http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/transformers-geewun.jpg[[caption-width:438:Autobots wage their battle to destroy the evil forces of the Decepticons.]]
''Transformers: Generation 1'' (originally aired as simply ''The Transformers'') is the [[TheOriginalSeries original]] and [[BrokenBase some would say]] best incarnation of ''{{Transformers}}''. If you say "Transformers", it's more than likely [[PopCulturalOsmosis people will believe]] that [[FirstInstallmentWins you're talking about this one]]. It first aired in 1984 as a way to [[MerchandiseDriven advertise Hasbro’s Transformers toy line]], which was made from altering Takara’s Diaclone and Microchange lines through redecos or retools (paint or mild alterations).

The original toys were not intelligent robots but remote controlled mechs used by human pilots. Under the Transformers brand every toy was a sentient robot, and the story was written to accomodate that. Characters were created that eventually became legend and are closely associated with further {{Transformers}} continuity lines. Such include [[TheCaptain Optimus Prime,]] [[BigBad Megatron,]] [[TheStarscream Starscream,]] [[TheBumblebee Bumblebee]] and others who form general character types.

!The Transformers cartoon

The show was initially written by Marvel Productions, and later Marvel in collaboration with Sunbow. Animation was done in Japan mostly by ToeiAnimation and a few lesser known studios.

The show concerned the war between two factions of sentient robots - the heroic Autobots, led by Optimus Prime, and the evil Decepticons, led by Megatron. In the [[FiveEpisodePilot three-part opening]], the Autobots fled their home planet of Cybertron after the war drained it of much of its energy. The Decepticons followed and, after a short space battle, they crash-landed on Earth, where they lay dormant for four million years.

When they were revived, the Transformers took on the appearance of Earth vehicles as a form of disguise. The Decepticons immediately set out to steal all of Earth’s energy and the Autobots, being generally good guys, tried to stop them. Most episodes involved the Decepticons either coming up with a new EvilScheme to steal Earth’s energy, or coming up with a new Evil Scheme to destroy the Autobots forever. Naturally, they failed every time.

!!Season One And Two

The first season was broadcast on Saturday mornings, and followed the above formula to a T. When it proved extremely popular, the show was given a weekday afternoon timeslot for the second season . This season still followed established conventions, but also mixed things up occasionally with excursions to alien worlds. A large number of new characters were introduced in this season, with the result that very few episodes featured all the characters. Instead, each episode focused on a few Autobots and Decepticons as a way of giving exposure to all the toys without making the episodes confusing. During this period, many characters had DayInTheLimelight episodes; these are often considered to be the best episodes made.

When the show proved popular in America, Takara cancelled its plans for a new ''Diaclone'' line in favour of importing the American toys and cartoon. The cartoon was rebranded as ''Fight! Super Robot Life Form Transformer!'' and made a few changes, most notably changing Shockwave from a very cool, calm and logical robot to an angry, psychotic being. Additionally, one minute of footage was cut from each episode to incorporate the longer opening theme.

!!Transformers: The Movie (1986)

''See main article: '''TransformersTheMovie'''.''

At the end of Season 2, an animated film was made, simply titled ''The Transformers: The Movie'' (1986), which was written so that it could be easily split into four 22-minute segments for subsequent TV broadcast. The movie [[TimeSkip skipped forward]] to the then far-off year [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture 2005]], by which time the Decepticons had conquered Cybertron. The plot concerned the Autobots' struggle to liberate their home planet and later save it from the planet eater, [[CosmicHorror Unicron]].

The movie introduced several plot elements which would go on to become important to the whole ''Transformers'' mythos – Unicron; the Autobot Matrix of Leadership, an artifact carried by the Autobot leader which grants power and great wisdom; and the Quintessons, a race of evil tentacled aliens who originally created the Transformers and were still bitter about being kicked off Cybertron after 11 million years.

The movie is infamous for killing off a large number of characters in order to give screen time to new toys. [[YouShouldKnowThisAlready The deaths of]] [[TheMessiah Optimus Prime]] and [[DracoInLeatherPants Starscream]] in particular caused such consternation among fans that both characters were brought back in season three, after a fashion. And the replaced characters/toys such as Hot Rod and Ultra Magnus are subsequently disliked for being inferior [[JonasQuinn copies of the older characters.]] Interestingly, both of the aforementioned characters' [[DeathIsCheap deaths and revivals]] established now-time-honored traditions in ''Transformers'' fiction--that Starscream has an immortal spark (in G1 and related continuities) or is immortal by some other token (for example, in ''[[TransformersAnimated Animated]]'', where he manages to stay alive because of an Allspark shard lodged in his forehead), and that Optimus Prime is prone to making {{Heroic Sacrifice}}s from which he will fairly quickly return.

The movie would not be released in Japan until 1989, and so an {{OAV}} by the name of ''Scramble City'' was made to introduce the new characters. When the movie was released, it was edited slightly to take place in 2009 rather than 2005.

!!Seasons Three and Onward

The third season (rebranded as ''Fight! Super Robot Life Form Transformer! 2010'' in Japan) was released in 1987. This followed on where the movie left off, and focused on the new characters. In this season, the Autobots had reclaimed Cybertron, while the Decepticons had been exiled to the dead planet of Chaar. It began with a FiveEpisodePilot in which the Quintessons manipulated the Decepticons into attacking Cybertron as part of an EvilScheme to destroy all Transformers, during which several new toys made their screen debuts.

They failed, and after that things settled back into the generally episodic format from the first two seasons. While the Decepticons were still a major threat, the Autobots tangled with the Quintessons just as often as their traditional enemies. This season also departed from the previous two by not having any faction restricted to Earth. Instead, the characters' adventures took place all over the galaxy, incorporating many strange alien worlds. At the end of the season, Optimus Prime was resurrected [[AuthorsSavingThrow following fan complaints]].

After this, the American and Japanese continuities diverged. In America, a fourth season began, [[TooGoodToLast and pretty much ended]], with a three-part episode entitled “The Rebirth”. During these episodes, the action moved to the planet Nebulos and introduced the new Headmaster and Targetmaster toys as partnerships between Transformers and the native Nebulans. However, this season was aborted after the introduction despite some promising new characters and plot details.

!!General Features

Like most shows made in the [=1980s=], ''Transformers: Generation 1'' did not have especially strong continuity, which was at least partly due to the short production time per episode. However, there was a light storyline, with a few episodes building on events from previous ones. This continuity was strongest in season 3, which made the fact that episodes were routinely aired out of order all the more frustrating.

In 1992, selected episodes of the cartoon were re-edited and aired as the ''Generation 2'' cartoon (which gave birth to the ''Generation 1'' name). These episodes were pretty much selected due to their featuring [[MerchandiseDriven characters that were being sold as toys at that point]]. They were identical to the G1 episodes, save for the fact that instead of the classic "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLiAknjZv2k Autobot symbol zooms in and flips over to reveal Decepticon symbol]]" (or vice-versa), scenes were transitioned between by the "[[ConspicuousCG Cybernet Space Cube]]".

What made the show really special was the incredible quality of the voice acting. The huge number of characters made it difficult to firmly establish a distinct personality for each one. However, each character had a distinct, very fitting voice, which subtly indicated their personalities without needing to devote an entire episode to them. In fact, Peter Cullen’s role as Optimus Prime was so respected that, when it was announced he would be reprising his role in 2007’s live-action ''[[TransformersFilmSeries Transformers]]'' movie, [[CueCullen fans immediately stopped complaining and started supporting the film]].

Most episodes were produced in a very short space of time, with the result that a large number of [[OffModel animation errors crept in]]. Characters were often drawn the wrong size, sometimes for effect or by accident. Another constant problem was characters being drawn in the wrong colours, which was very confusing as many of the characters were identical save for different colours (they were often simply repainted toys). This problem was particularly bad in season 3, as some of the episodes were animated by AKOM, a Korean animation company which, while cheaper than Toei, was also considerably sloppier.

!!Japanese Continuity
In Japan, after the show ended in America, they continued the story and rebranded into ''TransformersHeadmasters'', which was essentially a {{spinoff}}. This gave a completely new origin story for the Headmasters. They also continued with ''TransformersSuperGodMasterforce'', ''TransformersVictory'' and ''TransformersZone''.

The most infamous addition to the Japanese continuity is ''Kiss Players'', set between the movie, and Season 3, where Optimus Prime, has been revived by Marissa Faireborn ([[{{Lolicon}} who looks about 8 even though she's 20]]) kissing him. It's as bad as it sounds.

!Comics

As well as the cartoon, there have been several comics published over the years.

!!Marvel

The first of these was published by MarvelComics. It is sometimes stated that the comic came before the cartoon; while issue 1 of the comic hit the newsstands quite some time before the first episode of the cartoon aired, the cartoon went into production long before the comic.

The comic was initially set in the main MarvelUniverse, but soon moved to a separate AlternateUniverse along with the ''GIJoe'' comic to prevent ExecutiveMeddling from Hasbro interfering with Marvel's own characters. It was initially written by Bob Budiansky; he and his successor, SimonFurman, would end up having more influence on the overall ''{{Transformers}}'' mythos than anyone else. During this time, instead of simply telling the artists what to draw, the writers simply gave them a plot outline and let them draw a strip. Budiansky and Furman then took the strip and added SpeechBubbles; this arrangement meant that the artists had much more influence on the story than is common nowadays.

In America, the comic was published fortnightly, then weekly, then fortnightly again. It was printed on higher-quality paper than most other comics, and as a result was also more expensive. While it used the same characters, setting, and premise as the cartoon, it told a significantly different set of stories. In particular, while the Transformers in the cartoon were built by Quintessons, in the comic, they were created by the god Primus, a part of canon later cartoon series adopted.

In the UK, the comic was published weekly for most of its run, and the American comics were commonly split in two in order to stretch the material. To make up for the dramatically shortened length, the UK comic also featured a secondary, backup strip in black and white, written by Simon Furman. These stories ''usually'' fit in with the American continuity, albeit with occasional twisting. After Budiansky suffered CreatorBreakdown as a result of trying to keep Hasbro happy, Furman was brought on to write both the US and UK comics. His focus on {{story arc}}s and CharacterDevelopment was considered the high point of the comic's run; however, due to a communications breakdown, the UK comics at this point drifted out of sync with the US publication.

It finally ended after 80 issues (in America) or 332 (in Britain) due to declining interest in ''Transformers'', though Marvel would later publish the short-lived ''[[TransformersGeneration2 Generation 2]]'' comic.

!!Dreamwave

In 2002, a new comic was published by Dreamwave Productions, alongside an adaptation of the Unicron Trilogy (''[[TransformersArmada Armada]], [[TransformersEnergon Energon]]'', and ''[[TransformersCybertron Cybertron]]''); this is the first to officially use the title ''Generation One''. Simon Furman was brought back to write parts of it, as well as several lesser-known writers. It began as a set of mini-series which gave rise to a short-lived ongoing title. Ideas were taken from both the cartoon and the Marvel comic.

The main draw of the Dreamwave comic was the highly detailed, {{manga}}-influenced artwork of Pat Lee - which, as it turned out, included a lot of DullSurprise and vaguely sexual poses. However, most of the actual drawing, colouring, and inking was done by uncredited and frequently unpaid guest artists while Lee was buying fast cars and sponsoring his girlfriend's Miss World campaign. Following a series of unethical business practises, scandals, and outright crime, Dreamwave declared bankruptcy, leaving both the ''G1'' and ''Unicron Trilogy'' stories unfinished.

For better or for worse, this was the first American ''Transformers'' comic to be published in Japan.

!!IDW

In 2005, IDW picked up the license, and began by reprinting available stories originally published by Marvel and Dreamwave.

They also began publishing a new continuity, alongside stories based on ''BeastWars'', the [[TransformersFilmSeries live-action films]] and ''[[TransformersAnimated Animated]]''. In a break with tradition, this series sees the Transformers as recent arrivals on Earth instead of having been in stasis for several million years beforehand.

The comic has so far consisted of a series of LimitedSeries, primarily written by Simon Furman. In this continuity, the disguise aspect of transformation is emphasised for once, as Transformers use it to infiltrate the societies of other planets and manipulate governments to their own ends. Combat is much more cloak-and-dagger than usual, with both sides going to great measures to avoid detection - at least, that's the plan.

As well as the limited series, there have been a number of 'Spotlight1 issues, which follow the adventures of a single Transformer. These usually occur elsewhere in space or time, and tie into the main plot in some way. They tell a side story about the expanding [[ZombieApocalypse Dead Universe]], which eventually took over the main story.

The most recent installation in the IDW continuity is ''All Hail Megatron!'', a 16-issue maxi-series. The first twelve issues were written by Shane [=McCarthy=] and take place on an Earth under Decepticon control. This was an attempt to draw in new fans who were put off by the complexity of Furman's series, though sales have been largely unchanged and fan reaction has not been kind to some of the changes introduced. For example, many 80s characters in this series were given modern altmodes as part of the whole "stealth" aspect, but reverted to 1985 designs for ''All Hail Megatron''. A particularly egregious case is Astrotrain - under Furman's run, one of his altmodes was a modern train, but [=McCarthy=] reverted him to the steam train he had used in the cartoon, which was anachronistic in 1985!

IDW is launching a new ongoing series set three years after the events of "All Hail Megatron". The series is written by Mike Costa, and features the return of Don Figueroa as artist.

!Toyline

The toyline was, to say the least, eclectic. Most of the toys were originally from Takara's ''Diaclone'' and ''Microchange'' lines of transforming robot toys. Diaclone was a series of vehicles that [[TransformingMecha transformed]] into HumongousMecha, to be piloted by the ''Diaclone'' action figures. When ''Diaclone'' was converted into ''Transformers'', the story involved sentient robots, and the pilot figures were not sold outside Japan. This meant that a lot of early ''Transformers'' toys had mysterious cockpits which drove many young boys (and some girls) to madness as they tried to figure out the purpose of these. (An ''epic'' retcon planned for ''BeastWars'', the eventual sequel to G1, was that these cockpits were the locations of the Cybertronians' "sparks", [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots their equivalent to souls]], which would be shown as tiny glowing humanoid figures in the cockpits. Hasbro, the toy company, scrapped this idea due to fears that children would think that the sparks were people and that the robots were just regular, piloted mecha.)

The ''Microchange'' line was a line of robots which transformed into 1:1 scale household items and guns. They had far greater articulation than the ''Diaclone'' toys. When ''Microchange'' was combined with ''Diaclone'' to create ''Transformers'', the result was guns the same size as trucks and bigger than tanks, who were supposed to transform in order to disguise themselves. The cartoon got around this potential PlotHole by showing characters clearly changing size as they transformed, which ended up being a minor plot point in a few episodes. However, this usually just [[VoodooShark raised more questions than it answered]].

As well as ''Diaclone'' and ''Microchange'', quite a few other, completely unrelated transforming robot toys were brought into the ''Transformers'' line by Hasbro. For example, Jetfire is easily recognisable as a Valkyrie from ''{{Macross}}''. This served to make the toys even more eclectic. As part of Hasbro and Takara's distribution agreement, toys not originally made by Takara could only receive limited screentime to avoid advertising rival products.

After the movie, [=HasTak=] started producing the first toys designed specifically for the ''Transformers'' line, such as Rodimus Prime and Galvatron. Plenty more of Takara's toys would be adapted into ''Transformers'', but from then on, the majority of new toys would be designed as ''Transformers'' from the beginning.

In 1987, the [[TransformersHeadmasters Headmaster and Targetmaster]] toys were introduced. These were the first gimmicks originally designed for the ''Transformers'' brand. Headmasters consisted of two robots, a small robot that transformed into a head and a larger, headless robot that transformed into a vehicle. These had to combine to form the complete robot. Targetmasters were small robots that transformed into guns; each gun could be used by most Transformers, but was generally associated with one particular full-sized one.

In 1988, the Powermasters (known as Godmasters in Japan) and Pretenders were introduced. Pretenders were simple but well-articulated Transformers who came with an outer humanoid or monstrous plastic shell for disguise. Powermasters, like Headmasters, comprised two robots. The small robot transformed into the engine of the bigger one, which could not transform without its smaller partner. A few of the American toys were missing from the Japanese ''TransformersMasterforce'' line, which in turn had its own group of exclusive toys.

The 1989 line introduced increasingly complex Pretenders, as well as the very small Micromasters, who were primarily sold in teams. Few American toys from this year were sold in Japan, which got its own mostly eclusive ''TransformersVictory'' line. The European release also got the Motorvators, redecos of the Japanese Brainmasters which were not released in America. This was another two-robot gimmick; in this case, the smaller robot fits into a compartment in the bigger robots chest, and when the compartment is closed, a face concealed inside the smaller robot is pushed up into the larger robot's head.

In 1990, the Action Masters were introduced; since these didn't transform at all, the line did fairly poorly. (Yes, ''Transformers'' that didn't transform.) The Japan-exclusive ''TransformersZone'' line introduced Transformers with motors, but also did fairly poorly. New Transformers would not be seen for two years, with the appearance of the ''TransformersGeneration2'' comic, though G1 toys have continued to be re-released right up to the present day.

!Commercials

Yes, the show and comic themselves were basically commercials. But there were also much, much shorter, animated commercials that aired, usually with original animation, showing the next cool toy. The ''Generation 1'' commercials are fondly remembered, although the ''Generation 2'' commercials are mostly remembered for their (early) (bad) CGI and [[TotallyRadical raps]]. Example:
->[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YX-U-Ulrw8&feature=related New Dreadwing]]
->[[NeverSayDie Is punishing]]
->His Gatling gun
->[[TotallyRadical Is illin'!]]
->[[PainfulRhyme This Decepticon bomber's]]
->[[{{Crunchtastic}} A transformer-rama!]]
->A three-in-one villain
->That's chillin'!

A note on the title: Both the cartoon and comic were originally just called ''The Transformers''. However, when the ''Transformers: Generation 2'' comic was published, fans began using ''Generation 1'' or ''G1'' to refer specifically to the original cartoon and comic as opposed to ''Transformers'' as a whole. After a while, Hasbro and Takara started using the term themselves, making it official.
----
!!This series provides examples of:
* ActionGirl - Carly, Marissa Faireborn, Elita One
* ActionHoggingOpening
* ADayInTheLimelight
* AMechByAnyOtherName
* AuthorsSavingThrow - Shane [=McCarthy=] attempted to do this with ''All Hail Megatron'', but it didn't go over too well.
* AvoidTheDreadedGRating - "It isn't even dented! Oh ''shit'', what're we gonna do now?!"
* BigBad - Megatron, Unicron, Galvatron
* BrokenBase - Many fans like ''only'' the G1 cartoon and ignore all other iterations of the franchise.
* BrotherChuck - Many of the original Transformers who weren't killed off in the movie (or said/implied to have died before or immediately after) ended up being eligible for this trope).
* TheBumblebee - TropeNamer
* CargoCult - Cosmos crashes on the moon Titan, in the episode "The God Gambit", and his unconscious body is worshiped as a god. Astrotrain, the enemy, only encourages it.
* CastHerd
* ChekhovsGun
* ClingyCostume - Circuit Breaker, from the Marvel G1 comic book series.
* CombiningMecha
* CoolCar - most of the Autobots.
* CoolPlane - most of the Decepticons
* CoolTrain - Astrotrain is a Decepticon who can transform into a steam train or a space shuttle.
* CosmicHorror (Unicron)
* {{Crossover}} - The ''Transformers'' comic book had several crossovers with ''GIJoe''.
** And also a notable crossover with Comicbook/{{Spider-Man}}.
** Not to mention the character Death's Head having shown up in {{Doctor Who}} comics - his alt-mode is even that of a Dalek!
* {{Crowning Moment of Awesome}} - "Megatron must be stopped. No matter the cost." Cue the epic music, lots of robotic-roadkill, and the next 5 minutes [[spoiler: nearly]] put paid to that statement.
* DeathIsCheap: Optimus Prime
* DeadpanSnarker: Gears and Huffer are both unceasingly grouchy because they frankly couldn't care less about the war and absolutely hate the lush, green landscape of Earth almost as much as they hate the people who live there. They're the good guys, by the way.
** The Decepticons have Crankcase, who is basically exactly the same except more actively malicious.
* {{Discontinuity}} - Fans all over the world prefer to ignore ''Kiss Players''.
* DracoInLeatherPants - ''Starscream''. What could it be? The squeaky voice, [[FoeYay Megatron constantly harming him]], the fact that he's vaguely more humanoid than other Decepticons? The world may never know.
* DumbMuscle: Most combined robots, but also the Dinobots, Slugfest, and Overkill. And Headstrong, Tantrum, Rampage, the Firecons (except for Sparkstalker), Beastbox, Brawl... Computron is a strange variation. He's got ''too much'' brains and tends to overthink even when the ''smartest'' move would be to [[WhyDontYaJustShootHim open fire immediately]]. Note that almost all of these are Decepticons, by the way.
* EnemyCivilWar - Starscream was constantly trying to usurp Megatron, and never succeeded.
* EnemyMine: Blitzwing's cooperation in ''The Five Faces of Darkness''.
* EstrogenBrigadeBait: Starscream, as has been mentioned, although during and after the movie Spike was quite muscular.
* EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs
* EvilVersusEvil
* ExcitedEpisodeTitle
* ExecutiveMeddling
* {{Expy}} - Daniel is an expy for his own father, Spike.
* TheFaceless - Several Transformers lack human facial features. The prize winner is Shockwave, who only has a hexagonal cylinder for a head with a single yellow eye.
* FanNickname - Starscream = Screamer, Optimus Prime = Robo Jesus, Megatron = Megs
** Although Skywarp did call him "Screamer" in one episode.
* {{FetishFuel}} - Kiss Players, which contains not only lolicon, but penis tongues.
* FoeYay - Megatron never did punish Starscream that much for his disloyalty...[[spoiler: Until he became Galvatron, that is.]]
* GeniusCripple - Chip Chase. Ultra-genius and mysteriously immune to acid.
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar - While the series actually didn't do all that much there was [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EBUXVZcb2M this infamous scene]] with the Decepticons. Take a wild guess on what [[GRatedDrug Energon]] gets to be in this case IfYouKnowWhatIMean.
** Must be noted that Energon (or engine oil) tends to sub for food and drink in situations where humans would ingest it, e.g. Hot Rod offering Energon 'candy' to the Sharkticons in the movie.
* GladiatorRevolt
* HoYay - Rodimus Prime admits to dreaming about Optimus. His own voice actor (jokingly) claimed the character was gay.
* IdiotBall - Starscream plays with the idiot ball regularly. In fact, the only reason the war continued on Earth was because he was trying to assure the Autobots were trapped and opened fire on the mountain the Ark was trapped in. The resulting tremors then awakened the ship's computer, and ''managed to reactivate Optimus.''
** Megatron is no flawless leader either simply for letting Starscream stay on the team. While it's been said Megs admires ambition from his troops, and respects conniving behavior, he only really admires ''smart'' conniving behavior.
* FauxActionGirl - Arcee. Touted as "a forceful female Autobot", but she only fires her gun twice, and misses both times. Still, that's better than what ''[[TransformersHeadmasters Headmasters]]'' did to her.
* FiveEpisodePilot
* {{Hammerspace}} - Prime's trailer
* HatePlague - TropeNamer
* HumongousMecha
* {{Jerkass}} - Sunstreaker and Slingshot.
* JokerImmunity - Starscream. [[spoiler: Even killing the bastard didn't keep him down.]]
* KilledOffForReal - If your name isn't Optimus Prime or Starscream, consider yourself dead.
* KillEmAll - The movie was made to [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FhelgV5qHM off the old characters to the soundtrack of the '80s.]] The comic also had an extremely high death toll. In both cases the motivation was to clear space for new toys.
* TheKoreanWar: Sparkplug is a veteran.
* LadyOfWar: Elita One, the leader of the female Autobots and Optimus Prime's girlfriend.
* LastEpisodeNewCharacter - The final episode of the first season introduced the Constructicons. "The Rebirth" introduced literal ''dozens'' of new characters.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters-after all, it did serve to advertise an extremely large toyline. Often characters appeared out of nowhere--and vanished just as mysteriously.
* {{Lolicon}} - [[DisContinuity Kiss Players - it only stops hurting when you stop thinking about it.]]
** No, it doesn't. Even BrainBleach barely helps.
* LowerDeckEpisode
* MacGuffin - Sometimes called in the fandom an EI/AD - Evil Invention/Alien Device.
* MadScientist
* MeaningfulName
* MechanicalLifeform
* MedievalStasis - In four million years, ''nothing'' has changed on Cybertron.
* MemeticMutation - "Soundwave superior. Constructicons inferior."
** also from the EvilTwin episode, Which Prime is the real Prime? LET'S HAVE A RACE.
* MerchandiseDriven
* MoeMoe - Kiss Players
* NeverSayDie - At least partially justified, since we're talking about robots, albeit sapient ones. [[YouShouldKnowThisAlready Infamously]] and ''[[TearJerker brutally]]'' averted in TheMovie: "DIE, AUTOBOTS!" And four of them do in less than a minute.
* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands - really all over the place, but Ironhide is the king of this. He would use a random power that had never been seen before and then never use it again. See also ForgottenPhlebotinum.
**There are also characters as the plot demands. They need to be ferried around space? Well, that's why Cosmos is there. Is this its own trope?
* NinjaPirateZombieRobot - Before Prime was fully resurrected the first time, he was sort of turned into a zombie by {{sufficiently Advanced Aliens}}. And then there was that Ninja Robot built by the Japanese.
* NotableOriginalMusic
* TheMovie - You got the Touch! You got the power!
** YEAH! [[AutobotsRockOut *guitar solo*]]
* TheOriginalSeries
* PerfectPacifistPeople - The first issue of the Marvel comic series says Cybertron was a pacifist utopia; Megatron forms the Decepticons to overthrow their decadent lifestyle. RetConned away in later stories.
* PlanetOfHats - Planet of the giant mechs who would make a rather awesome toy franchise
* QuirkyMinibossSquad
* ReplacementScrappy: Rodimus Prime
* RidiculouslyHumanRobots
* RobotBuddy - [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] - the Transformers have human buddies.
* RoboSpeak - Soundwave: superior. Rumble, Laserbeak, Ravage: Eject. Operation: [[MerchandiseDriven Sell toys]].
** Mention of Omega Supreme: not immediately visible. Problem: rectified.
* SharedUniverse - The third season of the cartoon strongly implied that it was set in the same universe as ''GIJoe'', and in fact the [[WordOfGod writers eventually confirmed]] the popular fan theory that Marissa Faireborn was indeed the daughter of Flint and Lady Jaye. Then, of course, there were the full-blown crossovers in the comics.
* ShoutOut - The original three Microchange cassette toys that became the first Cassetticons were [[BabelII a bird, a panther & a humanoid robot]].
* {{Squick}} - Kiss Players, which contains not only lolicon, but penis tongues.
* TaintedByTheFanbase- Unfortunately the fanbase for G1 Transformers has a very [[VocalMinority bad reputation]] with terms such as [[FanHater "Gee-Wunners"]]. In fact at least for this franchise G1 is pretty much the poster child for this trope.
* VerbalTic - several
** Me Grimlock and other Dinobots [[{{Hulkspeak}} speak like cavemen]].
** Shrapnel repeats the last word of every sentence, sentence.
** Wheelie speaks in rhyme [[http://www.tfwiki.info/wiki/Wheelie every single time]].
** Blurr [[MotorMouth talks really fast]] and often repeats himself because he’s so fast and the speed at which he talks reflects the speed at which he moves and by speaking so fast he gets a lot of words in due to speaking so fast but he often doesn’t have a lot to say so he ends up repeating himself while speaking real fast.
** Omega Supreme: giant. Most frequent punctuation mark usage: colon.
* TheStarscream - TropeNamer
** Several combiner teams have at least one member who also behaves this way internally; Particularly, Hook of the Constructicons, who gives Starscream himself a run for his money as far as "being TheStarscream" goes.
** According to the More Than Meets The Eye profile books, there are at least two Micromaster teams that consist entirely of one leader and ''three'' [[TheStarscream Starscreams]].
* StatusQuoIsGod - Played straight in the first two seasons of the cartoon series, which made the aversion in the movie so jarring
* StrangeBedfellows
* SuperSpeed - Blurr again.
* TakeThat - The comics by IDW and Dreamwave feature a lot of jabs against the forgotten competitor ''ChallengeOfTheGoBots'', mostly in the form of background characters resembling the Go Bots being killed in various ways. A few wrecked {{Gundam}} bodies can also be seen during a scene in The Movie.
* TeenGenius - Chip, Carly
* ThereAreNoTherapists - Averted, believe it or not; after one too many insane rampages the other Decepticons insist that Galvatron get psychiatric help. It...[[{{Understatement}} doesn't go very well.]]
*TheyChangedItNowItSucks - [[FanDumb some members]] of the fandom ''only'' watch later incarnations of the series to complain endlessly about their being an insult to the holy perfection that is G1.
* TimeSkip
* InternationalCoproduction - America/Japan
* TransformingMecha
* TurnedAgainstTheirMasters - The backstory of the Transformers and the Quintessons
* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture
* UnfortunateImplications - '''Carbomb'''ya, a fairly offensive version of Libya that caused Casey Kasem to quit the series in disgust.
* VillainEpisode
* WackyWaysideTribe - In Transformers: The Movie, the incidents with the Quintessons and the Junkions have little to do with the overall storyline, and the goal of destroying Unicron. In fact, the Junkion sequence might be considered a borderline BigLippedAlligatorMoment.
*WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway - Some characters on both sides transform into things that are somewhat less than {{Badass}}, such as Megatron's gun form (lame because he couldn't move or fire himself in that form; ''Starscream'' of all bots usually held him) or Perceptor's giant microscope form. Soundwave's radio form would seem to apply, but he actually made good use of it, letting himself be smuggled into places by unsuspecting humans. The same goes for Soundwave's cassette minions, who could record all sounds and be played back by Soundwave's tape compartment.
** Averted in the live-action movie; aside from Michael Bay's edict of "no size-changing", Roberto Orci commented that Megatron's gun transformation was "like Darth Vader turning into his own lightsaber and having someone else swing him around."
* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity - After Megatron is rebuilt into Galvatron, he goes completely insane, though that isn’t ''entirely'' due to his new body.
----
<<|AnimatedShows|>>
<<|{{Transformers}}|>>