History YMMV / TheTransformers

!!General
* CompleteMonster: See [[Monster/{{Transformers}} here]].
* HilariousInHindsight: Octane's original toy bio states that he can't be trusted any further than Megatron can throw Devastator. Come ''WebAnimation/TheTransformersTitansReturn'', and Megatron nigh-effortlessly [[CueTheFlyingPigs throws Devastator on]] ''[[CueTheFlyingPigs massive]]'' [[CueTheFlyingPigs distance]]. Consequently, the original bio now sounds like Octane is one of the most trusted Decepticons around.
* MagnificentBastard: See [[MagnificentBastard/{{Transformers}} here]].
* VindicatedByHistory: Toy-wise, the original ''Diaclone'' and ''Microman'' toys became this before Takara decided to rebrand most of their ''Diaclone'' and ''Microman'' figures into a single line. The first toyline failed due to lack of interest and Takara tried to release them in the west. What makes them unique is when you can actually have a human figure and the drivers/pilots can interact with them. This is why Optimus has work stations, a 4-man buggy, and Prime himself has two seats inside him meant for the small drivers. Megatron's accessory parts can be rearranged into a mounted cannon for a Microman to use. However Takara saw it fit to relaunch ''Diaclone'' but without its ''Transformers'' connection. Toy reviewers and collectors now look back at their original ''Transformers'' and see what made the toys so unique in the first place.

!![[WesternAnimation/TheTransformers Animated TV series]]

* See {{YMMV.TransformersGeneration1}}

!![[Comicbook/TheTransformers Comic book]]

* See {{YMMV.TheTransformersMarvel}}

* see {{YMMV.TransformersGeneration1}}

* AdaptationDisplacement: Sort of. The comics came out several months before the first episode of the cartoon, but the cartoon's the one that gets referenced constantly in every other piece of media. On the other hand, the concept of Primus comes entirely from the comics, and has become prominent in almost all forms of the franchise.
* SugarWiki/AwesomeArt: Frequently, especially in [[https://tfwiki.net/wiki/File:Nyc-alternate-future1.jpg "Rhythms of Darkness."]]
* DesignatedHero: Grimlock tends to fall into this at times, but the worst example comes during the original series' final issue; he and his fellow Dinobots recklessly jump out of the Autobot's ship to chase after a single Decepticon, with several Autobots following them. This turns out to be a trap that costs the lives of many Autobots, something Prowl rightfully calls Grimlock out on. A few panels later, Grimlock starts lecturing Prowl on how "Autobots fight... to the end!" A stirring sentiment, but it doesn't change the fact that Grimlock seems to have no apparent regret for foolishly leading several Autobots to their deaths.
* EnsembleDarkhorse: Many, best look at the franchise' page for them.
* HarsherInHindsight: ''Rhythms of Darkness'' has Rodimus strung up between the otherwise demolished Twin Towers.
** Regeneration One Issue 0 eventually reveals that Buster Witwiky, Spike's brother and original protagonist of the comics for a while, was killed with his wife Jessie inside a car wash by Ratbat, turning a homage to the infamous ''Car Wash of Doom'' issue of the Marvel Transformers comics into a needlessly dark and depressing send-off to Buster.
* HilariousInHindsight: The original plan for the last storyline was going to be the Autobots going on a quest to find the Last Autobot, an ancient and legendary mythic being. Years later ''Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye'', while in a different continuity and with a different focus (the Knights Of Cybertron) has this idea as its basic premise; a crew of Autobots go off on a quest to find an ancient legend.
* HypeBacklash: Fans of the Marvel run can be pretty quick to sell the series as better than the cartoon, and though it is more mature, fans rereading it in the modern-day might end up unimpressed. The storytelling still suffers from the series' MerchandiseDriven nature, it lacks the [[ADayInTheLimelight focus episodes]] and a lot of the hokey charm of the G1 toon, and the artwork is inconsistent. It doesn't help that many of the best-regarded stories [[note]] such as ''Target: 2006'' and ''Time Wars'' [[/note]] were [[NoExportForYou UK-exclusive]], or that [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny pretty much every modern continuity has stolen ideas from it.]]
* IdiotPlot:
** For the last issue of the Underbase Saga. So Optimus has known all along from his past experience that the whole Underbase would be too much for a Transformer to harness, that it would get itself killed trying to absorb all of its enormous power? So when they find Starscream already in the process of absorbing it, shouldn't Optimus have, oh, ''just let him absorb it all and blow up'' instead of stopping the process by shooting him out of its way when he has already absorbed enough to be undefeatable, and having the Bots and Cons go after him ''resulting in a good deal of them getting killed while he constructs a rocket with reflectors to bring back the remaining Underbase and have it finish what it has started with 'Screamer?!?''[[note]]The fact that he immediately chooses to construct the rocket to bring back the Underbase so that Starscream can absorb the rest of it, as well as the confidence he has in his actions, shows that for him it isn't a final gambit; he knows that this is THE solution all along![[/note]] The real-world reason is that Bob Budiansky was using the story to get rid of characters whose toys weren't all that popular and didn't have as much panel time. If he had Optimus reveal the situation right away, then it wouldn't be as character-clearing.
** The initial storyline that gets the characters stranded on Earth in the first place. Optimus crashes the Ark to "keep its secrets from falling into Decepticon hands". Considering that the Ark was only going out to clear a path in the asteroid belt for Cybertron to pass through, what reason did it have to have ''any'' secrets on board? It had no job other than to be a gunship, and one they ''knew'' was placing itself in a vulnerable position. Not to mention having one of their most important military leaders on board, when there was no reason for him to be. Transformers '84 issue 0 says that Optimus was trying to lure Megatron away from Cybertron and beat him a potentially suicidal action, but that issue and miniseries was pretty quickly stashed in an alternate timeline to to a lot of contradictions.
** Was there anything really preventing the humans from ''ever'' noticing that half the giant robots running around were clearly trying to stop the other giant robots from stepping on them? Or preventing the Autobots themselves from at least seriously ''trying'' to point this out to them?
* MemeticBadass: Buzzsaw earned a reputation as an especially fierce powerhouse from his tenure in the Marvel comics in part because he's a tiny cassette robot. While Buzzsaw is largely a non-presence in most media, Marvel showed him as a viscous Decepticon warrior who even took down Omega Supreme in a staggering display of TheWorfEffect. His article on Wiki/TFWikiDotNet leans into this with the tiny birdbot as a kind of ultimate badass.
* MemeticMutation: Straxus's famous introduction.
* MyRealDaddy: Creator/SimonFurman. Not only did he write for most of the comic, but he was the one who treated it like a serious story rather than a glorified toy advertisement and introduced all the mythology that the Transformers franchise would build off of.
* NeverLiveItDown: Optimus sacrificing himself over ''a videogame''.[[note]]He hurt a virtual human when playing against Megatron[[/note]] While his willingness to die for others is well respected, this one is considered to be a bit too much. And then he's able to be revived because his mind was backed up on a [[UnintentionalPeriodPiece floppy disk]]. The kind that has a real life storage capacity of about ''[[TechnologyMarchesOn one megabyte]]'' at most.
* NightmareFuel:
** The BadFuture shown in ''Rhythms of Darkness'' begins with an impressive shot of an utterly levelled New York City.
** [[BodyHorror What happens to Ratchet and Megatron after they get caught in a transporter accident]].
** The battle with Unicron in issue 75, especially the part where he [[spoiler: impales Brainstorm on his finger and eats him alive, ''[[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath on-panel]]''.]]
* OneSceneWonder: Slog's only appearance in the entire series, in "Rhythms of Darkness", helped by his unique speech pattern, and introspective nature.
* SeasonalRot: The Budiansky issues start off okay, but soon degrade into nonsense before Simon Furman takes over. Sadly, that's more than half the series (not counting the UK run or the G2 comics). However, his tenure on the book still has its fans, (most notably Creator/LewisLovhaug praised it in his retrospective on the whole comic series.) and produced some memorable storylines like The Underbase Saga.
* ShockingMoments: Issue 50 and issue 75, both of which involve absolutely ''massive'' battles, in which numerous cast members die. The latter more so, given that [[spoiler: '''Primus himself''' dies. That's the equivalent of a biblical story ending with God getting shot in the face.]]
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodLineArt: John Ridgway's black and white art in the UK comic is very detailed and realistic. About half the pages had colour added in the original release, and they were all completely recoloured for the American re-release; in both cases, the colour took out a lot of what made it impressive.
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot:
** Grimlock as Autobot leader seemed a fantastic concept, especially with an introductory story of him learning to respect humans and that a good leader needs more than strength. He promptly develops AesopAmnesia and turns into TheCaligula, sitting on a throne wearing a crown, beating up his troops and showing no interest in fighting Decepticons. Incredibly, the only one bothered enough to stand up to him is Blaster and just as the storyline builds to a confrontation between them, all the Earthbound Autobots disappear for four issues (during which Blaster was left stuffed in a cupboard and forgotten by everyone). There's a one issue wrap up where the delayed confrontation is interrupted by a Decepticon attack, then they all disappear for another four issues by which time Optimus Prime's back and the whole storyline's forgotten.
** Optimus Prime's first death should be a dramatic moment. He's sacrificed his morals simply to win a temporary advantage in battle, and rather than live with the knowledge that he did that, allows himself to be killed, regardless of the bad position it will leave his troops in. It's just too bad he allows himself to die over cheating in a video game.
* WhatAnIdiot:
** The amount of times humans do something stupid in Budiansky's run would take far too long to list.
*** There is also the infamous case of Optimus Prime's death in issue 24 - wherein Optimus Prime [[HonorBeforeReason allows himself to be blown up over the deaths of]] ''[[HonorBeforeReason virtual reality, non-existent, fictional]]'' [[HonourBeforeReason video games characters]].
** Megatron challenging Shockwave at the beginning of the series. He knows Shockwave is more or less his equal even when he's 100%, and he attacks when he is still healing from fairly serious injuries.
** Cyclonus in the UK comics. He loudly announces that he and Scourge will KillAndReplace Shockwave as Decepticon leader in their time... right in front of the present day Shockwave. This leads Shockwave to send Megatron after them, resulting in Cyclonus's death.
* WhatTheHellCostumingDepartment: Nebulos, the planet where ''no-one'' wears sensible clothing.

* MagnificentBastard:
** [[BadassBookworm Shockwave]] is the military commander of the Decepticons and has devoted his entire life to [[TheSpock logic]] and conquest. After masterminding the original attack on the Ark that left both sides stranded on Earth, Shockwave emerged from stasis to destroy all the Autobots in a single blow. He [[TheStarscream seized control of the Decepticons away from Megatron]], and attempted to use the Creation Matrix to create new soldiers for his army. Although he eventually stepped down as the Decepticons' leader, he soon manipulated Megatron into seemingly killing himself by taking advantage of his paranoid delusions. Shockwave entered a brief alliance with [[ComicBook/GIJoeARealAmericanHeroMarvel Cobra]] to gain control of Power Station Alpha and betrayed them, all so he could steal the Earth's resources for himself. When he lost his forces after being left for dead, Shockwave teamed up with Starscream to stage a coup against Scorponok and try to take command again. With intelligence to match his strength, Shockwave is one of the most dangerous Decepticons the Autobots have ever faced.
** [[NonActionBigBad Ratbat]] was once the Decepticon's fuel auditor, but he [[FromNobodyToNightmare rose through the ranks]] to eventually become the leader of the Decepticons. Obsessed with maximizing efficiency on all aspects of the war effort, Ratbat [[PragmaticVillainy refused to take unnecessary risks]] and waste precious energy. Upon arriving to Earth, he brainwashed G.B. Blackrock into producing a line of car washes that would hypnotize its customers into supplying fuel for the Decepticons. Ratbat soon took Buster Witwicky as a hostage, and seized command over Shockwave's forces after his supposed death. Ratbat took advantage of the Autobot's splintered command after Optimus's death, and launched a surprise attack on the Ark that nearly wiped them all out. When Starscream betrayed the Decepticons to steal the power of the Underbase, Ratbat helped coordinate an offensive against him, all while planning to take the Underbase's power for himself. Despite not being the strongest Decepticon, Ratbat proved to be one of their most efficient leaders.

** For the last issue of the Underbase Saga. So Optimus has known all along from his past experience that the whole Underbase would be too much for a Transformer to harness, that it would get itself killed trying to absorb all of its enormous power? So when they find Starscream already in the process of absorbing it, shouldn't Optimus have, oh, ''just let him absorb it all and blow up'' instead of stopping the process by shooting him out of its way when he has already absorbed enough to be undefeatable, and having the Bots and Cons go after him ''resulting in a good deal of them getting killed while he constructs a rocket with reflectors to bring back the remaining Underbase and have it finish what it has started with 'Screamer?!?''[[note]]The fact that he immediately chooses to construct the rocket to bring back the Underbase so that Starscream can absorb the rest of it, as well as the confidence he has in his actions, shows that for him it isn't a final gambit; he knows that this is THE solution all along![[/note]]
** The initial storyline that gets the characters stranded on Earth in the first place. Optimus crashes the Ark to "keep its secrets from falling into Decepticon hands". Considering that the Ark was only going out to clear a path in the asteroid belt for Cybertron to pass through, what reason did it have to have ''any'' secrets on board? It had no job other than to be a gunship, and one they ''knew'' was placing itself in a vulnerable position. Not to mention having one of their most important military leaders on board, when there was no reason for him to be.

** Was there anything really preventing the humans from ''ever'' noticing that half the giant robots running around were clearly trying to stop the other giant robots from stepping on the humans? Or preventing the Autobots themselves from at least seriously ''trying'' to point this out to them?

* CompleteMonster:
** [[OmnicidalManiac Unicron]] is a powerful [[PlanetEater planet-eating]] Transformer and the ArchEnemy of Primus, the creator of the Cybertronians. Millions of years ago, Primus stopped Unicron's quest to consume all of existence by trapping him within a lifeless asteroid and left to wander aimlessly through space. When Primus was shot during a fight between the Autobots and Decepticons, Unicron heard his rival's scream of pain and made a direct path towards Cybertron. Stopping to devour the planet of Ghennix and its roughly 60 billion inhabitants, Unicron reformatted three of its survivors to be his new heralds. After sending them to retrieve Galvatron from the future, Unicron tortured him in order to gain his compliance. He distracted Primus's forces by siccing his [[ManchurianAgent sleeper agents]] that were planted within Cybertron's population millennia ago. Once he finally arrived, Unicron devastated Cybertron and claimed countless lives, including [[KillTheGod Primus's]]. Unicron's rampage left lasting scars on Cybertron's surface and truly earned him the title of the Chaos Bringer.
** [[TheCaligula Lord Straxus]] is a brutal Decepticon warlord who took over Cybertron after the departure of Megatron. During his reign, Straxus would have his troops round up any Cybertronian who did not pledge loyalty to the Decepticons and subject them to his smelting pools, where they would be melted down for spare parts while they were still alive. Upon receiving a transmission from Earth, Straxus had the neutral scientist Spanner kidnapped so he could build a space bridge for him. When the bridge started malfunctioning, Straxus [[BadBoss sent men after men to their deaths]] because he was too impatient to figure out what the problem was. He would then forcibly reconfigure Spanner's body to become part of the space bridge, [[FateWorseThanDeath leaving him in constant pain and begging for death]]. After being reduced to a severed head, Straxus [[GrandTheftMe intended to swap bodies with Megatron]] and crush him in his helpless state. When that plan failed, Straxus forcibly reformatted one of his soldiers into becoming a clone of Megatron and transferred his mind into their body. He would continue to torment the clone and eventually [[DrivenToSuicide drove him to suicide]] in his attempts to take over his body. Straxus dispensed no mercy to all sides of the conflict, and promised only death to those who stood in his way.
** [[MadScientist Flame]] is an Autobot scientist who was kicked out of his academy in disgrace after proposing a revival of Megatron’s plan to turn Cybertron into a mobile spacecraft. Bitter over his rejection, Flame ignored the warnings of his peers despite the danger his project posed to Cybertron. After discovering an abandoned engine room left behind by the Decepticons, Flame faked his death and continued his research in secrecy. When a test firing of the repaired engines destroyed a section of the city Kalis, Flame transmitted a signal that [[OurZombiesAreDifferent reanimated the corpses of his fellow Cybertronians]] and forced them to attack anyone who came close to the city. Flame refused to listen to the warnings of his former colleague, Emirate Xaaron, and tried to kill him when Xaaron attempted to shut down his reactor before it would destroy Cybertron. Flame [[LackOfEmpathy showed no remorse]] over turning the victims of his own hubris into his zombie slaves, and [[ItsAllAboutMe only cared about restoring the reputation he deservedly lost]].

* HilariousInHindsight:
** Octane's original toy bio states that he can't be trusted any further than Megatron can throw Devastator. Come ''WebAnimation/TheTransformersTitansReturn'', and Megatron nigh-effortlessly [[CueTheFlyingPigs throws Devastator on]] ''[[CueTheFlyingPigs massive]]'' [[CueTheFlyingPigs distance]]. Consequently, the original bio now sounds like Octane is one of the most trusted Decepticons around.
** [[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E4fK6ZjWEAAr1lT?format=jpg&name=900x900 This frame]] from episode 5, which first aired in 1984, looks alarmingly like [[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/yes-chad the "Yes Chad" meme]] that would become popular on the Internet around 2019.

* HilariousInHindsight: Octane's original toy bio states that he can't be trusted any further than Megatron can throw Devastator. Come ''WebAnimation/TheTransformersTitansReturn'', and Megatron nigh-effortlessly [[CueTheFlyingPigs throws Devastator on]] ''[[CueTheFlyingPigs massive]]'' [[CueTheFlyingPigs distance]]. Consequently, the original bio now sounds like Octane is one of the most trusted Decepticons around.

* SeasonalRot: The Budiansky issues start off okay, but soon degrade into nonsense before Simon Furman takes over. Sadly, that's more than half the series (not counting the UK run or the G2 comics).

* VindicatedByHistory: Toy-wise, the original ''Diaclone'' and ''Microman'' toys became this before Takara decided to rebrand most of their ''Diaclone'' and ''Microman'' figures into a single line. The first toyline failed due to lack of interest and Takara tried to release them in the west. What makes the unique is when you can actually have a human figure and the drivers/pilots can interact with them. This is why Optimus has work stations, a 4-man buggy, and Prime himself has two seats inside him meant for the small drivers. Megatron's accessory parts can be rearranged into a mounted cannon for a Microman to use. However Takara saw it fit to relaunch ''Diaclone'' but without its ''Transformers'' connection. Toy reviewers and collectors now look back at their original ''Transformers'' and see what made the toys so unique in the first place.

* HypeBacklash: Fans of the Marvel run can be pretty quick to sell the series as better than the cartoon, and though it is more mature, fans rereading it in the modern day might end up unimpressed. It lacks the [[ADayInTheLimelight focus episodes]] and a lot of the hokey charm of the G1 toon, and the artwork is inconsistent. It doesn't help that many of the best-regarded stories [[note]] such as ''Target: 2006'' and ''Time Wars'' [[/note]] were [[NoExportForYou UK-exclusive]], or that [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny pretty much every modern continuity has stolen ideas from it.]]

* HilariousInHindsight: The original plan for the last storyline was going to be the Autobots going on a quest to find the Last Autobot, an ancient and legendary mythic being. Years later ''Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye'', while in a different continuity and with a different focus (the Knights Of Cybertron) has this idea as it's basic premise; a crew of Autobots go off on a quest to find an ancient legend.
* HypeBacklash: Fans of the Marvel run can be pretty quick to oversell the series as better than the cartoon, and though it wasn't as childish, fans rereading it in the modern day often end up fairly unimpressed. It was still very much a toy ad for ten-year-olds, it lacks the [[ADayInTheLimelight focus episodes]] and [[SoBadItsGood a lot of the hokey charm]] of the G1 toon, and the artwork is, to say the least, inconsistent. It doesn't help that many of the best-regarded stories [[note]] such as ''Target: 2006'' and ''Time Wars'' [[/note]] were [[NoExportForYou UK-exclusive]], or that [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny pretty much every modern continuity has stolen ideas from it.]]
* IdiotPlot: For the last issue of the Underbase Saga. So Optimus has known all along from his past experience that the whole Underbase would be too much for a Transformer to harness, that it would get itself killed trying to absorb all of its enormous power? So when they find Starscream already in the process of absorbing it, shouldn't Optimus have, oh, ''just let him absorb it all and blow up'' instead of stopping the process by shooting him out of its way when he has already absorbed enough to be undefeatable, and having the Bots and Cons go after him ''resulting in a good deal of them getting killed while he constructs a rocket with reflectors to bring back the remaining Underbase and have it finish what it has started with 'Screamer?!?''[[note]]The fact that he immediately chooses to construct the rocket to bring back the Underbase so that Starscream can absorb the rest of it, as well as the confidence he has in his actions, shows that for him it isn't a final gambit; he knows that this is THE solution all along![[/note]]
** The initial storyline that gets the characters stranded on Earth in the first place. Optimus crashes the Ark to "keep it's secrets from falling into Decepticon hands". Considering that the Ark was only going out to clear a path in the asteroid belt for Cybertron to pass through, what reason did it have to have ''any'' secrets on board? It had no job other than to be a gunship, and one they ''knew'' was placing itself in a vulnerable position. Not to mention having one of their most important military leaders on board, when there was no reason for him to be.