The Transformers Hot PANTS Go-Cart!

THEY NEVER MET THE EYE!

The Hot Rod go-cart is probably the most well known Transformers artifact that doesn't exist. It was a contest prize that all 80s Transformers collectors are familiar with but few if any have ever seen. Valued at $2,500 1986 dollars and only 5 in existence, it was the top prize in the "Decipher the Decepticon" contest promotion that ran briely during 1986. Entry forms were included with boxed Transformers and these five grand prize go carts are all but a myth. But as it turns out, there was another Transformers go-cart giveaway from the same time period that is possibly rarer and even less known! AND TO WIN IT YOU HAD TO TAKE OFF YOUR PANTS!


THE OTHER TRANSFORMERS GO-CART CONTEST PRIZE FROM 1986

Newspaper ads from August of 1986 contain evidence of another Transformers promotional go-cart contest prize. This one was also given away within a few weeks of the Transformers: The Movie's theatrical release in early August 1986 but instead of being a raffle with millions of potential entries, these entry forms were only available to people who tried on a pair of Lee jeans at the retail department store Gayfers.



I'M GAYFERS STARSCREAM

The giveaway was done during the '86 southeastern states leg of the Starscream costume performer in store appearances. In late July / early August the 'Meet a Transformer' appearances featuring Starscream ran through Alabama into Georgia and then Florida. On August 10th an ad was run in the Mobile, Alabama paper announcing Starscream's upcoming appearances at the Jubilee and Springdale Gayfers stores on August 11th and 13th. And in that ad is a reference made to a Transformers go-cart prize where all you have to do is try on a pair of Lee jeans to register. So yeah, you had to take off your pants for a shot at this particular piece of Transformers merchendise. Some ads included black and white illlustrations which were the only clue as to what the go-cart looked like. but it's not much of a looker so keep your pants on.

MY FAVORITE TRANSFORMERS CONTINUITY IS GAYFERS ADS

The illustration does not look like a traditional go-cart, instead resembling a very Trailbreaker like 4 wheel drive camper truck. It had the Transformers logo prominently emblazoned along the passenger side and a 'Lee' logo painted on the hood. It's more of a combined promotion than an outright Transformers based one. There were several other ads run with varying Starscream and go-cart depictions. Some ads contained Starscream bio snippets. One ad in Tampa Bay, Florida on August 22nd had a more line art style drawing of the go-cart that gave a better feel for the overall shape of it. No ad gave any details as to how many go-cart prizes there were or when they would be raffled, but the important thing is they let you know Starscream can fly at 'Mac 2.8'.

The Transformers / Lee jeans go-cart is nowhere near as well known as the Hot Rod 'Decipher the Decepticon' go-cart but they might have some things in common . Just like the Hot Rod go-cart, no actual pictures of the Hot Pants go-cart have ever actually surfaced. Could the Hot Rod go-cart just be a differently painted Hot Pants go cart? As a kid I always imagined the Hot Rod go-cart would have resembled the Hot Rod character from the animated movie, but given the realities of toy production and promotion I would not be surprised if it was just a redecoed magenta Trailbreaker-looking ride on.

OUT OF THE WAY, HOT PANTS!

I haven't been able to find any other references to the Transformers Hot Pants go-cart giveaway and so I am left intrigued. An in-store Starscream appearance during the same month TF:TM debuted seemed like perfect timing and opportunity to give away a true Hot Rod shaped go-cart with flames on the hood and movie logos. But instead we seem to have gotten Trailbreaker with a Lee jeans logo instead of flames. It just seems so odd. I am left speculating that maybe the real Hot Rod go-kart may be something like this truck but with flames instead of Lee's logo on the hood. How disappointing would that be? I guess we'll never know. If you or someone you know has one of these rotting away in your Alabama attic please let me know! Also if you don't have one but you took off your pants in 1986 for a chance to win a Transformer go-cart I'd love to hear that story, too!

AN INTENSE EXPERIENCE!

The breaking of the 87th seal of the Roboplastic Apocalypse is the voice of the man who made Cybertron! Join the Nostrodomatron as I brave the Bigfoot infested forest of the Pacific Northwest to talk to Jim Shooter at Washington State Summer Con 2019! Yes it's the father of the Transformers mythos and me in Puyallup, Washington talking about toy robot line treatments, Star Comics, and other Mysterianian shenanigans. Plus a lightning round of HOW MUCH ROBOTS YA GOT? with action figure collector/author/living 80s encyclopedia Mark Bellomo! Who is the salt in my convention salad? What's it gonna take to get the world to admit Jetfire and Shockwave came out in '84? Why was the Beyonder not a figure in the Secret Wars line by Mattel? WHO WOULD WIN STARRIORS vs. CARE BEARS? All this and a sighting of the paranormal forest entity known as Yoshi in this WE ARE ALL STANISLAS PIOTR'S UNWANTED CHILDREN episode of the podcastalypse!

DOWNLOAD IT HERE



I presented to Mark the greatest award I can give to a person for Exceptional Service to the Kingdom Roboplastico, and that is my GoBackatization of the cover to K-Mart's 23 September 1984 Sunday newspaper ad.



Starriors is absent on purpose!

Making comics good since October 1984


SHOW NOTES OF THE PODCASTALYPSE
COMING SOON!

Treat Me Like Your Shooter Cybertrons!

In anticipation of Washington State SummerCon 2019 I cranked out a copy of the original eight page Transformers treatment Jim Shooter wrote for Marvel Comics. Mr. Shooter's work is THE foundational Cybertronian document, essentially ground zero of the Transformers mythos. Those eight pages defined the backstory of the Autobot/Decepticon war, settings like Cybertron and Aunty/the Ark, and major characters--icons of the franchise--including Optimus Prime and the Witwicky family. It's an historical cornerstone of immense roboplastological signifcance to Transformers fans but nowhere on the internet does it exist in its original typewritten form-UNTIL NOW!

These are the original images off my camera at Botcon 2010.

TRANSFORMS FROM PAGE TO SCREEN AND BACK

During his panel at Botcon 2010, Bob Budiansky showed the original eight pages via a series of slides in his presentation. I took pictures of them from a distance but my shots were still good enough to make out the original line spacings, typography mistakes and corrections, and editing changes made to the document. So knowing that Jim Shooter was coming to town, I busted out the old pictures and set about recreating the document as accurately I could so that I had a copy of the original for him to sign. I tried to match the spacing style and imitate every typing error and mistake and then I went back with a pen and made all the corrections and editorial changes just like they were made originally.

Here are the Botcon pix I took squared up and color corrected enough to see the text. You can check my version against these.

TREAT'S ON ME

In the end I had a copy as best I could make of the original. It is as close as I'll ever get to it in real life and since it IS a copy, I had no problems with Mr. Shooter signing and personalizing it. Sometimes when I buy original comic art pages from artists they will ask if I want it personalized and I freak out. Like why should my name go on a piece of history? But since this is a copy, it's all good! Plus now you can do it, too! I've included a pdf of the copy I made for you to print out and take to your local Jim Shooter appearance!


DOWNLOAD SHOOTER TRANSFORMER TREATMENT RECREATION .PDF HERE


Mr. Shooter will be appearing at the North Texas Comic Book Show in Dallas on June 29th, FrankFortCon in Kentucky this July 13th, and SW-FloridaCon November 23rd.

PRIME TO GOBACKATAYYYYYYYZE!

Monochromatic GoBackaTron Reel 02: The First Transformer Newspaper Ad Ever! (so far)

TIME TO FIRE UP THE GOBACKATRON!

Where Eagles Zayre

This weekend was a momentous occasion for me: the anniversary of the April 29, 1984 Zayre circular. It happens to be the earliest retail store ad I've ever found with Transformers mentioned in it, so it's a bit of an historic milestone to me. Its significance lies not just in when it appeared chronologically but also in what it shows. Zayre 4/29 (as I call it) packs a ton of great photo and written elements that continue to be a source of much pondering and contemplation for me. Not the least of these wonderful details is that fantastic Starscream. So to commemorate the 'adniversary' I spent my Sunday finishing a replica of what at first glance looks to be just another Starscream, but that in actuality was more, much more than met the newspaper over 30 years ago.



IN ZAYRE NO ONE CAN SEE YOUR STARSCREAM

I've already covered my initial attempt at recreating the Zayre 4/29 ad and how because of Starscream I fell short of doing a satisfactory job. The main reasons I goofed up were that I didn't pay enough attention to details plus my ad colorization was done in a hurry as I was rushing to include it in a slide presentation for my panel at JoeLanta 2017. Originally I thought I could grab a bunch of my existing toys and digitally photomanipulate them into the ad. Then I noticed the major differences with the Starscream I was using relative to the one in the ad. By the time I realized my Starscream didn't match, it was too late to build a more ad accurate photoshoot model. So just how tremendously different is the Zayre version from my childhood '84 mass release production model? Would those differences make it next to impossible to kitbash an accurate copy? Taking a closer look would prove surprising...



THE DEVIL IN THE DECALS

With the original ad lost to time and only a monochromatic microfilm image to guess what it looked like, I at first thought it would be difficult to dig out much detail. But thankfully the defining quirks of Zayre Starscream are rather huge and obvious even in black and white. The biggest is that the forward extending point of each wing (or 'wingpoint' as coined by Maz at tf-1) running along the fuselage is longer and pointier than that of mass release Starscream wings. Another characteristic is the missing Decepticon sigil on the nosecone, which is a consumer applied label. At first I didn't think much of it, but then I realized I'd seen a long wingpoint/no Decepticon sticker nosecone Starscream before-in the 1984 Transformer pack in catalog! Then the clincher was what appeared to be writing on the jet intake sticker where my production Starscream only had a blank yellow area. I began to realize that making a simple kitbash of this toy as it appeared in the ad would not be easy at all.

SO WHAT IS IT?

To understand what this toy is you have to know the origins of the Starscream toy as a Diaclone Real&Robo Series Jet Machine Robo F-15 High Speed Fighter Type. So they started as Takara Jet Robos then Hasbro sticker manipulated a few of those into Transformers for early promotional photography. It is my conjecture based on my analysis of the ad that the Zayre Starscream is in fact a Japanese Diaclone f-15 Jet Robo with a mix of Diaclone decals and modified/Hasbro applied custom decals on it to make it look like a production Transformer. How Zayre was able to attain this toy makes for interesting speculation but that is beyond the scope of this post. (I do want to address that question in a future article, though.) For now based on my ad analysis I believe the Zayre Starscream has these most obvious defining characteristics:

Instruction shoot Starscream w/ cockpit
sticker and pointy wingpoints

• Diaclone mold wings with extended wingpoints
• No Decepticon sticker on the nosecone
• Diaclone sticker with 'EAGLE' written on it above the jet intakes
• Solid red stripe and Decepticon sigil on each wing

And based on observations of the original Takara Diaclone Real&Robo Series Jet Machine F-15 Jet Robo High Speed Fighter Type, the Zayre Starscream most likely inherited these less obvious or not as easily discernible characteristics:

• a hard plastic Diaclone mold nosecone
• a Diaclone cockpit sticker omitted from production TFs
• possibly no copyright stamping
• firing missile launchers

It dawned on me that in order to faithfully reproduce the Zayre Starscream I would need more than just a pair of Diaclone wings and some Decepticon stickers. Because of all the sticker differences I would also need some Diaclone 'EAGLE' jet intake stickers, too. What's neat is that affordable reproduction Diaclone F-15 High Speed Fighter label sheets do exist, however the wings themselves are harder to track down. Plus there is the ethical conundrum of mutilating a rare Diaclone original just to transplant its wings on a lesser, more common toy. Plus plus Diaclones are expensive as hell nowadays and not easy to come across. So I was about to give up right there not so much because I didn't want to desecrate a sacrosanct Diaclone toy, but mostly because I am cheap. But then something wonderful happened-Dairycon!



YOU CAN WIN IF YOU DAIR

While I was at Dairycon 2017 I came upon a dealer who had a rather infamous bootleg jet. It was the Kingdam RoboJet F-15, and because it was knocked off directly from the Diaclone mold it had those elongated wings I needed. But even though it was a bootleg it was in such beautiful and complete shape that I'd feel bad parting it out just to make my Zayre photoshoot Starscream. I asked the dealer if he had a pair of just Kingdam wings lying around and he said no and he couldn't part the jet out just to give me the wings because-and get this-if all he had was the fuselage, it could be passed off as an original Diaclone by unscrupulous individuals! I looked at it and sure as heck, it had everything the Diaclone version had down to the cockpit sticker, 'EAGLE' intakes, and hard nosecone. I never noticed how dead on of a copy that thing was. I may not have had the money or guts to mutilate a legit Diaclone F-15, but now I was aware of a suitable stand in should I ever see one in crappy shape. Lo and behold, just a few days later that's exactly what would pop up in the haven of beat up crappy shape knockoffs-eBay!


CONQUEST IS MADE OF THE AUCTIONS OF ONE'S ENEMIES

Just as I ran out of hope that I'd ever find a reasonably priced parts donor for my photoshoot Starscream project, along came eBay auction 112371069453. For $45 it had no launchers but the nosecone, cockpit, and jet intake stickers were all intact. It appeared dark grey in the auction photos and there really is a dark grey Kingdam variant, but it was actually the light grey version. Notable differences from the Diaclone version are the orange canopy and white vertical stabilizers. In the above left photo the plastic quality is so poor it's mostly transparent in places like the vertical stabilizers. The plastic is a shade of grey that doesn't quite match up with any Starscream I have so a simple wing swap wasn't going to work. Ultimately I'd have to use a majority of the Kingdam parts so the color would be uniform but some bits did have to be replaced...


LONG LIVE THE WING

One major consequence of the inferior quality plastic used in the Kingdam bootleg is that the joints the wings plug into and rotate on are super prone to breakage. These 'wing knuckles' as I call them are also pretty shoddily molded on the Kingdam toy, so even if they weren't broken (as they were on my eBay one) I still had to replace them with the cleaner looking Hasbro parts. I also swapped out the orange canopy with a correct smoke colored Hasbro one. The project ended up being slightly more than the simple decal and wing swap I originally thought it would be, but the results were well worth the work.



KING FOR A DAY

In the end I basically had a Kingdam bootleg with a Hasbro Starscream's vertical stabilizers, wing joints & decals, and canopy. It's a bit of a Frankenstein monster but it does a good job of emulating an historic moment in Transformer promotional photographic history. The next step for me would be going back and doing a more accurate recreation of the Zayre 4/29 ad. For now just having this representation of one of the rarest Transformer specimens in history is good enough for me.