![]() These toys were the Command Center, Thruster, and Zod. market, Tonka created a few of their own toys to be part of the Gobot line. In order to fill the line out for the U.S. Tonka changed the name of the toy line to the Gobots. The agreement between Tonka and Bandai allowed Tonka to import the toys to the United States. So, Tonka entered a partnership with Bandai to bring Bandai's Machine Robo toys to North America. After seeing the results of the Diakron line Tonka officials realized that there was a place in the United States market for transforming robots. Tonka had by this time heard the news about what was happening at Hasbro. Machine Robo enjoyed moderate success in Japan, and this caught the attention of executives at Tonka. In 1982 Bandai, a Japanese toy company began producing a toy line of transforming robots called Machine Robo. By 1983 the pre-production of both the Transformers toys and cartoon was underway. In 1983 Bob Budianski was brought in to flesh the idea out more and give life to the Concept of Transformers. The Hasbro contacted Griffin-Bacal Advertising Company to help come up with ideas for the new toy line. Hasbro also decided to license parts of the Micro Change and Diaclone lines from Takara and market the two series under one name, Transformers. Beginning in 1982 the company started to recapture all of the designs, concepts, and works. Hassenfeld Brothers, now Hasbro, had been watching Takara's success. ![]() This line was never marketed to the mainstream so it did not enjoy the success of most mainstream toy liens, but it did prove to be successful. They would market this line in the United States under the name Diakron. Also in 1983 Takara began to market a series of robots that turned into various vehicles know as Diaclone. They began to produce robots that could turn into normal everyday objects. ![]() In 1983 Takara took the idea of transforming robots to new levels with their Micro Change series. This was just the beginning, because Takara was about to take the Micro Change line a few more steps forward. The result was yet another line named Micro Change. Both Hassenfeld Brothers and Takara decided to combine this line with the transforming accessories Hassenfeld had developed. Takara decide to reset the Microman line and reintroduce the line as New Microman. In 1981 both Takara and Hassenfeld Brothers would put the patent to use. This toy would later be released as Megatron. In 1974 the company received the first patent for first transforming toy figure. Under the direction of Stephen Hassenfeld, Hassenfeld Brothers began working on scaled accessories for either the Microman or G.I. However, the two companies were not done working with each other. Joe figure that looked more like a cyborg. In order to appeal to the Japanese market Stephen Hassenfeld developed a different type of G.I. The two companies worked together to create the Microman line based on Hassenfeld Brothers' G.I. Hasbro had already formed a partnership with Japanese toy maker Takara in 1969, when Hasbro, then known as Hassenfeld Brothers was looking to expand into Japan. The idea of Transforming robots was nothing new to Hasbro. The beginning of the Transformers goes further back then 1984. The competition would come to a head in 1984, when both companies released products that on the surface were very similar to one another, robots that could change into something else. Hasbro was known for a wide range of games and toys, mainly G.I. Tonka was popular for their toy trucks and construction vehicles. Both were constantly competing in the market with one another to get parents to buy their products for children. Both Hasbro and Tonka were two of the biggest toy companies in the United States during the 1980's.
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