TFWiki posted this on their Twitter feed, reportedly where Hasbro reps first noticed the Microman/Diaclone lines:

https://twitter.com/tfwiki/status/421823465427968000


Here's a direct link to the video itself:

Great footage, I can't imagine what it would have been like to see this for the first time. Apologies if it's been posted previously.

 

This is obscenely cool.

 

Yeah that's a moment to frame.

The Diaclone/Microman displays that shaped all of our lives.


-ZacWilliam, still wish they'd brought over the Trainbots too.

 

Notice the wheeljack prototype in the begining, so cool.

 

The Transformers (Though I guess I should be saying Diaclone) stuff was pretty neat, and seeing Kamen Rider X and Dynaman was pretty cool too!

 

Agreed. That is a goldmine of pure awesome, right there. Just... wow.

 

Seeing those then-future Transformers was really cool, Especially when it got to the Diakron Watch Robots. I'd always wondered what those looked like. Now I've seen 'em in-box.


Just looking at those toy guns (NO ORANGE CAPS!) makes me feel all warm and fuzzy even though stringent replica firearm laws have been in effect since before I was born.

Kenner's Star Wars... back when they were still a subsidiary of Tonka

Seeing the Machine Robos (Then-Future Gobots) with their more humanoid Proportions makes me wonder what Transfandom would be like if the Hasbro reps had gone with the Bandai robots rather than the Takara Robots Hasbro ended up going with. Would Tonka had adopted the Takara Robots? Would Tonka have eclipsed Hasbro instead of being absorbed by them?

 

The Genesis of Transformers. It must've been mind-blowing at the time.

 

If Hasbro reps noticed Microman and Diaclone toys in 1983, thats a really short window until 1984 to get things prepped and out, along with the cartoon. Unless they did things faster in the old days.  

 

I remember reading that the cartoon was fast tracked like crazy.  

 

There is evidence throughout the early 1984 toy line of rushed marketing. From early seaker wings having manually sanded down tips to meet US safty standards, to early Optimus prime with the Diaclone super launcher still intact, and some early Prowls even had diaclone labeled stickers. Hasbro saw a gold mine and acted fast.

 

Really cool find. A time capsule indeed.
Filled with wonderful toys.
That Machine Robo booth  

 

This video is filled with win!

 

WOW!!! That is living history right there! Awesome find!!

 

3:00 - reminded me immediately of a scene in "The Deer Hunter". Great effing video!

 

I wish I had a cool toy show like that in California besides BotCon and SDCC. Even those cons I don't always get to go.

 

Great footage by whoever took it, documenting each company and their product. An amazing year not just for robot toy fans, but toys in general. The remote control submarines were awesome !

 

This is simply amazing, how many freaking years have we had to wait to something like see this? Hell just pictures would have been mindblowing, the video is more than I could have hoped for.

I loved seeing all the pre-production mock-up stuff for Diaclone and Microman, the Magnum 44 mock-up packaging and the Wheeljack/Lancia Stratos Turbo prototype were especially cool. What a fine display of Trainrobos too, that quite simply didn't meet Hasbro's interest   (Or GiG's, or Ceji Joustra's...). I believe the pre-Mirage Ligier is also a prototype in very late stages, maybe hand-painted mock-up resin, it just looks a little different.

The toy featured immediately after, the Turbo Magnum, that's a massively historic piece in Transformers history too as it seems according to that George Dunsay interview, Hasbro promised Takara they would buy and market that in North America. The deal didn't happen and Dunsay said they gave Takara the rights to release Transformers in Japan as a sort of exit strategy from that deal. I actually own one of the (if not the) Turbo Magnum Takara samples found in Hasbro possession from the time.

Here it is with the European Ceji Joustra version...



All the best
Maz

 

Amazing find. This is what the internet is good at.

Equally amazing stuff from Maz - how much did that deal cost Hasbro in the long run? How different would the brand be now if Hasbro had a global lock on it?

Food for thought....

 

Man, this is so awesome.