Transfomers is a world-famous toyline produced by US company Hasbro. Transformers change, or "transform" of course, from the shape of robots to the shape of other things such as cars, planes, tanks, weapons, and even cassette players. The Transformer toyline was also adapted to become a cartoon television series, a comic book series, and a number of full-length movies. Transformers have had the biggest following in the United States, the UK, and Japan.
The Transformers first came to life in Japan in the 1970s with the Takara toy series of Microman and Diaclone. In 1984 US company Hasbro licensed the rights to use the Takara toylines, rebranding them as "Transformers".The toys themselves were almost exactly the same, but sometimes underwent minor changes such as being repainted a different color. Hasbro also created a new storyline for the toys, giving new names and personalities to the Japanese toys. Then Hasbro later started thinking up new Transformers that had no origin in the original Japanese toylines. In 1984, the success of Transformers in the US prompted Takara to end its production of Microman and Diaclone and instead begin marketing them as Transformers.
A Transformers tv series began in 1984, as well as a MARVEL comic book series. In 1986 the Transformers hit the silver screen with a full length movie simply called Transformers: The Movie. The movie caused shockwaves amongst fans as it depicted the death of many popular Autobot characters, including their leader Optimus Prime. In 1987 Optimus Prime would be brought back to life at the end of the third season of Transformers. The American tv show was concluded that year, but the Japanese continued producing the show, and comicbook series continued to be updated in the US and the UK. It's worth noting that all of these series diverged widely in story, and contradicted each other on many levels.
Since the end of the original tv series, new "generations" of Transformers have arisen, though most fans of the original series are not thoroughly impressed and prefer the Transformers of 1984-1987. Beast Wars was an incarnation of the Transformers series produced in Canada from 1995-1999, and was followed by Beast Machines from 2000-2001. This new generation also included a Hasbro toyline. It took place in the future after the original Transformers series, and included a lot of flashbacks to the original.
Additional incarnations and interpretations of Transformers have also been releasted, but have never been able to compete with the fame of the first generation series. The only Transformers release that has been able to rival the original generation is the current movie franchise, with the release of "Transformers" in 2007 as a live-action movie, followed up by "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" two years later. A third installment is due in 2011 or 2012. Featuring fantastic computer-animated action and a young allstar cast of actors, the film-franchise has proven that Transformers are still a force to be reckoned with in the entertainment and toy businesses.
Billy Bob grew up on the Transformers and owns every single issue of their Marvel Comics series. See his recommended
Transformers coloring books at
"Printable Coloring Pages.
