History Trivia / TheTransformers

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: ''Techno-X'', a proposed 90's revamp of Circuit Breaker and the Neo-Knights by Simon Furman and Andrew Wildman, integrating the team more fully into the Marvel universe. Had the series been picked up, the Transformers would have been {{retcon}}ned as an elaborate training simulation created by G.B. Blackrock (who, supposedly, would've had a dark secret and fought [[Comicbook/IronMan Tony Stark]]).

** In "War Dawn," Ariel was supposed to die along with Dion. However, members of production realized that since she was Orion Pax's LoveInterest and already had a similar color scheme, she could simply be rebuilt as Elita One, so the script writers added Alpha Trion's remark about doing so. (This, by the way, is why fans propose Dion was also rebuilt into someone Optimus would know.)

** In "War Dawn," Ariel was supposed to die along with Dion. However, members of production realized that since she was Orion Pax's LoveInterest, she could simply be rebuilt as Elita One. (This, by the way, is why fans propose Dion was also rebuilt into someone Optimus would know.)

* HostilityOnTheSet: "Thief in the Night", in addition to infamously driving the late Creator/CaseyKasem, who was of Lebanese descent, to quit the show in disgust of its depictions of Arabs (including naming a nation "Carbombya"), was the only time Creator/MauriceLaMarche voiced a character on the show, Six-Gun -- and [=LaMarche=] was annoyed with voice director Wally Burr's method of directing. That said, before Burr's passing, while [=LaMarche=] stood by some of his criticisms, he did state most of them were out of line and reconciled with Burr.

** Neither Toei, AKOM or Sei Young ever received proper credit for their work on the show (as was standard with most cartoons from the era that outsourced its animation), which makes it difficult to pinpoint which episodes were done by which studio. It gets worse, as both studios outsourced further to other studios, many of whom are unknown. While most of the episodes have been identified as one of the three studios (or to a subcontractor like Ashi Production or Studio Look), at least 9 episodes -- 7 from Season 2, and 2 from Season 3 attributed to AKOM -- are still unaccounted for, the same applies for any proper animator credits for any of the other episodes.

** The writing staff for the series included the likes of ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain''[='s=] Earl Kress and ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987''[='s=] David Wise as reoccurring writers for Season 2 (with Wise also penning the series finale); George Arthur Bloom (the creator for PBS' ''WesternAnimation/{{Cyberchase}}) writing the opening three episodes; Gerry Conway (Responsible for ''ComicBook/TheNightGwenStacyDied'' storyline and co-creator of characters like ComicBook/ThePunisher, [[Characters/BatmanJasonTodd Jason Todd]] and ComicBook/ManThing) wrote for two Season 3 episodes; ComicBook/SwampThing creator Len Wein, who co-wrote "Webword", and Creator/PaulDini, who wrote the episode "Dweller in the Depths".

** The writing staff for the series included the likes of ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain''[='s=] Earl Kress and ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987''[='s=] David Wise as reoccurring writers for Season 2 (with Wise also penning the series finale), and Creator/PaulDini, who wrote the episode "Dweller in the Depths".

** Neither Toei, AKOM or Sei Young ever received proper credit for their work on the show (as was standard with most cartoons from the era that outsourced its animation), which makes it difficult to pinpoint which episodes were done by which studio. It gets worse, as both studios outsourced further to other studios, many of whom are unknown. While most of the episodes have been identified as one of the three studios (or to a subcontractor like Ashi Production or Studio Look), at least 9 episodes -- 7 from Season 2, and 2 from Season 3 attributed to AKOM -- are still unaccounted for.

* HostilityOnTheSet: "Thief in the Night", in addition to infamously driving the late Creator/CaseyKasem, who was of Lebanese descent, to quit the show in disgust of its depictions of Ahabs (including naming a nation "Carbombya"), was the only time Creator/MauriceLaMarche voiced a character on the show, Six-Gun -- and [=LaMarche=] was annoyed with voice director Wally Burr's method of directing. That said, before Burr's passing, while [=LaMarche=] stood by some of his criticisms, he did state most of them were out of line and reconciled with Burr.

* NoExportForYou: Season 4 (consisting solely of the three-parter "The Rebirth") was never initially dubbed in Japan, with ''Anime/TransformersHeadmasters'' being created to continue the series in a new direction. It wouldn't be until 2007 that "The Rebirth" was eventually dubbed, but with different seiyus other than Creator/TesshoGenda (Optimus/Convoy), Seizo Kaito (Megatron/Galvatron), Creator/KunihikoYasui (Rollbar), Creator/MasashiHirose (Searchlight), and Issei Masamune (Narrator). Similarly, when "Day of the Machines" and "Attack of the Autobots" got released in 1990 on video, several of the minor roles were recast, with Creator/KatsumiSuzuki taking over as Frenzy, Bluestreak and Wheeljack, and Creator/HiroakiHirata making his voice acting debut as Ironhide.

* WordOfGod: {{Fanon}} assumed that the character Dion from the episode "War Dawn" survived the attack on storage yard 67 and was rebuilt into someone important (Ultra Magnus and Ironhide being the most popular choices), seeing as his best friend, Orion Pax was rebuilt as Optimus Prime. In 2010, Hasbro flat out stated that [[http://www.tfviews.com/news/main/hasbro-q-and-a/1024 Dion was never rebuilt into anybody else]] and had not even survived. Also, The ''ComicBook/TransformersWingsOfHonor'' continuity had Dion survive the attack, but he was still called Dion.
* WordOfGod: An odd one. For the longest time it was a mystery as to worked on the episode "Call of the Primitives" (Both TMS and Obari's names were thrown around. The latter eventually revealing that even ''he'' had no clue; Creator/AshiProductions was also an often mentioned suspect due to their involvement on the show's first two seasons and the episode's similar appearance to the concurrently airing ''Toys/MachineRobo'' series in Japan). This was eventually cleared up when ''Manga/{{Karneval}}'' director Eiji Suganuma came out and [[https://twitter.com/LandSoda/status/487278887332638721 confirmed his own involvement on the episode]] as its animation director; while also revealing that Predaking's transformation in the episode was animated by Shin Matsuo, an animator on ''Machine Robo'' and illustrator for the series' promotional material in Japan. He would further confirm in 2020 that the episode was not produced by either TMS or Ashi, but rather by Toei themselves, with assistance from subcontract firm Studio Look.

* {{Jossed}}: {{Fanon}} assumed that the character Dion from the episode "War Dawn" survived the attack on storage yard 67 and was rebuilt into someone important (Ultra Magnus and Ironhide being the most popular choices), seeing as his best friend, Orion Pax was rebuilt as Optimus Prime. In 2010, Hasbro flat out stated that [[http://www.tfviews.com/news/main/hasbro-q-and-a/1024 Dion was never rebuilt into anybody else]] and had not even survived. Also, The ''ComicBook/TransformersWingsOfHonor'' continuity had Dion survive the attack, but he was still called Dion.

* NoExportForYou: Season 4 (consisting solely of the three-parter "The Rebirth") was never initially dubbed in Japan, with ''Anime/TransformersHeadmasters'' being created to continue the series in a new direction. It wouldn't be until 2007 that "The Rebirth" was eventually dubbed, but with different seiyus other than Creator/TesshoGenda (Optimus/Convoy), Seizo Kaito (Megatron/Galvatron), Creator/KunihikoYasui (Rollbar), Creator/MasashiHirose (Searchlight), and Issei Masamune (Narrator).

* RecycledScript: David Wise has a habit of recycling scenes between cartoons he writes for, with ''Transformers'' being one of them. For instance, "Microbots" has a similar scene to the ''[[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987 TMNT]]'' episode "Shreddered and Splintered".

* ChristmasRushed: [[https://tfwiki.net/wiki/The_Transformers_(cartoon)#Fight.21_Super_Robot_Lifeform_Transformers The Japanese release]] of the show was imported and dubbed in a rush, with preliminary or erroneously translated scripts being used( it was not as bad as [[Anime/UnicronTrilogy what would resurface much later]]), which caused issues like characters being referred by the wrong name or having the wrong voice (the seekers to a even bigger degree than the US dub, and even Blitzwing got Ramjet's voice at one point). Several minor/semi-regular characters had completely different voices depending on episode( Bluestreak got hit the worst, with ''seven'' different voice actors used in the japanse dub for him in total), in addition to [[ShortRunInPeru a few episodes]](Autobot Spike and Changing Gears) reaching japan several weeks before their US broadcast.[[https://tfwiki.net/wiki/The_Transformers_(cartoon)#Fight.21_Super_Robot_Lifeform_Transformers_2010 The third season]] got hit even worse, with even more gaffes in terms of telling characters (the narrator at one point referred to Wildrider and Dead End as Runamuck and Runabout), but the most notable (and amusing) example is (again, as a result of preliminar scripts being used)[[https://tfwiki.net/wiki/File:TVMagazineStarscreamsGhost1.jpg The promo art]] for the Episode "Starscream's ghost", featuring Blitzwing (Who is nowhere to be seen in the actual episode, as Octane replaced him in the final version).

* ChristmasRushed: [[https://tfwiki.net/wiki/The_Transformers_(cartoon)#Fight.21_Super_Robot_Lifeform_Transformers The Japanese release]] of the show was imported and dubbed in a rush, with preliminary or erroneously translated scripts being used( it was not as bad as [[Anime/UnicronTrilogy what would resurface much later]]), which caused issues like characters being referred by the wrong name or having the wrong voice (the seekers to a even bigger degree than the US dub, and even Blitzwing got Ramjet's voice at one point). Several minor/semi-regular characters had completely different voices depending on episode( Bluestreak got hit the worst, with ''seven'' different voice actors used in the japanse dub for him in total), in addition to [[ShortRunInPeru a few episodes]](Autobot Spike and Changing Gears) reaching japan several weeks before their US broadcast-[[https://tfwiki.net/wiki/The_Transformers_(cartoon)#Fight.21_Super_Robot_Lifeform_Transformers_2010 The third season]] got hit even worse, with even more gaffes in terms of telling characters (the narrator at one point referred to Wildrider and Dead End as Runamuck and Runabout), but the most notable (and amusing) example is (again, as a result of preliminar scripts being used)[[https://tfwiki.net/wiki/File:TVMagazineStarscreamsGhost1.jpg The promo art]] for the Episode "Starscream's ghost", featuring Blitzwing (Who is nowhere to be seen in the actual episode, as Octane replaced him in the final version).

* ChristmasRushed: [[https://tfwiki.net/wiki/The_Transformers_(cartoon)#Fight.21_Super_Robot_Lifeform_Transformers The Japanese release]] of the show was imported and dubbed in a rush, with preliminary or erroneously translated scripts being used( it was not as bad as [[Anime/UnicronTrilogy what would resurface much later]]), which caused issues like characters being referred by the wrong name or having the wrong voice (the seekers to a even bigger degree than the US dub, and even Blitzwing got Ramjet's voice at one point). Several minor/semi-regular characters had completely different voices depending on episode( Bluestreak got hit the worst, with "seven" different voice actors used in the japanse dub for him in total), in addition to [[ShortRunInPeru a few episodes]](Autobot Spike and Changing Gears) reaching japan several weeks before their US broadcast-[[https://tfwiki.net/wiki/The_Transformers_(cartoon)#Fight.21_Super_Robot_Lifeform_Transformers_2010 The third season]] got hit even worse, with even more gaffes in terms of telling characters (the narrator at one point referred to Wildrider and Dead End as Runamuck and Runabout), but the most notable (and amusing) example is (again, as a result of preliminar scripts being used)[[https://tfwiki.net/wiki/File:TVMagazineStarscreamsGhost1.jpg The promo art]] for the Episode "Starscream's ghost", featuring Blitzwing (Who is nowhere to be seen in the actual episode, as Octane replaced him in the final version).

* HostilityOnTheSet: "Thief in the Night", in addition to infamously driving the late Creator/CaseyKasem, who was of Lebanese descent, to quit the show in disgust of its depictions of Ahabs (including naming a nation "Carbombya"), was the only time Creator/MauriceLaMarche voiced a character on the show, Six-Gun -- and [=LaMarche=] was annoyed with voice director Wally Burr's method of directing. That said, before Burr's passing, while LaMarche stood by some of it, he did state most of it was out of line and reconciled with Burr.

* HostilityOnTheSet: "Thief in the Night", in addition to infamously driving the late Creator/CaseyKasem, who was of Lebanese descent, to quit the show in disgust of its depictions of Ahabs (including naming a nation "Carbombya") saw the only time Creator/MauriceLaMarche voiced a character on the show, Six-gun -- and [=LaMarche=] was annoyed with voice director Wally Burr's method of directing. That said, before Burr's passing, while LaMarche stood by some of it, he did state most of it was out of line and reconciled with Burr.

* HostilityOnTheSet: "Thief in the Night" sparked two:
** Infamously, its depictions of Ahabs, including naming a nation "Carbombya", drove Creator/CaseyKasem, who was of Lebanese descent, to quit the show in disgust.
** It was the only time Creator/MauriceLaMarche voiced a character on the show, Six-gun -- and [=LaMarche=] was annoyed with voice director Wally Burr's method of directing. That said, before Burr's passing, while LaMarche stood by some of it, he did state most of it was out of line and reconciled with Burr.

** Many of the other (confirmed) animators would also make names for themselves down the line, including ''Anime/MartianSuccessorNadesico'' creator Kia Asamiya (under his real name, Michitaka Kikuchi), ''VideoGame/Divinegate'' and ''Anime/AkudamaDrive'' Character designer Cindy H. Yamauchi (under her real name, Hideko Yamauchi) and ''Anime/PlasticLittle'' co-creators Satoshi Urushihara and Kinji Yoshimoto.

** Octane's role in "Starscream's Ghost" was originally intended for Blitzwing, who was banished from the Decepticons in the "Five Faces of Darkness" five-parter. Blitzwing was replaced by Octane to promote Octane's [[MerchandiseDriven newer toy]].