Bot a Day: Daily Drawings

A redeco of Armada Unicron is Hikari no Unicron, AKA The Unicron of Light. Extremely rare -- only 10 were ever made -- this toy was a contest prize in the Legends of the Microns line in Japan in 2004. Unicron of Light, in storytelling, is formed by the aggregation of many Mini-Cons into a glowing green giant. He turns into a planet-gobbling planet and is packed with the Mini-Con Bug .

The last of the Exdimensions to be featured here are a trio based on the Adventure Mini-Con Team from Armada. These redecos were part of the Legends of the Microns line released in Japan in 2003 and consists of (from left to right) Spike (the dune buggy), Junk (the ice clearer), and Winch (the pick-up truck). This concludes the exclusive characters created for the Japanese incarnations of the Unicron Trilogy, with the full acknowledgement I may have forgotten some along the way to be revisited sometime in the future.

Another Exdimensions set, this time based on the Emergency Mini-Con Team which has become the basis of many illustrations of late. This Legends of the Microns trio came out in Japan in 2003. The set includes (from left to right) Twist, the helicopter; Draft, the crash-vehicle; and Prowl, the Cybertronian police car. 

An Exdimensions redeco of the Sea Mini-Con Team , this trio was a 2003 release in the Legends of the Microns line. The group consists of (from left to right) Sail (a solar-sail equipped boat), Float (a hovercraft), and Knot (a speedboat). 

This is where my desire to be a completist collides with my lack of familiarity with some of the more esoteric Japanese releases. As is pretty evident from the last few months, Takara reissued a lot of the Mini-Cons ("Microns") from the Armada, Energon and Cybertron series. Oftentimes, these redecos were intended to be the same characters just with different, localized names. Where it gets complicated is in some cases, later storylines revealed the Japanese incarnations to be their own separate characters with distinct names.  The Exdimensions were 10 Japanese exclusive three-pack releases in the Legends of the Microns line. Some of these characters I've already covered as they worked their way into Micron Boosters or other promotional releases. The ones that are left, I didn't want to commit a daily slot for each one, so I'm taking them on in three-packs.  Air Military Exdimensions is a trio of combat jets that I've drawn many, many times before, a redeco of ...

When drawing the Micron Boosters, I realized that somehow, during my illustration of the Armada series in 2023, I never drew the original Corona Sparkplug. He was a vac-metallized golden redeco and retooling of Sparkplug, turning into a Cybertronian sports car. He was included as a pack-in with the Powerlinx Optimus Prime release of 2003. So, this illustration corrects that oversight.

Since Legends of the Microns had a number of combiner Mini-Con teams redeco'ed and reissued as Japanese originals, their combined forms are also unique. So here are the combined forms of the Air Assault Micron Team ( Mad , Shade and Jack ) as the Vorpal Saber, and the Cosmic Exploration Team ( Mir , Apollo and Move ) as the Astro Blaster. 

The last of the Air Assault Micron Team trio is Mad, who turns into a Concorde SST. A design that's been used several times already -- see Jetstorm , Scattor , Thrust , Mach , and Quantum -- this version has some of its plastic parts in a translucent finish, giving it a high tech feel. Mad was available in Japan in 2003. He was later rechristened "Skull Buster" in Fan Club-generated lore.

Also part of the Air Assault Micron Team, Shade turns into an VentureStar concept shuttle. A design that saw quite a bit of reuse over the years, Shade is the Japanese Legends of the Micron version of Sonar , but with translucent plastic elements to give him a bit more of a sci-fi feel. The Air Assault Micron Team was available in Japan in 2003. His name would be anglicized/ret-conned to Maverick years later.

Jack -- no relation to the Micron Booster also named Jack -- is the Japanese redeco of Runway. This design has been used many times , with this particular incarnation being exclusive to Takara's Legends of the Microns line in 2003. Jack (later known as Jackknife in Fan Club fiction) turns into a Boeing Sonic Cruiser concept jet and is finished with some translucent plastic parts.

The last and most grounded of the trio of the Cosmic Exploration Team -- the Japanese Legends of the Microns  renaming of the Armada   Space Mini-Con Team -- is Move. Move (known to US collectors as Payload) turns into a heavy transport truck. Available in Japan in 2003, Move was not established to be a distinct character from Payload in the narrative until 2015. 

Next in the astronautical themed Microns is Mir, the Japanese moniker of Astroscope from Armada's   Space Mini-Con Team . This release, part of  Legends of the Microns,  came out in Japan in 2003, but wasn't established to be a separate character until 2015. Mir turns into a space telescope / satellite. 

Apollo was the name given to the Japanese release of Sky Blast, a Mini-Con originally released as part of Armada' s Space Mini-Con Team . This release, part of Legends of the Microns, came out in Japan in 2003, but wasn't established to be a separate character until 2015. Apollo turns into a multi-thruster space rocket similar to the Soviet Vostok. 

Next up in the 2003 Japanese-exclusive Mini-Cons (or Microns) is Wheel, which was the Japanese name for Buzzsaw, part of the Destruction Mini-Con team in the domestic Armada line. He turns into a bucket-wheel excavator, and was established as a separate character in an online post in 2015.

Starting off September with Duster, the Japanese incarnation of Dualor from the  Destruction Mini-Con  team.  He was established to be a separate character in an official online post in 2015, though the toy was first released in Japan in 2003. Duster turns into a Gepard anti-aircraft tank. 

Concluding August with Crush, the Japanese incarnation of Drill Bit from the Destruction Mini-Con team.  He was established to be a separate character in an official online post in 2015, though the toy was first released in Japan in 2003. Crush turns into a drill tank. 

Another member of the Japanese incarnation of Armada's Land Military Team is Shot. At first just the Japanese name for Wreckage, later fiction -- an official Facebook post of all things -- established him as a separate character. Shot turns into a twin missile launching tank.

Crack is the 2003 Japanese name given the Armada Mini-Con named Knock Out . Years later, a storyline in the Fan Club magazine established him as a separate character. He turns into a missile truck.

Bomb is the 2003 Japanese incarnation of the Armada Mini-Con named Bonecrusher, but was later established to be his own separate character in Fan Club fiction. Turns into a missile-launcher truck.

Cannon is the Japanese name for Crumplezone, the Mini-Con who was bundled with Armada Cyclonus . Released in Japan at the end of 2002, he became a separate character years later in Fan Club fiction. He turns into a tank.