During the Generation 2 era there were many ideas proposed for the line before it began to pivot towards the era of Cyberjets and Go-Bots. Among these ideas were redecos of previous figures including the Dinobots. While a few of the Dinobots did ultimately come out in the line, there were some decos that were not used. Now thanks to Heritage Auctions we have a look at a piece of promotional art that was produced but never used featuring an orange and turquoise deco complete with tiger stripes (because why not, right?). This piece of art is beautiful and represents the era well. BWTF has mirrored the image from Heritage Auctions here for posterity. Here is the description of the piece from the site:
Transformers Original Book Art (Marvel Productions, c. 1990-2000s). Transformers is a media franchise produced by American toy company Hasbro and Japanese toy company Takara Tomy. It follows the battles of sentient, living autonomous robots, often the Autobots and the Decepticons, who can transform into other forms, such as vehicles and animals. The franchise encompasses toys, animation, comic books, video games and films. Presented is a RARE illustration used in a Transformers book. This brilliant piece depicting the wildly popular Transformers doing battle. The artwork was rendered in gouache on 18.75" x 16.25" board. The image area measures 17" x 14.5". Transformers production art is arguably rare and hard to find. This one is a real find! Fine condition.
While the description mentions this was used in a book, it does not say which book so it is possible this was only in a book of promotional material internal to Hasbro at the time, but this is speculation on my part. This art really shows that there are still tons of hidden treasures from Transformers history floating around out there!
