Bot a Day: Daily Drawings

Here's another incarnation of Speed-Bot, this time with an all-new design. Released in 2004, near the tail-end of the Playskool Go-Bots line, this Speed-Bot turns into a different red sports car than previous versions. 

Released near the tail end of the Playskool Go-Bots line is this new incarnation of Buzzer-Bot. He was previously a mechanical wasp , and then later a motorcycle . Now, for 2004, he is a convertible sports car. Sharing this drawing with him is a new incarnation of Beast-Bot, with similar colors he had before but now instead of turning into an ape or big cat , he's a dinosaur. 

 Yesterday's Hauler-Bot was more than just the truck that turns into a robot. He also included a car-carrier trailer (scaled and shaped to fit the Playskool Go-Bots aesthetic) that also transformed. It split into two, with the upper portion of the carrier turning into a pterodactyl, and the lower into a wheeled turtle (or maybe it's an ankylosaur). Neither were named, so the whole assembly is collectively known as Hauler-Bot.  As an additional 'Super Mode,' the Hauler-Bot robot can stand on the turtle base and wear the pterodactyl on his shoulders. I don't think that will warrant a separate drawing, unlike some of the more complicated Super Modes elsewhere in the line. 

The largest of the Playskool Go-Bots toys,  Hauler-Bot is turns into a big, chunky semi truck packed with lights and electronic features. His trailer splits apart into two other components, which will get their own drawing. Hauler-Bot was available in 2003. 

Here's another Speed-Bot, now designated a "Racer," he is a deluxe figure that turns from a sports car into a highly poseable robot. This version of Speed-Bot comes with two unnamed pack-in figures, a new version of a "Kid-Bot" like driver, and a redeco of the existing "Gas-Bot" design.

Now in Ultra-scale, this largest rendition of Speed-Bot has been reformatted to turn into a road-hugging dragster. The large toy has a spring-loaded parachute deployer meant to slow him down in car mode. He was one of four versions of Speed-Bot available in 2003.

A couple more redecos to finish off this week. Speed-Bot was reissued many times throughout the Go-Bots run, and this version has the G-logo on his chest. This version came with a VHS cassette with episodes of the short-lived Go-Bots on it. Next to Speed-Bot is Scrap-Bot, a lime green redeco of the yellow Strong-Bot toy that turns into a bulldozer.  

The Go-Bots assortment known as the "Glow-Bots" were named such because of some luminous features in their toys. Most are redecos of existing Go-Bot designs, but front and center here is Racer-Bot BETA, a robot who turns into a generic '30s style hot rod with light-up engine block feature. The other 'bots with him are Buzzer-Bot , Truck-Bot (a redeco of Flash-Bot ) and Taxi-Bot (another redeco of the original Speed-Bot ).  

Skipping past posting basic redecos daily, I've combined a quartet of previously released Go-Bot designs into a single drawing. This is the "Mission: Earth" team, an assortment of individually sold Go-Bots from the 2003 line connected by packaging text branding. The team consists of (from left to right): Tigatron (a redeco of Cheetor ); Reptron (a redeco of Dino-Bot ); Cop-Bot (a redeco of Speed-Bot ) and Beast-Bot, a slight redeco of his earlier Gorilla-Bot release.  

Strong-Bot is back, now as an earth mover dump truck. This was his inclusion in the Botropolis wave of 2003-2004 GoBots line. The first version of Strong-Bot was redecoed in this assortment, as a green bulldozer named Scrap-Bot. 

Though the Playskool Go-Bots line frequently relied on redecos to bolster its product assortment, the occasional new design would freshen the franchise. Flash-Bot here is a new one added to the 2003-2004 toys, turning into a bright blue pickup truck.

Buzzer-Bot, who had previously been released as a mechanical wasp , now has been reformatted to have a motorcycle mode. He was part of a subset of city-dwelling vehicles dubbed Botropolis. By this time, the Go-Bots line had evolved to do away with Transformers branding, and the cutesified Autobot symbol that had adorned the figures was replaced with a industrial-looking "G" logo.

Finishing off the rebranded 2003 line of Go-Bots with the second deluxe Formula 1 racer. It's Speed-Bot reformatted into a new design (the same mold as Mirage-Bot) but with different pack-in figures. Though Kid-Bot is the same design that came with Mirage-Bot , Speed-Bot II was packaged with a little gas pump named Gas-Bot, who would undergo redecos and pack-ins in the years to come.

Two deluxe toys round out the first assortment of Go-Bots, both sharing a design but with unique decos and pack-in figures. First up is Mirage-Bot, whose Indy car style livery is a callback to the original Generation One Mirage . He comes bundled with a little driver named Kid-Bot, as well as a robotic (?) canine named Doggie. 

The name Silverbolt is a popular one in Transformers, working its way through numerous iterations of the brand . Go-Bots had a turn with Silverbolt, with a large flying wing plane that turns into a chunky robot, who is a redeco and retooling of Playskool's earlier Aerobot . Silverbolt would be released several times in the Go-Bots line but was renamed Silver-Bot.

Reptron and Dino-Bot share the same design, with only deco differences. So rather than take up two days with these Go-Bots, I combined them with one in robot mode, and the other in dino mode. Which is which? Dino-Bot is gray and green, while Reptron is orange and red. Take your pick in a black and white drawing. 

Can't go wrong with a name like Strong-Bot. This mighty construction robot turns into a fanciful bulldozer design with a push-button action play feature that moves his scoop up and down. That scoop becomes his "hands" in robot mode. This name would get reused in the Go-Bots line a few times, meaning that Strong-Bot gets reformatted into several construction designs. 

If a design works, just repaint it. The successful Speedbot / Mototron design from Playskool Big Adventures made it to the Playskool Go-Bots line several times, redeco'ed (and in some cases, slightly retooled) to become different characters. Front and center here is Fire-Bot, who turns into a fire chief's sports car with a paint-scheme that appears to be a nod to Generation One's Red Alert . Since this design appears several times, I figured I'd combine them in a single drawing rather than take up three. On the right there's Prowl-Bot, the cop car, and on the left is Aero-Bot II, presumably the same character as the plane now turned into a blue and orange sports car. These were all available in 2003.

Buzzer-Bot turns into a mechanical wasp, and was one of the initial wave of Playskool Go-Bots. Buzzer-Bot was available at retail in 2002, and in a K-Mart exclusive two-pack with Aero-Bot II. 

After 1-2-3 Transformers became Playskool Big Adventures, the Playskool line label name was simplified even further going into 2003 to become Go-Bots, a clever redeployment of a one-time competitor name now owned by Hasbro. Gorillabot was renamed Beast-Bot II (no idea why the II is in there), as his beast mode was no longer an ape, but a big cat since he was a redeco of the Playskool Cheetor released earlier. Rather than just re-draw Cheetor, I opted to draw Beast-Bot II's beast mode. 

Aerobot was the largest of the Playskool Big Adventure bots, able to turn into a futuristic flying wing jet. His toy had light up and sound features. The Big Adventures line didn't last long before being rebranded as Go-Bots, a clever repurposing of Transformers' old rival toyline that Hasbro now owned the trademark for. Aerobot made the transition unchanged, but his name acquired a hyphen -- Aero-Bot -- under his Go-Bots incarnation. Both versions were available in 2002. 

Speedbot and Mototron round out the rest of the basic toys from the Playskool Big Adventures line. I've combined them into one drawing because they are essentially the same design except done in different decos. Speedbot is predominantly red, while Mototron is black. They both turn into sports cars and were available in 2002. 

Next in the Playskool Big Adventure series is Gorillabot, a Transformer which draws inspiration from the Beast-series Optimus Primal. As his name implies, Gorillabot turns into a mechanical gorilla. He was initially available in 2002 from Playskool.

1-2-3 Transformers was not to last, having only five toys released from 2001-2002, but by the end of the year, the pre-school audience was able to get their little hands on Transformers: Big Adventures, from Playskool. These did not have light and sound features, but were chunky toys with some autotransformation features. First up is Cheetor, who turns into a mechanical cheetah. He does have a cutesy Autobot symbol on him that would later be retconned to signify him as a Go-Bot. 

Every Transformers line has examples of redecos becoming new characters, and even in 1-2-3 Transformers limited stable of heroic bots, most are repaints of others. Here, Fire Marshal Mike is a repaint of Policeman Pete , while Airlift Andy swooping overhead is Chopper Charlie redone. All four were available individually in 2002. I just paired these guys up rather than use up too many days drawing redecos in black-and-white illustrations that don't really showcase the differences that well. 

Keeping the streets safe from... well, something as there are no bad guys in the 1-2-3 Transformers line is Policeman Pete. As his name and easily legible livery make clear, he turns into a police car. He has battery-operated light and sound features like all good cop car toys should. He was available from Tonka in 2002. 

Having completed drawing the Robots in Disguise line, I'm shifting gears radically back to the 1-2-3 Transformers line from Tonka. This pre-school line ran from 2001 to 2002, and launched with Rescue Roy , the sole occupant of this series until he was joined by companions. A predecessor to the modern Rescue Bots, these toys all were in civic duty occupations - fire and police rescue for instance. First up is Charlie Chopper, a rescue helicopter, released in 2002. 

The Beast Machines Jetstorm mold shows up again (after Jetstorm , Sonic Attack Jet , and Storm Jet ), this time as Jhiaxus, a Decepticon character who originated in Marvel's Transformers Generation Two comic. This Jhiaxus looks nothing like the comic character, but Robots in Disguise is a different continuity anyhow. This Decepticon air commander was a KayBee stores exclusive released in 2003. 

This guy's got a bit of a convoluted history. The design was originally intended for a Beast Machines release but never made it out before the line was cancelled. Instead, it was ported over into Robots in Disguise as " Megatron Megabolt ," who I drew back in 2021. That version made it to Kaybee Toys as an exclusive. The one illustrated here, though, is just Megabolt, redecoed and again released as a Kaybee Toys exclusive, this time in 2003. It's a different character. It turns into a spider-legged tank that resembles a big robot head which, coincidentally, fits perfectly on the Fortress Maximus body.  

 Once again, it's Scourge. This time, part of the Destructicon line which consisted only of two villains and released as a KB Toys exclusive in 2003. (In Europe, he was available at Toys R Us). Like his fellow Destructicon, Bludgeon , Scourge is a redeco of a Generation Two release. In this case, a 1994 "Hero" incarnation of Optimus Prime  which turns into a long-nosed Kenworth T600B truck with a bellows-operated artillery gun. That Prime got dipped in the all-black deco, turning him into Scourge.

Starting off March with a very brief run of Destructicons, two villains late in the Robots in Disguise run. A KB Toys exclusive in the US (Toys 'R' Us in the UK), Bludgeon hit retail in 2003, after the RID line was already sunset. Bludgeon is a redeco of a Generation Two Megatron Hero figure released in 1994. He turns into an M1A1 Abrams tank with an air-bellows activated warhead launcher.