Editing Evergreen

[[File:MyBusyBook-figurines.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.66|''I'm gonna take this moment<br>And make it last forever'']]
In a commercial context, '''evergreen''' product is merchandise that is not "seasonal" – it can be sent to shelves for an extended period without needing to be refreshed or updated. For ''[[Transformers brand|Transformers]]'', this means product that is "franchiseless", not tied to any flavor-of-the-year brand like a cartoon or movie.

After the [[live-action film series]] catapulted ''Transformers'' back into the public consciousness, deliberately evergreen products became increasingly common throughout the early 2010s, typically for licensed merchandise or for ancillary, [[market six|value-oriented]] [[Hasbro]] toys. These products would typically borrow key art from a scattershot assortment of sources, such as various ''[[Transformers: Generations (toyline)|Generations]]'' toylines and the ''[[Transformers Legends (mobile game)|Legends]]'' mobile card game.

Eventually, Hasbro moved to align these sorts of products under a unified evergreen aesthetic, and began implementing a purpose-made set of [[The Transformers (franchise)|Generation-1-inspired]] character designs, created by [[Emiliano Santalucia]], for use on all-and-sundry licensed and in-house products. They debuted in late [[2016]], without fanfare, in [[IDW Publishing]]'s [[2005 IDW continuity|contemporary comic line]], before showing up on a wider variety of merchandise during [[2017]]. At the end of the year, fans got to see Santalucia's original art on the mobile app Quidd, which used a bunch of assets ripped from the internal brand bible as "digital collectibles" (like {{w|Non-fungible token|NFTs}}, but, uh, fungible). The brand bible itself became public in [[2023]].

Toys based directly on the evergreen designs comprise the bulk of the ''[[Transformers Authentics]]'' toyline. The designs also had an enormous influence on the characters' depictions in ''[[Transformers: Cyberverse (franchise)|Transformers: Cyberverse]]'', ''[[Transformers: Rescue Bots Academy (franchise)|Transformers: Rescue Bots Academy]]'', ''[[Transformers: EarthSpark (franchise)|Transformers: EarthSpark]]'', and ''[[Transformers: Cyberworld (franchise)|Transformers: Cyberworld]]''.

==Evergreen Character Toolkit Volume One==
From 2017, licensors were given a set of assets based on "the characters who drive the Transformers story". The guide was intended to nail down "key character elements that remain constant and consistent across all expressions [of the brand]", coining the phrase "character [[canon]]". Each character was given a biography and a set of key attributes, and presented with a turnaround schematic of their first toy alongside Santalucia's reinterpretation, labelled to identify "essential brand elements" of their design for [[trademark]]/[[copyright]] purposes (for example, Prime's windows and truck grille in robot mode). A few characters were given "pretengineering" cross-sections to illustrate the mechanical functionality of their bodies. The full set of characters included, informing all merchandise produced around this time, were as follows:

{{Featuredcharacters|nonumbering=true
|c1=
* [[Optimus Prime (disambiguation)|Optimus Prime]]
* [[Bumblebee (disambiguation)|Bumblebee]]
* [[Hound (disambiguation)|Hound]]
* [[Ratchet (disambiguation)|Ratchet]]
* [[Grimlock (disambiguation)|Grimlock]]
* [[Hot Rod (disambiguation)|Hot Rod]]
* [[Windblade (disambiguation)|Windblade]]
* [[Wheeljack (disambiguation)|Wheeljack]]
|c2=
* [[Megatron (disambiguation)|Megatron]]
* [[Starscream (disambiguation)|Starscream]]
* [[Soundwave (disambiguation)|Soundwave]]
* [[Barricade (disambiguation)|Barricade]]
* [[Shockwave (disambiguation)|Shockwave]]
}}

If a Volume Two was ever produced, we haven't seen it!

==Products incorporating evergreen character designs==
===Fiction===
[[File:FutureGloriesLost-KnightTemplarPrime.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.33|''I'm gonna give my heart away<br>And pray we'll stay together'']]
[[IDW Publishing]]'s original Generation 1 comic line began introducing evergreen character designs in the aftermath of the 2016 ''[[Revolution]]'' crossover event. The implementation was last-minute enough that [[:File:OP1 subcvrA.jpg|at least one cover]] had to be redrawn by the artist to incorporate Optimus's evergreen design. Designs have been introduced as follows:
*[[Starscream (G1)/2005 IDW continuity|Starscream]], beginning with [[Ping|''The Transformers: Till All Are One'' #5]]
*[[Optimus Prime (G1)/2005 IDW continuity|Optimus Prime]], beginning with [[New Cybertron Part 1: To Walk Among the Chosen|''Optimus Prime'' #1]]
*[[Windblade (G1)|Windblade]], beginning with [[First Strike issue 1|''First Strike'' #1]]
*[[Soundwave (G1)/2005 IDW continuity|Soundwave]], beginning with [[First Strike issue 2|''First Strike'' #2]]
*[[Shockwave (G1)/2005 IDW continuity|Shockwave]], beginning with [[The Falling, Chapter 4: The Hallowing|''Optimus Prime'' #19]]
*[[Bumblebee (G1)/2005 IDW continuity|Bumblebee]], beginning with [[Our Darkest|''Transformers: Unicron'' #0]]

[[Space Ape]]'s ''[[Transformers: Earth Wars]]'' mobile game introduced a design of their own that would be used in 2017:
*[[Barricade (IDW)|Barricade]], beginning with "[[Transformers: Earth Wars/Events|Event Horizon]]".

Most main characters in ''[[Transformers: Cyberverse (cartoon)|Cyberverse]]'' use interpretations of evergreen designs, as do the established characters in ''[[Transformers: EarthSpark (cartoon)|EarthSpark]]''.

The [[Transformers: Rescue Bots Academy (cartoon)|''Rescue Bots Academy'' cartoon]] redesigned previous [[Aligned continuity family|Aligned continuity]] characters, including [[Optimus Prime (WFC)#Rescue Bots Academy cartoon|Optimus]], [[Bumblebee (WFC)#Rescue Bots Academy cartoon|Bumblebee]], [[Grimlock (RID 2015)#Rescue Bots Academy cartoon|Grimlock]], and [[Ratchet (WFC)|Ratchet]] to use their evergreen designs. [[:File:Bumblebee-RBA-design progression.jpg|Early concept art]] suggests this mandate was not in place at the beginning of the show's development. 

Grimlock and Optimus Prime in ''[[Transformers: King Grimlock|King Grimlock]]'' both use direct translations of the evergreen designs.
{{--}}

===Toys===
[[File:PowerOfThePrimestoy-Starscream.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.66|''<nowiki>'</nowiki>Cause you're the one good reason<br>You're the only girl that I need'']]
;''Power of the Primes''
*Voyager Class [[Starscream (G1)/toys#Power of the Primes|Starscream]]
;''Authentics''
{{main|Transformers Authentics}}
;''Cyberverse''
{{main|Transformers: Cyberverse (toyline)}}
;''War for Cybertron: Kingdom''
*Core Class [[Hot Rod (G1)/toys#K43|Hot Rod]]
;''EarthSpark''
{{main|Transformers: EarthSpark (toyline)}}

===Merchandise===
;Hasbro
*''[[Fidget Its]]'' fidget spinners
*''[[Mighty Muggs]]''
*''[[Beyblade X]]'' tops

;Licensed
*[[Hauck]] go karts
*''[[Transformers: My Busy Book]]''
*[[Radz]] 4-in-1 Candy & Surprise bags
*[[Carnival Cruise Line Entertainment|Carnival Playtime]] mascot costumes
*[[Metal Earth]] Legends
*[[Little Rocket]] [[Bouncing Ball Heads]]
*[[Monogram]] [[Figural Bag Clips]]
*[[D'elicce]] [[Easter]] eggs
*[[Core Nutritionals]] fitness supplements and supplies

;Restaurant promotions
{{main|List of Transformers restaurant promotions#Evergreen}}

==Gallery==
<center><gallery>
File:Quidd-evergreen-Barricade-robot-mode.jpg|[[Barricade (IDW)|Barricade]]
File:Barricade evergreen.jpg|[[Barricade  (IDW)|Barricade]]
File:Quidd-evergreen-Bumblebee-robot-mode.jpg|[[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]]
File:Bumblebee evergreen.jpg|[[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]]
File:Quidd-evergreen-Grimlock-robot-mode.jpg|[[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]]
File:Grimlock evergreen.jpg|[[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]]
File:Quidd-evergreen-Hound-robot-mode.jpg|[[Hound (G1)|Hound]]
File:Quidd-evergreen-Megatron-robot-mode.jpg|[[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]]
File:Evergreen-Optimus_Prime-robot-mode.jpg|[[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]]
File:Optimus Prime evergreen.jpg|[[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]]
File:Quidd-evergreen-Ratchet-robot-mode.jpg|[[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]]
File:Quidd-evergreen-Shockwave-robot-mode.jpg|[[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]]
File:Quidd-evergreen-Soundwave-robot-mode.jpg|[[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]]
File:Soundwave evergreen.jpg|[[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]]
File:Quidd-evergreen-Starscream-robot-mode.jpg|[[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]]
File:Starscream evergreen.jpg|[[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]]
File:Quidd-evergreen-Wheeljack-robot-mode.jpg|[[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]]
File:Wheeljack evergreen.jpg|[[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]]
File:Quidd-evergreen-Windblade-robot-mode.jpg|[[Windblade (G1)|Windblade]]
</gallery></center>


[[Category:Franchises]]