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| [[Image:Bumblebee-instructions.jpg|right|350px|thumb|Basically, you make him do yoga.]]
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| All Transformers [[toy]]s that can be <strike>[[trademark|transformed]]</strike> [[transformation|converted]] between [[alternate mode|different modes]] come with '''instructions'''. Usually, those are included in the form of a sheet of paper (once called "instruction booklet"); however, some smaller toys have them printed on the back of their packaging instead (usually only for toys that come packaged on blister cards).
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| Instructions always give visual directions for how to convert the toy between its different modes and, if applicable, how to use its [[gimmick]]s and action features, either in the form or photos of the toy itself (or a [[prototype]]) or simplified line artwork. Additional text explanations were common in the [[The Transformers (toyline)|early days]] of the [[Transformers brand|brand]], but have since been dropped at least as far as [[Hasbro]]'s market is concerned.
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| If the toy includes loose accessories, the instructions will also depict the entire content of the package.
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| ==Formats of instructions==
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| ===Instructions printed on the back of the packaging===
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| [[Image:Overbite-instructions.jpg|left|200px|thumb|Oh sure, he's a giant metal shark with arms and legs, but he's not an ''attack monster'' till you stick some guns on him.]]
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| The first ''Transformers'' toys that featured instructions printed on the back of their blister cards were the ''[[The Transformers (toyline)|Generation 1]]'' [[Mini Vehicle|Mini-Cars/Mini-Vehicles]] such as [[Bumblebee (G1)/toys|Bumblebee]], [[Cliffjumper (G1)|Cliffjumper]] or [[Beachcomber (G1)|Beachcomber]], and the [[Mini-Cassette]] two-packs such as [[Ravage (G1)|Ravage]]/[[Rumble (G1)|Rumble]] or [[Laserbeak (G1)|Laserbeak]]/[[Frenzy (G1)|Frenzy]].
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| Throughout the ''Generation 1'' line, ''all'' toys that came packaged on blister cards (such as [[combiner]] limbs, [[Micromaster]] Patrols or single [[Action Master]] figures) had their instructions printed on the back of their blister cards.
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| With the [[Generation 2 (toyline)|''Generation 2'' toy line]], this started to change: Smaller toys such as the Mini-Cars, the [[Go-Bot (G2)|Go-Bots]], the Constructicons and the Combiner limbs still had their instructions printed on the back of their blister cards; however, more complex toys such as the Autobot Cars, the [[Seeker (body-type)|Decepticon Jets]], the [[Dinobot (G1)|Dinobots]] or the "Hero" versions of [[Optimus Prime (G1)/toys|Optimus Prime]] and [[Megatron (G1)/toys|Megatron]] already came with instruction booklets included inside the blister bubble.
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| ''[[Beast Wars (toyline)|Beast Wars]]'' introduced uniform [[size class]]es that are, by and large, still used today. The Basic and Deluxe figures, which came packaged on blister cards, once again featured their instructions printed on the back of their cards. ''[[Beast Machines (toyline)|Beast Machines]]'' continued this trend, now also including the short-lived price points [[Deployer]]s and [[Beast Rider]]s.
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| The ''[[Machine Wars]]'' toys ''all'' had their instructions printed on the back of their packaging, even larger toys such as Optimus Prime, [[Starscream (G1)/toys|Starscream]] or [[Soundwave (G1)/toys|Soundwave]] that came packaged in boxes.
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| ''[[Robots in Disguise (toyline)|Robots in Disguise]]'' finally abandoned the practice of printing instructions on the back of blister cards altogether: Even the simplistic [[Spy Changer]]s or the ''[[Armada (toyline)|Armada'']] line's [[Mini-Con]] three-packs featured instruction sheets included inside the blister bubble. The only ''Transformers'' toys since then to feature instructions printed on the back of their blister cards are the small [[Legends Class]] toys originally launched during the ''[[Cybertron (toyline)|Cybertron]]'' line, and only the ones that are released as single packs. Even the "[[AllSpark Power|AllSpark Battles]]" two-packs from the [[Movie (toyline)|2007 ''Movie'' toy line]] came with instruction sheets included inside their blister bubbles instead.
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| ===Instruction sheets ("booklets")===
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| Ever since the launch of the [[The Transformers (toyline)|original ''Transformers'' toy line]], all toys (with the exception of the ''[[Machine Wars]]'' toys) that come packaged in boxes have featured their instructions printed on a sheet of paper that is included inside the packaging. For more recent lines, this also applied to most toys that come packaged on blister cards.
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| Up until 1989, the sheet was officially called an "instruction booklet". The sheets originally came in a format slightly larger than a playing card and could be folded out horizontally, printed on both sides. Larger toys such as [[Omega Supreme (G1)|Omega Supreme]], boxed [[combiner]] team members, combiner giftsets, [[Metroplex (G1)|Metroplex]], [[Trypticon (G1)|Trypticon]], [[Fortress Maximus (G1)|Fortress Maximus]] or [[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] additionally also had to be folded out vertically. Carded combiner team members also came with additional instruction sheets, printed on a small, heavily-folded sheet of paper, which showed how to convert all of them into their combined mode. Boxed team members simply had the same line art printed on the back of their instruction sheet.
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| The ''[[Generation 2 (toyline)|Generation 2]]'', ''[[Beast Wars (toyline)|Beast Wars]]'' and ''[[Beast Machines (toyline)|Beast Machines]]'' line all kept the established format largely unchanged. The first main change to the format was introduced with the ''[[Robots in Disguise (toyline)|Robots in Disguise]]'' line, when the vertical fold no longer matched the horizontal rows from the instructions, and many instructions had to be folded out primarily downwards rather than sideways.
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| Finally, with the ''[[Alternators]]'' line, Hasbro started to print the instructions entirely on one side of the sheet, leaving the other side blank. With the launch of the ''[[Cybertron (toyline)|Cybertron]]'' line, Hasbro also started to apply that format to their other ''Transformers'' lines, which affected later toys from the original ''[[Universe (2003 toyline)|Universe]]'' line. The ''Cybertron'' [[Mini-Con]] two-packs were an unusual exception in that they still featured double-sided instructions. Since then, the only toys that continue to use double-sided instruction sheets are Ultra, Leader and Supreme Class figures and other large toys such as ''[[Movie (toyline)|Movie]]'' [[Bumblebee (Movie)/toys|Ultimate Bumblebee]]. There's no cut-and-dry rule, however—[[Human Alliance]] Bumblebee from the ''[[Revenge of the Fallen (toyline)|Revenge of the Fallen]]'' comes with double-sided instructions, while Human Alliance [[Sideswipe (ROTF)|Sideswipe]] from the same line features a one-sided instruction sheet.
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| ===Genuine booklets===
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| [[TakaraTomy|Takara]] used ''actual'' stapled booklets for their ''[[Alternators|Binaltech]]'' line, where one had to flip through the individual pages. In addition to the actual instructions themselves, those booklets also contained a small gallery of the toy with highlights and text descriptions of various features, a fictional "system description" of the Transformers character, a text-only chapter of [[Hirofumi Ichikawa]]'s "Binaltech Story" and technical details of the [[licensed vehicle alternate modes|real-life]] [[alternate mode|vehicle mode]].
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| ==Visual directions==
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| ===Photos of toys===
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| All toys from [[Hasbro]]'s 1984 ''[[The Transformers (toyline)|Generation 1]]'' line-up used full-color photos of the toys themselves to illustrate their instructions. The toys used were actually either prototypes or recycled ''[[Diaclone]]'' or ''[[Micro Change]]'' production toys. This is most evident in the case of [[Bluestreak]], whose instructions depict him in the infamous blue and silver ''Diaclone'' color scheme, whereas the actual ''Transformers'' toy is entirely silver and sports a different deco. The [[Optimus Prime (G1)/toys|Optimus Prime]] depicted in the instructions, referred to as "Photoshoot Prime" by some [[variant]] collectors, also has properties found on various known variant of the toy released in the USA, but not all one the same single specimen.<ref name="variprime">[http://www.geocities.com/futuristgroup/vprime.html Fred's extensive info page on ''Generation 1'' Optimus Prime variants]]</ref>
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| Starting in 1985, all toys stopped using photos for their instructions, now using line art depictions instead. This only applied to new toys; all the toys that had already been available in 1984 continued to feature photographic instructions.
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| Meanwhile, [[TakaraTomy|Takara]] used gray-scaled versions of the photos from Hasbro's instructions where available, and line art for the rest. An unusual case was [[Megatron (G1)/toys|Megatron]], who used toy photos in ''addition'' to the mainly line-art-only instructions.
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| The "[[Classics (Europe)|Classics]]" re-issues of older toys which were available in Europe in 1990 and 1991 recycled the instructions of the original releases, which included photographic instructions for toys originally released in 1984.
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| Takara used gray-scaled photos of the actual toys for their ''Generation 2 (toyline)|Generation 2]]'' instructions, and color photos of the toys (or colored prototypes) for some ''[[Beast Wars (toyline)|Beast Wars Metals]]'' toys such as [[Ravage (G1)/toys|Jaguar]].
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| Hasbro briefly returned to photographic illustrations for instructions with the 2001 lineup of the ''[[Beast Machines (toyline)|Beast Machines]]'', when they suddenly replaced the line art with photos of gray [[prototype]]s, highlighting the important parts for each transformation step in red (which was added in post-production). The [[Dinobot (BM)|Dinobots]] were an exception to this, as they still used line art for their instructions. With ''[[Robots in Disguise (toyline)|Robots in Disguise]]'', Hasbro returned to line art for their instructions, which they have used for all their ''Transformers'' lines ever since.
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| Takara later also used photos of gray prototypes for their ''[[Cybertron (toyline)|Galaxy Force]]'' instructions, also highlighting the important parts for each transformation step in red.
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| ===Line artwork===
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| Starting in 1985, [[Hasbro]] replaced the photographic illustrations of their instructions they had used for the 1984 toys with simplified line artwork renditions of the toys. The artwork for the 1985 [[Mini-Vehicle]]s' instructions was still fully colored, whereas the line art for larger toys was mostly black and white, with some parts filled out in in desaturated red (Autobots) or purple (Decepticons) and several shades of gray, and the important parts for a transformation step highlighted in a more saturated red or purple. In 1986, Hasbro largely abandoned the gray fillings as well, now having only the highlighted parts filled out in red or purple, and the rest kept in black and white.
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| [[TakaraTomy]] used the same line artwork as found in Hasbro's instructions for their own instructions where available. Takara-only toys featured line artwork following the same style for their instructions.
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| With the [[Micromaster]] Patrols from 1989 and 1990, Hasbro varied the colors used for the highlighted parts a little more, now alternating between various shades of gray, red, purple and even blue and yellow for the individual toys. The [[Micromaster Combiner]] Squads and the [[Action Master]] single figures from 1990, meanwhile, featured only black and white line art, with no highlighted parts in different colors, only red arrows to indicate movement.
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| Some instructions for Japanese-exclusive toys from the ''[[Victory (toyline)|Victory]]'' line replaced the black outlines, as well as all texts, graphics and image borders, with red, blue and/or purple, often resulting in an eyesore.
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| Some of the [[Generation 1 Europe (toyline)|European-exclusive toys]] also featured different colors such as yellow or green for the highlighted parts instead of the standard colors red or purple.
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| [[Image:Magmatron-instructions.jpg|left|150px|thumb|Yeeeeeeeah. Good luck figuring this one out, kids.]]After the ''[[Generation 2 (toyline)|Generation 2]]'' instructions had continued to use the same kind of line artwork as the ''Generation 1'' toys (smaller toys with black-and-white-only line art, larger toys with two-tone shading in gray and red or purple for highlighted parts), ''[[Beast Wars (toyline)|Beast Wars]]'' shifted to somewhat more simplistic and crude line art, making it hard to follow at times—particularly as the toys became more and more intricate. Coloring was entirely omitted for smaller toys, and limited to one color for highlighted parts for larger toys (usually gray, sometimes green for [[Maximals]], purple for [[Predacon (BW)|Predacons]], and red for [[Mutant (BW)|Mutants]]). Japanese ''Beast Wars'' instructions featured different, but still simpkistic and crude line art, with highlighted parts in red. Early ''[[Beast Machines (toyline)|Beast Machines]]'' instructions continued this trend with line art of about the same level of quality and detail as ''Beast Wars'' isntructions and highlighted parts in red, until the instructions switched to photos of gray toy prototypes in 2001.
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| [[Image:Blackout-instructions.jpg|right|150px|thumb|Blackout is now ready to slaughter the heroic US military!]]When Hasbro returned to line art for their instructions with the ''[[Robots in Disguise (toyline)|Robots in Disguise]]'' toy line, they recycled the line art from Takara's ''Car Robots'' instructions, which featured a much greater level of accuracy and detail than previous Hasbro instructions, with highlighted parts in various shades of red or purple. Since then, all Hasbro instructions have basically been very accurate and detailed line drawings, with highlighted parts in either red (Autobots) or purple (Decepticons).
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| Takara, meanwhile, featured somewhat unusual line art in the instructions for their ''[[Alternators (toyline)|Binaltech]]'' line—essentially, "negative" art with white lines on black backgrounds, with no "highlight" colors whatsoever. In addition, the line art was different (if not to say ''better'' and more clear and helpful) than that used for Hasbro's instructions for their ''Alternators'' versions of those same toys.
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| ==Additional text instructions==
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| [[Image:Scavenger-instructions.jpg|left|200px|thumb|STOMP/FRAPPEZ/ESTAMPILLA]]
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| Since the early days of the [[The Transformers (toyline)|original ''Transformers'' toy line]], Hasbro also used additional written description of the individual transformation steps to accompany their visual instructions, such as "Grasp rear section of [[Blades (G1)|helicopter]] and extend back". With weapons in place and arms swung forward, the instructions would note in congratulatory fashion that "Blades is now ready to battle the evil Decepticons!"
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| [[TakaraTomy|Takara's]] Japanese instructions also featured additional verbal directions in Japanese, and continue to do so to this very day.
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| Toys released by Hasbro in [[Generation 1 Europe (toyline)|Europe]] featured a drastically reduced amount of verbal instructions depending on how many different languages the [[multilingual packaging|packaging]] and, by extension, the instructions sported—the more alternate languages in the same instructions, the less text the instructions featured. Many European exclusive tail-end ''generation 1'' toys and all European ''[[Generation 2 Europe (toyline)|Generation 2]]'' toys even omitted verbal descriptions from their instructions altogether.
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| Canadian ''Generation 1'' toys featured text descriptions in both English and French, which resulted in somewhat cluttered spaces.
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| When Hasbro started to use trilingual (English/French/Spanish) packaging across the North American market starting with the ''[[Robots in Disguise (toyline)|Robots in Disguise]]'' line, the amount of written instructions was also vastly reduced, now mostly limited to headers such as "change to robot" and small number of verbal descriptions for "key" steps. With subsequent lines, Hasbro reduced the amount of written instructions even further, now mostly limiting them entirely to headers such as "change to robot", which didn't even change when the packaging and instructions for toys released on the United States market returned to English-only a few years later.
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| Meanwhile, the packaging and instructions for toys released by Hasbro on European markets introduced more and more languages with each subsequent line, which results in headers such as "Change to robot" cluttering a lot of space, while the individual instruction steps remain entirely text-less.
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| =="Main" image(s)==
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| Most instruction sheets feature one or two "main" images on the outermost fold(s) that aren't part of the actual instruction steps, but serve as some sort of "cover" image. In 1984, those images were direct reproductions of the toys' [[package art]]; starting in 1985, they changed to a wide variety of line drawings, varying between simplified but otherwise faithful reproductions of the package art, slightly varied interpretations thereof, straightforward line drawings of the toy itself or even entirely new articulated interpretations of the toy, or occasionally a different design altogether. These variations appeared with little regard to toy assortment or subline. For example, [[Snapdragon]]'s instructions feature line art of his toy, while his case-mate, fellow [[Horrorcon]] [[Apeface]], has a line drawing of his package art as his "main" image.
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| {{-}}
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| <center><gallery>
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| Image:Instructionart-optimusprimeg1.jpg|1984 instructions featured the toy's [[package art]].
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| Image:Instructionart-tracks.jpg|1985 instructions featured line art based on the package art. [[Tracks (G1)|Tracks]] is in a slightly different pose than his final box art.
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| Image:Instructionart-hotspot.jpg|Much of 1986 had straighforward line drawings of the toys.
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| Image:Instructionart-clones.jpg|1987 was marked by line drawings of the toys, but in poses the toys themselves couldn't achieve.
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| Image:Instructionart-nightbeat.jpg|1988: [[Nightbeat (G1)|Nightbeat]] uses his head lasers for the first (and [[Cheap Shots|almost last]]) time ever.
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| Image:Instructionart-bombburst.jpg|1988: the Pretenders got a double cover panel. The first wave Pretenders had straight line art of the toys...
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| Image:Instructionart-splashdown.jpg|...while the second wave got more of a character interpretation, with posing and altered proportions.
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| Image:Instructionart-hothouse.jpg|1989: [[Hot House]] is so important that he isn't even in the art!
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| </gallery></center>
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| The "main" images originally only depicted the toy's robot mode; the [[Pretender]]s featured two images, one for the outer shell and one for the inner robot; the larger Pretender, [[Micromaster]] and [[Action Master]] toys from 1989 and 1990 depicted both modes (although the "main" images for some of the Micromaster Stations only depicted the stations themselves, omitting the actual Micromaster figures entirely); ''[[Generation 2 (toyline)|Generation 2]]'' instructions returned to depict the robot mode only; and starting with the ''[[Beast Wars (toyline)|Beast Wars]]'' line, both the robot mode and the [[alternate mode]] were depicted side by side.
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| <center><gallery>
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| Image:Instructionart-optimusprimeg2.jpg|1994: Laser Optimus Prime has tidy art based on his toy...
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| Image:Instructionart-megatrong2combat.jpg|...while Combat Megatron has a character interpretation.
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| Image:Instructionart-hooligan.jpg|1995: Hooligan's art is not only terrible, but he's not even transformed correctly.
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| </gallery></center>
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| The practice of alternating between "realistic" drawings of the toys themselves, articulated poses and simplified renditions of the package art continued well into the ''Generation 2'' line. As the line neared its end, however, the main images took a sudden nosedive in quality. ''Beast Wars'' then featured line artwork (more or less toy-accurate, but still somewhat posed since the toys now featured better articulation than toys from previous lines) in about the same crude style as the line art for the instructions themselves, which continued well into ''[[Beast Machines (toyline)|Beast Machines]]''. When the instructions changed from line art to photos of gray [[prototype]]s, the "main" images also changed towards depicting photos of gray prototypes.
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| The ''[[Robots in Disguise (toyline)|Robots in Disguise]]'' toyline returned to (often posed) line drawings, but now limited to poses that were actually possible with the toys. This remained unchanged until the 2007 ''[[Movie (toyline)|Movie]]'' line, when Hasbro started to use the same [[stock photo]]s of airbrushed toy prototypes also depicted in the back of the toys' packaging for the instructions' "main" images. Since then, Hasbro continue to use stock photos of airbrushed toy prototypes the thew "main" images for all their ''Transformers'' instructions.
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| ==Problems with modern-day instructions==
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| [[Image:UniSideswipeWrongRobotMode.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Seriously, Hasbro?]]As the toys became more complex, Hasbro's instructions became less and less helpful. In some cases, they are unclear on vital steps or even skip steps entirely. For example, when ''[[Movie (toyline)|Movie]]'' Voyager Class [[Starscream (Movie)|Starscream's]] instructions try to show how to flip out the legs, which are located on the underside of the [[alternate mode|jet mode]]/back of the robot body... the line art constantly shows a ''top'' view of the jet/frontal view of the robot body—in other words, the important steps occur on the ''opposite'' side of the body as opposed to the one the reader is looking at. {{fact|more examples needed}}
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| Furthermore, in some cases the line art is based on early [[prototype]]s and depicts steps that aren't ''possible'' with the final toys, as some transformation steps, joints and features still present on the prototypes have been gutted for budget reasons. For example, ''[[Revenge of the Fallen (toyline)|Revenge of the Fallen]]'' Voyager Starscream's instructions refer to an additional joint inside the hand's palms that allows to fold them up in jet mode, and depict the forearm cannons in a position where they are moved forward when illustrating the push-button missile firing [[gimmick]], even though the actual toy's hands are cast in one piece, and the cannons are molded in place on the actual toy.
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| In the case of [[retool]]s, Hasbro often fail to properly address the changes in the line artwork used for the instructions for those toys. For example, the instructions for ''[[Alternators]]'' [[Ravage (G1)/toys|Battle Ravage]], a retool of [[Tracks (G1)|Autobot Tracks]], reflect the change from Tracks's hardtop Chevrolet Corvette to Battle Ravage's convertible model, but still depict the original Tracks head sculpt instead of the new Ravage head. An even worse example is ''[[Universe (2008 toyline)|Universe]]'' [[Sideswipe (G1)|Sideswipe]], a retool of ''Universe'' [[Sunstreaker (G1)|Sunstreaker]], who not only sports a different head sculpt, but also uses a slightly ''different transformation scheme'', with the upper torso rotated by 180 degrees as compared to Sunstreaker. ''Neither difference is reflected in the instructions' line art'', which is simply recycled from Sunstreaker's instructions.
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| ==Trivia==
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| *With the second [[wave]] of the 2008 ''[[Universe (2008 toyline)|Universe]]'' line, Hasbro changed multi-language text blurbs such as "Change to robot" in their European instructions from mixed case to upper case. Somehow, however, a weird error sneaked its way in: The Greek version of "Change to robot", previously correctly rendered as "Αλλαγή σε Ρομποτ" in mixed case, was changed to "ΑΛΛΑΓΗ ΣΕ ΚΑΤΑΠΕΛΤΗ" in uppercase... which translates as "Change to catapult".
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| ==External links==
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| [http://www.botchthecrab.com/archive/instructions/ Botch the Crab's Generation 1 instructions archive]
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| [http://tfwiki.net/~fortmax/ FortMax's Instructions Archive]
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| [[Category:Toys]]
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