Bob Prupis
Bob Prupis (1928 - August 27, 2021) was the Vice President of Boys' Toys Marketing and later, Senior Vice President of International Marketing overall, at Hasbro during the Generation 1 and Generation 2 toylines. He is also credited as a technical advisor on The Transformers: The Movie.
Leveraging the Hasbro / Marvel relationship that already existed due to their collaboration on the G.I. Joe franchise, Prupis was personally responsible for coordinating the series of story meetings in which Bob Budiansky and others workshopped the Diaclone line of mecha toys (for which Hasbro had secured the rights from Takara) into the alien robots we all know and love. <ref>Panel at BotCon 2004</ref>
While overseeing the then-flourishing European branch of the Transformers brand out of London in 1992, Prupis received word that the US branch had shuttered, prompting him to meet with Takara to convince them to maintain Transformers' international presence, presumably opening the door for the "Generation 2" global relaunch the following year.<ref>Transformers: How It All Began interview in HTCC #25</ref>