Bot a Day: Daily Drawings

In Japan, the character of Arcee from the Energon series was named Ariel in Super Link. A limited edition version of the Omnicon motorcycle figure was redeco'ed in 2004 as Ariel Paradron Type, with a green and white finish that is a deep cut reference to a single 1986 episode of the original animated series. 

The last of the Omnicons is a straight-up redeco of Signal Flare named Offshoot, said to be his twin brother. I've been avoiding redecos, except in the cases such as these where it's supposed to be a distinct character. Sharing the same design, Offshoot turns into a MASER half-track artillery truck, and has a variety of clear red plastic "Energon" accessories. Whereas his brother is mostly finished in blue, Offshoot is a mix of greens, browns and blues, making him look a bit more military-realistic. 

The classic animated heroine from Transformers the Movie (1986) gets an Energon toy incarnation as an Omnicon released in 2004. This is the first time Arcee would turn into a motorcycle, an alt-mode that would be repeated many time in the coming years. Arcee's transparent red plastic accessories turn from motorcycle parts into a large compound bow that she masters. 

The next Omnicon in the line is Signal Flare, a long range gunner and weapons specialist. He turns into a high tech, Cybertronian half-track artillery truck, with an enormous MASER cannon turret that becomes his arm in robot mode. His figure comes with a number of transparent red plastic additions -- shaped "Energon" weapons -- that can combine into a shield, or rotor blade, or other clever configurations. He was available in 2004.

Next among the Omnicons is Strongarm, who turns into a yellow, futuristic jeep. His is loaded with clear red plastic "Energon" powered accessories that can combine into larger weapons -- a crane arm that fits into the back of his jeep mode becomes an axe, for instance. First released in late 2003, he was re-released in 2004 as "Energon Strongarm," a blue redeco of his earlier form. Since the differences are mostly cosmetic, I won't bother with that illustration.

Beginning a run of Omnicons -- a subset of Autobots that were bigger than Mini-Cons, but not as big as the main Autobots in the line. One peculiarity of the Armada/Energon/Cybertron series is that "Con" was not instantly a bad guy suffix. So you could have an Omnicon that is an Autobot. First up is Skyblast, who turns into a Cybertronic jet. In his concurrent Japanese release, he went by the name "Airglide."