As everyone wants to know, I'll pin this post: the final image seen in this video is the cover of the guidebook, "Takara SF Land Evolution." Some of the other characters you can see in the art include White Leo and Big Serow from "Beastformers," a TF-spinoff line Hasbro released as "Battle Beasts"  (who'll get a video of their own one day!); Steel Jeeg, a 1970s anime super-robot created by Go Nagai, who Mego retooled and recoloured in black to create "Micronauts" villain Baron Karza;  1980s tokusatsu heroes Cybercop and Gridman, along with Gridman mecha God Zenon; and girl's action-figure/doll hybrid "Cool Girl."

Sadly, the toyline was discontinued by a cosmically-powered Starscream.

“Before time began... there was Diaclone.”

Much better than The Toys That Made Us' explanation.

This is basically the Toys that Made Us, but way more detailed and without the dumb skits lol


Edit: Toys that Made Us does have many good interviews at least, so it wasn't all bad.

Cosmically powered Starcream did not offline diaclone or microman?  I’m shocked!  Congrats Chris.  What an amazing series and lore archive that is exceptionally produced.  Saturday mornings with Frosted Flakes and Transformers just like the 80s

This video is weirdly well-timed, given that Dennis O'Neil just passed away.

I can't imagine Transformers without Optimus Prime, so it's good to know his legacy lives on in the Transformers franchise, as well as in other media.

Rip denny o Neil you will be missed😢

Who'd have thought that Transformers has roots all the way in the origin of action figures themselves

Jesus! I got sucked into this channel and just spent a ridiculous amount of the past week listening to an Irish dude with a weirdly charismatic voice fill my brain with Transformers trivia...
I regret nothing.

“Hold on to your dreams, the future is built on dreams”

So bob is basically the original vector sigma?

In Dan Gilvezan's book Bumblebee and Me, he wrote that whoever came up with the idea of importing the Diaclone and Microchange lines and licensing them as Transformers should have a wing named after them at Hasbro HQ.
So where do you think the Harry Orenstein wing is?

This channel =
Every thing you need to know about transformers.

I love how comic history intersects with toy history. If it wasn't for Jim Shooter's infamously hands-on approach to editing, Danny O'Neil could've replaced Budiansky.

Kinda appropriate that this episode lands so close to Denny ó Neil's passing.
I'm surprised his naming of optimus prime wasn't lauded more in the press. Yes he's more known for his batman work but that acclaim is up there with naming captain America or the like in terms of pop cultural influence .
Rip man.

And great vid Chris. Well done on the sub count

My dad was always dismissive of these "half-hour commercials":  Transformers, GI Joe, Go-Bots, Laser Tag, and so on.  But the ones that stick with us, that we still care about today, were so much more than just "half-hour commercials."  I think starting off with character profiles was the best decision Hasbro made for GI Joe and Transformers.  With a solid basis for every character, not only could stories to draw out the characters be easily told, but the Transformers series especially could go back to that basic character profile and take it in a new direction for a new series.  Like War for Cybertron choosing to explore an Optimus Prime who feels burdened by leadership and can't carry it effortlessly like Classic Optimus does.  It means there's always new potential, at least, for every new iteration of the Transformers, and at its core are characters that audiences will connect with and get invested in.

No mention of how Diaclone colors are often used for Shattered Glass versions of characters like Ultra Magnus?

I’ve heard this story told a million times, but it will never fail to be interesting, especially when it’s narrated by you!

Those henshin Cyborg Kamen rider toys looks great

I love how, in typical TF fashion, they used the Diaclone name a few ways in the TF lore itself. From TFWiki, there’s Diac the Titan Master, a human named Dia, and DAIAKURON, a living planet who is the creator of Primus & Unicron in the TF VS GI Joe comic series.

On the subject of proto-Transformers itself, I first became aware of some of the basic details through Internet reviewer SFDebris and his miniseries “Rolling out the Transformers”. Also that one episode of the Toys that Made Us which seemed a little too disengenuois and tried too hard to act sarcastic & cool. Regardless though it’s still fascinating to watch the process of how Transformers came to be and that its story of its conception was more than meets the eye.