Bot a Day: Daily Drawings

This drawing wraps up the Universe line with one of the last redecos to be made available. It debuted at the Official Transformers Collectors Club convention in 2004. Megazarak -- a Japanese originated character from the Headmasters days -- gets a new figure through a redeco of Armada Megatron . He turns into a Cybertronic tank, though without the original electronic features. Stemming from the Armada series, Megazarak comes with a Mini-Con packing, called a Micromaster in this incarnation. It's Caliburn who turns into a moon buggy. He is a redeco of Leader-1.   

Prepare for extermination! Putting the previous six Constructicons together results in Devastator (it requires a few extra pieces too, which can combine to become a vehicle when the Constructicons are separated). This combiner is a redeco of the 1992  Japanese exclusive Sixbuilder . The Constructicons required were sold separately in 2004 as part of the Universe series, starting at KB Toys.

The last of the individual Micromaster Constructicons is Hightower -- a stand-in for the classic Hook character whose name presumably was not available for trademark reasons. Hightower turns into a crane truck. He is a redeco of a 1992 Japan exclusive toy, Iron Lift . Hightower was initially available in 2004 as a KB Toys exclusive.

The classic Constructicon Long Haul -- still a massive earth-moving dump truck -- is reimagined as a Micromaster for the 2004 Universe line by redeco'ing a 1992 Japanese character named Treader. Long Haul was initially available as a KB Toys exclusive.

Next in line of the Universe -era Constructicon Micromasters is Bonecrusher, who is a redeco of 1992's Crush-Bull. Turns into a bulldozer. Available first at KB Toys starting in 2004. Bonecrusher is one of the best Transformers names. I appreciate that Michael Bay named one of his dogs this.

Next up in the Micromaster Constructicons is Scavenger, a redeco of Digger from Japan . He turns into an excavator truck. Scavenger was available initially in 2004 at KB Toys.   

Quickmix is the Universe incarnation of Mixmaster, a name presumably not available for trademark reasons in 2004. This version of the character is a Micromaster released at KB Toys starting in 2004. He is a redeco of a 1992 Japanese-exclusive Autobot Micromaster named Mixer.  He, of course, turns into a cement mixing truck.

Beginning a run of Micromaster-scaled Constructicons, initially sold exclusively at KB Toys in 2004. These Constructicons were redecos of "Operation Combination" Autobots sold in Japan in 1992, but now done in the familiar yellow-green and purple of the old G1 villains. Buckethead most likely was named this way due to the name "Scrapper" not being able to be trademarked at the time. She turns into a front-end payloader. She had no bio, and wasn't revealed to be female until a fan club short story in 2016. 

The combined form of the Universe Micromaster Aerialbots is Superion, an amalgamation of six robots plus their pack-in accessories that serve as connectors, head, and extremities of the gestalt warrior. While in Japan, the original source of the design ( Sixwing , 1992) was available in a collected set, this combiner needed to be purchased one bot at a time in the 2007  Universe release.

The last of the six Aerialbot Micromasters is Ro-Tor, a very Go-Bot-y name that dates back to Robots in Disguise , though this Ro-Tor appears to be of no relation. His design is a reuse of 1992's Chain Gun , and turns into an Apache combat helicopter. He was initially available exclusively at KB Toys stores in 2007.

Storm Jet is an unusual name for a space shuttle, and space shuttles aren't ordinarily part of the Aerialbot roster, but this Micromaster team has six slots to fill compared to the original five Aerialbots from Generation One. Storm Jet is a redeco of Raker , an Autobot space shuttle first released in Japan in 1992. Storm Jet first saw release as a KB Toys exclusive in 2007, as part of the Universe line.

The second Skydive to show up in the Universe series, unrelated to the earlier dinosaur version , this one is part of the Micromaster Aerialbot assortment. Oddly the name Skydive denoted the F-16 Falcon in the Generation One Aerialbots, while S ilverbolt was the name of the SST. Now, it's the other way around, with Skydive as a rather generic looking  Concorde SST. Skydive's design dates back to an original Japanese Autobot named Supersonic released in Japan in 1992. This version came out in 2007 at first exclusively at the rapidly dwindling KB Toys chain. 

The next Aerialbot is Silverbolt, who in the original team roster was the leader of the group. Without bios or stories, it's hard to say if that's his role in this grouping. He turns into an F-16 Falcon jet. His original 1992 Japanese release was named Falcon . This version was a KB Toys exclusive starting in 2007.

Beginning a run of six new Micromasters, this time an Aerialbot team that, like the Railbots that preceded them, are re-releases of Japanese toys in the US exclusively through KB Toys. First up is Fireflight, who turns into a Suzhou Su-27 Flanker jet. His original 1992 Japanese release was named Flanker . This version started to make its way to KB Toys in 2007, but by then the chain was rapidly vanishing, so stock ended up in other retail outlets like regional drug and grocery stores. 

The combined form of the previous six Railbot Micromasters is Rail Racer, a towering bot if the trains' real world scale is taken into account. Rail Racer had previously been released as Sixliner and Sixtrain in Japan, but the Rail Racer release is his American debut, exclusively at KB Toys stores in 2005.

The last of the six Railbots is Rapid Run, a Series 100 bullet train locomotive. This design had previously been made available in Japan under the name of Leaf and Raise . This incarnation came out in 2005 as a KB Toys exclusive.

Without any on-packaging bio or animated or comic book stories to give any context, it's hard to say why this Railbot is named Swindle. He does not seem to be a version of the classic Combaticon con-artist from G1, so we're left to assume he's some sort of fast-talking Autobot. He turns into an EF66 locomotive, and part of the Railbot team. This figure was available earlier in Japan under the name Night or Convertor. His Universe version came out in 2005 exclusively at KB Toys.

Midnight Express is basically a reissue of Windy, the train Micromaster from the Japanese toyline. Although it's the same design, Midnight Express is male whereas Windy is female. He turns into a 400 Series Shinkansen train and was available at KB Toys stores in 2005. 

The next Railbot is Tankor, a re-use of a name from Beast Machines, and a re-use of a body originally sold in Japan as Alan and Atlan. Tankor turns into an SNCF TGV Sud-Est high speed train and was available exclusively at KB Toys stores in 2005.

Overload is the second of six Railbots released as KB Toys exclusives in 2004 as part of the Transformers Universe line. Using the same body design as the previously released Japanese toys of San D-Go and D-Go , Overload turns into a very old fashioned D51 steam locomotive engine.