Howdy, y'all.
I'm currently working on sprucing up a pair of custom Decepticon Planes (Seekers) I put together about 3 years ago.
http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/radicons-customs/342782-g1-g2-decepticon-planes-darkstar-apparition.html

After my plan of asking Reprolabels.com to make me some custom labels for both fell through (they recently updated their printing process, and aren't making custom sheets for the time being), I decided to put 'Plan B' into effect, using some of the many label sheets I've collected over the years.
Before I do, I decided that I need to take detailed photos of the sheets as many are print variants, each intended for the same Transformers (or some new variant thereof).

Please keep watching this thread as I will be adding new photos of the (intentional) oddities in my collection, and encourage others to do the same. My photos are of the decals on the sheet, in order to prove that they existed, and are not imitations or reproductions.

 

I know Topspin has a Variant where the Wing Stickers sometimes have the letters "DAR" on them.

 

Takara and Encore reissues of Thundercracker and Skywarp.

When I first cooked up the idea for my custom seeker project, 'Plan B' was my Plan A. At that time, I only had one decal sheet: a partial sheet from #22 reissue Starscream (the rounded-edge decals were cut from the sheet and traded to Superquad7).

Some time later, I ended up buying the Encore #11 reissues of Skywarp and Thundercracker.

After deciding that they looked good enough to keep (instead of use as parts fodder, the reason I bought most of my Seeker reissues), I bought a #23 reissue of Skywarp (mostly for the stronger launchers -- in their original tooling). That's when I first noticed the differences.

1. On their original/vintage sheets, Thundercracker's (dark) blue elements are close to his body's color, and Skywarp's are the same purple as his symbols.
2. In those spots, both Encore #11 TC and SW's sheets use the same dark indigo color instead of blue and purple.
3. Takara #23 and #24 Skywarp and Thundercracker (whose sheets are used in the TRU reissues) also share a color, but when viewed from the right angle, are slightly more of a violet color than the Encore sheets.

It also looks like the Encore sheets grew by a few fractions of an inch simply to add the "1985 2008 TOMY" copyright. (Why didn't they want to claim 1984, the first year of American Skywarp and Thundercracker?)
On the left of the Thundercracker sheet photo, you should see part of a Vintage G1 Thundercracker sheet, with a sharp-cornered Decepticon symbol. Although this is the main reason why my label sheet collection grew (and is still growing), I'll delve further into them on a future post.
-- Cybertronian.

P.S.: Strangeguy32000, Topspin's "D-A-R" decals are a hold-over from when he and Twin Twist were in the Diaclone Action Robo line. This is also why Marvel's art for Topspin shows him with tiny tail fins on the back of his feet. (They were likely cropped for safety reasons.) Even though the ones with a solid red stripe look better, the "DAR" one is my favorite variant and I'm looking for one now (with as little yellowing and chrome loss as possible).

 

My guess would be because the copyright wasn't filed in Japan til 1985 for the Autobot and Decepticon logos. Takara had the copyright on the jet mold from Diaclone but they sold the rights to Hasbro in 1984 and then had the rights given to them in 1985 which is when the Japanese TF line started. Presumably that means that Takara would have filed all the Japanese copyrights at that time.

As the Encores were a Japanese only release, a (c) 1984 Hasbro mark would have been irrelevant, so they had to name Tomy and the year the Japanese copyright was filed.

 

great info, please update often. I love to read about these sorts of things.

 

Hot Rod's labels, Orange variant!?

For those wondering why I posted Hot Rod's label sheet in my initial post, the reason is that Hot Rod has at least 3 sheet variants before the reissues' sheet comes into the picture.

They are very hard to come by, but I finally got the one I was looking for.
Variant 1 (shown at the bottom) uses orange on the middle chevrons (making them red, orange, and yellow), the horizontal lines on his waist decal and what looks like a resistor or capacitor on the tops of his thigh decals.
Variant 2 is the same but either uses red printed on top of yellow, or just red to replace the orange elements. (My Targetmaster Hot Rod -- my first version of HR, bought new -- came with a Variant 2 sheet.)
Variant 3 is roughly the same as Variant 2, but uses smaller versions of the thigh decals (#1 and #2), in hopes that they would survive the "normal" motion of collapsing and expanding the boots down over the thighs and back.
(I have no idea if there is a 4th variant -- an orange chevron/resistor/waist stripe variation of the small thigh decal sheet.)
Three of Hot Rod's reissues (2000 C-78, TRU "Rodimus Minor", and TF Collection #13) use the same label sheet, which is an updated and more smoothly drawn version of Variant 2. Ironically, the reissues use a tooling that has an indentation in the thighs to protect Variant 3 (small) thigh decals. If you choose to apply them, try to sand the front face of the thighs before applying labels 1 and 2. This should reduce the amount of friction on them.

 

Thundercracker: original vs. reissue.

I don't have all of the variances for Thundercracker -- I only bought his sheets to have better examples of the sharp-cornered symbols for my fairly-rare variant of Starscream. (The missing -- and more common -- sheet has Decepticon symbols with rounded edges and an assortment/stock number to the right of the right ribcage decal.)


As you can see in the above images, Thundercracker's G1 sheet is a much lighter shade of blue than his reissues. Part of this is because Takara (and Tomy) wanted to have TC and SW match each other more (much like in their Marvel Comics appearances).

As a bonus, here is a Diaclone Thundercracker sheet from an (expensive) auction that I lost. The original owner was a former Hasbro employee who used them as references for our American/Hasbro/G1 sheets.

Please note that the two-star decals that are applied to his ankles (exlcusive to Diaclone Thundercracker) are separate pieces. Also note that the normally red trapezoids on his knee decals are silver with numbers "84413" printed in them. The red rectangles on his top-of-intake decals have "F-15" printed in them.

-- Cybertronian.

 

Variations in Skywarp label sheets.

In the case of Skywarp, I've slowly acquired up to 5 different variations. I bought them to, again, supply my early variant Starscream with some badly needed sharp-bordered Decepticon symbols, and also to gift my Skywarp with decals of his own. (Bought used, my first SW is my 4th Transformer overall.)


From top left clockwise,

1. Sharp-cornered symbol variant, neutral purple on details and symbols.
2. Sharp-cornered symbol variant, bluish lavender color on symbols and details.
3. Rounded-corner symbol variant (w/stock or part number), bluish lavender color on symbols and details.
4. #23 Reissue, limited release (also included in TRU reissue). Dark indigo details w/ slight purplish tint.
5. Encore #11 reissue. Dark indigo details w/ slight bluish tint (compared to the #23 reissue).

Sheets 1 and 2 are both sharp-cornered, but appear to have some sort of color variation, or perhaps 2 (and 3) faded from a neutral purple to a bluish lavender color. As you can see Sheet 3 is a round-bordered symbol sheet. Also, note that both reissue sheets are darker and bluer than all of the above vintage sheets.
I believe there is a Vintage rounded cornered symbol sheet with a neutral purple color, but I don't have one myself to prove it.



Let me add that I'd love to hear feedback... questions, comments... include your own photos if you have a sheet or sheets you'd like to share. I'd also like to hear more about factory decal variants. (Hot Rod and Scourge deserve their own chapters!)

Keep track of this thread as my next two subjects are Ramjet and Starscream. I also have pics on hand for Rodimus Prime.
-- Cybertronian.

 

Starscream: Vintage vs. Reissue (vs. something else).

In the first picture in this entry, I have a picture containing (in no particular order) a vintage G1 Starscream sheet, a sheet coming from one of the Takara reissue Starscreams, and another whose authenticity is challenged. Can you tell which is which by looking at them?



Give up? The one on the left is a 1984 sharp-cornered vintage G1 variation, the middle one is a reproduction, and the rightmost one comes from TF Collection #9 Starscream (but is a copy of the sheet coming with Takara's 2001 #22 Starscream reissue). I know that the middle sheet is a fake because it shares traits with both the vintage rounded-corner symbol variant and the reissue sheet.

The reissue sheet is the only authentic sheet to use legible numbers in the golden rectangles next to the down arrows on Screamer's ribcage decals. ("867") But unlike the reissues' versions of decals #3 and #4, decal 4's "867" is mirrored, like the originals. Also, the red, yellow, and silver lights near the top are larger and squared.
On vintage Starscream AND Ramjet sheets, the details were hand-drawn, then printed onto the sheets. Because of this some details are imperfect, including the flaw found on the bottommost #7 decal (top/back of the intakes, usually applied to the starboard/right intake). The imitation copies the corrections made to the reissue sheets' vents, and also uses a brighter blue than what's used on both variations of the older SS sheet. Another hugely important note is that all of the reissue sheets (so far) use a different font for the numbers than the original sheets. (This also carries over to the now-legible "867"s on Starscream, and possibly Ramjet.) The original sheets use hand-drawn and very hard-to-read "867"s, and a font called "Square721 BT" or "Eurostile" for the decal numbers. This font is also used for the Tech Specs' text, and many other G1-related Transformers text media.

To close out this entry (for now), here is a better picture of the two "real deals" from my collection.


As always, feel free to post comments, ask questions, or add your own decal variations data.
-- [FONT="Square721 BT, Eras Medium ITC"]Cybertronian[/FONT].

 

Never know that decals also has so many variants,interesting

 

Thanks to everyone stopping to view this still-growing thread.
I forgot to mention that there is a second reissue label sheet variant, this one belonging to TF Encore #04 Starscream. I don't own Encore SS, or his sheet, but Seibertron.com did post a nice shot of it.

Why do I focus so much on the sharp-cornered sheets? In the side-of-the-box and instruction booklet photos of Starscream, his symbols (and those of Skywarp and Thundercracker) have borders that follow the contour of the whole symbol, whereas the ones included in the box (especially after '86) were rounded off on the top.

To those of you thinking that the whole sharp-corner/rounded-corner is limited to Starscream, Skywarp, and Thundercracker, think again! Though I'm sure that they weren't made in large numbers, Ramjet, Thrust, and Dirge did have sharp-cornered label sheets.

For a little while, anyway.
In Ramjet's case, the colors changed slightly when he switched to a round-cornered sheet. His Decepticon symbols switched from a more neutral purple to a much bluer and darker violet. It appears to be the color also used to frame his yellow circles.
I missed out on a great opportunity to pick up a G2 Ramjet sheet a few years ago, but the complete and fully-decalled G2 Ramjet I own has D'Con symbols in a neutral or warmer purple. (The yellow circles are still framed by a darker bluish purple.)

Below, I want you to focus on one of my Ramjet sheets taken next to my Starscream sheet. (Pardon my flash.)

Note that both sheets carry the same design flaws (not-quite perfect vents, hand-drawn "867"s on #3 & #4, open space on bottom decal #7), making Ramjet's sheet look more like a photo-shopped version of Starscream's. That be said, also note that on all vintage G1 Ramjet sheets, the shade of red used is much brighter (and "redder") than Starscream's. (Starscream's red looks orangy or vermillion in comparison.) The borders to the yellow circles on Starscream's vent decals (#1, L & R) are the same blue as his kneecaps (#5), not blue-violet.

I don't own Ramjet's reissue (though I wish I did -- for the sheet and the file card), but I suspect his sheet also has the legible printed numbers on decals #3 and #4. I don't know if they bothered to retain the "much redder" red used on the vintage sheet.

Please stay tuned in as I cover more decal variants. As always, I love feedback, so feel free to reply with comments, questions, or additions.
[FONT="Square721 BT, Eras Medium ITC"]-- Cybertronian.[/FONT]

 

Howdy, y'all.
I'm just writing with a quick post to show off some of the Thrust sheets in my collection. I quickly went from having one Thrust, minus a front wing and an opposing tail wing to three with both pair. As a result, I plan to see what one will look like with a cartoon style arrangement for his wing symbol decals.

This is all 5 sheets, one pretty mangled, and bought only to show that Thrust also got the rare sharp-cornered treatment. Some of the sheets have the red details in a slightly more orangy/vermillion color, as opposed to the blood red color used in the one on the bottom right. This could likely be the result of fading, or there may have been a slight change in ink/print color.

As you can see in the second photo, there is a slight difference in symbol purple color on the sharp- to round-corner transition.


Keep replying to share feedback, and your own notice decal variants.
-- Cybertronian.