Between Series 1 and Series 2 of the Transformers BotBots, there was a bonus series. Call it "Series 1½" It was intended to be a Toys "Я" Us exclusive, but their closure meant that couldn't happen (in the US - TRU Canada still released them). Eventually Amazon picked them up, meaning the Bakery Bytes were at last let loose upon the world!
Hasbro is definitely getting their money's worth out of this mold. Of course, 
it's super easy to repaint a book and make it a different book - in Series 1 it was a non-descript blue, in Series 2 a red fantasy book, in the SDCC set black with a graphic on the cover, in Series 3 a pink diary, and here in Series 1½ it's a cookbook. The cover is orange, though it's only on the front: the spine and back are unpainted white. The image on the cover is a pot tossing a whole-ass pepper and onion into the air; the art style is a little rougher than expected, like it was originally meant to be smaller but got blown up to this size. There's a sculpted flap holding the book closed. Since many cookbooks are spiral-bound, they could have painted a few diagonal lines along the spine to fake the effect.
BotBots are meant to be easy to convert. Here, you open the halves of the book cover, then pull the entire body down from within the head. So simple!
None of the Series 1½ figures appear on the website or in any of the official merchandise, so there's no biographical information for them other than what we can glean from what little art there is on the packaging. The stock image of Reci P. Cooker is just recolored from every other illustration of this mold, but the group 
shot shows him lovingly stroking a larger book, so we can assume he either loves knowledge or he's got a macro fetish.
The BotBot's face is molded with glasses, which here are done as solid blue lenses. The face itself is ecru, with a big smile painted on. The "hair" is unpainted white, as is most of the body, but they did paint him some little shoes and include a black apron, which is a wonderfully smart thing for a chef to have! The stock illustration makes him look like he's wearing a black shirt and white tie, but this is better. We're still disappointed so much of this toy is bare white (especially the hair). And of course the reality of this mold is that the kibble makes him back-heavy.
Reci P. Cooker is available either in the blind-packed portion of a Bakery Bytes 5-pack, or in either of the Lawn League 8-packs.
