They were a toy set first (inspired by variable mechs in Japanese Anime, e.g. the Valkyrie variable fighters Macross) and the original pitch of the series was as a means to sell initial line of toys.

So yeah, it would be much like if they made a TV series about Hot Wheels cars. That isn't to say it was of poor quality, just that the primary motivation was to sell toys.

So yes. the very existence of transformers emerged from a successful ad campaign. Deregulation of television during the Reagan era was what allowed this to happen during the early eighties.

[–] Baalial@lemm.ee 1 points 2 months ago

On the one hand, gross, but on the other, launching a full fledged product (a hand animated cartoon series) to sell the arguably cheaper product is such a high effort move that I'm not even mad. The end result is two high quality products for the target audience - I mean Gen X on down have fond childhood memories of the cartoons and toys.

But GROSS.