Bot a Day: Daily Drawings

I had initially skipped drawing most of the Commemorative Edition reissues but this Soundwave one is a bit different. The Commemorative series was cancelled in 2004, but the Soundwave figure intended for the line saw release under the Classics banner as a Toys R Us exclusive in 2007. It came bundled with Laserbeak and the slightly rechristened Battle Ravage who are mostly faithful recreation of their 1984 toys. Soundwave, however, is not a reissue of his original, but rather of the modified 1987 Japanese-exclusive Soundblaster . The key difference is the enlarged cassette tray in his chest that can carry two tapes rather than the standard one. 

Bundled together with Garboil is Howlback, a blue redeco of the classic 1984 Ravage design. She turns from a micro-cassette into a mechanical jaguar. Her coloring marks her as a Cobalt Sentry, a sort of secret police among the Decepticons. She was available form e-Hobby in 2005.

A redeco of the classic Laserbeak and Buzzsaw design, Garboil transforms from a micro cassette to a mechanical condor. Not visible in this black and white illustration is that he's mostly blue, a throwback to a MicroChange toy design that predates the Transformers line, worked into the storyline as him being part of the Cobalt Sentry team. He was sold in a two-pack with team-member Howlback in 2005 through e-HOBBY.  

Flip Sides is another e-HOBBY exclusive from Japan, dating from 2006 long after the idea of audiocassettes were an artifact. She is a redeco of the Eject / Rewind design from 1986, and came bundled with Twincast, the Japanese-exclusive version of Blaster from 1987 . I've drawn her carrying Twincast here. 

This drawing is Soundblaster, a reincarnated version of Soundwave from the Japanese storyline and toy series. A slightly retooled mold of the original 1984 Soundwave toy, Soundblaster has an expanded cassette slot that lets him hold two mini-cassettes. He turns into a tapedeck. 

This drawing is of the Japanese exclusive Twincast, an evolution of Blaster, Autobot communicator, with a blue color scheme, and an enlarged chest compartment that can hold two cassettes. Twincast turns into a ghetto blaster, and was first available in Japan in 1987.    

This 2019 drawing is of Legout, an Autobot, who is the result of combining Dile and Zaur, two microcassette dinosaurs that were sold together. This set was only available in Japan in 1987.

From 2019 is this drawing of Zaur. Zaur is a Japanese release from 1987, an Autobot who turns from a microcassette to a sauropod of some sort. If I may say so myself, his feet are adorable in this drawing. 

This next drawing is from 2019, and is of Dile, an Autobot microcassette released in Japan in 1987. Based more on the card art than the toy itself, Dile is an iguanodon, and I've given him thumb spikes accordingly.   

This drawing from 2019 is of Decibel, the combined form of Graphy and Noise. These two cassette Autobots were released as a pair in 1987 in Japan, and in addition to their robotic forms of an allosaurus and pteranadon, they could merge into the humanoid robot seen below. 

Graphy, an Autobot cassette that was sold in Japan in 1987 in a two-pack with Noise (posted yesterday). Graphy turns from a microcassette to a pteranadon. 

From 2019 is this drawing of Noise, an Autobot microcassette available in Japan in 1987. According to his Japanese bio, he's a "forest investigator." He turns from a microcassette to a well-armed allosaurus, and is scaled to fit inside Autobot communicator Blaster (and, by extension, Soundwave).  

The Decepticon cassette twin pack of Beastbox and Squawktalk can merge their forms to create a combiner robot named Squawkbox. This set was available in 1988.

  Paired with Beastbox is another microcassette, this one turning into a bird of prey named Squawktalk. He is a translator, capable of speaking over 6,000 languages. He was available in a two-pack in 1988.

The year 1988 saw the last of the Decepticon cassettes meant to fit into  Soundwave , a remarkable run of four years. This year saw the release of a two-pack featuring Beastbox, Decepticon interrogator, a purple cassette that turns into a gorilla. 

Combining Grand Slam and Raindance creates Slamdance, a robot warrior that adds a new play gimmick to the cassette Transformers. This Autobot was available in 1988. 

Paired with Raindance, Grand Slam is an Autobot microcassette that transforms into a very well armed tank. He was sold in a set with Raindance in 1988. 

From the 1988 line comes some of the last of cassette toys, as already cassettes were fading from the limelight. Raindance doesn't have a robot mode; instead he turns from a blue microcassette scaled to fit inside Blaster   into a blue hoverjet. He was partnered with Grand Slam, who will post tomorrow. 

Here's Slugfest, Decepticon messenger and all-around dimwit. He turns into a micro-cassette scaled to fit into Soundwave, the team communicator. He was available in a two-pack with Overkill in 1987. 

 In 1987, the Decepticons got some reinforcements for their cassette minions that fit into Soundwave, the team communicator. Overkill was half of a two-pack of dinosaur-themed microcassettes, turning into ceratosaur.