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.

Development

The series was to be subtitled "The Hidden Force," and would have featured the heroic "Golden Guardians" battling the "Evil Warbots," each of whom transformed from a simple geometric shape like a cube or a sphere into a retro sci-fi robot. Knickerbocker intended to produce an animated TV special, and to include a pack-in comic book with each figure, and turned to DC Comics to help develop the property and produce the comic. Unhappy with what DC produced, the company approached Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Jim Shooter to ask if they could do better. Shooter produced a brand new concept, which Knickerbocker loved; Dennis Marks of Marvel Productions had his own proposal for the series, involving heavy focus on kid supporting characters and a goofy dog, but it was clear which direction Knickerbocker wanted to go... until things came to an abrupt halt when the company was acquired by Hasbro in November 1982. Mysterians promptly ceased to be, and the next year, Hasbro approached Marvel to help develop their new transforming robot franchise. Marvel Productions recycled the "kids and dog" concept to pitch Hasbro a series named Car and Cable, but Griffin Bacal instead coined the name The Transformers, for which Jim Shooter developed a brand-new premise—and the rest is history!

Connection to Transformers?

A sub-series of four Mysterians figures was in development when the line was cancelled: "Vehicle Mysterians," sub-titled "The Mobile Force," who transformed into cars and trucks. Astoundingly, these four—"Jeepar," "Blazar," "Truckar," and "Speedar"—were the figures that would later become the Transformers toys, Brawn, Gears, Huffer, and Windcharger, respectively. Packaging mock-ups for the first three have been found, while concept art and prototype images exist for "Speedar." It is unclear if these figures were created by Knickerbocker themselves for Mysterians or if they were designed by, or aquired from, Japanese toy company Takara, who released them in their Micro Change toyline in 1983, and which fans assumed for decades to be their point of origin.

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; they have hard plastic wheels, while the other three have rubber tires; 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, and is far closer to the Mysterians "M"-logo that would eventually hit US toy shelves (see below)... could it be that it actually stood for Mysterians?

Marchon's Mysterians

The story of Mysterians did not end with Hasbro's acquisition of Knickerbocker. In 1984, a toy company named Marchon released their own Mysterians toyline... which consisted of geometric shapes that transformed into simple robots, all very clearly based on Knickerbocker's early designs. 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.