Bot a Day: Daily Drawings

Obsidian is a 2002 release in the Robots in Disguise line, a redeco of the same figure originally released in 2000 as part of Beast Machines. What was once a Vehicon general is now a Decepticon. He turns into a rather alien looking Cybertronian helicopter, though in this case he has Earth desert camo.   

 Packed with Dreadwind is the smaller jet and robot, Smokejumper. His alt mode is a sleek, dart-shaped jet of invented design that can fit into the larger B2 stealth bomber that Dreadwind turns into. Smokejumper's design, like Dreadwind, was released as several other characters in other lines, including Smokescreen from Generation Two and Starscream from Beast Wars II in Japan. 

Dreadwind (and his pack-in partner Smokejumper) were some of the last toys released in the Robots in Disguise, coming exclusively to Target store shelves in 2004 when the next toyline, Armada, had already started rolling out. Dreadwind is a redeco of a Generation Two design, a 1994 Decepticon named Dreadwing (note the G), which is so closely named that it no doubt causes confusion (need a mnemonic? DreadwinG with the G for G2, DreadwinD with the D for Robots in Disguise). This design was also the basis for BB in the Japanese line in 1998 . Dreadwind turns into a B2 stealth bomber, and has a secondary tank mode as well.    

Today's drawing is the mighty Cryotek, a Predacon gangster who is a redeco of Transmetal 2 Megatron , He transforms into a massive biomechanical dragon, and has a secondary -- if unconvincing -- drag racer mode that's basically a dragon body on wheels. Cryotek was released in 2002 as a Target exclusive. 

Axer is a Decepticon motorcycle - he turns into a Harley Davidson Electra Glide - who was available in a two-pack with Sideways exclusively at Walmart in 2002. His body design was previously used for Road Pig in the Generation Two "Laser Cycles" subset. He has built-in LED effects that illuminate his translucent arm cannon. 

It's Scourge again - released again in 2002 but in a Spychanger incarnation. One of the few new molds rolled out for the Spychanger line, this Scourge is a simplified version of his larger design , without the tanker trailer. Since this mold originated as Scourge, it has the distinction of not being an Optimus Prime redeco. But in a bit of turnabout-is-fairplay, this design would be redecoed as Optimus Prime in a few years time.

Scourge is a redeco of the L aser Rod incarnation of Optimus Prime from Generation Two . Whereas other redecos were quickly forgotten as quick methods to expand a set of products, Scourge had narrative sticking power because, hey, an evil twin of Optimus Prime is kind of irresistible. In Japan, he was known as Black Convoy. Within a few years of his release, other incarnations followed, most often taking existing Optimus Prime designs and painting them black. This Scourge made it to the US in 2002 as a Toys R Us exclusive.

A redeco of Road Rocket , a Generation Two "Laser Cycle" with light-piping transparent weapon feature, Sideways is an Autobot who turns into a Suzuki Katana cycle. Released in 2002 (bundled with Axer as a Walmart exclusive(, he was the first in a series of toys named Sideways which later got joined in a multiverse-spanning continuity to be the same character hopping from continuity to continuity.

Completing the three-pack of Robots in Disguise  Autobots that started off as Vehicons designs for Beast Machines is Scavenger, who doesn't even get a name change from h is previous release . Scavenger has no toy bio and no animation appearances; only later online lore established him as an Autobot drill sergeant. He turns into a Cybertronian shovel tank. He was bundled with Mirage GT and Nightcruz and released in 2002.  

Mirage GT was included in a three-pack of other designs that originally stemmed from Beast Machines Vehicons. In this case, a direct port of a bad guy character named Mirage , redecoed and turned into Mirage GT, an iteration of the existing Robots in Disguise character . He turns into a Cybertronic dragster, and was packaged with Nightcruz and Scavenger .

Another Beast Machines redeco, Nightcruz has a design first used as Spystreak, a Vehicon . Nightcruz turns into a very stylized Cybertronic spy jet, and her robot form has lacks hands as her arms end in a gigantic claw and double cannon. She was available in 2002 in a three-pack with Mirage GT and Scavenger .   

Storm Jet is a redeco of Jetstorm, a Vehicon villain from Beast Machines . Despite sporting Autobot sigils and some good guy coloring (he's the same black, red and white as Jetfire), it's hard to hide Storm Jet's bad guy origins what with his very alien and aggressive design. 

Continuing the Spychangers unique to Robots in Disguise, here's X-Brawn. He was available in 2002 in a two-pack with a similarly-scaled Spychanger version of Scourge, who I'll get to in another week or so. Like his more detailed earlier release , X-Brawn turns into a Mercedes-Benz ML320 SUV, albeit now with a more simplified design and with free-rolling wheels. 

Today's drawing is the Robots in Disguise Optimus Prime design recast as a low-price point, low-articulation Spychanger toy. This would be a trend that would continue in the line, especially as Transformer toys moved into live-action tie-ins -- different toys meant to be not only representations of the same character, but the same design. In the past, we rationalized that the various editions of Prime were redesigns of the character in-fiction (like, Powermaster and Action Master were different designs of the character). Here, in fiction, Optimus didn't really have a Spychanger phase, it's more that this is a more affordable version of a larger toy. It's a gray area - I could've skipped this bot, but decided to go with it anyway.

Shifting gears back to the Autobots, we return to the Spychanger series -- small cars with free-spinning wheels that make for zoomy toys. Whereas most of the Spychangers were redecos of old GoBot designs from Generation 2, Robots in Disguise included a few designs, Ultra Magnus being one of them. This Ultra Magnus is meant to be an approximation of a much larger design , with necessary cosmetic changes to fit into the lower price point and smaller scale of the toy format. His transformation is much simpler, and he still turns into a car carrier. 

A redeco of the Robots in Disguise Megatron released in the same year, Galvatron is an upgrade of the original form. Aside from a change in color, Galvatron's toy instructions have some a few more imaginative configurations that give him 10 modes without major physical alterations to his original Megatron toy. So, Galvatron turns into a 1) robot, 2) gargoyle 3) two-headed dragon 4) car 5) jet 6) giant clawed hand 7) winged griffin 8) pteranodon 9) mammoth and 10) hydrofoil. Whew! 

The combined form of all five Commandos creates this mega-warrior Decepticon, the mighty Ruination. In Japan, his name is Baldigus. This incarnation of the character was released as its individual components in the States in 2001; it was only Japan that initially made it available as a gift-set. Two Walmart exclusives followed in 2003 and 2004 with different decos. Since this is essentially a redeco of the 1986 Combaticons, I've drawn this combiner before. First as Bruticus from 1986; then as Battle Gaia from 1992 Japan ; and then as Bruticus for Generation Two from 1994 . 

Wrapping up the Decepticon Commandos from 2001 is their leader, Mega-Octane -- released a year earlier in Japan as "Dolrailer."  He turns into a long flatbed artillery truck, and is a redeco of the Combaticon leaderk, Onslaught. I've drawn iterations of this design before: Onslaught (from 1986) ; Great Cannon (from 1992) ;  Onslaught, Generation Two (from 1995) , 

Next in the run of Decepticon Commandos is Rollbar (no relationship to the G1 Throttlebot of the same name). Rollbar is a redeco of Swindle, the classic Combaticon con-artist. He turns into an FMC XR311 combat support vehicle. His Japanese incarnation, "Greejeeber" has a name apparently derived from "green jeep." Earlier drawings of this design can be found here: Swindle from G1 ; Swindle from G2 ; and Leyland from Japan .   

The next Combaticon redeco turned into a Decepticon Commando is Ro-Tor, whose body design was first released as Vortex in 1986. This version has blue, red and orange deco, and was first released in Japan in 2000 as "Hepter," renamed Ro-Tor (a very Go-Bots  name) for his 2001 Robots in Disguise release. He turns into a Kaman SH-2 Seasprite helicopter. Earlier drawings of this design include the aforementioned Vortex , the G2 Vortex , and the Japan-only Target Hawk .

Next in the series of Decepticon Commandos is Movor, a redeco of the classic Combaticon Blast Off. Movor was first available in Japan as "Shuttler," before being renamed in 2001 for his Robots in Disguise release. As with the other Commandos, I've drawn this design several times. Here's his Blast Off (1986) version ; Blast Off, his 1994 Generation Two version ; and a renamed Shuttle Gunner, from Japan in 1992 .

Beginning today, a run of Commandos (or in Japan, Combatrons), redecos of the original G1 Combaticons for the Robots in Disguise series. The five original Combaticons got new colors and new names, making them a very popular series to be reissued over the years. This is Armorhide, who turns into a Leopard 1A3 MBT tank. I had previously illustrated this design as Brawl (from 1986) , Brawl (from Generation 2, 1995) , and Sandstorm ( from a 1992 Japan release ). In Japan, this 2000 version of Brawl was named Dangar, while his US 2001 release was named Armorhide. 

Skyfire is another re-use of a Machine Wars body design (which itself was an unused Generation 2 design), transforming from Decepticon robot to a Dassault Rafale jet. I have previously illustrated this design as Skywarp and Thundercracker from Machine Wars, and Thrust from Beast Wars II. Skyfire was available in the Robots in Disguise line in a two-pack bundled with Tow-Line .

 After a run of gnarly looking Predacons, we switch gears this week to some more traditionally styled Decepticons -- all of them redecos of previously released toys. First up is Wind Sheer (if his name is meant to be a nod to the dangerous atmospheric conditions to aircraft, it's misspelled). He turns into a Lockheed-Martin F-22, and is a redeco of a design used during the Machine Wars run, as Megatron , Megaplex  and as Thrust in the Japanese Beast Wars II line.  Wind Sheer was available in a two-pack with Skid-Z during the Robots in Disguise run.

The big bad leader of the Predacons gets an imposing design worthy of his legacy. In his Stateside release, he was fittingly named Megatron, inheriting the name from the original Transformers villain. In Japan, he was known as Gigatron. Whatever his name, he has a half-dozen modes: robot, gargoyle, jet, racecar, double-headed dragon, and an enormous hand that fits onto Omega Prime . 

Poet, scholar, a deeply soulful shark of a villain, Sky-Byte is one of the more memorable Predacons introduced in Robots in Disguise. In Japan, he went by the name Gelshark. His design is a redeco of Beast Wars Transmetal Cybershark .

The third of three Predacons (along with Gas Skunk and Dark Scream) available in a three-pack as part of the initial Robots in Disguise run, Slapper is a redeco of the previously released Beast Wars Transmetal Spittor.  As such, he turns into a techno-organic poison tree frog. When first released in Japan in 2000 as part of the Car Robots line, he was known as Goosher. 

No one's slick as Gaskunk, no one's quick as Gaskunk, no one's neck's as incredibly thick as Gaskunk. Gaskunk (Japanese name, released in the US as Gas Skunk) is one of a trio of Predacons released in a three-pack (the other two being Dark Scream and Slapper). Gas Skunk's design is a reuse of Stinkbomb , a Maximal from the Transmetals assortment of Beast Wars.  He turns into a half-mechanical, half-organic skunk. And thus begins February.