Bot a Day: Daily Drawings

Buzz Saw is the Predacon aerial surveillance specialist, able to spy on the enemy from a flight ceiling of 20,000 feet (or so says his bio). He turns into a yellowjacket. Released in 1996, he was one of two figures to use this body mold (the other will post Day 122, early next week).  

The Predacon counterpart to Orcanoch is Arachnid, a MicroVerse-branded playset that introduced a different scale to Transformers: Beast Wars. Arachnid is an immense spider that opens up to form a base, complete with little volcano staging area. His base mode includes scaled figures of Megatron and Razorbeast. This was available in 1997. 

The eight-legged femme fatale of the Predacons, Blackarachnia is a double agent loyal to Megatron (or is she?). Though her portrayal in the Beast Wars animated series warranted a new animation model that emphasized her gender, her toy was a simple cost-saving repaint of another spider in the Predacon ranks, Tarantulas. Even her beast mode is pretty generic, though her coloring tries to suggest she's a black widow spider, even if her anatomy doesn't. She was available in 1996. She proved to be popular enough and distinctive enough to warrant her own body molds going forward, whereas Tarantulas eventually stalled out.   

Mind your fingers around Snapper, Predacon infiltration specialist. As his name suggests, he turns into a rather aggressive snapping turtle. His bio describes "hydraulically hinged jaws." He was available in the first year of Beast Wars toys in 1996.  

Soaring into battle is Terrorsaur, the Predacon aerial combatant. As his name suggests, he turns into a pterosaur - specifically, a pteranodon. He was one of the select Beast Wars toys to be cast in the new animated show as it debuted in 1996.    

 Much like Dinobot became an individual Beast Wars character name after having been a faction , the same is true for Insecticon. Insecticon, the individual, is the Predacon surveillance specialist, and turns into a stag beetle. He was available in 1996.   

From the 1996 Beast Wars collection comes Iguanus, Predacon demolitions expert. His name is a reuse of a Decepticon Pretender from Generation One, but is not intended to be the same character. Iguanus uses the same body construction as yesterday's Megatron , but with enough differences to make him a frill lizard rather than a gator.   

Flipping over to the Predacon side of the initial Beast Wars wave of toys, we have Megatron represented as a crocodile (or is it alligator?). This is one of two Megatrons released in 1996, a smaller toy that was released as a two-pack with the bat-version of Optimus Primal .

Well that's just Prime: here's the heroic leader of the Maximal, the reimagining of one of the most beloved Transformers characters, and of course, a huge point of contention for fans not quite ready for Beast Wars. It's Optimus Primal, who turns into a gorilla, whose form sparked fruitless 'truck vs monkey' debates in the dankest corners of the usenet newsgroups. We've all grown since then.   

The last of the Happy Meal Maximals from 1996 is this odd little guy with the unlikely name of Under-3. It's not really his name -- it's an age indicator in the Happy Meal toy -- he's suitable for kids under three years of age. Without any other identifying names to go with, Transformers fans simply called him that, and it stuck. More recently unearthed development art reveals that this was meant to be an incarnation of Optimus Prime. The toy itself is simply a hinged locket shaped like a lion's head that opens up to reveal a sculpted robot body on the interior. 

Another of the Happy Meals toys made available through McDonalds in 1996, Rhino is a simplified Beast Wars Maximal who turns into, no surprise, a rhino. 

Panther is a very simplistic Beast Wars toy released as part of a McDonald's Happy Meal promotion in 1986. He's a Maximal who turns from a panther into a robot by, basically, standing up from all fours. 

This moody bat character is Onyx Primal, a Predacon available to attendees to the 1996 BotCon convention.  Cementing the 90s-ness of this toy, his third-party written bio is a Samuel L. Jackson quote from Pulp Fiction.   For a stretch in the 90s he was listed as a Maximal, and then again as a Predacon assassin in the 2000s. He's all over the place. He's a repaint of the retail bat Optimus Primal that kicked off the toyline . 

Polar Claw was one of the largest toys released in the first year of Beast Wars (1996). As his name suggests, he turns into a fearsome polar bear. His specialty is listed as Maximal infantry battle commander.  As a byproduct of his transformation, one of his bear legs turns into a flying drone, Batscout. 

Here's an odd one. Orcanoch was part of a short-lived subset of Beast Wars called MicroVerse, which allowed for playset play without having to make an enormous toy in scale with the other Beast Wars toys. More like a transforming MicroMachine playset, Orcanoch has a beast mode: an orca, and a Maximal base mode, but no robot mode. His base mode includes small figures representing Optimus Primal and Megatron. 

From the inaugural set of Beast Wars figures comes Wolfang, prowling the forests in his wolf mode. He's the Maximal infantry specialist. Never made it onto the animated series what with its limited cast, but was available in the 1996 toyline.   

Repaints were plenty in the Beast Wars collection, and right out of the gate, we had Cheetor and today's bot, Tigatron, sharing a mold. A change of Cheetor's spots to Tigatron's stripes (as well as all the other colors) turned the hotheaded speedster into wiser, more serene Maximal warrior. He's a recon specialist who prowls the tundra as a white tiger. He was available in 1996. 

Here's the loveable giant from the first wave of Beast Wars toys in 1996 as made memorable in the animated series. Rhinox, as the name implies turns into a rhinoceros. He's got brains as well as brawn.   

From the inaugural Beast Wars assortment of 1996 comes Dinobot, Maximal frontline combat specialist. His bio gives little hint as to the drama that his backstory carries in the animated series. There, Dinobot is a former Predacon turned good, full of conflicted pathos and an innate sense of honor. He transforms into a velociraptor.   

From 1996's initial Beast Wars collection we have the Cheetor, the Maximal's jungle patrol 'bot. As his name and chest barely conceal, he turns into a cheetah.  Everything about his characterization focused on speed, and in the animated series, he was the most youthful and energetic of the cast.   

The 100th new drawing of the year is Razorbeast, infantry trooper. He turns into a tusked boar and his transformation is largely automatic, as his beast shell splits and his limbs deploy once you tug his tail. He was part of the initial Beast Wars assortment released in 1996.

One of the principal cast-members of the Beast Wars is Rattrap is the trash-talking rat with the thickest Bronx accent in the universe. Scale has never been too consistent a concept in Transformers storytelling, but using the animated series and the toy as a guide, he's an enormous rat. 

Next in this first Beast Wars wave of 1996 toys is Armordillo, the Maximal desert warfare specialist. As his name suggests, he turns into an armadillo. His on packaging bio emphasizes the strength of his armor. He was not part of the subset of toys to get a spotlight in the Beast Wars animated series.  

And thus begins 1996 and the Beast Wars evolution of the Transformers franchise. The very concept of the brand was reworked; gone were cars, trucks and planes. Now, Transformers hid inside the hides of animals. The relaunched animated series came up with a plausible reason for such an evolution and expanded the Transformers mythology with several big concepts. The toys and mythos reworked the good guys and bad guys from Autobots and Decepticons to heroic Maximals and evil Predacons. Insects and reptiles tended to dominate the bad guy team while mammals represented the Maximals, but that was a light rule at best, as the toyline evolved. First up is Optimus Primal, leader of the Maximals, though this is not in his most well known incarnation, which would also come out in 1996. This first Optimus is a smaller bat mode version of the character that was bundled together in a two-pack with Megatron, and a pack-in comic book.   

We're back to the Go-Bot designs with Nightracer, Decepticon gunner. A repaint of the same body design shared by High Beam  and Bumblebee , Nightracer turns into (possibly) a Banshee-style Pontiac Firebird concept car. Nightracer is notable as one of the earliest characters delineated to be female from the start, and was the first convention exclusive Transformer, available to attendees of 1995 BotCon. She is included here as the last of the 1995 line and therefore, the final Generation Two line. In 96 days, I've drawn every bot in this somewhat stalled relaunch of Transformers.  The brand would return in 1996 with a roar and a whole new look.  Tomorrow starts the Beast Wars. 

The second of two Autorollers released in 1995, Roadblock is a front-line defense specialist. This lumbering Decepticon turns into a payloader-type construction vehicle. As an Autoroller, he is motorized and can transform automatically. 

Dirtbag is one of two Decepticon Auto Rollers released in 1995. These burly motorized construction vehicles would drive forward and then transform on its own. Dirtbag turns into a earth mover type dump truck. 

Here it is. What I think may indeed be the ugliest Transformers toy. In the Generation Two line at least. It's another Power Master; in this case, Bullet Bike, who awkwardly transformers into a motorcycle with a sidecar. I tried to pretty him up in this drawing, but the toy itself is an unappealing brick of a thing. He was available in 1995.

The Decepticons also had Power Masters at the tail end of Generation Two (1995). These had wind-up pullback motors that could be activated by plugging their weaponry into specific slots. The motorized wheel base made for some awkward, clunky designs. This is Staxx, whose specialty is listed as "highway destruction." His vehicle mode is a long-nose cab semi truck.  

Today's bot is Road Pig, the Decepticon answer to Road Rocket , the other "Laser Cycle" released at the tail end of the Generation Two series. As a Laser Cycle, Road Pig boasts realistic styling in his motorcycle mode (a Harley Davidson Electra Glide), extremely poseable robot mode, and a powered LED that pipes through a translucent plastic barrel. He was available in 1995.