Rubsign

A rubsign was a small heat-sensitive sticker that came pre-applied to Generation 1 toys beginning in the line's second year, 1985. They would reveal an Autobot or Decepticon faction symbol upon being rubbed. The Mini Spies were the first toys to feature rubsigns. The purpose of the rubsign addition was to help consumers distinguish genuine Transformers toys from the many knockoffs their success inspired (off-brand versions of the Dinobots, Soundwave, and his cassettes were particularly common in 84/85), as well as the Tonka Go-Bots and other competitors. A variation on the rubsigns were also used in the spin-off Hasbro/Takara toyline Battle Beasts.

By 1988, rubsigns were dropped from the line (presumably as most of the competition had been long-buried), even though several toys from that year still had molded spots for them. They would not appear again on Transformers toys until the second year of Beast Wars product in 1997, called "hidden energon chips". They continued through the next year's Fuzors and Transmetals, but were replaced by the time of the Transmetal 2s (and in the Beast Wars Neo new-mold toys) with "spark crystals".

Rubsigns recently were re-re-introduced to the Transformers line in 2006 with the Classics series.

Operating principles

The working part of a rubsign is a layer of Mylar plastic which contains thermochromic liquid crystals. At different temperatures, the liquid crystals' molecular structure changes, reflecting different wavelengths of light, and making a visible faction symbol appear. Mood rings work by the same principle, but have more bogus magical properties.

External links

• Paper on the uses of liquid crystal thermography, apparently but not actually written by G1 Perceptor.
  
  
  From Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki, a Wikia wiki.