The Toys That Made Us (2017) s02e02 Episode Script
Transformers
1 So, Bob, I already came up with the basic world.
They come from Planet Cybertron.
The good guys are the Autobots.
The bad guys are the Decepticons.
- You call this a robot? - Look, they transform.
They what? [Jim Shooter sighs.]
Need help? Just give me a second.
It was working.
Look.
It's a gun.
[Bob Budiansky.]
Huh.
Pretty cool.
I need names and bios by Monday morning.
All this has to be turned in to Hasbro by Wednesday.
Good luck.
Mega ton.
No.
Megatron.
Megatron.
[Budiansky.]
So over the weekend, I came up with the initial 26 Transformers, their profiles, their names.
Here's my original yellow legal pad writing.
This is Megatron.
Among the names that I submitted early on was High Beam.
I had no idea that it meant erect nipples on a woman.
And, uh, I said, "Okay, we'll come up with a different name.
" [narrator.]
Apart from that one, the brilliance of Bob Budiansky led to the creation of hundreds of beloved Transformers [distorted voice.]
Robots in disguise [narrator.]
that have thrilled kids [boy.]
It makes some weird shapes.
[narrator.]
and befuddled parents for decades.
[woman.]
I have no idea what I'm doing here.
[narrator.]
But these all-American toys [man.]
Folks, these robots are hot.
[narrator.]
are actually [man speaking Japanese.]
[narrator.]
from Japan.
This is where Optimus was born.
[narrator.]
The ingenuity and creativity of these master toy makers We always worked toy-first.
[narrator.]
set the stage for an incredible journey from one side of the Pacific Let's make a deal with everybody.
Bring all these products back to the States.
[narrator.]
and back again.
How do we translate this to an American marketplace? [narrator.]
From master toy makers to master manipulators Robots in disguise.
To me, it's genius.
[narrator.]
kids had nowhere to hide.
[imitating transforming.]
[narrator.]
This Japanese phenomenon received an American bombardment.
[Optimus Prime.]
Prepare for battle! [narrator.]
And a toy line that's never put a foot wrong.
Except for when that happened.
It was stupid to have him die.
[sobbing.]
Stupid.
[narrator.]
Transformers transformed the toy industry forever.
Autobots, roll out.
These are The Toys that Made Us.
It's an eight-part documentary series About the toys that we all know Plastic creations That last for generations And we still cannot let go Little molded figures That gave us big dreams We'll go back in time And behind the scenes - It's The Toys that Made Us - Toys that Made Us The Toys that Made Us is here [narrator.]
Optimus Prime.
A beacon of hope to humanity.
A father figure.
A friend.
A toy that inspired children and truck drivers alike.
But before he was this he was this.
A can of tuna.
In Japan, that is.
Post-war Japan, to be specific.
Here to explain is Sergeant Stuart Queen.
The United States Army has come to know Japan well in recent years.
In war, in occupation, and finally [narrator.]
In robot toys? in partnership.
[narrator.]
Oh, well, in partnership, making robot toys.
In the 1940s and '50s, that partnership between Japan and America had been understandably volatile.
But America was doing everything it could to get Japan back on its feet.
[Queen.]
Under the stimulus of American aid, Japan's industry began to revive, literally from scratch.
The lowly tin can, for instance, discarded at American military bases, became raw material in the revival of Japan's important toy industry.
[narrator.]
With their can-do attitude, it didn't take long for the Japanese toy makers to transform this into this, or this, or especially this.
In those days, the wind-up robots were huge.
Walking, strutting, turn around, spin, hats would come off, mouth would go up and down.
And they are robotic robots, meaning they move with clockworks or motors.
There are so many different kinds of robots.
[narrator.]
And soon, Japan's robots made the leap from tin to paper.
Manga comics were firmly becoming a national obsession.
And robots were playing a starring role.
The ones I knew from my childhood were Atom Boy.
He was a robot, too.
[narrator.]
Astro Boy, as he was known in the US, and Gigantor, or Tetsujin 28-Go, as he's known in Japan, opened the floodgates for Japanese robot-based entertainment in the US, right through the '60s and into the '70s.
Japan for me was Ultraman.
[male announcer.]
Super being.
Ultraman.
Shogun Warriors was awesome.
[male announcer.]
The Shogun! These toys that I was digging on were not even really made in America.
They were from Japan.
[narrator.]
Something else that had been very big in the '60s and '70s, 12 inches big, to be precise, was America's movable fighting man.
G.
I.
Joe, G.
I.
Joe Fighting man from head to toe [narrator.]
And watching the success of the world's very first action figure was Takara Toys in Japan.
Not known for robots, this toy company was a bit girly.
Back then, Takara had just gotten known as a toy maker because of Licca-chan dolls.
It didn't have a boys' toys category yet.
[narrator.]
So Takara obtained the Japanese license to make America's hero.
And for the second time, Japan was occupied by US forces, which, considering their history, was arguably an odd choice.
The war theme was a very sensitive matter.
[narrator.]
And not only that He had a scar from the battle.
And his face is very stern.
We tried to make something that Japanese children feel familiar with, so we experimented.
[narrator.]
Takara reworked, redressed and reinvented G.
I.
Joe.
They even gave him superpowers.
But The original body did not go well with superhero costume.
[narrator.]
After extensive research and trial and error, the Takara team finally came up with a way to market G.
I.
Joe to the kids of Japan.
They turned him into a robot, of course.
They took the basic G.
I.
Joe body, this body right here, all 21 movable parts, and put some metallic-looking parts in there.
And they decided to call this guy the Henshin Cyborg.
To this day, I still don't know what Henshin means.
[narrator.]
Well, we do.
And guess what? It means Transformers [narrator.]
Not quite.
It means transformation.
So you can see where this is going.
It was quite a hit.
[narrator.]
But Takara's transformation cyborg would soon transform in an unexpected way, thanks to some messy geopolitical matters.
Around this time, the oil crisis happened, and prices went sky-high.
With all the accessories, it got really pricey and it was a big problem.
And this was the timing to introduce Microman.
Microman Microman.
[narrator.]
Microman was the Henshin Cyborg line, but shrunk down as a cost-cutting measure.
These amazing, transforming mini toys soon caught the eye of Marty Abrams from American toy company Mego.
When I saw the brand in Japan, I knew we could market it here.
[narrator.]
So, he did, and it was a big hit.
[Abrams.]
We changed the name to Micronauts.
[announcer.]
This is the world of the Micronauts.
[Abrams.]
The first year of the brand was like $45 million.
[announcer.]
Made to fit the Micronaut vehicles.
Without a TV show.
Without a movie.
That was a pure launch of a brand.
[narrator.]
But Takara wasn't done with boys' lines.
With the success of Microman [narrator.]
Yes, Microman, they launched another robot toy line called Diaclone Diaclone was introduced to the market in 1980.
[narrator.]
And where Microman went small, Diaclone went - [Diaclone.]
Oh, hi! - [narrator.]
even smaller, with tiny, one-inch pilots at the helm of giant transforming mechas.
[announcer speaking Japanese.]
[narrator.]
Diaclone quickly transformed into big money for Takara.
And so it only made sense for its sister line - Micro - [narrator.]
Okay, we get it.
It only made sense for its sister line, Microman, to follow suit.
And between 1980 and '83, that line also increased their focus on transforming features.
[announcer speaking Japanese.]
I came up with this idea.
This is the super robot.
Those five robots put together.
[narrator.]
Soon, the two lines were nearly indistinguishable from one another, sporting projectiles for hands, missile launchers from kneecaps, and laser-firing cockpits.
But trends change.
And soon, Japanese children decided that robots transforming into exotic spaceships just wasn't doing it for them anymore.
It was time for transforming robots to get grounded.
[funk theme playing.]
And in 1982, Takara introduced the Diaclone Car Robo line.
[announcer speaking Japanese.]
[narrator.]
And kids took notice.
And so, in 1983, Microman branched off into the Micro Change line.
[announcer speaking Japanese.]
[narrator.]
Which were primarily things kids would find lying around the house, like, you know, cameras, Walkmans, toy cars guns.
[Adam Middleton.]
That's Soundwave.
That's Megatron.
That's all the little cars, Brawn, Bumblebee.
All those guys were Micro Change.
[narrator.]
While Micro Change focused on almost anything at 1:1 scale, Diaclone focused mostly on vehicles at 1:60 scale, including this 18-wheeler called Battle Convoy, who would eventually become known as Optimus Prime.
[narrator.]
Battle Convoy, and almost all the other toys that became known as Transformers, were made here in Takara's affiliate workshop, Nikken.
This is the room Transformers used to be made.
The product development room.
We used this method to make Battle Convoy.
[narrator.]
Humble, wooden beginnings for these metal titans, who, unbeknownst to the Takara designers prototyping them, were about to transform in a way much bigger than anyone could have imagined.
Meanwhile, across the Pacific, Hasbro had relaunched G.
I.
Joe in a smaller 33/4-inch size, and that was selling well.
We sold 125,000 Cobra Commanders.
[narrator scoffs.]
Show-off.
But it wasn't enough.
Hasbro was still looking to diversify their strong toy portfolio.
And for inspiration, they turned their attention to the Far East.
Hasbro executives went to Tokyo, to Toy Fair, and saw that there was this transforming robot thing happening.
[John Warden.]
At the time, in Japan, there were lots of different transforming toys.
There were all sorts of weird, different combining robots, and Bandai had different types of robots.
[narrator.]
So impressed with what they saw, Hasbro had a great idea.
Let's make a deal with everybody.
Bring all these products back to the States.
Takara, from my understanding, was the one who said, "Let's make a long-term deal.
" Takara is the company that I think believed us and understood us when we said we wanted to develop.
And the other Japanese companies gave me the impression that this is stuff that they made, and would you like to buy some of it? [narrator.]
So, Hasbro made a deal with Takara.
And quite simply We pretty much lifted everything that Takara was doing at the time.
[narrator.]
Which, if you're keeping track, means Hasbro licensed G.
I.
Joe to Takara in the '70s, which they then modified into Henshin Cyborg, which was subsequently downsized into Microman, which gradually evolved into Micro Change, and then was licensed, along with Diaclone, back to Hasbro.
Uh, yeah.
After that, Microman and Diaclone became Transformers [narrator.]
Well, yes.
But remember, at this point, they looked like Transformers, they transformed like Transformers, but they definitely weren't Transformers yet.
They were two separate toy lines made by the same company with no relation to one another.
When we laid them all out on the table and we looked at them, and we scratched our heads, and said, "How do we translate this to an American marketplace? How do we make this make sense?" The first thing they came up with was a name, but even that caused some doubts.
Because I thought that people might think Transformer was a transformer.
Boy, oh, boy, I was wrong.
[narrator.]
And finally, the Transformers were born.
Meet Bumblebee, Megatron, Soundwave.
Oh, hang on.
They weren't known as Bumblebee and Megatron and Soundwave at that point.
They were Micro Car, Gun Robo, and Cassette Man.
[narrator.]
It was clear these overly-accurate names weren't going to excite the little American children.
So Hasbro had some work to do.
What they lacked for the American market was a story.
[narrator.]
And every story needs a goodie and a baddie.
The idea of the Autobots and Decepticons were created.
The Autobots - The good guys.
- The Decepticons.
- The bad guys.
- [narrator.]
A good old-fashioned story where the good guys are good and the bad guys are bad.
I guess so, yes.
[narrator.]
At least they got that right, right? Uh Whenever you have a story where the good guys are good and the bad guys are bad, there's no reason for any of it, it just falls apart.
[narrator.]
Well, this guy would know.
Jim Shooter was editor-in-chief at the story-making powerhouse, Marvel Comics.
[Shooter.]
One of the Hasbro executives turns up in my office.
He puts this car on my desk, and flip, flip, flip, flip, it turns into a robot.
I mean, I You know Some little seven-year-old Jimmy that's still inside me, I thought that was the coolest thing.
And I wanted to know why.
Why does it do that, you know? And he said, "That's what we want you to figure out.
" [narrator.]
So, little Jimmy gave the task to big Denny O'Neil, a behemoth in the comic world.
Writer of all-time classics, like Batman, Green Lantern, Spider-Man, and Daredevil.
I mean, Denny is all-time great.
He's a hall of fame writer.
[narrator.]
The world of Autobots and Decepticons could finally flourish under the pen of this master storyteller.
It was just a good cop, bad cop thing and it didn't make much sense to me.
I said, this isn't good enough.
We have to do better than this.
[narrator.]
But finding another willing writer for this toy-based project wasn't going to be easy.
[man.]
No.
I wasn't even going to ask you! [narrator.]
And the reason no one wanted to do it was actually quite simple.
Nobody works on toy books unless you're, like, total loser.
[narrator.]
A bit harsh.
But this is Larry Hama, the guy who made toy books cool, when he wrote the highly acclaimed G.
I.
Joe comic.
[Shooter.]
When we did G.
I.
Joe, Larry made sure there was a lot of drama, and feeling, and passion in it, you know? And what Denny did just wasn't there.
[narrator.]
Working his way down the hallowed halls of Marvel, Jim turned to another legend of the biz.
Me.
- [narrator.]
And why not? - [Shooter.]
I was fascinated, just from the get-go.
So I did it.
I wrote the backstory and bible, who these guys are, where they come from.
Jim Shooter's prime premise was basically that Transformers were these two warring factions of this robotic race of living creatures from a planet far away.
Cybertron.
The whole planet is metal.
[announcer.]
between the forces of good and evil raged across Cybertron.
There's no more resources.
[Wheeljack.]
There's not enough energy in these conductors to last a quartex.
And they need resources.
And that's why they came to Earth.
[Megatron.]
Blast off! They were on a spaceship which crash lands on Earth.
It lies dormant for four million years in the bottom of a volcano.
Volcano erupts or something, and it wakes everybody up, and they continue their battle here on Earth.
I tried to make it something people could care about.
[narrator.]
And now all he had to do was think of 26 names for the Transformers.
And his first character, Delegate-a-tron, with the power to delegate to some other guy in the office.
My boss, Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter, knocked on my door.
So, Bob And asked me if I could write up 26 profiles and come up with character names for the 26 initial Transformers and do that over a few days.
[narrator.]
Luckily for robots and humankind alike I'll do it.
Come on, Bob.
This is a great opportunity.
Wait, you said you'll do it? Got to make my bones somewhere, right? [narrator.]
Bob didn't mind doing a toy book, even though I was probably the fourth or fifth choice, because I was not known at the time as a writer-editor.
I was known as an artist-editor.
[narrator.]
And besides, he wasn't starting entirely from scratch.
[Budiansky.]
We did keep a couple of the names Denny developed.
Most famously, Optimus Prime.
That's Denny's name, not mine.
Ochtar.
[narrator.]
Bob didn't keep that one.
- After a grueling weekend - I did get it all done.
- [narrator.]
Hasbro was happy.
- Yes.
[narrator.]
Bob's boss, Jim, was also happy.
I said, "By the way, we need the plot for the first issue tomorrow.
" We demanded a lot of work out of him.
He was very prolific.
[Hama.]
Nobody works on toy books unless you're, like, total loser.
- Yeah.
- [narrator.]
Hasbro had found their man and Transformers was taking shape.
So, it was time to release the toys and alert the children with irresistible, big-budget ads.
When we shot commercials, we'd make incredible sets, with dramatic skylines and everything, and have sexy music.
[trombone playing.]
[narrator.]
Whoa, not that sexy.
Griffin Bacal came on board, created the jingle.
The Transformers Robots in disguise.
More than meets the eye More than meets the eye.
To me, it's genius.
What you think you see isn't really what it is.
evil forces of the Decepticons Transformers! [narrator.]
And through the power of 1980s visual effects The child's head actually turned into a robotic head with glowing green eyes.
Robots in disguise [narrator.]
But soon, children's eyes would instead be beaming with joy, because in 1984, the toys from Japan had been suitably altered, as in given new stickers.
The ads were ready for broadcast.
The comic was being printed.
And finally, it was all systems go.
GoBots - [narrator.]
For GoBots.
- Say what? Um GoBots [narrator.]
And GoBots were made by Takara's competitor, Bandai.
Bandai was working with Tonka on something called GoBots.
[narrator.]
And GoBots were Japanese transforming robots that just so happened to beat Transformers to market by six months.
Damn it.
I think we were worried.
[horn blowing.]
[narrator.]
But a six-month head start isn't all that Tonka had on Hasbro.
Because while the more intricate designs of Transformers had the potential to appeal more to kids [boy.]
What I like is these are actual gadgets that can actually work.
[narrator.]
the considerably cheaper price point of GoBots was sure to catch the eye of budget-minded parents.
Tonka, with their GoBots, versus Hasbro with Transformers, was a real head-to-head.
[narrator.]
So would the children of America prefer the finely-crafted challenge of a Transformer.
[narrator.]
Or the cheap and cheerful chumminess of A GoBot.
[narrator.]
It was time to find out.
[Optimus Prime.]
Prepare for battle! [narrator.]
In spring of 1984, Transformers hit shelves across the country.
I think we all knew it was going to be big.
But it surprised us.
It was bigger than we thought.
[narrator.]
Big might be an understatement.
These are the Transformers, one of the fastest-selling toys in America.
[narrator.]
Sales of Transformers reached $115 million in 1984.
Folks, these robots are hot.
[narrator.]
The comic and advertising blitz had worked big time.
And soon enough, Transformers and GoBots were neck and neck in the race for the title of America's number one transforming robot.
Both companies say they've already had orders totaling more than $100 million.
In the December issue of People, there was a staged shot where Stephen Hassenfeld was on the floor, playing with a fun shot of his Transformers.
And unbeknownst to us, the head of Tonka was on the floor in his office, playing with GoBots.
And they set up the shot to look like there's two heads of companies going against each other with robotic toys.
I think the PR person was probably having a heart attack at that point.
[narrator.]
But the defibrillator was not required.
Because GoBots slowly stopped going, with sales dropping from over $100 million in 1984 to only $25 million in 1986.
I think the GoBots were not taken as seriously as Transformers.
They were more plastic and a lot flimsier.
Flip out the arms, pull down the legs, flip the guy over and he's done.
Leader-1, my internal sensors detect approaching Earthlings.
It was definitely lighthearted, and much more, I guess, kiddie-based.
Scooter, help me with Turbo.
Yeah, so.
I remember one time, my dad bought me a GoBot instead of a Transformer, and while we were at my grandma's for a summer cookout, I tossed the GoBot in the fire.
[narrator.]
And by 1987, Transformers had reduced GoBots to NoBots.
And why wouldn't they? After all, Transformers were already immensely popular in Japan as Diaclone and Micro Change.
No doubt their Japanese creators were very proud.
At first, I didn't like it.
I thought it was weird.
That huge truck and this tiny gun would go against each other? Optimus Prime was a truck, 20, 30 meters high.
But a gun is about 20, 30 centimeters.
[narrator.]
Well, he does have a point.
[Megatron.]
Transform! [Ryan Yzquierdo.]
Megatron does this mass displacement thing so he can change at will to whatever size he needs to be.
They never address that in the fiction.
It's just kind of one of those things you just have to accept.
[narrator.]
But there was something big about Megatron, the controversy he caused.
This is a pretty accurate Walther P38.
A sales guy would go into an airport with this in his carry-on, and one of them got stopped and had to show how to transform it, that it wasn't a real gun.
It was kind of inflammatory, but it was too cool of a product to avoid.
So that's what Megatron was.
[narrator.]
And of course, every cool product gets a cool animated series.
Transformers would be no exception.
Transformers More than meets the eye [Warden.]
When I was a little kid, I still remember coming home from school, turning on the TV, and Transformers was like an addiction.
[narrator.]
The cartoon was a worldwide smash, loved by everyone.
I didn't like it.
[narrator.]
Gee.
Tough crowd.
But soon, I fell for it and I was mesmerized.
I enjoyed it very much and loved it in no time.
[exclaiming.]
We went, "Whoa!" We felt something totally new had happened.
That was huge.
I thought this was a toy that can conquer the world.
Autobots, transform! [narrator.]
But it was that beloved character, Optimus Prime, that would help transform the series into a mega-hit.
The chief, the big boss, the top guy.
I was thinking, "I made him.
" [narrator.]
But Optimus Prime wasn't just made on precision Japanese machinery.
There's someone else who played a very big part in his creation.
My name is Peter Cullen and I am an actor.
[narrator.]
But not just any actor.
This actor was, and still is, the voice of that beloved big, red transforming truck.
All right, let's go home.
[as Optimus Prime.]
Autobots, roll out.
Okay.
If you don't know him as Optimus Prime, you probably would know him as Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh.
Just right for not much of a donkey.
You gotta make a living somehow.
The Decepticons are in position to return to Cybertron.
I don't know who [narrator.]
The sound of Peter Cullen's voice But I have an idea.
[narrator.]
isn't the only recognizable sound that the animated series produced.
That sound effect that you heard when the robots transformed in animation.
[imitating transforming.]
Every now and then in my office, I still find myself doing that.
[narrators.]
That first release of Transformers included 26 completely fascinating transforming robots.
Such as Soundwave.
[woman.]
This Transformer switches from tape recorder to Decepticon communicator and back again while the cassette itself becomes a bird.
[Soundwave.]
Eject.
The idea that he can store a guy in there, and deploy him into battle is fascinating.
His voice.
The fact that no one on TV sounded like that guy.
[Soundwave.]
Space cruiser fueled and ready for departure.
[imitating Soundwave.]
Megatron I am your loyal companion.
[narrator.]
But Hasbro was just getting started.
After that first year, which was intense enough, it went from 20 characters to We added another 120 characters.
[narrator.]
Bob, you around? [Budiansky.]
As much as I enjoyed writing certain characters I remember specifically I enjoyed writing Blaster for a few issues.
I'd have to give up on that character, push him aside to introduce a whole bunch of new characters.
That was frustrating as a writer.
So, in a very short time, we were working with him diligently to get these guys named, and personas made, and he had to come up with all of this stuff and he was it.
[narrator.]
No pressure, Bob.
It's only a multi-million dollar toy line on the line.
Our market in the US needs a lot more product pumped through it in a given year than a Japanese firm would.
[narrator.]
Hasbro would have to turn around a second wave of figures faster than you can transform Shrapnel into a robot stag beetle.
Wow.
This guy won't transform.
[narrator.]
Thankfully, there were still plenty of designs ready to be plucked from Takara's Diaclone and Micro Change back catalog.
A Japanese toy called Train Robo.
Unfortunately, this wasn't available in the American market.
[narrator.]
Some that did make it were the Dinobots.
- [boy 1.]
Dinobots will get 'em.
- [boy 2.]
Can't beat the Dinobots! Grimlock was a Tyrannosaurus rex, and I thought the idea of his jaws locking on somebody worked well in my imagination.
"Grim" gave him a certain amount of seriousness, so Grimlock sounded good to me.
I wish I had Grimlock.
[narrator.]
Along with the Dinobots, the second wave of Transformers in 1985 included Triple Changers.
The boombox communicator.
Blaster.
Inferno.
Smokescreen.
Red Alert.
But it still wasn't enough.
So, Hasbro scoured the Japanese toy market, looking to slap a Transformer sticker on any transforming robot they could find.
There's Jetfire.
Probably one of the favorites from this era.
[boy.]
Jetfire to the rescue! That was one of the items that wasn't made by Takara.
[narrator.]
But it was originally made by Takatoku Toys for their Macross toy line.
[announcer speaking Japanese.]
They go, "Oh, Macross has a transforming airplane? Give me the transforming airplane.
I'll stick that in here, too.
" This thing had nothing to do with Diaclone.
They're two different worlds.
But we don't care.
[narrator.]
It wasn't just the simple surface color that Hasbro was changing.
The robots' true colors were changing also.
In Diaclone days, the Constructicons were heroes.
But now, they were evil combiner warriors.
[boy.]
It's Devastator, six Constructicons in one! The Transformers [narrator.]
In fact, this was true of all the Transformers.
Originally, if you can believe it Megatron is the hero category for us in Japan.
[narrator.]
And as for our ultimate hero, Optimus Prime, well, you'd be surprised to learn Actually, for Optimus Prime, the idea of a truck being the leader was there since Diaclone.
[narrator.]
Long live Optimus Prime.
Then they said, we're making a movie.
Transformers! [narrator.]
In 1986, Transformers hit the big screen in a big way.
Big budget, big characters In such a big scale.
[narrator.]
And big names.
Galvatron.
[narrator.]
Not only was the film bigger and better, it had big ideas, too.
As we were writing the movie, our ideas about Transformers got incredibly sophisticated.
[narrator.]
And as kids flocked to movie theaters, they found out just how sophisticated Transformers: The Movie would be.
When the movie came out, we'd get on our bikes, ride to the theater.
I was so excited to finally see Optimus Prime kick butt.
[distorted.]
Kick but Kick butt I remember walking my brothers, under the auspices that I was "babysitting" them, to the theater and we watched it.
We knew what was gonna happen.
[transformer.]
the nuts inside! Twenty minutes in Megatron! we're like, "Holy shit.
" Die, Autobots! [Vonner.]
Ironhide gets shot and Ratchet is getting murked.
And it's like, "What is going on?" We're dead quiet, seeing all this carnage that's going on.
All this is 20 minutes into the movie.
This was almost too easy, Starscream.
Starscream is like - Megatron? - [imitating Starscream.]
"Is that you?" Yeah! I mean, he gets blasted.
That was one of the best death scenes in history.
Starscream crumbling down, all ash and everything, Galvatron walks over to the crown, steps on it, smears it like it's dog poop.
Will anyone else attempt to fill his shoes? We just wiped out everybody in grandiose fashion.
[narrator.]
Surely, he doesn't mean everybody.
It's over, Prime.
I wanted Optimus to die like John Wayne in The Alamo.
Everybody dies in the end.
I would've waited an eternity for this.
Megatron and Optimus Prime have this big battle and he gets blasted.
Fall! He gets knocked out and he's there on a table.
Do not grieve.
Soon, I shall be one with the Matrix.
[Warden.]
It wasn't even to the halfway point of the movie.
Seeing Optimus Prime turn gray and thinking to myself, "Oh, my God.
What is happening?" [Cullen.]
It was a very sad moment.
I was sitting with Frank Welker and we were reading the script.
And I got to that page and I went [groans emphatically.]
"Man, that's a bummer.
" That was a bummer.
You're thinking, as a little kid, "Did they really do that? He's dead.
Optimus Prime is dead.
" [Archer.]
In time and place, it's an amazing film to get a toy brand in theaters.
We wouldn't be where we are today without it.
But it was stupid to have him die.
Just bar none, stupid.
[narrator.]
With most people in shock for the remaining 65 minutes of the film, something had become quite evident.
Hasbro's mandate was, we need to get rid of the 1984 product line.
We need to introduce the 1986 product line, kill off the '84 guys.
And that's basically what they did.
Let's come up with the next guy.
That's the spirit, Rodimus.
That's the spirit.
[narrator.]
Making room for the next guy had left a generation with permanent emotional baggage.
You're every bit as good as Optimus Prime ever was.
Optimus Prime.
Who could live up to him? [narrator.]
Well, in terms of toy sales, no one.
In Japan, Transformers was losing steam.
Transformers sales were declining in Japan because it was an older idea.
The American nature was to keep going down that road.
We need more.
[Galvatron.]
I tell you, this is the end! [narrator.]
Far from it, but it was the end of an era between Takara and Hasbro.
For decades, the Japanese engineers had crafted intricate transforming robots.
And now, like a great Japanese sensei - [sensei.]
You are troubled, Autoboto- san? - Who, me? [narrator.]
Takara was passing the torch to their protégés.
Hasbro- san was ready.
The designers from the US side started to get more and more involved.
[narrator.]
So what would the Americans come up with? Power Master Transformers They've got the power to surprise You started to see design concepts like Micromasters.
- [announcer.]
Micromaster Battle Station.
- Action Master.
Action Masters! [announcer.]
New Action Masters are here.
They were kind of stuck.
They were running out of themes, running out of new ways to do Transformers.
They become just shells and a little robot comes out of the middle.
Beyond Beyond anything you've ever seen before They're not Transformers as much as hiders.
[announcer.]
It's a flying menace that transforms into a terrifying tank and laser cannon.
It turns into a what? [announcer.]
terrifying tank and laser cannon.
It's a I wouldn't say it was jumping the shark.
[narrator.]
Of course not.
That would be The Sharkticons [narrator.]
That's the Sharkticons.
Hmm? [narrator.]
Through the late '80s, Hasbro designed and released four more waves of Transformers.
But without Takara's ingenious input from the concept stage, profits slowly declined and customers just weren't very satisfied.
Then, that was kind of it.
[narrator.]
Well, that went well.
By 1991, the Transformers franchise had begun to crumble, like Starscream's carcass.
The three prongs of Hasbro's incredibly successful toy line retracted, one by one.
But like Optimus Prime himself, Transformers was brought back from the dead a few years later.
[transformer.]
Optimus.
Wait.
Optimus is in no condition to assume leadership.
[narrator.]
But like zombie Optimus Prime, it just wasn't the same.
Transformers had tried a number of different things that were slight variants on what they had done in the past.
We felt we needed to really shake it up.
[announcer.]
Beast Wars.
The next step in Transformer evolution is here.
morphs from raptor beast into a vicious robot We relaunched Transformers in a big way.
[narrator.]
And like the old days, this toy line had a cartoon series, using cutting-edge computer animation.
Well, cutting-edge for the time.
For so many Transformers fans, Beast Wars is the Transformers.
Fans just ate it up.
We loved it.
[narrator.]
It seemed like Transformers was back.
And it might be a coincidence, but you know who else was back? Takara.
A lot of those Transformers were designed in the Cincinnati office.
"Cheetor should look this way.
" Then Takara would come back and say, "Okay, here's how we might do that to make it physically work.
" Takara were absolute masters.
[narrator.]
Beast Wars re-established a firm working relationship between the toy companies.
And once again, Transformers, well, transformed like they should.
Beast Wars was a success.
It revitalized the brand, and set them down the eventual path towards the 2000s with the live-action movie.
[narrator.]
It was the dawn of a new era for Transformers.
I heard the names of Spielberg and Michael Bay and I was like, "What? This must be a mistake.
" [narrator.]
But make no mistake, when Transformers hit the big screen in 2007, fans could finally enjoy a tale of teenage romance.
There's a lot more than meets the eye, with you.
[narrators.]
Oh, all right.
And some Transformers.
[Optimus Prime.]
Autobots [narrator.]
But Transformers as we've never seen them before.
- [Optimus Prime.]
Roll out.
- [Jazz.]
We roll.
This one's got racing stripes.
[narrator.]
And this one's got flames.
Optimus Prime had never looked like this.
My name is Optimus Prime.
We were taken aback by it.
They were different designs, very organic.
They took on so many human elements.
Every part became more expressive, as a part of the human body, like muscles.
[narrator.]
And although some fans will never be happy with Hollywood's tinkering with the original design You fail me yet again.
[narrator.]
Transformers has become an action-packed franchise, with not just one or two movies.
There's three, four, and now, five films.
We never thought we'd see a Transformers movie like that.
I don't care if you like Michael Bay.
We never thought we'd see that.
It's a global phenomenon.
It's changed the game for Hasbro.
And they sold a lot of toys.
[narrator.]
The incredible transformation of these toys from Japan is not lost on the guys who came up with these marvelous machines 40 years earlier.
When I got involved with Transformers, I was just a designer in the Diaclone and Microman team.
I had no idea that Transformers would be like this.
That we can celebrate new films of them 30 years later.
Not in my wildest dreams.
Our creation was purchased, not only in Japan but also all over the world.
And the products were loved and became a huge hit.
It was unbelievable.
In that sense, I consider it as a treasure in my life.
And it gave us a confidence that our creation would be loved by children all over the world.
[narrator.]
But it's not just the look and high quality of these Japanese toys.
That's only half the story.
The other half is the story.
Without the tireless work of Bob Budiansky, these robots would be just that.
Robots.
It was a job.
And it was a job I did to the best of my ability and I enjoyed doing that job.
I'm as surprised as anyone that the Transformers is thriving and is bigger than ever.
It was not something I planned in the '80s, to plant the seeds today, and they'll make these $200 million movie productions 25 years from now.
Never thought about it that way.
He's the reason for a lot of this.
Big reason.
[narrator.]
Bob may have come up with the personalities of the Transformers, but it was Peter Cullen who breathed life into the mightiest Transformer of them all.
I originally based the character of Optimus Prime on my brother, a former Marine.
"Peter, where are you going?" "I'm going to audition for a hero in a cartoon series.
" He said, "Peter, if you're gonna be a hero, be a real hero.
Don't be one of those Hollywood heroes pretending they're tough guys, when they're not.
Just be strong and real.
Tell the truth.
Be strong enough to be gentle.
" So he had a lot of influence on me, you know, and especially coming back from Vietnam.
I noticed somebody different So, yeah, going into that audition Larry was with me.
I mean, he was right there beside me.
When I read the script, Larry's voice just came out.
I am Optimus Prime.
But he was my hero.
[narrator.]
And Optimus Prime was our hero.
- "He is the leader of the Autobots.
" - [Optimus Prime.]
Let's roll.
"Optimus uses his skills to heal and repair, and to improve the world around him.
And if necessary, to destroy.
" [Optimus Prime.]
You're finished, Megatron! He's a symbol of safety.
[cheering.]
[Cullen.]
A good father figure.
"And also the largest, strongest and wisest of them.
" [narrator.]
Optimus Prime.
Long may he reign.
Yeah.
[narrator.]
Optimus Prime and the rest of the Transformers have come a long, long way from where they began.
But whatever they were, now and forever, they'll be remembered this way.
Optimus Prime, leadership.
Megatron is very confident.
Starscream, he's a tricky guy.
Bumblebee, sweet boy.
And Soundwave is very dependable.
[narrator.]
And how about Yoke- san's favorite, Perceptor? Perceptor, here we go.
I have to be careful with Perceptor because I kept saying that character was me.
I don't want to disappoint the fans.
[narrator.]
When it comes to Yoke- san, it's probably best to let other people describe him.
Yoke- san had a genius for the mechanical engineering that was the heart of this toy.
He could see how to go from stationary object, car, plane, boat, animal, insect, mineral God knows we changed everything, into a robot, and do it with a puzzle complex, so that it wasn't just flip, flip.
It was changing and changing and it made it part of the puzzle process.
That's where we, Microman and Diaclone Development Team, used to work.
Right there.
When he was here for his retirement ceremony, we found an original 1980s Perceptor and we left a special message in there for him.
Yeah, if you look into here, it says, "Thank you.
" Amazing.
[Warden.]
The words of Yoke- san were also very powerful.
He said, "This world of Transformers is yours.
" And it is his pleasure to pass it on to the next generation to create.
And really, that was his vision.
It was not just to take credit for anything, or be the master of Transformers, but to let it be a powerful vessel for future generations.
He said, "This ship will continue on without me.
" [theme song playing.]
They come from Planet Cybertron.
The good guys are the Autobots.
The bad guys are the Decepticons.
- You call this a robot? - Look, they transform.
They what? [Jim Shooter sighs.]
Need help? Just give me a second.
It was working.
Look.
It's a gun.
[Bob Budiansky.]
Huh.
Pretty cool.
I need names and bios by Monday morning.
All this has to be turned in to Hasbro by Wednesday.
Good luck.
Mega ton.
No.
Megatron.
Megatron.
[Budiansky.]
So over the weekend, I came up with the initial 26 Transformers, their profiles, their names.
Here's my original yellow legal pad writing.
This is Megatron.
Among the names that I submitted early on was High Beam.
I had no idea that it meant erect nipples on a woman.
And, uh, I said, "Okay, we'll come up with a different name.
" [narrator.]
Apart from that one, the brilliance of Bob Budiansky led to the creation of hundreds of beloved Transformers [distorted voice.]
Robots in disguise [narrator.]
that have thrilled kids [boy.]
It makes some weird shapes.
[narrator.]
and befuddled parents for decades.
[woman.]
I have no idea what I'm doing here.
[narrator.]
But these all-American toys [man.]
Folks, these robots are hot.
[narrator.]
are actually [man speaking Japanese.]
[narrator.]
from Japan.
This is where Optimus was born.
[narrator.]
The ingenuity and creativity of these master toy makers We always worked toy-first.
[narrator.]
set the stage for an incredible journey from one side of the Pacific Let's make a deal with everybody.
Bring all these products back to the States.
[narrator.]
and back again.
How do we translate this to an American marketplace? [narrator.]
From master toy makers to master manipulators Robots in disguise.
To me, it's genius.
[narrator.]
kids had nowhere to hide.
[imitating transforming.]
[narrator.]
This Japanese phenomenon received an American bombardment.
[Optimus Prime.]
Prepare for battle! [narrator.]
And a toy line that's never put a foot wrong.
Except for when that happened.
It was stupid to have him die.
[sobbing.]
Stupid.
[narrator.]
Transformers transformed the toy industry forever.
Autobots, roll out.
These are The Toys that Made Us.
It's an eight-part documentary series About the toys that we all know Plastic creations That last for generations And we still cannot let go Little molded figures That gave us big dreams We'll go back in time And behind the scenes - It's The Toys that Made Us - Toys that Made Us The Toys that Made Us is here [narrator.]
Optimus Prime.
A beacon of hope to humanity.
A father figure.
A friend.
A toy that inspired children and truck drivers alike.
But before he was this he was this.
A can of tuna.
In Japan, that is.
Post-war Japan, to be specific.
Here to explain is Sergeant Stuart Queen.
The United States Army has come to know Japan well in recent years.
In war, in occupation, and finally [narrator.]
In robot toys? in partnership.
[narrator.]
Oh, well, in partnership, making robot toys.
In the 1940s and '50s, that partnership between Japan and America had been understandably volatile.
But America was doing everything it could to get Japan back on its feet.
[Queen.]
Under the stimulus of American aid, Japan's industry began to revive, literally from scratch.
The lowly tin can, for instance, discarded at American military bases, became raw material in the revival of Japan's important toy industry.
[narrator.]
With their can-do attitude, it didn't take long for the Japanese toy makers to transform this into this, or this, or especially this.
In those days, the wind-up robots were huge.
Walking, strutting, turn around, spin, hats would come off, mouth would go up and down.
And they are robotic robots, meaning they move with clockworks or motors.
There are so many different kinds of robots.
[narrator.]
And soon, Japan's robots made the leap from tin to paper.
Manga comics were firmly becoming a national obsession.
And robots were playing a starring role.
The ones I knew from my childhood were Atom Boy.
He was a robot, too.
[narrator.]
Astro Boy, as he was known in the US, and Gigantor, or Tetsujin 28-Go, as he's known in Japan, opened the floodgates for Japanese robot-based entertainment in the US, right through the '60s and into the '70s.
Japan for me was Ultraman.
[male announcer.]
Super being.
Ultraman.
Shogun Warriors was awesome.
[male announcer.]
The Shogun! These toys that I was digging on were not even really made in America.
They were from Japan.
[narrator.]
Something else that had been very big in the '60s and '70s, 12 inches big, to be precise, was America's movable fighting man.
G.
I.
Joe, G.
I.
Joe Fighting man from head to toe [narrator.]
And watching the success of the world's very first action figure was Takara Toys in Japan.
Not known for robots, this toy company was a bit girly.
Back then, Takara had just gotten known as a toy maker because of Licca-chan dolls.
It didn't have a boys' toys category yet.
[narrator.]
So Takara obtained the Japanese license to make America's hero.
And for the second time, Japan was occupied by US forces, which, considering their history, was arguably an odd choice.
The war theme was a very sensitive matter.
[narrator.]
And not only that He had a scar from the battle.
And his face is very stern.
We tried to make something that Japanese children feel familiar with, so we experimented.
[narrator.]
Takara reworked, redressed and reinvented G.
I.
Joe.
They even gave him superpowers.
But The original body did not go well with superhero costume.
[narrator.]
After extensive research and trial and error, the Takara team finally came up with a way to market G.
I.
Joe to the kids of Japan.
They turned him into a robot, of course.
They took the basic G.
I.
Joe body, this body right here, all 21 movable parts, and put some metallic-looking parts in there.
And they decided to call this guy the Henshin Cyborg.
To this day, I still don't know what Henshin means.
[narrator.]
Well, we do.
And guess what? It means Transformers [narrator.]
Not quite.
It means transformation.
So you can see where this is going.
It was quite a hit.
[narrator.]
But Takara's transformation cyborg would soon transform in an unexpected way, thanks to some messy geopolitical matters.
Around this time, the oil crisis happened, and prices went sky-high.
With all the accessories, it got really pricey and it was a big problem.
And this was the timing to introduce Microman.
Microman Microman.
[narrator.]
Microman was the Henshin Cyborg line, but shrunk down as a cost-cutting measure.
These amazing, transforming mini toys soon caught the eye of Marty Abrams from American toy company Mego.
When I saw the brand in Japan, I knew we could market it here.
[narrator.]
So, he did, and it was a big hit.
[Abrams.]
We changed the name to Micronauts.
[announcer.]
This is the world of the Micronauts.
[Abrams.]
The first year of the brand was like $45 million.
[announcer.]
Made to fit the Micronaut vehicles.
Without a TV show.
Without a movie.
That was a pure launch of a brand.
[narrator.]
But Takara wasn't done with boys' lines.
With the success of Microman [narrator.]
Yes, Microman, they launched another robot toy line called Diaclone Diaclone was introduced to the market in 1980.
[narrator.]
And where Microman went small, Diaclone went - [Diaclone.]
Oh, hi! - [narrator.]
even smaller, with tiny, one-inch pilots at the helm of giant transforming mechas.
[announcer speaking Japanese.]
[narrator.]
Diaclone quickly transformed into big money for Takara.
And so it only made sense for its sister line - Micro - [narrator.]
Okay, we get it.
It only made sense for its sister line, Microman, to follow suit.
And between 1980 and '83, that line also increased their focus on transforming features.
[announcer speaking Japanese.]
I came up with this idea.
This is the super robot.
Those five robots put together.
[narrator.]
Soon, the two lines were nearly indistinguishable from one another, sporting projectiles for hands, missile launchers from kneecaps, and laser-firing cockpits.
But trends change.
And soon, Japanese children decided that robots transforming into exotic spaceships just wasn't doing it for them anymore.
It was time for transforming robots to get grounded.
[funk theme playing.]
And in 1982, Takara introduced the Diaclone Car Robo line.
[announcer speaking Japanese.]
[narrator.]
And kids took notice.
And so, in 1983, Microman branched off into the Micro Change line.
[announcer speaking Japanese.]
[narrator.]
Which were primarily things kids would find lying around the house, like, you know, cameras, Walkmans, toy cars guns.
[Adam Middleton.]
That's Soundwave.
That's Megatron.
That's all the little cars, Brawn, Bumblebee.
All those guys were Micro Change.
[narrator.]
While Micro Change focused on almost anything at 1:1 scale, Diaclone focused mostly on vehicles at 1:60 scale, including this 18-wheeler called Battle Convoy, who would eventually become known as Optimus Prime.
[narrator.]
Battle Convoy, and almost all the other toys that became known as Transformers, were made here in Takara's affiliate workshop, Nikken.
This is the room Transformers used to be made.
The product development room.
We used this method to make Battle Convoy.
[narrator.]
Humble, wooden beginnings for these metal titans, who, unbeknownst to the Takara designers prototyping them, were about to transform in a way much bigger than anyone could have imagined.
Meanwhile, across the Pacific, Hasbro had relaunched G.
I.
Joe in a smaller 33/4-inch size, and that was selling well.
We sold 125,000 Cobra Commanders.
[narrator scoffs.]
Show-off.
But it wasn't enough.
Hasbro was still looking to diversify their strong toy portfolio.
And for inspiration, they turned their attention to the Far East.
Hasbro executives went to Tokyo, to Toy Fair, and saw that there was this transforming robot thing happening.
[John Warden.]
At the time, in Japan, there were lots of different transforming toys.
There were all sorts of weird, different combining robots, and Bandai had different types of robots.
[narrator.]
So impressed with what they saw, Hasbro had a great idea.
Let's make a deal with everybody.
Bring all these products back to the States.
Takara, from my understanding, was the one who said, "Let's make a long-term deal.
" Takara is the company that I think believed us and understood us when we said we wanted to develop.
And the other Japanese companies gave me the impression that this is stuff that they made, and would you like to buy some of it? [narrator.]
So, Hasbro made a deal with Takara.
And quite simply We pretty much lifted everything that Takara was doing at the time.
[narrator.]
Which, if you're keeping track, means Hasbro licensed G.
I.
Joe to Takara in the '70s, which they then modified into Henshin Cyborg, which was subsequently downsized into Microman, which gradually evolved into Micro Change, and then was licensed, along with Diaclone, back to Hasbro.
Uh, yeah.
After that, Microman and Diaclone became Transformers [narrator.]
Well, yes.
But remember, at this point, they looked like Transformers, they transformed like Transformers, but they definitely weren't Transformers yet.
They were two separate toy lines made by the same company with no relation to one another.
When we laid them all out on the table and we looked at them, and we scratched our heads, and said, "How do we translate this to an American marketplace? How do we make this make sense?" The first thing they came up with was a name, but even that caused some doubts.
Because I thought that people might think Transformer was a transformer.
Boy, oh, boy, I was wrong.
[narrator.]
And finally, the Transformers were born.
Meet Bumblebee, Megatron, Soundwave.
Oh, hang on.
They weren't known as Bumblebee and Megatron and Soundwave at that point.
They were Micro Car, Gun Robo, and Cassette Man.
[narrator.]
It was clear these overly-accurate names weren't going to excite the little American children.
So Hasbro had some work to do.
What they lacked for the American market was a story.
[narrator.]
And every story needs a goodie and a baddie.
The idea of the Autobots and Decepticons were created.
The Autobots - The good guys.
- The Decepticons.
- The bad guys.
- [narrator.]
A good old-fashioned story where the good guys are good and the bad guys are bad.
I guess so, yes.
[narrator.]
At least they got that right, right? Uh Whenever you have a story where the good guys are good and the bad guys are bad, there's no reason for any of it, it just falls apart.
[narrator.]
Well, this guy would know.
Jim Shooter was editor-in-chief at the story-making powerhouse, Marvel Comics.
[Shooter.]
One of the Hasbro executives turns up in my office.
He puts this car on my desk, and flip, flip, flip, flip, it turns into a robot.
I mean, I You know Some little seven-year-old Jimmy that's still inside me, I thought that was the coolest thing.
And I wanted to know why.
Why does it do that, you know? And he said, "That's what we want you to figure out.
" [narrator.]
So, little Jimmy gave the task to big Denny O'Neil, a behemoth in the comic world.
Writer of all-time classics, like Batman, Green Lantern, Spider-Man, and Daredevil.
I mean, Denny is all-time great.
He's a hall of fame writer.
[narrator.]
The world of Autobots and Decepticons could finally flourish under the pen of this master storyteller.
It was just a good cop, bad cop thing and it didn't make much sense to me.
I said, this isn't good enough.
We have to do better than this.
[narrator.]
But finding another willing writer for this toy-based project wasn't going to be easy.
[man.]
No.
I wasn't even going to ask you! [narrator.]
And the reason no one wanted to do it was actually quite simple.
Nobody works on toy books unless you're, like, total loser.
[narrator.]
A bit harsh.
But this is Larry Hama, the guy who made toy books cool, when he wrote the highly acclaimed G.
I.
Joe comic.
[Shooter.]
When we did G.
I.
Joe, Larry made sure there was a lot of drama, and feeling, and passion in it, you know? And what Denny did just wasn't there.
[narrator.]
Working his way down the hallowed halls of Marvel, Jim turned to another legend of the biz.
Me.
- [narrator.]
And why not? - [Shooter.]
I was fascinated, just from the get-go.
So I did it.
I wrote the backstory and bible, who these guys are, where they come from.
Jim Shooter's prime premise was basically that Transformers were these two warring factions of this robotic race of living creatures from a planet far away.
Cybertron.
The whole planet is metal.
[announcer.]
between the forces of good and evil raged across Cybertron.
There's no more resources.
[Wheeljack.]
There's not enough energy in these conductors to last a quartex.
And they need resources.
And that's why they came to Earth.
[Megatron.]
Blast off! They were on a spaceship which crash lands on Earth.
It lies dormant for four million years in the bottom of a volcano.
Volcano erupts or something, and it wakes everybody up, and they continue their battle here on Earth.
I tried to make it something people could care about.
[narrator.]
And now all he had to do was think of 26 names for the Transformers.
And his first character, Delegate-a-tron, with the power to delegate to some other guy in the office.
My boss, Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter, knocked on my door.
So, Bob And asked me if I could write up 26 profiles and come up with character names for the 26 initial Transformers and do that over a few days.
[narrator.]
Luckily for robots and humankind alike I'll do it.
Come on, Bob.
This is a great opportunity.
Wait, you said you'll do it? Got to make my bones somewhere, right? [narrator.]
Bob didn't mind doing a toy book, even though I was probably the fourth or fifth choice, because I was not known at the time as a writer-editor.
I was known as an artist-editor.
[narrator.]
And besides, he wasn't starting entirely from scratch.
[Budiansky.]
We did keep a couple of the names Denny developed.
Most famously, Optimus Prime.
That's Denny's name, not mine.
Ochtar.
[narrator.]
Bob didn't keep that one.
- After a grueling weekend - I did get it all done.
- [narrator.]
Hasbro was happy.
- Yes.
[narrator.]
Bob's boss, Jim, was also happy.
I said, "By the way, we need the plot for the first issue tomorrow.
" We demanded a lot of work out of him.
He was very prolific.
[Hama.]
Nobody works on toy books unless you're, like, total loser.
- Yeah.
- [narrator.]
Hasbro had found their man and Transformers was taking shape.
So, it was time to release the toys and alert the children with irresistible, big-budget ads.
When we shot commercials, we'd make incredible sets, with dramatic skylines and everything, and have sexy music.
[trombone playing.]
[narrator.]
Whoa, not that sexy.
Griffin Bacal came on board, created the jingle.
The Transformers Robots in disguise.
More than meets the eye More than meets the eye.
To me, it's genius.
What you think you see isn't really what it is.
evil forces of the Decepticons Transformers! [narrator.]
And through the power of 1980s visual effects The child's head actually turned into a robotic head with glowing green eyes.
Robots in disguise [narrator.]
But soon, children's eyes would instead be beaming with joy, because in 1984, the toys from Japan had been suitably altered, as in given new stickers.
The ads were ready for broadcast.
The comic was being printed.
And finally, it was all systems go.
GoBots - [narrator.]
For GoBots.
- Say what? Um GoBots [narrator.]
And GoBots were made by Takara's competitor, Bandai.
Bandai was working with Tonka on something called GoBots.
[narrator.]
And GoBots were Japanese transforming robots that just so happened to beat Transformers to market by six months.
Damn it.
I think we were worried.
[horn blowing.]
[narrator.]
But a six-month head start isn't all that Tonka had on Hasbro.
Because while the more intricate designs of Transformers had the potential to appeal more to kids [boy.]
What I like is these are actual gadgets that can actually work.
[narrator.]
the considerably cheaper price point of GoBots was sure to catch the eye of budget-minded parents.
Tonka, with their GoBots, versus Hasbro with Transformers, was a real head-to-head.
[narrator.]
So would the children of America prefer the finely-crafted challenge of a Transformer.
[narrator.]
Or the cheap and cheerful chumminess of A GoBot.
[narrator.]
It was time to find out.
[Optimus Prime.]
Prepare for battle! [narrator.]
In spring of 1984, Transformers hit shelves across the country.
I think we all knew it was going to be big.
But it surprised us.
It was bigger than we thought.
[narrator.]
Big might be an understatement.
These are the Transformers, one of the fastest-selling toys in America.
[narrator.]
Sales of Transformers reached $115 million in 1984.
Folks, these robots are hot.
[narrator.]
The comic and advertising blitz had worked big time.
And soon enough, Transformers and GoBots were neck and neck in the race for the title of America's number one transforming robot.
Both companies say they've already had orders totaling more than $100 million.
In the December issue of People, there was a staged shot where Stephen Hassenfeld was on the floor, playing with a fun shot of his Transformers.
And unbeknownst to us, the head of Tonka was on the floor in his office, playing with GoBots.
And they set up the shot to look like there's two heads of companies going against each other with robotic toys.
I think the PR person was probably having a heart attack at that point.
[narrator.]
But the defibrillator was not required.
Because GoBots slowly stopped going, with sales dropping from over $100 million in 1984 to only $25 million in 1986.
I think the GoBots were not taken as seriously as Transformers.
They were more plastic and a lot flimsier.
Flip out the arms, pull down the legs, flip the guy over and he's done.
Leader-1, my internal sensors detect approaching Earthlings.
It was definitely lighthearted, and much more, I guess, kiddie-based.
Scooter, help me with Turbo.
Yeah, so.
I remember one time, my dad bought me a GoBot instead of a Transformer, and while we were at my grandma's for a summer cookout, I tossed the GoBot in the fire.
[narrator.]
And by 1987, Transformers had reduced GoBots to NoBots.
And why wouldn't they? After all, Transformers were already immensely popular in Japan as Diaclone and Micro Change.
No doubt their Japanese creators were very proud.
At first, I didn't like it.
I thought it was weird.
That huge truck and this tiny gun would go against each other? Optimus Prime was a truck, 20, 30 meters high.
But a gun is about 20, 30 centimeters.
[narrator.]
Well, he does have a point.
[Megatron.]
Transform! [Ryan Yzquierdo.]
Megatron does this mass displacement thing so he can change at will to whatever size he needs to be.
They never address that in the fiction.
It's just kind of one of those things you just have to accept.
[narrator.]
But there was something big about Megatron, the controversy he caused.
This is a pretty accurate Walther P38.
A sales guy would go into an airport with this in his carry-on, and one of them got stopped and had to show how to transform it, that it wasn't a real gun.
It was kind of inflammatory, but it was too cool of a product to avoid.
So that's what Megatron was.
[narrator.]
And of course, every cool product gets a cool animated series.
Transformers would be no exception.
Transformers More than meets the eye [Warden.]
When I was a little kid, I still remember coming home from school, turning on the TV, and Transformers was like an addiction.
[narrator.]
The cartoon was a worldwide smash, loved by everyone.
I didn't like it.
[narrator.]
Gee.
Tough crowd.
But soon, I fell for it and I was mesmerized.
I enjoyed it very much and loved it in no time.
[exclaiming.]
We went, "Whoa!" We felt something totally new had happened.
That was huge.
I thought this was a toy that can conquer the world.
Autobots, transform! [narrator.]
But it was that beloved character, Optimus Prime, that would help transform the series into a mega-hit.
The chief, the big boss, the top guy.
I was thinking, "I made him.
" [narrator.]
But Optimus Prime wasn't just made on precision Japanese machinery.
There's someone else who played a very big part in his creation.
My name is Peter Cullen and I am an actor.
[narrator.]
But not just any actor.
This actor was, and still is, the voice of that beloved big, red transforming truck.
All right, let's go home.
[as Optimus Prime.]
Autobots, roll out.
Okay.
If you don't know him as Optimus Prime, you probably would know him as Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh.
Just right for not much of a donkey.
You gotta make a living somehow.
The Decepticons are in position to return to Cybertron.
I don't know who [narrator.]
The sound of Peter Cullen's voice But I have an idea.
[narrator.]
isn't the only recognizable sound that the animated series produced.
That sound effect that you heard when the robots transformed in animation.
[imitating transforming.]
Every now and then in my office, I still find myself doing that.
[narrators.]
That first release of Transformers included 26 completely fascinating transforming robots.
Such as Soundwave.
[woman.]
This Transformer switches from tape recorder to Decepticon communicator and back again while the cassette itself becomes a bird.
[Soundwave.]
Eject.
The idea that he can store a guy in there, and deploy him into battle is fascinating.
His voice.
The fact that no one on TV sounded like that guy.
[Soundwave.]
Space cruiser fueled and ready for departure.
[imitating Soundwave.]
Megatron I am your loyal companion.
[narrator.]
But Hasbro was just getting started.
After that first year, which was intense enough, it went from 20 characters to We added another 120 characters.
[narrator.]
Bob, you around? [Budiansky.]
As much as I enjoyed writing certain characters I remember specifically I enjoyed writing Blaster for a few issues.
I'd have to give up on that character, push him aside to introduce a whole bunch of new characters.
That was frustrating as a writer.
So, in a very short time, we were working with him diligently to get these guys named, and personas made, and he had to come up with all of this stuff and he was it.
[narrator.]
No pressure, Bob.
It's only a multi-million dollar toy line on the line.
Our market in the US needs a lot more product pumped through it in a given year than a Japanese firm would.
[narrator.]
Hasbro would have to turn around a second wave of figures faster than you can transform Shrapnel into a robot stag beetle.
Wow.
This guy won't transform.
[narrator.]
Thankfully, there were still plenty of designs ready to be plucked from Takara's Diaclone and Micro Change back catalog.
A Japanese toy called Train Robo.
Unfortunately, this wasn't available in the American market.
[narrator.]
Some that did make it were the Dinobots.
- [boy 1.]
Dinobots will get 'em.
- [boy 2.]
Can't beat the Dinobots! Grimlock was a Tyrannosaurus rex, and I thought the idea of his jaws locking on somebody worked well in my imagination.
"Grim" gave him a certain amount of seriousness, so Grimlock sounded good to me.
I wish I had Grimlock.
[narrator.]
Along with the Dinobots, the second wave of Transformers in 1985 included Triple Changers.
The boombox communicator.
Blaster.
Inferno.
Smokescreen.
Red Alert.
But it still wasn't enough.
So, Hasbro scoured the Japanese toy market, looking to slap a Transformer sticker on any transforming robot they could find.
There's Jetfire.
Probably one of the favorites from this era.
[boy.]
Jetfire to the rescue! That was one of the items that wasn't made by Takara.
[narrator.]
But it was originally made by Takatoku Toys for their Macross toy line.
[announcer speaking Japanese.]
They go, "Oh, Macross has a transforming airplane? Give me the transforming airplane.
I'll stick that in here, too.
" This thing had nothing to do with Diaclone.
They're two different worlds.
But we don't care.
[narrator.]
It wasn't just the simple surface color that Hasbro was changing.
The robots' true colors were changing also.
In Diaclone days, the Constructicons were heroes.
But now, they were evil combiner warriors.
[boy.]
It's Devastator, six Constructicons in one! The Transformers [narrator.]
In fact, this was true of all the Transformers.
Originally, if you can believe it Megatron is the hero category for us in Japan.
[narrator.]
And as for our ultimate hero, Optimus Prime, well, you'd be surprised to learn Actually, for Optimus Prime, the idea of a truck being the leader was there since Diaclone.
[narrator.]
Long live Optimus Prime.
Then they said, we're making a movie.
Transformers! [narrator.]
In 1986, Transformers hit the big screen in a big way.
Big budget, big characters In such a big scale.
[narrator.]
And big names.
Galvatron.
[narrator.]
Not only was the film bigger and better, it had big ideas, too.
As we were writing the movie, our ideas about Transformers got incredibly sophisticated.
[narrator.]
And as kids flocked to movie theaters, they found out just how sophisticated Transformers: The Movie would be.
When the movie came out, we'd get on our bikes, ride to the theater.
I was so excited to finally see Optimus Prime kick butt.
[distorted.]
Kick but Kick butt I remember walking my brothers, under the auspices that I was "babysitting" them, to the theater and we watched it.
We knew what was gonna happen.
[transformer.]
the nuts inside! Twenty minutes in Megatron! we're like, "Holy shit.
" Die, Autobots! [Vonner.]
Ironhide gets shot and Ratchet is getting murked.
And it's like, "What is going on?" We're dead quiet, seeing all this carnage that's going on.
All this is 20 minutes into the movie.
This was almost too easy, Starscream.
Starscream is like - Megatron? - [imitating Starscream.]
"Is that you?" Yeah! I mean, he gets blasted.
That was one of the best death scenes in history.
Starscream crumbling down, all ash and everything, Galvatron walks over to the crown, steps on it, smears it like it's dog poop.
Will anyone else attempt to fill his shoes? We just wiped out everybody in grandiose fashion.
[narrator.]
Surely, he doesn't mean everybody.
It's over, Prime.
I wanted Optimus to die like John Wayne in The Alamo.
Everybody dies in the end.
I would've waited an eternity for this.
Megatron and Optimus Prime have this big battle and he gets blasted.
Fall! He gets knocked out and he's there on a table.
Do not grieve.
Soon, I shall be one with the Matrix.
[Warden.]
It wasn't even to the halfway point of the movie.
Seeing Optimus Prime turn gray and thinking to myself, "Oh, my God.
What is happening?" [Cullen.]
It was a very sad moment.
I was sitting with Frank Welker and we were reading the script.
And I got to that page and I went [groans emphatically.]
"Man, that's a bummer.
" That was a bummer.
You're thinking, as a little kid, "Did they really do that? He's dead.
Optimus Prime is dead.
" [Archer.]
In time and place, it's an amazing film to get a toy brand in theaters.
We wouldn't be where we are today without it.
But it was stupid to have him die.
Just bar none, stupid.
[narrator.]
With most people in shock for the remaining 65 minutes of the film, something had become quite evident.
Hasbro's mandate was, we need to get rid of the 1984 product line.
We need to introduce the 1986 product line, kill off the '84 guys.
And that's basically what they did.
Let's come up with the next guy.
That's the spirit, Rodimus.
That's the spirit.
[narrator.]
Making room for the next guy had left a generation with permanent emotional baggage.
You're every bit as good as Optimus Prime ever was.
Optimus Prime.
Who could live up to him? [narrator.]
Well, in terms of toy sales, no one.
In Japan, Transformers was losing steam.
Transformers sales were declining in Japan because it was an older idea.
The American nature was to keep going down that road.
We need more.
[Galvatron.]
I tell you, this is the end! [narrator.]
Far from it, but it was the end of an era between Takara and Hasbro.
For decades, the Japanese engineers had crafted intricate transforming robots.
And now, like a great Japanese sensei - [sensei.]
You are troubled, Autoboto- san? - Who, me? [narrator.]
Takara was passing the torch to their protégés.
Hasbro- san was ready.
The designers from the US side started to get more and more involved.
[narrator.]
So what would the Americans come up with? Power Master Transformers They've got the power to surprise You started to see design concepts like Micromasters.
- [announcer.]
Micromaster Battle Station.
- Action Master.
Action Masters! [announcer.]
New Action Masters are here.
They were kind of stuck.
They were running out of themes, running out of new ways to do Transformers.
They become just shells and a little robot comes out of the middle.
Beyond Beyond anything you've ever seen before They're not Transformers as much as hiders.
[announcer.]
It's a flying menace that transforms into a terrifying tank and laser cannon.
It turns into a what? [announcer.]
terrifying tank and laser cannon.
It's a I wouldn't say it was jumping the shark.
[narrator.]
Of course not.
That would be The Sharkticons [narrator.]
That's the Sharkticons.
Hmm? [narrator.]
Through the late '80s, Hasbro designed and released four more waves of Transformers.
But without Takara's ingenious input from the concept stage, profits slowly declined and customers just weren't very satisfied.
Then, that was kind of it.
[narrator.]
Well, that went well.
By 1991, the Transformers franchise had begun to crumble, like Starscream's carcass.
The three prongs of Hasbro's incredibly successful toy line retracted, one by one.
But like Optimus Prime himself, Transformers was brought back from the dead a few years later.
[transformer.]
Optimus.
Wait.
Optimus is in no condition to assume leadership.
[narrator.]
But like zombie Optimus Prime, it just wasn't the same.
Transformers had tried a number of different things that were slight variants on what they had done in the past.
We felt we needed to really shake it up.
[announcer.]
Beast Wars.
The next step in Transformer evolution is here.
morphs from raptor beast into a vicious robot We relaunched Transformers in a big way.
[narrator.]
And like the old days, this toy line had a cartoon series, using cutting-edge computer animation.
Well, cutting-edge for the time.
For so many Transformers fans, Beast Wars is the Transformers.
Fans just ate it up.
We loved it.
[narrator.]
It seemed like Transformers was back.
And it might be a coincidence, but you know who else was back? Takara.
A lot of those Transformers were designed in the Cincinnati office.
"Cheetor should look this way.
" Then Takara would come back and say, "Okay, here's how we might do that to make it physically work.
" Takara were absolute masters.
[narrator.]
Beast Wars re-established a firm working relationship between the toy companies.
And once again, Transformers, well, transformed like they should.
Beast Wars was a success.
It revitalized the brand, and set them down the eventual path towards the 2000s with the live-action movie.
[narrator.]
It was the dawn of a new era for Transformers.
I heard the names of Spielberg and Michael Bay and I was like, "What? This must be a mistake.
" [narrator.]
But make no mistake, when Transformers hit the big screen in 2007, fans could finally enjoy a tale of teenage romance.
There's a lot more than meets the eye, with you.
[narrators.]
Oh, all right.
And some Transformers.
[Optimus Prime.]
Autobots [narrator.]
But Transformers as we've never seen them before.
- [Optimus Prime.]
Roll out.
- [Jazz.]
We roll.
This one's got racing stripes.
[narrator.]
And this one's got flames.
Optimus Prime had never looked like this.
My name is Optimus Prime.
We were taken aback by it.
They were different designs, very organic.
They took on so many human elements.
Every part became more expressive, as a part of the human body, like muscles.
[narrator.]
And although some fans will never be happy with Hollywood's tinkering with the original design You fail me yet again.
[narrator.]
Transformers has become an action-packed franchise, with not just one or two movies.
There's three, four, and now, five films.
We never thought we'd see a Transformers movie like that.
I don't care if you like Michael Bay.
We never thought we'd see that.
It's a global phenomenon.
It's changed the game for Hasbro.
And they sold a lot of toys.
[narrator.]
The incredible transformation of these toys from Japan is not lost on the guys who came up with these marvelous machines 40 years earlier.
When I got involved with Transformers, I was just a designer in the Diaclone and Microman team.
I had no idea that Transformers would be like this.
That we can celebrate new films of them 30 years later.
Not in my wildest dreams.
Our creation was purchased, not only in Japan but also all over the world.
And the products were loved and became a huge hit.
It was unbelievable.
In that sense, I consider it as a treasure in my life.
And it gave us a confidence that our creation would be loved by children all over the world.
[narrator.]
But it's not just the look and high quality of these Japanese toys.
That's only half the story.
The other half is the story.
Without the tireless work of Bob Budiansky, these robots would be just that.
Robots.
It was a job.
And it was a job I did to the best of my ability and I enjoyed doing that job.
I'm as surprised as anyone that the Transformers is thriving and is bigger than ever.
It was not something I planned in the '80s, to plant the seeds today, and they'll make these $200 million movie productions 25 years from now.
Never thought about it that way.
He's the reason for a lot of this.
Big reason.
[narrator.]
Bob may have come up with the personalities of the Transformers, but it was Peter Cullen who breathed life into the mightiest Transformer of them all.
I originally based the character of Optimus Prime on my brother, a former Marine.
"Peter, where are you going?" "I'm going to audition for a hero in a cartoon series.
" He said, "Peter, if you're gonna be a hero, be a real hero.
Don't be one of those Hollywood heroes pretending they're tough guys, when they're not.
Just be strong and real.
Tell the truth.
Be strong enough to be gentle.
" So he had a lot of influence on me, you know, and especially coming back from Vietnam.
I noticed somebody different So, yeah, going into that audition Larry was with me.
I mean, he was right there beside me.
When I read the script, Larry's voice just came out.
I am Optimus Prime.
But he was my hero.
[narrator.]
And Optimus Prime was our hero.
- "He is the leader of the Autobots.
" - [Optimus Prime.]
Let's roll.
"Optimus uses his skills to heal and repair, and to improve the world around him.
And if necessary, to destroy.
" [Optimus Prime.]
You're finished, Megatron! He's a symbol of safety.
[cheering.]
[Cullen.]
A good father figure.
"And also the largest, strongest and wisest of them.
" [narrator.]
Optimus Prime.
Long may he reign.
Yeah.
[narrator.]
Optimus Prime and the rest of the Transformers have come a long, long way from where they began.
But whatever they were, now and forever, they'll be remembered this way.
Optimus Prime, leadership.
Megatron is very confident.
Starscream, he's a tricky guy.
Bumblebee, sweet boy.
And Soundwave is very dependable.
[narrator.]
And how about Yoke- san's favorite, Perceptor? Perceptor, here we go.
I have to be careful with Perceptor because I kept saying that character was me.
I don't want to disappoint the fans.
[narrator.]
When it comes to Yoke- san, it's probably best to let other people describe him.
Yoke- san had a genius for the mechanical engineering that was the heart of this toy.
He could see how to go from stationary object, car, plane, boat, animal, insect, mineral God knows we changed everything, into a robot, and do it with a puzzle complex, so that it wasn't just flip, flip.
It was changing and changing and it made it part of the puzzle process.
That's where we, Microman and Diaclone Development Team, used to work.
Right there.
When he was here for his retirement ceremony, we found an original 1980s Perceptor and we left a special message in there for him.
Yeah, if you look into here, it says, "Thank you.
" Amazing.
[Warden.]
The words of Yoke- san were also very powerful.
He said, "This world of Transformers is yours.
" And it is his pleasure to pass it on to the next generation to create.
And really, that was his vision.
It was not just to take credit for anything, or be the master of Transformers, but to let it be a powerful vessel for future generations.
He said, "This ship will continue on without me.
" [theme song playing.]