Transformers: Headmasters #1 (1987) - The Commercial, Not The Comic

Follow the adventures of the Headmaster Transformers and the equally incredible Targetmaster Transformers in Marvel Comics.

 

They're "equally incredible," people. Don't be mistaken.

 

Gene Kendall returns with another look at the Hasbro/Marvel collaborative television ads of the 1980s. Last time, the first ad for anything Transformers ever, Marvel's Transformers #1 from 1984. This time...we've already reached 1987. We've gone from a Silver Spoons world to the realm of Married...With Children. Thompson Twins to Beastie Boys. The Eddie Murphy era of Saturday Night Live to the Phil Hartman days.

 

I have a feeling that if the Transformers didn't exist, a segment of their fandom would instead have an obsessive interest in trains, if you catch my drift. It seems unlikely there's a lost Marvel Transformers commercial during this three-year gap. Not impossible, but doubtful. Given the expanding library of 1980s kids TV commercials now being archived on YouTube, if there is something lost out there, it would likely be found quickly.

 

So, it certainly looks like three years went by without a single television commercial promoting the Marvel comic. That's a noticeable dry spell, especially when you consider that G.I. Joe was usually cranking out four TV spots a year during the same period and didn't stop until 1989. So what gives? Was Headmasters #1 handed a separate miniseries and TV promo as some kind of desperate play by Hasbro? Well, "desperate" might be a strong word, but....

 

By 1987, G.I. Joe had overtaken Transformers in the hearts of American kids. The Transformers line remained profitable, but the traditional thinking of the toy industry (which accepts that most brands are fads, making companies reluctant to invest heavily in aging toylines) likely had Hasbro looking for a new date to the prom. Reportedly, they were shifting their marketing and production focus toward other franchises -- lines like Visionaries and Inhumanoids, following the G.I. Joe and Transformers marketing strategy. As a result, Transformers media, particularly in North America, started to get scaled back.

 

Some Hasbro executives have tossed blame in Marvel's direction, alleging that Marvel dragged the brand too far into the realm of sci-fi. Those early Transformers turned into trucks, jets, and boom boxes -- grounded stuff. Even the dumbest of paste-eaters can grasp that concept. Oddly-designed spaceships and futuristic hot rods? Nope. Too far.

 

But this complaint was likely aimed at Marvel Productions, makers of the syndicated series and these animated ads, not Marvel Comics. Marvel editor and series writer Bob Budiansky was still churning out those character profiles, but he's always been upfront about trying to work with whatever Hasbro sent him. It was the cartoon production that wanted to shift in a sci-fi direction. This, coupled with Hasbro running out of existing transforming toy molds from Japan, led to the franchise's move into futuristic fiction. Transformers animators like Floro Dery were now starting the character creation process, instead of translating the existing Takara toys into something that worked for TV.

 

And that brings us to 1987, which happened to be the final American season of the Transformers cartoon. Or what barely passed as one. Japan got the far better deal, launching a full-blown anime continuation with Transformers: Headmasters, while the U.S. audience was handed a three-episode "season" that served as both a series finale and commercial for the new Headmasters line.

 

Even the ads were changing. Around this time, the animation style in the TV spots began leaning into anime influences -- sharper designs, flashier effects -- almost like a preview of the Headmasters anime itself, only with nicer production values. The fan speculation is that animators Satoshi Urushihara and Kinji Yoshimoto, who were now working with Japanese animation house AIC, animated the 1987 commercials. This would diverge from the previous method of Toei working with American designs and storyboards.

 

The Headmasters #1 commercial is a cut above the usual fare. It utilizes some intricate lighting, those shiny metallic glints done right, and the 1986 character models look better than they have since The Transformers: The Movie. Given that most of the post-movie episodes were clunky AKOM jobs, it's refreshing to see Galvatron, Blurr, and Rodimus looking so slick. A cruel tease of what the post-movie era could've been.

 

The ad opens on post-movie Cybertron, with the Autobots and Decepticons duking it out. Galvatron and Scourge open fire on Blurr and Rodimus. Springer tackles 1984 holdover Soundwave. Ultra Magnus...looks on in horror at something happening offscreen. Or maybe he's reacting to the tiny purple Transformer staring up at him (I can't tell who that's meant to be.) Then it's off to the planet Nebulos, where the two teams swap heads with the natives. Apparently, there were no models for the Headmasters' original head designs yet, so we get these rather strange substitutes.

 

Scorponok then throws down with Fortress Maximus, two pricey playsets laying waste to the alien environment and your parents' checking account. (Already taking the place of 1986's Metroplex and Trypticon playsets.) Finally, the Targetmasters charge at each other and transform -- not the best finale; a bit of an anti-climax after the introductions of Scorponok and Fortress Maximus. The Joe ads were at one point attempting to merge the final animated sequence with the issue's cover, but that isn't the case here. The whole thing's narrated by Victor Caroli, who lends it the dark, ominous tone he brought to the animated series.

 

The ad must've had some impact on me, as it was one of the earliest comics I believe I purchased as a kid. The commercial is rather light on story, so it would be hard to argue it truly misrepresents anything in the issue. The basic Headmasters premise is introduced, with two large Transformer crews heading off to another world, another new batch for Budiansky to figure out in only a few pages (although maybe having to introduce this crew in a separate miniseries, not tied to the ongoing continuity, was a little easier on him).

 

As Transformer historians have noted, Cybertron is described in the narration as physically experiencing pain during the battles, as if it were alive -- a notion that predates the idea of Primus (the Transformer god-planet) by years in the American continuity. If nothing else, it's a decent enough excuse to have a group of Transformers flee to some other place, and question the never-ending Autobot/Decepticon war.

 

I doubt anyone would call Headmasters #1 a jewel in the Marvel series crown. It has that awkward exposition dump feel of a lot of the Marvel #1s of the era, and doesn't reflect the best of Bob Budiansky's Transformers work. But hey, at least it gave us a stylish, big-budget commercial. If only we had four of these a year during the classic Optimus vs. Megatron era.

 

And now, I shall plug. You can check out my fiction and non-fiction at Amazon -- most of it's free with a Kindle Unlimited subscription. Dogteeth and Other Tales of the Paranormal is my new urban fantasy/horror short story collection, and the reviews have been nice so far. I'm also giving YouTube a try and if you enjoy articles like this, I might have some videos on similar topics (complete with ridiculous thumbnails) in the future. As always, I welcome any feedback, and let's all roll out safely.