The Transformers Star Wars Crossover Nobody Ever Noticed

This quirky crossover between Transformers and Star Wars began in the G1 episode “Hoist Goes Hollywood.” It features the Autobot Hoist impressing a Hollywood director with his fantastic abilities, leading to him and some of his fellow ‘Bots getting cast in a movie that is currently filming. Later, the Decepticons predictably crash the party, but not before the director looks at the out-of-this-world footage of the Autobots and decides to turn his movie into a science-fiction feature called Attack of the Alien Robots.

Most of this Transformers episode is about (you guessed it) the Transformers themselves, but the Star Wars crossover comes into play thanks to two of the human actors. One of the actors is named Harold Edsel, and if his name wasn’t enough of a clue (more on this in a moment), the fact that he is drawn like Han Solo wearing an Indiana Jones hat makes it clear he is meant to be a parody of Harrison Ford. 

Meanwhile, Karen Fishhook is wearing less obvious clothing (the pink suit with pink turtleneck and giant pearl necklace doesn’t exactly scream “galaxy far, far away”), but her facial features and giant space buns make it clear she is a parody of Carrie Fisher. However, fans of Princess Leia may be annoyed to learn that she mostly functions as a damsel in distress in this episode’s fictional film.

In retrospect, it’s obvious the Transformers writers were trying to walk a fine line between naming the parody characters based on these Star Wars actors. For example, the Harrison Ford stand-in has a slightly different first name “Harold,” and his last name is “Edsel,” which was a failed brand of cars produced by the Ford company (get it?). 

Meanwhile, the Carrie Fisher stand-in was originally going to be named Carrie Fishhook, but the writers (perhaps sensing a potential lawsuit) ended up changing the character’s name to Karen Fishhook. That made it slightly less similar to Fisher’s real name, and as an added bonus, she now had the same first name as Karen Allen, the actor who played the first love interest of Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark (fitting because Harold Edsel is totally rocking an Indiana Jones hat).

While the original Transformers cartoon did this Star Wars homage only two short years after the premiere of Return of the Jedi, the later 2007 series Transformers: Animated would continue the tradition. That show introduced us to Mayor Augustus Edsel, and The Allspark Almanac would later clarify he was Harold Edsel’s nephew.

That same Almanac featured an advertisement for a Transformers: Animated version of the fictional movie Monsters From Mars. This was an homage to a film of the same name that appeared in Transformers #45 from Marvel. This newer ad features several homages to that comic, including the same director and stars, but one new star was added: Karen Fishhook.

Interestingly, the Karen Fishhook Transformers character has another possible Star Wars connection. She was voiced by Susan Blu, the same voice actor who brought the fan-favorite Autobot Arcee to life. Arcee’s creators later described her as “ the naked mechanical equivalent of Princess Leia,” and many fans think the ‘Bot’s pink and white coloration is an homage to Fishhook’s appearance in “Hoist Goes Hollywood.”

As you can see, the Transformers and Star Wars crossover came far earlier and was far more extensive than most fans ever knew. Now that it’s official that we’re getting a crossover movie between Transformers and G.I. Joe, the lack of excitement among fans of both franchises makes me think it’s time to try a different crossover approach. Since Star Wars has largely been on life support since The Rise of Skywalker and Transformers fans are largely disappointed by the trailer for Transformers One, how about we really shake things up with a live-action Transformers/Star Wars film series?