Decoy (G1)
Decoys are small, one-piece statuettes of Transformers made from molded rubber, good for erasing pencil marks, chewing, and fooling extremely stupid enemies.
Fiction
Bonus comic
In the comic included with each decoy, it is revealed that during some sort of attack, the Decepticons stole the Creation Matrix. First Aid (drawn as Ratchet) developed the decoy technology to keep the Decepticons occupied while Rodimus Prime and Blurr snuck into Decepticon headquarters and retrieved the Matrix.
In retaliation, Galvatron declared that the Decepticons would develop their own set of Decoys.
Toys
Takara
- The Decoys were originally developed as game pieces for Japanese Transformers board games. They were also sold in larger box sets:
- Cybertron Hero Collection 22
- (Blaster, Bluestreak, Brawn, Grapple, Hoist, Hound, Huffer, Ironhide, Jazz, Mirage, Optimus Prime, Perceptor, Ratchet, Red Alert, Sideswipe, Skids, Smokescreen, Sunstreaker, Swoop, Tracks, Wheeljack, Windcharger)
- Cybertron Hero Collection 9
- (Bumblebee, Cliffjumper, Grimlock, Inferno, Prowl, Slag, Sludge, Snarl, Trailbreaker)
- Destron Hero Collection 22
- (Astrotrain, Blitzwing, Bombshell, Bonecrusher, Devastator, Frenzy, Hook, Kickback, Laserbeak, Long Haul, Megatron, Mixmaster, Ravage, Reflector, Scavenger, Scrapper, Shockwave, Shrapnel, Skywarp, Soundwave, Starscream, Thundercracker)
Later, characters from the Movie and larger pieces representing the "Scramble City" combiner-teams' super-robot forms were made available as board-game pieces in multiple colors.
Hasbro
- In 1987, Hasbro brought over fifty-two of the pieces as "Decoys", and randomly packaged them with the smaller carded toys of the time: the Throttlebots, Aerialbots, Stunticons, Protectobots, Combaticons, Technobots and Terrorcons. The Throttlebots could come with either Autobot or Decepticon pieces, while the combiners only had Decoys of the faction they belonged to.
- There is one notable change in the Hasbro version of the Decoys: the numbers on the back of the pieces are a simple "checklist" number.
- While the Autobot pieces were only available in red, the Decepticon pieces came in both red and purple. The red versions are part of an early run and are much harder to find as they were only available early on and only with the Throttlebots, and therefore are considerably more expensive on the secondary market.
- Though Laserbeak was made available in the Japanese Destron pack, he was supposedly not available as part of the Hasbro offerings, not being listed on the comic's checklist. Karl Hartman and Jon Hartman believe he was, though, and if anyone can offer photo proof of Laserbeak on a Hasbro card, contact them!
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