Transformers Commercials So Old They Weren't Even Called Transformers
By Dr. Eleanor Vance | Published on January 01, 0001
Hardcore fans already know this, but Transformers weren’t always Transformers. The biggest animated series of the 80s was actually cobbled together following a 1983 partnership between Hasbro and Japanese toy company Takara, who had already released some transforming toys — many of who you might recognise — called Diaclones and Microman.(new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=995c4c7d-194f-4077-b0a0-7ad466eb737c&cid=872d12ce-453b-4870-845f-955919887e1b'; cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "995c4c7d-194f-4077-b0a0-7ad466eb737c" }).render("79703296e5134c75a2db6e1b64762017"); }); The deal meant Hasbro bought the rights to a bunch of existing figures and designs used in Takara’s older toy lines. These would be smashed together and have a new story written around them, which would become what we now know as Transformers. Autobots vs Decepticons, More Than Meets The Eye, all that stuff. In return, Takara got the rights to distribute the new Transformers toys in Japan. This is why, as you’ll see in this collection of amazing old Japanese commercials (made using footage from Takara’s own archives), there are so many characters we’d eventually come to know and love as Transformers driving around as, well, not Transformers. The Jazz go rummy intro at 0:45 is particularly rad. If you ever wondered why the oldest Transformers had some weird quirks — like Optimus Prime’s trailer containing a cockpit for a human gunner — this is why. He wasn’t originally designed as the Autobot leader, he was just a transforming truck with a human pilot. It’s only when Hasbro and the show’s writers got involved that he became a gruff old dude with a catchy slogan. The Diaclones are probably the more famous/important of the two series that eventually became Transformers, and date back as far as 1980 (though the transforming vehicles didn’t show up until 1982). Everything from the
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