Bot a Day: Daily Drawings

Sunstreaker again already? The Side Swipe Dodge Viper design gets another issue, and this version of Suntreaker -- the Binaltech Asterisk edition -- actually predated the Alternators Sunstreaker by a few months in 2005. The deco is different, with the Japanese exclusive lacking the black racing stripes and having more of a lemony shade of yellow. He is packed with a small PVC figure of Junko, a character from the Car Robots animation. I don't know why she has a giant umbrella. 

Alert is another in the Binaltech Asterisk series of Alternator/Binaltech redecos with bonus PVC human figurine pack-ins. As the name suggests, Alert is an incarnation of the G1 character Red Alert. Rather than his classic "Fire Chief" car alt-mode, Alert is instead a Japanese police car of the Subaru WRX STi variety. Partnered with Alert is a human police woman, Ai Kuruma, based on a human character from the Robots in Disguise/Car Robots cartoon. 

The Alternators line was not long for the world -- the complications of making licensed toys meant that the toy manufacturer wasn't exactly in charge of their own fate and agreements would come with expiration dates. In Japan, the originating line - Binaltech -- briefly transformed into Binaltech Asterisk, a line of redecos of existing molds paired with figurines of female characters from anime or manga fiction. This is comparatively wholesome to what the line would later become.  So of the short-lived Binaltech Asterisk line, first up is Broadblast - a redeco of the Scion xB - intended to be a new incarnation of the classic G1 character Blaster . He was packaged with newscaster Lumina Hoshi. 

Remember a few days ago when I said that Battle Ravage should have turned into a Jaguar?  Well, turns out it would only take a few years for that to happen. Between 2004 and 2007, Hasbro landed a license with Jaguar to produce a toy that transformed from a Jaguar XK, and also secured the Ravage trademark so they didn't have to append his name as "Battle Ravage." Ravage ended up in the US market as a Walmart exclusive, and had appeared in a variety of European markets. Of note, both Ravage and Rumble never had Japanese releases, making them rare examples of Alternators that did not previously exist as Binaltech releases.  

The tail end of the Alternators line consisted mostly of repaints but a couple of notable new designs did arrive before the series closed. Rumble, the classic cassette character from the very first assortment, got an all new car form with his robot mode having details that honor his original design. His piledriver arms - entirely an invention of the animated series - are represented here. He turns into a 2006 Honda Civic SI.  He was a Walmart exclusive available in 2007 under the trademark adjusted name of "Decepticon Rumble." 

Nemesis Prime, an evil twin to Optimus Prime first introduced in the Armada line, gets the Alternators treatment, allowing a reuse of the Dodge Ram SRT-10 design. In the North American market, this toy was only available at the Hasbro Toy Shop and at San Diego Comic-Con International in 2006. 

Most of the Alternators line consisted of classic Generation One characters given new modern shape and deluxe styling. And then there's Decepticharge. Who is he? His name has no precedent in the history of the line, making him feel like an outlier among his peers. As the story goes, the shape of his head indicates he was originally intended to be a Windcharger toy that got reassigned to the Decepticon ranks when some other changes in the line created a ripple effect. So he's a Decepticon-Windcharger.... Decepticharge... guy? I can't quite follow it. Anyway, he turns into a Honda S2000. 

From 2004 is a retool of the Mazda RX-8 design to become Shockblast, an incarnation of the classic character Shockwave whose name was not available for trademark reasons. The head and arm cannon are, of course, unique to this model, but the RX-8 also has modified front and rear fenders, doors, and spoiler. In Japan, his name was "Laserwave." 

Another classic Decepticon gets the Alternator treatment, this time Ravage -- or "Battle Ravage" as the current trademark goes. Rather than be a fully mechanical jaguar, he's a humanoid robot with a feline head, much like his Beast Wars incarnation. The body is the same Chevrolet Corvette Z06 form that was the basis of Tracks and Swerve. Battle Ravage was available at retail in 2004. I know what you're thinking -- why couldn't he be a Jaguar car? Wait for it... 

The fast-talking arms dealer from the original line of Combaticons gets the Alternators treatment, this time as a Jeep Wrangler Sport. He's a reuse of a design also found as Hound and Rollbar. The 8th release in the Alternators series, Swindle reached store shelves in 2004. 

Flipping over to the Decepticons of the Alternators line -- originally, the series was to be all good guys, but that's not as fun as having villains, and car manufacturers were surprisingly okay to have their vehicles depicted as bad guys. First up is Dead End, who is a black redeco of Side Swipe / Sunstreaker, with a straight-up re-use of Sunstreaker's head, as opposed to a retooling that in any way resembles the original Dead End toy. He turns into a Dodge Viper.

One of the last of the original Alternators run, Rodimus was a convention exclusive available at SDCC in 2007, as well as the online Hasbro Toy Shop. The flame-deco'ed Rodimus uses the same body as Mirage, but with a new head. This design also was the basis for Kiss Player Rodimus, but the less said about Kiss Players, the better. 

Arcee was only released in the Japanese Binaltech line, and not in the North American Alternators release. She is a basic redeco of the previously released Windcharger design that turns into a 2004 Honda S2000 with a hardtop roof. No concessions are made to her body design to appear more feminine than the previous versions of this sculpt -- Windcharger and Decepticharge. 

Toward the end of the Alternator lines, the toys were predominantly redecos of previously released models, and the connection to pre-existing characters became less and less of a conceptual slam dunk. Case in point with Camshaft, a slight modification of the Prowl Acura RSX toy. These match the blue model of Prowl, and his head design -- often a point of divergence on reused designs -- was a straight-up reuse of Prowl's noggin. My illustration modifies that a bit to make it feel a bit different. The original Prowl drawing I did had his legs configured "backwards" to closer approximate his original 1984 release. This drawing is the proper leg configuration. 

Released towards the end of the Alternators line in 2006, the classic character of Mirage is reimagined from his original Formula-1 incarnation to a sleek and then-current Ford GT model. 

The big Autobot boss man himself get into the Alternators line, but at the same 1:24 scale as the rest of the assortment. As such, Optimus Prime did not turn into a semi-truck, but rather a faithful recreation of a Dodge Ram SRT-10. This model of truck had the supercharged V10 engine also found in the Dodge Viper, hence the inclusion of Viper branding on his chassis. 

The Subaru Impreza design continues to find new iterations in the Alternators line, now becoming the alt-form of Ricochet. This character has a bit of a convoluted history, in that he is an Americanization of a Japanese-original character named Stepper , a Targetmaster redeco of the original Jazz figure released in 1987. Stepper was re-issued in the US in 2004 as part of a commemorative series of re-releases, but his name was changed to Ricochet. That same deco was then ported to an Alternators figure in 2006.  

As per his Generation One backstory, Sunstreaker is the "twin" brother of Side Swipe, and this is realized in Alternators by making him a yellow reduce of his brother's red form. Both turn into Dodge Vipers. Sunstreaker was released in 2005.

You'd totally be forgiven if you assumed from the help of this bot's helmet that it was intended to be Ironhide. But that's not the case; this dark blue Toyota Scion xB is the Autobot theoretician, Skids. Released in 2005, his US version came with bitchin' flame decals on the doors whereas his Japanese version did not. 

Released in 2006, Rollbar is a call-back to a Generation One Throttlebot character, but now with an orange finish. He turns into a Jeep Wrangler TJ custom with off-road tires and a chromed bull-bar on his grill. He is a redeco of the previously released Hound and Swindle figures in the Alternators line. 

The classic Autobot police car returns in the Alternators collection, now turning into an Acura RSX. His US release has a deco that resembles his classic G1 design, with generic 'POLICE' lettering on his doors and star badges on his chest and doors. His Japanese release has more accurate Japanese police livery, complete with kanji lettering. In Japan, there was also a "civilian" version without the police lights, and in a blue finish (he's known as Vivid Blue Pearl Prowl). Prowl's legs work either facing forward or backward, and I opted for the 'backwards' configuration in this drawing as it more resembles his classic look. 

A retool of the Tracks figure, this incarnation of Swerve - a rarity before he became a star in the IDW comics - turns into a Corvette Z06 in red, with a flame deco on his hood. 

A retooling of the previously released Grimlock, the Alternators Wheeljack also turns into a 2005 Ford Mustang GT, with a S197 chassis, and blue racing stripes on his white chassis. He was available at retail in 2005.

The Binaltech release in Japan named this toy Overdrive, and he does more resemble that G1 Omnibot than he does Windcharger, but trademark issues made the name Overdrive unavailable for the US market. This Windcharger turns into a Honda S2000 sports car with a ragtop roof that becomes a shield that the robot form can wield. 

The classic Dinobot leader Grimlock got an Alternators toy, but rather than be a lumbering T-Rex, he now turns into a very detailed Ford Mustang GT. He was available at US retail in 2005 as was numbered as 9th in the Alternators series, 10th in the Japanese Binaltech series.

Sidestepping the trademark name issue with 'Jazz,' Hasbro opted to use the classic character's Japanese name for his Alternators incarnation. So, here's Meister, who turns into a Mazda RX-8. He was released in a white finish and a red finish as well, the latter of was later renamed Zoom Zoom in fiction. 

Autobot Tracks -- an appended name to preserve the character name that had lapsed in trademark -- turns into Corvette, as his original incarnation did, but now it's a more modern Corvette C5 Z06. In his Japanese Binaltech release, he has a yellow finish, while his American Alternators edition was in his classic blue hue. 

Calling him "Autobot Hound" is a way of getting around the lapsed trademark of Hound, as the trademark on "Autobot" was still intact. True to his Generation One roots, the classic Hound character turns into a jeep, but this time a licensed American one: a Jeep Wrangler. 

One of the unforeseen consequences of the long-lived success of Transformers is that in 2004, some of the original character names had lapsed in trademark. Bluestreak was not available, so the original G1 design became Silverstreak -- or Streak in Japan. As part of the Alternators line, he turns into Subaru Impreza WRX, a slight retooling of the Smokescreen design.

Somewhere in the 21st century, Sideswipe gained a space in his name, becoming Side Swipe in newer incarnations. He was the second in the Binaltech and Alternators series of licensed car designs, turning into a red convertible Dodge Viper SRT-10. In robot mode, his V-10 engine becomes a laser pistol he can hold in an articulated hand. His original G1 Japanese name of Lambor remained unchanged even though he doesn't turn into a Lamborghini. 

 After taking 2024 off, these daily robot sketches are back. Over the past few years, I've chronologically (more or less) through the Transformers brand from 1984 and have nearly 20 years covered. So now, we're starting off in 2003-2004, depending on what side of the Pacific you're on. In Japan, this line was known as Binaltech, and started in '03. For the rest of the world, it would arrive in 2004 as the Alternators sub-brand. A key distinction of this well-designed series was that the car modes were officially licensed in partnership with the car manufacturers. So no more vague designs that might be a brand name car -- these were presented as the real deal. First up is Smokescreen, a classic Autobot character from the first generation of toys , now imagined as a Subaru Impreza WRT World Rally Team car, covered with all sorts of logo details, and sporting clear plastic windows and real rubber tires.