Zob's Transformers G1 Box Art Redeco Project

[Zobovor]

So, I mentioned earlier that I was playing around with the original Transformers box art, modifying it for my own evil purposes. My source for all the box art, of course, is the amazing http://botchthecrab.com.

This is arguably a half-finished project that I was just doing while I was bored, and now that I've sunk my teeth into a totally different project, this one has sort of fallen out of favor. I didn't really have a set goal of how many I wanted to do. I will probably come back to these and do more later, but here's what I've got done so far.

So, at first my intention had been to take the generic background characters from the G1 cartoon show and create box art for them. For example, Shockwave is colored like a Constructicon in a scene from "Five Faces of Darkness" so I wanted to take the original Shockwave art and change the colors. This is actually a lot harder than it sounds. Not just the technical aspects of working with Photoshop (though there is that), but the fact that I wanted to stay true to the actual Hasbro toy color mapping. I wanted to see what these characters would have actually looked like if they were produced as Hasbro toys. What this means, in the case of Shockwave, is that he would still have unpainted die-cast metal upper legs, still have a translucent fist and chest window, etc.

WAVELENGTH

So, here's the Shockwave-colored-like-a-Constructicon, a character I call Wavelength:

http://www.zmfts.t15.org/wavelength_boxart.jpg

This one did not really turn out well because it was really hard to get his original purple coloring to look green without being a really obvious Photoshop job. I've done hundreds or maybe thousands of hours of photo-editing but I'm still just an amateur at the end of the day.

By the way, here's the character as he appears in the cartoon:

http://www.zmfts.t15.org/robot_heroes_wavelength_repaint.html

WARHEAD

The next one I did was Warhead, the miscolored Optimus Prime from "The Rebirth" part 1. I had previously decided that he was probably a Targetmaster:

http://zobovor.tripod.com/warhead_tfu.html

So in creating his box art, I borrowed the gun (and fist!) from Slugslinger's artwork and stitched the two art elements together. Like I said, this was intended to envision what the actual Hasbro toy would look like, so while the character in the cartoon is entirely black and red, his box art includes the chrome on the front grill and bumper. (I would actually buy a toy of this guy, I think.)

http://www.zmfts.t15.org/warhead_boxart.jpg

THUMP

Next I did one of the Anibots, the prototype Predacons who appeared in an early script for The Transformers: the Movie. I have not done box art for the whole team, but here's Thump the buffalo:

http://www.zmfts.t15.org/thump_boxart.jpg

Note that I had to borrow an Autobot symbol from another 1986 piece of artwork. Here's the character as I originally envisioned him:

http://www.zmfts.t15.org/thump_tfu.html

DIAMONDBEAK

Next up was Diamondbeak, a version of Cutthroat who appears in "The Rebirth" part 1 miscolored as Misfire:

http://www.zmfts.t15.org/diamondbeak_boxart.jpg

And here is my profile for this character:

http://www.zmfts.t15.org/diamondbeak_tfu.html

FLIGHTPLAN

I also did box art for Flightplan, the "extra" Constructicon who appears in "The Rebirth" part 1 (he's actually Scattershot in Hook's colors). Check out the very tiny, almost-not-visible Decepticon symbol on his crotch:

http://www.zmfts.t15.org/diamondbeak_boxart.jpg

And here is the profile I wrote for him:

http://zobovor.tripod.com/flightplan_tfu.html

REELS

This is Reels, an Autobot cassette who is colored like Frenzy. I actually used Eject's box art to turn him red and black, but he ended up looking a little like Rewind, who is already black to begin with:

http://www.zmfts.t15.org/reels_boxart.jpg
http://zobovor.tripod.com/reels_tfu.html

SLAUGHTERHOUSE

I especially love all the many background Decepticon jets, and perhaps my favorite among them is Slaughterhouse, the Starscream-colored-like-Onslaught from "Five Faces of Darkness" part 4. He is blue, but I did not start with Thundercracker's box art; I actually used Starscream's:

http://www.zmfts.t15.org/slaughterhouse_boxart.jpg
http://www.zmfts.t15.org/pvc_slaughterhouse_repaint.html

SWEEP

Grimlock appears in one scene in "Thief in the Night" colored like Rodimus Prime. Also, "Call of the Primitives" refers to one of the Dinobots as Sweep. I put these two mistakes together and gave the miscolored Grimlock the name Sweep. It's hard to take black and make it look convincingly like other colors, so this is not my best redeco:

http://www.zmfts.t15.org/sweep_boxart.jpg
http://www.zmfts.t15.org/pvc_sweep_repaint.html

COMMANDO RAID

Commando Raid is one of the first generic characters I embraced and named (Blitzwing colored like Air Raid), and he's historically significant to me for that reason. Something odd that I've noticed about my artwork is that my brain records whatever I was listening to while I worked on the art. I can recall it even months later. I was screening the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon, listening for Transformers music, while working on this piece and so as soon as I look at him, I can instantly recall the episode that was playing. Weird, huh?

http://www.zmfts.t15.org/commando_raid_boxart.jpg
http://www.zmfts.t15.org/robot_heroes_commando_raid_repaint.html

I could not get the color mapping to work on this guy the way I wanted it to. Air Raid has a red chest but I couldn't make Blitzwing's chest red without turning all his purple parts to red, which would have been horrible. Blitzwing's upper legs are painted, so I decided a red paint application would still help him to "read" as the right colors. (I could have just cheated and colored the box art exactly like he appears in the show, but this struck me as being really inauthentic.)

BRAIN DRAIN

I mostly did Brain Drain (Soundwave colored like Perceptor) because I knew I'd be sharing them here, and I recalled Gustavo Wombat saying that he really liked the character. I did the box art for Brain Drain in Perceptor's toy colors (maroon red and greenish turquoise) rather than the colors used in animation (bright red and light blue):

http://www.zmfts.t15.org/brain_drain_boxart.jpg
http://www.zmfts.t15.org/pvc_brain_drain_kitbash.html

SHRIEK

Here's another one of the Anibots, an early version of Divebomb in decidedly more Autobot-centric colors. I really need to get around to doing the other three, plus Dragon Beast, some day:

http://www.zmfts.t15.org/shriek_boxart.jpg
http://www.zmfts.t15.org/shriek_tfu.html


FENDER BENDER

This is the Wheeljack-colored-sorta-kinda-like-Sideswipe who appears in The Transformers: the Movie:

http://www.zmfts.t15.org/fender_bender_boxart.jpg
http://www.zmfts.t15.org/pvc_fender_bender_repaint.html

At this point I got pretty discouraged about these, because due to the color mapping on the toys, most of them just weren't translating to the way the characters actually looked. There were characters I thought about doing (like some of the miscolored Cyclonuses or Scourges, for example) but they just weren't translating into toys, or toy box art, very successfully.

ARCEE (HEADMASTER)

So, I branched out and tried some other things. Here's a version of Chromedome's box art in Arcee's colors, intended to mirror the proposed Takara redeco:

http://www.zmfts.t15.org/arcee_headmaster_boxart.jpg
http://www.zmfts.t15.org/pvc_arcee_headmaster_concept_custom.html

CLIFFJUMPER (YELLOW)
BUMBLEBEE (RED)

Here is box art for the yellow version of Cliffjumper and the red version of Bumblebee. (These toys were sold by Hasbro in these colors as Transformers, but just in regular-colored Bumblebee and Cliffjumper packaging.) I refer to the yellow Cliffjumper by the name Blow-Out and the red Bumblebee is named Ladybug:

http://www.zmfts.t15.org/blow-out_boxart.jpg
http://www.zmfts.t15.org/ladybug_boxart.jpg

These guys were kind of hard to do, since there was lots of color reflected in the chrome on their hubcaps so I had to edit all that, too. It just wouldn't do to have a yellow Cliffjumper with red highlights on his wheels!

ASTROTRAIN
PEERCEPTOR
BLUESTREAK

Some characters never got correctly-colored box art. Astrotrain's art reflected the early prototype color scheme, the same one that was used for the cartoon series, but not the final production-run Hasbro toy. Perceptor also got box art that did not match his actual toy. Bluestreak was available in the Diaclone series in at least three separate color schemes (not even counting the Prowl and Smokescreen colors), but the one picked for the Hasbro toy didn't match the one they used for his box art. This is what they would have looked like if they were more accurate:

http://www.zmfts.t15.org/astrotrain_toy_boxart.jpg
http://www.zmfts.t15.org/perceptor_toy_boxart.jpg
http://www.zmfts.t15.org/bluestreak_toy_boxart.jpg

GUARDIAN ROBOT

I also did box art for the Guardian Robot, the robots who looked like Omega Supreme who appeared in "War Dawn." There was a Takara eHobby toy released (called a G.A.D.E.P.), but it didn't use the classic Omega Supreme box art at all. Here's what it might have looked like. This one was a challenge because I had to get grey parts, yellow parts, and red parts to all look like the same shade of blue:

http://www.zmfts.t15.org/guardian_robot_boxart.jpg

HUBCAP (PROTOTYPE)
TAILGATE (PROTOTYPE)

The versions of the Mini Autobots originally solicited by Hasbro for Toy Fair 1986 had the colors for Hubcap and Tailgate swapped around, so Hubcap was white and Tailgate was yellow. I wish they'd kept these colors because it would have helped to differentiate Hubcap from the yellow version of Cliffjumper. Anyway, here's what their box art might have looked like:

http://www.zmfts.t15.org/hubcap_prototype_boxart.jpg
http://www.zmfts.t15.org/tailgate_prototype_boxart.jpg

(Tailgate, in his prototype colors, has always reminded me of this guy:)

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/_t0SmbluWfo/hqdefault.jpg

GALVATRON (ANIME)

Here's what Galvatron's box art (and, thus, his toy) might have looked like if he had more closely matched the color scheme from the cartoon. Again, Takara did release a "reissue" in these colors, but the old Galvatron art was not reused:

http://www.zmfts.t15.org/galvatron_cartoon_boxart.jpg

HOT SPOT (G2)
MOTORMASTER (G2)

For Transformers: Generation 2, the old box art was getting recycled and recolors for a while, until they eventually just started doing all-new art. Packaged samples of the small mini-vehicles for the Protectobots and Stunticons have turned up, but nobody's ever seen G2 box art for Hot Spot or Motormaster. Most likely, Hasbro would have just commissioned all-new art, but just for fun, I took the G1 art and did versions in the G2 color schemes:

http://www.zmfts.t15.org/hot_spot_g2_boxart.jpg
http://www.zmfts.t15.org/motormaster_g2_boxart.jpg

I started a version of G2 Defensor, but I never got around to finishing it. Maybe one day.

SUNSTREAKER (RED)
SUNSTREAKER (POLICE CAR)
TRACKS (RED)
ULTRA MAGNUS (DIACLONE)

For a while I was on a Diaclone kick, doing versions of the toys in their original Diaclone color schemes. I did two versions of Sunstreaker, one in his original red color scheme and another in his black-and-white police car motif. Like Bumblebee and Cliffjumper, Sunstreaker's art was extra hard to work with because of all the colored highlights on his body.

Sunstreaker actually does appear in red in select scenes from the cartoon, so I've decided this is a character named Spin-Out. I borrowed a fist from Dirge's artwork and replaced Sunstreaker's gun-arm because I wanted to differentiate him from Sunstreaker a bit. Here's his box art:

http://www.zmfts.t15.org/sunstreaker_diaclone_boxart.jpg

Sunstreaker also appears in Prowl's colors during exactly one scene in "Hoist Goes Hollywood," so that's our canonical, official appearance of the police car version of Sunstreaker, a character I call Cop-Out. If this had been a Hasbro release, the Japanese kanji would have been replaced by English lettering, so that's the direction I went in. The light bar was borrowed from Streetwise's box art and digitally airbrushed by yours truly to make it match the rest of the art style:

http://www.zmfts.t15.org/cop-out_boxart.jpg

Tracks was produced in red colors in Europe, and appears on the back of the Hasbro 1985 packaging in this color, but he was actually produced in blue. Making him red makes him a little closer to his Diaclone toy. (When Takara sold the eHobby "reissue" Road Rage, they used the old Diaclone art and not the Transformers art, in which Tracks' arm is posed differently.)

http://www.zmfts.t15.org/tracks_red_boxart.jpg

Finally, it's Ultra Magnus in Diaclone colors! He appeared in animation using these colors in early test footage for The Transformers: the Movie, and Takara has produced a G1 reissue, a PVC figure, and a Masterpiece version in these colors.

http://www.zmfts.t15.org/ultra_magnus_diaclone_boxart.jpg


Enjoy! Rejoice! Comment!


Zob (and now it's nap time)

[Rodimus_2316]

Looks great, as usual, Zobovor. It's always interesting what you come up with with stuff like this. :)



- Rodimus_2316

[Zobovor]

On Wednesday, May 4, 2016 at 2:00:51 PM UTC-6, Zobovor wrote:

> FLIGHTPLAN
>
> I also did box art for Flightplan, the "extra" Constructicon who appears
> in "The Rebirth" part 1 (he's actually Scattershot in Hook's colors). Check
> out the very tiny, almost-not-visible Decepticon symbol on his crotch:
>
> http://www.zmfts.t15.org/diamondbeak_boxart.jpg

Oops. Obviously that should be:

http://www.zmfts.t15.org/flightplan_boxart.jpg

Also, I forgot one. Diaclone Devastator! Originally, three of the Constructicons were yellow and three of them were orange (which means you can build a sorta-kinda Diaclone-colored Devastator if you have both sets of G2 Constructicons). In a later release, Hook and Mixmaster were blue. That's the version I chose:

http://www.zmfts.t15.org/devastator_diaclone_boxart.jpg


Zob (of the mad skillz)

[Travoltron]

On 5/4/2016 1:00 PM, Zobovor wrote:
> WAVELENGTH

Can you do one for Astro-Magnum? (The original grey Shockwave)

[David Connell]

On Wednesday, May 4, 2016 at 4:00:51 PM UTC-4, Zobovor wrote:

> CLIFFJUMPER (YELLOW)
> BUMBLEBEE (RED)
>
> Here is box art for the yellow version of Cliffjumper and the red version of Bumblebee. (These toys were sold by Hasbro in these colors as Transformers, but just in regular-colored Bumblebee and Cliffjumper packaging.) I refer to the yellow Cliffjumper by the name Blow-Out and the red Bumblebee is named Ladybug:
>
> http://www.zmfts.t15.org/blow-out_boxart.jpg
> http://www.zmfts.t15.org/ladybug_boxart.jpg
>

I love this! From now on, I think all red Bumblebee "Cliffjumpers" should be referred to as Ladybug. Hey, it was that or dub them all Stinger after the AOE BB copy.

[Travoltron]

On 5/5/2016 10:47 AM, Travoltron wrote:
> Can you do one for Astro-Magnum? (The original grey Shockwave)

Actually, forget that, I know enough to do that one myself.
http://postimg.org/image/hiwy2w281/

How about fixing Tracks so he has a red face? I am not skilled enough to
fix black-colored objects.

[Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats]

On Wednesday, May 4, 2016 at 1:00:51 PM UTC-7, Zobovor wrote:

> BRAIN DRAIN
>
> I mostly did Brain Drain (Soundwave colored like Perceptor) because I knew I'd be sharing them here, and I recalled Gustavo Wombat saying that he really liked the character. I did the box art for Brain Drain in Perceptor's toy colors (maroon red and greenish turquoise) rather than the colors used in animation (bright red and light blue):
>
> http://www.zmfts.t15.org/brain_drain_boxart.jpg
> http://www.zmfts.t15.org/pvc_brain_drain_kitbash.html

Everyone loves Brain Drain! And I secretly suspect he is utterly haphazard with colors when repairing Decepticons, and that at least a few of these characters turn out to be patients who are revived only to discover they were repaired with the wrong colored parts.

"What do you mean it's all wrong? No one can tell you planes apart anyway..."

Somewhere, there is a Decepticon who spends his time just fixing color schemes.

> CLIFFJUMPER (YELLOW)
> BUMBLEBEE (RED)
>
> Here is box art for the yellow version of Cliffjumper and the red version of Bumblebee. (These toys were sold by Hasbro in these colors as Transformers, but just in regular-colored Bumblebee and Cliffjumper packaging.) I refer to the yellow Cliffjumper by the name Blow-Out and the red Bumblebee is named Ladybug:
>
> http://www.zmfts.t15.org/blow-out_boxart.jpg
> http://www.zmfts.t15.org/ladybug_boxart.jpg

Are you going to buy Masterpiece Ladybug?

Funny thing about the Masterpiece Bumblebee mold... It reminds me of the hamster I had when I was a kid. He was a male hamster, and had large testes hanging down towards the rear, a little behind his rear legs, and I cannot look at Bumblebee's vehicle mode, with the arms hanging down a little behind the rear wheels, without being reminded of the hamster. Same profile.

[Zobovor]

On Friday, May 6, 2016 at 8:57:32 AM UTC-6, Travoltron wrote:

> Actually, forget that, I know enough to do that one myself.
> http://postimg.org/image/hiwy2w281/

Ooh, this turned out really good. I admit to not being terribly knowledgeable about the various non-Hasbro versions of Shockwave. I've seen at least three different colors schemes, various changes to the gun trigger and face, at least one version with two gun-arms, etc.

> How about fixing Tracks so he has a red face? I am not skilled enough to
> fix black-colored objects.

Sadly, I actually did have one ready to go. And since I was working with Tracks anyway, I changed it to red Tracks. And totally forgot and saved over the old file. (I had gone to all this trouble to restore Tracks' missing wing, which for some reason is absent in his Hasbro art.)


Zob (I guess I could change red Tracks back to blue, but that would just be needlessly complicated)

[Zobovor]

On Sunday, May 8, 2016 at 7:37:49 PM UTC-6, Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats wrote:

> Everyone loves Brain Drain!

I'm half tempted to do a Photoshop of what his transformed-mode looks like.

> Are you going to buy Masterpiece Ladybug?

Maybe one day. But it would probably be the $30 knockoff, and then you would look down on me.


Zob (morally and ethically semi-flexible)

[Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats]

On Sunday, May 8, 2016 at 7:48:22 PM UTC-7, Zobovor wrote:
> On Sunday, May 8, 2016 at 7:37:49 PM UTC-6, Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats wrote:
>
> > Everyone loves Brain Drain!
>
> I'm half tempted to do a Photoshop of what his transformed-mode looks like.

Probably completely horrible.

> > Are you going to buy Masterpiece Ladybug?
>
> Maybe one day. But it would probably be the $30 knockoff, and then you would look down on me.

I mostly look down on you because of my height.

> Zob (morally and ethically semi-flexible)

I am sorely tempted to go the KO route for things like Blue Bluestreak and Exhaust. I am more motivated by laziness than money though.

Gustavo (wishes he was physically semi-flexible)

[Travoltron]

My attempt at fixing Wheeljack. I don't have the G1 toy on-hand to color
match.

http://postimg.org/image/9p903e5zl/