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.

Autobot and decepticons