Bot a Day: Daily Drawings

Armada -mainstay character Red Alert has stuck around for the Cybertron series, with a couple of versions of the character in the toyline. The more affordable "Legends" series incarnation of the toy turns into a missile-carrying armored truck and was released in 2006. A larger version of this figure was available a year prior. 

Next in the Legends of Cybertron assortment is Jetfire, in an incarnation that will also get a larger figure around that same year (2004-2005). This iteration of Jetfire turns into an Antonov AN-225 Mriya transport plane. 

Next in the "Legends" scale of Cybertron figures is Evac, an Autobot who turns into a rescue helicopter (a Eurocopter Dauphin design). A larger version of this character with a more sophisticated design and color scheme was released the same year, 2005. 

Moreso than previous toylines, Cybertron released characters in multiple formats and price-points, a practice that would continue especially in the years to come, when live action movies constrained the size of the Transformers cast, but still demanded enough toys to pack the shelves. So, the youth appeal character from  Armada, Hot Shot, returned for Cybertron in multiple iterations. This one, from 2005, is in the "Legends of Cybertron" sub-line of small, simplified designs at an affordable price. He turns into a highly modified / stylized Chrysler ME 412 sports car. 

The last of trio of all-new Mini-Con designs (including Six-Speed and Jolt ), Reverb turns into a Cadillac Escalade EXT. He was originally released in 2004, with his Japanese edition ("Bumper") released in 2005 with slightly different deco and tooling. 

Like his pack-in partner Jolt, Six-Speed is an all-new Mini-Con design debuting in the Cybertron series. He turns into a GT-One Le Mans-style race car, and was released in a three-pack in 2004. In Japan, a slightly different tooled version of the character came out in 2005, and was renamed Blit.

Jolt the Mini-Con is an all-new design -- that is, unlike the other Mini-Cons that kicked off the Cybertron line he's not a redeco of an Armada or Energon toy. While the other Mini-Cons were sold as pairs of arch-rivals, Jolt was sold in a three-pack with fellow Autobot-aligned Mini-Con teammates. Jolt turns into a helicopter with a unique bubble-cockpit design that forms his clear-helmeted head in robot mode. He was available at North American retail in late 2004, and in Japan in 2005 but renamed "Hop."