Transformers timeline: Difference between revisions

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===[[2012]]===
===[[2012]]===
* [[February 13]] — It is announced that Michael Bay has been successfully lured back to the director's chair for the upcoming fourth live-action ''Transformers'' film.
* [[February 18]] — The Hub starts playing the second season of ''Prime'' and the first season of ''Rescue Bots'', marking the first time that ''Transformers'' has had two major cartoons running at the same time.
* [[February 18]] — The Hub starts playing the second season of ''Prime'' and the first season of ''Rescue Bots'', marking the first time that ''Transformers'' has had two major cartoons running at the same time.
* [[April 26]]-[[April 29]] — [[BotCon 2012]] is held at the Hyatt Regency Dallas in Dallas.
* [[April 26]]-[[April 29]] — [[BotCon 2012]] is held at the Hyatt Regency Dallas in Dallas.

Revision as of 05:31, 28 January 2026

This article is about real world events. For the 'Timelines' franchise, see Transformers Timelines (franchise){{#switch:{{#sub:Transformers Timelines (franchise)|-1}} != .= ?= .

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This article is about real world events. For the internal timeline of various stories, see Continuity{{#switch:{{#sub:Continuity|-1}} != .= ?= .

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Like sands through the breem glass...

This is a timeline of Transformers-related events that occurred in the "real" world, including release dates and other major occurrences.

The dawn of time

13,500,000,000 BCE

  • The Big Bang creates the universe as we know it. The protons, neutrons, and electrons that will eventually compose Transformers are formed, ruining it forever. A [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}Last Thursdayism|{{#if:Thursday|Thursday|Last Thursdayism}}]].

4,540,000,000 BCE

4004 BCE

  • October 23: God begins creating the universe, creating day and night.
  • October 24: God continues this process, creating the sky.
  • October 25: God keeps on going, creating land and sea, along with plants.
  • October 26: God makes the sun and the moon.
  • October 27: God makes birds and fish.
  • October 28: God makes the other animals, including humans. <ref>Genesis 1:1; the time is determined by adding up the ages of Adam and his descendants. [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}Ussher chronology|{{#if:This|This|Ussher chronology}}]] is the most generally used date.</ref>
  • October 29: On the seventh day, He takes a break and does whatever omnipotent beings do for leisure.

3760 BCE

The exact date of this universal stream's creation is somewhat muddled, as seen in the three different dates seen above. The account dating it to 4004 BCE is the one used in early recorded human history, but was later retconned within scientific literature, which established the much earlier date above. More recently, Transformers Animated: The AllSpark Almanac has implicitly dated the universe's creation to 3760 BCE in another retcon. As Hasbro-sanctioned material, this account is assumed to take precedence in canon, at least with regard to the Transformers brand; however, it is unclear whether the event represents God's six-day creation, the Big Bang, or another, as-yet-unrevealed origin.

1920s

1923

  • Henry, Hillel, and Herman Hassenfeld form the Hassenfeld Brothers company, selling textile remnants.

1924

1940s

  • The Hassenfeld brothers produce their first toys: pretend doctor and nurse sets.

1950s

1952

  • The Hassenfeld brothers enjoy their first bona fide success with the release of the original Mr. Potato Head, cementing their company's reputation as toymakers.

1955

  • September 17 — The Japanese company Satō Vinyl Industries, Ltd., which would later become Takara, is founded.

1960s

1963

  • Tomiyama Toy Company changes its name to Tomy.

1964

  • Hassenfeld Brothers introduces G.I. Joe, the first "action figure."

1967

1968

  • The big wheels at Hassenfeld Brothers decide to make it easier for fans of their future toylines to curse their name by rebranding the company Hasbro Industries.

1970s

1970

  • Takara acquires the license to introduce G.I. Joe to Japan. Eventually, Takara takes advantage of the 12" Joe figures' interchangeable parts to create a spinoff toyline called Henshin Cyborg (Transforming Cyborg).

1974

  • Takara launches the Microman toyline, which represents a scaled-down version of the Henshin Cyborg gimmick, and which will later be exported to the West as Micronauts.

1975

  • Robotman, the first ever transforming robot/vehicle toy, is added to the Microman line. This toy will later become known in the West as the Micronaut Biotron.<ref>Robotman Series / Victory Series</ref>

1980s

1980

1982

  • March — The first two toys from Takara's Diaclone Car Robo line, No.1 Countach LP-500S Super Tuning (red version) and No.2 Onebox Cherry Vanette (black version), are released to stores in Japan. These toys' molds would later be used in Transformers as Sunstreaker and Ironhide, respectively.
  • April — The first four toys from the Popy company's Machine Robo line are released to stores in Japan. They will go on to be better known in the West as Cy-Kill, Tank, Fitor, and Cop-Tur of the evil Renegades in Tonka's GoBots line, the closest competitor to Transformers.
  • October 3 — The Super Dimension Fortress Macross debuts on Japanese television, featuring the transforming Valkyrie fighter jet. This vehicle will go on to be less known in the West as the Transformer Jetfire.

1983

  • January — The first three toys from Takara's New Microman: Micro Change line, MC-01 Micross (available as blue and red variations), MC-02 Jaguar (available as blue and black variations) and MC-03 Condor (available as blue and black variations), are released to stores. These would later make up the first wave of Mini-Cassettes.
  • June — A Hasbro delegation discovers Takara's Diaclone and Microman toys at the Tokyo Toy Show.
  • Late 1983 — Takara releases three of their Diaclone toys (red Sunstreaker, black Ironhide and blue Trailbreaker) in the USA under the name "Diakron". Due to the new licensing agreement with Hasbro, the Diakron line is discontinued following these three toys.
  • November 1 — The Hasbro-Takara licensing agreement is signed.

1984

The Transformers launches in the US, in toy, comic and cartoon formats, forever ruining Transformers.

  • February — Hasbro Bradley unveils their new Transformers toyline at Toy Fair.
  • March — Marvel Age #17 announces the April debut of the Transformers comic book.
  • Spring — The first animated commercial advertising the Marvel comics airs on US TV.
  • May 8 — Issue one of the Marvel comic is released.
  • May 22 — The first Usenet post about Transformers is posted by Ted Nolan to net.comics. In a prediction of things to come, it is mostly complaints.
  • Spring — Transformers toys start filtering into stores across the United States.
  • September 17 — "More than Meets the Eye, Part 1" premieres on U.S. television Saturday morning.
  • September 20 — The Marvel UK comic begins publication.
  • Unknown date — the UK is the only European country to get Transformers toys this year. Toys are distributed by Hasbro. Megatron is not available until 1985.
  • December — Transformers mania is in full swing, as the figures fly off store shelves, becoming the year's best seller for Hasbro.
  • December — The Transformers cartoon begins airing in Mexico.
  • Unknown date — Takara conducts test market sales of the Hasbro toys in Japan, under the working name Henshin Sentai Transformers ("Transformation Taskforce Transformers").

1985

  • From its Limited Series origins, the Marvel comic becomes an ongoing monthly.
  • July 6 — Seasons 1 and 2 of the US cartoon begin airing in Japan as Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformer.
  • October 6 — The first Usenet post about the Transformers cartoon is posted to net.comics by Bill Flanagan.
  • The Transformers toyline starts getting released to most European markets, with Hasbro using Milton Bradley's facilities for the continental European market, due to an initial lack of resources on their own. The MB toys would be available in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany and Spain and include lots of oddities unique to Europe, such as a red version of Tracks. Concurrently, GiG launches Trasformer in Italy (Diaclone toys with no Transformers license), while El Greco launches their short-lived version of the line in Greece.
  • IGA begins producing Transformers toys for the Mexican and Central American market.
  • Estrela begins producing Transformers toys in Brazil, creating a distinctive local version of the toyline that was eventually brought to Argentina by the second-hand licensee Antex.
  • The Transformers cartoon begins airing in Peru... despite the fact that the toyline it was created to promote is unavailable in the Peruvian market.

1986

  • The Transformers cartoon begins airing in the Netherlands.
  • April — "Scramble City: Mobilization", the first Japanese originated Transformers animation, is released on video tape in Japan.
  • August 8 — The Transformers: The Movie is released in theatres in the United States. International releases follow, except for Japan and Germany. Fans declare the franchise to be ruined forever after seeing the movie.
  • The Transformers toyline is introduced to Peru in response to the cartoon's popularity in that country (rather than the other way around) with a combination of Hasbro and Takara toys imported by HUDE and BASA, and cheaper redecoed Mini Vehicles made by Lynsa.
  • December 12 — The Transformers: The Movie is released in the UK.
  • December 26 — The Transformers: The Movie is released in Australia.

1987

  • February — The Transformers: The Movie is released in Brazil.
  • July 3 — The American version of the G1 cartoon ends its run, to be replaced in Japan by the Headmasters cartoon.

1988

  • The Masterforce franchise is launched, ushering in a period of significant deviation between the Western and Japanese Transformers franchises.
  • April 12 — The Masterforce cartoon begins airing in Japan.
  • July — The translated version of the Marvel comic book hits Danish stores, lasting only 18 monthly issues (2 US comics per issue + random assortment of Universe profiles) with an editorial approach that wreaked havoc on any sort of continuity (skipping many key stories, resulting in sudden jumps in storylines, a condescending and ignorant letters page etc.)
  • A fifth season of the US Transformers cartoon begins airing, composed of re-edited episodes introduced by a stop-motion Powermaster Optimus Prime.

1989

1990s

1990

  • The last year of Generation 1 toys are released in North America, while the franchise continues in Japan and Europe.
  • July — Transformers Zone is released in Japan.

1991

  • (Cover date of July) — The Marvel Comic ends in the United States with issue 80.

1992

1993

  • Generation 2 attempts to revive the Transformers franchise in North America.
  • The last year of Generation 1 toys are released in Europe.
  • On September 11, the Usenet newsgroup alt.toys.transformers is established. Fans now have a dedicated online public forum on which to discuss whatever is ruining Transformers.

1994

1995

  • Generation 2 begins in Japan, the first Transformers series there in years.
  • Generation 2 craps out in every market, including Japan.
  • The Chinese G1 toyline comes to a close with the reissuing of several Victory toys for the Chinese market.
  • The South Korean toy company Sonokong enters into a licensing agreement with Hasbro International, paving the way for the introduction of officially licensed Transformers toys in a country where Transformers knockoffs were once popular enough to inspire their own animated movies.
  • August 5-6 — BotCon 1995 is held in Dayton, Ohio.

1996

  • Beast Wars is launched. The fandom declares it will forever destroy Transformers and nobody will ever like it ever, certainly not ten, twenty years into the future.
  • Beast Wars revives the franchise.
  • Beast Wars is one of the best Transformers anythings ever.
  • July 12-14 — BotCon 1996 is held in Rosemont, Illinois.

1997

1998

  • April 10 — The Beast Wars TV show premieres in the UK.
  • June 19-20 — BotCon 1998 is held in Anaheim, California.
  • Summer — Hasbro's Nordic subsidiary (located in Denmark) releases UK Beast Wars stock to Scandinavian stores. The CGI show is not picked up in any of the Scandinavian countries, as it is deemed "too graphic" for children.

1999

2000s

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

  • June — The first promotional images for Transformers Animated are released. Take a wild guess as to the fan reaction.
  • June 27-July 1 — BotCon 2007 is held at the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence, Rhode Island, Hasbro's hometown. It was expected to be the best Transformers convention ever. It was also expected to be the worst Transformers convention ever.
  • July 2 — US theatres start showing the live-action Transformers motion picture at 8:00 PM. By midnight, it's made US$8.8 million.
  • July 3 — The Transformers release date. It makes $27.85 million, more money on a Tuesday than any film in history. Fans declare the franchise as ruined forever once more.
  • July 4 — Americans celebrate their Independence Day by giving $29 million to that Hollywood movie about an alien robot summoning his friends to Earth where they disguise themselves as General Motors vehicles and team up with the United States military to smash the evil robots. Unsurprisingly, this is more money than a movie's ever earned on the Fourth of July. Apparently, what's good for General Motors really is good for the country.
  • July 25 — As of this writing, the Transformers movie has grossed $270 million in the United States, with worldwide gross earnings of nearly one half billion dollars US.
  • July 28 — A Transformers Animated preview is shown to the public. The fandom rejoiced (and complained, of course!).
  • October 16 — Transformers is released on DVD.
  • November 3 — a specially edited 11-minute preview of Transformers Animated episode 1 is shown at the NTFA Mini-Con in Arlöv, Sweden, to the disdain of many a US fan.<ref>http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/transformers-news-rumors/156331-new-transformers-animated-series-details-revealed-ntfa-mini-con.html</ref>
  • December 26 — Transformers Animated ruins Transformers forever slightly ahead of schedule when the premiere episodes are shown as a "movie" on Cartoon Network.<ref>Date And Time For Transformers: Animated Debut!</ref>

2008

  • January 5 — Transformers Animated begins airing regularly Saturdays at 10:30 a.m, ruining Transformers forever. Again.
  • April 24-27 — BotCon 2008 is held at the Duke Energy Center in Cincinnati, Ohio.
  • June — Transformers Animated toys are scheduled to be released.

2009

2010s

2010

  • March 26 — The establishment of a Transformers Hall of Fame is announced. Everyone thinks Soundwave will win the fan vote.
  • June 22 — Transformers: War for Cybertron is released on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC, Nintendo Wii, and Nintendo DS. Transformers: Exodus is released. With these, the Aligned continuity family begins, a ten year plan by Hasbro to start a single unified continuity with a set lore for the franchise to be treated as the default backstory. However, other franchises such as the Michael Bay films and IDW comics continue to run alongside Aligned media for the next decade, and creative differences soon ruin the intentions for a unified continuity; fans come to accept the various pieces of Aligned media as a wider continuity family; the lore set by material such as the Binder of Revelation eventually begins being used by future franchise installments as the default lore of the franchise, giving them a victory nonetheless.
  • June 24-27 — BotCon 2010 is held at the Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel and Convention Center in Orlando, Florida.
  • June 26 — The Hall of Fame ceremony takes place and the inaugural members are inducted. Dinobot is revealed to have won the fan vote over fan-favorites like Soundwave and Grimlock. Predictably, some people cry about this revalation with claims that Beast Wars fans played underhanded tricks.
  • November 26 — The Transformers: Prime miniseries premieres on The Hub, ruining Transformers forever.

2011

  • February 11 — Transformers: Prime begins airing regularly on The Hub.
  • May 18 — Hasbro announce Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg will be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Fans are outraged as the pair have only created a highly-successful film series and given the brand a massive boost in popularity.
  • June 2-5 — BotCon 2011 is held at the Pasadena Convention Center in Pasadena, California.
  • June 4 — The second Hall of Fame ceremony inducts Ironhide, Ratchet, Soundwave and aforementioned humans. Waspinator is revealed to have won the fan vote, and once more fans are outraged over a Beast Wars character winning the fan vote, to nobody's shock.
  • June 28 — Transformers: Dark of the Moon debuts three hours ahead of its "official" opening, with 9:00 PM showings throughout the United States and Canada. Critical reception marginally improves over Revenge of the Fallen, but the box office is an even bigger success story.
  • July 2, 3, 4 — Transformers: Dark of the Moon ruins America forever with the highest Independence Day weekend gross of any movie ever.<ref>http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/weekends/july-4th.htm?page=JULY4ALL&p=.htm</ref>
  • August 2 — Dark of the Moon cross the $1 billion mark at the worldwide box office and later concludes its' run as the fourth highest grossing film of all time at the time of its' release.
  • November — A preview wave of Prime "First Edition" toys hits stores. Stores outside the US, at least.
  • December 17 — The Hub screens the first two episodes of Rescue Bots, and the brand is ruined forever by kiddification.

2012

2013

  • February 9 — Hasbro reveals a wealth of new product at Toy Fair 2013, including new Triple Changers and the largest Transformers toy ever in Metroplex. The fact that there is no way Hasbro will be able to top this in future ruins Transformers forever.
  • June 27-30 — BotCon 2013 is held at the Town and Country Resort in San Diego, California.
  • June 29 — Megatron and Ultra Magnus are inducted as the Fan's Choice nominees for the fourth year of the Hall of Fame, Megatron having won first place with a comfortable lead over the other choices, yeeess. More crying as a BW character is inducted into the Hall of Fame.
  • October 4 — The Transformers: Prime TV show concludes with a three-part series finale/movie.

2014

2015

  • January 30 — Transformers: Battle Tactics is launched on mobile platforms.
  • February 9 — Robots in Disguise premieres in France.
  • February 21 — Robots in Disguise premieres in Australia and New Zealand.
  • March 2 — Robots in Disguise premieres in Portugal.
  • March 7 — Robots in Disguise premieres in Italy.
  • March 14 — Transformers: Robots in Disguise finally premieres on Cartoon Network in the United States.
  • March 27 — Akiva Goldsman is appointed head of a writer's room intended to form a shared Transformers cinematic universe in the vein of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As the years pass, the room is scuttled due to the failure of the first major product of this endeavor in 2017, with future films pivoting away from the project's genesis altogether.
  • June 18-21 — BotCon 2015 is held at the Pheasant Run Resort in St. Charles, Illinois.
  • October 6 — Transformers: Devastation is released in North America.
  • Also October 6 — The Transformers: Legends mobile game shut down.

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020s

2020

2021

  • June 22 — The next live-action film, serving both as a sequel to Bumblebee and a tribute to Beast Wars, is announced for 2022, though it is later delayed to 2023.
  • July 29 — The War for Cybertron Trilogy cartoon's final season is released on Netflix.
  • November 7 — The Cyberverse cartoon concludes with an extended-length series finale.

2022

2023

2024

2025



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References

<references />

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