History Franchise / TransformersGeneration1

** Due to merging two different Takara toylines together, Ironhide and Ratchet are the clear-cut example of this which explained their lack of popularity as toys. For starters, in their original ''Diaclone'' incarnations, they were supposed to be mounted drones that can split in two as opposed to looking like sentient or mecha robots. This is why they lack actual ''heads'' and faces when they were released. Takara later reissued attempted to alleviate this with attachable cardboard of their cartoon faces, but this [[https://tfwiki.net/wiki/File:Encoretoy-Ironhidewithhead.jpg made the transformation]] [[https://tfwiki.net/wiki/File:Encoretoy-Ratchetwithhead.jpg rather awkward]].

After this, the American and Japanese continuities diverged. In America, a fourth season began, 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, primarily due to waning interest in the cartoon and ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' poised to catastrophically cut into ''Transformers''' market share.

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 ''{{Film/Transformers}}'' movie, fans immediately stopped complaining and started supporting the film.

Several episodes in the second season were produced by an unknown animation studio thought to be based in the Philippines, while the third season episode "Call of the Primitives" had a distinct, and notably more anime-esque art style, initially thought to have been animated by Creator/TMSEntertainment. In 2020, it was finally confirmed that it was instead done by semi-frequent Toei subcontractor Studio Look. ''They'', in turn, passed the work along to an employed batch of students from a Tokyo vocational school called The International Animation Institute (''Kokusai Animēshon Kenkyūjo'')[[labelnote:*]]Either this same group, or a different group employed by Look would also do some pickup work on a few episodes of ''Transformers Victory''. As far as anyone knows, this is their only involvement in the franchise.]]. All this to say; the production on the cartoon was a bit of a mess.

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 many of the episodes were animated by AKOM, a Korean animation company which, while cheaper than Toei and produced animation with a slightly higher framerate, was also considerably sloppier, with characters using outdated animation models, Creator/HannaBarbera-esque shortcuts, rampant miscolorings. "Carnage in C-Minor" is the most egregious example. Several episodes in the second season were produced by an unknown animation studio thought to be based in the Philippines, while the third season episode "Call of the Primatives" had a distinct, and decidedly beautiful art style thought to have been animated by Creator/TMSEntertainment, but to date, this hasn't been proven.

* YouKeepUsingThatWord: The comic has a character named Emirate Xaaron. An ''emirate'' is not a person, but a ''place'' that is ruled by an ''emir'' (No, Xaaron's not one of the "big enough to be a GeniusLoci" bots). That, and there are any number of instances of made-up TechnoBabble accidentally using actual scientific terms in a way that's hilarious if you know what they really mean.
** 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 ''vivisect''.

''Transformers: Generation 1'' (originally simply ''The Transformers'') is the original incarnation of ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'', and regarded as the most iconic incarnation by some. If you say "Transformers", it's more than likely [[PopCulturalOsmosis people will believe]] that [[FirstInstallmentWins you're talking about this one]] (or the [[Film/TransformersFilmSeries live-action movies]], depending on the audience). It began in 1984 as a way to [[MerchandiseDriven advertise Hasbro's Transformers toy line]], which was made from altering Takara's Diaclone[[note]]Where instead of robots they where piloted mecha[[/note]] and Microchange lines through retools (mild alterations) and/or redecos (repaints), plus some licensed from other toy companies.

* NotableOriginalMusic

[[caption-width-right:350:Autobots wage their battle-to destroy-the evil forces of-the Decepticons!]]

* HowManyAllOfThem
* HumongousMecha

-->'''Sweep 1''': "I think that plasma bath fried Galvatron's circuits."
-->'''Scourge''': "It's not your ''place'' to think! Where he leads, all Decepticons must follow!"

!!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.

* JokerImmunity: Starscream. [[spoiler: Even killing the bastard didn't keep him down.]]

* KidAppealCharacter- Holi and his rescue team.: TropeNamer

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). They were identical to the G1 episodes, save for the fact that instead of the classic "[[https://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 "[[ThreeDEffectsTwoDCartoon Cybernet Space Cube]]". There were additional gaudy CG effects added throughout the episodes, mainly borders and transitions, though in the case of "More than Meets the Eye, Part 1", it actually rectified a continuity error in the scene where the Decepticons board the Ark.

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). They were identical to the G1 episodes, save for the fact that instead of the classic "[[https://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]]". There were additional gaudy CG effects added throughout the episodes, mainly borders and transitions, though in the case of "More than Meets the Eye, Part 1", it actually rectified a continuity error in the scene where the Decepticons board the Ark.

[[caption-width-right:350:[[EarWorm Autobots wage their battle-to destroy-the evil forces of-the Decepticons!]]]]

* ContinuityDrift: ''The Movie'' establishes the Quintessons as the creators of the Transformers. When Primus was established as the origin of the Transformers, the Quintessons were no longer being referred to as the creators of the Transformers, and were more interested in their destruction.

** His story-line was supposed to continue in the later ''Thief in the Night'' and ''Starscream's Ghost'' two parter, but through ExecutiveMeddling the new [[MerchandiseDriven to.. um character]], Octane was given his role instead.

** His story-line was supposed to continue in the later ''Thief in the Night'' and ''Starscream's Ghost'' two parter, but through ExecutiveMeddling the never [[MerchandiseDriven to.. um character]], Octane was given his role instead.

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, Creator/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.

* {{Crossover}}: The ''Transformers'' comic book had several crossovers with ''GIJoe'' and one with Comicbook/SpiderMan, not to mention the appearance of several characters in other continuities, like ComicBook/DeathsHead and Octus.

* MerchandiseDriven: To an even more ludicrous degree than GIJoe. Apparently, Hasbro wanted to repeat the formula used for the latter.

* 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, a character in the post-movie season, was indeed the daughter of Flint and Lady Jaye. Then, of course, there were the full-blown crossovers in the comics.

->[[PainfulRhyme This Decepticon bomber's]]

The movie is infamous for killing off a large number of characters in order to give screen time to new toys. The deaths of [[MessianicArchetype Optimus Prime]] and [[DracoInLeatherPants Starscream]] in particular caused such consternation among fans that both characters were brought back in season three, after a fashion (Optimus was brought back by fan outcry, while Starscream came back because his toy was still available). And the replaced characters/toys such as Hot Rod and Ultra Magnus are subsequently disliked by some for being inferior [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute copies of the older characters]] (Ultra Magnus, in particular, is essentially Optimus Prime painted white with a car carrier trailer that he can combine with to form a Super Mode). 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 ''[[WesternAnimation/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, to the point that Optimus dying and coming back has become expected and something of a RunningGag.

The current main series is an [[ComicBook/TheTransformersIDW 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 positive fan reaction to 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, ''ComicBook/TheTransformersLastStandOfTheWreckers'' and the CrossThrough ''Infestation''.

-->''Main Articles: ComicBook/TheTransformersMegaseries, ComicBook/TheTransformersAllHailMegatron, ComicBook/TheTransformersLastStandOfTheWreckers, Comicbook/TheTransformersIDW, ComicBook/TheTransformersRobotsInDisguise, ComicBook/TheTransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye''

* CoolCar: most of the Autobots.
* CoolPlane: most of the Decepticons. The original Seekers transformed into F-15s, for one.

* TheWorfEffect: Starscream, using the power of the Underbase, kills many Transformers (Autobot and Decepticon alike!) effortlessly.