Bot a Day: Daily Drawings

The collected form of the previous six 'bots -- the Protectobots merged into their combiner gestalt form of Defensor. To make this agglomeration work, you need a few extra parts that were included in the toy releases of the individual components. This design had been previously released as SixTurbo in Japan in 1992. This incarnation is the 2004 KB Toys exclusive edition.

The last of the Micromaster Protectobots as part of the KB Toys store exclusive series: it's Streetwise, who turns into a Formula One racer. He is a repackaging of an earlier design named Circuit in Japan . This Streetwise came out in the US in 2004.

Next in the series of the Micromaster Protectobots is Red Alert the fire engine, a peculiar use of that name given the more appropriate opportunity to use Hot Spot in this regard - or even Inferno - but it is a marked improvement from the Japanese name of Discharge . Red Alert was available in 2004 exclusively at KB Toys.

 It's another Universe Prowl, this time in Micromaster Protectobot form. This rendition of the classic Autobot cop still turns into a police car, this time an Acura NSX police cruiser. His robot mode has some very literal features of a police officer, including a hat and what looks to be a tie. This is a reuse of the Road Police mold first released in Japan in 1992. Prowl was released in 2004 as a KB Toys exclusive.

This is where trying to map the five classic Protectobot characters onto the six 1992 Japanese Sixturbo characters starts to fall apart. Hot Spot was the traditional leader of the team and turned into a fire engine. In his 2004 Universe incarnation, he's not the leader and turns into a Lamborghini Diablo -- not exactly a rescue vehicle. He is pretty much identical to Neo-Wheel , his original release.

Another in the series of Protectobot Micromasters released as KB Toys exclusives in 2004, Groove is basically a repackaging of the Japanese Glide toy. He turns into a compact city motorcycle of generic design.

 And this here is Defensor, the combined form of the five Protectobots. As a "Scramble City" type combiners, all of Defensor's limbs are interchangeable - the configuration here was the one seen in the animated series and toy catalog photos. He was available as the five individual components or as a gift set in 1986. 

And here we have the leader of the Protectobots, Hot Spot, who turns into a fire engine. In "Scramble City" combiner fashion, Hot Spot was available as a boxed toy while his smaller teammates were sold on cardbacks. Hot Spot was available in 1986.

The next Protectobot in the line-up is Blades, the team's air support specialist. He turns into a Huey rescue helicopter. His bio describes him as extremely violent, not exactly a trait you want in your rescuer. He was available as a toy in the original line's 1986 assortment.

Continuing to chronicle the Generation One 1986 release with another of the Protectobots. This is First Aid, a doctor, who fittingly turns into an ambulance. Notable in the fiction (especially the animated series) for being an avowed pacifist. 

Groove, part of the Protectobot team. I took some liberties in illustration simply because the toy was very blocky and had too much mass to convincingly turn into a Honda Goldwing GL1200 police motorcycle. He was released in 1986. 

These drawings begin a run of Protectobots, one of several "Scramble City" type combiner teams released in 1986. The Protectobots were themed to be public service vehicles. In the case of Streetwise, the team interceptor, he turns into a Nisaan 300ZX Turbo police car.