Packaging

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The packaging used for Transformers toys has varied widely through the history of the Transformers brand.

Most packaging falls into one of two categories: blister card or boxes. In the US, both types have been used in most franchises, with smaller toys being sold on cards. Japan tends to sell all toys, regardless of size, in boxes.

Generation 1

Pepsi Prime's box, which is basically identical to the non-shelled out Prime's box.

Boxed Generation 1 toys featured a fold-up flap at the back of the box top, featuring the TRANSFORMERS logo. A clear plastic window allowed the toy to be viewed within; package art occupied the space on the right. On the box top, a sequence of photos labeled "Start - Change - Finish" demonstrated the toy's transformation sequence. The back of the box was dominated by a painted mural featuring that year's toy assortment, along with the robot points and the character's bio and Tech Spec card. Boxed toys were most often held in a clear molded plastic tray. Some larger toys and their accessories sat in a Styrofoam tray. Such toys often did not feature the clear window.

Carded toys shared a mostly similar packaging style, with the figure placed in the lower right, encased in a plastic bubble generally matching the silhouette of the toy inside, with the packaging art encompassing the center of the card. Mini cars were at first packaged in vehicle mode in 1984, then switched to robot mode. Other toys, such as cassettes and combiner limbs, would always be packaged as vehicles.

Background designs in the early years consisted of a black background which faded into red for Autobots and purple for Decepticons. A grid typically overlaid the colors, and a round yellow area provided a background for the character art.

Starting in 1987, the round yellow glow was replaced by a pixelated area behind the character art. In 1988, the TRANSFORMERS logo was revised with a new red-white-blue cross-fade color scheme; in 1989, a new font was introduced, using the same red-white-blue cross-fade.

When the franchise was brought to Japan, the packaging styles remained mostly unchanged, excepting the language, of course. The key difference at first was that Cassette figures were packaged in tiny, adorable boxes with a little window, just like the big toys. How cute! This was changed after 1985 to a style matching the American bubble cards.

The later style Japanese packaging. The cream colored outline is a clear indicator. As is the... Japanese text.

The American-style packaging continued all the way through 1987. However, at the start of Super-God Masterforce, the packaging took on a heavily simplified, pixelated design, generally resembling that introduced the previous year in America. Japanese figures, however, outlined the box and colored the top-most flap with a very pleasant cream color and the English name of the character written across a black band. This style would be retained for the rest of the line's lifespan, with some minor simplification from Zone-onwards.

Generation 2

Yes, the only example of packaging from this franchise is of an extremely rare, totally unreleased piece. Problem?

Boxed Generation 2 figures came in a similar style to those of the G1 figures, but this time in black with the new franchise logo plastered on the bottom, instead of a top flap. A large plastic window adorned the front and at least part of the sides, with features and such being proudly proclaimed in deliciously over-the-top 90's callouts, with sunbursts and arrows galore.

Carded toys from G2 came entirely encased in plastic, making them maddeningly difficult to free from their package, these retained mostly the same style as the boxed toys. It is noteworthy that smaller toys that came boxed during the G1 line, such as the Dinobots and Autobot Cars, were now carded.

In 1995, the background shifted from a burnt orange sunburst to a neon green, generically "Computer"-esque series of rings. The logo was moved, again, to the top of the box

Beast Wars

Beast Wars continued much of the basic box layout begun during Generation 1: a clear plastic viewing window to show the toy, with character art to the right. The back of the box featured photos of the toy in both modes.

Beast Wars packaging featured an ever-evolving background format. The early years of the franchise used a huge yellow reptilian eye with scaly red skin as a background; on blister cards, the eye was beneath the plastic bubble that held the toy. As the Transmetals and Transmetal 2s entered circulation, stylized mechanical greeblies became more common, and the reptilian skin became technological.

Beast Wars introduced the practice of securing toys to a cardboard backing(or a sculpted plastic tray for carded toys) using a range of flexible, plastic-coated metal wires, commonly referred to as twist ties. This allowed a toy to remain very secure in its packaging, even if it was in an "action" pose. Among the fandom, the packaging style led to some griping, as untying the twist ties could be an annoyingly lengthy and painstaking process. Some of the more complex toys could have a dozen or more ties, occasionally to the point of hilarious excess. A much quicker approach involves simply snipping the ties with nail clippers. (This highlighted another, possibly accidental, purpose to the twist ties: By making the toy harder to remove from its packaging, they discourage store theft. Any would-be thief hauling out a pair of nail clippers would be more conspicuous, presumably.)

Through careful research, fans have deduced that twist-ties can serve an additional function: they make superb cat toys.

Beast Machines

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Robots in Disguise

Robots in Disguise evolved upon packaging introduced with Beast Machines. Packaging varied, reflecting the mixed nature of the toyline. For the most part, however, packaging stayed with either of a curvy and organic or a hard-edged and mechanical tone.

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Armada

Armada continued the packaging style of Robots in Disguise. It used a blue, energetic background with a red fade on the top. Panels including name, promotional materials, and bio cards where shown prominently across all price points, while the figure was shown through a large window.

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Universe

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but this is insane.

Original Universe waves featured packaging akin to late Armada/early Energon releases, with a golden energetic background. Later Universe releases were just repackages of mainline toys, and featured packaging near-identical to mainline releases save a 'Universe' rebrand.

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Alternators

Early Alternators releases saw figures packed, in vehicle mode, in boxes. Licensing was prominently shown that, when combined with the shape and feel, really lends to the impression that the figures were Model Cars first and Transformers second.

Later runs replaced the model-esque box with a much more stylish, display-case-like-box. It pulled from a lot of Cybertron cues, including bands of color on the edge of the bubble and character art featuring the character lunging out at you menacingly.

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Energon

Where Armada eased into the new direction with a unified packaging design largely carried over from Robots In Disguise, Energon finalized that new change by completely unifying packaging and reflecting the toys with blocky, detailed designs. Packaging largely featured a dark red background with splashes of grey around the figure and black towards the upper parts.

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Cybertron

Cybertron largely continued the aesthetic of Energon, keeping an angular style for the packaging but ditching the dark backgrounds for a grey tile. Whenever possible, the line's gimmick of the Cyber Keys was really pushed. The keys were given their own special section of the packaging, all shiny and pretty, just begging you to ram it into whatever hole available on the toy.

At its lower price points, figures were packaged on card. These cards stayed the same width, only varying in height. Whenever possible, these figures were packaged in alternate mode- the rare exception being the exceptionally tiny 'Legends of Cybertron' line.

At higher price points, figures were packaged in a box, containing a plastic tray to hold the figure and a cardboard background. These boxes relied on large bands of transparency for you to see the figure well, with the rest a solid block of grey. Both the boxed and carded packaging had pretty kick-ass art of the character inside!

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Classics (2006)

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Transformers (2007)

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Transformers Movie Toys are packaged in a variety of ways for each size class. Deluxe Class Figures are single packed in a plastic bubble with a typical cardback. The front of the bubble has a headshot image of the transformer in question with their name next to it. The back contains images of the toy and a small bio simillar to a Tech Spec.

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Animated

Transformers Animated toys had an angular, dynamic-looking design, featuring stock art of the character/toy inside. The Deluxe toys had a mostly blueish-white background set in Detroit, while the larger size classes had mostly red boxes with the same background inside.

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Universe (2008)

The packing for Universe was a mostly red background, with a bust of the character on the card back. Unfortunately, the box art had the character staring into space with their mouths open. The later waves of the line did have expressions, although they were mostly just snarling. Well, at least it's an improvement over the earlier art!

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Revenge of the Fallen

Revenge of the Fallen's packaging is predominantly colored red, having some notched edges on the sides. The inside of the packaging has a limestone background with Cyberglyphics carved into it. The dark red background itself features The Fallen's face (which is more noticeable at the back.)

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Transformers (2010)

Starting with this line, Hasbro introduced a new version of the twist tie. The once plastic coated metal wire was now replaced with a tightly twisted piece of tissue paper. The twisted paper could easily be tied and untied to secure items in place. It could also, just as easily, be cut with a pair of wire cutters, much the same way the previous version of the twist tie could be cut. This new paper twist tie provided environmental benefits to toy packaging. Hasbro used this new version of the twist tie across all its lines once it was introduced.

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Generations

The initial Generations line used a very similar format to the 2010 Transformers line, except in red. The inside of the bubble had a pale yellow/white circuitry pattern. Since the initial line was composed entirely of deluxe class figures, the toys were rated individually on their difficulty rates on a scale of 1-5, with Thrust labeled a 2, and Cybertronian Bumblebee a 4.

When the line relaunched for the Fall of Cybertron toyline, a similar design to the previous version was utilized, but with a more G1 inspired grid-based pattern. Voyagers were available in boxes with one corner slanted. This design was retained through the Thrilling 30 subline. Notably, this look brought back the original line graph style for tech specs.

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Dark of the Moon

Both the boxes had blackish-blue designs that put heavy emphasis on the 'Moon' part of the line. In particular, the Deluxe cardbacks had the moon floating behind the toy and a bubble pockmarked with craters, making 'em look sorta like a toy you'd find at the varied NASA tourist locations. The Voyagers featured a mostly black box with a blue background insert with a moon pattern.

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Age of Extinction

The Age of Extinction Deluxe packaging features a desert-themed TF4 logo on the top right corner. The Transformers logo is positioned vertically along the right side of the package. And a concept of the character is the background of the package. The bottom of the package views the character's name. For Voyagers, the same Transformers logo is lined up vertically along the right of the package. But the TF4 logo in positioned on the bottom. And to the left of that logo, is the character's concept, along with the name. Both packages have a red and white color scheme. From this line onward, twist ties were abandoned completely and were replaced with stretchable plastic bands that are almost as infuriating as the old wire twist ties.

See also

• Toy
• Package art
• Tech Spec
• Bio
• Multilingual packaging

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