Transformers Gum: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 21:01, 30 November 2025

Habibi Inferno doesn't kneel to take cover, only to perform his daily salah.

Transformers Gum (トランスフォーマーガム Toransufōmā Gamu) was the premiere Transformers candy toy series produced by Japanese confectionery company Kabaya. It primarily consisted of small snap-together model kits, often designed as downscaled versions of larger Transformers toys, which came packed with some type of candy as an extra.

The series has been discontinued and revived a grand total of three times throughout its lifespan, so who knows for how long the 'was' in this page will last.

Overview

The original Transformers Gum series ran throughout the franchise's peak years in Japan, from 1985 to 1989. Usually (but not always) released in waves of four, each toy took the form of a snap-together model kit sculpted from three colours of plastic, with a sheet of stickers for detail, and, per the name of the line, a stick of chewing gum. The figures were generally packaged individually, but smaller characters like the Mini-Cassettes and Combiner limbs would come in groups of two. Once assembled, the kits, which mostly stood at around four inches tall, were fully transformable, appearing as essentially downsized versions of the original toys upon which they were based. They often preserved the gimmicks of said toys—including Headmaster partners and working stats bars, Godmaster partners, and full combination ability for combiner teams, though kits based on much larger figures did undergo some notable simplification. A range of smaller Transformers Gum kits was also available, retailing at 60 yen, versus the 200 yen that the standard Gum kits sold for. Size-wise, these kits fall somewhere between the standard Gum kits and those of its sister line Transformers Choco. Unlike those two lines, which ran until 1989, these smaller Gum kits were phased out in 1986. Information and images for these kits are pretty scarce.

In 1990, Transformers Gum merged with Transformers Choco to become the super deformed Parody Deformed non-transforming line of models. The line returned as Beast Wars Gum to cover characters from the various portions of the Beast Era in the late 1990s, then switched back to its original name in 2000 for Car Robots, although this time not featuring standard model kits based around downscaled toys but, instead, small statuettes with attachable parts.

After being retired for the duration of the Unicron Trilogy, Transformers Gum returned in 2009 for a new series that went back to its model kit roots and primarily celebrated various eras of Generation 1, as well as a few odd one-offs like the Classics / Henkei! Henkei! and War for Cybertron versions of Optimus Prime. This series was later expanded to include a "Deluxe" (or "DX") sub-series that featured larger kits, as well as more toy-accurate plastic colors and decal sheets. During this time, other similar kit-based Transformers series were also released by Kabaya, albeit without the "Transformers Gum" label: these included the release of the combiner-based Gaiacross, Gaia Guardian, and Gaia Scramble from 2013 to 2016 (all of these being based around a blend of existing G1 combiner characters with Kabaya's own original creations and featuring compatibility with the Scramble City-style combiner leaders released under Transformers Gum), and Block Wars and Adventure Gum in 2016. Unfortunately, since the final wave of Transformers Gum DX kits in 2016, no new Transformers products have been released by Kabaya.

Generation 1

200¥ series

Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers

Wave 1:

Wave 2:

All the kits from wave 1, and the Decepticons from wave 2, were made from black, red and grey plastic, while Inferno and Red Alert were made from black, red and white.

Wave 3:

Wave 4:

Every kit from wave 3 is made from black, red and grey plastic except for Ultra Magnus, who is made from red, white and blue. In wave 4, the Protectobots, Swindle and Blast Off are made from red, white and black plastic, and the other Combaticons are made from green and grey. The two combiner teams can merge to form Defensor and Bruticus.

Transformers 2010

Wave 5:

All four of this year's kits were made from red, grey and black plastic.

The Headmasters

Wave 6:

Wave 7:

All of the kits from wave 6 are made from black, red and cream-colored plastic, except for Highbrow and Hardhead, who, along with all four kits from wave 7, are made from blue, grey and white. The small Headmasters all come with transforming Headmaster partners and working stats bars, but Scorponok and Fortress Maximus, greatly simplified from their larger toys, do not. Raiden can separate into vehicle mode models of Yukikaze, Seizan, Suiken and Getsuei.

Super-God Masterforce

Wave 8:

Wave 9:

Wave 10:

Godbomber
Sixknight
King Poseidon A (Turtler and Overbite)
King PoseidonB (Tentakil, Gulf, Lobclaw and Kraken)

Most of the Masterforce figures are made from red, blue and grey plastic, except for Wave 8's Pretenders, which use a lighter, off-white grey, and the Seacons, who are made from magenta, teal and grey. Lightfoot, Hydra and Buster all feature transforming Godmaster partners, and the Seacons can combine to form King Poseidon, but Ginrai and Godbomber can not merge into God Ginrai.

Victory

Wave 11:

Wave 12:

Wave 13:

Wave 11's kits are all made from red, white and blue plastic, wave 12's are red, grey and blue, and wave 13's are red, black and white. The smaller three Brainmasters feature working Brain figures and can combine into Road Caesar; while the Breastforce can combine into Liokaiser, they lack their Breast Animal partners. Victory Leo cannot combine with Star Saber, hence why Victory Saber gets a dedicated kit.

60¥ series

Wave 1:

Wave 2:

Wave 3:

Beast Era

Main article: Transformers: Beast Wars Gum

The Kabaya kits for the Beast Era were released as their own separate spin-off series with Transformers: Beast Wars Gum. These followed the same formula of the old Transformers Gun toyline, focusing on model kits based around downscaled versions of figures released for Beast Wars, Beast Wars II, and Beast Wars Neo.

Being that Beast Wars Gum was treated by Kabaya as a separate toyline, its full list of releases are thus covered in their own dedicated page.

Car Robots

The Car Robots kits are non-transforming robot mode figurines, consisting of a solid grey body to which partially-colored translucent armor pieces are attached: red for the two Primes, green for X-Brawn, blue for Side Burn and colorless for Prowl.

2009 series

As mentioned, Transformers Gum would be fully rebooted in 2009. While downscaled versions of Generation 1 toys would remain the focus, a few designs from other franchises would occasionally pop up in the new Transformers Gum line-up.

Standard kits

Wave 1: (December 2009)

Wave 2: (November 2010)

Wave 1's figures are all made from red, white and blue plastic, while wave 2's are blue, white and black, with all the figures using a remarkable amount of stickers to make the characters look like themselves. Henkei Convoy, Prowl and Jetfire are designed after their Classics/Henkei! Henkei!/Universe toys, while Ultra Magnus is based on his 6" Titanium toy, and the remainder are based on their classic selves.

Wave 3: (March 2011)

Wave 4: (2011)

Wave 3's kits are made from red, blue and grey plastic, and wave 4's are red, orange and black. Starscream and Inferno are based on their Classics/Henkei/Universe bodies, and Rodimus is based on his Masterpiece toy, while Ginrai, Godbomber and Victory Leo are based on their classic selves. They each upstage their original Gum figures by being able to combine: Ginrai and Godbomber can form God Ginrai, while Victory Leo combines with Wave 1's Star Saber into Victory Saber. Each of the three kits in wave 4 also come with additional pieces to transform Hot Rodimus into Rodimus Prime.

Wave 5: (2012

Wave 6: (2012)

Wave 5's kits are made from red, blue and grey plastic. Optimus Prime and Hot Spot respectively come with Tigerbreast and Eaglebreast, which can connect to Deathsaurus to complete his look. Hot Spot can also combine with the new versions of the Protectobots released in Kabaya's G Guardian line to form a new version of Defensor named "God Guardian". The Wave 6 kits are made from red, black and blue plastic, and can each transform into robot, vehicle and base modes, and combine to form Big Powered. Dai Atlas's shield and "Powered Cutter" weapons are included as extra pieces with Sonic Bomber and Roadfire.

Wave 7: (2013)

Wave 8: (2014)

Wave 7's kits are made from warm grey/slight beige, grey and blue plastic (with a remarkable amount of stickers than usual to differentiate the sets). The sets are fully capable of carrying their combiner kibble (the ones they come with at least) in contrast to their G1 counterparts. Like Hot Spot from Wave 5, they are capable of combining with new versions of their respective teams, released through Kabaya's Gaia Scramble series. Wave 8's kits are made from red, blue and grey plastic; Star Convoy can assume both truck and base mode and comes with a small Hot Rod figure, while Hydra and Buster can combine into Darkwings.

Wave 9: (2015)

DX Gattai God Ginrai, in his packaging resembling the original 1988 Ginrai and Godbomber giftset

Wave 9's kits are made from teal, pink, blue, black and grey plastic. The six figures can combine into King Poseidon, with the extra option of combining their individual weapons into a bigger weapon for the combiner (along with the sixth guy who didn't became a limb and the trident)

DX kits

Wave 1: (2012)

Wave 2: (2013)

Overlord
Blacker + Road Blader
Laster + Braver

Each of the three "bases" that make up the first wave combine to form a fully-transformable Fortress Maximus figure, complete with Master Sword. The Brainmasters from wave 2, meanwhile, can combine into Road Caesar; the combiner kibble that allows them to do so itself combines to form the lump-of-stuff "Road Blader" that comes with Blacker.

Wave 3: (2016)

God Ginrai (Super Ginrai + Godbomber)
Victory Saber (Star Saber + Victory Leo)
Big Powered (Dai Atlas + Sonic Bomber + Roadfire)

The third wave of DX kits (and the final wave of Transformers Gum as a whole) was labelled as DX Gattai and consisted of bundled re-releases of previous Transformers Gum kits, featuring more toy-accurate plastic colors and, fittingly, more elaborate toy-accurate decal sheets. Each bundle came in packaging designed to resemble the original versions of their respective toys' giftsets in the Japanese market.

Notes

A handful of Transformers Gum kits would also be manufactured in Taiwan and re-released in South Korea during the 90s by an unknown company under the licensing of ToonTown, presumably with the permission of Hasbro. As with everything bearing the ToonTown branding, whether or not these kits are officially-branded Transformers releases is still a matter of intense debate amongst collectors.

External links

Japanese fan blog with complete gallery of classic Transformers Gum models