Bot a Day: Daily Drawings

Today brings us to the end of the 2021 Bot-a-Day exercise, concluding 365 new daily drawings of Transformers spanning from the 1993 Generation Two relaunch all the way to the end of 2001's Beast Machines, including international releases. I don't know when I'll do another of these marathons, but odds are when I do, I'll pick it up from 2001's Robots in Disguise series. To that end, I'll leave you with a look a head, at the Robots in Disguise Optimus Prime. This incarnation (released as Fire Convoy in 2000 in Japan) turns into the cab of a Hino Brandlier fire truck, with the rear trailer section turning into a battle station and power-up armor.  That's it for now. I hope you have a good 2022. 

Like yesterday's Optimus Primal , today's bonus drawing is a toy design originally planned for Beast Machines but was folded into the line's successor, Robots in Disguise, after the original line was cancelled. Appearing in 2002, this version of Megatron was a Kaybee Toys exclusive. He turns into an armored "spider tank," which is also a giant robot head if you remove the spider limbs, making Megatron Megabolt a Headmaster of sorts. In the Beast Machines series, Megatron was a Vehicon, hence the Vehicon logo. But the Robots in Disguise mythology didn't really have Vehicons, so this incarnation is both Predacon and Decepticon. 

The Beast Machines line was suddenly cancelled in 2001 for a variety of reasons -- including that the overproduction of Star Wars toys for The Phantom Menace left Hasbro reeling, prompting them to close down Kenner, and rethink their Transformers line. As a stopgap solution, they imported Japanese Transformers toys (in an echo of how the toyline started in the first place), turning the Car Robots line into Robots in Disguise for 2001. A few toys designed for Beast Machines made it into the Robots in Disguise line, even though the narrative of the series didn't really allow for it.  So here's Air Attack Optimus Primal, a massive Maximal toy released exclusively to Toys R Us in 2002. He turns from a robot into a techno-organic gorilla. He is extremely well articulated, down to each individual finger being poseable. He has battery operated LEDs, and voice clips of Gerry Chalk, the Optimus Primal actor from Beast Machines. 

 Finishing off this round of Beast Machine releases is the other mode exhibited by the Beast Changer toy. As stated a few days ago , Beast Changer is not a robot - he's an all organic incarnation with two beast modes, and as such he doesn't have a proper robot mode. One beast mode is a winged wolfen creature (called Noble). The alternate is a monstrous dragon named Savage depicted here. He was released in 2001. With this drawing, I have completed the original Beast Machines run. I could end it here, but with only three more days left in the year, I figured I'd scrounge up a few other characters / toys to finish off this 2021 daily drawing exercise. 

A bruiser of a Vehicon armored warrior, Strika is as cunning as she is powerful. She uses her six-wheeled tank mode to outmaneuver her opponents in tough terrain she's lured them into. She was available in 2001. at the tail end of the Beast Machines toyline. She also appeared in the animated series.

 Are they foot soldiers if they don't have feet? These are the motorcycle drones under the command of Thrust, Vehicon general . Meant to be a troop-builder type toy that could be bought in multiples, the motorcylce drone turns into a motorcycle type vehicle. Their robot mode has a unicycle-like configuration as well as a legged mode that comes from splitting the tire in two. The drone was available in 2001.  

The Vehicon armored soldiers under the command of General Tankor , the Tank Drones are meant to be army-building figures that can be collected in number to bolster the bad guy ranks in the Beast Machines toyline. Transforms from robot to armored tank and back. Was originally available in 2001.