COUNTDOWN: Remembering Andrew Sorohan – 5 more amazing series of concept artwork

We recently wrote an article to commemorate some of the work of Transformers community member and artist Andrew Sorohan, who sadly passed away in February of this year. The reaction to this was overwhelmingly positive, even including many who were unaware of the news at the time.

With the recent news that Twitter will be deactivating inactive accounts after a short span, many of us are aghast at the idea of Andrew’s vast library of work suddenly not being available to us anymore. By immortalising some examples of his art here, the hope is that they can continue to be enjoyed by old and new members of the fandom alike, all saved and presented in a manner that hopefully does them justice should his account ever be deactivated.

Andrew was known throughout the fandom, frequently posting incredible art of whatever occupied his attention at that time, including comic strips and countless exceptionally detailed (and often superbly niche) concepts for new Transformers ideas. He had an unparalleled ability to observe what to anyone else would be an unremarkable background detail and expand upon it to an unprecedented degree, always with outstanding results. He also curated the Obscure Transformers Website, which, though not updated for some time, remains highly worthy of a browse. You will find a lot of Andrew’s own artwork archived there too.

To that end, here are five more sets of his exceptional creativity on display.

#5: Mirage

someone asked me to repost this. Mirage chart of redeco options #transformers #mirage pic.twitter.com/P9rAlxzp9C

— Andrew Sorohan (Commissions open) (@asorohanart) January 10, 2023

Andrew’s keen attention to detail and unparalleled creativity is on full display here, as he typically leaves no stone unturned in pouring through every potential Mirage repaint you could think of and countless more! Using the recent Kingdom design as a base, Andrew has taken inspiration from across the franchise’s history, a lot of which I wouldn’t have thought of in the first place! It’s great to see the various Generation 2 Go-Bot and RID 2001 Spychanger designs so keenly represented, as well as stuff like Alternators and even Unicron Trilogy by cheekily working in the character’s Energon namesake for good measure. Admit it, though; you wouldn’t have dreamt up an Optimal Optimus repaint for this mould, would you? And yet, it looks incredible.

#4: Cheetor

Here's some ideas for redecos for the new Cheetor. I could definitely add some more obscure and weird ideas to the mix if I felt like it. #transformers pic.twitter.com/wKPkaSh6CE

— Andrew Sorohan (Commissions open) (@asorohanart) January 24, 2023

With Rise of the Beasts finally upon us, what better time to go back and appreciate Andrew’s fine work in exploring the potential repaints of the character’s Studio Series toy?

Since I had the artwork, of course I was going to do more Cheetor decos. And of course, the more you do, the further you get into the wild territory. My favourite are the tapes. #transformers #cheetor #riseofthebeasts #beastwars pic.twitter.com/sC1AtfnH0g

— Andrew Sorohan (Commissions open) (@asorohanart) January 25, 2023

As was Andrew’s standard, some of these are more immediately obvious, and some are exceptionally niche, to say the least! Seeing the design mocked up in the character’s traditional guises is great fun, including his classic Beast Wars look and updated Transmetal appearance. Naturally, though, the lesser-known bases are all covered too, most notably the Fox Kids variant, the Armada recolour, and my favourite, his Beast Machines ‘Night Slash’ design. Beyond that, stuff like G1 Catilla, Jaguar Breast and Glit is just genius.

#3: Death’s Head

He, it's DEath's Head!! No, he doesn't transform. DEath's Head isn't a transformer. Making him Transform is stupid. I drew this because I saw @NickRoche had posted some Death's Head art and I thought, "I CAN DRAW DEATH'S HEAD BETTER THAN THAT!" #transformers pic.twitter.com/lyoYmvZdge

— Andrew Sorohan (Commissions open) (@asorohanart) January 18, 2023

Though the character has since gone onto horizons beyond Transformers, even cropping up in the regular Marvel comics continuity in more recent years, many robots in disguise fans still claim him as their own. Sadly though, toys of the bounty hunte– er, freelance peacekeeping agent are few and far between. Would Andrew’s non-transformable idea have satisfied such a desire? Looks like it, yes?

#2: Seekers

These are not comprehensive research — instead they're character models I'm building for my comic strip #4millionyears. I needed to update my character models for various reasons and I decided to use the G1 models. #transformers pic.twitter.com/OobB4M4EFE

— Andrew Sorohan (Commissions open) (@asorohanart) January 22, 2023

Considering Andrew’s penchant for exploring often-overlooked and obscure repaint ideas, it’s little surprise that he eventually turned his attention to Seeker variants with the focus you would expect.

Here's the last of my character models. There's a lot more work in the Skyraider (Generation 2 unproduced characters) character models, I have to admit. But I'm pleased with how they came out. #transformers #skyraiders pic.twitter.com/e8m94Y0YvC

— Andrew Sorohan (Commissions open) (@asorohanart) January 22, 2023

It’s the depths that Andrew was willing to uncover that make this effort stand out, going well beyond the still niche but somehow expected likes of Rainmakers and their ilk. It’s fun to see some of the forgotten G1 toy concepts represented, like Nacelle, but Silverbolt-colours Skywarp takes this round for my money. If you were seeking something, it’s quite probably represented here.

Oh, but of course, there’s more…

Rather than bury this only in replies. Here's me trying to work out #4millionyears Slipstream's earth jet mode colours. I should say… she's never going to be in these colours in the comic, so this was just an excercise to see how few decisions I needed to make. #transformers pic.twitter.com/EQAzi59IBF

— Andrew Sorohan (Commissions open) (@asorohanart) February 12, 2023

Worth showcasing as a separate focus, this effort to bring the fan-favourite Slipstream to life in G1 style also shows the considerations Andrew put into his art. Once again, his attention to detail was exceptional at every turn, always thinking through how these concepts would work practically instead of just looking pretty on a page.

#1: Shockwave Devastator

I said I wasn't going to do it. But I did it anyway. It's a Constructicon Shockwave Devastator. #transformers #constructicons #devastator pic.twitter.com/GSbL2t7juy

— Andrew Sorohan (Commissions open) (@asorohanart) January 2, 2023

Let’s end on a humourous note for today, although it’s one that still encapsulates Andrew’s evident love for all things bizarre and overlooked about Transformers. Here he’s taken various background Shockwave miscolours from the 1980s cartoon and keenly brought each to life before imagining what they would look like merged into their own Devastator-styled combined mode. Because why not? Again, it’s not something I could have ever imagined, but it’s impossible not to smile at how superb it is.

So that’s our list! Be sure to give Andrew’s Twitter a good look whilst it still exists, and find more at the Obscure Transformers Website. Here’s to you, Andrew.

TTFN