Mysterians
Mysterians was a cancelled toyline developed by Knickerbocker Toys in late 1982 for a planned release in 1983. Inspired by a small keychain that transformed from train to robot discovered by some of the company's executives on a trip to Japan, the line would have been one of the earliest attempts to bring the transforming robot toy craze already gripping that country to America.<ref>The Toys That Time Forgot - Volume One, pg. 29</ref>
They might or might not also be the original pre-Transformers toyline for four out of the seven original Mini-Vehicle molds.
It's a long story, so buckle up.
Development
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Seeking to produce a monthly Mysterians comic book, pack-in comics for the toys, and an animated TV special, Knickerbocker approached DC Comics to help develop the property and produce the comic.<ref>The Toys That Time Forgot - Volume One, pg. 30-31</ref> Unhappy with what DC produced, the company turned to Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Jim Shooter to ask if they could do better. Shooter put together a premise for the series, totally new and unrelated to what DC had done, but troubled relations with Marvel's media arm, Marvel Productions, led to its head of development Dennis Marks ignoring Shooter's work and creating his own, distinct proposal for the series, involving heavy focus on kid supporting characters and a goofy dog.
Knickerbocker insisted on going with Shooter's premise,<ref>"The Secret Origin of the Transformers - Part 1" - Jim Shooter recounts Marvel's role in the development of Mysterians which he mistakenly calls "Mysterions"</ref> and the Mysterians comic book was solicited in issue #1 of Marvel Age in December 1982, which stated that the book was about "a trio of otherwordly robots stranded on Earth." Notably, it's not clear if this "alien" origin was Shooter's creation, or had been previously decided upon by Knickerbocker before approaching either Marvel or DC.
But, the very day the comic solicitation came out, the news broke that Knickerbocker had been acquired by Hasbro.<ref>"Raggedy Ann and Andy will still be around", UPI article from December 1982</ref><ref>"The Risky Business of Toys", New York Times article from June 1984</ref> Mysterians promptly ceased to be, with a note in the following month's Marvel Age #2 mentioning the cancellation of the comic, and the next year, Hasbro approached Marvel to help develop their new transforming robot franchise, The Transformers. Jim Shooter developed another brand-new premise, while Marvel Productions recycled the "kids and dog" concept to pitch Hasbro their own vision for the Transformers cartoon, but once again, Hasbro went with Shooter's—and the rest is history!
Connection to Transformers
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The Mysterians toyline would have reportedly consisted of two sub-lines.
First, there was "The Hidden Force," which would have featured the heroic "Golden Guardians"—Goldar, Seekar, and Tinkar—battling the "Evil Warbots"—Vengor, Blastor, and Destructor (above right). Drawing inspiration from the Japanese robot toy [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}Golden Warrior Gold Lightan|{{#if:Gold Lightan|Gold Lightan|Golden Warrior Gold Lightan}}]], who transformed into a rectangular, golden-chromed cigarette lighter, each of the Hidden Force transformed from a simple geometric shape like a cube or a sphere into a retro sci-fi robot, each featuring a hidden compartment containing removable weapons and accessories.
Secondly, there was "The Mobile Force", who transformed into cars and trucks. These four "Mobile Force" figures—Jeepar, Blazar, Truckar, and Speedar—were the figures that would later become the Transformers toys, Brawn, Gears, Huffer, and Windcharger, respectively. (While no good/evil affiliation is explicitly stated in any of the existing material, that their names end in "-ar" rather than "-or" would indicate they were going to be good guys.) Packaging mock-ups for the first three have been found (left), while concept art for "Speedar" by Knickerbocker artist Steven Hodges exists (right).<ref>The Toys That Time Forgot - Volume One, pg. 32-35</ref> All indications are that these four figures were designed by Knickerbocker, but with the cancellation of Mysterians, the figures' first actual release would be in the Japanese Micro Change line, created by Takara, in 1983, which fans assumed for decades to be the toys' point of origin. It remains unclear precisely how Takara acquired the designs to include them in Micro Change; the possibility exists that they may have been working on Mysterians with Knickerbocker.
The figures do have some notable differences from the other three molds that they were released alongside during Micro Change (Bumblebee, Cliffjumper, and Bumper) which suggest different origins: they all have unique transformation schemes (while the other three share identical engineering); their vehicle modes lack the extreme super-deformed proportions of the other three (not having been designed to represent Choro-Q toys, hence they also lack the fake "penny slot" on the backs of the other toys); they have hard plastic wheels (the other three have rubber tires); three out of four of these molds feature the non-typically Takara design trait where the head and chest of the robots is one large bulk portion stored under the vehicles and the rest of the transformation involves folding out the limbs around them (you might be surprised to learn that no other figure in the Diaclone / Micro Change line-up is actually designed this way — in fact, this is an almost GoBots / Machine Robo-esque engineering choice instead!); and perhaps most notably, Gears, Brawn, and Huffer all have an "M" logo sculpted into their bodies, which fans had always assumed stood for Micro Change... but the "M" is stylized in a way completely different from the way it is in the Micro Change brandings, so... could it be that "M" actually stood for Mysterians?
Considering all of the aforementioned evidence, you'd think that we should be able to confidently say that these are, in fact, Knickerbocker-designed toys — except, Takara's Masaki Maruyama is typically credited with being the designer of all molds in the original Mini-Vehicle batch! So, could there be a mistake in the attribution of credits? Or, again, could there have been some collaboration between Takara and Knickerbocker that led to the creation of these designs? Unfortunately, given the absence of any official answers, the exact origin of these four molds remains ambiguous.
Marchon's Mysterians
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The story of Mysterians did not end with Hasbro's acquisition of Knickerbocker. In 1984, a toy company named Marchon released a toyline named Mysterians: The Secret Force... which consisted of geometric shapes that transformed into simple robots, all very clearly based on Knickerbocker's "Hidden Force" designs, and sporting an "M" logo very similar to the one sculpted into the three "Mobile Force" figures that became Transformers. It's possible Marchon may have cut a deal with Hasbro for the unused Knickerbocker designs, but there's no documented proof of it, and the full story of how this came to be remains unknown.<ref>The Toys That Time Forgot - Volume One, pg. 35</ref>
Notes
[edit]- As Knickerbocker was going out of business, Tonka executive Pat Feely would discover a knockoff transforming toy robot among Knickerbocker's liquidated assets while searching for a toy to license. As luck would have it, Tonka's Vice President of Sales at the time, Jerry Cleary, had previously worked for Bandai America and introduced Tonka to {{#if:Machine Robo|Machine Robo|Machine Robo (toyline)}}, which Tonka would eventually license to create the GoBots toyline. Much like how Mysterians and Knickerbocker have a mysterious link to the creation of The Transformers, they also seem to have ties to its former rival as well.<ref>The Toys That Built America Season 3, Episode 1</ref>