#hans-cuff

Back in August 2012, Sydney played host to its first (and last) Heroes & Villains Pop Culture Expo. They dedicated the Sunday morning panel to a trio of comic book creators, who over the space of an hour, discussed and dissected the trials and tribulations of the publishing industry. It wasn't long before parallel development became a heated topic. One creator expressed enthusiasm over a new graphic novel idea; humanity is about to go extinct in the future, so they use time travel to zip back millions of years and rebuild the species. The outline was approved and story ready to go... until Kelly Marcel and Craig Silverstein's Terra Nova was announced. All their hard work? Instantly gone.

What's that got to do with Transformers? This month's robotic retrospect looks at two instances when the series was directly competing against itself, one where a competitor steals the same idea first, plus a bonus entry from a time when they... fought to survive accusations of being public enemy number one. So much senseless in-fighting. Can't we all just get along? No? Alrighty.

11th April 1984: Hoping to win the transforming toy robot race before it even began, Bandai Australia attempted to trademark the word "Transformers" for their ongoing Machine Men figures. For a brief time, both names are slapped on packaging released here and New Zealand.

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When two tribes go to war, a point is all that you can score. And there were plenty of points on offer in 1984. Frankie Goes To Hollywood took a shameless swing at oil-oozed capitalist America and their delusions of nuclear grandeur, reaching fourth on the local music charts. Marvel Comics' greatest heroes clashed in their almighty 12 month shadow duel. A second election was held in as many years, cementing Bob Hawke's position as Prime Minister.

Yet one Secret War remains exactly that. On the left stood Bandai and their Sydney legal powerhouse Spruson & Ferguson. Up against them, Milton Bradley packing their own Sydney solicitors Baker McKenzie. The prize? Determine once and for all who deserved to use the name "Transformers" on their converting plastic toy robots.

Two people pushing the same yet distinct idea for total market control? A tale as old as time. Although these toys were described by news media as "An origami R2-D2", the potential $100 million industry was no laughing matter. Already having success with their Machine Men, Bandai swooped first and trademarked the name, hastily adding it to their products in bright yellow sans-serif font. Milton Bradley were less than impressed. Letters were sent and barbs were thrown, resulting in months of bureaucratic battles.

By October, the war had ended. Bandai withdrew their application and Milton Bradley's plans went ahead. When interviewed by The Sydney Morning Herald over this impending robo revolution, they attempted to save face by printing design chief Seiichi Haga's oft-quoted "Japanese children have always liked mechanical systems as well as all kinds of vehicles, so that gave us the idea to combine them" remark. But the press smelt blood and queried about their rival splurging $8 million on advertising. Bandai deflected with "We invent names that sound strong and futuristic. Foreign-sounding words are catching", followed by a list of their most popular robot toys, including GoBots.

Round One? Hasbro.

15th April 2019: Coles Supermarket dipped its toes into selling Signature Publishing's Transformers Rescue Bots magazine, offering shoppers an "exclusive" edition of issue 17. The partnership worked out, and by late 2020, they became said magazine's sole local distributor.

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The latter 1980's were a grand time for comic enthusiasts. Dropping by a local newsagent offered a bounty of books; from Uncanny X-Men to The New Teen Titans and so many in between. But in particular for Transformers fans, the inclusion of Marvel US and UK titles ensured Aussie got the best of both worlds.

Fast forward three decades and the market has fallen apart. The loss of Dark Horse's Star Wars: Legacy and Archie Sonic the Hedgehog in November and December 2014 delivered the 32 page floppy format's final blow. An invasion of imported British magazines boasting free gifts became the way of the future, winning out similarly to the 2000's battle between K-Zone and Disney Adventures, where bigger was seen by cash-strapped parents as better.

And it was through these periodicals that Transformers made their triumphant return after a five year absence. Arriving last week of 2015 was Signature's first 'Robots in Disguise'. Priced at $8.50, young fans could now read the adventures of their new favourite characters. Yet if one monthly fix wasn't enough, history soon repeated itself. Joining the party in February 2019 was 'Rescue Bots', which in typical Australian fashion, kicked off with issue 15.

So what made this "exclusive" edition special compared to its newsagent counterpart? Why, the inclusion of a new Optimus Primal toy, ready to compliment next month's "Bumblebee Dino Bot". Was it excess stock sold on the cheap? Was one of Coles' upper echelons a Transformers fan? Perhaps the latter. It must've done well, for beginning with issue 32 in October 2020, Coles were the only store to stock copies.

Readers who missed Primal would have to wait until he resurfaced with Academy-approved packaging in issue 41. Or 48. Or 52. But ultimately both magazines, and Signature itself, went extinct. Shortly after Rescue Bots' final issue, it along with rival Kennedy Publishing were amalgamated into Claverley Group Ltd., bringing 19 years of family friendly features to an end.

19th April 1987: Canberra's Bruce Jones takes aim at The Transformers in a scathing Sydney Morning Herald article, proclaiming a direct link between the TV series and increased violent behaviour at schools. So which character do they use to draw reader attention? Voltron.

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Ah, the Australian mainstream media. Can't live with them. Can live without them? In their ever-desperate, conservative-leaning bid to perpetually win The Right Side of History™, it doesn't take much for a person, politician or brand to go from yesterday's dream teen to media trash queen. The 80's were no different, as barely a week after running a colouring contest to win Betamax and VHS copies of their first movie, The Transformers became blacklisted under The Sydney Morning Herald's poison pen of publishing persecution.

"Kids Copy TV Violence at School!" bellowed their bold, boisterous headline. Taking up top third of page 19, Bruce dove into detailing a Federal Parliamentary Committee meeting over whether to include mandatory messages of "Research shows violent and degrading entertainment has a harmful effect on children and adults" on videos. Spearheading talks were Joint Select Committee on Video Martial chairman Dr Dick Klugman, plus National Coalition on Television Violence research director Dr Thomas Radecki.

A controversial figure then as now, no expense was spared in Radecki's mission to demonizing Cybertron's finest. According to studies carried out among Australian schools, "Children playing Transformer war games were more likely to lose their tempers and get into fights", "Develop aggressive attitudes in school" and "Were more likely to get into drugs"! He further took aim at the Australian Censorship Board's decision to give the show a G rating.

"It is an extremely violent war cartoon produced by Hasbro Toys, America's second largest toy company... to maximize the sale of Transformer war toys", and how "Violent entertainment was a $20 billion a year industry, with war toy sales of $1.2 billion". Other 'offensive' cartoons such as ABC's 'Battle of the Planets' and 'Mysterious Lost Cities (sic) of Gold' took a hit, though in spite of being used for the article's eye-catching image, The Herald made zero mention of Arus' legendary defender Voltron.

27th April 2000: The battle of Beasts deepened a divide between poor and rich Australian kids. Free TV's Channel Seven returns Beast Wars to its weekly afternoon timeslot with Optimal Situation, while Pay TV's Foxtel premieres the Beast Machines episode Mercenary Pursuits.

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Cometh the hour, cometh the machine.

An exciting new millennium meant exciting new things. The Sydney Olympic Games, K-Zone magazine, Sam Neill's hit 'The Dish', Bardot's rise to fame, plus Dragon Ball Z. The TV arrival of Beast Machines on Easter Monday should've by all rights been just as grand, but almost immediately found itself taking one side of a fierce rivalry over conglomerate media control.

It's a feud which could be traced all the way back to October 1998, when Optimal Optimus led the charge among Hasbro's third wave of Transmetals toys. Just in time for the premiere of Beast Wars' second season, boasting a then-unprecedented $80 price and limited to a handful of stores, fans itching to see this primate powerhouse in action would have to wait longer. Significantly longer. Seven's summer of sports played havoc among all three installments of 'The Agenda', and with no news of more episodes anytime soon, fans were left to explore other avenues.

In their attempt to win back a steadily rising crowd switching over to Foxtel, Seven resurrected the idea of hosted weekday morning cartoons. Thus 'The Big Breakfast' took on a second life in August 1999, where among the lineup was a batch of Beast Wars repeats running erratic on alternating days at 6:45am. Here the third season premiered with little promotion and even less fanfare in November.

By comparison, Beast Machines began its invasion of local shelves come late March 2000. Bigger, plentiful, pricier, but the only way to watch their adventures was via a Foxtel subscription. 5pm weeknights soon marked an evolution revolution, while Seven returning Beast Wars to 3:30 pm Thursdays hoped to recapture glory days. Viewers had three choices; watch old episodes again with now outdated characters, keep up with expected societal trends and dump them all in favour of the hot new toys on the hot new channel, or for many poor fans, miss out entirely.