Defensor's limbs are interchangeable - the configuration here was the one seen in the animated series and toy catalog photos. He was available as the five individual components or as a gift set in 1986.
And here we have the leader of the Protectobots, Hot Spot, who turns into a fire engine. In "Scramble City" combiner fashion, Hot Spot was available as a boxed toy while his smaller teammates were sold on cardbacks. Hot Spot was available in 1986.
The next Protectobot in the line-up is Blades, the team's air support specialist. He turns into a Huey rescue helicopter. His bio describes him as extremely violent, not exactly a trait you want in your rescuer. He was available as a toy in the original line's 1986 assortment.
Continuing to chronicle the Generation One 1986 release with another of the Protectobots. This is First Aid, a doctor, who fittingly turns into an ambulance. Notable in the fiction (especially the animated series) for being an avowed pacifist.
Groove, part of the Protectobot team. I took some liberties in illustration simply because the toy was very blocky and had too much mass to convincingly turn into a Honda Goldwing GL1200 police motorcycle. He was released in 1986.
These drawings begin a run of Protectobots, one of several "Scramble City" type combiner teams released in 1986. The Protectobots were themed to be public service vehicles. In the case of Streetwise, the team interceptor, he turns into a Nisaan 300ZX Turbo police car.
An oddity from the 1986 line-up, Sky Lynx is a motorized toy. As a vehicle, he's a classic space shuttle that can rest on a motorized crawler tank. The tank turns into a lynx, whose motorization causes his limbs to walk. The shuttle turns into a pteranodon-like dinosaur. These two components can combine to form the dragon mode you see below.
Here is the merged form of all six Aerialbots. These were one of several "Scramble City" type combiners released in 1986, with their main gimmick being the individual bots that made the limbs of the combiners could be swapped around and even between teams. Hence, the "scramble." The "city" comes from the fact they were all designed to interact with the two big city playsets released that year. A newer drawing of the Generation Two incarnation of this toy was posted here .
Silverbolt isthe leader of the Aerialbots. He turns into a then-relevant Concorde supersonic transport jet. He was released in 1986. And updated drawing depicting his Generation Two re-release was posted earlier this year here .
As April 2017 starts, I'm sketching bots from 1986. Midway through the Aerialbot ranks comes Slingshot, their ground support specialist. He turns into a Harrier jet. I drew his Generation Two re-release here earlier this year .