The Transformers (franchise)

"The Transformers" redirects here. For other uses of The Transformers, see Transformers (disambiguation).

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The Transformers, often retrospectively known as Generation 1 (or "G1" for short), is the original Transformers franchise which took the United States by storm in 1984 and founded the Generation 1 continuity family.

The The Transformers franchise as it ran in the 1980s/90s featured the following primary components:

• An American toyline
• A European toyline
• Various Latin American toylines
• A cartoon series
• Several comic book series
• Innumerable story and coloring books
• Two story posters: Battle in the Desert Valley and The Power Struggle.
• Various promotional merchandise.

The Transformers also included an avalanche of ancillary licensed merchandise, more so than any other Transformers franchise outside of Japan. This has resulted in a higher number of micro-continuities in G1 than in any other Transformers franchise. This licensing was revived in the early 2000s due to retro-appeal at retailers like Hot Topic. It has continued at varying levels of intensity since.

Japanese release

In Japan, rather than simply be identified as The Transformers throughout its lifespan, the franchise was rebranded with a new title and a shift in storytelling every year. This led to a collection of mini-franchises within the larger "Generation 1" franchise, each featuring their own individual components. They are:

• 1985 - Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers
• 1986 - Transformers 2010
• 1987 - The Headmasters
• 1988 - Super-God Masterforce
• 1989 - Victory
• 1990 - Zone
• 1991 - Return of Convoy
• 1992 - Operation Combination

Continuations and addenda

When the The Transformers franchise came to an end, the first few subsequent franchises (such as Generation 2 and Beast Wars) continued in the same continuity family. Thus, someone like Optimus Primal is listed as being "a character from the Beast Era portion of the Generation 1 continuity family." Click that last link for more information on other G1-inspired franchises.

Occasionally, new products will be released under the banner of the old The Transformers or "Generation 1" franchise. These have included:

• TakaraTomy's Transformers Collection line of reissues.
• TakaraTomy's e-HOBBY-exclusive reissues and redecos of The Transformers toys, most into new characters.
• Hasbro's Generation One Commemorative Series releases of many of those same toys.
• New comic book series, first from Dreamwave (as "Generation 1" or "Generation One") and then from Devil's Due and IDW.
• New Titanium Series molds of old characters, often labeled with a "Generation 1" subtitle.
• TakaraTomy's Transformers Encore line of reissues, in the same spirit as Transformers Collection.
• Modern Transformer figures redecoed (or created entirely new) as The Transformers characters for the Generation 1 Series in the 2008 Universe franchise.

The name "Generation 1"

Not actually part of the category "Things that don't exist".

During its initial run, the brand was simply called The Transformers, eventually dropping the definite article with the introduction of a new logo in 1989, now simply calling itself Transformers. It wasn't until the Transformers: Generation 2 branding was introduced that the fans retroactively coined the term "Generation 1". By 1999, Hasbro's then-official Beast Wars website first indirectly acknowledged this terminology, referring to the pre-Generation 2 era merely as "the line's first generation of toys". The term "Generation One" (spelled as the word "One") saw its first official use on the packaging of Takara's SCF (Super Collection Figures) line of PVC figures, launched in 2000.

Outside Japan, it took another two years until Dreamwave Productions used the term "Generation 1" (spelled with a numerical "1") on the inside cover of the Generation 1 vol. 1 preview issue. Hasbro themselves started using the spelling "Generation One" a few months later, first on the packaging of their Heroes of Cybertron release of the SCF figures (as "Generation One Collection") and then on the packaging of their Commemorative Series line of reissues (as "Generation One"). Following that, the name has reappeared numerous times on toy and DVD packaging and on comic book covers.