help...transformer date first issue!!!

[hector]

c"mon clever clogs...when was the first transformer toy issued...earlier it has been discussed about dino bot horikawa.. i love horikawa...anyway back to buisness..true transformers...turning from one entity to another..Digging through my mountain of robots i stumbled upon a very interesting robot . he"s obviously 70"s..battery operated..transforms from a fighter jet into a robot..im sorting some photo"s..c"mon dudes?dudettes..give me a date...surely the animation came before the marketing....educate me people..hector is a blank screen with one flashing icon..awaiting input...

[Fenrir72]

If you have the original Megatron toy, or even Soundwave, you'd see the Takara copyright 1974. Heck if you want the real skinny.......Microman was indeed the progenitor to Transformers....including Diaclone.

[hector]

thanks fenrir72 for your imformation..i gather from your description that the robots from takara are top drawer!!..unfortunately this fighter robo was booted up in china..still he is an old school design.there is no company name just a logo...a white circle with a red outline and the letters msk?..the box has that distinctive old book smell..1974..wow!!..thats earlier than i imagined..transformers...i"ve so much to learn..thanx for replying fenrir72..you will be mentioned in despatches!!!!

[cybermuton]

Hi - I certainly stand to be corrected here, but I do remember reading somewhere that the 1974 stamp relates to the date of copyright of the Microman/Microchange toy line, and not necessarily the date of the manufacture of the toy.

As far as I know for sure, the Takara Henshin Cyborg line was current in 1974, and can be seen as the most clearly direct descendant of the Takara TF line.
Cyborg, with his interchangeable limbs, and significantly his motorcycle/sidecar attachments (in which his torso formed the frame of the bike), is clearly an early transforming toy.
(As an aside, Cyborg himself came from Combat Joe, a licensed remould from Hasbro's GI Joe...)

The success of the Cyborg toys and storyline (defending earth from the Waruder empire), begat the introduction of the 'life size' Micromen.
At only 3 inches tall, they were given the Biotron/Robotman to ride around in, which was intended to tie them to the 12-inch Henshins.

These Micromen were 'life size', that is, they were supposed to be tiny men in our regular world, and were supposed to fight the Waruders assisted by various bits of disguised household stuff, including Tape Players, Binoculars, Microscopes, and Guns. These household items would be converted around a bit to become robots or weapons which could then be used in the Waruder fights.
(Check out your Megatron. Make all the attachments into the cannon, and you'll find a seat and handlebars on which a Micronaut can happily perch...).
These converting - transforming toys were the MicroChange series - identified by their 'MC' designation.

Anyway, these transforming items got popular, and were joined by others - primariily cars and aeroplanes, and these were developed and sold alongside the Microman range as Diaclones in 1979/80 and beyond.

When Transformers came along (and that's a whole other Hasbro story), Takara rebadged as many of these transforming Diaclones or MicroChanges as they possibly could.

Thus the MicroChange MC13 UNCLE Walther became Megatron,
The MC01 and up cars became Spybots (Back to the 'lifesize' storyline, these were penny racers (Choroqs) in Micronaut land...
The MicroChange 1910 became Browning,
CassetteMan became Soundwave, etc. etc.

Equally, from the Diaclone line,
Ligier became Mirage,
280ZX became Prowl/Bluestreak/Smokescreen
F15 became Starscream,
Convoy became Optimus, etc. etc.

Wherever the toy came from the Microman line, you get the 1974 stamp.

Back to that stamp - there's a conclusive bit of evidence that often gets missed...

That is that the 1974-stamped Soundwave is clearly a Walkman-style tape player.

The first ever Sony Walkman didn't come out until 1979 -with the invention of the first cassette Walkman TPS-L2

Also, the Nissan 280ZX didn't appear until May 1979.

I know Takara are pretty clever, but to invent the Walkman merely to make a toy of it is pretty advanced thinking...

Hope it's helpful!

Tony

[hector]

tony...you rule...thats an incredible history...im going to keep your reply its a veritable feast of knowledge..it so happens that the robo-fighter i have is an f15 fighter...with eagle 515 across the wing span..item no 8648..which is also tatooed on the robot..i must admit..it was made in china..but its only the hand held controller that shows any lack of quality..batteries must be bigger these days..( i"ve come across this before)..they"re a very tight fit....i"m going to try and post an image..it could all end in tears...thanx a lot tony.......hector(were not worthy..were not worthy!)

[Fenrir72]

Indeed! A much concise explanation. I always wanted to mention the connection between Megatron and the "Man from U.N.C.L.E" T.V. show. You beat me to it! I salute you CYBERMUTTON. ;D But as for Soundwave being the precursor to "walkman", you know how "advance" them japanese engineers were at the time.......heck, walkman was probably released much earlier there than in the U.S. Take the NES or the PSOne.........NES....1983, PSOne...........1994. A good analogy at best.