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{{bigquote|... when [fans have] contacted me for one reason or another, like for an interview for instance, they don’t understand how I’m not as passionate about the Transformers as they are now, even though I worked on them for so long. All I could basically say is, "Well, I enjoyed working on them while I did it, but it was a job, and then after I finished that job I moved onto the next job".|Bob Budiansky|[http://ohdannyboy.blogspot.com/2007/09/looking-back-with-bob-budiansky.html "Looking Back With Bob Budiansky"] interview}}  
{{bigquote|... when [fans have] contacted me for one reason or another, like for an interview for instance, they don’t understand how I’m not as passionate about the Transformers as they are now, even though I worked on them for so long. All I could basically say is, "Well, I enjoyed working on them while I did it, but it was a job, and then after I finished that job I moved onto the next job".|Bob Budiansky|[http://ohdannyboy.blogspot.com/2007/09/looking-back-with-bob-budiansky.html "Looking Back With Bob Budiansky"] interview}}  


[[File:Bobbudiansky.jpg|upright=1.4|thumb|Not actually Kirk Cameron. You can tell because he writes about Earth being millions of years old.]]
'''Bob Budiansky''' (born [[March 15]], [[1954]]) was the writer of most of the [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|Marvel US ''Transformers'' comic book]] series and the creator of much of the mythos, characters, and names behind the first several years of the franchise.


[[Image:Bobbudiansky.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Not actually Kirk Cameron. You can tell because he writes about Earth being millions of years old.]]
In late 1983, [[Hasbro]] approached [[Marvel Comics]] to create a storyline around a series of transforming toy robots they had licensed from Takara. Editors [[Denny O'Neil]] and [[Jim Shooter]] created some of the early background for ''Transformers'', including several names, but much of the material for the first 28 characters was rejected by Hasbro. Revision duties were passed to Bob Budiansky, a writer and penciler who had only been promoted from assistant editor to editor earlier that year.<ref>Marvel Comics Bullpen Bulletin for July 1983, as presented in [[Star Wars (franchise)|"Star Wars" #73]].</ref> Budiansky renamed most of the characters and revised the personalities... with a week's deadline ''during Thanksgiving''.<ref name="moonbase2">[http://traffic.libsyn.com/moonbase2/BobBinterview.mp3 Bob Budiansky interview at Moonbase 2]</ref> Though [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]] was named by O'Neil, Bob Budiansky is responsible for the names of [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]], the [[Dinobot (G1)|Dinobots]], [[Sideswipe (G1)|Sideswipe]], [[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]], and countless others.
'''Bob Budiansky''' was the writer of most of the [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|Marvel US ''Transformers'' comic book]] series and the creator of much of the mythos, characters, and names behind the first several years of the franchise.  


In late 1983, [[Hasbro]] approached [[Marvel Comics]] to create a storyline around a series of transforming toy robots they had licensed from Takara.  Editors [[Denny O'Neil]] and [[Jim Shooter]] created some of the early background for ''Transformers'', including several names, but much of the material for the first 28 characters was rejected by Hasbro. Revision duties were passed to editor/writer Bob Budiansky, who renamed most of the characters and revised the personalities.  Though [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]] was named by O'Neil, Bob Budiansky is responsible for the names of [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]], the [[Dinobot (G1)|Dinobots]], [[Sideswipe (G1)|Sideswipe]], [[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]], and countless others.
Due to its success, ''The Transformers'' four-issue miniseries became an ongoing. None of the three writers had been able to 'get' the Transformers mythos during the miniseries, and Bob Budiansky spent a lot of time directing the story as its editor—and even ''he'' thinks it was a total mess because nobody could keep track.<ref name="Interview at Rusting Carcass">[http://rustingcarcass.yuku.com/topic/954/t/Bob-Budiansky.html Interview at Rusting Carcass]</ref> Because of this, after he was replaced as editor (due to Marvel internal rules) he was made the writer from #5 on: he was the only one who knew enough about the mythos! It was in these years that he developed popular characters [[Shockwave (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Shockwave]], [[Ratchet (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Ratchet]], and [[Grimlock (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Grimlock]] into the roles they're famous for today; the only characters at this time he ''didn't'' create were the [[The Transformers: The Movie|movie ones]], who were specifically created for the film by [[Sunbow Productions|Sunbow]]. He did, however, create the concept of the Autobot [[Matrix of Leadership|Matrix]]. Budiansky continued to write [[bio]]s and name characters until at least the end of his tenure on the Marvel Comic book<ref>[https://network.comixplex.com/posts/transformers-tuesday-with-bob-budiansky-watch-the-recorded-event-here Bob Budiansky interview at Comixplex on March 16th, 2021. He says he thinks he continued for a "couple of months" after leaving the comic, but not much beyond that]</ref>, working off pictures of the toys and what they could do, with names based on whatever the hell he'd just read or seen or heard about that week. When new concepts like [[Headmaster (technology)|Headmaster]]s or [[Pretender]]s were created by Hasbro, Budiansky would be given the job of working out story treatments for them and adding them to the Transformers mythos.<ref name="moonbase2"/>


Due to its success, ''The Transformers'' four-issue miniseries became an ongoing. Bob Budiansky was moved from editing duties to writer. It was in these years that he developed popular characters [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]], [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]], and [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] into the roles they're famous for today; the only characters at this time he ''didn't'' create were the [[The Transformers: The Movie|movie ones]], who were specifically created for the film by [[Sunbow]]. He did, however, create the concept of the Autobot [[Creation Matrix|Matrix]]. Budiansky continued to write [[Bio|bios]] and name characters until the end of the original series, along with treatments to extended the line.
[[File:BobBudianskyDVD.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|Bob in [[2009]].]]
During his run, Bob was constantly kept up to date on Hasbro's plans: information about new toys and their model sheets were sent to him, he attended meetings at their Rhode Island HQ, he visited their annual toy exhibitions. Outside of pimping their wares, Hasbro left him alone. It was up to him whether or not he wanted to follow the cartoon's lead, he wasn't told to keep the target audience in mind (he made the decision himself), and he was even allowed to not use the future-set movie cast.<ref>[http://www.metalmachine.net/blog/2009/11/21/todds-take-with-bob-budiansky-the-architect-of-the-transformers/ Metal Machine interview]</ref>


[[Image:BobBudianskyDVD.jpg|thumb|250px|Bob today.]]
{{bigquote|I think Bob did stirling{{sic}} work under difficult conditions. He really did have a huge amount of back story and characters to compress into a single issue. With the UK stories... we were lucky -- Bob had done all the hard work for us.|Simon Furman, BotTalk 2001 interview<ref>https://www.bottalk.com/2024/02/simon-furman-transformers-interview.html</ref>}}
 
During his run, Bob was constantly kept up to date on Hasbro's plans: information about new toys and their model sheets were sent to him, he attended meetings at their Rhode Island HQ, he visited their annual toy exhibitions. Outside of pimping their wares, Hasbro left him alone. It was up to him whether or not he wanted to follow the cartoon's lead, he wasn't told to keep the target audience in mind (he made the decision himself), and he was even allowed to not use the future-set movie cast. [http://www.metalmachine.net/blog/2009/11/21/todds-take-with-bob-budiansky-the-architect-of-the-transformers/]


Towards the end of his time on the comic book series, Budiansky started to feel fatigue. It was complicated and frustrating, from a story-crafting point of view, [[To sell toys|to introduce so many new characters in so few issues]]. At Budiansky's recommendation, the writer of the Marvel UK ''Transformers'' comic, [[Simon Furman]], took over Budiansky's duties on the US comic.
Towards the end of his time on the comic book series, Budiansky started to feel fatigue. It was complicated and frustrating, from a story-crafting point of view, [[To sell toys|to introduce so many new characters in so few issues]]. At Budiansky's recommendation, the writer of the Marvel UK ''Transformers'' comic, [[Simon Furman]], took over Budiansky's duties on the US comic.


An artist as well, Budianksy also drew several covers for ''Transformers'' and pencilled the first half of his final issue.
An artist as well, Budiansky also drew several covers for ''Transformers'' and penciled the first half of his final issue.


As the quote notes, Transformers was a job he enjoyed at the time but is still just a job he did twenty years ago. Not that he isn't pleased to have a 25 year old franchise as his legacy!
As the quote notes, Transformers was a job he enjoyed at the time but is still just a job he did years ago. Not that he isn't pleased to have a {{#expr: {{CURRENTYEAR}}-1984}}-year old franchise as his legacy! Until he got onto the [[Internet]] and searched his own name in the 90s, he didn't realize it was still such a big deal with fans and was both amused ''and'' bemused to learn the truth. In the early 2000s, he started to give interviews to fans and websites. This led to him coming back briefly to adapt ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]'' for [[IDW Publishing|IDW]] and he was given an option to pitch to them again, but decided not to as he was far removed from the current ''Transformers'' status quo.


Outside of ''Transformers'' Budiansky is perhaps best known for drawing ''Ghost Rider'', creating ''Sleepwalker'' and writing the entire series, and serving as group editor-in-chief of the ''[[Spider-Man]]'' titles between 1994 & 1995.
Outside of ''Transformers'' Budiansky is perhaps best known for drawing ''[[Ghost Rider]]'', creating ''Sleepwalker'' and writing the entire series, and serving as group editor-in-chief of the ''[[Spider-Man]]'' titles between 1994 & 1995. In addition, at one point he was assigned to Marvel's "Special Projects" section; this followed his promotion to "executive editor".<ref>Marvel Comics Bullpen Bulletin for December 1991, as printed in ''Excalibur'' #47, cover date February 1992</ref> He was also tasked with overseeing a number of other limited series, such as an ''[[X-Men]]''/''[[Micronauts (franchise)|Micronauts]]'' crossover.
{{-}}


==''Transformers'' comics credits==
==''Transformers'' comics credits==
{{bigquote|If there are older Transformers fans who feel my stories were too geared to children—hey, good insight! That was the audience I was playing to.|Bob tells it like it is, at [http://www.metalmachine.net/blog/2009/11/21/todds-take-with-bob-budiansky-the-architect-of-the-transformers/ Metal Machine.net]}}


{{bigquote|If there are older Transformers fans who feel my stories were too geared to children–hey, good insight! That was the audience I was playing to.|Bob tells it like it is, at [http://www.metalmachine.net/blog/2009/11/21/todds-take-with-bob-budiansky-the-architect-of-the-transformers/ Metal Machine.net]}}
Marvel ''[[The Transformers (Marvel comic)#Marvel U.S.|The Transformers]]'' (US):
 
Marvel ''Transformers'' (US):


:Editor - Issues 1-4
:Editor - [[The Transformers Four-Issue Limited Series|Issues 1–4]]
:Writer - Issues 5-15, 17-32, 35-42, 44-55
:Writer - Issues 5–15, 17–32, 35–42, 44–55
:Penciller - Issue 55
:Penciller - [[The Interplanetary Wrestling Championship!|Issue 55]]
:Cover Artist - Issues 14, 29, 31, 45, 47
:Cover Artist - Issues [[Rock and Roll-Out!|14]], [[Crater Critters|29]], [[Buster Witwicky and the Car Wash of Doom|31]], [[Monstercon from Mars!|45]], [[Club Con!|47]]


Marvel ''Transformers Universe''
Marvel ''[[The Transformers Universe (Marvel)|The Transformers Universe]]''


:Writer/Consulting Editor - Issues 1-4
:Writer/Consulting Editor - Issues 1–4


Marvel ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]'' comic adaptation
Marvel ''[[Transformers: The Movie (Marvel comic)|Transformers: The Movie]]'' comic adaptation


:Editor - Issues 1-3
:Editor - Issues 1–3


''Headmasters'' mini-series
Marvel ''[[The Transformers: Headmasters|Headmasters]]'' mini-series


:Writer - Issues 1-4
:Writer - Issues 1–4
:Cover Artist - Issue 1
:Cover Artist - [[Ring of Hate!|Issue 1]]


IDW ''[[Transformers: The Animated Movie]]'' comic adaptation
IDW ''[[Transformers: The Animated Movie]]'' comic adaptation


:Writer - Issues 1-4
:Writer - Issues 1–4


==Convention appearances==
==Convention appearances==
{{bigquote|"I discovered there were all of these websites, these discussion boards... [people] were passionate about [Transformers], emotional about it. I was despised! People hated me! *laughs* ... still carrying grudges about the fact I wrote '[[Buster Witwicky and the Car Wash of Doom]]' or something!"|Bob on 90s Internet fandom, [http://traffic.libsyn.com/moonbase2/BobBinterview.mp3 at Moonbase 2], 31.10-31.51}}
*[[OTFCC 2004]]
*[[OTFCC 2004]]
*[[Unofficial conventions|Iacon One]]
*[[Unofficial conventions|Iacon One]]
Line 59: Line 61:


==Budianskyisms==
==Budianskyisms==
Though not as prominent or well-remembered as the so-called "[[Furmanism|Furmanisms]]" that successor writer Simon Furman would popularize, Bob Budiansky also had a few turns of phrase that he repeatedly fell back on:
Though not as prominent or well-remembered as the so-called "[[Furmanism]]s" that successor writer Simon Furman would popularize, Bob Budiansky also had a few turns of phrase that he repeatedly fell back on:


[[Image:Thetorquerifle.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Enjoy a nice serving of Brown Betty, with DEATH!! But mostly, eat death.]]
[[File:Thetorquerifle.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|Enjoy a nice serving of Brown Betty, with DEATH!! But mostly, eat death.]]
* "Have some (X), courtesy of my (Y)!"<br>
* <b>"Have some (X), courtesy of my (Y)!"</b>


:where<br>
:where
:"X" = some form of damage, dismemberment or death<br>
:"X" = some form of damage, dismemberment or death
:"Y" = the special weapon of the character in question
:"Y" = the special weapon of the character in question


:Examples:
:Examples:
: "Have some metal-eating slime, courtesy of my [[Corrosive slime-shooter| slime gun]], Autobots!"—Blot {{storylink|Brothers in Armor!!|Brothers in Armor!!}}
:: "Have some metal-eating slime, courtesy of my [[Corrosive slime-shooter|slime gun]], Autobots!" —Blot {{storylink|Brothers in Armor!!}}
: "Have a mechanical malfunction, courtesy of my [[Concussion cannon| concussion cannon]]!"—Breakdown {{storylink|Heavy Traffic!|Heavy Traffic!}}
:: "Have a mechanical malfunction, courtesy of my [[concussion weapon|concussion cannon]]!" —[[Breakdown (G1)|Breakdown]] {{storylink|Heavy Traffic!}}
: "Just a case of bad balance, courtesy of my [[electro-scrambler]]."—Blaster {{storylink|The Bridge to Nowhere!|The Bridge to Nowhere!}}
:: "Just a case of bad balance, courtesy of my [[electro-scrambler]]." —Blaster {{storylink|The Bridge to Nowhere!}}
: "Energy feedback, courtesy of my electro-scrambler, tinhead."—Blaster {{storylink|Totaled!|Totaled!}}
:: "Energy feedback, courtesy of my electro-scrambler, tinhead." —Blaster {{storylink|Totaled!|Totaled!}}
: "You're going on a one-way trip, [[Monzo]], courtesy of my [[anti-gravity gun]]!"—Skullcruncher {{storylink|Love and Steel!|Love and Steel!}}
:: "You're going on a one-way trip, [[Monzo]], courtesy of my [[anti-gravity gun]]!" —Skullcruncher {{storylink|Love and Steel!}}


* "I hope you (A) as well as you (B)!"<br>
* <b>"I hope you (A) as well as you (B)!"</b>


:where<br>
:where
:"A" = perform some action, typically shooting<br>
:"A" = perform some action, typically shooting
:"B" = boast, brag, or some other meaningless non-action
:"B" = boast, brag, or some other meaningless non-action


:Examples:
:Examples:
: "You ''boast'' better than you ''shoot'', Dreadwind!"—Goldbug {{storylink|People Power!|People Power!}}
:: "You ''boast'' better than you ''shoot'', [[Dreadwind (G1)|Dreadwind]]!" —[[Bumblebee (G1)|Goldbug]] {{storylink|People Power!}}
: "Grrr—I hope you ''shoot'' straighter than you ''think'', Weirdwolf!"—Skullcruncher {{storylink|Trial by Fire!|Trial by Fire!}}
:: "Grrr—I hope you ''shoot'' straighter than you ''think'', Weirdwolf!" —Skullcruncher {{storylink|Trial by Fire!}}
: "Only if you ''aim'' as well as you ''brag'', Brawl!"—First Aid {{storylink|Used Autobots|Used Autobots}}
:: "Only if you ''aim'' as well as you ''brag'', Brawl!" —First Aid {{storylink|Used Autobots}}


* "This wasn't in (Z)!"<br>
* <b>"This wasn't in (Z)!"</b>


:where<br>
:where
:"Z" = amusingly bureaucratic item with no bearing on the situation at hand.
:"Z" = amusingly bureaucratic item with no bearing on the situation at hand.


:Examples:
:Examples:
:"This...this wasn't in my job description!"—anonymous railway worker {{storylink|Child's Play (issue)|Child's Play}}
::"This...this wasn't in my job description!" —anonymous railway worker {{storylink|Child's Play (issue)|Child's Play}}
:"This wasn't on the trail guide!"—anonymous skier {{storylink|The Man in the Machine!|The Man in the Machine!}}
::"This wasn't on the trail guide!" —anonymous skier {{storylink|The Man in the Machine!}}
:"None of this was in the rehearsal!"—Sky Lynx {{storylink|The Cosmic Carnival!|The Cosmic Carnival!}}
::"None of this was in the rehearsal!" —Sky Lynx {{storylink|The Cosmic Carnival}}


==Notes==
* As Budiansky's quotes above show, for a while in organised fandom he was [[the Fallen]] of the writing world, his stories dismissed or ripped into as being juvenile and silly. His reputation in fandom has gone up since the start of the 21st century, something he attributes to doing interviews.
* In addition to writing the main character bios, Budiansky also wrote the truncated versions seen on the original toy [[packaging]].
* According to Budiansky, [[Blaster (G1)|Blaster]] was his favorite character to write for, and "[[The Smelting Pool!]]" was his favorite story.
* Budiansky's stories almost always have a human guest star involved and the Transformers getting involved in human affairs and finding them odd. He's stated this was because he thought the most interesting part was seeing these two vastly different races and worlds colliding with each other - or, more bluntly, "The Transformers were on Earth!".<ref>[http://www.oneshallstand.com/articles/bob_budiansky.html Budiansky interview archived at One Shall Stand]</ref>
* He's a fan of the first [[Transformers (film)|Bay movie]] and thinks that the Transformer/human interaction is similar to his own stories.<ref name="Interview at Rusting Carcass"/> He is also a fan of [[Bumblebee (film) | the Bumblebee movie]], though he would "rather not comment on [[Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (film) | the]] [[Transformers: Dark of the Moon (film) | ones]] [[Transformers: Age of Extinction (film) | in]] [[Transformers: The Last Knight (film) | between]]". <ref>[https://youtu.be/-vGEWXN-DpE Bob Budiansky at TFcon Toronto 2019]</ref>
==See also==
{{MarvelEditor nav}}
==References==
{{reflist}}


==External links==
==External links==
*[http://www.oneshallstand.com/articles/bob_budiansky.html First known interview with Bob Budiansky]
*[http://www.hasbro.com/transformers/en_US/play/details.cfm?R=3D17280F-19B9-F369-1080-6B4D52898CFD:en_US Hall of Fame video]
*[http://www.alteredstatesmag.com/features/qanda/bbudiansky_1.php A Little Q&A with Bob Budiansky]
 
*[http://www.bwtf.com/interviews/bb204/ Bob Budiansky Interview at BWTF.com]
===Interviews===
*[http://groups.google.com/group/alt.toys.transformers/msg/32bc08f5d9b4678b? Transcript of Budiansky/Furman panel from OTFCC 2004]
*2003—[https://transformandrollout.wordpress.com/2020/03/29/qa-with-transformers-writer-bob-budiansky/ TMUK]
*[http://groups.google.com/group/alt.toys.transformers/msg/80a6fffaad63aa8d? Transcript of Budiansky/Figueroa panel from Iacon One]
*February 2004—[http://web.archive.org/web/20090418013700/http://bwtf.com/interviews/bb204/ BWTF]
*[http://ohdannyboy.blogspot.com/2007/09/looking-back-with-bob-budiansky.html Looking Back with Bob Budiansky]
*July 2004 Altered States Magazine ([http://web.archive.org/web/20040805072855/http://www.alteredstatesmag.com/features/qanda/bbudiansky_1.php Part 1], [http://web.archive.org/web/20040816123847/http://www.alteredstatesmag.com/features/qanda/bbudiansky_2.php Part 2])
*[http://www.metalmachine.net/blog/2009/11/21/todds-take-with-bob-budiansky-the-architect-of-the-transformers/ Metal Machine interview with Bob]
*July 2004—[https://groups.google.com/g/alt.toys.transformers/c/OK6paNL8vVI/m/i2e02fUIvDIJ OTFCC] (with Simon Furman and [[Andrew Wildman]])
*July 2006—[https://groups.google.com/g/alt.toys.transformers/c/u6tXl2NmYYk/m/japjrfr_poAJ Iacon One] (with [[Don Figueroa]])
*September 2006—[http://web.archive.org/web/20070309223445/http://www.transfans.net/interviews_budiansky.php TransFans]
*September 2007—[https://ohdannyboy.blogspot.com/2007/09/looking-back-with-bob-budiansky.html 20th Century Danny Boy]
*July 2009—[http://web.archive.org/web/20090730005006/http://rustingcarcass.yuku.com/topic/954 Rusting Carcass]
*November 2009—[http://www.metalmachine.net/2009/11/21/todds-take-with-bob-budiansky-the-architect-of-the-transformers/ Metal Machine]
*Janaury 2011—[https://moonbase2.libsyn.com/the-moonbase-2-podcast-interviews-bob-budiansky- Moonbase 2]
*October 2014—[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxK2B0ju5Vc Circuit 42]
*January 2017—[https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2017/jan/17/how-we-made-transformers-comic-film-bob-budiansky-bryce-malek-interview The Guardian]
*April 2017—[https://aiptcomics.com/2017/04/14/the-man-who-named-megatron-an-interview-with-transformers-writer-bob-budiansky/ AIPT!]
*March 2018—[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2wlNtBrlbE Comic Book Syndicate]
*August 2018—[https://epicmarvelpodcast.com/interview-budiansky/ The Epic Marvel Podcast]
*April 2019—[https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/geektomeradio001/episodes/2019-04-21T19_12_01-07_00 Geek To Me Radio] (defunct)
*September 2024—[https://www.tripletakeover.com/e/89-marvel-transformers-featuring-bob-budiansky/ Triple Takeover]


{{DEFAULTSORT:Budiansky, Bob}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Budiansky, Bob}}
[[Category:Convention guests]]
[[Category:Convention guests]]
[[Category:Editors]]
[[Category:Editors]]
[[Category:IDW]]
[[Category:Pencillers]]
[[Category:Illustrators]]
[[Category:Cover artists]]
[[Category:Marvel Comics]]
[[Category:Marvel Comics]]
[[Category:Hall of Fame creators]]
[[Category:Hasbro writers]]
[[Category:Writers]]
[[Category:Writers]]

Latest revision as of 06:50, 22 February 2026

The name or term "Bob" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Bob (disambiguation).
“ ... when [fans have] contacted me for one reason or another, like for an interview for instance, they don’t understand how I’m not as passionate about the Transformers as they are now, even though I worked on them for so long. All I could basically say is, "Well, I enjoyed working on them while I did it, but it was a job, and then after I finished that job I moved onto the next job". ”

—Bob Budiansky, "Looking Back With Bob Budiansky" interview

Not actually Kirk Cameron. You can tell because he writes about Earth being millions of years old.

Bob Budiansky (born March 15, 1954) was the writer of most of the Marvel US Transformers comic book series and the creator of much of the mythos, characters, and names behind the first several years of the franchise.

In late 1983, Hasbro approached Marvel Comics to create a storyline around a series of transforming toy robots they had licensed from Takara. Editors Denny O'Neil and Jim Shooter created some of the early background for Transformers, including several names, but much of the material for the first 28 characters was rejected by Hasbro. Revision duties were passed to Bob Budiansky, a writer and penciler who had only been promoted from assistant editor to editor earlier that year.[1] Budiansky renamed most of the characters and revised the personalities... with a week's deadline during Thanksgiving.[2] Though Optimus Prime was named by O'Neil, Bob Budiansky is responsible for the names of Megatron, the Dinobots, Sideswipe, Wheeljack, and countless others.

Due to its success, The Transformers four-issue miniseries became an ongoing. None of the three writers had been able to 'get' the Transformers mythos during the miniseries, and Bob Budiansky spent a lot of time directing the story as its editor—and even he thinks it was a total mess because nobody could keep track.[3] Because of this, after he was replaced as editor (due to Marvel internal rules) he was made the writer from #5 on: he was the only one who knew enough about the mythos! It was in these years that he developed popular characters Shockwave, Ratchet, and Grimlock into the roles they're famous for today; the only characters at this time he didn't create were the movie ones, who were specifically created for the film by Sunbow. He did, however, create the concept of the Autobot Matrix. Budiansky continued to write bios and name characters until at least the end of his tenure on the Marvel Comic book[4], working off pictures of the toys and what they could do, with names based on whatever the hell he'd just read or seen or heard about that week. When new concepts like Headmasters or Pretenders were created by Hasbro, Budiansky would be given the job of working out story treatments for them and adding them to the Transformers mythos.[2]

Bob in 2009.

During his run, Bob was constantly kept up to date on Hasbro's plans: information about new toys and their model sheets were sent to him, he attended meetings at their Rhode Island HQ, he visited their annual toy exhibitions. Outside of pimping their wares, Hasbro left him alone. It was up to him whether or not he wanted to follow the cartoon's lead, he wasn't told to keep the target audience in mind (he made the decision himself), and he was even allowed to not use the future-set movie cast.[5]

“ I think Bob did stirling[sic] work under difficult conditions. He really did have a huge amount of back story and characters to compress into a single issue. With the UK stories... we were lucky -- Bob had done all the hard work for us. ”

—Simon Furman, BotTalk 2001 interview[6]

Towards the end of his time on the comic book series, Budiansky started to feel fatigue. It was complicated and frustrating, from a story-crafting point of view, to introduce so many new characters in so few issues. At Budiansky's recommendation, the writer of the Marvel UK Transformers comic, Simon Furman, took over Budiansky's duties on the US comic.

An artist as well, Budiansky also drew several covers for Transformers and penciled the first half of his final issue.

As the quote notes, Transformers was a job he enjoyed at the time but is still just a job he did years ago. Not that he isn't pleased to have a 42-year old franchise as his legacy! Until he got onto the Internet and searched his own name in the 90s, he didn't realize it was still such a big deal with fans and was both amused and bemused to learn the truth. In the early 2000s, he started to give interviews to fans and websites. This led to him coming back briefly to adapt The Transformers: The Movie for IDW and he was given an option to pitch to them again, but decided not to as he was far removed from the current Transformers status quo.

Outside of Transformers Budiansky is perhaps best known for drawing Ghost Rider, creating Sleepwalker and writing the entire series, and serving as group editor-in-chief of the Spider-Man titles between 1994 & 1995. In addition, at one point he was assigned to Marvel's "Special Projects" section; this followed his promotion to "executive editor".[7] He was also tasked with overseeing a number of other limited series, such as an X-Men/Micronauts crossover.

Transformers comics credits

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“ If there are older Transformers fans who feel my stories were too geared to children—hey, good insight! That was the audience I was playing to. ”

—Bob tells it like it is, at Metal Machine.net

Marvel The Transformers (US):

Editor - Issues 1–4
Writer - Issues 5–15, 17–32, 35–42, 44–55
Penciller - Issue 55
Cover Artist - Issues 14, 29, 31, 45, 47

Marvel The Transformers Universe

Writer/Consulting Editor - Issues 1–4

Marvel Transformers: The Movie comic adaptation

Editor - Issues 1–3

Marvel Headmasters mini-series

Writer - Issues 1–4
Cover Artist - Issue 1

IDW Transformers: The Animated Movie comic adaptation

Writer - Issues 1–4

Convention appearances

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“ "I discovered there were all of these websites, these discussion boards... [people] were passionate about [Transformers], emotional about it. I was despised! People hated me! *laughs* ... still carrying grudges about the fact I wrote 'Buster Witwicky and the Car Wash of Doom' or something!" ”

—Bob on 90s Internet fandom, at Moonbase 2, 31.10-31.51


Budianskyisms

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Though not as prominent or well-remembered as the so-called "Furmanisms" that successor writer Simon Furman would popularize, Bob Budiansky also had a few turns of phrase that he repeatedly fell back on:

Enjoy a nice serving of Brown Betty, with DEATH!! But mostly, eat death.
  • "Have some (X), courtesy of my (Y)!"
where
"X" = some form of damage, dismemberment or death
"Y" = the special weapon of the character in question
Examples:
"Have some metal-eating slime, courtesy of my slime gun, Autobots!" —Blot Brothers in Armor!!
"Have a mechanical malfunction, courtesy of my concussion cannon!" —Breakdown Heavy Traffic!
"Just a case of bad balance, courtesy of my electro-scrambler." —Blaster The Bridge to Nowhere!
"Energy feedback, courtesy of my electro-scrambler, tinhead." —Blaster Totaled!
"You're going on a one-way trip, Monzo, courtesy of my anti-gravity gun!" —Skullcruncher Love and Steel!
  • "I hope you (A) as well as you (B)!"
where
"A" = perform some action, typically shooting
"B" = boast, brag, or some other meaningless non-action
Examples:
"You boast better than you shoot, Dreadwind!" —Goldbug People Power!
"Grrr—I hope you shoot straighter than you think, Weirdwolf!" —Skullcruncher Trial by Fire!
"Only if you aim as well as you brag, Brawl!" —First Aid Used Autobots
  • "This wasn't in (Z)!"
where
"Z" = amusingly bureaucratic item with no bearing on the situation at hand.
Examples:
"This...this wasn't in my job description!" —anonymous railway worker Child's Play
"This wasn't on the trail guide!" —anonymous skier The Man in the Machine!
"None of this was in the rehearsal!" —Sky Lynx The Cosmic Carnival

Notes

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  • As Budiansky's quotes above show, for a while in organised fandom he was the Fallen of the writing world, his stories dismissed or ripped into as being juvenile and silly. His reputation in fandom has gone up since the start of the 21st century, something he attributes to doing interviews.
  • In addition to writing the main character bios, Budiansky also wrote the truncated versions seen on the original toy packaging.
  • Budiansky's stories almost always have a human guest star involved and the Transformers getting involved in human affairs and finding them odd. He's stated this was because he thought the most interesting part was seeing these two vastly different races and worlds colliding with each other - or, more bluntly, "The Transformers were on Earth!".[8]

See also

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Editorial staff of Marvel Comics' The Transformers
Marvel U.S. editors
Marvel U.S.
editors-in-chief
Marvel UK editors

References

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  1. ↑ Marvel Comics Bullpen Bulletin for July 1983, as presented in "Star Wars" #73.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Bob Budiansky interview at Moonbase 2
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Interview at Rusting Carcass
  4. ↑ Bob Budiansky interview at Comixplex on March 16th, 2021. He says he thinks he continued for a "couple of months" after leaving the comic, but not much beyond that
  5. ↑ Metal Machine interview
  6. ↑ https://www.bottalk.com/2024/02/simon-furman-transformers-interview.html
  7. ↑ Marvel Comics Bullpen Bulletin for December 1991, as printed in Excalibur #47, cover date February 1992
  8. ↑ Budiansky interview archived at One Shall Stand
  9. ↑ Bob Budiansky at TFcon Toronto 2019
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Interviews

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