Super deformed

Jim Henson's Decepticon Babies!

Super deformed (aka SD or chibi) is a style of manga and anime art that features smaller, cuter versions of pre-existing characters, with distorted proportions, most recognizably stumpy legs, tiny arms, compact torsos and ginormous heads.

• The Generation 1 Mini Vehicles' alt modes were based on Choro-Q toy cars, which themselves were super-deformed versions of actual cars. (This is particularly clear when you compare Cliffjumper to an actual Porsche 924.)
• Abominus has a somewhat super-deformed look for his G1 toy despite being potrayed as a destructive animalistic combiner.
• The Pretender Monsters featured rubbery beast shells and robot monster modes that were scrunched and deformed enough to be considered super-deformed (Scowl's bio in particular makes note of this horrid cuteness).
• The Victory cartoon featured super-deformed characters in its commercial bumpers.
• In 1990, Kabaya produced a series of super-deformed Transformers candy toys, packaged with the PDTF Comic.
• MyClone figurines are also designed in a super-deformed style.
• Part of the Danglers Collection features super deformed characters.
• Pioneer's LaserDisc releases of Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers featured two pieces of super deformed cover artwork, one for the Autobots and one for the Decepticons (pictured right), by Hidetsugu Yoshioka. The artist later created one large group shot of both factions for the Transformers 2010 LaserDisc, then another dual faction piece for the LaserDisc release of "The Rebirth".
• Takara released a small number of SD-style model kits in 1998 under the "Beast Change Kit" line, which were the only SD-style models to be capable of transformation.
• The manual artwork and game sprites for Duel Fight Transformers Beast Wars: Beast Warriors' Strongest Decisive Battle were done in the same super deformed style as Beast Change Kit, even reusing some of that line's artwork.
• The Beast Wars Metals manga occasionally veered into SD territory, along with numerous other affronts.
• The fan-made comic "Superdeformers", written by Matt Nelson, was used in various official Transformers publications by 3H.
• Sky-Byte would on several occasions have fantasies about Megatron being pleased with him, all of which were super-deformed. And hilarious and disturbing in equal measure.
• Many of the Transformers (and non-Transformer) that show up in Extremely Funny Transformer Gag Colosseum are mostly portrayed in SD form.
• Starting in 2006, the Hasbro Transformers Collectors' Club magazine would include an illustration of a super deformed character by Richard Chang on the introductory page of each issue.
• Later, Matt Moylan's Lil Formers fancomic had some installments published in that same magazine.
• Much later, issues #65 to #71 of that magazine would run a strip by Josh Perez called SD SG - "Super Deformed Shattered Glass".
• First 4 Figures produced a super-deformed Ultra Magnus statue in 2006, based on an art contest at the Transformers World 2005 fansite.[1]
• Hasbro began releasing the Robot Heroes line in 2007, consisting of super-deformed versions of classic Generation 1 characters and later expanded to feature Beast Wars, Beast Machines, 2001 Robots in Disguise and live-action film series characters.
• The 2012 toyline Bot Shots featured small unarticulated auto-transforming figures with combat rules similar to "Rock, Paper, Scissors".
• In 2014, Kids Logic released two lines of licensed non-transforming Transformers SD figures, including the smaller (~3in) Kids Nations multi-packs and the larger (~6in) Mecha Nations articulated figures.
• The 2014 toyline Q-Transformers is a series of super deformed Transformers toys that turn into Choro Q versions of their respective alt-modes.
• The 2018 toyline Transformers: BotBots, a series of super deformed Transformers that turn into mundane objects.
• The Nendoroid series revolves around this trope, with a handful of Transformers characters having been released in the line since 2020.
• The 2025 toyline Swapticons consists of small cuboid figures that transform into squat alternate-mode-halves that can combine with other figures to make strange combinations.