Bludgeon's Decepticons were also using a new symbol, similar to their old one, that coincidentally closely resembled the Cybertronian Empire insignia. The Autobots had at some point begun using a new insignia that resembled Optimus Prime rather than the Last Autobot. Still Life! Dreadwind and Darkwing were outside in Cybertron's increasingly bad weather discussing the planet's upcoming self-destruction when the wind blew the gigantic Autobot insignia off the wall and onto Dreadwind's head. Surrender! After the Autobots and Decepticons came together to fight Unicron, they continued their uneasy alliance and adorned their headquarters with an insignia that included a slightly modified Decepticon sign atop a slightly modified Autobot sign. When Optimus Prime surrendered to the Decepticons, he laid an Autobot insignia at Scorponok's feet. United into a single team following the events of the Time Wars and by battling the nightmare creatures generated by Skids's time in Limbo, Springer offered to make Carnivac and Catilla Honorary Autobots, passing them a pair of Autobot badges as he did so. The implementation of these redesigns is inconsistent, as while the redesigned insignia are typically used by movie tie-ins with everything else using the classic designs, 'mix-ups' of the symbols frequently happen infamously, Bumblebee, the breakout character of the movie franchise, wears the classic version of the Autobot insignia on his forehead crest.įiction Generation 1 cartoon continuity The Transformers cartoon Over the next decade or so, new symbols were designed for various new factions and subgroups, with a wide variety of stylistic influences.įor the 2007 live action Transformers movie, the famous Autobot and Decepticon insignia were given a redesign, with the most obvious changes being the eyes - the tops of the Autobot symbol's eyes were slanted slightly down, and the Decepticon symbol's eyes were shrunk and changed from triangles to diamonds. When the Transformers brand was reimagined in the mid-1990s as Beast Wars, entirely new insignia were created for the new heroic and villainous factions, the Maximals and Predacons, though these were not based on any specific toy or design rather, they reflected the mammalian and insectoid memberships of these factions. Though replacements for the Autobot and Decepticon insignia were introduced for Transformers: Generation 2, with the G2 Autobot symbol being based on the face of Optimus Prime, they failed to catch on. In 2007, the Autobot and Decepticon insignia were redesigned to fit the tone of the new movie. This version of the insignia remained otherwise unused for decades, but eventually saw a return as part of the Masterpiece toyline's move towards ever-more-painstaking animation accuracy, starting with MP-29 Destron Laserwave. This resulted in an odd curiosity of the original cartoon's designs as the designers were evidently working off these renderings rather than a flat image, the beveled detail at the top of the Decepticon symbol's crest was misinterpreted as a third spike on said crest, resulting in a disparity between the cartoon insignia and other appearances of the Decepticon badge. The original Autobot and Decepticon insignias, supposedly designed by Wayne Molinare, were seemingly based on toys from the first year of the original Transformers toyline the Autobot symbol is a heavily stylized and simplified version of the face of Prowl, while the Decepticon insignia is drawn from that of Soundwave.įor the toy packaging and the cartoon's scene transitions, the insignia were rendered in metallic colors with beveled edges. Joe and Visionaries, but the Transformers toys were the first to make heavy use of the idea on the toys themselves. Note the beveled detailing on the Decepticon symbol's crest, which was misinterpreted as a third spike for the cartoon.įaction insignia were used to differentiate heroes and villains in several 1980s Hasbro toylines, including G.I.

The toy packaging's faction insignia were stylized and metallic.

Magnetic autobot car emblem