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Re: Origin of Transformers ?
Basically the Takara owned and still owns most of the original toys(Diaclone, Microman, etc), which Hasbro licensed and repainted and rebranded as "The TransFormers".
However it should be noted(although I have to check my facts so don't quote me on it), that Diaclone and Microman actually stemmed from G.I. Joe, which is owned by Hasbro. If I recall, Hasbro brought the old 12" G.I. Joe line over to Japan via Takara back in like the 50's or 60's. G.I. Joe was the top toy brand in America at the time because of WWII. However, it wasn't such a great hit for Japan because this was obviously the guy that defeated them in the war. So what Takara did was they remolded the G.I. Joe figures, gave them cyborg parts(which was kind of the hot thing over there at the time), and re-released them as a new line. And they were a HIT! But after a few years, the price of oil(and plastic) started to sky rocket and the 12" size weren't economically viable, so they shrunk them down. And as oil prices continued to climb they shrunk them down even further. And to compensate they started making transforming vehicle robot mechas for them, which now know as the toys that would become the TransFormers of old. Again, I'm a little hazy on all the details, but that's roughly the long and short of it.
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Last edited by UltraPrimal; 01-02-2014 at 12:12 AM.
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