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Transformers Toys - In
the Beginning
By L Hill /
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Many a Transformers fan knows that Transformers began as
a toy line. Here's a brief timeline of the origins of
these world famous robots in disguise. In the mid 70s
and early 80s, Takara, a Japanese toy manufacturing
company (commonly referred to as TOMY) rolled out a new
toy line range that included robots as well as other toy
creations called Diaclone and Microman, whose key
features were the interchangeability of their parts, as
well as their ability to transform into other objects.
Soon after, Hasbro, an American company, bought the
rights to both of these toy lines and thereafter began
developing what we now know as the Transformers. Hasbro
thereafter hired two American comic book writers, Dennis
O'Neil and Jim Shooter, who then began developing a
back-story for the characters of the Transformers comic
book. It's at this point that O'Neil christened the
heroic leader of the Autobots - Optimus Prime. The first
Marvel comic based on the Transformers was published in
1984, which included cameos of superhero mainstays
including Nick Fury and Spider - Man. Bob Budiansky, a
Marvel comic writer working on the Transformers comic
created and named a lot of the robot characters, by
which names we still identify them today.
The basic plot of the comic was as follows. The bots,
including hero Optimus Prime, villain Decepticon leader
- Megatron and their supporters crash-land on
prehistoric Earth, then fall into a deep sleep only to
wake up in the 80s and take up the form of different
vehicles, which they believe to be the dominant race on
earth.
Around this same time that the Transformers comic was
created, plans for the development of a cartoon TV show,
based on the characters of the new Transformers toys,
were also in the works. And after the cartoon TV series,
there was only one place to go next - the big screen.
The success of the cartoon TV show Transformers, then
gave rise to its movie spin-off titled: The
Transformers: The Movie, in 1986. The plot was set to
take place in 2005, 20 years after the events that had
occurred during the second season of the Transformers TV
show.
Hasbro currently holds the vast majority of rights in
Transformers toy line character creation and concept
work, whereas Takara controls the actual manufacturing
process of the Transformers toy line. Hasbro is in
charge of the marketing and sales of Transformers toys
in the international markets, while Takara is
responsible for the marketing and sales of the toys in
Japan. Aaron Archer took over as the design director for
the Transformers toy line brand in July 2007.
Most of the action figures from the Transformers toy
line come with technical specifications that detail the
characteristics of the Transformers characters. The
older toy models have Robot points which may be redeemed
for special Transformers model toys that are not
available for sale at stores, including Omnibots and the
Decepticons triplets.
Such is the diverse and complex nature of these well
designed toys, it is no wonder that Transformers action
toys are in demand today. The ingenuity of the
Transformers's design has captured the hearts and minds
of many a kid since the 1980's and looks set to continue
for a long, long time.
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