It’s time to return to the McDonalds transforming Happy Meal toys nobody remembers, or rather their DC Comic minicomic pack-ins. For those of you new to the Commandrons, they were a quartet of toys created by Tomy. In the US McDonalds snagged these would-be Transformer rip-offs for their Happy Meals, though elsewhere they were released on store shelves without the minicomics and would also be added to the Canadian “Super Alternators” line. Here’s a more detailed history, which has two commercials they found online. For some reason they involve adults instead of kids. One is just a regular promo….
…and the other more silly. Listen very closely to the background effects, though.
Is it just me or did they use the classic Transformers sound effect for the Commandrons’ transformations!!!! The “communication beam” is another Sunbow sound effect but unless they were purposely trying to scuttle this non competition (or trying to prove to me that Floro Dery was right to ignore the actual toy designs as much as he did) I don’t think they were involved. Also, the “forces of darkness” according to the minicomics is some jerk businessman (back when that could be two separate things in fiction–occasionally) upset that the four rescue worker robots were joining four kids to save people for free rather than make him money. Well it looks like he’s going to try to make his own. Let’s see how that works out for him.
If you want to play this story out, kids, eat more hamburgers. Also, find a time portal to 1985.
Commandrons #3
McDonalds/DC Comics (1985)
“The Copy-bots”
No credits given because the creators didn’t want to be seen working on a kids promo comic. Too good for it, I guess, but that’s why I do Free Comic Inside, to show that these can be good stories as well, even if it is a cheap pack-in to a toy. Respect your work if not the product. Then again not respecting the product leads to modern “adaptations”, doesn’t it?
