Even the most casual of fans are aware of the Transformers' previous life in Japan before Hasbro Westernized the concept for a new audience in the early 1980s. As the lore goes, sometime around 1983, Hasbro representatives attended the Tokyo Toy Show and discovered the transforming Diaclone and Micro Change toys. Intrigued, deals were made with Japanese toy companies like Takara, and eventually, the Transformers brand was born.

What's less known, and still shrouded in some mystery, is what occurred behind the scenes before the property fans recognize today as the Transformers emerged. And what's being uncovered is rather surprising.

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The (Truly) Mysterious Mysterians

The Mysterians logo.

Before the existence of the Transformers brand, before even the involvement of Hasbro, there was the curious case of the toy company Knickerbocker and their canceled Mysterians line. Before Hasbro reps traveled to Japan and saw those early transforming toy cars, Knickerbocker executives had their own discovery during a trip to Japan. The executives were charmed by a small keychain that transformed from a train to a robot. Soon, Knickerbocker developed a toy line called "The Mysterians," with DC Comics hired to develop the lore and create small comics that could be packaged with the toys. (During the 1980s, toylines like Masters of the Universe and Super Powers took great advantage of similar mini-comics.) The concept was developed in 1982 with plans for a 1983 release.

Vehicles in the Mysterians line, the original American take on the Transformers.

Over the years, images from the Mysterians have surfaced. Two sub-lines were planned to launch the Mysterians: The Hidden Force, which resembled 1950s-style sci-fi robots and transformed into simple geometric shapes, and The Mobile Force, which transformed into automobiles. The retro-style robots are little more than a historical curiosity, but Transformers fans were later stunned to see early photos of the Mobile Force toys online. These are the toys that would later find release as Transformers; specifically, the early Autobots Gears, Huffer, Brawn, and Windcharger. Confusingly, before their release in the West, early versions of those robots were a part of Takara's 1983 Micro Change toy line in Japan. They were joined by the small robots fans know today as Bumblebee, Cliffjumper, and Bumper (or "Bumblejumper" -- the Cliffjumper toys mistakenly painted yellow, like Bumblebee).

For years, fans assumed that the stylized "M" on the figures represented Micro Change. However, the recent discovery of Knickerbocker concept art has confirmed that the "M" is for Mysterian. It's unknown if Knickerbocker and Takara had a business relationship in the early 1980s that predated Takara's partnership with Hasbro. In late 1982, Hasbro purchased Knickerbocker, a move that would ultimately spell the end for the Mysterians. There's also the possibility that, prior to bringing the concepts to America, Hasbro made a deal with Takara to use Knickerbocker's terminated concepts (which Hasbro now owned) in Japan.

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"It Was Awful"

Concept art for the abandoned Muffy & the Mysterians profile.

Just how close did '80s kids come to pestering their mothers for Mysterian toys instead of Transformers? Closer than most realize. Before the Hasbro buy-out, Knickerbocker executives had second thoughts about the Mysterians comics material created by DC. Perhaps inspired by Marvel's success in re-imagining the G. I. Joe line for Hasbro, Knickerbocker met with DC's chief competitor to explore other options. On his blog, former Marvel editor-in-chief Jim Shooter would offer a detailed history of the Mysterians/Transformers origins and recount his meeting with the Knickerbocker executives:

Marvel Comics was their second choice as a creative services provider. They had gone to DC Comics first. The executive who approached us showed us what DC had created for them. It was a comic book. He only had photocopies. I don’t believe the thing was ever printed.

It was awful. Apologies to whomever created that thing, but it was pathetic and wrong-headed to an unbelievable degree. The art was well-drawn, I’ll allow that, but the storytelling was chaotic. The story, as best one could discern it, was unnecessarily, excessively dark and violent. The dialogue was peppered with “Hells” and “damns,” and I can’t swear to it almost 30 years later, but I think there was a “bastard” or two in there.

Shooter then recounts developing concepts for Marvel's Mysterians comic book. One that was actually promoted by Marvel in its Marvel Age series and solicited for release. According to the blurb, the book featured "a trio of otherwordly robots stranded on Earth -- will they save the world or destroy it?" Famed X-Men artist Dave Cockrum even had to rename his upcoming graphic novel from The Mysterions (spelled with an "O") to The Futurians to avoid any confusion.

With Hasbro purchasing and dissolving Knickerbocker, however, the comic was canceled before its release. A note in Marvel Age #2 explained: "The Mysterians will remain mysterious. The toy company folded, and the title was dropped, undoubtedly making it the shortest lived series on record."

While it's clear Hasbro's acquisition of Knickerbocker killed the Mysterians, there is the question of whether Hasbro would've ever explored transforming toy robots without Knickerbocker's developmental work. The story of Hasbro representatives coming across the toy robots in Japan might be only part of the tale. After acquiring and shuttering a rival, Hasbro wouldn't seem to have much motivation to give it any credit for one of its largest successes.

As of today, none of the art from Marvel's Mysterians comic has surfaced. This isn't true, however, for another odd iteration of these proto-Transformers.

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Seriously…"Muffy?"

Muffy, based on Transformers character Bumblebee.

While Shooter conceived The Mysterians as an action-adventure title with heavy stakes, on the west coast, Marvel Productions had very different ideas on how to dramatize Knickerbocker's toy concepts. Although they shared a name and owner, Marvel Comics and Marvel Productions (which intended to use Marvel properties in all media but only succeeded in producing animation) did not have a harmonious relationship during this era. Shooter contends that the west coast operation viewed the comics staff with contempt, which is perhaps why Shooter's development on The Mysterians was ignored by Marvel Productions staffer Dennis Marks (who also conceived the kid-friendly Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends).

As Shooter recounts on his blog:

Dennis spoke about what the studio proposed to do with the Mysterions property, which was to completely ignore my work and do something completely different. And stupid. With cute, wacky kids and a goofy dog.

That was the only time the Knickerbocker people showed any life. They told Dennis that they wanted what I had created, not what he was talking about. They couldn’t understand where he was coming from. Didn’t he read the treatment?

Dennis was flabbergasted. Seemed he couldn’t believe that they were taking anything done by the comic book people seriously. Dennis’s said, exactly: “I’m completely at sea, here.” Yes, Dennis, you were, and maybe still are.

The "cute, wacky kids and a goofy dog" concept apparently had the working title of Muffy and the Mysterians. What on earth is Muffy? A transforming Volkswagen -- obviously the character we now know as Bumblebee -- named "Muffler," or Muffy" for short. He would be joined by three kids named Matt, Eddie, and Wendy, in addition to their dog Burt. The characters would star in silly adventures, similar to the countless other "kids and their dog" cartoons of the era, a genre popularized by 1969's Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!

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No, Seriously -- "A Robot's Best Friend is His Dog?"

Concept art for Muffy & the Mysterians, the abandoned original concept for Transformers.

Even Muffy and the Mysterians is surrounded by its own unanswered questions. It's known that animation writer Jeffrey Scott did development work on an earlier, far less violent iteration of The Transformers with the intention of selling it as a Saturday morning series for CBS. Scott created a series bible and penned a pilot named "A Robot's Best Friend is His Dog." Although this material has never been released, the presence of a friendly dog matches Dennis Mark's pitch, and it's been reported that Scott's pilot also featured human characters named Matt and Eddie.

While Shooter maintains that he didn't recycle his Mysterians pitch when later developing the Transformers concept with Hasbro, it would seem Marvel Productions couldn't make the same claim. After failing to sell Muffy and the Mysterians as the animated Transformers, Marvel Productions apparently tried yet again to pitch the show, independent of any toy tie-ins. This time, the series would be known as Muffy in Car and Cable, or perhaps simply Car and Cable.

A salvaged interview with Marvel Productions about Muffy & the Mysterians.

Much of what we know of Car and Cable comes from an article on Marvel Productions that ran in the January 1985 issue of Comics Feature magazine. Aside from teases of Marvel shows that never made it to air -- including Daredevil and Lightning the Superdog, a series that would've given the vigilante a seeing-eye dog sidekick -- the article spotlights Car and Cable. The blog Slow Robot has archived the article, which really is an amazing artifact of that era.

In 2020, on the "consumercollectibles" Instagram, previously unreleased Car and Cable images were published (and even more are now featured on the unofficial Marvel Index site), revealing the robot Transformers fans know as Prowl holding a weapon that also has elements of the gun included with the original Optimus Prime toy. This would seem to be more evidence that the material Marvel attempted to sell as Car and Cable had already been used in the Transformers line. (Raising the question of just how much of this material could've been used without Hasbro's involvement.) There's also the possibility that Car and Cable had been abandoned by the time of the Comics Feature article but was included simply to showcase all the projects Marvel Productions had worked on as of that date. Other artwork in the article shows earlier versions of Amazing Friends (including Firestar's original name, "Heatwave.") There's also a proto-version of Transformers, featuring the early Marvel Studios concept that had teens actually piloting the robots.

A salvaged interview with Marvel Productions about the Transformers.

While some of these questions might never be answered, it's fascinating to consider these radically different takes on the Transformers concept. Without the hopelessly obscure Mysterians, would the Transformers even exist? And would the franchise still endure as a multi-billion-dollar property if it had been introduced to Americans via a talking dog and a yellow Volkswagen named Muffy?