Many DC Comics readers and Transformers fans alike may be surprised to learn that the company teamed with McDonald’s in the 1980s to produce comics featuring a group of Transformers knock-offs – but even more surprising is the fact that the company’s bootleg Robots in Disguise, the Commandrons, have subsequently become official Transformers canon.
In the mid-1980s, McDonald’s and DC attempted to compete with the mythology established by Marvel Comics for Hasbro’s Transformers line, with the massive restaurant chain enlisting the House of Ideas’ biggest rival, DC Comics, to produce mini-comic books for each of its Commandron toys, giving the line a story, and creating world for kids to get lost in while munching their French fries.
Meet The Commandrons, DC & McDonald’s Knock-off Transformers
When the Transformers toy line launched in 1984, Hasbro had an immediate smash hit on their hands. As such, other companies were quick to jump on the bandwagon, most notably Tonka, who introduced the GoBots. Eager to get in on the action, McDonald’s acquired a line of transforming robot toys from Japanese toymaker Tomy, each of which transformed whenever you rolled it along a flat surface. Notably, the Commandron toys weren’t given away with the purchase of a Happy Meal, as was conventional with other McDonald’s toys at the time, but rather were sold exclusively in the restaurants, along with a mini-comic produced by DC.
Transformers Hasn’t Heard The Last Of The Commandrons
There were four robots available in the Commandrons line at McDonald’s, each one packaged with its own mini-comic to help fill in the lore. With no accredited writers or artists, the Commandron mini-comics tell the story of the robots’ birth, where we learn they are the invention of Dr. Wu on the planet Havon. Able to blend in with their surroundings by transforming in to vehicles, Commander Magna, Motron, Solardyn and Velocitor protect the citizens of Havon against the evil robot-maker Sylvester Slagg. These new robots also befriended the children of Havon, who were able to ride along and communicate with the Commandrons via special devices provided by Dr. Wu.
Eventually, Tomy merged with Takara, the Japanese toy company who made most of the original molds later used by Hasbro for the Transformers line. As such, the Commandrons became part of the Transformers universe, albeit in a very minor capacity. Their one notable appearance in Transformers media since the 1980s was when the Commandrons were name-checked in 2016’s Beast Wars: Uprising: The Inexorable March, where they were revealed to have replaced the Maximals and Predacons in the 34th century, along with the Maladroids, another set of Transformer knockoffs from the ’80s. With the Transformers being rebooted as a part of Skybound Entertainment’s Energon Universe, perhaps the Commandrons could still return.
