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| FROM THE GALLERIES |
Repairing Omega Supreme Botch's Collection (2008) |
| I'm A-Twit |
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loading this crap... |
That's right: it's time to show off the stylish upgrades of Sunstreaker and Tracks -- the vainest Autobots. Tracks is the more straightforward of the two and is fixated fairly exclusively on loving his own appearance. Oddly, it's not his native tall, dark and handsome Cybertronian form that he flaunts and cherishes, it's his Corvette Stingray form with the phoenix-like design gracing its curvaceous hood. Fellow Autobots believe his preoccupation with his looks distracts him from the war at hand, but when confronted, Tracks rationalizes their criticism away as envy of his good looks. Fortunately for them, Tracks is also fast, well-armed, versatile.
Sunstreaker is extremely vain as well, perhaps more so than Tracks, but his egotism goes much farther than that. He is only interested in himself and in proving that he is superior to both friend and foe. Unsually calm and methodical, Sunstreaker wages war with a ruthless, almost murderous intent, but he does so with more concern for his own self-aggrandizement than the Autobot cause. In spite of his seemingly unshakeable confidence that he is the most beautiful thing on Earth, he nevertheless shows contempt for other Autobots who are similarly sleek. Does he feel somehow threatened? Challenged, or insecure? Either way, Sunstreaker has nothing but sneers and dismissals for Tracks and others like him.
He is the template upon which every subsequent incarnation is based: the original OPTIMUS PRIME. Even if your own archetypical conception of Optimus is based on the cartoon, that image is itself derived from that first toy. From Armada to Animated, from the Bayformers movie to the War For Cybertron game, no derivation can be called honest without reproducing the core characteristics of the first Prime: the distinctive blue helmeted head with the antennae and silver faceplate; the chest windows and torso grill; the red upper body, blue legs and silver midsection. The original Optimus Prime is an icon -- everything that comes after is just an homage.
That said, we are proud to introduce improved versions of both his original American and Japanese art (of course you already know that in Japan he was called "Convoy"). The American version comes from the Smythe transparencies and was cleaned up by JP White. The Japanese version was submitted by Jeremy Barlow. Thanks again, guys!
Decepticon jets are great, but because they're supposed to be airborne, they're not as fun to send rolling across your kitchen floor. Kind of dispels the illusion, doesn't it? Decepticon cars, though... You can send those evil warriors careening across hardwood floors into cats and babies and ankles, immersed in the wheeled malevolence, cackling all the way. When the Stunticons were introduced in the cartoon as the Decepticons' response to Autobot road mastery, I loved it. More Decepticons is always a good thing, and 'Cons that intentionally collide into the likes of Jazz or Sideswipe are even better. And then, when they transform and merge into one giant super warrior... Decepti-Bliss. And now we have greatly improved box art for all of them!
Let's start off with the two archetypical maniacs of the outfit, Drag Strip (left) and Wildrider (right). These two lack any complexity beyond the desire to cause mayhem and suffering. They're exactly the sort of uncomplicated and unquestioning warriors you want on the front line. I was trying in vain to think of a word for someone who demonstrates bad sportsmanship over everything in life, gloating over his victories and correspondingly raging uncontrollably when he is beaten or slighted; whatever the word is, that's Drag Strip. Even his fellow Decepticons find him insufferable.
As a complement, Wildrider resembles a hyperactive and violent child. Racing along without fear or concern, if there's one Stunticon who truly "cackles", it's him. In fact, he's one of the few Decepticons whose actual function is TERRORIST.
While Fireflight might have been the most unnoticed Aerialbot, Slingshot was definitely the most unavoidably noticeable. Because he's a loud-mouthed, arrogant braggart with an inflated sense of self-worth. When the Aerialbots were first "born" in the cartoon, with the exception of their leader, Silverbolt, they all thought little of the Autobots, even less of humans, and admired the Decepticons, and Slingshot was the self-nominated spokesman for the the majority of these sentiments. Eventually, of course, they learned first-hand the supposed error of their ways. Of course. Because it was a cartoon. And while Slingshot, like the rest of the Aerialbots, had become more appreciative of humans and Autobots, he remained an arrogant braggart.
What do you say? Slingshot: cocksure hero, or annoying bastard? (It's difficult for me to judge objectively, because I'm a cocksure bastard of questionable heroism myself.)
The improved box art for Slingshot was edited and repaired by Vito Adesso (visiting all the way from Italy) and was scanned from the Japanese laserdisc box set scans. Thanks, Vito!
The latest improved piece for the Archive was a Japanese-exclusive character from the Masterforce era, the Autobot flag-bearer God Ginrai, the ultimate form of Ginrai when combined with and enhanced by his drone, Godbomber. This art comes entirely from Jeremy Barlow of Soundwave's Oblivion. Sweet, eh?
While God Ginrai was never released stateside, his Godbomber-less form was released here as Powermaster Optimus Prime. (In the Japanese Masterforce cartoon, Ginrai is a completely new character, and the fact that he bears an unmistakable resemblance to the legendary Optimus Prime is completely ignored. Optimus who?) I've owned Powermaster Optimus Prime since he was first released in 1988 -- probably one of the last Transformers I actually bought as a kid -- but since I acquired the reissue of God Ginrai a few years back, my old PM Prime has seemed a bit redundant. Even without the Godbomber armor, the Japanese version is simply a better toy, and since I don't like to keep duplicates on the shelf, my long-carried Powermaster Optimus Prime often sits in a drawer. And yet, I haven't been able to bring myself to actually sell him. I wouldn't get too much for him, true, but it's more that I can't easily bring myself to sell one of my original childhood toys, even when it's been supplanted by a newer, better model.
Cosmos travels through the rarefied upper atmosphere of our apartment. It's a special privilege few of my Transformers enjoy. Heather thinks Cosmos is cute for several reasons. His "flying saucer" mode is so woefully outdated and antiquarian that it cannot help but make you feel sympathy for the little guy. He's tiny -- palm-sized, really -- and colored so non-threateningly. Without ever reading his tech spec, Heather said, "He just seems lonely." Of course, that's exactly what he is: lonely. Isolated. Exiled. So Cosmos moves from atop door moldings to windowsills to desks to bookcases. As of this moment he's currently docked on Fortress Maximus' landing pad, but that's only temporary. He'll be back peering down on us from a doorway molding by next week.
The nicely improved box art for Cosmos is another from the Japanese laserdisc box sets that was nailed by Nailbomb. (What a seductively Decepticon name!)
Transforming robots are awesome; dinosaurs are awesome; thus, transforming robot dinosaurs was a doubly awesome inevitability. THE DINOBOTS! And now we have greatly improved box art for all five warriors. Let's take a little tour through the ancient past and show off this formidable quintet.
We might as well start with their fearless leader, the Tyrannosaurus Rex: GRIMLOCK. Whereas the existence of mutinous Decepticons seeking to overthrow their leader was established at the very beginning of the mythos, mutinous Autobots was an unknown thing. Enter Grimlock, the unsympathetic and merciless Dinobot commander who rivaled Optimus Prime in strength and firepower, if not wisdom. Grimlock has been portrayed in many different ways, as everything from a brilliant military tactician (with an unfortunate speech impediment) to a stupid clown, and sometimes a combination of the two. He's never evil, but his ego, his rationalizations and his lack of optimism (pun?) have sometimes motivated him to make some foolhardy decisions with bad repercussions for his fellow Autobots. It doesn't matter -- we all love him. "Me Grimlock -- bad ass!"
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Here before you now are the two different versions of Fireflight. The image to the left is how he debuted on his each-sold-separately card, aiming his photon displacer gun directly ahead. (Or is he borrowing Skydive's nega-gun?) The image on the right, where we find Fireflight almost-mirrored but awkwardly carrying his weapon askew, comes from the Aerialbot giftset, where we presume he was asked to compromise his grip for the sake of... space? Technical limitations? Padding the job?
In the drive to produce and market a combiner team, a multipart toy where each limb serves primarily to construct and sell the whole, it would be quite easy to skimp on the effort to diversify and individualize each arm and leg. Nonetheless, the creators of the Transformers were surprisingly diligent and inspired about imbuing the majority of the combiner pieces with a great deal of character and personality. Such is not the case with Fireflight. His tech spec is one of the duller ones I've read in recent memory. He is apparently only noteworthy as a distracted flyer, if you can tolerate so outlandish a thing. However, I do not actually believe this feature was ever demonstrated or even mentioned in any comic book or cartoon episode. As a matter of fact, I cannot think of any distinguishing characteristic that Fireflight was ever shown to demonstrate other than his "flammable 'fire-fog' missiles."
He's the Autobots' embodiment of youthful optimism and persistence: Bumblebee! Without being annoying or tiresome, Bumblebee's depiction in the original cartoon was one to which all the youthful viewers could relate: a little guy, dwarfed by his fellow Autobots, but appreciated for his exuberance and skill.
Special attention was obviously paid to Bumblebee during the creation of his character. He's the only original Autobot with a vintage vehicle mode, the famous Volkswagon Beetle (also called the "Bug"), which obviously influenced his name. I don't know whether his yellow and black color scheme was fixed before or after his christening, but it certainly completes the package. His status as the weakest Autobot is offset by his many other quiet but invaluable talents: of all the Autobots, he's the most energy-efficient, has the best eyesight, and can even function underwater. And, of course, he makes an excellent spy.
Is there a G1 Transformers fan alive who does not have a warm fondness for the Constructicons? The very first combiner team, presaging many more to come. I love the desperate longing for approval that exemplifies Scavenger. I love the sadistic artistry of Scrapper. I love the aloof perfectionism of Hook. I love the single-minded chemical wizardry of Mixmaster. I even love the grudging acceptance of their unglamorous roles that Long Haul and Bonecrusher exemplify.
 Scavenger |
 Scrapper |
 Hook |
 Mixmaster |
 Long Haul |
 Bonecrusher |
They may both be minibots from 1985, but their similarities end there.
Warpath is a warrior, plain and simple. He's also loud, crass and obnoxious -- if he's talking, he's probably yelling. He's egotistical and vain, a show-off, whether it's his expert sharpshooting or his well-maintained armor. He's a fucking tank. Of special note, though the actual toys of many G1 Transformers have inseparable legs (e.g., Powerglide, Quickmix or Flywheels), Warpath is the only character whose box art actually maintains this as a feature, thus making his pic distinctive and one of my favorites.
By extreme contrast, Beachcomber is a quiet but personable loner. He has absolutely no bloodlust -- in fact, he's greatly distressed by warfare and would be a pacifist if he didn't feel obligated to fight out of necessity. Most interesting of all, Beachcomber is a geologist by function. This begs all sorts of interesting questions: What is "geology" on Cybertron? The planet's surface is completely artificial; was his area of study the equivalent of plate tectonics and other subsurface activity, or has the very concept of "geology" on his home planet somehow evolved to include a melding of the natural and the artificial? (Or would that be more topology?) With that in mind, imagine what a Cybertronian geologist's reaction would be to Earth! Is our planet a complete cypher to him, or does he see more similarities than differences?
Wow, it's been a while since I've stayed up until 2am coding improvements to this site, but that's exactly what I ended up doing. What can I say, now that my back is feeling better, I'm really in a coding mood. I'll probably feel like shit tomorrow. Anyway, let me tell you what I did this evening.
My primary goal was to create tools that made it as easy as possible for you, dear reader, to be alerted whenever there have been new posts or new replies on this site that might interest you. I know it can suck to re-visit a website frequently without finding anything fresh, or likewise to come back after a month and realize that you've missed a lot of updates and discussions that would have interested you. So here's what you can do now...
Look here, upon this picture, and on this,
The counterfeit presentment of two brothers.
On the left, a glum, grumbly, gloomy, grouchy grouse: GEARS by name, a truck by game, one tasked with material transport and reconnaissance. He was released in 1984 along with the rest of the very first Autobots, though with less fanfare than most. I would be greatly surprised to hear anyone call him their favorite. He was the star of only one cartoon episode, "Changing Gears", wherein the Decepticons' fiendish plot relied upon altering Gears' disposition from rain to shine. He was the star of only one comic book (US issue #3) wherein he teamed up with Spider-Man to infiltrate Decepticon headquarters. (Though the web-slinger is the one featured on the cover, Gears was at least awarded the comic's upper-left corner box beside the masthead, a distinction usually reserved for Autobot leaders.) These distinctions may not amount to much, but compared to some of the later, lesser-known Transformers, Gears is practically royalty.
Consider with me now our mutual friend, the pre-eminent Autobot scientist: PERCEPTOR. He's not just the only Transformer who turned into a working microscope with the ability to magnify objects by a factor of 14. He also appeared in 30 of the original 98 episodes of the cartoon, and he and Grimlock were the only Season Two Autobots to be grandfathered into the Season Three regular cast. In addition to being super-smart, he's brave, self-sacrificing, and not afraid to shoot back. So sit up and take notice of our updated box art for Perceptor. This image was edited by Nailbomb and scanned from the Japanese laserdiscs box sets.
And speaking of updating Perceptor... There have been two other "updates" of this character recently. One was his introduction as an infrequent supporting character in the greatly-missed Transformers: Animated series, the other was in the pages of the ongoing IDW comics. Let's compare.
I know I'm in the minority here, but I like the twin toy versions of Ironhide (left) and Ratchet (right) better than the cartoon versions. As is always the case, the toys are the model for the (new) box art, as featured on either side of this paragraph. Respectively transforming and un-combining from a van/ambulance mode, both lanky robots stand atop their mobile platform of instruments and weaponry, their "faces" shielded by an immense window guard.
In other words, this:
Look at this, look at this, we have two much-improved entries for Kup and Blurr, two members of the "Scooby Gang" that was the 1986 movie and third season of the cartoon. True blue good guys, these bots. Kup, the ancient and crusty war-horse, survivor of a thousand battles; Blurr, the fastest Autobot alive, good-natured motormouth and data courier. Both new edits were done by long-time friend Slim. Thanks again, man!
I've actually had Kup since I was a kid, but for the life of me I can't recall the circumstances by which I got him. In truth, the "grandpa" Autobot was not one of the ones I was begging for in my youth. However, the recent Transformers Spotlight: Kup comic was one of the best of the spotlight series. It's too bad they couldn't just leave him a deranged legend, rather than resurrecting him as a "cy-gar"-chomping joke.
"Yo, Box Art Archive, I'm really happy for you, I'm-a let you finish... but Micromasters are the best Transformers of all time!"
Well, shit, I have some really great pieces to upload, like Stunticons and a Dinobot, and hopefully I can do some of that this weekend, but since Kanye drunkenly insists, let me get these Micromasters out the way.
Almost two years ago I requested that some people help me get scans from the front of the Micromaster Patrol cards so that, in addition to each individual Micromaster, I had an accurate version of how they appeared as a group on their package, overlaps and all. Well, Neo Kerberos has graciously fulfilled that request. The first batch he delivered went up some time ago, and I now present the rest of them. Thanks, Neo!
)) Air Patrol |
)) Race Track Patrol |
)) Military Patrol |
Jeremy Barlow of Soundwaves Oblivion has been sending me a ton of improved pieces of box art lately, the first two of which share something very obvious in common: they're both space shuttles! White ones, specifically. First there's the Japanese art for Astrotrain (left). While the American version of Astrotrain was a lot more purple, the Japanese one, released a year later, was recolored to more closely resemble an actual American space shuttle, that is, white. The second of this pair of images is Galaxy Shuttle (right), the Autobot Victory-era space shuttle, whose main function was to, you know, shuttle Autobots throughout the galaxy. In the cartoons, both robots had to "expand" to a ludicrous degree to house and transport their fellow soldiers, but at least Galaxy Shuttle was a really big toy. That helps with the suspension of disbelief.
Considering that the Transformers is, at its core, an outer space-related toyline, and that in the 1980's there was no vehicle in the real world more obviously associated with outer space than the space shuttles, I'm almost surprised there weren't more space shuttle Transformers. (Unless the Challenger disaster made the shuttle a less attractive toy.) Nonetheless, there was a handful of other white space shuttles in G1, all of which I will mention now.
Dudes. Dudes. Somebody has to clean up this image of Waverider for me (right). You know, edit out the text and the little captioned pictures, fix the parts obscured by those white indicator lines, clean up the white base so that the pictures from the opposite page aren't bleeding through, etc. Since this is a Pretender, the black-to-white gradient background has to be maintained, just like Groundbreaker or Splashdown. The existing entry for Waverider is not that great, but probably still worth consulting.
I got this from a page on X-Entertainment of Mildly Interesting 80's Print Ads. You know you're curious.
But seriously. Dude. Somebody clean up this picture for me. I'm jonesing.
More box art updates soon, and a discussion of the retirement of the War Room...
UPDATE: Dude, it's been edited! Devastator of kitbashing resource Sector 70 labored over the print ad and managed to edit it down to just the art (left). Show your appreciation for his efforts by checking out Devastator's most excellent kitbashes of numerous gestalt team members. Thanks!
Hot damn, we got a great version of the Autobot special ops main man, JAZZ, to add to the Archive. This pic, one of the Smythe transparency scans, was cleaned up by JP White. Thanks once again to both those guys.
Being such a blatant Decepticon sympathizer, I am often surprised when I encounter Transformer fans who proudly proclaim their Autobot allegiance. I mean, the good guys? Let's see if heroism and nobility put energon on your plate. Me? I'm cold like Shockwave, aloof like Soundwave, arrogant like Starscream and ruthless like Megatron! So what could I say about such an archetypical Autobot like Jazz? Not much. (I didn't even own him as a kid.)
But don't you worry, because my good friend Lucs, a kitbasher, customizer, Autobot-lover and straight-up Jazz junkie, honored my request and wrote a brief explanation of just why he digs Jazz so much...
Lowbrow, unsophisticated and chuckling incessantly, they appreciate only destruction and terror. Front-line shock troopers, they serve as cannon fodder, grist for the mill, completely expendable. Inseparable because they are tolerated only by each other. No ambition. No future. One of them can't even spell his name right.
Runamuck and Runabout are the Beavis and Butt-Head of the Decepticon army. And we love them for it, you bung-hole.
These improved entries were edited by Nailbomb -- heh heh... you said "nail" -- and were sourced from one of the Japanese laserdisc box sets. Because the previous Runamuck image and the new scan had pieces missing, Nailbomb had to merge them into a complete whole. I think he did a great job!
I'll be the first to admit, I am slow to respond to emails, slow to post new scans and edits, slow to update this site... Please understand, when you spend 40 hours weekly on a computer just for your job, spending more time on a computer at home is hard. I start getting this pain in my shoulder and neck. My lower back starts to spasm. My concentration wanders. And concentration is important! I may not do as much actual background removal of edits as I used to, but I still do a lot of clone-stamping to weed out imperfections in the scans, color level corrections, resolution adjustments, and so forth. After all, we have standards to uphold. Plus there's the coordination of attribution (who scanned what, who edited what). So forgive me if I seem at times to be delinquent or remiss. But let's turn our attention over to some pretty, pretty updates!
First up, there was an auction not to long ago (several people brought it to my attention) for a handful of original TF box art pieces. The accompanying photos for a few of them were of better quality than what we had in the Archive, and Jeremy Barlow of Soundwave's Oblivion was kind enough to grab and clean them up. The greatest improvement comes for the Aerialbot Air Raid, but the scans of Astrotrain and Blitzwing are even better than the already-great entries we had. Thanks, Jeremy!
Soundwave and his cassettes. If the Transformers had debuted ten years earlier, or ten years later, it's much less likely that Hasbro would have chosen cassettes and their corresponding cassette players as desirable alternate modes for their transforming toyline. It was really only a narrow period in human history that the cassette enjoyed widespread use: 42,000,000 cassettes were sold in 1990; by 2007, that had dropped to 274,000. The subsequent heyday of compact discs failed to yield any related Transformers, no Discmans, no PC towers. No, it could only have been in the 80's, the era of boomboxes and mixtapes, that Soundwave and his passengers could have been born.
Can you imagine a Transformers universe without Soundwave and the cassettes?!?
There's so much that's novel embodied in the concept. A larger robot carrying passengers (subordinates, agents, underlings, companions)! The introduction of sound as a weapon, music as a disguise, communications as a tactical element! I remember the very first time I saw the commercial for Soundwave on television and witnessed him transform from cassette player to robot, open his chest case, withdraw a cassette and throw it at the Autobots, only to see the cassette transform into a robot condor -- and it was like a million cool things all collided at once. (Soundwave's eerily synthetic voice didn't hurt, either.)
As a rule, I'm not a sucker for repaints, the creation of a new character through the simple act of recoloring an existing one. The act of taking Cosmos, for example, recoloring him (and sexually reassigning him) into a new character called Pathfinder does not invest the doppelganger with sufficient history or personality to make them interesting. That said, recolors have been around since the very beginning of the Transformers. The Autobots had a pair of pairs with Ratchet/Ironhide and Bluestreak/Prowl, but the Decepticons boasted a great deal more. The inaugural cassettes must be mentioned (the Frenzy/Rumble debacle as well as Laserbeak's usurpation of Buzzsaw as Soundwave's main condor), but arguably the most notable and enduringly institutionalized recolors are the original 1984 Decepticon jet triplets: Skywarp, Thundercracker, and their conniving commander, Starscream.
The new, vastly improved art entries for these three seminal Decepticons comes from the Smythe transparency scans and were cleaned up by JP White. Thanks again, guys! These are fantastic scans straight from transparencies created by Hasbro. As with all these Smythe transparencies, it is undoubtedly the last time the art for these characters will be updated in this Archive. :)
Remember when triple-changers were a bold and exciting new addition to the variety of the Transformers? Three modes! Wow! Decepticons Blitzwing and Astrotrain won us over with their devious multiplicity, so it was no surprise that more triple-changers would eventually arrive in stores and fiction. And here they are! It pleases me to present new, improved art for all four 1986 triple-changers: the Autobots Sandstorm, Broadside and Springer, as well as the Decepticon Octane. Thanks once more to the fowl Cosmic Duck for editing these scans (and to Shrike for some helpful feedback).
Springer was the most prominent of these four, the "Han Solo" of the 1986 movie and the third season. Strangely, Springer's triple-mode feature was not really utilized in the animation as you almost never (if ever) saw him transform into his Cybertronian car mode; it was always robot to helicopter and back. Springer was never the most interesting bot for me, being a little generic in his "tough but kind" persona. He's got a sword, though. (From his helicopter blades, of course.) Swords are awesome. Can't argue with that.
The modern world likes their heroes complicated, and for that reason much of our popular fiction features "good guys" who employ methods generally associated with the "bad guys" -- as well as the "honorable" monsters like Hannibal Lector and Dexter Morgan. Transformers are no exception, and from the beginning featured Autobots who were every bit as aggressive and war-mongering as their enemies. Presumably the only difference is that these Autobots confine their bloodthirstiness to the Decepticons. Scattershot, the leader of the Technobots, is this type of Autobot. Scattershot's newly improved box art was edited by Shrike. Many thanks to him once again!
For a unit that goes by the name "Technobots", they're surprisingly not very disciplined. Afterburner is "defiant, uncooperative, nasty-tempered"; Strafe is "high-strung, unnerved by quiet, expert marksmen"; and Nosecone is slow but at least methodical. Lightspeed, the data processor of the group (and my favorite), is easily the most "technical" member and unburdened by violent, destructive tendencies; perhaps that's why he is so preoccupied with being reconfigured into an interstellar spacecraft -- so he can get away from his teammates.
The Transformers Box Art Archive now has a Box Art History page! Just like the Archive itself, it is explicitly G1-centric, of course.
For some time I have wanted to have a page within the Box Art Archive that detailed the known history of the package art, from its earliest inception on the Diaclone packages (the ancestors of the Transformers) through to the very end of the Generation One line. However, I was reluctant to actually compose this history because, frankly, I felt there was likely a lot of other fans that were much more informed about the obscure details and trivia surrounding this topic. In other words, this is a perfect job for a wiki, and fortunately TFWiki does a great job of this with their Package art entry. That said, can you blame me for wanting to actually host the same information here on the Transformers Box Art Archive?
Enter Derik in Minnesota, who is one of the administrators and technical guys behind the TFWiki. Derik provided a no-frills feed version of that page, which I was then able grab and convert in real time (using an MSXML2.ServerXMLHTTP server object in classic ASP -- can you believe I'm still using classic ASP?). I scrub the page on-the-fly to eliminate everything post-G1, as well as to remove the edit links and re-point some of the art links to the corresponding images on this site.
The best part about this is that whenever the corresponding TFWiki page is updated with new or improved information, the Archive's "Box Art History" page will automatically update as well. Yay! It's the best of both worlds.
Special thanks to Derik for providing the no-frills version. If you're interested in Transformers, wikis, content licensing and other wacky stuff, be sure to check out Derik's LiveJournal site.
Some of the following statements are true. Others are not. I leave it for you to decide.
They were always paired together in the cartoon, these two, weren't they? Hoist (left) was the jovial bot in charge of Autobot maintenance, and Grapple (right) was the resident architect. They weren't warriors, of course, but I've always enjoyed the non-combat characters that figure into the Transformers' war. You can't have a functioning army without medics and engineers! But did they really need to make the voices of both these characters somewhat poncy with an vaguely English accent? I don't think so.
Of all the Autobots whose lives were ruined by the war, I think Grapple's fate is one of the more tragic. Here you have a guy who was one of Cybertron's prized architects who had to watch as one by one all his greatest works were destroyed. With little choice but to join the Autobot army, he is still building and designing architecture, but none of it is meant to last. If they're not intentionally built as temporary structures, they're made so by inevitable exposure to enemy attack. This impermanence and artistic futility makes Grapple prone to depression. It's a good thing he has the always high-spirited Hoist to buoy him up. Actually, if you look at his box art there, Grapple looks kind of pissed. I wouldn't fuck with him.
It may not be a knock-your-socks-off improvement, but we do now have a slightly better version of the art for Hot Rod, thanks to the editing skills of Christopher Sillitto (whose online portfolio can be found here.)
I've blogged once or twice about my great love of Rodimus Prime, the Autobot leader that Hot Rod becomes at the end of the original 1986 movie, but I've never really touched on Hot Rod's salad days. This is probably because, while I enjoy his toy even more than the Rodimus toy, Hot Rod is something of an outcast in my collection.
Several things.
a greatly improved Roadbuster. It's a fantastic scan from the original box, but unfortunately that also means it is still slightly cropped. Roadbuster is hunched -- he looks like he's stooping to fit into the frame. I realize: I've gotten so spoiled with uncropped package art that's from non-package sources, it feels unusual and novel to have a classic, cropped from-the-box scan. How odd.
Lastly, check out this auction on eBay: 35 Japanese candy wrappers featuring Transformers Box Art! That's just a riot. I totally fucking want these wrappers, but not for $50. Hell, I could buy myself a mint Mindwipe for fifty-fucking-dollars. Mmmmm. Mindwipe. I want Mindwipe. Mindwipe. Mindwipe. Mindwipe. Mindwipe. Mindwipe.
There are a ton of new scans available for helpful Photoshop experts to assist in editing. Half of them are 1985/86 Autobots from the first Japanese Laserdisc sleeves. These pieces need their backgrounds removed, leaving only the character art. Included in this group are Dinobots, Protectobots, Aerialbots, minibots, and more. Additionally, some previously reserved Laserdisc scans have been freed up: the Stunticons and Constructicons!
But even more exciting is a new series of transparencies featuring most of the original 1984 Autobots and Decepticons! These were actually scanned using a lightbox scanner, so the quality is superb. They just need to be color-corrected and delivered on a white background. Included in this lot are notables like Optimus Prime, Megatron, Jazz, Starscream, etc. All the greats! Many of these are actually for sale by owner. His eBay seller account is simgdaddy, but he's not auctioning them all at once. If you want to make a direct offer to him, email me.
All of these PSDs can be found in the Help the Archive section. As always, email me to let me know that you would like to reserve some pieces for yourself, lest more than one person edit the same PSD. Now get crackin'!
I'd also like to take a moment to thanks those who have "rattled the tip jar" recently by generously donating a few bucks to the Archive via PayPal. It is tremendously appreciated, and also humbling that you think highly enough of this little site to part with your hard-earned cash. Much appreciated!
The last time I uploaded an improved version of Hun-Grrr's box art, I took a moment to discuss his distinctive name. At the time I concluded that his handle, however endearing, deserves all the mocking it probably receives. But let's scratch the surface a little to see what makes Hun-Grrr otherwise interesting.
Hun-Grrr has the honor of functioning as the TERRORCON LEADER. Unfortunately, the Terrorcons have never received enough attention in comics or cartoons for any consensus to form as to whether Hun-Grrr is any good at this task. As a whole, the Terrocons are an unruly and ferocious bunch, but then so are most Decepticons. Still, I think we can make some educated guesses. Of his four subordinates, two are infantry, one is a sentry, and the last is a "terrorist" -- in other words, they're grunts. Hun-Grrr is probably most occupied with maintaining simple discipline. Fortunately, he's not only the largest of the troupe, he's by far the smartest (though that's not saying much). According to his tech spec, while he may not be very skillful or fast, he's extremely strong, durable, courageous and well-armed. It seems reasonable that through simple threats and military psychology, he can do what needs to be done, which is keep the Terrorcons focused enough to be pointed in the right direction at the right time and tear to shreds anything in their path.
New improved art for all six Throttlebots now graces these pages: Rollbar, Chase, Searchlight, Wideload, Freeway, and Goldbug. All edits are courtesy of the prolific Cosmic Duck. I call fowl! Anyway....
No one cares very much about the Throttlebots, a forgettable group of Autobot cars from 1987. They all share the same gimmick of a pull-back motor -- you know, where you pull a car back and it winds up, then you let it go and it rolls on its own? Yeah, that. It does this in car and robot mode because their robot mode is little more than the back half of the car moved upright. Zero articulation on these guys, unless you count the ability to lean back in awe. When they were released, the Throttlebots were intended to replace the minibots in price point, but their lack of variety or notable personality have made their position in Transformers history something of an afterthought, at best, and often even scorned. They were featured only momentarily in one of the last USA cartoons in a "roll-call" scene. ("Technobots, roll out! Monsterbots, roll out! Throttlebots, roll out! And, you know, everyone else!"). They got slightly more exposure in the comics, even appearing on the cover of issue 30. Since then they have for the most part been forgotten or occasionally dredged up as ineffectual cannon fodder.
Transformers Checklist Catalog Scans!
I've had the idea for over a year and the images for months, but I finally, finally, put up high-resolution scans of the 1984 through 1990 catalogs. You remember those folded-up inserts that came with boxed Transformers showing you in full color the army of Transformers available to own? Yup, those. COLLECT THEM ALL! it ordered, and I tried, I really tried.
Having recently posted improved versions of the Decepticon city, Dinosaurer (aka Trypticon), and its/his city commander, Galvatron, followed by the Autobot city, Metroplex, it seems only fair that I complete the symmetry by posting the improved art for Ultra Magnus, occasional leader of the Autobots and Metroplex's city commander! Thanks to Christopher Sillitto of Sillitto Design for the edit!
This "final" version of the art is of a high enough quality that I found myself speculating about Magnus' facial expression. Like the Mona Lisa, it's not entirely sure. Confidence? Pride? Simple good mood? Frustration at being forced to sit so long for the portrait? Who can say?
I've blogged numerous times about Ultra Magnus, most extensively in "The Autobot Commander Who Would Not Kneel" -- the title is a subtle play on the fact that his original toy does not have articulated legs -- so I won't be going much into Magnus now. Suffice it to say, I have always enjoyed envisioning him as the commander of a giant, occasionally walking and talking city-bot. And shoulder-mounted rocket launchers, I like those, too.
Two truly exemplary new additions to the Transformers Box Art Archive are sure to be the final upgrades for these founding characters: Hound (right), the Earth-loving Autobot SCOUT, and Ravage (left) the popular Decepticon SABOTEUR and spy. These two pieces are part of a batch of beautifully scanned transparencies of many of the 1984 characters donated by Ryan Smythe. Feel free to check out his curious G1 Transformers site, TF Vectors. Ryan also happens to be a fellow Portlander and I regularly take his money at our TF-fan poker games. Thanks, Ryan!
I'd never really paid much attention to it before, but there's apparently a long (albeit spotty) history of pairing Hound and Ravage. One or two instances, at least. OK, one, really, but it dates all the way to the original three-part pilot of the Transformers cartoon. Remember when Ravage was captured and Hound was guarding him?
Many of the combiner groups -- if they aren't already pre-defined by some theme such as all jets or all construction vehicles -- have at least one token "flying" member. The Protectobots have Blades; the Predacons have Divebomb; in the case of the Terrorcons, that member is Cutthroat. Actually, Cutthroat isn't even supposed to actually fly -- his tech spec reads that, in creature mode, he "can leap 4 miles in one jump", presumably gliding on those (heavy, thick and metallic) pterosaur-like wings.
But apart from this slightly avian distinction, there isn't much regarding Cutthroat that is worth noting. His function is SHOCK TROOPER, in which case he must be either regarded as very scary and formidable or as simply expendable cannon fodder. His bio mentions that he is compassionless and has an "insatiable lust for destruction," but that's it for characterization. So while I'm fond of Cutthroat insofar as I am fond of all my Terrorcons, most of the thoughts that occur to me when I muse on him are peripheral.
You know I love Metroplex. How can anyone not? He's a robot that turns into a city! Sure, "city" may be generous, but still! A city! How bold. He has a semi-permanent address on top of my CD case. I now have all the toys to depict the sprawling metropolitan scene that was shown on his box (each sold separately). I even love hanging out with him when he's all juiced-up on his "Super Strong" Metroplex mode. He's almost like a family pet.
I pleases me greatly that we now have an even more epic and city-sized rendering of him for the Archive. As with all the recently improved scans, this comes from one of the Japanese laserdisc packages. The image was cleaned up by Slim, who is something of a box-art editing knight. Sir Slim the Precise!
Two more Technobots now have greatly improved art thanks to Shrike, our recurring Technobot editor. These two guys are the polar opposite personalities on the team. Afterburner (left), a GUNNER by function, is a high-speed, hair-trigger combatant, described as "defiant, uncooperative, nasty-tempered". A heavily armed futuristic cycle, he goes zoom zoom zoom! on your kitchen floor. By contrast, Nosecone (right) is of such a slow, methodical and calm disposition that he is accused by his comrades of laziness. Transforming into a drill tank -- there aren't enough drill tanks in the modern world -- he putters along the living room carpet while you wish that his drill bit actually, like, spun.
Together, they are terrible Pictionary partners.
Hm, should I put up the new, higher quality version of the art for Outback, or should I keep the old version that was small, blurry, and you could see the remains of the cardback's plastic bubble throughout the art? Eh, what the hell, I'll put up the new version. Another fabulous edit courtesy of Cosmic Duck!
Outback is another tragic example of generating a stereotyped token character by invoking a nationality (or ethnicity). He's Australian, you see. You can tell because in his very few speaking appearances in the cartoon, he's got an Australian accent. I bet he enjoys "shrimp on the bar-bee" and Foster's beer, too. Crikey! Pathetic. It's enough to make you want to track down everyone who actually saw Crocodile Dundee II in the theaters, then find and feed their babies to a dingo.
Wreck-Gar, come on down! You're the next contestant on The Price is Right! New and improved Wreck-Gar, with twice the cleaning power of the leading competitor! Now we are so happy we do the Mypos Dance of Joy! Ya-da-ya-da-ya-da-ya-da! Batteries not included. Won't the real Slim (shady) please stand up (and take credit for this edit)? Smurfalicious!
My Animated Wreck-Gar was defective. Look here, upon this picture, and on this, the counterfeit presentment of two Wreck-Gars: 
it's like those games in bars where
you have to spot the subtle difference
between two pictures except
there are no tits in this version
My Wreck-Gar was missing the two little red thingies (audio modules?) on either side of his head.
Look at how cute and happy the
Robot Heroes version of Gnaw looks!
Gnaw is dead center, surrounded by other Robot Heroes buddies!
My brother Doug was always more interested in sports than in toy robots. He preferred a Nerf football to a Constructicon. Still, on every gift-giving holiday our grandparents would buy us toys in parity to avoid playing favorites. For this reason I occasionally got a Nerf bat to complement his new Nerf softballs, and Doug would get Optimus Prime to complement my Starscream. If memory serves, he got Shockwave when I got Jetfire, and I even think Megatron was given to him when I got Soundwave. I distinctly remember one Easter where within our respective Easter baskets sat a Runabout for him and a Runamuck for me.
I am reminded of this because on the holiday when I opened up Blitzwing in my grandparent's rec room, Doug unwrapped his Astrotrain, who is the latest much-improved addition to the Box Art Archive. Astrotrain's edit comes courtesy of Christopher Sillitto, who did a really amazing job of reconstructing Astrotrain's leg that was partially obscured by Ramjet's art in the original scan. Thanks, Christopher! Go check out his work at Sillitto Design.
Sure, every army needs its tacticians, communications specialists, saboteurs, munitions experts, and so forth, but where would any army be without its infantry? And that's exactly what Blot is: a FOOT SOLDIER by function and design. Though he may be stupid and slow, Blot is extremely strong, durable, loyal and possessing that superb brand of courage that results from the combination of all those qualities. In his creature mode -- a sort of sloth/gorilla hybrid -- he advances unyieldingly, scaling Autobot embankments with his monstrous claws, belching fire and picking off fleeing enemies with his short-range slime/corrosion pistol.
But sadly, his formidability is not what Blot is famous for. No, he has the unglamorous distinction of being the "most disgusting of all Transformers". To put it mildly, he has a hygiene problem; more accurately put, he oozes foul-smelling lubricants from various joints that repulses and disgusts his fellow Decepticon comrades.
Thanks to Lee for editing all five Predacons scans. These vastly improved beasts have been menacingly installed within the Transformers Box Art Archive...
Rising through the Decepticon ranks, Galvatron is the recently appointed city commander of Trypticon, the monstrous Decepticon mobile fortress. Said to be a cunning and pitiless tactician, reportedly undefeated in single combat, Galvatron is nonetheless rumored to be... unstable. Imbalanced. Some even claim he might be completely mad.
But how? What do you mean by "mad"? Give me some examples!
All right. Now this is all only second-hand, but most of these come from very reliable sources. This is what I've heard...
Everywhere but Japan, the Decepticon's monstrously huge dinosaur/battlestation was called "Trypticon"; but in the Land of the Rising Sun, the same sinister titan went by the awesome name of... "Dinosaurer"!
Honest.
In addition to the name change, he is also one of the few toys to feature completely different box art on his Japanese package. Observe:
From left: Eject, Ramhorn, Steeljaw, and Rewind.
OK, time for the Autobot cassette warriors. Introduced in the movie, Blaster's answer to Soundwave's personal army springs into action from his chest compartment. And now we've got new improved box art for all four of them.
Push. Drive. Shove. Pierce. Stab. Press. Force. Lunge. Attack. Move. Jab. Position. Oh.... Thrust. You make a big noise and show, but I know that it's all bluster. Come here, I'll show you who's really in charge.
Our latest improved edit was undressed by Lee. Thanks, man!
Oh, Tailgate! You're so silly~! You think Earth cars are alive! You really do!
But they're not. They don't talk. They don't react to stimuli. They have no self-determining volition. If by some undetectable circumstance cars are alive, they are all trapped in a locked-in state, like the late stages of Lou Gehrig's (Car's) Disease, "wheeled" around by uncaring orderlies who oocasionally deface them with tasteless bumper stickers or ram them into telephone poles.
He hears all. Not just through his audio sensors, which can supposedly "hear a fly sneeze". Soundwave is also listening to the rest of the electromagnetic spectrum. If it's broadcasting, he's receiving. Properly calibrated, Soundwave can even read minds. Plus he's got his little cache of subordinate cassette spies; do they report to him, or does he just read their minds, too? Does he know everything they know? Are they unable to keep secrets from him?
What does he do with all this information?
In the cartoon, he was always portrayed as a loyal and unquestioning servant to Megatron, but his motivation is left unclear. Indeed, Soundwave spoke tersely, and only when necessary, revealing little of himself. Some may interpret that as devotion, but couldn't it simply be a conscious choice by one who knows the value of revealed secrets?
The latest greatly improved box art edit arrives courtesy of Slim. Thanks, Slim!
I have always enjoyed the character of Cyclonus: a fearfully powerful Decepticon lieutenant, icy, pragmatic and ruthless, yet unwaveringly loyal to Galvatron, his unstoppable but insane commander. Cyclonus is the executive officer under Galvatron, the rational ego to Galvatron's psychotic id. In the cartoon he had this low, whispery voice like cold stone. His Cybertronic jet mode has forward-swept wings, and I always dig that shit. Plus he's dark purple and grey, iconicly Decepticon. He's exactly the sort of 'Con commander that Botch would love to follow.
I'm not a big fan of size-changing and mass-shifting in Transformers. It just seems to me that if Astrotrain, when transforming into space shuttle mode, can grow large enough for a dozen or more Decepticons to fit inside, why can't he grow that large in robot mode as well? Why could the Transformers only grow or shrink when changing modes? Why can't Astrotrain, in robot mode, grow ten times larger? Why can't Megatron shrink down in robot mode to the same size he is when in handgun mode? It just doesn't make sense. I'm sure there are other fans who have great rationales to explain away some of this, but for myself I try to avoid the size-changing thing whenever possible.
Which brings me to the Insecticons! In the cartoon they were shown as really, really large robot insects (who transformed into really large Decepticons); in the comic books, they had the same robot height, but shrank to, if not insect-sized, then at least baseball-sized bugs. For my own part, I like to imagine them as always insect-sized. Imagine! Smaller, much smaller than a Micromaster, these miniaturized, wickedly insidious Decepticons operate on an entirely different scale than the rest of the war. Small enough to evade Autobot sensors and sentries, they make excellent spies, saboteurs, and even assassins. Tiny warrior viruses infecting and destroying the Autobot ranks from within...
In their fictional world, just where do those Autobots and Decepticons with animalistic or creaturely modes get the inspiration for their forms? Are they purely imagined, and the basic laws of balance and efficiency result in something resembling one of the countless myriad living bodies on this planet? Or are they directly inspired by contact with alien organic creatures throughout the galaxy? In either case, it's especially ironic that Rippersnapper, whose creature mode resembles a shark with arms and legs, absolutely cannot stand organic life.
According to his tech spec, he hates the very smell of organic life. He lashes out in an automatic frenzy at any organic creature he encounters. It is perhaps this kind of unquestioning tendency towards violence that makes him especially suited for his function of TERRORIST. Rippersnapper's job is to inflict casualties upon non-combatants and innocent bystanders for the purpose of creating fear and manipulating the enemy. Though not particularly strong or fast, he is bold, well-armed, and fanatically dedicated to the destruction of the Autobots.
I've blogged before about how I like Rodimus Prime, and how I think he would be more fondly remembered as a leader if only he had a better toy, maybe one with articulated elbows and/or knees, or one shaped like William "The Refrigerator" Perry instead of Kareem Abdul-Jabar.* In any case, we can't do much about his 1986 toy, but we can improve his box art entry, and that's just what Christopher Sillitto has done for us, the first of many edits from him coming your way. If you have some graphic design needs, by the way, you can check out Christopher's professional portfolio online at Sillitto Design.
The new Rodimus scan comes from the recent Japanese Laserdisc PSDs up for grabs in the Help the Archive section. There are still a few unreserved scans for budding box art editors if you want to claim one or two. I'm posting the edits gradually so that they can each be appreciated in turn. Appreciate them, dammit! In turn!
Another edit comes to us, this time thanks to the familiar heroic_decepticon, who apologizes that he has been busy lately dealing with the real world instead of Transformers. I think I speak for us all of us when I say that that's no excuse, and real life isn't nearly as interesting as Transformers-life. Do you know even one person in the real world who can change into a car, a jet, or some kind of futuristic otherworldly car/jet thing? No, I didn't think so.
I don't own Reflector, the Decepticon trio of robots that transform and combine into a camera. He was never high on my priority list. They were never shown to have personalities, much less distinct ones. They were just "the camera dudes". Worse, they're actually kind of expensive to acquire these days. And does it really take three Decepticons to form just one camera? All in all, I may never own Reflector, and I'm OK with that. I still like his box art! They look real serious. They're totally gonna find that Autobot, pin him down in a crossfire, exterminate him, then transform and takes lots of photos to send home to their real-world Mommy.
Two of the Technobots from the latest monster batch of scans have been expertly liberated from their backgrounds and now replace their previous low-quality versions in the Archive: Lightspeed, the data processing soldier who longs to one day be converted from a car to an interstellar spacecraft; and Strafe, the high-strung gunner who sprays artillery in every direction. These edits come courtesy of Shrike, who has been helping this site since 2001, believe it or not. In fact, it was Shrike who had originally provided the art that these pics are now replacing, so this is especially fitting. Thanks, man!
These Technobots were among those Transformers that I was buying with my own money when I got my first job at 13. I would take my paltry pay each week and walk to Clover, the local department store. I would pour over all the little guys in plastic bubbles on their cards and wonder who I would buy next, building my gestalts one week at a time. (My habit of walking into any department store and heading straight for the toy section began then and remains in place to this day.)
Both Lightspeed and Strafe were each, for one week respectively, my favorite Transformer.
Predaking. Ah, Predaking. You magnificent bastard.
Prior to Predaking, every new gestalt had been portrayed as kind of dumb or otherwise mentally impaired, a balance against their prodigious size and strength. Not so with Predaking. This merging of the six Predacons was introduced as the "closest thing to a perfect fighting machine that the Decepticons have." A harmonious focusing of the hunting instincts inherent in his five predatory animal-like constituents.
Ah, the first, succulent edit from our recent avalanche of new scans: Blitzwing. Special thanks to first-time editor Lee for freeing this triple-changer from his frozen state of mid-transformation! Astrotrain's novel silliness aside, Blitzwing is easily the best of the classic triple-changers and my childhood favorite. Tank to jet to robot! Gun, sword, missiles! He's a one-robot trifecta of Decepticon awesomeness.
I must mention that Blitzwing's updated counterpart in the new Transformers: Animated series is also one of my favorites, mostly because his designers retained but improved upon all the original elements. Still the same three molds, still the same color scheme, but he's now not only finally German in bearing (like his name suggests), he has three personalities, with three corresponding faces, each a traditional German stereotype: the cold, calculating commandant; the blustery bruiser; and the avante garde weirdo. If you're thinking of picking up just five toys from the new Animated line, make sure Blitzwing is one of them.
Well, that's one down, but there are dozens of robots left that need to be edited out from their backgrounds. Jump to the Help the Archive section and get started!
Remember that Japanese Headmasters Laserdisc box set I bought a little while ago for all the clear, unobstructed box art that covered the sleeves? Remember how awesome that was? Well, I have now acquired new, 600dpi scans from the first two Japanese LD sets! This... is the motherload. For many 1984-1987 characters, I think it's safe to say that this will probably be their final, dramatically improved version in the Transformers Box Art Archive.
Scans available for editing include: Soundwave and his cassettes; all of the Constructicons, Stunticons, Terrorcons, Combaticons, Predacons, and Technobots; Blaster's cassettes; triple-changers and seekers; Insecticons; Metroplex and Dinosaurer; Throttlebots; Rodimus Prime and company; and more! The PSD files for all of these can be downloaded for editing from the Help the Archive page. If you do decide to edit any of the scans, drop me a line or add a comment to this post so I can reserve those scans for you and prevent the same scan from being edited twice.
Behold! In celebration of surviving another year, Dollface gifted me with this classic Transformers 3-D Jigsaw Stand Up Puzzle, featuring Bluestreak! 
It transforms from puzzle, to robot, to car, and back! With help, of course. In truth, because of the complex and thoroughly unique shape that these pieces had to be in order to perform this stand-up engineering marvel, this turned out to be the most fun puzzle I had ever put together in my life, even before the stand-up part. (It didn't hurt that the finished picture features several pieces of box art.)
Long-time readers may remember that I once displayed and discussed a vintage Transformers birthday card featuring the box art for Hubcap (erroneously labeled "Bumblebee"). Well, Prial got his hands on a half-dozen of this same line of vintage birthday cards and was good enough to scan them for me! While they all feature a character's box art, because of the low print quality only the character art for Galvatron and Cyclonus was an improvement over what we already had in the Archive. Still, that's a nice bonus! Thanks much, Prial.
Since it actually happens to be my birthday today, I am especially pleased to share the rest of these cards with you. See if you can notice the subtle psychological lesson revealed by careful study of these cards:
Nukeote pointed me to a site called Premier Collectible Auctions where, in addition to having many wildly overpriced MIB/MOSC Transformers, there are quite a number of pieces of original TF box artwork up for auction. The prices range from $3,000 to $10,000. Motherfuck! Well, unless I decide to sell my car — twice, somehow — I don't think I'll be picking these up. But at the very least, a couple of the scans for the auction listing are better than what I currently have, so up they go!
Primarily, it's the individual members of the Battle Patrol that are the real find: Flak, Sunrunner, Big Shot, and Sidetrack. These guys are actually among my favorite Micromasters, because they're atypically militaristic Autobots ... and they're so cute, too!
It was pointed out to me that the instructions for the various 1986 and 1987 "Scramble City" combiner team leaders were incomplete, missing all the actual "Collect all five to form XYZ" portions at the end. Well, though the complete images could have been pieced together from existing scans, I needed very little prompting to actually do some eBay hunting, pick up all the actual instructions, scan them, stitch them together and present new, improved versions of these six pieces.
| Hot Spot | Hun-Grrr | Motormaster |
| Onslaught | Scattershot | Silverbolt |
As a rule I have no interest in "upgrading" the tech spec or instruction images like I do with the box art, but this is one exception I don't mind making. Besides, if I didn't spend a couple hours doing this, I might have missed the best damn panel in all of Transformers instructions:
I have had a lot on my mind and my plate in recent days and weeks, but fighting a cold at home has at least given me the opportunity to finally post all the edits you guys did recently from my Headmasters Laserdisc scans. So let's get right into it, shall we?
From heroic_decepticon:
• Raiden, the Japanese Trainbot gestalt
• the Decepticon Targetmasters: Misfire, Triggerhappy, Slugslinger, Cyclonus, and Scourge
• and some Autobot Targetmasters: Crosshairs, Pointblank, and Sureshot (who was a bit of a toss-up, since the previous version came from a crisper source)
As I was browsing eBay looking for more Headmasters to buy, I chanced upon a very fortuitous find: the original Japanese Headmasters Laserdisc box set. Now, I have Madman's Headmasters series, and I don't even own a Laserdisc player, so why would I care about that? Well, it just so happens that the font and back of each disc sleeve is covered with Headmaster-era box art! Crisp, clear, bold, unobstructed and savory box art. Raiden! Twincast! Targetmaster Hot Rod! Even a wonderful Fortress Maximus (Japanese variant). Thirty-two new bots in all!
600dpi scans of these pieces have all been added to the Help the Archive section. If you have the talent, the time, and the desire to help out the Archive, now is your chance. (Experienced Photoshop editors only, please.)
Or, if you're graphically-challenged, consider donating a few bucks to the Archive. This collection set me back almost $300. While I am planning on re-selling it, I expect to take a loss. But, you know, anything for the Archive.
There's a reason I'm especially fond of the Terrorcons: they were among the first Transformers I bought with my own money when I got my first job at age 13 doing odds and ends at a local sporting good store. I would take my small weekly pay, head over to the local Clover department store, and agonize over which of the carded Terrorcons or Technobots I would buy (and which ones I would have to leave on the shelf). While I probably would have bought them all at once if I could, in retrospect I loved getting them individually because it gave me a week to savor each one for its own sake before a new acquisition could usurp my attention.
I was especially fond of Sinnertwin, the Terrorcon sentry, but let me tell you why. Years later, in my Queens apartment, when some friends and I were sitting around tripping, the girl I was sleeping with at the time asked if I wasn't in fact reading too much into the Transformers. In response, I went to my Cybertron bookcase, selected Sinnertwin, and responded along the following lines...
Because he is awesome and insane, Heroic Decepticon sent me a Japanese Transformers "collecting" book (here) that featured some sporadic but desirable box art within its pulpy pages. The resolution wasn't divine, but in a few instances it was still better than what we already had in the Archive. From this assemblage, I have posted a couple scans in the Help the Archive for you to edit out the backgrounds, if you are so skilled and inclined: Springer, Grimlock, Dai Atlas, and Raiden. Editable yumminess.
Some scans that didn't really need fancy editing have already been added to the Archive, including Sixbuilder and Grandus (seen above). I also updated the Victory back-of-the-box art, but the improvement is only moderate since I'm pretty sure both the new scan and the old are from the same source... but my new scan is better, so eh, why not? If you really think you could do something magical with my original 600dpi scan, let me know.
I have a few new scans I'm going to post soon for editing — all improved versions of existing pics within the Archive — but as a preview I've updated the art for Sixbuilder with the full "construction site gone awry" box art. Enjoy, and more soon!
If you haven't yet found Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki, you're really missing out. In addition to being very informative and thorough, it's pretty damn funny as well. Indeed, it really captures the tone in which I like to discuss these little plastic robots. In fact, at least a couple of the more diligent editors are happy readers here. At least, they'd better be happy, dammit. What are you looking at?
Anyway, I've long wanted to do a sort of "History of TF box art" page, but apart from being lazy about it, I didn't feel that I personally had all the necessary information to write a definitive history. (I am occasionally humble.) Fortunately, the TF Wiki people did it for me! So I've put up some permanent links on the Box Art Archive homepage to the "Package art" page over on the wiki.
Otherwise, go check out the article, and if you can contribute, please do! I made some edits about the Diaclone origins and added info about Richard Marcej. Ideally I'd like to mirror that page via a feed or something to a permanent page over here, so if anyone knows a way to do that, let me know.
While hunting for new toy acquisitions in Singapore, Heroic Decepticon came upon something very unique and — for TF box art enthusiasts like us — totally drool-worthy: a vintage 1990 poster for the Singapore market advertising the Transformers: Victory cartoon, featuring perfectly unobstructed box art prints of six of the major Victory characters. Of course he snatched it up and graciously submitted scans for all of us. Check them out:
 Star Saber |
 Victory Leo |
 Deszaras |
 Liokaiser |
 Road Caesar |
.gif) Landcross |
Staring down a cold, I chose to absent myself from work today in order to improve my chances of a speedy recuperation (and avoid infecting others). This gives me a chance to catch up on some recent submissions to the Transformers Box Art Archive that significantly improve upon the previous versions. The majority of the new material comes from Nukeote, again a mix of transparencies (scanned using his successful homemade lightbox scanner technique) and scanned boxes.
 Mirage |
 Skids |
 Whirl |
 Fastlane & Cloudraker |
Blitzwing |
 Snaptrap |
Unsatisfied with his initial attempt, Nukeote took another shot at the Decepticon Air Commander using his amazing homemade transparency scanning technique. I can't help but agree that this new version looks even better than the first one. So once again, allow me to present the villain you love to hate, a Decepticon among Decepticons, your friend and mine, Starscream!
The truth is, Botch would have difficulty following a leader like Starscream. Sure, as a leader he's murderous and ruthless enough, and he has a leader's intuition and strategic insight. But while occasionally sacrificing troops is a part of being a Decepticon commander, Starscream tends to do this a little too liberally on account of his relative cowardice in the face of personal injury. He's much better at shooting an opponent in the back or from a distance than facing them head-on. Eh, I wouldn't have him any other way.
OK, I just finished uploading an update to the underlying HTML and CSS of the site. Ideally, you shouldn't really notice any difference in the layout of any page, but I made everything a little more streamlined and modern (moving towards tableless CSS). If you do notice any pages that appear whacked, please clear your cache and try to view the page again, since your browser might still be using its stored versions of the old CSS or HTML files. If things are still whacked, please feel free to take a screenshot and send it to Botch@BotchTheCrab.com. That's me. Obviously.
If you're in the blog portion of the site where you can see my right-hand column of recommendations, you may notice that the "Reading" section is a little different. I've tied it into my "Reading" RSS feed from my Google Books library. Nifty, eh? Next time I'm bored, I'll sit down and add all my books to my Google library collection. For now, it's just a nice way to link to a page that not only tells you about the book I'm reading, but also gives a whole hell of a lot of other information. Next up I'm going to use an RSS feed from Netflix to display recommended movies. Soon!
We have a shitload of really beautiful newly-upgraded images for the Transformers Box Art Archive today, some of which came from scanned box fronts, but many are from those original art transparencies that have appeared on eBay. Five from '85 or earlier (including Starscream), two Headmaster Juniors, plus a Powermaster, a Pretender and a Micromaster base just for spice. Gaze upon their assemblage, then continue below to read about the very successful home transparency-scanning technique that yielded half of these.
 Anti-Aircraft Base |
 Groundbreaker |
 Joyride |
 Nightbeat |
Perceptor |
 Ramjet |
 Red Alert |
 Siren |
 Smokescreen |
Starscream | ||
Monstrously, Ginraii has unloaded upon us a host of improved images for the Archive. Hurtling our way, juggernaut-like, come the following:
Superion, the Aerialbot gestalt, and his torso, Silverbolt, the Aerialbot leader. (Currently, while Super Strong Metroplex stands atop my CD case, Silverbolt is beside him in "launching ramp" mode.) Hey all. I'd like to request some better scans from you guys, if you can manage it for me.
Most importantly, I would like a hi-res scan of the Victory back-of-the-box battle scene art. I currently have the image here, but I need a print-quality scan.
Beyond that, if anyone can provide hi-res scans of Sixknight, Buster, Hydra, or Fangry, it would be much appreciated. Don't be shy.
In appreciative anticipation of your forthcoming generosity, I took the time to clean up a transparency scan submitted some time ago by snipebot. Please enjoy a very much improved image of the Stunticon tyrant: Motormaster.
Remember how when you bought an arm or leg of a gestalt, it came with a tiny, folded paper insert that showed how, should you be lucky enough to collect all the Constructicons or Combaticons or whatever, you could form a giant super warrior? Man, I always loved those small inserts. They play to so many little enjoyments of mine: tiny print; draftsmanship; lists; assembly instructions; monochromaticity; and, of course, Transformer gestalts. Seriously, what's not to love?
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Some cool new additions to the Archive today, gentlebots, mostly variants on existing art. From Kenichi Sanzui in Japan we finally have robot-only art for the Autobot triple-changers Springer and Sandstorm (to go with their multi-mode art). In addition, he sent in a great edit of a variant of Star Saber, the Brainmaster and Supreme Commander of the Cybertrons in the Japanese "Victory" series. I've seen this artwork before, on catalogs, I think, but I'm not precisely sure where it's from. If anyone can tell us, please share. Thanks, Kenichi!
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We also have a couple new pics from Shrike. One is a new version of Thrust; the old pic was heavily cropped; this new one, though slightly smaller, is complete. He also sent in the "gold weapons" variant of Frenzy from the 1986 Ratbat/Frenzy card. This is good, since I already had the tech specs and instructions for this variant in their respective archives. Thanks, Shrike!
Like Jesus said: It is finished. Except it's not actually 100% complete. No European ones yet. And there are a couple missing, like Starscream. And Jesus might not have actually even existed, much less uttered that particular phrase. All that aside: the Action Masters portion of the Transformers Box Art Archive has been launched! Go ahead and check out the respective non-transforming Autobots and Decepticons.
Small update today, but it's for a character of which I am very fond: Dirge, the Decepticon warrior whose engines' drone a song of fear and lament. Imagine a high-tech airborne version of the bagpiper, wailing darkly and announcing the war and death to come. What can I say? I like Transformers; I like music; I like morbidity. Dirge is practically the perfect Decepticon! He's even described as mournful and silent. I bet if he were a high school student, he'd dress in black and have a funky haircut and tell his parents to go to hell, and play lots of violent video games. Maybe he'd even be one of those trench-coat-wearing animal-torturing kids who goes on the internet to learn how to make bombs. Any of that would be going too far, in my opinion. Better to stick to heavy metal and reading Hamlet. No mascara.
The source scan was from another of those famous transparencies that I won recently, albeit a very small one, hence the lower quality. Still, I consulted a couple of die-hard box art fans and they agreed that this new image is nonetheless an improvement over the old one. Enjoy! I mean -- I'm very sorry for your loss... he was so young.
It's frustrating to invent and covet your own personal Transformer characters, but have neither the artistic or mechanical skills to actualize them. Fortunately, others do! Thus, finally, Botch has been rendered digitally in three dimensions! And not only that, so have his fellow cassette companions, Bungle and Fuck-Up!
It truly delights me how, even after 10 years of hosting this archive (10 years!), new and improved G1 pictures are still being added. Like Virginia Slims, "You've come a long way, baby."
From Hasbro in-house transparency photos that I won on eBay, I give you much-improved versions of Bugly and Splashdown, both 1988 Pretenders, though hailing from opposing factions. Both gentlebots arrive in with that sexy black background as was customary for the original Pretender art.
A very heroic_decepticon has scanned, meticulously edited and delivered to us a greatly improved version of one of the most popular Autobots, your friend and mine, the rockin' and rollin' king of Transformer swing, Blaster!
The Autobot communications officer played a more prominent role in Transformers history than he is generally credited. In the cartoon, I think Blaster appeared more often in the post-movie third season than any other pre-movie character save Perceptor. (Though some of the Aerialbots may show up often enough post-movie to prove me wrong. Experts?) Throughout everything, Blaster was a fun-loving, no stress, spirited morale booster. His only fault was rockin' too loud.
I "auditioned" to do vocals for a fledgling death metal band today. That's why I'm talking so quietly: my throat still hurts a little. I over-exerted myself this time, but I believe that I can find a groove where it won't be so taxing.
You may be interested to know that some of our favorite Transformers are death metal musicians. Windsweeper, for instance, plays drums in a very brutal band. Looking at his box art there you can plainly tell that his arms can move lightning-fast and are capable of the most vicious blast-beats.
I want the Monster Pretenders. I want them more than any other Transformers right now. I want them so badly I keep my Transformers: Generations book open to their page by my desk that so I can look at them longingly every so often. But I can't have them right now. They are simply too expensive for someone who hasn't had a real paycheck in two months. A recent auction on eBay for the complete set of all six Monster Pretenders ended at around $250. Is that a lot? Well, scarcity and demand naturally play a role in determining the value of anything, and the Monster Pretenders are rather rare and probably in more demand now that in the last 10 years. Even so, to me, $250 is a lot for six virtually antique toys, even if their combined robot forms merge into the awesome super-warrior known as Monstructor.
"Action Masters!" you cry, and I have always resisted. They don't transform, so they're not really Transformers, I declare. I don't care if they're considered Generation One, I consider them Generation Nothing. "But Action Masters!" you plea, and I push back. Transformers that don't transform is like a bicycle without wheels: what the hell is the point? And yet still I hear you call for "Action Masters!" (If you have no idea what we're talking about, this is why God made Wikipedia.)
All right, fine, shut up. I'll do it. But I need your help. One, I need EDITORS. There are a number of scans I already have that need cleaning, fixing and improving. But I'm still missing a lot of images, and most of the ones I have aren't that great anyway. So two, I need 300dpi SCANS of your Action Master cards and boxes. I want to have an entry both for the robot-only art and (in the case of the boxed Action Masters) the main robot-with-vehicle art. Visit the Help the Archive page for details (please read thoroughly).
My favorite Autobot is Skids. He transforms into an unobtrusive blue minivan and his function is THEORETICIAN. That's so cool. Other Autobots are warriors or engineers or intelligence operatives or such; Skids' job is to just think of stuff. To theorize. That's so cool. Consequently, I'm particularly happy to say that we have an improved edit of him, painstakingly prepared by Prial (a former chef or something, now a dragon-bot).
In addition, bludgeon13 scanned his original box art transparency for Iguanus for us. Yet another Pretender on his original dark background for our collection! Iguanus looks so terrifying in his lavender and rose color scheme. Like a spring bouquet of evil.
A wrestler. An aircraft carrier. Really, really small monster trucks. What do they all have in common? Why, they're all part of the latest big big big Box Art Archive update! Let's start with the Pretenders, because they're the funniest. Thanks to Snipebot we have two new fabulous Pretender images featured on their original gradient background: Landmine, the asteroid miner; and Stranglehold (pictured right), billed in his tech spec as the "reigning Intergalactic Cybertronic Wrestling Federation Champ." Yes, not only is Stranglehold a Pretender (who's not fooling anyone) and a wrestler (Hasbro cashing in on the success of the "sport" in the late 80's), but he's also the only Transformer with an actual mustache! (Excluding metallic pseudo-mustaches as sported by Scourge, for example.) Stranglehold is so cheesy, my wife has already insisted he should be purchased to join the ranks of our Pretender Gargoyles.
On to graver matters! We have a much-improved Tailgate thanks to Bristleback, and from Matt Cook we now also have the robot-only art for the triple-changer Broadside, allowing us to re-label the previous robot/jet image as the "Multi-Mode" version (in accordance with our last update). Yes, though Broadside's robot mode was never depicted as gargantuan in stature, he transforms from robot to jumbo jet (OK) to an improbably huge aircraft carrier (WOW), single-handedly stretching the concept of "mass shifting" to its limits.
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Botch is not dead! And Botch still loves Transformers! Botch will prove it. Behold! A Transformers Box Art Archive update.
From FLTFcollector we have new multi-mode images for Blitzwing and Astrotrain! By "multi-mode" I mean the art that was actually on the box fronts that featured both the robot and a second transformed mode. As such, we now have both robot-only and multi-mode art for all three Decepticon triple-changers. (Note: I still need the robot-only art for the Autobot triple-changers.) FLTFcollector also provided a much-improved version of the Technobot leader, Scattershot.
Wheelie, the small orange Autobot who in the cartoon spoke in high-pitched sing-songy rhymes and was best friends with the token human child, is hands-down the most hated of all G1 Transformers. This is probably why, when all the other box art transparencies on eBay have been going for between $30 and $130, I snatched up Wheelie for a meager $12.50. But not being much of an fan of the cartoon in general, I have come to have a more positive regard for this little orange creamsicle. After all, Wheelie's tech spec lists his FUNCTION as SURVIVALIST. That's unique. And by golly if he doesn't seem to be wearing a blackjack dealer's visor. Or maybe I just love that he was $12.50. Anyway, click on the thumbnail to see the nice new version. (Scan and edit by some crab, I forget his name, black guy, I think.)
To people who have sent me box art stuff lately, my apologies that I have neglected it. That whole techspec/instructions/etc update took some time, and having shot my load there, I've been more preoccupied with real world things. You know, like moving across the country, and watching LOST.
OK, I have two new pics for you, then I need your help. First, the new stuff! Dewoitine Dassault Rafale, aka Joe, did a fucking awesome job editing the art for Grand, the Headmaster/Pretender of Japan's own Grand Maximus. You like? This little pic from the front of G-Max's box shows the Pretender leaping out of his shell and transforming into his cerebral mode. ("... and I'll form the head!") I get the feeling that Grand was seen in his non-Pretender non-Headmaster robot mode about as often as naughty Hindu children see Santa Claus. Which is to say, never. In addition, Matthew Cook, aka Matt, scanned his Windcharger backing card, and with a little illustrative assistance from the pre-existing art was able to deliver a much-improved version of the quick little Autobot warrior. Thanks, guys!
OK, now here's the part I need your help with. As you may or may not know, a lot of original G1 box art transparencies have been auctioned on eBay recently. These are reproductions of the original art onto transparent plastic; they were used by Hasbro in laying out packaging and other materials. You know, before computers did everything. They're really, really great second-generation presentations of the box art, absolutely perfect... if you're viewing them through a lightbox, which very few of us have. Even fewer of us have access to lightbox scanners.
The most massive update to this site EVER! Botch's Transformers Box Art Archive now also features...
More scans from the Transformers UK 1988 Annual have been graciously submitted by Matt Cook, a European-exclusive Autobot (SPD 9, STR 8, INT 7 — or at least he used to be). All four scans are Decepticons released in America in 1987: three Headmasters — Mindwipe, Skullcruncher and Weirdwolf — and a Terrorcon: Hun-Grrr. Thanks, Matt!
You really have to either love or hate a name like "Hun-Grrr". Sure, there's the obvious question of what sentient being in their right mind would actually accept such an idiotic pun of a designation. I mean, this name had to be invented, considered, accepted and committed to. Was that deliberative process lengthy or near-instant? Does it help that Hun-Grrr transforms into a two-headed dragon? You know what, let's check his tech specs motto, a snapshot appraisal of his character, and see if that sways our opinion...
So, I'm at work today, despairing and feeling all trapped, when out of nowhere a Welsh gentleman named Matt Cook drops me a line with absolutely awesome scans of all six individual Seacons, all much better than what is currently in the archive. Together they complement the awesome picture the Archive already had of their combined form, Piranacon. Man, this fucking made my day. Absolutely. I couldn't wait to post them and show you.
Matt tells me he got these scans from the 1989 UK Transformers annual, apparently from a Transformers A to Z section within it. I have to say, I'm a little disappointed in our UK box art fans for not having sent this stuff in sooner. I can't believe no one told me about these before. Awesome, obstruction-free box art pics in a commonly available medium, and no one lets me know? For shame, United Kingdom, for shame. And here I did that whole European-exclusive archive for you. Well, thank you, Matt, for going against the grain and making my day.
Happily, Ginrai(i) has survived the recent extreme weather in Europe by giving us an improved version of the Autobot cassette and audio correspondent, Grand Slam. Doesn't anyone else think it's pretty cool that separately neither Grand Slam nor Raindance have anything resembling an anthropomorphic form until they merge into Slamdance? I think it's a nifty gimmick. I keep meaning to pick these guys up, but, you know: money.
Also, Dewoitine Dassault Rafale, who is not in Brazil, has bravely done the best anyone can really do with the box art for Grand Maximus. Like many of his Japanese-exclusive contemporaries, GM's box art was covered by kanji and toy photos, etc. Maybe, one day, someone will find a full picture of his box art somewhere. In the meantime, this is what we have. Good night, Seattle, we love you!
So there you see the new image of my absolute favorite Dinobot, Sludge. He looks awesome. He should: he was scanned directly off of his box art transparency. What's that? It's the transparency version of his original box art that Hasbro used for putting together Sludge's box and anything else on which his artwork appeared (playing cards, stickers, Dinobot centerfolds). How did I come to acquire such a thing?
Eddie, the same gentleman that was recently selling original TF box art has been selling many of these transparencies on eBay as well. (You can see all the Transformers-related items he is selling here.) I won Sludge as well as some others that I will be scanning, cleaning and archiving shortly. Yay for Botch! I have also been contacting the other transparency winners and so far they have all been very positive about getting me scans once they win. I'll have those soon, too. So go bid on some transparencies, and if you win, scan them for Botch!
Have you ever been so angry that you actually raise your arms into the air, ball your hands into fists, and shake them with furious abandon? Perhaps while shouting, "Die! Die by my hand!" No? Well, I bet you would have if you were a Micromaster. I've posted the last of the Back of the Box Art scans submitted by the honorable Jon Hartman. This update includes four Micromaster pieces from 1990, all of which feature at least one fist-shaking Micromaster. These back-of-the-package pieces, like the 1989 Micromaster and Pretender ones, were done back in the day by Richard Marcej.
In addition to those four, I also uploaded the 1993 European back-of-the-box art as well as two very rare appearances of the Action Masters on this site: an improved version of the 1990 USA art, and the 1991 European Action Master art. And you thought I was uncompromising! And soulless, indecent, foul-mouthed and vulgar. Well, screw you and your mother.
Eddie has posted even more original Transformers box art for sale, and he was kind enough to let me know about it so I could pass the information along to you. Got some serious cash to spend? Go buy some. And then send me a really freakin' high-resolution scan, 'kay? In the meantime, quite a few of Eddie's posted photos are themselves of significantly high enough quality to replace the existing pics in the archive. Get ready for 11 improved pics:
Misfire
Grand Slam
Siren
Horri-Bull
Grimlock (Pretender)
Ironworks
Squeezeplay [yay!]
Hosehead
Scoop
Groundshaker
and lastly and leastly, Starscream (Pretender)
Enjoy!
Special thanks to Curis for getting all that annoying kanji off of the very nice Blacker scan sent to us long ago by Scott Gray. Curis also pointed out that the Laster scan, also sent by Scott, was perfectly fine and didn't need any editing after all. (My wife will be the first to attest to my inability to perceive the obvious.) Both of these Brainmasters can be viewed on the Japanese Cybertrons page.
Curis boasts the most intense and seemingly conspiratorial of the contributor photos on TF WIRE, a Transformers podcast site. Or maybe he's just trying to move that cup of coffee with his mind.
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I would have to say that no one has contributed more edits to the Transformers Box Art Archive than our bot in Amsterdam, Ginraii. Since 1999, Ginrai has contributed well over 50 edits and/or edited scans. Notable on this list are The Monstructor Project, Fortress Maximus, Powermaster Optimus Prime, and the amazingly rebuilt Metrotitan among many others.
We sat down with Ginrai to chat about Photoshop, box art, TF collecting and pornography. Below are excerpts from our 35-hour interview. To commemorate the occasion, Ginrai submitted a few greatly improved pics for the Archive: Highbrow, Snapdragon, Brainstorm, Hardhead and Metalhawk (thumbnails and links below). ENJOY!
Perspicacious people have persisted in pillaging the plethora of pictures presented for purchase on this page. Daring to dabble with the drawings, Darcy diligently delivered the disencumbered depictions of Mirage and Sunstreaker, considerably clearer than the current crop, which were quickly color-corrected for capital quality by Ginraii. Similarly, spec-mad Slim saved and streamlined Triggerhappy, the tempestuous Targetmaster. Acknowledgments and acclaim all around!
Take a look at that face. That's a pretty scary face. It's actually the "Ultra Pretender" Roadblock from the art on the back of his and Skyhammer's boxes. That piece, along with six others featuring Micromasters and Pretenders from 1989, has been added to the Back of the Box Art gallery. The scans come directly from Jon Hartman's scanner straight to your monitor (by way of Botch's Photoshop).
These pieces in particular are among the worst art that I will ever host on this archive. Hm, maybe it's not fair to say the "worst," but at least the silliest and most cartoonish. On the other hand, I never knew Roadblock had that scary face. His box art depicts him with a helmet and visor. You know... because he's a robot in disguise, after all.
For the few of you who don't already know, a gentlemen named Eddie is selling a lot of original G1 Transformers box art as well as some other early and unique material. By original, I mean, original. You can see everything that he is offering here. Sadly, it's out of my price range because I need to eat this year. However, if you happen to be one of the financially comfortable box art fans who picks this stuff up, please feel free to scan whatever you get and submit it to the Archive. (And thanks to everyone who emailed me to make absolutely sure I was aware of these items.)
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This is not to say the Archive has to go completely hungry. Some of the scans on Eddie's page were of suitable enough quality that our friend Slim of Custom Transformers Tech Specs fame grabbed, edited and submitted nicer versions of Beastbox, Squawktalk and Sixshot for us. This is cool because I really enjoy the first two guys (the two halves of Squawkbox) and, frankly, the nicest thing I can say about Sixshot is that he has great box art (he's a crappy toy). Slim also grabbed the Legends versions of Starscream and Grimlock from Eddie's page and submitted them. These are actually new inclusions to the Archive — I never hosted the Legends art before, since it's really just the Pretender Classics art with the Pretender shell edited out — but now I guess I'll have to get the Bumblebee and Jazz Legends art once someone submits it.
I must warn you: I'm writing this under duress. But that's not important. What really matters is that Ginrai, whom I suspect might be half-man, half-Photoshop, has sent in some freakin' great new edits. He rescued both Deceptor and Autoceptor from the Edit a Scan page. They can now both be found in the Reinforcements From Cybertron section. But that's not all! Through witchcraft and bribery, he has acquired some very nice new scans of both Chromedome and Doubledealer, the edits of which he has donated to us! I'm telling you, they look smooth. Check 'em out. Thanks also to Arun Brennand for taking a stab.
I was strongly coerced into donating a new edit so as not to appear lazy. Consequently, you can now find Snare among his European Decepticon brethren.
You know what I realized? While the Archive has pictures of the Jumpstarters and the 1985 Triplechangers, we don't have the actual art that was on the box, namely the robot with vehicle pictures. (We have both with and without versions for Octane, though.) Well, we need those. Look, I scanned my crummy Topspin box and added it to the Edit a Scan page. Anyone got the rest?
Also, FortMax convinced me that, since I already host the Diaclone Powerdasher art on the Reinforcements From Cybertron page, I really should host the Diaclone art of their mailaway compatriots, the Omnibots. Who's got that?
A brief little Archive update here. Darcy A did a great job editing the European Constructicon group shot. For those of you not in the know, yellow Constructicons were re-released in Europe in 1992. Without any combining parts to form Devastator. And sharing a common group shot box art. Yes, if this was your only shot at getting the Constructicons, you got the shit end of the deal.
In addition, Ginrai has done a great edit of Lightspeed. Sadly, this is when they started edging into the death of keeping Transformer names unique. The handle formerly reserved for the Technobot Lightspeed is now ingloriously shared with another. (The only previous G1 example of this that I can recall is the reuse of Deluxe Insecticon Barrage's name for an Astro Squad micromaster.) Eventually this would lead the brand down a slippery slope where "Soundwave" can become a fucking ugly yellow, light blue and purple car with "TRANSFORMERS" splashed tackily across his chest/hood. What a shame.
I'm trying to think of a way to make this post interesting to those of you who do not care terribly much about the Transformers Box Art Archive portion of this blog... hm... why don't you just pretend I'm blogging about the possibility of a woman candidate in the next Presidential election, and whether or not you would consider voting for Clinton or Rice if either ran. For the rest of you... box art box art box art box art!
Martin McVay generously submitted edits of both Skyquake and the Rescue Force. He pointed out that if you look at Rescue Force Leozack's chest, though it's colored orangey-red, you can see that he was definitely given an (incorrect) Decepticon symbol. No quality control, I tell ya. Mister davewelttf was kind enough to help me out with Hurricane, Flash and Scorch, while Darcy A gave us edits of Gripper and Flame. Thanks much, guys!
OK, all those G1 European Exclusive scans I was asking for? Forget about them. Don't bother yourself. Mister Jon Hartman, who co-founded BotCon with his brother Karl, has sent in scans for all the characters we needed. All of them! Just in time, too, since they will be selling their virtually complete Transformers convention at this year's BotCon.
Imagine! All of them! At once! You know how long it took me to get scans for the American and Japanese archives? Years! This feels like cheating. But I will take it, and so will you. Everybody say "Thank you, Easter Bunny Mister Hartman!" You can find all the scans that need editing on the Edit a Scan page, so if you're an accomplished Photoshopper, head on over there and clean up a Bot or Con.
So, the first new addition to the nascent European Exclusives Box Art Archive is Thunder Clash. He was generously scanned and mailed in by Thaddeus Cultt. Many thanks! You can click on the thumbnail to see Thunder Clash in all his friendly, pastel glory, with his periwinkle and magenta trim and his cute little yellow missiles. It is a strange irony that only when the Transformers emerged from the 1980's -- the era of Cyndi Lauper and neon -- did they move primarily into loud colors; one would think it would be the other way around. After all, by 1991 we're in grunge territory. Ah, well.
Now that we have jumped into the UK Generation One-And-A-Half pool, it is only fitting that we add the European Back of the Box Art from 1991 and 1992, respectively submitted by Martin McVay and the aforementioned Mister Cultt. Enjoy!
Long-requested and long-promised, I am finally starting the "European Exclusives" section of the Transformers Box Art Archive. You can thank FortMax for finally elbowing me over the precipice. I have not yet added the pages to the navigation as I only have two characters in place, but here are the respective Autobot and Decepticon pages. A full list of the missing characters is available on the Scans Needed page. If you've got these boxes/cards to scan, please send those scans in! In thanks, I will tell everyone how great you look in those pants, or maybe I'll buy the next round. Can you believe she's pregnant? I thought she had just stopped going to the gym. Where's that guy with my vodka tonic?
While I have no great existing affection for many of these latter-day Generation One characters, as they primarily serve as precursors to the clownishly gaudy color schemes of G2, I have always swooned slightly at the European art for Overlord, the so-called "Self-Contained Nomadic Assault" warrior. (That was his listed function for the European release; in Japan, the function accorded him was "Ambassador of Destruction," which, though grandiose and enviable, is somewhat lacking in specifics.)
In the comments of my last post on Tech Specs, Ginraii asked me what I thought of hosting a G1 tech spec gallery on this site. I started responding in the comments, then figured I'd open it up to more feedback by posting it here.
The truth is, I have long considered archiving scans of the tech specs as well as the instructions of the same G1 characters whose box art is currently here. The main reason I haven't done so is because sites already existed that did that. Jim Wilson and tfracetrack.com host a valuable archive of G1 instructions, and both the Hartmans and then tfw2005.com *used* to host the tech spec scans, though neither site currently does. There's nothing that says I couldn't copy and host all their stuff as well... it's just a matter of online politeness.
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Small update. I've added this Shockwave variant. I don't know remember where I found it. It's pretty obviously a re-cobbled version of the original to make the art a little more compact for presentation. Or maybe somebody just pointed out to Shockwave that it's rude to point.
I've also taken it upon myself to finally horizontally flip both Shockwave pictures, because Shockwave's gun arm is the left one in both the toy, the instructions, the Japanese box... everywhere but on the American box. What's up with that? Anyway. Hail Shockwave!
So this week the Archive was apparently linked to from a site called Metafilter, a site vaguely similar to Boing Boing and Slashdot. We were "MetaFiltered," in popular parlance. (Thanks to Jeremy for pointing this out to me.) As it turns out, the Archive increased its weekly traffic by a factor greater than 10. The thread on the site is pretty funny. I especially like the title: ROH-OH-AH-AH-ANK! In celebration, I have added two slightly improved Back of the Box Art pics, 1985 Japan and 1986 USA, both courtesy of master editor Ginrai. Thanks, G!
On a completely unrelated note, I am indulging a gratuitous culinary desire of mine this evening: I will be having sashimi pizza! My favorite pizza place (Anna Maria in Williamsburg, Brooklyn) topped with tuna, salmon and other sashimi. Brilliant! Truth be told, Botch is no stranger to sushi.
So, two updates to the Archive this week. First, from the same source as the previous update we have a scan of the very original character art for Vroom, who sadly has one of the worst names on Cybertron. You may notice that, contrary to the Archive standard of white backgrounds for all its edits, Vroom is on a black-to-white gradient. Well, apparently that's how the original art was done. I imagine there are a few Pretenders in the Archive whose art would be better if I had access to that original gradient background art instead of just scanning the front of the boxes. Oh, well... something to keep in mind. Vroom's art comes from the same source as the last update.
Second, we have Sparkstalker's Japanese recolor, Jabile. Martin McVay convinced me to finally just do some Photoshop tweaking to the Sparkstalker art to arrive at Jabile's coloring. I think I did an OK job.
Both FortMax and Jose Rodriguez pointed me to some new hi-res scans of original G1 box art that had been posted online by a fellow named Spark. In his post, Spark debonairly cites his source as "one o' them mysterious contacts everyone seems to have." I don't have such a contact. Botch wants mysterious contacts, damn it!
Anyway, our main bot in Amsterdam, Ginrai, quickly scooped up, color-tweaked and delivered these pics for the benefit of the Archive. A real treat! We've got new versions of: Skywarp; Punch/Counterpunch; Battletrap; Skyhopper; Skystalker (Base); and Redhot and Stakeout of the Rescue Patrol. Plus, as a final bonus, there was included a perfect version of the 1987 back-of-the-box art featuring Fortress Maximus and Scorponok. Enjoy!!
We've got some awesome, new and much-improved box art submissions from artist Chip Wallace! Starting with the best foot forward, there's a very sharp new Optimus Prime in 1984 Autobots (even you Decepticons out there will appreciate this one). Next there's a much cleaner Snarl in 1985 Autobots; the art is a little cut off at the edges of his tail and foot, but I think the quality is such a drastic improvement that it's worth the upgrade. On the other side of the war, a better Starscream and Thrust have been added in 1984 and 1985 Decepticons respectively.
Lastly, Chip did some color-corrections on Shockwave (1985 Decepticons). But observing Shockwave's art always raises a question in my mind. The front of his box portrays him on the right side (as usual) with his right arm extended across the package... his right cannon arm. But as well all know, the cannon arm on the toy his left one. Should I remain faithful to the box, and keep the art as it is, or should I flip it so the cannon is on the right correct hand?
Ah, I've been waiting for this one for some time. Finally, the Japanese variant of Motormaster has been added to the Archive! This is easily my favorite version of the three, for obvious reasons. I finally found a photo of his individual Japanese box on an apparently abandoned site. So I stole him! So eager was I to add him to our collection that I personally requested Ginrai to lend his formidable Photoshop kung fu to this task. Thanks, man!
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One of my favorite Transformer sites, Seibertron.com, has just published an interview with Richard Marcej. Who's that?, you might ask. Well, he was one of the original Transformers box artists for Hasbro back in the 80's! Mr. Marcej was responsible for some of the most amazing Transformers box art there was, including the Dinobots, the Predacons (and Predaking!) as well as the fan-voted single most popular G1 box art work of all time, Powermaster Optimus Prime.
The interview was conducted by Professor Smooth, who was kind enough to accept some suggestions for questions from yours truly. Go check it out!
So, FortMax plucked from his hard-drive a small version of the Motormaster variant scan that I'm looking for. The one that's currently on the Destron page is actually from the Stunticon giftset. The small image you see to the right is from Motormaster's individual Japanese packaging. Does anyone out there have this art? If so, send a scan to Botch@BotchTheCrab.com!
On a side note, while I always enjoyed the Motormaster vs Optimus Prime confrontations, Mister M's transformation always bothered me. In essence, his feet form a unit as big as Optimus' torso. This implies that Motormaster, in robot mode, is about 6 times as tall as Prime. And I really hate all that size-shifting stuff. So, in my head, I always envisioned Motormaster as actually being of a similar mode to Prime (and Magnus). Think about it for a moment. There... doesn't that feel better?
Who would win in a fight? Sure, Metrotitan (D-340) is an unstoppable monstrous evil Destron city/robot with lots of little Metro-something companions; but Star Convoy (C-372) is the resurrection of the greatest Autobot leader of all time. Star Convoy is so cool, he's got the second-greatest Autobot leader of all time as his Micromaster. Now that's status.
These two new much-improved edits for the Archive come courtesy of the amazing Ginrai, who has personally done about 30 edits for the Archive including Fortress Maximus, Powermaster Optimus Prime and, of course, The Monstructor Project. Many thanks once again!
Landshaker eats people. That's just what I heard. There's not much you can find online about him anyway, other than that he's a repaint of Groundshaker. Anyway, he's been added to the the Japanese Cybertrons section. Scan courtesy of Jim Sorenson, edit by yours truly. Enjoy!
One time several years ago, a friend named Anna came up to me and said "Look what Chris [her Transformer-collecting boyfriend] gave to me!" In the same way as one might present a baby mouse or piece of jewelry, she supported on her upturned palm a tiny yellow minibot in compact car mode. "Oh, check it out," I replied immediately, "It's Hubcap!" As I took the Autobot and quickly inspected and transformed him, I saw the look of confusion enter her features. "No," she replied, "It's Bumblebee. I always wanted Bumblebee because he was the cute, yellow, friendly one." I replied, "I'm sorry, no, this is Hubcap. Autobot. 1986. Function: Communications."
Her facial expression turned from puzzlement to frown, and then I realized exactly what had happened: Chris knew she wanted a Bumblebee, had a Hubcap handy, and knew she wouldn't know the difference. I had just inadvertently ruined everything. It was inevitable, really. If Chris really wanted to keep the secret, he would have had to warn me in advance about keeping up the ruse. But as eBay hunters and others know, this wouldn't be the first or last time the two were confused. How the fuck does this relate to the Archive? Watch!
A long-time friend of the Archive, Ginrai, has dropped by and heroically finished something he started a while ago. We now have a full, large, and unobstructed image of Fortress Maximus, the largest Transformer ever produced! Visit 1987 Autobots to check him out.
One day I'll get Fort Max, I will. Some time when I can rationalize spending $500 on a two foot tall toy. He'll be like the little robot brother I never had. But when I think of victims of natural disasters, and I have a hard time shelling out half-a-grand for a toy. Maybe as a 35th birthday present. Yes. There's a good goal.
Do you have a slow, steady hand? A firm but gentle touch? Patience, stamina, and a smouldering passion for, you know, robots?
Yo, Botch needs some Box Art Editors. Nearly a dozen war-weary mechanoids await your Photoshop lovin', including:
Fortress Maximus!
Star Convoy!
Dai Atlas!
Autoceptor!
... and more!
Click here to view a full list of scans and to read details. Hurry now, before the scan that you want to edit is already gone!
UPDATE: Martin McVay has beaten you all to the Dai Atlas scan, and did a fantastic job editing him. Makes me want the toy now. Thanks, Martin!
UPDATE #2: Hungover from a night of sex, sushi and vodka martinis, what better remedy is there than water, ibuprofen, hash, The Secret of Omega Supreme, a shower, a wank, and a box art archive update! Old friend Slim of Custom Transformers Tech Specs fame dropped by to edit Wildspark and — joy of joys! — the heroic watch/car/robot Autoceptor. The two images can be found respectively in Cybertrons (Japanese Exclusives) and Reinforcements From Cybertron.
Emerging from a thread on the TFW2005 message boards, a noble warrior named Backpack has scanned, edited and submitted an greatly improved Soundwave & Buzzsaw, and consequently given us an improved solitary Buzzsaw as well. You can see them both in 1984 Decepticons.
No one loves Botch. No one has anything nice to say. Botch will torture small mechs for attention.
One new and one improved. Always a nice balance (though pretty soon there won't be any more new Japanese characters to procure, and then I'll have to seriously start considering doing the European exclusives).
A fresh detailed Sideswipe, scanned by myself from my Takara reissue, has been generously edited by Demaar, who apparently also has a Transformers-related blog. I think I'll start peeking in on there.
Ah, symmetry. You may remember that Jim Sorenson felt it wrong that Black Shadow had entries for both his outer and inner robot/vehicular modes, while his Destron Crossformer collaborator, Blue Bacchus, only had the outer version. Jim submitted a scan of the inner robot version for BB, and our old friend Shrike has been good enough to edit him for submission. Check out both versions of Black Shadow and Blue Bacchus on the Destron page!
Thanks to heroic decepticon for contributing a fantastic new Laserbeak edit!
Some while ago, I decided it was time for my to finally buy Trypticon. As a rule, I try to buy new warriors in good condition and with great stickers, but I'm not a MIB kind of guy. However, in the case of Trypticon, I was already lamenting that the Archive's version of his box art was disproportionately ugly for a character of his stature. There were actually two images: one, a low-resolution full-body image; and two, a higher-res image, but obstructed by that pesky "Glow in the Dark Poster" offer that obscures the bottom right corner of most Trypticon boxes. So I decided to specifically purchase a MIB Trypticon without the poster blurb.
I succeeded, scanned him (in two parts), and Chip Wallace has delivered the final edit to us, monstrous and unobstructed.
These are the updates I really love. A healthy amount of new and improved images! Read on to see why Botch is doing his happy crab dance.
I'm sure some of you are familiar with Chip Wallace, main guy behind TransLabels.com. Well, you can add box art editor to his list of talents as he has submitted greatly improved versions of the following warriors: Hound; Inferno; Hubcap (now complete with foot!); and mightiest of all, a completely sweet Megatron. Check 'em out.
A couple new images, and a new scan for editing. Assuming I can get anyone to edit anything.
Ranger (the Japanese recolor of Joyride) now sits in the Cybertrons page courtesy of Blayne King.
Yes, it's been a long time since there has been an update to the Archive — almost exactly a year. In my defense, this is a good-sized update. The obvious thing is that all of BotchTheCrab.com has been redesigned, including the Archive. Like it? Let me know by posting a comment (link below).
First, we have a couple of new entries. Blayne King was nice enough to scan and edit Doubleclouder for treacherous inclusion among the Cybertons. Additionally, Slim gives us a much-improved Ravage. Check 'em out!
It has been brought to my attention (by Yao Pang) that the Good Bye Megatron image that I had in the Destron section was not actually from the Good Bye Megatron set. Rather, it was the US version with the red interior panels colored blue. The actual Good Bye Megatron image has no rococo-style markings on the chest, and has a complete right fist. Two scans of this actual image are now in the Editing Help Wanted section for someone's attention!
Still no explanation for this Shockwave variant.
Let's see, first the new additions. Because I am worthless slag, and do not promptly respond to emails, there were several people who edited the Scorponok scan. I decided to go with the one by , who skillfully repaired and completed the foot, including the removal of the Hasbro logo. Thanks to everyone else who contributed an edit: , , , and Bobby.
Vicken and Shaun both edited the Battle Gaea scan, and this was a super-tough call, but I'm going to have go with Vicken's.
An improved Skullcruncher comes courtesy of Scott Gray, who also re-supplied me with my original Trypticon with the poster blurb on the foot -- because the corrected one just wasn't right. Or left, rather. And a great Victory Saber is in the Japanese Archive thanks to Paul Heal.
HEY! Yeah, you. Check out the What's Needed section and help me find stuff.
The has delivered an improved Doublecross and Mirage, as well as the new Autobot and Decepticon logos that appear throughout the site.
We or I, that is, Botch scanned and edited a new Squawktalk, and also edited that slightly better Graphy scan that was in the Editing Help Wanted section. Thanks to , Sixturbo has been added to the Cybertrons section. And sent us a scan of Sixliner that's waiting to be edited.
Next, a Japanese thumbnail slideshow has been added to the Japanese-exclusive section, helping to complete my mirror-image aesthetic.
Regarding the most important thing (TF art!), we have several improved scans all from our good friend in China, . He's sent us improved version of all 6 Throttlebots (Chase, Freeway, Searchlight, Goldbug, Wideload and Rollbar), an improved Japanese and U.S. Astrotrain (respectively here and here) and a much-improved Divebomb. Thanks!
The mold for Monstructor's art was that of Dinoking, his Japanese repaint counterpart. The box scan of Dinoking was taken from Prime Saber's Transformers Index Page. This recolor was then compared to a detailed scan of the full Monstructor toy generously donated by Rework, curator of the invaluable Parts Identification Aid. The rest of the credit belongs to , who edited Dinoking, gave him another gun -- Monstructor is usually pictured with a gun in each arm -- and then did the painstaking recolor.
Many thanks to Ginrai and everyone else (including Paul Heal) for your time and efforts!
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