Bot a Day: Daily Drawings

This drawing is of Hardspark, part of the Autobot Sparkdash team. He's a 1988 Japanese recolor of Guzzle, a toy from the same year released in the US. He turns into a Challenger 1 main battle tank. As a Sparkdash/Sparkabot figure, his toy gimmick involves a pullback motor that spits out sparks. 

From my 2019 drawings is Zetca, an Autobot Godmaster engine unit available in Japan in 1988. In engine block mode, he plugs into any of the Godmaster/Powermaster toys. 

 This 2019 drawing is of Aquastar, a Godmaster engine component released in Japan in 1988. 

The 2019 drawings continue to chronicle the unique Japanese toys from 1988. This is Vollet, most commonly identified by fans in the west as "Bullet."  He was a Godmaster component (a transforming engine block that could plug into Powermaster / Godmaster toys) sold individually in Japan. He's aligned with the Autobots.   

Here is God Ginrai, the combined form of  Super Ginrai  and  God Bomber . Since the God Bomber component was only available in Japan in 1988, this particular powered up mode of the 1988 Power Master Optimus Prime toy was not possible in the US.  At least, not until Apex Bomber showed up as a US release. This drawing is from 2019.

From the 1988 Japanese line is Ranger, a Godmaster, the Japanese equivalent of the US Powermaster line. In Japan, Ranger the character is the small human figure (inset) who turns into an engine block that plugs into a dune buggy to turn it into a "transtector" mecha that he operates. In the US line, it's much more a symbiotic relationship between two separate characters. Drew a little maple leaf on Ranger's shoulder because he's Canadian in the Japanese animated series. Ranger has the same body design as the US's Joyride.  

God Bomber was a 1988 release exclusive to Japan. God Bomber was built to interact with the God Ginrai toy, transforming into an extra trailer module that hooks up to God Ginrai's semi truck mode. It would be years before he got a US counterpart, Apex Bomber, which hooked onto Power Master Optimus Prime's truck mode. 

Super Ginrai is the Japanese release of the toy known as Powermaster Optimus Prime in the US. The narrative of the animated series forked in 1987, with the Japanese cartoon continuing in a new direction while the American series wrapped up. In the Japanese continuity, Optimus Prime didn't continue but his design lived on as the robotic body of Ginrai, a Japanese human (inset) who becomes the engine block of the familiar red and blue semi truck. Super Ginrai was available in Japan in 1988. 

This is a major character in the Japanese continuation of the Transformers animated series, 1988's   Super God Masterforce . This is Metalhawk, who has three distinct forms. He's a Pretender, meaning he has an outer shell that depicts a human in space armor. The inner robot, with a distinct yellow die-cast body, turns into a futuristic jet.  

This is Cog, the incarnation of the character that was included in the Grand Maximus set, a different coloring than the Fortress Maximus version. And while the Fort Max Cog was the combined form of Gasket and Grommet (two small service vehicles), the Grand Max Cog is the combined form of Onomisu and Koka. 

This is Grand. This is a bit complicated. Yesterday's   Grand Maximus   is a Headmaster, and his head becomes Grand. Grand has a Pretender shell that can conceal this robot mode. And Grand's head detaches and turns into a smaller robot, Gran (inset).  It's like a nesting doll of robots. Grand was released as part of the Grand Maximus set in Japan in 1988.

This drawing is of a 1988 Japanese exclusive: Grand Maximus. He's a redeco of Fortress Maximus, the massive Autobot city playset from the previous year. In the lore of the Japanese animated series  Super-God Masterforce,  Grand Maximus is Fortress Maximus' younger brother. He has a number of component bots, which will follow over the next few days.

This is Minerva (or Minelba, as it is sometimes transliterated), a Japan-exclusive Headmaster. She turns into a Porsche 959 sportscar with coloring that indicates she is medical vehicle. In the continuity of the Japanese animated series   Super-God Masterforce,  Minerva is both the human figure in the inset, which combines with the otherwise non-sentient car / robot body "transtector" to become a full-scale Autobot.   She was available in 1988.

This is Go-Shooter, an Autobot Headmaster toy available exclusively in Japan in 1988. Go-Shooter was the lead character in the Japanese continuation of the   Transformers  animated series,   Super-God Masterforce.  Unlike in the US mythology, the Headmaster component and larger robot body are not separate characters -- both the inset image of the Headmaster and the main image are both Go-Shooter. The vehicle mode is a Mazda RX-7 police car that Go-Shooter drives. 

This drawing is of an oddity from 1987. He has no name other than Radio AM Robot, and was released only in Argentina. Made by Comando Toys, he was an official Transformers release, but not a Hasbro or Takara design. He oddly has design cues from Megatron, Megatron's Japanese-release sword, Soundwave and Blaster elements and arms that look like Omega Supreme's -- he's a real chimera. He turns into a working AM radio.   

This drawing is Soundblaster, a reincarnated version of Soundwave from the Japanese storyline and toy series. A slightly retooled mold of the original 1984 Soundwave toy, Soundblaster has an expanded cassette slot that lets him hold two mini-cassettes. He turns into a tapedeck. 

This drawing is of Toraizer, one of the Headmaster units released exclusively in Japan in 1987. He turns from a robotic tiger into a robotic head that can be plugged into the Headmaster bodies available at the time. 

These drawings continue cataloging the Japanese exclusive Headmaster toys. This is Shuffler, an Autobot Headmaster who turns from a robotic elephant into a robot head that can plug into Headmaster bodies. From 1987.    

From Japan comes Loafer, another Autobot Headmaster unit. His small figure was available in Japan in 1987, and could turn into a robotic head that plugs into a Headmaster body.  

From 2019 is this illustration of Rodney, a Japanese Headmaster exclusive from 1987. 

Lione, an Autobot Headmaster unit available in Japan in 1987. This mechanical lion turns into a head that can be plugged into any of the Headmaster bodies. 

In Japan, 1987, Transformers went all-in on the Headmasters story concept and toy gimmick, wherein a driver or small humanoid operator would transform into the head of its vehicle or creature. In Japan you could get individual Headmaster units in boxes, including Kirk here. He turns into a robot head that can be plugged into any larger Headmaster body, called a "transtector" in the Japanese Headmaster lore.   

This drawing is of Raiden, the combined form of the six Trainbots. He was available in Japan in 1987 as a gift set or through collecting his six individual components. Given the scale of the trains, this would make for a massive combiner, if scale ever really made sense in   Transformers . 

The run of Trainbots concludes with Yukikaze, the heavy snow warrior of the team. He turns into a 200 Series Shinkansen bullet train engine. His toy was available in Japan starting in 1987. 

This 2019 drawing continues the Trainbots, with Suiken, the plains warrior of the team. He turns into an orange and green Tokai-type 153 Express locomotive. Suiken was available in Japan in 1987. 

Here is Shouki, another in the line of Japanese Trainbot. He turns into a white and blue Type 0 Shinkansen bullet train, and was available in Japan in 1987. This drawing is from 2019.

The drawings of Trainbots continue with Seizan, who turns into a cream-and-orange colored Hakuchō 485-200 Series Ltd. Express Electric Locomotive. His toy was available in Japan in 1987.

Continuing the run of Trainbots with Kaen. He turns into an orange and gray JNR Class DE10 diesel locomotive. He was available in Japan starting in 1987.