User:Brightcoat/Sandbox/Generations Family
In the 35 years and counting since the launch of the original Transformers, action figure design sensibilities have changed. Many Generation 1 toys bear very little resemblance to the animation models and comic-book model sheets that came to define the characters that make Transformers beloved today, and modern values such as robust posability were nearly unheard of until the mid-90s.
As a result, Transformers fans, along with designers and marketers at Hasbro and TakaraTomy, have made many attempts to "modernize" the classic Generation One cast to match current sensibilities and expectations in toy design. The earliest indicators of this can be seen in the many homage color schemes of the Energon toyline, and in the concurrent Alternators, Binaltech, and early Masterpiece collector's lines that explicitly brought to market new toys of beloved Generation 1 characters, many recieving new figures for the first time since 1984.
It was in 2006 that this impulse truly began to solidify, however, with the release of Transformers Classics.
[picture of the full Deluxe-and-up Classics toyline, if available]
While Classics featured a mere 13 truly new figures, much fewer than the collector lines that would follow, among those new toys were brand-new takes on characters like Bumblebee, Hot Rod, Grimlock, and Megatron, transforming into newly-reimagined versions of their traditional altmodes with the intent of not just evoking, but being new, definitive takes on the characters at mass-market prices.
Classics was supplemented by various store- and convention-exclusive figures, as well as Takara's counterpart toyline Henkei! Henkei!
Despite Classics' original purpose as a filler line to keep shelves stocked and the brand popular following the delay of the live-action film from 2006 to 2007, it managed to define an entire new paradigm for Transformers figures, and would be shortly thereafter succeeded.
Transformer Universe followed up Classics in 2008. Universe was a substantially bigger and more intricate toyline, heavily expanding on the original concept of modernized G1 characters with various new molds and also expanding its scope in its second year--the 25th anniversary of the brand--with the introduction of some figures based around Armada and the Beast Era. Universe maintained its continuity with Classics by featuring new redecos of Classics molds to expand its coverage of Generation One characters, while also featuring a roster that almost entirely of characters that did not appear in Classics. Even perennial characters such as Bumblebee and Optimus Prime skipped the bulk of the toyline, appearing only as store exclusive reissues of their Classics toys if at all. Universe was not here to replace or obsolete Classics, the way Cybertron replaced Energon, but to continue it in function and spirit. (Henkei Henkei! continued in Takara's markets to release redecos of Universe toys and also continued its trend of vacuum-metalized parts and show-accurate color schemes.) This spirit of continuity extended beyond the Universe toylines's life, as we enter 2010.
Two major toylines carried the torch of Classics and Generations as the new decade dawned.
First was 2010's Transformers toyline. This simply-named line existed to bridge the gap between ROTF and DOTM, simultaneously appeasing retailer demand for Movie product while broadening the toyline to celebrate Transformers as a whole. Here, things get messy.
The early 2010 waves of figures, labeled, Hunt for the Decepticons, were almost entirely unambiguously new movie figures, continuing to fill out the cast of the films and give new exciting toys to characters like Movie Bumblebee and Ironhide. However, a handful of figures, such as Seaspray and Banzaitron, were percieved by many fans as being similar enough to their Generation 1 counterparts, and far enough removed from the bayverse stylings, as to be acceptable represenations of the G1 characters these new, movie-branded toys were homaging.
This repurposing was perhaps further encouraged by the following 2010 *Transformers* subline, Reveal the Shield. Reveal the Shield featured explicitly Generation One-themed figures in a style compatible with Classics and Universe, including new figures of Jazz, Tracks, and Windcharger. Much like Universe beforehand, Reveal the Shield opted not to retread or replace Universe or Classics figures, and instead further expand the G1 cast with new, modern toys. Even the obligatory Optimus Prime figure for the subline distinguished itself by homaging his Generation 2 "Laser" incarnation.
Speaking of Generations...
Also in 2010, concurrent to both HFTD and RTS, Hasbro launched a new, parallel toyline called Transformers Generations. Beginning exclusively with Deluxe-class figures, Generations featured a combination of War for Cybertron (Video Game) tie-in figures and new reinterpretations of Generation 1 characters in the Classics and Universe model. Seeker retools were released to fill out the gaps in Hasbro's market that previously only Henkei! Henkei! and convention-exclusives. Much like Reveal the Shield and Universe, retreads of Classics figures were largely nonexistent as the line sought to further expand the modern era's coverage of the Generation One cast. In Japan, Takara branded its versions of the Generations toys as Transformers United
After a diversion in 2012 that returned Generations to its wave-one remit of supporting the Fall of Cybertron video game, Generations (now having grown beyond Deluxes to include Legends-, Voyager-, and Leader- class figures) began its Thrilling 30 anniversary campaign, which ran the length of 2013 and 2014
This era was marked by its collaboration with IDW Publishing's comic books. Each Deluxe-class figure was packaged with a comic issue and many figures were designed to resemble the character models from the world of the comics. Once more, the goal of the line seemed to be to expand the roster, even dipping into the Beast Era and rid2001 to bring new figures of Rhinox, Sky-Byte, and Rattrap into the defined Generations paradigm. Furthermore,