Inhumanoids was a short-lived toyline released byHasbro in 1986. Initially conceived under the nameThe Force Of Light, with aMarvel Comics development treatment written byTom DeFalco.Inhumanoids was unusual in that it was named for the villains of the piece, centering on the scientist-cum-superhero team,Earth Corps, as they protected the world from the threat of the titular subterranean monsters with the aid of the elemental beings known as the Mutores. The series was, alas, not particularly successful, coming to an end after only one year.

As a contemporary ofTransformers,Inhumanoids received a similar dual-pronged advertising push, consisting of an animated series produced byMarvel Productions andSunbow, featuring many voice actors who also worked onTransformers and primarily scripted byFlint Dille, and a comic book series released byMarvel Comics under their "Star Comics" imprint which directly adapted the cartoon. The cartoon began as a seven-minute segment on theSuper Sunday anthology series (alongsideRobotix andBigfoot and the Muscle Machines;Inhumanoids replacedJem in the lineup as that show began its own dedicated series), running to fifteen installments that were later combined into a movie, which was then in turn split back into five half-hours and coupled with eight brand-new shows to form a complete season of thirteen half-hour episodes. The series was distinguished by an unusual art style that involved heavy use of shadow, often gory content, and a narrative structure highly unlike any other American cartoon at the time that saw the end of each episode lead directly into the next.

TheInhumanoids cartoon forged a connection with the larger "Sunbow universe" ofTransformers,G.I. Joe, andJem and the Holograms by featuring the omnipresentHector Ramirez in his largest role, and indicating that one of the heroes was G.I. Joe'sAce. Even the gargantuan zombie-dinosaur D'Compose managed a cameo in theJem episode "Broadway Magic" because cartoons are weird like that.

The comic book, meanwhile, was cancelled after only four issues, ending on a cliffhanger, but was nonetheless reprinted as aback-up strip in Marvel UK'sTransformers title, running from #103-118.

Fiction

The AllSpark Almanac

ViaAsk Vector Prime,Vector Prime stated that the events ofInhumanoids werecanon forPrimax 984.17 Alpha.The AllSpark Almanac II

Unit:E comic

Upon approaching the planetEarth, the artificial intelligenceSynergy presented footage of beasts from the world of "Primordia" so that her crew-mate, the youngAcroyear, could learn about his potential allies and enemies on the alien world.Unit:E

Notes

• Hasbro planned a relaunch ofInhumanoids in the early 2010s calledPrimordia. It would have been part of aUnit:E crossover fromPrime, includingInhumanoids guys alongside Stretch Armstrong and Candyland.^[1]
• Fans started to spot Inhumanoids nods inG.I. Joe in 2017 (and so did industry sites looking at the solicitations^[2]), which ended up not going anywhere.Aubrey Sitterson revealed on his Patreon that the plan had indeed been to bring the Inhumanoids in, but at the eleventh hour Hasbro learned they didn't have the rights to thecharacters anymore either, not just the name! The comic swiftly changed them into theFatal Fluffies, beasties from aJoe episode.
• TheArmorizers released in theLegacy: United toyline hail from the "Infernac Universe", named for a location inInhumanoids, and are depicted as dangerous rock-like warriors, though they are mechanical beings without any connection to theInhumanoids cast. It might be a loose reference, but it's probably the closest anInhumanoids presence inTransformers is going to be at this point!

References

External links

• Inhumanoids at Wikipedia
• Inhumanoids scripts, storyboards and other material at the Sunbow Marvel Archive