Transformers Artifact of the Week: 1986 Coloring Book and Cardboard Cut Out Figures from Israel

I picked up a couple of awesome vintage Transformers items from Israel this week.  The auction listings said they were from Israel and are in Hebrew, so that’s all I have to go on.  I tried to translate some of the yellow text on the covers, which I presume are titles or descriptions, but could not match all the symbols, too many of them looked too similar to me.

So, the coloring book first.

I have no idea what the yellow text says under “FORMERS” .  I assume it is a title, but I’m really just guessing.  My feeble translation attempt said the third word was “syrup” so I’m assuming I did it wrong.  The book is shrink wrapped with the markers, so I can’t get a clear picture of the cover.  I would love to find one of these in better condition so I can open this one.

UPDATE 3/13/2014: I figured out why I could not translate the text.  The only thing I know about the Hebrew language is that it is written from right to left, and yet I forgot that while trying to translate it.  Kind of hard to translate text written right to left from left to right.  So, the title of the coloring book is “Heroes vs. Villains”.

This does not seem to resemble a traditional coloring book you’d find in the USA.  The picture of the open corner above shows what appears to be a full color cover sheet (or multiple sheets, or a booklet) it’s hard to tell.  Under that is a sheet of cardboard.  Again, I can’t tell what that is, if it’s printed or just blank cardboard, but I’m leaning toward the latter.

Beneath that appears to be the coloring book itself, black printed on white.  The picture above is of the back, it’s Omega Supreme.  It’s a simplified and slightly altered line art version of his standard box art with some rocks, clouds, and hills added.  I would presume the other pages are similar.  I assume the book is 1986.  I base that on the cover art as well the date on the Cardboard Cut Out Figures, so let’s move on to that.

Front

Back

Copyright

This is dated 1986, which is what suggests to me that the coloring book was 1986 as well.  When I bought this I thought it was a punch out figure book similar to the 1985 Transformers Punch-Out Book.  It’s the same idea, but a bit different.  The inside is bound at the top, but the outside is a slipcover and not attached to the inside at all.  The figures are all black line art and meat to be colored in before they are cut out.  They also aren’t perforated, there is a thin red line to cut along on the outside of the figures.  The cardboard is quite a bit heavier than the 1985 Transformers Punch-Out Book.

UPDATE 3/13/2014: As with the coloring book, I was able to translate the text.  It says “12 Figures Transformers” and beneath that “Coloring Cutting and Folding”.  So, that really isn’t anything I didn’t already know.

It contains twelve figures, one per page.  Unfortunately, I do not have access to my G1 coloring books to compare the art.  All accept for Optimus Prime appear to be simplified and slightly altered versions of the original box art.  Some are closer to their originals than others.  I have no idea what happened to Pipes face.  Part of it seems to be missing.  Optimus Prime’s art is completely different, but looks familiar.  Though I can’t confirm it, I am pretty sure all this art is the same as the USA coloring books.

Megatron

Optimus Prime

Hound

Scavenger

Blaster

Snarl

Rodimus Prime

Pipes

Jazz

Soundwave

Slag

Kickback

Thanks for reading!