Show-accuracy

[[Image:|right|300px|thumb|So when we were kids, some of us pretended that he combined with that sled thing to make the full robot. But that's just crazy talk.]] Transformers characters are frequently represented in multiple different media, ranging from plastic toys to animation to comic books. Their appearances frequently vary between these, leading many fans to select one version that represents the character's "real" appearance and rate others in terms of their similarity to this one. Show-accuracy is typically a toy's resemblance to the animation's depiction of the same character; conversely, toy-accuracy is a show character's degree of similarity to the corresponding toy.

In most cases, Transformers are designed as toys first, with cartoon and comic <a href="http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Character_model" title="Character model">character models</a> being artists' interpretations of the toy designs. As such, for the most part it is toy-accuracy that has the most relevance to the production process. A notable exception to this rule is <a href="http://tfwiki.net/wiki/The_Transformers:_The_Movie" title="The Transformers: The Movie">The Transformers: The Movie</a>, which featured a large group of new characters whose toys were (for the most part) based on animation designs, rather than vice-versa.

Occasionally, toy and fiction designs are created cooperatively, such as the case of the <a href="http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Movie_%28franchise%29" title="Movie (franchise)">live-action movie</a> toys and <a href="http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Transformers_Animated_%28franchise%29" title="Transformers Animated (franchise)">Transformers Animated</a> series. <a href="http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Hasbro" title="Hasbro">Hasbro</a> worked closely with <a href="http://tfwiki.net/wiki/ILM" class="mw-redirect" title="ILM">ILM</a> and <a href="http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Cartoon_Network" title="Cartoon Network">Cartoon Network</a> to ensure that the fictional designs for each series were workable as toys and ensure they could get the toys and fiction as close visually as possible (accounting, of course, for the movie and toy line's differing production schedules).

Another exception frequently happens with <a href="http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Takara" class="mw-redirect" title="Takara">Takara</a>'s releases of Transformers <a href="http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Franchise" title="Franchise">franchises</a> in Japan. Due to the delays in importing shows, Takara frequently has the chance to tweak their releases to resemble the respective animation models better, mostly in regard to color schemes. The most notable example of this was the Japanese release of <a href="http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Beast_Machines" class="mw-redirect" title="Beast Machines">Beast Machines</a> as Beast Wars Returns; the <a href="http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Beast_Machines_%28cartoon%29" title="Beast Machines (cartoon)">cartoon</a> had already been around for years, so it was far easier for Takara simply to produce the toys in different, show-based colors.

In early <a href="http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Generation_1" class="mw-redirect" title="Generation 1">Generation 1</a> in particular, toy-accuracy and show-accuracy are both frequently very low, with the <a href="http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Character_model" title="Character model">character models</a> differing greatly from the toys. Recently, however, the gap has narrowed, and <a href="http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Transformers:_Cybertron" class="mw-redirect" title="Transformers: Cybertron">modern fictional appearances</a> of Transformers are often nearly identical to the toys, sometimes to the absurdly literal point of including design oddities that probably wouldn't exist on "real" Transformers. The <a href="http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Character_model" title="Character model">character model</a> for <a href="http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Evac_%28Cybertron%29" title="Evac (Cybertron)">Evac</a>, for example, includes the push button that spins the toy's rotor blades.

In a few cases, Generation 1 <a href="http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Reissue" class="mw-redirect" title="Reissue">reissues</a> have been <a href="http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Retool" title="Retool">retooled</a> to enhance their resemblance to their animated counterparts. In the case of the <a href="http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Galvatron_%28G1%29" title="Galvatron (G1)">Galvatron</a> reissue, <a href="http://tfwiki.net/wiki/TakaraTomy" title="TakaraTomy">Takara</a> not only retooled the toy but went so far as to <a href="http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Redeco" title="Redeco">redeco</a> it.

Various non-transforming toys have been made that are designed to resemble Generation 1 cartoon character designs better. Several <a href="http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Action_Master" title="Action Master">Action Masters</a> bore closer resemblance to their animation models (though many had color differences, if not outright sculpt issues). More recently, there have been lines such as the highly cartoon accurate <a href="http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Heroes_of_Cybertron#Mega_SCF" class="mw-redirect" title="Heroes of Cybertron">Mega SCF</a> line and the <a href="http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Revoltech" title="Revoltech">Revoltech</a> line. (Though their designs specifically resemble Dreamwave's art style rather than Generation 1 cartoons, Dreamwave's designs are frequently heavily based on Generation 1-based models.)

Many non-posable (or at least, not very posable) figurines exist based on animation models as well, such as the <a href="http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Heroes_of_Cybertron" class="mw-redirect" title="Heroes of Cybertron">Heroes of Cybertron</a> (or 'SCF'; not to be confused with Mega SCF) line, <a href="http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Titanium_Series" title="Titanium Series">Titanium Series</a> Robot Masters (not to be confused with <a href="http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Robot_Masters" title="Robot Masters">Robot Masters</a>), or stylized examples like the <a href="http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Robot_Heroes" class="mw-redirect" title="Robot Heroes">Robot Heroes</a> line.

Additionally, several newer Transformers take Generation 1 cartoon designs into account to varying degrees, such as the <a href="http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Optimus_Prime_%28G1%29_toys#20th_Anniversary.2FMasterpiece" title="Optimus Prime (G1) toys">Masterpiece</a> figures, Robot Masters figures, or more abstractly show-accuracy-inspired examples like the <a href="http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Titanium_Series" title="Titanium Series">Titanium Cybertron Heroes G1 figures</a> and the <a href="http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Classics_%282006%29" title="Classics (2006)">Classics</a> and <a href="http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Universe_%282008_franchise%29" title="Universe (2008 franchise)">Universe</a> lines. Occasionally, new designs for a given series resemble old G1 characters for whom there were no, few (such as Energon's heavily G1-esque Galvatron/Megatron), or less show-inaccurate toys; for example, the <a href="http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Unicron#Armada_2" title="Unicron">Armada Unicron toy</a> is the closest (and presently only) transforming likeness to the 1986 animated Unicron.