The Transformers (TV series) of that strategy, the process was repeated in 1984 when Hasbro marketing vice president Bob Prupis approached Marvel to develop their new robot series, which Jay Bacal dubbed "Transformers." Marvel's Editor-in-Chief at the time, Jim Shooter, produced a rough story concept for the series, creating the idea of the two warring factions of alien robots – the heroic Autobots and the evil Decepticons. To flesh out his concept, Shooter called upon veteran editor Dennis O'Neil to create character names and profiles for the cast, but O'Neill's work did not meet with Hasbro's expectations, and they requested heavy revisions. O'Neill declined
The Robotic Workshop released for Apple, Atari, and IBM computers. The Robotic Workshop The Robotic Workshop was a toy kit, much like Lego Mindstorms, that allowed users to build and program robots using a home computer. Access Software announced The Robotic Workshop in the January 1987 issue of "Ahoy!" magazine. A review later appeared in the May 1988 issue of Compute! magazine. The kit included over 50 Capsela parts, including two motors, gears, wheels, and sensors. It also included an electronic control unit that plugged into the user port of a , an instruction manual with 50 tutorial projects, and special programming software