Paper on the uses of liquid crystal thermography, apparently but not actually written by Generation 1 Perceptor.These are really smart mold choices for these two.The original patent for the Transformers rubsigns on Google Patents.Spychangers, which used heat-sensitive paint to achieve a similar effect.Japanese: Secret Emblem (シークレットエンプレム Shīkuretto Enburemu).The original patent for the Generation 1 rubsigns is shared by Henry Orenstein and George Dunsay.They then got suspicious and rubbed his rubsign, revealing him to be a Decepticon. Predacons RisingĬliffjumper and Huffer let a yellow Mini-spy into the Ark. When he was reformatted into Waspinator, he completely changed sides and instead sported a Decepticon insignia. The Thrill of the HuntĪfter being 'dishonorably discharged' and sent to the Stockade, Wasp has been seen wearing a rubsign probably to indicate he's not with the Autobots anymore. The bounty hunter Lockdown appears to sport a rubsign probably to indicate that he's just in it for the parts and hunts he gets out of it. Yeah, that spiky, edgy, black-metal-facepaint guy could totally be a friendly Autobot. At about the same time, the series introduced the Laser Beasts, who used light-piping through clear-plastic orbs to reveal full-color visions of their Fire, Water or Wood powers rather than rubsigns. Later releases/reissues of various toys designed with rubsign indents were retooled to remove or otherwise alter those indents.Īlso in 1988, Takara's Transformers spinoff series Beastformers (aka Battle Beasts in Hasbro's markets), which had been making use of rubsigns as part of a Rock-Paper-Scissors style game, began using a new type of rubsign that revealed full-color illustrations beneath the black towards the very end of its run (seen in the section above). The rubsign could be activated so their true identity could be revealed without having to transform them (or, you know, rotate them slightly).īy 1988, rubsigns were dropped from the line (presumably as most of the competition had been long-buried, but cost-saving may also have played into it), even though several toys from that year still had molded spots for them. The Clones from 1987's series had special rubsigns that revealed their personal insignia. ![]() Re-releases of 1984 toys sometimes had rubsigns slapped on in odd places in addition to their standard customer-applied insignia stickers, but some, like the aforementioned Mini Cars, had their factory-applied insignia replaced with rubsigns. The purpose of these rubsigns was (in theory) 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 Tonka's GoBots toys and similar toys of other competitors. ![]() Later that year, all Transformers toys featured a rubsign that revealed an Autobot or Decepticon insignia. or if it got warm enough to activate the sticker while the toy was still sealed away. The faction of a Mini-spy remained hidden until someone opened up the package and rubbed the rubsign revealing an Autobot or Decepticon insignia. The first toys to sport rubsigns were the Mini-spies from the original toy line in early 1985, miniature Transformers that came with repackages of the 1984 Mini-Car toys. It's like a Kinder egg toy, but without the Kinder. Of course, there are variations of what can be done with this process, but they are vanishingly (ha ha) rare in Transformers, and are detailed below. For the overwhelming majority of Transformers toys, rubsigns reveal black linework contrasting against colors ranging from blue-green to green-yellow to red-brown as the temperature rises, then back again to solid black as it cools. Mood rings work by the same principle, but have more bogus magical properties. At different temperatures, the liquid crystals' molecular structure changes reflecting different wavelengths of light and making a visible faction symbol appear. The working part of a rubsign is a layer of Mylar plastic which contains thermochromic liquid crystals. Anybody who tells you otherwise is a witch, and should be burned, burned at the stake. Full-color rubsigns are also possible.ĭemons make the color change. ![]() Most rubsigns in Transformers look like the top row, a rainbow-y effect that changes with temperature.
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