Bot a Day: Daily Drawings

To complete the Omega Supreme and Omega Sentinel toys of the past two days, you need these little poseable figures that become their heads. Omega becomes the head of Omega Supreme, while Guardian becomes Omega Sentinel's noggin. Not that you can tell in a black and white illo, but Omega is on the left and orange, while Guardian is on the right and blue.

Doing a bit of a shortcut today simply because I didn't want to use up three days doing a multi-part character design I've drawn twice before. The Fortress Maximus design from Generation One (1987) was redeco'ed for the Car Robots Japanese line to become Brave Maximus in 2000 (the design had been redeco'ed before as a Japanese exclusive, 1988's Grand Maximus ).  This version has the same multi-tiered Headmaster gimmick where a small human-sized figure (Spike, or Grand) turns into the head of a mid-sized figure (Cerebros) and then becomes the head of Maximus. In this incarnation, the smallest figure is Cerebros (but also known as Plasma), who becomes the head of a nameless robot known as the Emissary (though sometimes known as Brave), who then becomes the head of Brave Maximus. It's a bit confusing. Adding to the confusion is that the Brave Maximus toy never made it into the Robots in Disguise line because it failed updated safety standards for a North American...

The next in the Maximal Transmetal line up is Stinkbomb, psychological warfare specialist. He turns into a cyborg skunk. He smells a bit but has a heart of gold. His mechanical skunk tail attaches to the back of his head to make quite the mane. He was available in 1999.

This is Black Zarak, a mighty Decepticon warrior released in Japan in 1988. He is an exclusive retool of Skorponok, featuring as a signature villain in the Japanese  Super God Masterforce  storyline. This robot turns into a city mode, as well as an enormous mechanical scorpion. Being a sizeable playset of a toy, he comes with smaller pack-in robots, like Black Roritchi, a multi-axle service vehicle, and his Headmaster unit, drawn here in the inset. 

This is Grand. This is a bit complicated. Yesterday's   Grand Maximus   is a Headmaster, and his head becomes Grand. Grand has a Pretender shell that can conceal this robot mode. And Grand's head detaches and turns into a smaller robot, Gran (inset).  It's like a nesting doll of robots. Grand was released as part of the Grand Maximus set in Japan in 1988.

This drawing is of a 1988 Japanese exclusive: Grand Maximus. He's a redeco of Fortress Maximus, the massive Autobot city playset from the previous year. In the lore of the Japanese animated series  Super-God Masterforce,  Grand Maximus is Fortress Maximus' younger brother. He has a number of component bots, which will follow over the next few days.

This is Minerva (or Minelba, as it is sometimes transliterated), a Japan-exclusive Headmaster. She turns into a Porsche 959 sportscar with coloring that indicates she is medical vehicle. In the continuity of the Japanese animated series   Super-God Masterforce,  Minerva is both the human figure in the inset, which combines with the otherwise non-sentient car / robot body "transtector" to become a full-scale Autobot.   She was available in 1988.

This is Go-Shooter, an Autobot Headmaster toy available exclusively in Japan in 1988. Go-Shooter was the lead character in the Japanese continuation of the   Transformers  animated series,   Super-God Masterforce.  Unlike in the US mythology, the Headmaster component and larger robot body are not separate characters -- both the inset image of the Headmaster and the main image are both Go-Shooter. The vehicle mode is a Mazda RX-7 police car that Go-Shooter drives. 

This drawing is of Toraizer, one of the Headmaster units released exclusively in Japan in 1987. He turns from a robotic tiger into a robotic head that can be plugged into the Headmaster bodies available at the time. 

These drawings continue cataloging the Japanese exclusive Headmaster toys. This is Shuffler, an Autobot Headmaster who turns from a robotic elephant into a robot head that can plug into Headmaster bodies. From 1987.    

From Japan comes Loafer, another Autobot Headmaster unit. His small figure was available in Japan in 1987, and could turn into a robotic head that plugs into a Headmaster body.  

From 2019 is this illustration of Rodney, a Japanese Headmaster exclusive from 1987. 

Lione, an Autobot Headmaster unit available in Japan in 1987. This mechanical lion turns into a head that can be plugged into any of the Headmaster bodies. 

In Japan, 1987, Transformers went all-in on the Headmasters story concept and toy gimmick, wherein a driver or small humanoid operator would transform into the head of its vehicle or creature. In Japan you could get individual Headmaster units in boxes, including Kirk here. He turns into a robot head that can be plugged into any larger Headmaster body, called a "transtector" in the Japanese Headmaster lore.   

The last of the 1988 Decepticon Headmasters is Horri-Bull. His Headmaster unit is Kleb (inset). Horri-Bull, as his awful pun of a name implies, turns into a robotic bull. All in all, an uncouth and nasty character. 

 From the 1988 Decepticon assortment comes Squeezeplay, with his Headmaster component being Lokos (inset). Squeezeplay turns into a strange bipedal crab monster. The 1988 Headmasters were smaller and less expensive than the inaugural 1987 lineup. Some of the shortcuts that lowered the price point is doing away with the flip down chest plate that would reveal the robot's Tech Specs once the Headmaster unit was plugged in. Now those gauges are fully exposed in robot mode. 

Fangry kicks off a run of Decepticon Headmasters from the 1988 collection. He is a tracker, and turns into a monstrous chimera of upright wolf with bat wings and a lizard-like tail. His Headmaster unit is Brisko (inset). 

Finishing off the 1988 Autobot Headmasters with Hosehead, a rather Canadian name I gotta say. Hosehead is the Autobot emergency rescue specialist who turns into a fire truck. His Headmaster component (inset) is Lug. 

From the 1998 Headmaster assortment comes Nightbeat, an Autobot detective that has featured in many a noir-inspired comic book mystery.  Nightbeat turns into a Porsche 959. His Headmaster unit (inset) is Muzzle. 

The primary gimmick of 1987 -- the Headmasters -- continued into the 1988 toyline, though the Autobot cars were scaled down slightly. Siren is the Autobot incendiary damage control specialist, and fittingly turns into a fire chief's Mazda RX-7 car. His bio states that Siren is a loudmouth. His Headmaster partner is Quig (inset).