Don Figueroa

This article is about the nonfictional Transformers artist. Para el técnico oficial de la película de 2007, véase Jorge Figueroa.

The DON, artist, designer and a career batting average of 99.94

Don Allan Figueroa is a Filipino-American artist and a toy designer. In his early years in comics, he was the writer and artist of the fan-comic series "Macromasters," featuring his original Transformers designs, of which he also built large transformable, scratch-built toys.

When Dreamwave Productions received the Transformers comic book license, Figueroa was initially signed on to illustrate packaging art for the Armada toy line. He went on to pencil The War Within miniseries, for which he designed a pre-Earth mode for every single character that appeared in the series (with the exception of Megatron, whose design was done by Pat Lee). Aaron Archer took notice of his talents, and Hasbro hired Figueroa to help design toys for them, most notably the Titanium and Classics series. Since then, he has also contributed art to IDW Publishing's at the time new range of Transformers comics.

Eventually Don became burnt out on Transformers and left the franchise as his primary creative work, and was said to be taking an indefinite break. He briefly returned to illustrate the Shattered Glass comic and eventually came back to Transformers full-time, illustrating several works for IDW Publishing, including issue 3 of Defiance, half of issue 13 of All Hail Megatron and serving as an illustrator for IDW's ongoing Transformers comic, all done in a live-action movie style first seen in Defiance #3. Don illustrated the first 6-issue arc and issues 14 and 15, before leaving to work on other projects, while disappearing from the Transformers fandom for over a decade.

That is until May 2022 when he opened a Twitter Account and is now sharing line arts of his past work as well as behind the scenes anecdotes and many more.

Pat Lee owes him more than $15,435.<ref>Comic Book Resources (archive copy)</ref>^{({{#time: M-d-y| Feb-28-05 }})}

Comic book art

Interiors

Dreamwave Productions

Let's hope he got paid for this one!

• The War Within #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6
• Armada #14, #15, #16, #17
• Generation One ongoing #0, #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10
• Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye Profile books (select pages)
• Transformers Armada: More Than Meets The Eye Profile books (select pages)
• 20th Anniversary Lithograph

IDW Publishing

• The Gathering #1, #2, #3, #4
• Stormbringer #1, #2, #3, #4
• Transformers: The Animated Movie #1, #2, #3, #4
• Movie Prequel #1, #2, #3, #4
• "Spotlight: Optimus Prime"
• The Ascending #1, #2, #3
• Beast Wars Sourcebook, part 1 (cover and select pages)
• Beast Wars Sourcebook, part 2 (cover and select pages)
• Beast Wars Sourcebook, part 3 (cover and Optimus Primal)
• Beast Wars Sourcebook, part 4 (Torca)
• Transformers: Defiance #3
• "Spotlight: Cliffjumper" (alternate cover)
• All Hail Megatron #13: "Old Ways"
• The Transformers #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #14, #15
• War for Cybertron

Titan Magazines

• Transformers Comic #4

Fun Publications

• Shattered Glass

DVD cover art

Madman Entertainment

• The Transformers: The Movie (2003 Australian DVD release)

Sony Wonder

• The Transformers: The Movie 20th Anniversary Edition DVD

Shout! Factory

• The Transformers — The Complete First Season: 25th Anniversary Edition

Transformers packaging art

Armada

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• Adventure Mini-Con Team
• Blurr
• Hoist
• Powerlinx Hot Shot
• Galvatron
• Nemesis Prime
• Powerlinx Optimus Prime
• Skywarp
• Starscream
• Street Speed Mini-Con Team
• Thundercracker
• Tidal Wave
• Unicron
• Wheeljack

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Energon

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• Hot Shot
• Inferno
• Ironhide
• Megatron
• Scorponok
• Strongarm
• Tidal Wave

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Timelines

• "Games of Deception"

Universe (2008)

• Optimus Prime Special Edition (heavily reworked by an unknown artist from an existing piece of stock Generation 1/Universe art)

Merchandise packaging art

Kinnerton

• 2008 Transformers Christmas Advent Calendar

JayJay's

• About a billion T-shirts, jackets, hoodies and other assorted clothing

Hot Topic

• About a billion T-shirts, jackets, hoodies and other assorted clothing

Known toy design projects

Masterpiece

• 20th Anniversary Optimus Prime

Energon

• Mega-Dinobot (with Brian Parrish)<ref>{{#if: Marcelo did the packaging art. Don Figueroa did a lot of the kind of design- rough design work, I should say- and then Brian Parrish- uh, I think- ran that through the system with HFE [Hasbro Far East]. |"Marcelo did the packaging art. Don Figueroa did a lot of the kind of design- rough design work, I should say- and then Brian Parrish- uh, I think- ran that through the system with HFE [Hasbro Far East]."—|}}{{#if: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nE-MKJDLkNc&t=1651s |Aaron Archer|Aaron Archer}}{{#if: The Toy Armada |, The Toy Armada|}}{{#if: 22 - The CREATION of Transformers Universe |, "22 - The CREATION of Transformers Universe"|}}{{#if: 2025 |, 2025{{#if: 07 |/{{#switch:{{#len:07}}|1=007|07}}{{#if: 09|/{{#switch:{{#len:09}}|1=009|09}}|}}}}|}}{{#if: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nE-MKJDLkNc&t=1651s ||}}{{#switch:{{#sub:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nE-MKJDLkNc&t=1651s%7C7%7C11}}%7Cweb.archive= (archive link)|}}{{#switch:{{#sub:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nE-MKJDLkNc&t=1651s%7C8%7C11}}%7Cweb.archive= (archive link)|}}{{#switch:{{#sub:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nE-MKJDLkNc&t=1651s%7C7%7C10}}%7Carchive.is= (archive link)|}}{{#switch:{{#sub:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nE-MKJDLkNc&t=1651s%7C8%7C10}}%7Carchive.is= (archive link)|}}{{#if: | (dead link)}}</ref>

Titanium

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• Megatron (Transformers/G.I. Joe)
• Optimal Optimus
• Scourge
• Rodimus Prime
• Soundwave with Laserbeak
• Optimus Prime (Robots in Disguise)
• Cheetor (Beast Machines)
• Ultra Magnus

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War Within

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• Optimus Prime
• Jetfire
• Thundercracker
• Starscream
• Fallen/War Within Fallen
• Megatron
• Sunstorm
• Ultra Magnus

}}

Hasbro-Galoob's adherence to his concept designs varied wildly.

Classics

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• Astrotrain (with Takashi Kunihiro)
• Grimlock
• Rodimus
• Optimus Prime — Voyager class (with Takio Ejima and Alex Kubalsky the latter of whom designed the transforming smokestack gun, which was not a part of Don's design)
• Ramjet
• Starscream (with Shogo Hasui)

}}

Despite popular opinion to the contrary, Don did not actually design Classics Jetfire. According to him, he had seen the design some time before the public did, and decided to use it in IDW Publishing's Stormbringer mini-series.

Transformers (2007 toyline)

• Protoform Optimus Prime
• Protoform Starscream

Universe (2008)

• Cyclonus and Nightstick (with Bill Rawley and Takashi Kunihiro)
• Ravage (with Bill Rawley and Alex Kubalsky)

Crossovers

• Hulk

Revenge of the Fallen

• Bludgeon (Voyager) (concept)

Generations: Thrilling 30

• Megatron (Deluxe) (uncredited)

Legacy: United

• Bludgeon (original concept)

Gallery

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Extended Don Figueroa gallery

Notes

• Don developed a very early concept of 20th Anniversary Optimus Prime that transformed similarly to the original Optimus Prime, though with plenty of modern design elements to better resemble his cartoon and comic appearances.

We suffer from a depressing series of rejections!

• Don came up with his own Transformers/G.I. Joe story pitch back when the original Dreamwave G.I. Joe crossover was in production. Dreamwave did not approve this pitch, instead going with Transformers/G.I. Joe: Divided Front. After Dreamwave's bankruptcy—when Don was under contract with Devil's Due Press—he tried pitching his story again, including designs for Optimus Prime as the Rolling Thunder and Megatron as Destro's Dominator; Devil's Due instead opted to continue their own crossover universe. Don was subsequently assigned to pencil the third Devil's Due G.I. Joe/Transformers crossover, at the time a Cobra-La-centric story; however, Hasbro then told them that Cobra-La could not be used. Don tried submitting his pitch again to fill the apparent story-void, but it was once more rejected... and then on top of that, Devil's Due was told that they could not publish another Transformers crossover until 2006. Don would leave for IDW Publishing not too long afterward.<ref>Don Figueroa interview at Seibertron.com</ref>
• According to Transformers screenwriter Roberto Orci, the surname of Jorge Figueroa refers to both a friend of the writer and Don Figueroa.<ref>Orci at the Transformers Movie boards</ref>
• The origin of Revenge of the Fallen Voyager Class Bludgeon is older than one may expect. Figueroa submitted a concept for a Unicron Trilogy Bludgeon toy that looked very similar to the final product way back during the development of the Energon or Cybertron toylines. Obviously, the concept wasn't put into production as a toy at the time, so Figueroa used it as inspiration for his IDW Publishing "Stormbringer" rendition of Generation 1 Bludgeon. However, Hasbro evidently resurrected the concept for the Universe and then the Revenge of the Fallen lines. Figueroa notes that his contribution on this toy is very small, as his work on it ended when he submitted the concept to Hasbro way back when.
• Don also still creates amazing gigantic scratch-built transforming robot toys in his spare time.

Stealth bomber Megatron controversy

The editor was a real piece of schmidt.

• According to Don Figueroa via his now-defunct DeviantArt account, he designed the stealth bomber Megatron which appeared in IDW's The Transformers #13 comic. However, he originally designed it as part of a story pitch which editor Andy Schmidt rejected. Schmidt later told Figueroa he wanted the pitched concept and the two made plans to work out a deal at the Long Beach Comic-Con. Schmidt stood Figueroa up, not attending the Comic-Con, and then proceeded to use the pitched design in The Transformers #13 with no compensation to Figueroa whatsoever. When Figueroa heard about this, and that Hasbro would be turning the design into a toy (again, with no compensation or credit), Figueroa was less than thrilled.<ref>DeviantArt message from Figueroa, archived via Seibertron messageboard post</ref>

References

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External links

• Twitter account
• Bluesky account
• Instagram account
• DeviantArt account (deactivated)

Interviews

• September 2002—Seibertron
• February 2003—Tformers
• January 2004—Seibertron
• February 2004—Tformers
• November 2005—Seibertron
• May 2006—Unicron
• June 2007—Cybertron Philippines
• December 2007—TFW2005