The Transformers (franchise)
Generation 1 is the original Transformers franchise which took the United States by storm in 1984. It is what most people older than 17 or so think of when they hear "Transformers".
The term "Generation 1" (G1) was originally a fan-coined back-formulation of Generation 2. Until the Transformers:Generation 2 line was released, Generation 1 was simply called Transformers. Over the years, the use of the term G1 has become fairly universal and has frequently been used in official materials. It has even appeared on Takara toy packaging and on Hasbro's official Transformers website and reissue toy packaging.
The Generation 1 franchise as it ran in the 1980s/90s featured the following primary components:
Generation 1 also included an avalanche of ancillary licensed merchandise, moreso 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.
Continuations and addenda
It should be noted that the first two revivals/reinventions of the Transformers line following the end of the original line (Generation 2 and Beast Wars/Beast Machines) remained, as far as their fiction was concerned, as part of the same overall storyline/history framework. Thus a character like Optimus Primal is listed as being "a character from the Beast Era portion of the Generation 1 continuity family." Despite hailing from a later post-Generation 1 franchise, he is a part of the same Generation 1 continuity family.
Also of note, the lasting popularity of the original Generation 1 franchise, its characters, and stories have led Hasbro and Takara to produce a long stream of modern revisitations of it. This new Generation 1 material is sometimes referred to by fans as "Neo G1".
Among these are:
- New Generation 1 characters (generally redecos of existing G1 toys) retroactively introduced into the franchise by the Japanese reissues toy line.
- Whole new toy lines with ancilliary fiction set in a Generation 1 contunity: these include Binaltech, Universe, Robot Masters, Micromaster Collection, Kiss Players, and Classics (2006).
- Many new Generation 1 comic book series, first from Dreamwave and then from Devil's Due and IDW.
