[TFW2005]

Originally posted by: Sol Fury @ TFW2005.com

Quote:

Finishing up our look at scans from Generations 2011 Volume 2 by The Allspark we have some scans from the Design Maniax DX section of the book. This section highlights the work of Generation 1 concept art designer Masakatsu Saito who did a lot of work on the late 80s series of toys, and collects his lineart concepts for some of the toys he worked on. Some of the concepts are very familiar and recognizable - others are very out there. Among the concepts in this section of the book are:

Generation 1 Overlord - with some alternate head concepts that would have been a second cockpit for the jet when the "Mega Child" section was deployed.
Generation 1 Pretenders Cloudburst, Landmine, Waverider, Bomb-Burst, Skullgrin, Submarauder, Iguanus and Roadblock - these are pretty different to their actual toys, in fact I'm only guessing that reptilian design belongs to Iguanus! The Autobot Pretenders notably would have had more animal themed suits, with their inner robots looking more like a tokusatsu metal hero design or VR Troopers than the Transformers we know. The Decepticon trio look similar in Pretender mode, but their inner robots notably look more organic, like cybernetic versions of their shell beasts. Ironically this is the route IDW took to re imagining these guys years later!
Transformers Victory Concepts including Star Saber, Great Shot, Road Caesar, Deathsaurus and Liokaiser. These mostly look like the final versions, although Liokaiser has sketches of a large melee weapon formed from melee weapons of the six individual robots - this turns up a bit in the animation (but without the combining weapons) but is completely absent on the toys.
Action Master Concepts. Oh boy, where to begin on these? First off, we have different versions of Action Master Optimus Prime, Jazz, Grimlock, Prowl, Starscream and Megatron where instead of having transforming partners, they have animal themed armors, which turned into guns. This concept, while not used at this point, returned for the final assortment which was only released in Europe, Canada and Australia. On the same page are an unknown Omega Sentinel and Sharkticon which may or may not be Action Masters. There are other concepts, including Action Master Elites Omega Spreem and Double Punch, but most interestingly, next to these there is an Action Master proportioned concept sketch of Rodimus / Hot Rod - could an Action Master Hot Rodimus have once been designed but canned? And next to him, concept sketches of Arcee - was she also intended for an Action Master release? Endless questions abound in this chunk of the concept artwork, really cool.
Lastly there are some later generation scans showing Generation 2 concepts. A lot of this we got, but check out the shorter, squatter proportions on Generation 2 Megatron and also Go-Bot Bumblebee with his traditional head. It's all rounded off by concepts of each version of Beast Wars Optimus Primal / Convoy including Lio Convoy and Big Convoy.


That's a whole lot of good stuff! Many thanks once again to The Allspark for sharing all this great content with the fan community.

Original Source: Generation 1 Concept Art by Masakatsu Saito @ Transformers - TFW2005.com.