Bot a Day: Daily Drawings

This lumbering titan is Dreadwing, Decepticon sneak attack specialist. His sneakiness must come from his jet mode - he turns into a B-2 Spirit stealth bomber. He also has a tank mode, making him a triple-changer, though his tank mode isn't terribly convincing - it's like his bomber mode with the wings tucked up and treads. An impressively sized toy, he was available with a second jet/robot pack-in, Smokescreen, who'll be posted tomorrow. Dreadwing was part of the 1994 wave of Generation Two toys.   

The next Decepticon Laser Rod in the line is Sizzle, from the 1994 Generation Two line. He's unrelated to the Sizzle character released in the UK that same year. He's the street warfare strategist. Turns into a tricked out Ford panel wagon hot rod. 

Here come the Decepticon Laser Rods. From the 1994 Generation Two line, the Laser Rods were tricked out hot rods that had electronic lights that lit up translucent swords. Jolt is their sneak assault specialist. He turns into a low-riding Ford deuce coupe. 

Today's new illustration is Ransack, Decepticon air recon fighter. Released in 1994, he has the same name as a deluxe Insecticon released in 1985, though it does not appear that he's supposed to be the same character. Ransack is part of the Rotor Force assortment of toys, meaning he has a spinning rotor that can launch as a gimmick. He transforms into Chance-Vought F4U-IA Corsair, a propeller-driven fighter plane that dates back to World War II.   

Starting a short run of Decepticon Rotor Force figures, toys with spinning rotors that can be launched as projectiles, here's Powerdive. From 1994, he turns into an Apache combat helicopter. 

New for this year is this drawing of Bruticus, the combined form of the Combaticons. This is his 1994 Generation Two incarnation, which is the exact same design as his original '86 version, albeit with brighter mid-90s colors. Bruticus was not available as a giftset this time around, so kids and collectors had to pick up the five individual Combaticons and build him themselves. Bruticus is a "Scramble city" type combiner, meaning each of his four limbs are equally interchangeable with each other, as well as other combiners of this type.  

Onslaught, Combaticon leader. This is his 1995 Generation Two incarnation, which is a repaint of his 1986 original, but now in a very bright yellow and purple finish. He still turns into a long flatbed artillery truck. Very common in Generation Two are markings on him loudly stating his name. Disguise wasn't as big an imperative in Generation Two.

From the 1994 Generation Two assortment comes Swindle, Combaticon munitions expert. This is a reissue of his 1985 toy with an amped up 90s red and purple paint-job. He turns into an FMX XR311 jeep.   

Continuing through the Generation Two Combaticon reissues, here is Vortex, the interrogator of the team. He turns into a Kaman Aerospace SH-2G Super Seasprite helicopter, with a blue and purple camo finish. 

The Generation Two Combaticon ranks continue to grow, this time with warrior Brawl, who turns into a Leopard tank. This is a 1994 reissue of his 1986 toy, but in brighter 90s style coloring.  

Today's Generation Two drawing is Blast Off, which begins a run of Combaticons. This subgroup made its debut in 1986, and was reissued in 1994 with new colors. In this incarnation, Blast Off is a white space shuttle with jagged purple camo. 

Here's the first original design for Optimus Prime in Generation Two, released in 1994 after the previous year had a re-release of his original design. Unlike other versions, this one is a not a flat-faced semi truck, but rather a longer nosed Kenworth T600B truck. And in this version, the cab and the trailer together form the robot. In vehicle mode, the trailer doesn't separate, and holds a bellows-operated missile launcher play feature. Like a lot of Generation Two toys, the figure has its name printed on it somewhere.  

Following up on yesterday's Blaze, here's Sizzle, a reissue of his 1988 toy brought back to market in Europe in a very 1994-looking translucent plastic style. As a Sparkabot, he has a pullback motor gimmick that drives him forward and also shoots harmless sparks from his body. He turns into a nitro-burning funny car.

Here's Blaze, a Generation Two release only available in Europe and Australasia in 1994. He's a redeco of Fizzle, a Sparkabot from the Generation One line released in 1988. The Sparkabots were a series of inexpensive toys with pullback motors and spark-firing action. Blaze turns into a Baja buggy and his G2 incarnation is distinct for having a very 90s translucent plastic finish. 

The next Laser Rod from the Generation Two line is this new drawing, Volt, Autobot speed technician (whatever that is). He's got that illuminated sword light-piping gimmick, and transforms into a '34 Ford Street Rod Coupe.   

En garde for Electro, Autobot street defense, one of the "Laser Rods" released in the 1994 wave of Generation Two toys. The Laser Rods' gimmick is twofold. They all turn into classic hot rods, tricked out with flame decals so that their robot modes look like Ed Hardy-bots. And they all carry a sword made of transluscent plastic that channels the light emitted by small bulb built into the robot's fist. Electro here turns into a golden Ford pickup truck.  

New today is Manta Ray, from the Autobot Rotor Force team. He turns into a twin pontoon speedboat, a form that better fits his spinning rotor toy gimmick than his partner Leadfoot. He was released in 1994, as part of the second wave of Generation Two toys.

This year's Generation Two illustration is of Leadfoot, Autobot Rapid Defense Strategist. He's part of the Rotor Force, a small team whose gimmick is that each vehicle has some sort of wind-up activated rotor that can launch. Now, some of these toys make more sense than others -- prop planes and helicopters, for example. Leadfoot is a Lola T93 Indy car - a vehicle that does not have a rotor at all. He was available in 1994. 

Behold, the combined form of the Generation Two Aerialbots: Superion. This design was originally released in 1986, and was reissued in new colors for the 1994 Generation Two assortment. Unlike the original, it was not made available as a giftset, meaning kids and collectors had to get all five Aerialbots to make this gestalt warrior. It is a "Scramble City"-type combiner, an old term from the mid-80s Japanese Transformers line that meant all four limbs are interchangeable as arms or legs (the "scramble") and that the team was met into interact with the city playsets available that year.  The Scramble City style combiners are different from the Constructicons, for instance, who must combine in a specific configuration.   

The leader of the Aerialbots is Silverbolt, reissued here for Generation Two in 1994 in a blue and red finish. He turns into a Concorde SST, and has new missile accessories in this edition. 

The fourth of five Aerialbots is Slingshot, who turns into a Harrier jump jet. The Generation Two incarnation of Slingshot, released in 1994, is notorious among collectors for suffering from "Gold Plastic Syndrome." The particular mix of plastic used for most of his body grows extremely brittle with age, and it's rare to find an example of this toy intact.  

The next Generation Two Aerialbot is Fireflight, whose 1994 incarnation most resembles the color scheme he originally had in his 1986 release. He's a recon specialist who turns into an F-4 Phantom II jet. His bio says he's terrible at flying. 

Today's Generation Two drawing is Air Raid, Aerialbot warrior. A 1994 reissue of his 1986 design, but now in a spiffy new paintjob that has more than a passing resemblance to Spider-Man's classic outfit, Air Raid still turns into an F-15 Eagle jet.   

Today begins a run of Aerialbots, released in 1994 for the second series of Generation Two toys. The Aerialbots were originally released in 1986, but their 90s reissues feature new colors and decals. First up is Skydive, the team's aerial warfare strategist. He transforms into an F-16 fighting falcon. 

By 1993, the idea of turning Megatron into a realistic handgun toy was off the table, and since the toyline had moved well beyond the need to repurpose existing Japanese designs, a Generation Two Megatron could be just about anything. To prove a worthy adversary to Prime's 18 wheeler, Megatron went with a heavy metal approach, and now turns into an M1 Abrams tank. Without a new animated cartoon or comic series to explain Megatron's evolution, it fell to the pages of the G.I.Joe comic, which picked up some loose threads from the defunct Transformers comic, and had Megatron's reformatting from his Generation One self to his new body occur thanks to some collusion with Cobra. This brief crossover in the Joe comics presaged a relaunch of a Generation Two comics series.  

Today's Generation Two color-changer is Jetstorm, Decepticon coordinator. Released in 1993 in the US, he turns into a non-specific Baja-style dune buggy. Like other color changers, he comes with a water-squirting weapon that changes the color of specific areas of plastic on his body. 

Today's Generation Two drawing is part of the Decepticon team of color-changers, toys that were released concurrently in Europe with different names and affiliations. In the US from 1993 this is Deluge, Decepticon scientific advisor. He turns into a Indy car, with plastic that changes color when exposed to warm water. Making things very confusing is that his body design was used in Europe as an Autobot named Speedstream, and in Europe the name "Deluge" denoted a different color-changing Autobot. 

Starting a new month of daily Transformers drawings! Here's today's Generation Two drawing, a Decepticon watch originally from Takara's Kronoform collection, now branded as Transformers from Hasbro. It's Scorpia, and she turns from a working wristwatch to a scorpion.