Fanmode’s patron saint
Designed by Japanese toy engineers, refined by a Filipino, named by an American, voiced by a Canadian, written, among others, by an Englishman and of course, made in China these days.
Whether you know him as Optimus Prime or Convoy, he best epitomises how a toy, a mass-manufactured commodity, can be turned into a memorable character who can endure to become a beloved transnational multigenerational cultural icon.