A History of Transformers
The Transformers and Their Generations
Transformers are toys produced by US-based toy maker Hasbro. Transformers change from robots into objects such as cars, planes, guns, buildings, or even radios. The Transformer toyline was also adapted to become a cartoon television series, a comic book series, and a number of full-length movies. Transformers have enjoyed the most popularlity in the USA, Britain, and Japan.
The Transformers first came to life in Japan in the 1970s with the Takara toy series of Microman and Diaclone. In 1984 US company Hasbro licensed the rights to use the Takara toylines, rebranding them as "Transformers".The new Hasbro toys were the same as the Takara toys, though they were sometimes repainted or changed some other minor way. Hasbro also created a new storyline for the toys, giving new names and personalities to the Japanese toys. Then later on Hasbro also started coming up with new Transformers that had no predecessor in the original Microman and Diaclone series. In 1984, the success of Transformers in the US prompted Takara to end its production of Microman and Diaclone and instead begin marketing them as Transformers.
In 1984 Transformers hit television screens as an animated series, and a Marvel Comics released a Transformers series. In 1986 the Transformers hit the silver screen with a full length movie simply called Transformers: The Movie. The movie caused shockwaves amongst fans as it depicted the death of many popular Autobot characters, including their leader Optimus Prime. Optimus was resurrected at the end of the 1987 season, the series' last. That year marked the end of the American cartoon show, but the Japanese continued producing the show, and in Britain and the USA Transformers comic books continued to be released. It's worth noting that all of these series diverged widely in story, and contradicted each other on many levels.
New incarnations of the Transformer series have sprung up since the conclusion of the original tv series, but the majority of fans of the original generation are unimpressed and prefer the old series. Beast Wars was an incarnation of the Transformers series produced in Canada from 1995-1999, and was followed by Beast Machines from 2000-2001. This new generation was accompanied by a new collection of toys from Hasbro. It took place in the future after the original Transformers series, and included a lot of flashbacks to the original.
Additional incarnations and interpretations of Transformers have also been releasted, but have never been able to compete with the fame of the first generation series. The only Transformers phenomena to reach the levels of the 1980s series is the recent film franchise, with the release of "Transformers" in 2007 as a live-action movie, followed up by "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" two years later. Fans can look forward to a third addition to the series in 2011 or 2012. With a young cast of superstar actors as well as cutting edge computer animation, the franchise has revived Transformers as a dominant force in the entertainment industry as well as the toy industry.
Billy Bob was raised on the Transformers and owns every single issue of their Marvel Comics series. See his recommended Transformers coloring books at "Printable Coloring Pages.
Image by Chris Devers
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