Editing To sell toys

[[File:MarvelUS-19.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|Hasbro wasn't quite sure whether to advertise this expensive toy until the fans forced their hand.]]
To understand ''Transformers'' fiction, it is important to understand that it exists '''to sell toys.''' [[Hasbro]] and [[TakaraTomy]] are toy companies, and they are primarily interested in continuing to sell [[toy]]s to children and adults. The cartoons, comic books, etc., mostly exist to make this happen. To be sure, they normally [[Transformers: Dark of the Moon (film)#Reception|make a profit in their own right]], but this is regarded as mere gravy.

The "to sell toys" effect often distorts the fiction in interesting ways. Primarily, since you can't ([[Army-building|usually]]) sell someone the same toy twice,<ref>Although the toy lines from the [[live-action film series]] have given us multiple ''different'' toys of the ''same characters''.</ref> Hasbro and Takara constantly introduce new toys, and often require the creators of the fiction to introduce the new characters into ongoing storylines. Older characters (whose toys are no longer being sold) are shoved aside to make room. 

Another effect of "to sell toys" is when the toys have gimmicks which must be explained in the fiction. Sometimes this is relatively easy, while other times it requires a lot of imagination on the part of the writers. Japanese-original shows such as ''[[Transformers: The Headmasters (cartoon)|The Headmasters]]'', ''[[Transformers: Super-God Masterforce (cartoon)|Super-God Masterforce]]'', and the various instalments of the [[Unicron Trilogy continuity family|Unicron Trilogy]] often structure their casts and storylines around a single specific play feature, which is highlighted in just about every episode. 

The UK [[Transformers (Titan Magazine)|movie-based ''Transformers'' comic]] took this to more blatant heights. For its first year, it had a specific four-page feature every week called ''Top Gear'', which existed solely to promote the newest ''Transformers'' merchandise. ''Any'' merchandise. This led to readers being told how great [[Optimash Prime]] was. For the [[2010]] ''[[Transformers: War for Cybertron (franchise)|Transformers: War for Cybertron]]'' game franchise, [[Ironhide (Movie)|''Ironhide himself'']] opened letters pages by telling readers how ''awesome'' the game was and how [[you]] should buy it.

{{bigquote|Truly, I'm speechless. Your species characterizes the infinite wonders of the churning, whorling, chaotic cosmos through the lens of... merchandising? 

I can see why Swindle loves you idiots.|[[Sideways (AVP)|Sideways]] on the concept, [[Ask Vector Prime]].}}

==Casting==
===Huge casts===
[[File:CosmicRust-BigGroup.jpg|upright=1.66|thumb|[[Pokeformers|Gotta catch 'em all!]]]]
Hasbro makes a lot of toys at once, and they generally want all of them to appear in their fiction. This can force writers to bring in vast numbers of characters all at once, sometimes with awkward results. Examples include:

*The first issue of the [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|Generation 1 comic]], "[[The Transformers (issue)|The Transformers]]", in which ''twenty-eight'' different robots appeared and introduced themselves, even though only a handful are important to the plot.
*"[[The Special Teams Have Arrived]]", a free mini-comic given away with issue [[Rock and Roll-Out!|#54]] of the [[Marvel Comics|Marvel UK]] [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)#Marvel UK|comic]], notoriously introduces the reader to ''twenty-four'' new Transformers in just three pages. Granted, four of those are the [[Combiner|combined forms]] of the other twenty, but that's still a lot of new names to remember.
*The 1987 ''[[The Transformers: Headmasters|Headmasters]]'' Limited Series, which introduced over ''sixty'' characters in the course of four issues, including all the first waves of [[Headmaster (technology)|Headmasters]] and [[Targetmaster (technology)|Targetmasters]], all their [[Nebulan]] partners, the [[Technobot (G1)|Technobots]], [[Terrorcon (G1)|Terrorcons]], and [[Monsterbot (G1)|Monsterbot]]s.
*The cartoon episode trilogy "[[The Rebirth]]" likewise abruptly introduced well over ''forty'' of the 1987 toyline characters, mostly the same ones seen in ''Headmasters''. In both cases, this wasn't helped by the fact that the nature of Headmasters and Targetmasters meant every new toy had to effectively get two introductions.
*In the first four episodes of [[Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2001 cartoon)|the 2001 ''Robots in Disguise'' cartoon]], eighteen characters are introduced in quick succession.
*From #9 onwards, [[Transformers (Titan Magazine)|Titan's movie-based ''Transformers'']] heavily bumped up the cast with new toys. In one example, #17 brought in nine new toys in eleven pages; only one of the five Decepticons got any real focus or dialogue.

===Random casting===
The Hasbro-induced need to show all the toys can also cause stories to suddenly focus on a new character, sometimes dropping ongoing plot threads about older ones. Examples include:

*Season 2 of the cartoon introduced many new characters/buyable toys with no explanation; despite never having been seen before, the story treats them as though they have [[Beachcomber (G1)|been there]] [[Perceptor (G1)|the whole]] [[Tracks (G1)|time]]. [[Desertion of the Dinobots, Part 1|One episode]] even hinges on this idea.
[[File:Decepticonpretenders-behold.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|After seven issues, it's finally time for these six dudes to do something!]]
[[File:FlamesofBoltax-Triggerbots.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|Apparently, the Triggerbots didn't make much of an impression on Prime.]]
*The comic issue "[[Pretender to the Throne!]]" suddenly introduces a dozen Autobots and Decepticons that we've never met before, and follows their adventures. The story adds nothing to the long-range plot that couldn't have been accomplished by using existing characters; these teams were added to the mix to promote their new toys.
*Many issues of the [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|Marvel comic]] had cover blurbs in the form "Introducing the _______!", where the blank was whatever the latest line of toys was. The following issues specifically introduce new toys on the cover: [[Repeat Performance!|#8]], [[The Next Best Thing to Being There!|#10]], [[Brainstorm!|#11]], [[Command Performances!|#19]], [[Aerialbots over America!|#21]], [[Crater Critters|#29]], [[The Cure!|#30]], [[Pretender to the Throne!|#40]], [[People Power!|#42]], [[Ca$h and Car-nage!|#46]], [[Club Con!|#47]], and [[Yesterday's Heroes!|#60]]. Throw in a few covers where new characters were pictured but not named, and that's 1/5th of the series.
*In [[Spacehikers!|issue #36]] of the Marvel comics, when [[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]] decides that he needs help in dealing with [[Grimlock (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Grimlock]]'s inept leadership, he doesn't turn to any of the ''dozens'' of Autobots aboard the [[Ark (G1)|Ark]], which include two combiner teams and Omega Supreme. No, he has to call in his "old buddy"/new toy, [[Sky Lynx (G1)|Sky Lynx]].
*In the prelude to the [[Underbase Saga]], [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Optimus Prime]] and [[Megatron (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Megatron]] were the lead characters in a story set before the Transformers came to [[Earth]]. But rather than palling around with the likes of Jazz or Soundwave, they are instead shown alongside the newest "gimmick" characters, the [[Triggercon]]s and the [[Triggerbot]]s.
*[[Mainframe Entertainment]] planned to use [[Wolfang (Maximal)|Wolfang]] in ''Beast Wars'', but [[Tigatron]] appeared instead because he had an upcoming toy, and to save money as his CGI model was only a slight tweak of [[Cheetor (BW)|Cheetor]]'s.<ref>[http://groups.google.com/group/alt.toys.transformers/browse_frm/thread/9c79c4226fc6dd28/30c3cdf158ea6e52?lnk=st&q=bob+forward+beast+wars+tigatron+wolfang&rnum=1#30c3cdf158ea6e52 Ben Yee relays some info from Bob Forward in regards to Wolfang being replaced by Tigatron in the Beast Wars cartoon]</ref>
*Rather than revealing stuff about the [[Vok]] and [[Tarantulas (BW)|Tarantulas]], a long-running subplot, "[[Other Victories]]" spends much of its time telling us how great [[Tigerhawk]] is and how we should buy his toy. Then, when it looked like Tigerhawk's toy would be canned, he was almost immediately killed off.
*Material released by both [[3H Productions|3H]] and [[Fun Publications]] tends to release characters from various series and continuities and then write stories featuring every character (usually with a particular focus on that year's box set), which often leads to some bizarre casting choices. [[Sky-Byte (RID)|Sky-Byte]], [[Strika (BM)|Strika]], and [[Obsidian (BM)|Obsidian]] were all retroactively added to [[Transformers: Generation 2 (franchise)|Generation 2]] and [[Machine Wars: Transformers|Machine Wars]] because they wanted to do toys of them that year. The [[Transformers: Shattered Glass (franchise)|Shattered Glass]] version of [[Tracks (SG)|Tracks]] is introduced from nowhere, has minimal characterization, and doesn't do anything, because they wanted to do [[Tracks (G1)#Transformers (2010)|Tracks's 2010 toy]] in [[Diaclone]]/[[Road Rage (G1)|Road Rage]] colors. And pretty much every story taking place in the [[Primax 207.0 Epsilon|Classicsverse]], ostensibly a [[Marvel Comics continuity|Marvel G1]]-based series, will introduce or reintroduce characters who were dead (the various [[Underbase Saga]] casualties), not even implied in the original stories ([[Overlord (G1)|Overlord]], [[Metalhawk (G1)|Metalhawk]]), or [[Female Transformer#Marvel Comics continuity|don't make sense in that universe to begin with]] ([[Elita One (G1)|Elita One]]). Sometimes this gets a token justification, other times not.
*The [[First (and Second) in Flight|sixth issue]] of ''[[Transformers Animated: The Arrival|The Arrival]]'' stops following the regular cast so it can flag the awesome cool out-now-in-shops [[Safeguard (Animated)|Safeguard]] toy. 
*Prominent generals in [[Transformers (Titan Magazine)|Titan's movieverse]] Decepticon army change frequently and without any acknowledgment as new toys jostle for (and gain) space.
*[[Dark Cybertron (IDW)|Dark Cybertron]] and its lead-ins were packed with ''[[Thrilling 30]]'' toys, so suddenly ''Beast Wars'' characters [[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]] and [[Rattrap (BW)|Rattrap]] are in G1. Things got worse in later issues when [[Tankor (BM)|Tankor]] and [[Crosscut (G1)|Crosscut]] needed a comic; Tankor berates Starscream for a few panels in [[No Exit: Dark Cybertron Chapter 6|''Dark Cybertron'' #6]], while Crosscut and [[Swerve (G1)|Swerve]] briefly halt the plot in [[The Dead Are Not Enough: Dark Cybertron Chapter 7|''Dark Cybertron'' #7]] to tell you who Crosscut ''is''. Then he vanishes. They did end up getting increased roles in IDW fiction later, though.
*For "[[Combiner Wars (comic)|Combiner Wars]]", several Autobots had to abruptly depart the ''[[Lost Light]]'' for Cybertron so they could appear in their combiner teams. In the case of [[First Aid (G1)|First Aid]], this was despite him having just become the Chief Medical Officer: a long-running plot!
*[[Seaspray (G1)|Seaspray]] and [[Beachcomber (G1)|Beachcomber]] appeared in the IDWverse after a seven-year absence in ''[[Starscream: The Movie (comic)|Starscream: The Movie]]'' and ''[[The Falling, Chapter 2: Another Mine|Another Mine]]''. The fact that those two oft-ignored characters had new ''[[Titans Return (toyline)|Titans Return]]'' and ''[[Power of the Primes (toyline)|Power of the Primes]]'' Legends Class toys released recently probably had something to do with the matter.

===Limited casting===
On the opposite side of things, Hasbro doesn't want to pay to depict characters that aren't selling toys. This can force a story, particularly an animated cartoon, to have a smaller cast than it otherwise might.

[[File:Metamorphdeceps2.JPG|upright=1.1|thumb|The full might of the Decepticon army.]]
*The [[The Transformers (cartoon)|original cartoon]] and [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|early Marvel comics]] both featured an oddly lopsided cast, particularly at the beginning, with the Autobot forces on Earth outnumbering the Decepticons two to one. This difference was never really acknowledged, though the cartoon also used [[generic]]s to make it look like Megatron had more than four guys, three pets, and [[Reflector (G1)|a camera]] under his command.
*The early episodes of ''[[Transformers: Armada (cartoon)|Armada]]'' featured only the toys available on the shelves. This resulted in two ridiculously small teams going to [[Earth]] for the all-important mission of gathering Mini-Cons, rather inexplicable in story terms.
*[[Transformers: Armada (Dreamwave)|Both the Dreamwave]] and [[Transformers: Armada (Panini)|Panini comics]] suffered exactly the same problem, but it gets worse: [[First Encounter|The first ''Armada'' episode]] reused models of older Transformers as [[generic]] background guys to bump numbers up. The comics ''didn't''. So Megatron apparently conquers all of planet Cybertron with an army of three guys, whereas the city/planet defending Autobots are just five blokes.
*Dreamwave would also [[Dreamwave Armada issue 10|feature a scene on Cybertron]], where the ''only'' Autobot who seemed to exist was [[Jetfire (Armada)|Jetfire]].
*For [[Transformers: Movie Prequel|the movie prequels]], IDW got around this by deciding that [[Dreadwing (Movie)|Dreadwing]] was going to be a [[Class Alpha drone unit|series of drones]] instead of one guy, allowing for really big battle scenes despite a then-limited number of toys. (It would later turn out there was ''also'' a Dreadwing who was one guy.) Titan Magazines would borrow this, and turn other Decepticons into drone series too.
*It seems unlikely that four bots and their human partners would be sufficient to handle every emergency on [[Griffin Rock]], but those four bots [[Transformers: Rescue Bots (toyline)|were the only ones on shelves at the time]] (other than [[Optimus Prime (WFC)|Optimus]] and [[Bumblebee (WFC)|Bumblebee]], who were needed [[Transformers: Prime (cartoon)|elsewhere]]), so they were the ones who went into [[Transformers: Rescue Bots (cartoon)|the show]]. As the toyline expanded, toy characters Blurr, Salvage, High Tide and Quickshadow were introduced into the cast.
*''[[Transformers: War for Cybertron Trilogy (cartoon)|Kingdom]]'' acts as a celebration of the 25th anniversary of ''[[Beast Wars: Transformers (cartoon)|Beast Wars]]'', but only includes characters who were slated for the first three waves of the accompanying toyline (with the exception of [[Tigatron]], likely due to the ease of retooling [[Cheetor (BW)|Cheetor]]'s animation model into a spare character). This means that notable cartoon characters like [[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]] or [[Tarantulas (BW)|Tarantulas]] who didn't have toys in the first three waves never put in an appearance in the season. To compensate for the Predacons having depleted ranks as a result, [[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]] stays with the Predacons for most of his screentime while [[Scorponok (BW)|Scorponok]] was turned into a group of generics; Predacon [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] also says many Predacons have been lost in his war with the Maximals.
{{-}}

==Plot==
===Forced explication===
{{main|Introdump}}

Rather than simply showing up in the background, new toy/characters often overtly introduce themselves, often with a ridiculous description of their special abilities. The Marvel comic is rife with examples, but it shows up across numerous fictions.

[[File:Introdump decepticons marvelus01.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|Reflector is actually here, he's just buried underneath a pile of speech bubbles.]]
*Again, [[The Transformers (issue)|''Transformers'' #1]] has two huge splash pages in which 28 characters do nothing but stand around and tell each other who they are and what they can do.
*Towards the end of "[[More than Meets the Eye, Part 1]]", Jazz puts together a strike team. Naturally, he does this by calling out their names one by one, so that the camera can cut to each Autobot in turn and show them transform in noticeable detail.
*The two-part original ''Transformers'' cartoon episode "[[Dinobot Island, Part 1|Dinobot Island]]" features many new 1985 characters getting their own short little introductory scene, often with a characteristic bit of self-description ([[Tracks (G1)|Tracks]]: "I'd rather stay in my stunning auto mode!" [[Inferno (G1)|Inferno]]: "I'm ''always'' ready for action!" [[Beachcomber (G1)|Beachcomber]]: "Wow, like, I hope we don't destroy this place before we can study it!")
*"[[The Rebirth]]" has ''three different sequences'' in which large new groups of characters form a lineup and introduce themselves to viewers one after another. Strangely enough, much of this screen- and dialogue-time is given over to Nebulan partners; the "main" Transformer characters get no such introductions, even though they are the items kids would have to purchase to acquire the Nebulan accessories. For instance, [[Spasma]], [[Monzo]], and [[Peacemaker]] (all speaking characters) are introduced by name as part of various lineups, but their in-store hosts [[Apeface]], [[Weirdwolf (G1)|Weirdwolf]], and [[Pointblank]] are never named (and Weirdwolf never even speaks).
*"[[Beast Wars (Part 1)]]" has the Maximals walk on one-by-one admiring their [[beast mode]]s, loudly explaining their names and showing character traits. This even gives the impression they deliberately changed their names to fit these new beast modes for no apparent reason.
*Crosscut and Swerve fill in Crosscut's backstory and job during a fight. That's all Crosscut does in [[The Dead Are Not Enough: Dark Cybertron Chapter 7|''Dark Cybertron'' #7]].

===Gimmicks===
{{main|Gimmick}}
When the toys can do something special, fiction writers must often go out of their way to show the gimmick in action. 

*The ''[[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers (toyline)#1986 .28Scramble City and 2010.29|Scramble City]]'' category of G1 combiner teams have the ability to freely swap around their limbs. Because of this, an unusual amount of Japanese fiction focuses on the idea of characters swapping limbs, best shown by ''[[Scramble City: Mobilization]]'', with rather variable consequences, and sometimes resulting in the creation of [[Scramble 7|whole new combiner characters]]. Sometimes, this purportedly results in some kind of increase in power or the combiner gaining different traits, but these changes are almost invariably told more than shown. In some cases, simply [[Free-Combination|changing the arrangement of an existing set of limbs]] is cited as something that can vastly alter a character's capabilities, with little real explanation.
*The Headmaster gimmick got [[The Transformers: Headmasters|an entire Limited Series comic book]] devoted to it.
*The comic issue "[[Pretender to the Throne!]]" features [[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] proudly creating the [[Pretender]]s, gloating that they will hide the Decepticons' identities from the Autobots "until it is too late". Not only does the plan not actually work, it's also a plot point with absolutely zero lead-in or build-up—at no point has Scorponok ever expressed concern about his troops being detected by the Autobots (if anything, considering the altmodes of his troops, he seems to be the ''least'' concerned with stealth), nor has he demonstrated the science skills to pull this off, and we've never even met the Pretender characters before. It was brought about solely because the new toys had to be jammed into the story. (The, uh, story of returning Optimus Prime's character to the comic book because he had [[Optimus Prime (G1)/toys#PMOP|a new toy]].)
*[[Rotor Force]] made their debut in "[[New Dawn]]", and both here and in subsequent ''Generation 2'' issues would primarily fight enemies not with guns like everyone else, but by firing their giant rotors at them. Page 3 of ''New Dawn'' actually shows them having to ''stop and reattach their rotors'' before they can carry on fighting. 
[[File:Mistaken Identity Galvatronscourge.jpg|upright=1.4|thumb|[[Johnny Yong Bosch|It's Morphin Time! MASTODON!]]]]
*The [[Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2001 franchise)|2001 ''Robots in Disguise'' franchise]] [[Megatron (RID)|Megatron]] had six alternate modes and [[Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2001 cartoon)|the cartoon]] really wanted you to see them, which is why [[Battle Protocol!|his first appearance]] was as ''a giant hand punching through a building for no apparent reason''. The series would also make it routine for him to use different modes for specific purposes: He would arrive to battles in Jet Mode, observe fights and command his troops in Robot Mode, personally engage his foes in Dragon Mode, and retreat from battle in Bat Mode. His Car Mode and Hand Mode would be used far less often than those four, but situations that deliberately called for their use ''would'' still crop up. Things got even sillier when he turned into Galvatron and gained four ''more'' modes. In "[[Mistaken Identity]]", he turned into his "Iron Mammoth" form to brace himself against a hostile [[Fortress Maximus (RID)|Fortress Maximus]]... only for the form to prove ''useless'' when Maximus called off his attack. His griffin form was later made out to be his most powerful form, which he used prominently during the series' [[The Final Battle (RID)|final episode]], while his Pteranodon and hydrofoil modes would each only be used once, in cases where Galvatron barely did ''anything'' in those modes (much like the case with his mammoth mode).
*[[Jetstorm (Animated)|Jetstorm]] and [[Jetfire (Animated)|Jetfire]] are the only Autobot jets in the ''Animated'' line. (Not counting the toyless [[Omega Supreme (Animated)|Omega Supreme]].) To fully big this up, their origin story has it that there have ''never been'' any flying Autobots before, despite them having been in (and won) a long and bitter war with enemies who ''often fly''. This one was silly enough that [[Endgame, Part I|a later episode]] explicitly joked on this, pointing out that there were multiple Autobots before and after Jetfire and Jetstorm with some kind of flight capability.
*The second season of the 2015 ''[[Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2015 cartoon)|Robots in Disguise]]'' cartoon coincided with the release of the [[Deployer (WFC)|Deployer]] toys, which fire smaller [[Mini-Con]] figures. Suddenly, every Decepticon in the cartoon was partnered with a Mini-Con or two, even Decepticons who'd appeared in the past as solo operatives.

The [[Unicron Trilogy continuity family|Unicron Trilogy]], noted for its gimmicks in all three toylines, was particularly notorious in this regard:

*The quest for power-enhancing [[Mini-Con]]s practically defined the plot of the ''[[Transformers: Armada (cartoon)|Armada]]'' cartoon, with both factions out to recruit or capture all the Mini-Cons.
*[[Powerlinx]]ing is shown again and again and again in ''[[Transformers: Energon (cartoon)|Energon]]'', despite having comparatively little relevance to most episode plotlines. In fact, due to the fact much of Energon's action was firefights, Powerlinxing seemed to be a disadvantage, since it resulted in a single larger Autobot shooting instead of two smaller ones.
*[[Cyber Key]] powerups are likewise shown repeatedly in ''[[Transformers: Cybertron (cartoon)|Cybertron]].'' In this case, while most characters had basic weapons, the Cyber Keys were necessary to unlock hidden weaponry or special techniques. So, for example, Optimus might be able to shoot at the Decepticons with a smaller firearm or his cannons, but to fire a more powerful attack from his cannons, he would need to summon his Cyber Key. Some characters, however, needed their Cyber Keys to activate what one would expect to be their main weapons (e.g. Starscream activating his Null Ray Cannon).
*All three series were also marked by lengthy transformation sequences which highlighted the gimmicks in very toy-accurate animation (and also made production cheaper, thanks to [[Stock footage|recycled footage]]).

===Strange developments===
Shoehorning loads of new characters with new powers can compel the writers to do things with the plot that, in all probability, they otherwise wouldn't.

*Marvel UK had to promote the [[Special Teams]] toys ''before'' they knew how they'd be appearing in the US reprints. To get around this, [[Simon Furman]] wrote a story arc titled "[[Second Generation!]]", where [[Buster Witwicky (G1)|Buster Witwicky]], Optimus and [[Shockwave (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Shockwave]] <s>watched an advert</s> saw a Matrix-induced vision of the Special Teams in action. These events were previewed in "The Special Teams Have Arrived", nine issues earlier, with no indication that they were part of a vision, making their place in continuity uncertain.
*In the US Marvel comics, the simultaneous introduction of the [[Aerialbot (G1)|Aerialbots]] and [[Stunticon (G1)|Stunticons]] and the introduction of the Pretenders both saw a lot of rigamarole involved in explaining why both the Autobots and the Decepticons had new members with identical numbers/gimmicks at the same time.
*Season 3 of the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|original ''The Transformers'' cartoon]] almost completely ignored the characters of the previous two seasons that were no longer on toy shelves. The 1985 Autobot cars, for example, are not seen at all. [[Bumblebee (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Bumblebee]] and the 1985 Mini-Vehicles, by contrast, show up now and again, as their toys were still shipping. Even Starscream, who was ''dead'', managed to get a couple of Season 3 episodes all to himself; again, his toy sold through 1986. 
*One season later, "[[The Rebirth]]" — the last episodes of the entire series — was almost entirely spent on introducing new characters and giving old ones upgrades, leaving just barely enough time to provide any kind of conclusion.
*''[[Transformers: The Headmasters (cartoon)|The Headmasters]]'' was absolutely crazy about this. [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus]] (whose toy was long gone) kicks the bucket only three episodes in for the sake of a sacrifice that would be nullified only a few episodes later, putting new(er) toy [[Hot Rod (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Rodimus Prime]] back in the command chair for a short while. In the tenth episode, Rodimus departs the series and hands the title of Supreme Commander to brand-spanking-new toy [[Fortress Maximus (G1)|Fortress]], who's had a few months, tops, of combat experience. Much like Season 3, ''Headmasters'' also ignored most of the Season 3 regulars ([[Springer (G1)|Springer]], [[Perceptor (G1)|Perceptor]], the [[Dinobot (G1)|Dinobot]]s, the [[Quintesson]]s) or removed them altogether, sometimes fairly dubiously ([[Blurr (G1)|Blurr]] and [[Kup (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Kup]] leave with Rodimus, [[Ultra Magnus (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ultra Magnus]] gets shot a bit and dies, [[Galvatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Galvatron]] is buried in ice and nobody digs him up until ''[[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers: The Battlestars (story page)|Battlestars]]''). By the end of the series, the only remaining Autobots from the first three seasons were the [[Special Teams]], [[Blaster (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Twincast]] and his cassettes, [[Wheelie (G1)|Wheelie]], [[Metroplex (G1)|Metroplex]], and [[Arcee (G1)|Arcee]].
*[[Transformers Comic-Magazin issue 2|''Transformers Comic-Magazin'' #2]] wrote an entire story devoted to Optimus sternly explaining which Autobots and Decepticons were on sale in [[Germany]] in 1989. The reason he had to? [[Quickmix (G1)|Quickmix]] had ''shot an Autobot''!
*The first thirteen issues of the ''[[Transformers: Armada (Dreamwave)|Armada]]'' comic were focused around the Mini-Cons, with plots often revolving around their desire to be seen as equals and not be enslaved. Then without ''any'' prior set-up, the last five issues turn into a dimension-spanning battle against [[Unicron]]—who had just had a new and expensive toy.
*[[Tigerhawk]] debuts in "[[Other Victories]]", where he's the reason the Predacons lose their base and [[Tarantulas (BW)|Tarantulas]] is killed. This disrupts any ending for the Tarantulas/[[Vok]] storyline, as the episode is left with little time to properly explain the mysteries of either character and the plot of last episode, Tarantulas trying to destroy the whole ''Ark'', is reduced to two lines about the [[Tripredacus Council]].
[[File:Samprowl.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|<s>Upgrades are bad.</s> Upgrades are GOOD. We have always been at war with <s>Eurasia</s> Eastasia.]]
*"[[A Fistful of Energon]]" has [[Prowl (Animated)|Prowl]] learn not to use upgrades, and he gives up using powerful samurai armour. But whoops, Hasbro thought "hey, we could make a toy out of that armour"! And so in [[Five Servos of Doom|a later episode]], Prowl ''regains'' it and the show hurriedly claims that the upgrade is fine ''now'' because Prowl realizes now that it's the Autobot, not the upgrade.
*The [[France|French]] decided to be good sports and start using propeller-driven nuclear bombers again in [[All Hail Megatron issue 11|''All Hail Megatron'' #11]], just so [[Octane|Tankor]] could be used.
*[[Ransack (ROTF)|Ransack]] has been on Earth for a while, in hiding from other Decepticons while he waits for orders from [[the Fallen]] in "[[Transformers Comic issue 2.7|Turnabout]]". Ransack is a member of a race that can scan any object and take its form as a disguise. Ransack moves around in the cunning disguise of ''a 100-year-old plane''. (At least, unlike the previous example, the oldness of the alt mode was pointed out.)
*In Titan's ''Revenge of the Fallen'' comic, [[Skids (ROTF)|Skids]] and [[Mudflap (ROTF)|Mudflap]] go from being [[Bumblebee (Movie)|Bumblebee's]] responsibility to bugging [[Ironhide (Movie)|Ironhide]] to being [[Sideswipe (Movie)|Sideswipe's]] responsibility in the space of three issues, all to allow each issue to focus on a specific toy-bearing movie star. Similarly, only one or two Decepticons per issue are sent on a mission, when presumably the Fallen might want to send loads of guys to silence the twins.
*In ''Dark of the Moon'', nearly all of the Transformers switch from built-in weaponry to handheld weaponry. It just so happens that the gimmick of the ''Dark of the Moon'' toys was that they had "MechTech" weapons that could be held by any other figure.
*Also in ''Dark of the Moon'', most Autobots transform into [[Stealth Force]] mode, a weaponized vehicle mode that allows them to access various weapons in their otherwise defenseless disguises, an incredibly useful combat mode that's never used in any prior or later films. Uniquely, this was something Hasbro came up with for the toyline on their own; director [[Michael Bay]] decided to incorporate it into the film only after seeing what they were working on for the then-upcoming toyline and taking a personal liking to it.
*The [[subline imprint]] of the ''[[Transformers: Prime (franchise)|Prime]]'' [[Transformers: Prime (toyline)|toyline]] was the ''[[Transformers: Prime (toyline)#BH|Beast Hunters]]'' line, which took hold at about the time of the [[Transformers: Prime (cartoon)|show]]'s third season, which was given the subtitle of the imprint. In the episode "[[Project Predacon]]", [[Optimus Prime (WFC)|Optimus Prime]] awkwardly redubs [[Team Prime]] as the "Beast Hunters", when they begin looking for Predacon fossils. The Autobots must've felt the same way as we did about the sudden name change, since really only the protocol-obsessed [[Ultra Magnus (WFC)|Ultra Magnus]] begins using the term. Thanks to behind the scene troubles and the whole concept being a late addition to the series, the team never actually ''hunts any beasts'', as only three Predacons ever take a central role in the story.
[[File:YouMeAndTheUniverse-Scoopcolors.jpg||thumb|upright=1.4|Talk about "shoehorned in".]]
*In [[Spotlight: Trailcutter]], [[Trailbreaker (G1)#2005 IDW continuity|Trailbreaker]] has an existential crisis, and worries that everyone only sees him as 'the forcefield guy'. Deciding to revamp his image, he decides that he'll now go by the much slicker(?) "Trailcutter"... just as [[Trailbreaker (G1)/toys#Generations|Thrilling 30 Trailcutter]] hit store shelves.
*The [[subline imprint]] for the ''Generations'' line from 2015 to 2016 was ''[[Combiner Wars (franchise)|Combiner Wars]]'', hence IDW's tie-in comic had to introduce a heapload of combiners in a universe that regarded combination as a lost art with unpredictable side-effects. (Devastator, Menasor, Superion, and Monstructor were around, but they had each been introduced separately, and each with their own unique explanations, over the course of ''ten years''.) Enter the [[Enigma of Combination]], an artifact of Nexus Prime with the power to merge any Transformers into a combiner. Not only is this artifact used on Superion, Menasor, and Defensor, it is also used on Optimus Prime and other selected Autobots to create [[Optimus Maximus (G1)|Optimus Maximus]]. The fact that Optimus had two Combiner Wars toys (one released, one upcoming at the time of the story's publication) might have influenced this decision.
*Also, the big toy of 2015 was a Titan Class Devastator... in his classic configuration instead of IDW's newly introduced 'Prowlastator' form. Unfortunately, Scrapper had been long dead and hence was unable to take his spot as the combiner's leg. However, IDW had another bulldozer-bot conveniently lying around — [[Scoop (G1)|Scoop]]. Naturally, he was merged with the other Constructicons by the aforementioned Enigma, restoring Devastator's classic silhouette.
*A long-running plot thread of ''[[The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye|More than Meets the Eye]]'', starting all the way back in [[How Ratchet Got His Hands Back|issue 5]], was [[Ratchet (G1)/2005 IDW continuity|Ratchet]] preparing [[First Aid (G1)|First Aid]] to succeed him as the ''[[Lost Light]]''{{'}}s Chief Medical Officer. [[Our Steps Will Always Rhyme|Issue 40]] ''finally'' sees Ratchet stepping down and leaving the ship (so he could participate in the events of ''[[The Transformers: Drift - Empire of Stone|Drift - Empire of Stone]]''), officially declaring First Aid "the new Chief Medical Officer"... but after only two issues in his new position, [[The One Where They Go to Earth|issue 43]] sees First Aid himself leave the ''Lost Light'' under a flimsy in-story pretense so he could participate in the events of ''Combiner Wars'', appointing [[Velocity (G1)|Velocity]] as his own successor (although he would later return to the ''Lost Light'' following the conclusion of ''Combiner Wars'').
*In a follow-up story, Galvatron creates two combiners out of random soldiers and foes. To plug the new merch, these are called [[Galvatronus (CW)|Galvatronus]] and [[Sky Reign]] but most of the characters that made them up in toy form were either on Cybertron, the ''[[Lost Light]]'', or dead at the time. Unusually for this page, Hasbro allowed IDW to use random limbs as long as the names were right but this leads to the comic pimping a toy you can't buy (though you could make it with others), and in Galvatronus' case a toy that doesn't even have the same face as in the comic.
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===Awkward continuity===
[[File:Earthforce.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|This happened... er.... look just buy the toys, ok?!]]
Sometimes the requirement to feature new toys can be so strong that continuity takes a major backseat and stories are produced that feature combinations of characters that make the story very difficult to slot into the main continuity. The Marvel UK comic was especially prone to this as it could not always foresee where, when and how characters would be introduced:

*The ''[[Transformers Annual 1985]]'' contains many stories featuring toys from the 1985 release long before they were formally introduced in the regular comic, often interacting with other characters who would be out of action by then. As a result, few of the stories easily fit the continuity of the weekly comic.
*The demands of Hasbro UK for the [[Headmaster (technology)|Headmasters]] and [[Targetmaster (technology)|Targetmasters]] to be featured heavily even before the US ''[[The Transformers: Headmasters|Headmasters]]'' mini-series was available meant that both the ''[[Transformers Annual 1987]]'' and the regular strip "[[Worlds Apart!]]" contain a slightly different set of events that are at odds with the mini-series.
*The requirement to give prominence to the rereleased toys in the [[Classics (Europe)|Classics]] range resulted in one of the biggest continuity trainwrecks of all, [[Earthforce]]. Over three decades later fans are still uncertain where it fits in continuity, and even [[Simon Furman]] admits to being unsure.<ref>{{citesocial|quote=Looking back, as I try my hardest not to do, it's very hard to tie the Earthforce stories into a specific time frame (in terms of the US continuity), because (if I'm brutally honest) I didn't try too hard to make it work in the first place. By that point, I was just trying to tell a bunch of fun UK stories that didn't necessarily impact on the larger (US) storyline. How was I to know 15 or so years later people would be trying to reconcile it all?|link=https://web.archive.org/web/20090914233035/http://transfans.co.uk/interviews_furman.php|name=Simon Furman|site=TransFans.co.uk|title=Interviews: Simon Furman - Part 1 'The Past'|year=2004|month=08}}</ref>
*Germany's ''[[Transformers Comic-Magazin]]'' started in 1989 and reprinted older Marvel US and UK strips. Since, of course, these would rarely show the current toys, Comic-Magazin ran text stories from #2 that showcased ''completely different'' Transformers that were on Earth at the same time, and just happened not to be seen in the strips.
*Trapped between the need to pimp toys and the problem of not knowing what the plot of ''Revenge of the Fallen'' would be, Titan just threw up their hands and unambiguously set their lead strip in [[Transformers (Titan Magazine)#Alternate universe|an alternate universe]]. Similarly, the [[Dark of the Moon (video games)|video games]] for ''[[Transformers: Dark of the Moon (franchise)|Dark of the Moon]]'' were all prequels so that the games would not directly contradict the then-upcoming movie's plot while still using some of the characters and settings who would be featured (some minor plot contradictions ''did'' occur, but few fans have ever accepted the video games to be in perfect continuity with the films anyway).
*Based on evidence from various sources, it's been speculated that the episode "[[Starscream's Ghost]]" was originally meant to star [[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]], who at the time had been exiled from the Decepticons and was on somewhat friendly terms with the Autobots. Instead, his role was taken over by new toy [[Octane]]. The only other episode to prominently feature Octane, "[[Thief in the Night]]", which was aired ''after'' "Starscream's Ghost", kinda sorta explains his falling out with the Decepticons—except it doesn't: While said episode ''does'' have him go rogue, not only is he ''still'' a bad guy—by the end of that episode, ''Galvatron is no longer on bad terms with Octane''! Likewise, the episode "[[The God Gambit]]" starred [[Astrotrain (G1)|Astrotrain]], Starscream and Thrust, with Astrotrain (a new toy at the time) taking on a leadership role more akin to Megatron rather than the bus he's reduced to in almost every other episode.
*The Japanese broadcast of ''Animated'' outright skipped "[[Rise of the Constructicons]]" and "[[Sari, No One's Home]]", as they largely revolve around the toy-less [[Mixmaster (Animated)|Mixmaster]] and [[Scrapper (Animated)|Scrapper]]. Meanwhile, "[[Sound and Fury (episode)|Sound and Fury]]" was moved up to be the first episode to air after the pilot to promote Soundwave's toys, which is at odds with continuity since Megatron only came back online during "[[Home Is Where the Spark Is]]", which was pushed to air ''after'' "Sound and Fury".
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===Power levels===
In order to make new characters seem more ''totally awesome'', they're often depicted as ultra-powerful in their initial appearances. Once they become old news, they frequently seem to lose their super-charged abilities.

*The original ''Transformers'' cartoon introduced [[Devastator (G1)|Devastator]] as the ultimate threat. Once newer combiner teams came along, however, he was less of a threat, easily defeated at various times by [[Bruticus (G1)|Bruticus]], [[Broadside (G1)|Broadside]] and even [[Perceptor (G1)|Perceptor]].
[[File:Buzzsawyikes4.jpg|upright=1.4|thumb|Buzzsaw reminds Omega Supreme he's not a new toy any more.]]
*The Marvel comics feature [[Omega Supreme (G1)|Omega Supreme]] as nigh-invulnerable and ultimately powerful in [[Command Performances!|his debut issue]], slaughtering all but two of the Decepticon forces sent to attack him. Just [[Dark Star|two years later]], he's getting his butt handed to him by the likes of [[Buzzsaw (G1)|Buzzsaw]], one of his original victims. He was also drawn as [[Scale|truly colossal]] in his first appearance, before becoming just a head taller than [[Blaster (G1)|Blaster]] by the time of his death.
*[[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]]'s first action was to turn Starscream into a pile of ash in a single shot from his cannon mode, and he accomplishes an even more impressive feat upon his reintroduction in "[[Five Faces of Darkness, Part 2]]" when he destroys the entire planetoid of Thrull. In later episodes, his attacks seem to be, at most, somewhat stronger than those of the other Decepticons, and characters can withstand shots from him in cannon mode without any serious injuries. 
*[[Metroplex (G1)|Metroplex]], in a weird case of this, actually seemingly ''[[Scale|shrank]]'' between the third season of the G1 toon and [[Transformers: The Headmasters (cartoon)|''The Headmasters'']], going from being drawn as a genuine giant to barely bigger than the average combiner. Even in official [[scale charts]], he dropped from being shown as 800 meters tall to about 45. This was likely to avoid upstaging new-kid-on-the-block [[Fortress Maximus (G1)|Fortress Maximus.]]
*[[Waspinator (BW)|Waspinator]] was, amazingly, something of a threat in early episodes; he holds his own against [[Cheetor (BW)|Cheetor]] in his debut. He only became significantly weaker than the other Predacons during the second season.
*In her first appearance on the ''Beast Wars'' cartoon, [[Airazor (BW)|Airazor]] effortlessly blasts [[Terrorsaur (BW)|Terrorsaur]] to pieces. She never displays such a level of power again.
*Similarly, [[Rampage (BW)|Rampage]] was presented as a huge threat when he first appeared, but just a few episodes later, he seems just slightly tougher than the average Predacon (save for a few notable occasions).
*[[Sky-Byte (RID)|Sky-Byte]] was actually a credible threat for his first couple of episodes.
*The [[Commando (RID)|Commandos]] were far more powerful and competent than the Predacons, who were made even ''less'' powerful and competent as episodes went on. Remarkably, this was actually used in the plot, with Megatron focusing on the new toys while the Predacons became underdogs trying to get their old status back and one-up the new guys. 
[[File:ArmTVTidalWave.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|Before he shrank in the wash.]]
*''Any'' new toy character in the Unicron Trilogy cartoons is almost guaranteed to win the day's battle.
*[[Tidal Wave (Armada)|Tidal Wave]] was a staggering behemoth as big as the sky in his introduction, and his ability to combine with Megatron gave the battle advantage to the Decepticons until his equally powerful counterpart [[Overload (Armada)|Overload]] was introduced. By the time of the ''Energon'' cartoon, Tidal Wave is just this tall guy (but not as tall as he used to be) and is treated as just another Decepticon, even after he gets a body upgrade in the form of "Mirage". 
*When the newly redecoed Jetfire and [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Optimus]] combine in Dreamwave's Armada comic, they are so powerful ''they can hurt Unicron himself''.
*[[Jungle Planet (colony)|Jungle Planet]] ruler [[Scourge (Cybertron)|Scourge]] was incredibly powerful when he was first introduced, but later on, he's getting slaps on the wrist by [[Lori Jiménez|Lori]] and [[Thunderblast (Decepticon)|Thunderblast]], and schooled by [[Bud Hansen|Bud]], ultimately becoming more of a sympathetic comedic bumbler than a credible threat.
*The Decepticons in ''Animated'' started off as being so horrifically powerful that the entire Autobot team had to take on a ''single'' one. By Season 3, this no longer happens. Uniquely, this was ''deliberate'' by the writers: they wanted to show the Decepticons as supreme threats, and have the Autobots gradually being better at dealing with them.
*The [[Vehicon (Prime)|Vehicons]] in ''Prime'' started off pretty tough; easily wearing down [[Cliffjumper (WFC)|Cliffjumper]] in a group, then just two giving [[Arcee (WFC)|Arcee]] and [[Bumblebee (WFC)|Bumblebee]] a tough time. In the next episode, they've got Stormtrooper aim, and basically exist to give the Autobots someone to kill while saving the named Decepticons from the scrapheap. It gets to the point where in the third season, [[Starscream (WFC)|Starscream]] actually ''counts'' on the Vehicons failing to execute [[Wheeljack (Prime)|Wheeljack]], and Wheeljack makes several amusing comments about the Vehicons' incompetence.
*Additionally, the [[Insecticon (WFC)|Insecticons]] started off as nightmarishly strong monsters. One wears ''[[Megatron (WFC)|Megatron]]'' to the point of exhaustion before dying (admittedly, Megs was deprived of his main asset when Airachnid webbed his fusion cannon). However, for the remainder of the series, the Insecticons are just as weak as the Vehicons, being blasted down in one shot, despite a return to form in "[[Tunnel Vision (episode)|Tunnel Vision]]" and "[[Toxicity]]" (the latter of which saw the debut of notorious Autobot killer [[Hardshell]]).
*When [[Lightlong|Lightning]] [[Optimus Prime (WK)|Optimus]] first debuted in ''Wild King'', he was pretty powerful, able to send [[Leafback]] flying in a single blow and fight on even terms with [[Captain Volca|Flame]] [[Megatron (WK)|Megatron]] compared to regular Optimus, requiring the latter to further combine into Flame-Grass Megatron to seemingly defeat him. However, 2 episodes later, ''[[Ignite Leo|a single energy beast]]'' is more than capable of doing that, with the only reason Lightning Optimus doesn't fall being [[Hydrophant]] gaining the courage to strike back, but even then he still had to combine with Hydrophant into Lightning Aqua Optimus to defeat his opponent.
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===New bodies===
There's rarely a compelling reason for a Transformer to get a brand-new body in fiction; it's simply to promote a new toy. It has become a default way to keep a popular character on shelves, rather than having to kill them off and introduce a new character to keep moving toys. Sometimes fiction writers are able to work these alterations in elegantly... sometimes not.

[[File:Bumblebeeskindeep.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|Ratchet pulls a Kitty Pryde on Bumblebee.]]
*[[Bumblebee (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Bumblebee]] was rebuilt into Goldbug following his near-destruction... and was later re-rebuilt back into Bumblebee to sell the [[Bumblebee (G1)/toys#Pretender|new Classic Pretender toy]]. The reason given in [[Skin Deep|the comic storyline]] was that [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]] reverted him without his consent because Ratchet liked his old form better, something Bumblebee is strangely fine with.
*Season 2 of ''[[Beast Wars: Transformers (cartoon)|Beast Wars]]'' introduced the new [[Transmetal]] toys in short order, requiring some strange sci-fi waffling to explain why members of both teams suddenly got special new bodies. The writers had originally planned to introduce these changes gradually, across the length of Season 2, but Hasbro ordered them to be brought in immediately. (The slow-and-gradual notion would eventually appear during Season 3.)
[[File:Retailbuyer decisiontree.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4]]
*The [[Unicron Trilogy]] cartoons feature [[Megatron (Armada)/Cartoon continuity|Megatron]] getting recolored and renamed "Galvatron" ''three times''; at the start of each subsequent series, he's given a different body but called Megatron ''again'', because the name "Megatron" just sells more toys. (This also means Hasbro gets to keep the [[trademark]] "Galvatron".) The Japanese versions handled this differently (with Megatron known as Megatron throughout Armada even after his upgrade, and being known as Galvatron throughout all of Energon) due to different trademark laws. Galaxy Force (the Japanese version of Cybertron) played it straight with Master Megatron being upgraded into Master Galvatron. 
*Several times during the Unicron Trilogy, characters get new paint jobs as part of some magical power-up enhancement. These new color schemes exist solely to promote redecorated toys like "[[Ironhide (Energon)|Energon Ironhide]]" or "[[Hot Shot (Armada)/toys|Powerlinx Hot Shot]]". Even the comics got in on the action, introducing the redecorated versions of Jetfire and Optimus during the Unicron arc.
*The three future members of the [[Cybertron Defense Team (Cybertron)|Cybertron Defense Team]] get shot up by Megatron, then transmogrify through the power of [[burning spirit]] into new forms. These new forms, of course, were just hitting shelves at a toy store near you. 
*In the course of the [[Transformers (film)|live-action movie]], [[Bumblebee (Movie)|Bumblebee]] gets irritated at a slight against his alternate mode, and scans a new form. Voilà, suddenly he's got ''two'' toys on the shelf! He later pulls the ''exact same thing'' in ''[[Transformers: Age of Extinction (film)|Age of Extinction]]'', but by now, he's been established as having a fragile ego, explaining the constant desire to switch alternate modes.
*When [[IDW Publishing|IDW]]'s ''Transformers'' comic originally came out, there were no Generation 1-themed toys to flog, and many characters were given altered designs for the series. Then along came ''[[Transformers: Universe (2008 franchise)|Universe]]'', featuring new toys of Generation 1 characters, and suddenly multiple characters get new, toy-accurate bodies in ''[[The Transformers: All Hail Megatron|All Hail Megatron]]'', for no apparent in-story reason. Later, [[Bluestreak (G1)|Bluestreak]] even gets a namechange to ''Silver''streak to fit his toy.
*Sometimes, IDW's comics don't even bother with a reason: you just get the latest issue and a character suddenly resembles the latest toy. This can sometimes be explained as artist interpretation, but at other times...
*[[Shockwave (Animated)|Shockwave]] was originally grey, but when he was reunited with the ''Animated'' Decepticons, he changed his colours to purple while referring to it as his proper look. Why he changed colouration to go undercover was not explained, but it may have something to do with a purple-coloured Shockwave toy being out when that episode aired.
*In ''[[Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen]]'', [[Skids (ROTF)|Skids]] and [[Mudflap (ROTF)|Mudflap]] start out as an old ice cream truck combiner but after a disastrous mission [[NEST]] decides to upgrade them to new individual [[General Motors]] vehicles. New toys ''and'' product placement!
*[[Starscream (Armada)#Generations|''Armada'' Starscream]] got a new toy in 2014. There wasn't an ''Armada'' comic but there ''was'' a Generation 1 comic with a Starscream, which was then [[pack-in material|packed in]] with the toy series including Armada Starscream. And lo and behold, for ''[[Dark Cybertron (IDW)|Dark Cybertron]]'' Starscream got a new body! A year later, he swapped to ''another'' body for "[[Combiner Wars (comic)|Combiner Wars]]", which was his then-new Leader Class toy, and several issues were devoted to him choosing it and then flaunting it. Then again, this ''is'' Starscream we're talking about...
*[[Jhiaxus (G2)|Jhiaxus]] finally got a new toy as well. Problem is, his comic body didn't look much like the toy. Then, in ''[[Black Planet: Dark Cybertron Chapter 11|Dark Cybertron Chapter 11]]'', he revealed his new invention: reactive armor that changed his body to look like his opponent's. Who did he use this armor to battle? Why, it's Starscream, the guy his toy was retooled from!
*2015's "[[Combiner Wars (comic)|Combiner Wars]]" comic series brought back almost all of the combiner characters that have appeared in the IDW continuity thus far. However, [[Slingshot (G1)|Slingshot]] was apparently killed by [[Devastator (G1)|Devastator]] and [[Wildrider (G1)|Wildrider]] quit the Stunticons... so that [[Alpha Bravo]] and [[Offroad (CW)|Offroad]] can replace them! Meanwhile, Starscream rebuilds Devastator; not only does Devastator suddenly resemble his toy counterpart, but [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]] is no longer a required member of the combiner team, leaving him free to combine with Optimus Prime and company to become the brand-new combiner [[Optimus Maximus (G1)|Optimus Maximus]]. Superion and Menasor, who had made previous appearances in IDW fiction, are both rebuilt by the [[Enigma of Combination]], causing their bodies to more closely resemble their toy counterparts.

===Character pimping===
Characters with toys may get more attention than those without:

*"[[Matrix Quest]]" has four separate teams on a mission. You could use any three Transformers in one of these teams, right? Nope, Furman has toys to promote: out go nine new Autobot characters and three existing ones with new toys.
*[[Depth Charge (BW)|Depth Charge's]] presence in all three of his first three ''Beast Wars'' episodes: one for his origin, another for him joining the Maximals after all, and then an abrupt appearance at the very end of "[[Cutting Edge]]" where he turns up and single-handedly drives off a Predacon force.
*When ''[[Transformers Animated (cartoon)#Japanese release|Animated]]'' was released in Japan, episodes focusing on the [[Constructicon (Animated)|Constructicon]]s were never broadcast on television (instead being reduced to bonus content on the DVDs), as the Constructicons did not have toys. The episode order was also rearranged (and thus the internal narrative of the series, as well) so that episodes introducing new toys could air earlier than those that didn't.
*IDW's ''[[The Transformers: Spotlight|Spotlight]]'' came back in 2013 in order to promote six of the upcoming ''Generations'' toys. Even [[Hoist (G1)|Hoist]], a little-used character who would never have been given a ''Spotlight'' otherwise! (Initially published through Diamond and Comixology as per IDW's usual practice, these comics were subsequently packed-in with the toys they were based on, aiming to use the higher sales of the toys to boost comic sales in a "I'll scratch your back, you scratch mine" scenario.) Likewise, Waspinator, having a new toy out in late 2013, began making appearances and took on increased importance in the IDW universe. An upcoming [[Tankor (BM)|Tankor]] toy brought forth a Tankor appearance in Dark Cybertron. The opening arcs of the second seasons of ''More Than Meets The Eye'' and ''Robots in Disguise'' (as well as ''Windblade'' vol. 1) in 2014 also heavily feature casts of characters with new toys, such as Nightbeat, Rattrap, Arcee, and Jetfire.
* When [[Steeljaw (RID)|Steeljaw]] frees some Decepticons in the second season of ''[[Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2015 cartoon)|Robots in Disguise]]'', the freed 'Cons include his former minions [[Clampdown (RID)|Clampdown]] and [[Thunderhoof (RID)|Thunderhoof]], yet not the other two members of the Pack, [[Fracture (RID)|Fracture]] and [[Underbite]]. He instead frees [[Bisk (RID)|Bisk]], [[Groundpounder (RID)|Groundpounder]], [[Overload (RID)|Overload]], [[Quillfire (RID)|Quillfire]] and [[Springload (RID)|Springload]]. There's no reason to neglect those who have already proven to be able to work together in the Pack (and thus Steeljaw should know would help in his eventual coup), except for the fact that the toys of both Fracture and Underbite had already sold, and the newly freed Decepticons have new figures on the shelves.

===Abrupt conclusions===
[[File:MarvelUSG2-12.jpg|upright=0.85|thumb|It's the end of the road for Transformers Generation 2! That can't bode well for the toyline.]]
Just as ''Transformers'' fiction lives at Hasbro's pleasure, so too does it die. Falling sales, a change of plans, and standard [[rebranding]] can all cause a storyline to come to a sudden end when Hasbro decides to pull the plug.

*The American Generation 1 cartoon got a somewhat rushed conclusion in the form of "[[The Rebirth]]", rather than a full fourth season.
*The Generation 1 comics were nearly canceled at [[On the Edge of Extinction!|issue #75]], but granted a reprieve. The stay of execution was only temporary, however; with the Generation 1 toyline ending, the comic was terminated a mere five issues later, resulting in a rather hasty concluding plotline.
*Hasbro was only willing to support the [[Transformers: Generation 2 (Marvel)|''Generation 2'' comic]] for twelve issues, unless it proved an unqualified (perhaps phenomenal) success. Aware of this from the start, writer Simon Furman was able to plot a story arc that reached its finale as the series ended (and poked fun at it with a character whose name is a pun on "[[Jhiaxus (G2)|Gee, axe us]]".)
*The writers of the ''Beast Wars'' cartoon reportedly never had any idea if they'd be back for another season. When the axe fell with Season 3, they had only three episodes left to wrap up the whole series.
*Hasbro nearly killed off the just-begun comic series ''[[Transformers: The Wreckers|The Wreckers]]'' in 2003, wishing instead for [[3H Productions|3H]] to focus on a ''[[Transformers: Universe (comic)|Universe]]'' comic advertising its current toyline.
*Even though ''[[Transformers: Cybertron (cartoon)|Cybertron]]'' wasn't abruptly canceled, Kids WB ended the series on the [[cliffhanger]] of the episode "[[Revelation (episode)|Revelation]]", leaving millions of kids tuning in next time only to get a re-run of ''Xiaolin Showdown''. The reason? The Cybertron Defense Team toys hadn't hit stores yet.
*With ''[[Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen]]'' coming out in June, Titan had to end their alternate universe storyline in May so they could tie in early—an issue earlier than planned. The main strip handled this, with the notable exception of [[Jazz (Movie)#Titan Magazines Transformers movie comics|the Jazz plot arc]] going completely unresolved, but it played havoc with working out the IDW reprints!
*According to [[Rik Alvarez]], IDW was asked to drop their G1 continuity and move to the brand-spanking new [[Aligned continuity family|Aligned]] one. (They said "nah".)
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==Death==
===Killing off old product===
[[File:Tftm1986a.jpg|upright=0.85|thumb|Guess who's no longer in the Mini Vehicles case assortment?]]
[[File:Newyorkunderbase.jpg|upright=0.85|thumb|Publisher's clearing house.]]
[[File:BW Scorponok Terrorsaur deaths.jpg|upright=0.85|thumb|Scorponok, Terrorsaur, we're condemning you to a fiery death 'cause Waspinator has a bigger fan club.]]
The most obvious To Sell Toys effect comes from the temporary nature of retail sales. Even in the 1980s, toys rarely stayed on the shelves past two years; today that timespan is much smaller. Once a toy is no longer selling, Hasbro has no interest in supporting fiction about that character—especially when there are newer toys to promote. Therefore, writers are often compelled to remove characters from the story by killing them off. Sometimes this happens through carefully developed story arcs, but it's easier to do it with huge, apocalyptic battles with massive numbers of casualties. 

*Right before the introduction of most of the 1985 cast, the Marvel comic saw eleven of the original Autobots taken offline within a single issue in "[[Prime Time!]]". A few issues later, six of the original Decepticons met [[Command Performances!|a similar fate]] at the hands of [[Omega Supreme (G1)|Omega Supreme]] (which doubled as character pimping for the big guy). Though it was suggested they could be repaired, the vast majority of casualties wouldn't reappear in the US until they popped up in crowd shots [[Totaled!|thirty issues later]], and a number had their next appearance being a ''second'' death in the Underbase Saga.
*In ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]'', numerous main characters are killed or changed in the movie's first 30 minutes, including [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]], [[Megatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Megatron]], [[Starscream (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Starscream]], and [[Ironhide (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ironhide]]. They are replaced by a slew of new characters; in fact, the poster for the movie shows ''only'' new characters. And [[Laserbeak]].
*Numerous characters are killed in the Marvel UK comics saga "[[Time Wars]]". The Grim Reaper seemed to spare either popular characters (Megatron and [[Shockwave (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Shockwave]]) or newer characters ([[Carnivac (G1)|Carnivac]], [[Catilla (G1)|Catilla]] and [[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]], for example.)
*The [[Underbase Saga]] features a super-powerful [[Starscream (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Starscream]] killing literally ''dozens'' of characters; over fifty characters are shown being offlined in the story, with even more implied by later issues to have been taken out off-panel. The survivors were mostly from the [[Pretender]], [[Headmaster (technology)|Headmaster]], and [[Targetmaster (technology)|Targetmaster]] ranks, those being the then-current toy lines. However, the explanation ([[Underbase]] power didn't affect those TFs with organic components) meant that even the [[Seacon (G1)|Seacons]], new toys at the time and introduced three issues before, met their end.
*The climactic [[On the Edge of Extinction!|battle with Unicron]] 25 issues later killed off many of the Underbase survivors, whose shelf run had ended.
*With its enormously expensive CGI animation, ''Beast Wars'' was particularly vulnerable to toy-based interference. The expense of creating and animating a CGI body model meant that the character roster had to remain fairly constant; the introduction of all-new characters usually required the removal of an equal number of existing characters. And so, [[Scorponok (BW)|Scorponok]] and [[Terrorsaur (BW)|Terrorsaur]] die just in time for the arrival of [[Quickstrike (BW)|Quickstrike]] and [[Silverbolt (Fuzor)|Silverbolt]]. (Frustrated with the situation, the writers carefully planned out<ref>http://www.builtstlouis.net/tf/manic/m-botcon.html</ref> the demise of [[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]], anticipating that someone would have to be removed to make way for [[Rampage (BW)|newer characters]].)
*''[[Transformers: The Reign of Starscream|The Reign of Starscream]]'' would end up killing a large number of Autobots in [[The Reign of Starscream issue 5|issue #5]], after their toys had been around for a while; as they'd not made an appearance in the comics until this mini, this is both an example of Huge Cast ''and'' Product Clearing. It would then go on to bump off some Decepticons, while its sequel ''[[Transformers: Alliance|Alliance]]'' slaughtered ''hordes'' of Decepticons with old toys. Mowry is the new Furman...
*The ''Dark of the Moon'' [[Transformers: Dark of the Moon (Xbox 360/PS3)|console video game]] is a prequel to the film and can't afford to kill off most of its characters due for an appearance in the then-upcoming film. Luckily, there's several characters who've been around since the ''Revenge of the Fallen'' franchise who can be used to give the game some bosses to kill off like [[Mixmaster (ROTF)|Mixmaster]], [[Breakaway (ROTF)|Breakaway]], and [[Stratosphere]]! Like the prior comics, ''[[Transformers: Rising Storm]]'' also wipes out a lot of characters not due for an appearance in ''Dark of the Moon'' like [[Jolt (ROTF)|Jolt]] and [[Elita-One (Movie)|Elita-One]], though some stragglers like the Twins, Arcee, and Chromia survive.
*Another odd case of this in the [[live-action film series]], which, as well as advertising toys, also serves as advertising for [[General Motors]] vehicles. Hence, Autobots whose cars are no longer in demand have an uncanny tendency to either lose prominence or perish. The most prominent example would be [[Ironhide (Movie)|Ironhide]] — the GMC Topkick had been discontinued for two years by ''[[Transformers: Dark of the Moon (franchise)|Dark of the Moon]]'', and so, despite a fifty-dollar toy on the shelves, Ironhide dies halfway in. Similarly, [[Ratchet (Movie)|Ratchet]] is the major Autobot casualty of ''[[Transformers: Age of Extinction (film)|Age of Extinction]]'' due to his Hummer H2 vehicle mode being a thing of the past by the time the film hit theaters (though unlike Ironhide, Ratchet had next to no representation in the toyline).
*IDW's [[The Transformers: Robots in Disguise|''Robots in Disguise'']] ongoing has to promote a [[Superion (G1)|Superion]]... with [[Alpha Bravo|a new helicopter]] instead of [[Slingshot (G1)|Slingshot]]. Hence, Slingshot is the one to suffer most and die from the injuries caused when [[Devastator (G1)|Devastator]] tore him in half. This is especially weird considering that Devastator tore through Superion from the ''right'', and Slingshot was Superion's ''left'' arm at the time. Not to mention that Silverbolt, the torso, was explicitly ripped in half... The series would go on to have [[Wildrider (G1)|Wildrider]] leave the Stunticons over a humiliating defeat... one he suffered years ago, in [[The Question|Spotlight: Bumblebee]]. Naturally, the empty position was filled by new toy [[Offroad (CW)|Offroad]]. Then Hasbro decided to release Quickslinger and Brake-Neck (Slingshot and Wildrider renamed for trademark issues) ''much'' later after the others' release, part of a strategy that effectively forced fans to buy toys ''both'' of the "replacement" characters ''and'' the original characters.

This has become less common in recent years, as Hasbro has come to realize that their target audiences can actually get attached to certain [[character]]s, and might not enjoy seeing them die random, brutal, meaningless [[death]]s.
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===Hi-and-die===
[[File:Chuffer cof.jpg|upright=0.85|thumb|Likely dialog: "SHEEEAAGH!!"]]
Kids don't want to buy a toy of a character who's dead. So if the plot calls for someone to die, smart money bets on the character who has a toy as the survivor. The guy without a toy, who you've never heard of before? Toast. This is the ''Transformers'' version of ''[[Star Trek]]''{{'}}s infamous {{w|redshirt syndrome}}. The stereotypical hi-and-die character is killed off in the same episode/issue that introduces him, if not the very same scene.

*This approach was particularly common in the [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)#UK comics|UK comics]]. Characters created specifically so they could be killed off include Wrecker leader [[Impactor (G1)|Impactor]], Autobot/zombie food [[Chuffer]], Tailgate's Autobot trainee buddies/mutant fodder [[Subsea]] and [[Flattop (Marvel)|Flattop]], and the sixth member of the "Magnificent Six", [[Stampede]].
*The U.S. comics also used this approach on occasion, as with [[Blaster (G1)|Blaster]]'s poignantly adorable buddy [[Scrounge (G1)|Scrounge]].
*[[Transmutate (BW)|Transmutate]] showed up and died in [[Transmutate (episode)|that episode]], of course Hasbro doesn't make [[Transmutate (BW)#Beast Wars 10th Anniversary|a toy]] [[Action Master|that don't transform]], right?
*The ''Energon'' cartoon introduced [[Padlock (Energon)|Padlock]], whose purpose was to die at [[Shockblast]]'s hands, providing motivation for toy-character [[Wing Saber (Energon)|Wing Saber]].
*''Animated'' chucked in [[Arcee (Animated)|Arcee]] so Ratchet could have a tragic past where he failed to save someone. (And ''then'' she got a toy!)
*The [[Transformers Animated (Titan)|''Animated'' comic]] wants to do a story arc about an Autobot who's really a spy and then have him killed. Quick, [[Afterburn|make someone up]]!
*''[[Transformers: Exodus|Exodus]]'' invents hordes of characters solely to populate the story with casualties while preserving the classic characters: [[Chromatron]], [[Gauntlet (WFC)|Gauntlet]], [[Halogen (WFC)|Halogen]], [[Drixco]], [[Revo]], [[Catalycon]], and dozens of other unnamed Autobots, Decepticons and [[Seeker (body-type)|Seekers]].
*[[James Roberts]] elevated hi-and-die to an artform; though his run on ''[[The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye|More than Meets the Eye]]'' is crammed with minor non-toy characters who wind up dead, many still received some backstory, history, or distinctive characterization before — or even after — being killed off. Examples from ''More than Meets the Eye''{{'}}s first "season" include [[Polaris]], [[Hyperion (G1)|Hyperion]], [[Shock (G1)|Shock]], [[Ore]], [[Animus]], [[Dent]], [[Sonic (IDW)|Sonic]], [[Boom]], [[Piston (Wrecker)|Piston]], [[Crest]], [[Torque (G1)|Torque]], [[Sherma]], [[Momus]], "[[Fallout (G1)|Fallout]]", "[[Streaker]]", [[Heavies|Hammer and Anvil]], [[Trepan]], [[Frak]], [[Rushcut]], [[Rossum]], [[Tripodeca]], [[Pivot]], [[Scattergun]], [[Blockus]], [[Datum]], [[Ramp]], and [[Suture (G1)|Suture]]. Similarly, ''[[The Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers|Last Stand of the Wreckers]]'' introduced us to [[Squadron X]], comprising just about every Decepticon hi-and-die character from the Marvel continuity, who were then all slaughtered by Impactor.
*The first episode of the ''[[Transformers: Combiner Wars (cartoon)|Combiner Wars]]'' cartoon invented [[Maxima]], a purple recolour of [[Windblade (G1)|Windblade]], who appeared in one scene and immediately died, fuelling Windblade's vendetta against the Combiners seen in the rest of the series. 
*[[Moonracer (G1)|Moonracer]] shows up during the ''[[Transformers: War for Cybertron Trilogy (cartoon)|Transformers War For Cybertron Trilogy]]'' cartoon, even though she did ''not'' have a new toy as part of the [[War for Cybertron Trilogy (toyline)|toyline]]. Since she ends up as part of a squad filled with characters who ''do'' have toys, and her animation model is simply a redeco of [[Chromia (G1)|Chromia's]], no prizes for guessing who ends up being the one to bite the dust.
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===Resurrection===
Killing off a character isn't always toy-motivated; sometimes it's a dramatic plot development. But it can also be a problem if Hasbro decides to make a new toy of that character.

[[File:Inferno dies agenda2.jpg|upright=0.85|thumb|Only a flesh wound!]]
*[[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]] has been resurrected [[The many deaths of Optimus Prime|so many times]] that it's practically a defining character trait. His original revival in the cartoon didn't correspond to any actual toy release, but the Marvel comic brought him back specifically to advertise his [[Powermaster]] form. A second death-and-revival introduced his [[Action Master]] body. And a ''third'' death-and-revival in ''Generation 2'' brought him into his [[Optimus Prime (G1)/toys#G2Hero|Hero]] toy form.
*The Japanese killed off Optimus (or "Convoy" as they called him) in [[Transformers: The Headmasters (cartoon)|''The Headmasters'']]. A few years later, they not only brought him back with a new toy, the ''entire franchise'' for that year was called ''[[Transformers: Return of Convoy (franchise)|Return of Convoy]]''. 
*Numerous "dead" characters were brought back into the Marvel comic series when their Classics and/or Action Master versions were released. Many were "deactivated" rather than outright dead; however, very few ''non'' Action Master characters showed up alongside them.
*The series writers for ''Beast Wars'' considered [[Optimus Primal (BW)/Beast Wars cartoon continuity|Optimus Primal]] dead and gone at the end of Season 1. Hasbro, however, had a [[Transmetal]] Optimus Primal toy to promote, and so he was returned to life in Season 2. Hasbro wanted him brought back in the first minutes of the season premiere, but the writers managed to convince them that it would be better to do so at the ''end'' of the two-episode story following the premiere.
*At the end of Season 2 of ''Beast Wars'', [[Inferno (BW)|Inferno]] was pretty clearly shown being killed—being ''disintegrated''—but in the next season appeared to have just been bruised and cracked, because Hasbro was not ready to have a Mega-scaled toy removed from the series.
*Pretty much ''nobody'' could successfully die in the [[Transformers: Energon (cartoon)|''Energon'' cartoon]]. [[Megatron (Armada)/Cartoon continuity|Megatron]], [[Starscream (Armada)/Cartoon continuity|Starscream]], [[Demolishor (Armada)|Demolishor]], [[Tidal Wave (Armada)|Tidal Wave]], [[Wing Saber (Energon)|Wing Dagger]], and [[Inferno (Energon)|Inferno]] all die and/or are resurrected from the dead during the course of the show.
*[[Jazz (Movie)|Jazz]] still had toys out in 2008. The [[bio]] for AllSpark-Enhanced Autobot Jazz states he was brought back from near-death by the AllSpark and is "more powerful than ever". Voilà, Jazz comes back from the dead thanks to the AllSpark in [[Transformers Comic issue 16|Titan's tie-in comic]]! Optimus even uses the ''term'' "Autobot Jazz" in [[Transformers Comic issue 21|a later issue]]...
*[[Nightbeat (G1)|Nightbeat]] was shot in the head and abandoned on [[Gorlam Prime]] back in "[[Spotlight: Hardhead]]". Six years later, Hasbro were releasing a new Nightbeat toy and back he comes into ''Dark Cybertron'', a chatty undead from the [[Dead Universe]]. He proceeds to survive the destruction of the Dead Universe and wound up on the ''Lost Light'' before dying again years later.
*[[Sentinel Prime (G1)|Sentinel Prime]]'s IDW incarnation first appeared in the ''[[The Transformers: Megatron Origin|Megatron Origin]]'' limited series, set millions of years in the past. The final issue originally left his exact fate following his final confrontation with Megatron ambiguous; according to artist [[Alex Milne]], Sentinel was ''not'' dead ''yet'' as far as he was concerned, and the script had called for him to look like he could go either way.<ref name="milne">[https://web.archive.org/web/20110822003501/http://forum.idwpublishing.com/viewtopic.php?p=37411 Post by Alex Milne on the IDW Publishing Forums]</ref> However, ''[[Spotlight: Optimus Prime]]'', published around the same time, at least ''implied'' that he was dead in the present day just like in other continuities, given how Optimus Prime had succeeded him. Subsequently, ''[[Spotlight: Blurr]]'' and ''[[The Transformers: Autocracy|Autocracy]]'', among others, presented [[Zeta Prime (G1)|Zeta Prime]] as the Prime who chronologically succeeded Sentinel, before being himself killed by Megatron and succeeded by Optimus. Fast forward to several years later, when Hasbro's [[Titans Return (toyline)|''Titans Return'' toy line]] introduced a new Sentinel Prime toy that was also a [[Headmaster (technology)|Headmaster]] with a [[Titan Master]] named [[Infinitus]], and lo and behold, the IDW version of Sentinel, having been presumed dead for four million years, suddenly makes an unexpected return in a ''[[The Last Autobot|Titans Return]]'' one-shot, with absolutely no buildup beforehand, and is revealed to actually ''be'' a smaller robot named Infinitus who survived the destruction of his larger body. After menacing everyone a little for a few issues, he gets dropped down a very big hole, never to be spoken of again.
{{-}}

===Untouchables===
[[File:Armorhide drawhisfire.jpg|upright=1.4|thumb|Really, they could just stand there making rude noises at Starscream.]]
Obviously, if a character ''does'' have a current toy (or soon will), they're ([[Cliffjumper (WFC)|usually]]) not going to die, even if the plot or common sense indicates they should. This is sometimes because Hasbro itself declares a character unkillable, and so comics and TV writers must follow suit.
*In "[[Optimal Situation]]", [[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]] had betrayed [[Megatron (BW)/Beast Wars cartoon continuity|Megatron]] to the Maximals, ruining his greatest shot at victory. As he declared, "There will be no more betrayals!", she would pay the price: being knocked into stasis lock so the Maximals could fix her and she could stay on their team.
*Megatron himself was in a prime position to be terminated, as were the Maximals later on, in "[[The Weak Component]]". Since this was only episode 6 and everyone had toys out, the cast politely agreed not to take this opportunity to end a brutal war for the planet.
*Titan's Movie strip was moved to an alternate universe, where you'd [[Rhythms of Darkness!|expect nobody to be safe from death]]. However, most of the cast had toys out, so whether it was a desperate guerrilla fight against Decepticon occupation, the rise of [[Unicron]], a [[Decepticon Civil War]], or the final battle, very few characters bought it. The big exception was [[Divebomb (Movie)|Divebomb]], dying in his first battle.
*In ''Last Stand of the Wreckers'' (mentioned earlier), James Roberts observed that Impactor was the only character who was guaranteed not to be killed. However, Hasbro shot down the idea of Perceptor or Springer dying, and so most of the fatalities were less well-known characters like Pyro, Ironfist, and eternally unlucky Wreckers Twin Twist and Topspin.
*Similar to his Beast Era counterpart, ''[[Transformers: Prime (franchise)|Prime]]'' [[Megatron (WFC)|Megatron]] was worn down to the point of exhaustion, and was at [[Optimus Prime (WFC)|Optimus Prime]]'s mercy. Optimus, now [[One Shall Fall|sworn to outright kill Megatron when he gets the chance]], is about to pull the trigger, but ends up backing down when he's threatened by Decepticon reinforcements... in this case, the laughing stock redshirt Vehicons. It doesn't help that the ''[[Transformers: Prime (toyline)|Prime]]'' toyline had ''just'' gotten on shelves, but seriously? Optimus felt threatened by ''Vehicons''?
*If a Decepticon with a current toy is about to be captured in ''[[Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2015 cartoon)|Robots in Disguise]]'', they can pull off the most miraculous of escapes, sometimes [[Bee Cool|disappearing under our heroes' noses]].
*Starscream, the end.

==Notable exceptions==
There are, however, a few notable exceptions to the To Sell Toys effect, such as fictional characters without a toy counterpart, and other anomalies:

===Toys not released in the relevant market===
[[File:Swoopg1marvelukfirst.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|YOU CAN'T HAVE ME.]]
Occasionally the ''Transformers'' fiction released in a particular country features characters whose toys were not released in that country. The Marvel UK comic featured two variations of this phenomenon:

*Characters inherited from the U.S. strips. Some, such as [[Shockwave (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Shockwave]], [[Swoop (G1)|Swoop]] and the [[Predacon (G1)|Predacons]], were given fairly prominent roles in the U.S. stories reprinted in the UK comic and so it was hard to ignore them completely in the UK originated material despite their toys not being around to need advertising. However the decision to develop the Predacons (even before their US appearances were reprinted), to have entire storylines focusing on Swoop, and also to keep Shockwave in continuity even after he'd been (supposedly) killed off in the US comic goes beyond this.
*Characters not featured in the U.S. strips. Bizarrely the UK comic also made use of some characters such as [[Roadbuster (G1)|Roadbuster]], [[Whirl (G1)|Whirl]], [[Chop Shop (G1)|Chop Shop]], and [[Venom (G1)|Venom]], despite their toys not being available on UK toy shelves. None of these characters were inherited from the US material.

Writer [[Simon Furman]] has since stated that when writing the stories he was generally unaware of which toys were unavailable in the UK.<ref>{{citesocial|quote=We largely took our cue from what characters were being introduced into the US storyline. If there was a release schedule for the toys in the UK, we rarely saw it... But in the case of Swoop and the Predacons, I don't think I was consciously aware (at the time) that we were dealing with toys not generally available in the UK. They were just extant characters, and therefore fair game.|link=https://web.archive.org/web/20090914233035/http://transfans.co.uk/interviews_furman.php|name=Simon Furman|site=TransFans.co.uk|title=Interviews: Simon Furman - Part 1 'The Past'|year=2004|month=08}}</ref>

This would happen again with Titan, as foreign exclusives such as [[Bludgeon (ROTF)|Bludgeon]] and [[Slap Dash (ROTF)|Slap Dash]] palled around with UK-available toys.

Another example would be the original text stores published by [[Condor Verlag]] in their ''[[Transformers Comic-Magazin]]'': The text story from [[Transformers Comic-Magazin issue 11|issue 11]] features the [[Combaticon (G1)|Combaticons]], even though catalogs from the era, backed up by German fans' recollections, suggest that the German release of the ''[[Classics (Europe)|Classics]]'' line-up omitted the Classic Combaticons, possibly due to their "war" theme.
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===Post-Marvel, pre-2013 G1 comics===
[[File:Infiltration 1b.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|"Hey, Runamuck, it's our first appearance on a comic book cover in twenty years!"<br>"Heh heh, now if only we could appear on toy store shelves..."]]
Both [[Dreamwave Productions|Dreamwave]] and [[IDW Publishing|IDW]] comics, the two recent holders of the license to publish ''Transformers'' comic books, sometimes produce comics using whichever toy line is current (e.g., Dreamwave's ''[[Transformers: Armada (Dreamwave)|Armada]]'' comic or IDW's [[Transformers (film)|2007 movie]] tie-ins), and sometimes publish comics using whatever characters they please (e.g., ''[[Transformers: The War Within|The War Within]]'' and ''[[The Transformers: Escalation|Escalation]]''). The characters in their "discretionary" comics are often not currently available in toy form ([[Hardhead (G1)|Hardhead]], a character appearing in numerous stories from IDW's G1 continuity during their early years, only had [[Hardhead (G1)#Universe (2008)|another toy]] on shelves at around 2009, a good twenty-two years since [[Hardhead (G1)#Generation 1|his last toy]]), sometimes are drawn with bodies that have ''never'' been toys (most of the ''War Within'' characters), and sometimes are toys that were never available outside of specific countries ([[Lio Convoy]] in IDW's ''Beast Wars''). 

[[Chris Ryall]], IDW Editor-in-Chief and writer of the miniseries adapting the 2007 movie to comics, had stated on IDW's forums that Hasbro does not dictate what comics IDW must make ("Nope, no dictates at all from Hasbro. We put the plan together, send to them for approval.").<ref>http://forum.idwpublishing.com/viewtopic.php?p=69377</ref> By the time of ''All Hail Megatron'', however, the ''Universe'' line came out and Hasbro asked IDW to start using some of those designs.<ref>[http://forum.idwpublishing.com/viewtopic.php?p=102461#102461 Guido reveals the Hasbro request]</ref> Though this practice did not influence the subsequent [[The Transformers (IDW)|ongoing series]], it did raise its head again in 2013, as Hasbro and IDW began working together to create new toys based on character designs from the comics, to promote upcoming toys with New Bodies and to include the [[Dark Cybertron (IDW)|Dark Cybertron]] event (including various preludes) with the toys.

===New toys, same basic design===
In more recent times (mostly in the case of the [[live-action film series]]), Hasbro has used a combination of minor [[redeco]]s, [[retool]]s and sculpts based on the same basic designs to create new toys, instead of giving recurring characters a major design overhaul for the next installment. The fiction then rarely, if ever, acknowledges any of those minor design changes. According to screenwriter [[Roberto Orci]], some people at Hasbro even argued against changing the designs of some returning characters in ''[[Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen]]'', so that parents would '''not''' have to buy the same toy twice for their children just because of a minor change or modification to the characters' designs.<ref>[http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/showpost.php?p=2186879&amp;postcount=171 Roberto Orci posting at TFW2005.com]</ref> (Hasbro still released new, or modified, toys of those characters, prompting [[completist]]s to buy them as well, and the film gave some of the characters slight tweaks in their [[alternate mode]]s, based on changes in the real-life vehicle designs, which the toys had to incorporate.)

===Killing off characters with new toys===
Even characters with new or expensive toys can get the axe early on if the plot calls for it... or when poor timing caused by unplanned executive decisions resulted in bad coordination between in-fiction developments and toy release schedules.
* In ''Beast Wars'', [[Tigerhawk]] was introduced and then killed off within three episodes, due to corporate uncertainty about whether the [[Size class#Beast Wars|Ultra-sized toy]] would actually be produced.
*Despite being killed off in the middle of ''[[Transformers: Dark of the Moon (film)|Dark of the Moon]]'', [[Ironhide (Movie)|Ironhide]] got a lot of new toys, including a Leader Class figure, a Voyager Class figure, and a Halloween costume for children!
*''[[Transformers: Prime (cartoon)|Prime]]'' [[Cliffjumper (WFC)|Cliffjumper]] was hyped up as a major character in the lead-up to the show's premiere, and got several toys like the other members of the main cast. He dies within the first five minutes of the [[Darkness Rising, Part 1|premiere episode]]. However, later he gets his fair share of screentime by [[Out of the Past|flashbacks]] and the like.
*Due to behind the scenes budget issues and the ''Prime'' [[Transformers: Prime (toyline)|toyline]] getting pushed back thanks to the ''Dark of the Moon'' [[Transformers: Dark of the Moon (toyline)|toyline]], [[Airachnid (Prime)|Airachnid]] is quickly shut away inside a stasis pod in "[[Armada (episode)|Armada]]" for much of the remainder of the series at the ''same time'' as the mass release of her toy; [[Breakdown (WFC)|Breakdown]] also suffered a grimmer fate as he was killed off just a few episodes earlier (by Airachnid herself, no less). Even more egregious than that would be [[Dreadwing (Prime)|Dreadwing]], who would be killed off in the show just ''one day'' before his toy hit shelves.
*IDW [[Galvatron (G1)/2005 IDW continuity|Galvatron]] gets a new ''Titans Return'' toy in mid late 2016, but was killed off at about the same time his toy was hitting shelves in the [[All Hail Optimus Part 6: No Fair Fights|final issue]] of the second season of ''[[The Transformers: Robots in Disguise|The Transformers]]''.
*In ''[[Transformers (2023 comic)|Transformers 2023]]'', Slingshot is killed off in issue [[Transformers (2023) issue 21|#21]], even though he had received a new toy as part of the ''[[Transformers: Age of the Primes|Age of the Primes]]'' toyline that had just come out a few months prior.

===New toys with minimal fictional appearances===
Sometimes, characters that have a new or expensive toy barely see use in fiction.
*Generation 1 Whirl and Roadbuster were larger and more expensive than many of the other Autobots, but never appeared in the original cartoon. They were featured in the UK comics as members of the Wreckers.
*Sixshot's only appearance in the original cartoon is a quick sequence where he transforms into each of his alt modes to defeat the Aerialbots. He is never seen again. He does not appear at all in the original comics.
*In ''Transformers: Armada'', Optimus Prime is the only character to not receive an upgrade after being defeated by Nemesis Prime, despite having an expensive $40 redeco on store shelves. Optimus does receive the redeco colors in the final episode of the series, but he returns to his old colors by the episode's conclusion.
*[[Optimus Prime (Movie)|"Silver Knight" Optimus Prime]] had an entire thematic segment of the [[Transformers: Age of Extinction (toyline)|''Age of Extinction'' toyline]] dedicated to him that was exclusive to [[Target]] stores. However, the planned upgrade of Optimus Prime was cut from the theatrical release of ''Age of Extinction''.
*''[[Combiner Wars (toyline)|Combiner Wars]]'' Quickslinger and Brake-Neck, meant to be [[Slingshot (G1)|Slingshot]] and [[Wildrider (G1)|Wildrider]], did not get any focus in the accompanying IDW fiction: Slingshot is dead and Wildrider's whereabouts are unknown after his leaving the Stunticons. Instead, their selling point is giving fans the chance to complete G1-accurate [[Superion (G1)|Superion]] and [[Menasor (G1)|Menasor]] toys. Meanwhile, the Autobot [[Rook (CW)|Rook]] made only a background appearance in the event, and was so overlooked he had to be digitally added ''to'' those backgrounds; [[Alpha Bravo]], his [[Superion (G1)|Superion]] counterpart, gets a bit more but nothing you'd miss. (When Rook ''did'' get some work later, he was promptly killed off!)
*''[[Titans Return (toyline)|Titans Return]]'' introduced a massive amount of new toys and a ''massive'' amount of Headmasters, including many familiar G1 characters redone as Headmasters. However, very few of these new toys were given focus in IDW's [[Titans Return (comic)|tie-in comic arc]], including prominent characters such as [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]], [[Chromedome (G1)|Chromedome]], and [[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]]. ([[Sentinel Prime (G1)|Sentinel Prime]] is a notable exception, returning after a long absence.) Also, despite the heavy emphasis on [[Titan Master]]s in the toyline, only one character, [[Sentinel Prime (G1)|Sentinel Prime]], displayed actual Headmaster ability. [[Alpha Trion]] is briefly decapitated and turned into a lifeless body for [[Infinitus]] to take control of, for no real reason other than to show off the head-swapping gimmick inherent in all ''Titans Return'' figures. And, with a colossal new [[Fortress Maximus (G1)#Generations|Titan-class]] toy for [[Fortress Maximus (G1)|Fortress Maximus]] as the centerpiece of the line, you'd expect some significant toy-shilling action. Instead, Fortress Maximus's brand-new Titan body gets smacked around a bit before utterly failing in its one job of defending [[Moonbase One|Luna 1]]'s [[space bridge]] from the [[zombie]] Titans.
*Most likely caused by the complaints from fans about the small amount of Decepticons in the 2015 [[Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2015 toyline)|''Robots in Disguise'' toyline]], [[Steeljaw (RID)|Steeljaw]] breaks out many monsters of the week from the first season. Each one gets a figure, yet they all get one or two episodes to shine. [[Bisk (RID)|Bisk]] is the greatest example, appearing very briefly in Episode 4 of Season 1, getting captured, going free, and getting captured again in the next Episode.
**Every major 'Con from or affiliated with Decepticon Island gets Mini-Cons, who do very little but appear anyway only because they had toys. Ratchet gets one as well. 
[[File:TF-TLK-Berserker.jpg|right|upright=1.7|thumb|'''DELUXE ROOK''' with Amazing '''STANDING AROUND ACTION!''']]
* After having a Deluxe-sized figure despite being the largest [[Dinobot (AOE)|Dinobot]] in ''[[Transformers: Age of Extinction (film)|Age of Extinction]]'', [[Scorn]] got a larger, more movie-accurate Voyager class figure for the toyline of ''[[Transformers: The Last Knight (toyline)|The Last Knight]]''. Unfortunately, Scorn didn't even appear in the [[Transformers: The Last Knight (film)|actual film]]!
* A more egregious ''The Last Knight'' example occurs in the case of [[Berserker]]. Despite being on-screen for only ''8.39 seconds'' (in which he's a prisoner of war and not even released from incarceration), and having only one line, Berserker got several toys to himself, one of which was an entirely new Deluxe class figure. This is in stark contrast to more prominent Decepticons [[Onslaught (ROTF)|Onslaught]], [[Dreadbot]], and [[Mohawk]], none of whom received toys until Mohawk got a ''[[Studio Series]]'' figure ''seven years later''. Set photos seem to indicate that Berserker was going to have a larger role than he did, explaining why he was given such a prominent role in the toyline.

==References==
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[[Category:Toys]]