The original Transformers toy line was introduced to the English-speaking world in 1984, as a partnership between Hasbro and a Japanese toy manufacturer called Takara. The toys were already being made by Takara at that time as the toy lines “Diaclone” and “MicroChange”. Hasbro bought the rights to market them in the West and renamed them “Transformers”. When the cartoon started airing in September 1984, there was an explosion of interest in the toys as the must-have items for Christmas shopping for the next two years. The toys came in a wide range of characters seen in the television cartoon series, from popular main characters such as Optimus Prime and Megatron, to more minor supporting characters such as the Insecticons and the Dinobots.
In 1986 “Transformers: The Movie”, an animated film directly following the storyline of the series, was released in cinemas to poor reviews and did not do well at the box office. The important role it filled in the context of the toy line was to get rid of characters from the original series to make room for a slew of brand new characters, and thus new toys. The post-movie cartoon series was decidedly less popular than the original series had been, but the toy line soldiered on for many more years. Several new lines were rolled out with names like “Pretenders” and “Action Masters” but they failed to capture the public imagination like the original Transformers toy lines had. Production ceased for the United States market in 1990, but the UK, Canada and Japan had new lines produced continuously until 1993, based on characters from the Transformers comics.
From 1993 to 2007, the Transformers toy lines and companion cartoon series (the later ones all being animated in CGI) were remade into a variety of mediums including live-action films, toy design heads, card &rules, and supplementary volumes. The later volumes would be re-released as volumes of two separate products in 2007, with a bonus book bearing the same characters and plot lines as the main series heads. The IDW Collection comic book range saw the Transformers transform into vehicle mode, whilst the later volumes would see them in robot mode.
In 2007 a major live-action motion picture was released. The movie was a re-imagining of the Transformers story line, taking the story into the future, where futuristic versions of the Transformers are engineered to serve as soldiers, robots, orasters, and construction workers. The movie was an enormous box office success, bowing greatly in the face of Star Wars disappointment. With the huge success of the movie came the need for a whole new Transformers series. This gave rise to the Transformers 2 movie whichMainly was used to promote the Transformers 2 toys. The second movie was Transformers 3 which sails into the arena of animated celluloid sci-fi thriller. The relied heavily on the tried and testedbronotation of the Transformers brand.
ushered in the worldwide expansion of the Transformers brand with the release of the Transformers 3 trailer in 2005. It revealed the direction the Transformers were taking with the story line and offered a look at what was in store for the Transformers in the future. Transformers appearances have been frequent in the Transformers comics, but the trailer could be seen as the first real look at how the Transformers would look in the future with the Bulk Rush action figures taking on the Bulkatron and theacerbating Optimus Prime. The cartoon series had its debut in 1998 and has been increasingly popular ever since.
Most of the major Transformers comic series have been adapted into animated movie form, often with a noticeable lack of budget constraints. The cartoon series had its own share of merchandise and the later movies in the series became blockbusters. The cartoon series has been solidly established as being amongst the top selling toys since its launch, and it seems certain there will be a Transformers movie coming out on the 22nd of November 2010.
