Back to the Drawing Board: In this regular magzine series, Kidscreen looks back on the unexpected origin stories of today’s hottest kid franchises. 

Before becoming the iconic Autobot leader, Optimus was piloted by Diaclone drivers to fight off evil alien insects as Convoy

Hasbro proved there was “more than meets the eye” in market potential when it launched its 40-year-old Transformers franchise way back in 1984.

Company execs discovered the forerunner to Transformers toys at the Tokyo Toy Show in 1982. Japanese toyco Takara had launched a sci-fi toy line called Diaclone two years previously that featured transforming robots piloted by humans, doing battle against insectoid warriors called Waruders. “When we acquired the toy rights to Diaclone, we wanted to create a whole new universe of characters,” says Tom Warner, Hasbro’s SVP and head of franchise management and strategic planning for action brands.

By the time Hasbro secured the rights, Takara had created more than 30 original transforming toys. The bulk of the heroic Autobots originated from Diaclone’s Car Robots sub-line—including battle commander Convoy, which eventually evolved into stoic leader Optimus Prime.

After scrapping Diaclone’s Waruder enemies, Hasbro needed new characters to set up as the deceitful Decepticons. It found the answer with Takara’s Micro Change line of robot toys, which were modeled after common household objects of the time, like cassette players, watches and binoculars.

Takara launched its Micro Change toy line in 1983 with robots that disguised themselves as ordinary household items, such as watches, cameras and… a 9 mm handgun

Hasbro also westernized some problematic toys—giving Megatron’s Walther P38 handgun mode a bright paint scheme and decals to shift away from a more realistic gun design, for example.

Since launching, the Transformers franchise has expanded into animated TV series, feature films and comic book runs to stay fresh with its loyal consumer base.

“I think we’re just at the beginning of Transformers,” says Warner. “The franchise continues to evolve because it has timeless characters and a loosely defined story that you can change and play with in so many ways.”

This story originally appeared in Kidscreen‘s February/March 2024 magazine issue.