Bot a Day: Daily Drawings

The mighty beast form of Optimus Primal (first revealed in 1995) gets a revamp with a new redeo and status as Autobot leader. He turns into a technorganic gorilla and was available at retail as part of the Universe line in 2003.

The last of the strange Beast Wars Mutants is Icebird, who transforms from a polar bear to a snowy owl. The bear head can pull back to reveal his robot head, the last vestige of his since mutated-away robot mode. Icebird was available in 2000. 

The next Beast Wars Mutant is Poison Bite. He turns from a scorpion to a very colorful barracuda. His robot face is concealed in the sting at the end of the scorpion tail, which is pretty darn creepy. Poison Bite was available in 2000. 

Next in the Beast Wars Mutants line is Razor Claw. Though a single-word version of this name has been used before, this is a new character and not the Predacon lion or the Predacon crab from before. He has no robot mode, but turns from a velociraptor into a wolverine. In raptor mode, his robot head can pop out from the dino head. He was available in 2000. 

Finishing off the Beast Wars line with their most peculiar subgroups: the Mutants. Beast Wars Mutants are neither Maximal nor Predacon, but are former Transformers that have lost their ability to return to robot mode. Instead, they change from one animal to another. Soundwave here turns from a bat to an alligator. He has no robot mode, but there is a robot face lurking in the bat's mouth. The Mutants were actually a reuse of designs originally intended for the Animorphs toyline that fizzled out in 1999. This subset was available in stores in 2000 with each mutant sold separately.  This is the 300th daily drawing posted in 2021. This year has flown by.  

Tripredacus Agent has a bit of a convoluted identity. He is intended to be the same character, Ravage, from Generation One who appeared in an altered, future form in the Beast Wars cartoon . This character was homaged as Shadow Panther , because the name "Ravage" couldn't be used on product due the trademark having lapsed since the 80s. This Shadow Panther was also known as Tripredacus Agent, who was upgraded into a Transmetal form, with that particular alias in 2001. All of these toys are, in one way or another, redecos and/or retoolings of a Cheetor toy too. This Tripredacus Agent turns into a mechanical hunting cat. 

Arcee, the female Autobot made famous in The Transformers: The Movie (1986) did not get a toy until 2001, incongruously as a Beast Wars -styled toy. She was a Botcon 2001 exclusive, limited to 1200 pieces and sold alongside Tigatron . She is a slight retool and pink and white redeco of 1999's Transmetal Blackarachnia . She turns into a mechanical spider. 

Tigatron, a Maximal character that had been kicking around since the launch of the line in 1996 , was revisited in 2001 as a Botcon exclusive. In both cases, he was a repaint or retool of series mainstay Cheetor (this 2001 version was specifically a repainted Ravage ). This convention version - of which there was only 1200 made - turns into a notably stripe-less mechanical cat with a tertiary winged mode. 

The fearsome Shokaract is a redeco of Rampage, a Transmetal Predacon crab. The earlier drawing c ropped out a lot of the extra limbs to fit on the page, but for Shokaract, I decided to splay out the arms and legs to show off just how creepy this Predacon is. Shokaract was only available to attendees of 2000's BotCon, and was limited to only 1,200 pieces.

Waspinator finishes off the Fox Kids-branded rereleases, redecoed in a yellow and black finish that suits his mechanical wasp mode well. As was standard for the Transmetal figures, he had a third mode, a rather convincing jet fighter. This is a reissue of his 1998 Transmetal version , released in 2000.

A couple of Transmetal Predacons got the Fox Kids-branded reissues, with new color schemes. The first Transmetal Tarantulas came out in 1998 . This version came out in 1999. He turns into a mechanical spider, as well as an interim motorcycle-type mode.  

Another earlier toy given the redeco treatment and branded with a Fox Kids tune-in message is this newer edition of Transmetal Cheetor, done in a deep red and gold finish. He turns into a mechanical cheetah with a winged/rocket interim mode. This was available in 2000. 

Rhinox's Transmetal toy from 1998 also got the Fox Kids' branding treatment, and redecoed in a bright blue, red and gold finish. He still turns into a mechanical rhino, and has an interim treaded "vehicular" rhino mode. He's from 2000.  

Rattrap's Transmetal figure from 1998  got reissued in 2000 as part of the Fox Kids-rebranded releases. He got a new red and silver deco that reminds me of Ultraman. He still transforms into a mechanical rat, with a wheeled vehicular mode as well. 

Here is Waspinator in his Fox Kids-branded reissue. It's the same body design from 1996 , which was also used to make Buzz Saw . This recolor makes him more yellow, like a wasp, than his original green version. It was available in 1999.

Dinobot here is in his Fox Kids-branded reissue from 1999, which is the same mold from 1996, which was also used to make Beast Wars Grimlock . The reissue has gray coloring, as opposed to the original tan. Still turns into a velociraptor.    

Another Fox Kids-branded reissue from 1999, Rhinox is the original 1996 design but with a notably different paint job. Rather than a tan and green scheme like the original, this version has a red robotic body hidden in a light gray rhino hide with a jagged dark gray camouflage pattern on it. 

I've opted to go ahead and draw the Fox Kids reissues of previous toys, even though their redecos tend to be pretty slight and are undetectable in black and white drawings. I figure, at the least, it lets me draw some now-classic designs. Here is show favorite Cheetor, reissued in 1999 with the Fox Kids packaging and slightly different colored spots, and a hint of a metallic trim. He still turns into a cheetah. This design was previous drawn here as the '96 Cheetor , as well as Tigatron and Shadow Panther . 

2000 marks the last year of the original Beast Wars, as it mutated into the Beast Machines series. As a final hurrah, a number of earlier toys were redecoed and re-released with FOX KIDS branding on the packaging. Not sure if I'll draw all the Fox Kids redecos, but here's one from 2000: Airazor, a redeco of her Transmetal incarnation .

The last of the three Blentrons is Elphaorpha, a redeco of the Fuzor, Torca. His bio states his function as "Destruction Ninja" so you know he means business. His beast mode is a combination elephant and orca. He was available in Japan in 1999.