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

Seeking to produce a Mysterians animated TV special, and to include a pack-in comic book with each figure, Knickerbocker approached DC Comics to help develop the property and produce the comic. 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, and the Mysterians comic book was solicited in issue #1 of Marvel Age in December 1982... but, the very day the solicitation came out, the news broke that Knickerbocker had been acquired by Hasbro. 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?

The Mysterians toyline would have reportedly consisted of two sub-lines: "The Hidden Force," which 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; and "The Mobile Force," who transformed into cars and trucks. Astoundingly, 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. Packaging mock-ups for the first three have been found, while concept art for "Speedar" by Knickerbocker artist Steven Hodges exists. 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 preicsely 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; they have hard plastic wheels, while the other three have rubber tires; they lack the false "penny slot" present on the racers; 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 "M" 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.