Bot a Day: Daily Drawings

The last of the KB Toys Spychangers from the Universe line, Mirage turns into a Lola T94 Indy race car, with a translucent finish. This design dates back to 1995, where it was part of the Generation 2 line up as both Double Clutch and Mirage . This version hit retail in 2004.

Another Hoist? Yes, the second in this assortment of KB Toys-exclusive Spychangers, this time turning into a translucent Ford F150 Flareside truck rather than the earlier SUV version . This design had previously been used as Ironhide in Robots in Disguise , Ironhide in Generation 2 , and Motormouth in Generation 2 .

This version of Camshaft has a translucent finish, making him look very 90s for a toy that came out in 2004. His design dates back to the Generation 2 days (1995), used for a couple of characters there as well as W.A.R.S. in Robots in Disguise . He turns into a NASCAR Ford Thunderbird stock car. 

Another in the line of 2004 KB Toys-exclusive Spychangers is this rendition of Wheeljack, who turns into a Porsche 962 Le Mans-style Kremer Racing 962CK6 race car. This design had previously been released in the 2001 Robots in Disguise line as Daytonus.

Next in the KB Toys exclusive lines of Spychangers is Silverstreak, an homage to the G1 character Bluestreak . His deco is a deep-cut tribute to the original blue-and-silver color scheme that appeared on 1984 Bluestreak packaging and pack-in catalogs, but never made it to the toy itself. Silverstreak turns into a modified Camaro. He is a reuse of a design that debuted in 2001 in the Robots in Disguise line as Side Swipe .

Yet another version of Prowl released in the Universe line, this time a Spychanger-scaled Chevrolet Caprice police car. This Prowl is deco'ed in his classic style, but is a based on Prowl 2, a figure released in the Robots in Disguise line in 2001. This new Prowl is part of the line of KB Toys exclusives released in 2004.

Also part of the 2004 Spychanger assortment initially exclusive to KBToys is this incarnation of Optimus Prime. He's released in his classic colors, but the design is based on a Generation Two toy , and the simplified Spychanger figure itself is a redeco of the Scourge one released in 2002. He turns into a simplified Western Star 4964EX Constellation cab semi truck.

A redeco of an existing Dodge Viper design ( previously released as Side Burn ) done in classic Jazz's livery, Autobot Jazz is a 2003 Spychangers edition first sold exclusively at KB Toys before working its way to other discount chains.

Beginning a run of Spychangers, 1:64 scale cars with free-rolling wheels making them play well with Hot Wheels or Matchbox cars. Like all the Universe line, these are redecos of previously existing toys. In this case, Hoist, is finished in dark green like his original 1985 toy, but his body is a reuse of a 2001 X-Brawn toy.  He turns into a Mercedes-Benz ML320 SUV. This version of Hoist was available at KB Toys starting in 2003. 

A follow-up to yesterday's pairing of Prime and Prowl, this 2004 Wal-Mart exclusive are redecos of low price-point Robots in Disguise  Spychanger Ultra Magnus and Ironhide. Magnus, a car carrier, is darker in hue, while Ironhide, a Ford F150 Flareside pickup truck, has coloring that resembles the original Trailbreaker toy.

From 2005 comes this pair of toys available as a set exclusively at Wal-Mart - Optimus Prime and Prowl. Both are redecos of low price-point Robots in Disguise "Spychanger" toys, with Prime redone in yellow, and Prowl recast as a "Fire Chief" Chevrolet Caprice. There are so many Prowls in the Universe line.   

It's Scourge again - released again in 2002 but in a Spychanger incarnation. One of the few new molds rolled out for the Spychanger line, this Scourge is a simplified version of his larger design , without the tanker trailer. Since this mold originated as Scourge, it has the distinction of not being an Optimus Prime redeco. But in a bit of turnabout-is-fairplay, this design would be redecoed as Optimus Prime in a few years time.

Continuing the Spychangers unique to Robots in Disguise, here's X-Brawn. He was available in 2002 in a two-pack with a similarly-scaled Spychanger version of Scourge, who I'll get to in another week or so. Like his more detailed earlier release , X-Brawn turns into a Mercedes-Benz ML320 SUV, albeit now with a more simplified design and with free-rolling wheels. 

Today's drawing is the Robots in Disguise Optimus Prime design recast as a low-price point, low-articulation Spychanger toy. This would be a trend that would continue in the line, especially as Transformer toys moved into live-action tie-ins -- different toys meant to be not only representations of the same character, but the same design. In the past, we rationalized that the various editions of Prime were redesigns of the character in-fiction (like, Powermaster and Action Master were different designs of the character). Here, in fiction, Optimus didn't really have a Spychanger phase, it's more that this is a more affordable version of a larger toy. It's a gray area - I could've skipped this bot, but decided to go with it anyway.

Shifting gears back to the Autobots, we return to the Spychanger series -- small cars with free-spinning wheels that make for zoomy toys. Whereas most of the Spychangers were redecos of old GoBot designs from Generation 2, Robots in Disguise included a few designs, Ultra Magnus being one of them. This Ultra Magnus is meant to be an approximation of a much larger design , with necessary cosmetic changes to fit into the lower price point and smaller scale of the toy format. His transformation is much simpler, and he still turns into a car carrier. 

Since I'm concentrating on 2001 releases, this will be the last of the Spychangers for now. This is Daytonus, whose name (a reference to the Daytona 500) doesn't make too much sense given that he turns into a Porsche 962 Le Mans-style Kremer Racing 962CK6. Not exactly a NASCAR stock car.   

Side Burn is one of the major characters showcased in the Robots in Disguise animated series, warranting at least two toys in the first year of the line. Seen here is his lower priced, Spychanger incarnation, who turns into a blue flame deco'ed Dodge Viper. The toy design dates back to Generation Two Go-Bots, but the line was cancelled before the finished design ever surfaced. 

Another new design making its Spychanger debut is this modified Camaro that turns into Side Swipe, an Autobot. The design was originally developed for the Generation Two Go-Bots line and was intended to be Rumble, but the series was cancelled before it could come out. This version first appeared in 2001. 

The name on the packaging cleary says "PROWL 2" but with no explanation as to what the 2 signified. For years, fans wondered if this Prowl was supposed to be the original G1 version somehow ported into new continuity , or was he the Prowl from the Japanese Beast Wars line ? Robots in Disguise content never answered it, and it wasn't until years later that a convoluted explanation from the Japanese BinalTech series surfaced. Prowl 2 is his name, and he's his own character. He's part of the Spychanger assortment and turns into a Chevrolet Caprice police car. Unlike other Spychangers, his design is not based on a released Go-Bots toy from Generation 2 -- rather, it was a design finalized just before the toyline got cancelled, so it had to wait in the wings for years. 

Finishing off this first week of 2023 with Crosswise, Autobot Spychanger with a specialization in gravity-based weapons and combat. Crosswise turns into a concept car -- a transparent one at that! His body design first debuted as three separate 1995 Go-Bots --  High Beam , Bumblebee , and Nightracer . In Japan, Crosswise is known as X-Car.