History Franchise / TransformersGeneration1

* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: Humans in this series are far stronger than any human in real life, Spike, Sparkplug and Chip are usually the ones to perform some.

* FromNobodyToNightmare: Starscream in the US comics. Mainly because of the fact that the writers decided to give Starscream's entire personality and gimmick to Shockwave, the character was largely a non-entity in the US comic and for added insult to injury, was casually killed off in Transformers #19. However, his corpse was retrieved in Transformers #41 (along with all of the other wave one Decepticons killed by Omega Supreme) and resurrected by the time we see him up and running in Transformers #48. By which time, Starscream has his personality back and is scheming to beat Ratbat and Scorponok to the cosmic power that is the Underbase. And upon getting it, Starscream goes on the biggest killing spree in Transformers history (killing more Transformers than Unicron in Transformers #75) as he basically kills off just about EVERY Transformer from the first two years of the Transformers toyline before being destroyed by the power. At which point, Megatron resurrects him and gives him a Pretender shell and sends him to kill Optimus Prime and Scorponok. He has Scorponok shitting his pants until Prime shames him into attacking him (wounding him) and Scorponok takes him with him, at which point he decides to basically recruit Starscream into his army; a move that is uniformily treated with shock and horror, as all of the rank and file Decepticons (including Soundwave, the only Decepticon Scorponok could rebuild because of the damage Starscream did to his victims bodies) are scared shitless of Starscream and see him as a mass murdering monster.

* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: Humans in this series are far stronger than any human in real life, Spike, Sparkplug Chip are usually the ones to perform some.

* FromNobodyToNightmare: Starscream in the US comics. Mainly because of the fact that the writers decided to give Starscream's entire personality and gimmick to Shockwave, the character was largely a non-entity in the US comic and for added insult to injury, was casually killed off in Transformers #19. However, his corpse was retrieved in Transformers #41 (along with all of the other wave one Decepticons killed by Omega Supreme) and resurrected by the time we see him up and running in Transformers #48. By which time, Starscream has his personality back and is scheming to beat Ratbat and Scorponok to the cosmic power that is the Underbase. And upon getting it, Starscream goes on the biggest killing spree in Transformers history (killing more Transformers than Unicron in Transformers #75) as he basically kills off just about EVERY Transformer from the first two years of the Transformers toyline before being destroyed by the power. At which point, Megatron resurrects him and gives him a Pretender shell and sends him to kill Optimus Prime and Scorponok. He has Scorponok shitting his pants until Prime shames him into attacking him (wounding him) and Scorponok takes him with him, at which point he decides to basically recruit Starscream into his army; a move that is uniformily treated with shock and horror, as all of the rank and file Decepticons (including Soundwave, the only Decepticon Scorponok could rebuild because of the damage Starscream did to his victims bodies) are scared shitless of Starscream and see him as a mass murdering monster.

* NeverSayDie: At least partially justified, since we're talking about robots, albeit sapient ones. Infamously and ''[[TearJerker brutally]]'' averted in TheMovie: "DIE, AUTOBOTS!" And four of them do in less than a minute. Also subverted in the series itself on several occasions.

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. These were interspersed with original stories, mostly 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. They also stopped doing full length original stories and began printing even less American material in each issue, splitting the original issues into three or four parts. To make up for the dramatically shortened length, the UK comic also featured a secondary, backup strip in black and white, written by Furman.

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.

* DirtyCoward: Decepticons are known to run away the moment they lose their advantage.

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

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''.

-->''Main Articles: Comicbook/TheTransformers, TransformersGeneration2''

-->''Main Articles: TransformersAllHailMegatron, TransformersLastStandOfTheWreckers, Comicbook/TheTransformersIDW, ComicBook/TransformersRobotsInDisguise, ComicBook/TransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye''

They also began publishing a new continuity, alongside stories based on ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'', the [[Film/{{Transformers}} 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 current main series is an [[TransformersOngoing ongoing book 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. However, the AndTheFandomRejoiced aspect of Figueroa as an artist was quickly diminished when he revealed a new, vaguely [[Film/{{Transformers}} movie]]-ish art style that has been the subject of very violent InternetBackdraft. The main series is accompanied by several concurrent mini-series, such as solo stories focusing on Bumblebee and Ironhide, ''TransformersLastStandOfTheWreckers'' and the CrossThrough ''Infestation''.

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.

-->''Main Article: TransformersGenerationOneDreamwave''

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 accommodate 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,]] [[KidAppealCharacter Holi and his rescue team. Bumblebee]] and others who form general character types.

* MerchandiseDriven: To an [[UpToEleven even more ludicrous degree]] than GIJoe. Apparently, Hasbro wanted to repeat the formula used for the latter, but on an even lower budget (hence the importation and repurposing of existing Japanese toys to form the ''Transformers'' line).

* MerchandiseDriven: To an [[{{BeyondTheImpossible}} even more ludicrous degree]] than GIJoe. Apparently, Hasbro wanted to repeat the formula used for the latter, but on an even lower budget (hence the importation and repurposing of existing Japanese toys to form the ''Transformers'' line).

* Remaster: The cartoon is notable for having had two DVD-release remasters. The first, by Kid Rhino, was a botched job, containing ''[[BeyondTheImpossible more goofs than the original versions]]''. The second, by ShoutFactory, is a marked improvement.

-->''Main Articles: TransformersAllHailMegatron, TransformersLastStandOfTheWreckers, Comicbook/TheTransformersIDW, ComicBook/TransformersRobotsInDisguise''

-->''Main Articles: TransformersAllHailMegatron, TransformersLastStandOfTheWreckers, TransformersOngoing''

The official fanclub for Transformers has also on occasion created its own stories under its ''TransformersTimelines'' label which use ''Generation 1'' series as a foundation for new continuities. ''[[TransformersClassics Classics]]'' uses the US Marvel comic as a jumping point, ignoring ''Generation 2'' and the UK issues and instead continuing the storyline from the events of issue 80. ''[[TransformersWingsOfHonor Wings of Honor]]'', meanwhile, uses the cartoon as its source, with both prequel stories involving the new [[BadassCrew Elite Guard]] that take place long before the first episode, and "Generation 2 Redux" sequel stories which take place after season 3, ignoring "The Rebirth" and the Japanese series.

* EvilLaugh: The sheer ''creepiness'' of [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMUjcr87XfM Megatron's Evil Laugh]] in the [[TransformersGenerationOne original animated series]] is in and of itself NightmareFuel.
* MrFanservice: Starscream, as has been mentioned, although during and after the movie Spike was quite muscular.

** In the episode ''Child's Play'', the Authorities on Aron's planet say they want to "dissect" the Autobots and Decepticons, when they really mean ''[[AccidentalNightmareFuel vivisect]]''.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Doctor Archevil, who happily enslaves human beings by the hundreds with his [[BrownNote hyno-chip implants]] draws the line at cold-blooded murder, and is visibly ''horrified'' by Megatron's callous proposal of leaving them to die in favor of gathering energy, showing clear concern for the safety and welfare of his slaves over his conquest of Earth.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Doctor Archevil, who happily enslaves human beings by the hundreds with his [[BrownNote hyno-chip implants]] draws the line at cold-blooded murder, and is visibly ''horrified'' by Megatron's callous proposal of leaving them to die in favor of gathering energy, showing clear concern for their safety and welfare of his slaves over his conquest of Earth.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Doctor Archevil, who happily enslaves human beings by the hundreds with his [[BrownNote hyno-chip implants]] draws the line at cold-blooded murder, and is visibly ''horrified'' by Megatron's callous proposal of leaving them to die in favor of gathering energy, showing clear concern for their safety and welfare over his conquest of Earth.

* WhoNamesTheir Kid Dude: Sparkplug and Spike Whitwicky.

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 accommodate 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,]] [[KidAppealCharacter- Holi and his rescue team. Bumblebee]] and others who form general character types.

* FoeYay: Megatron never did punish Starscream that much for his disloyalty...[[spoiler: Until he became Galvatron, that is.]]

* HoYay: Rodimus Prime admits to dreaming about Optimus. His own voice actor (jokingly) claimed the character was gay.