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Protoform X
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| Posted: 11 March 2008 at 7:32pm | IP Logged
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This thread is for people who are new to Transformers/the forum to help them see where everything fits in. Where there are two names one will be English the other Japanese, I'll make it clear which is which and the first one will be the original one i.e., if a series was created in Japan I'll put the japanese name first. If any of you more knowledgeable types out there have any input/corrections please PM me with them. I'll add them in and credit you at the end.
Generation 1: The Original series. Called Generation 1 (G1) by fans to distinguish it from other series. The official name is simply The Transformers (Jap: Tatakai! Cho Robot Seimeitei Transformers!). Ran for 3 series with Transformers: The Movie fitting in between series 2 & 3. In Japan the 3rd series had a new title: Transformers: 2010. The US/UK also saw a comic series published by Marvel which had the same general concepts but told a very different, more developed, story.
It's also worth noting that Japan got an extra episode called Scramble City which plugged the 20 year gap between the end of series 2 and the movie. For some reason though the 2nd part was never made. The first part can be found on sites like YouTube, albeit not very good quality. This was also the only episode to make use of the G1 combiners' "scramble" power. With the exception of Devastator and Predaking, all other G1 combiner toys can have their limbs swapped round in any way you like. However, in the TV show each team only ever combined in a set configuration.
Transformers: Headmasters - a sequel to Generation 1. This followed in from the end of series 3 and ignored the events of The Rebirth. Only aired in Japan but subtitled DVDs are now available.
Transformers: Chojin Masterforce - a sequel to Headmasters. Again, only aired in Japan but DVDs now available.
Transformers: Victory - sequel to Masterforce. Only in Japan but DVDs now available.
Transformers: Zone - a straight-to-video animation that was only released in Japan. Can be found subtitled but only if you buy the Region 2 Headmasters/Masterforce/Victory box set released by Metrodome
Transformers Battlestars: Return of Convoy - not to be confused with the G1 episode The Return of Optimus Prime (Convoy is Optimus Prime's japanese name). Sequel to Zone. Never had a TV show. Story was told in magazines and also one chapter of Manga.
Transformers: Operation Combination - sequel to Return of Convoy. Again, no TV show.
Generation 2: Realeased in both Japan US/UK, the first line to be seen over here since the original G1. Featured G1 figures repainted in vry garish colours. The G2 TV show was just a rehash of select G1 episodes but the G2 comic was a sequal to the original Marvel G1 comics.
Machine Wars: A US-only line. No story to it at all. In the latter stages of Generation 2 in Europe, the Autobots and Decepticons were replaced by the very garish Turbomasters and Predators. These figures were released in the USA with more sensible colours and the Machine Wars line was created.
Beast Wars (Jap: Beast Wars Cho Robot Seimeitei Transformers!): Set in the same timeline as G1, it featured the decendants of the Decepticons, the Predacons, captained by Megatron (No relation to the original) travelling back in time to prehistoric Earth in order to wipe out the Autobots in history. The Autobots' decendants, the Maximals, led by Optimus Primal, follow Megatron back in time to stop him. Note: Series 2 & 3 were called Beast Wars: Metals in Japan
Beast Machines (Jap: Beast Wars Returns): Sequel to Beast Wars set back in Cybertron in the Maximal's home time (Circa 2300). megatron has escpaed from prison and wiped out most Transformers. The last Maximals, led by Optimus Primal, must stop Megatron and his Vehicon army.
Beast Wars II: Japanese-only Beast Wars series. The Predacon leader Galvatron has found a new source of energy and the Maximals led by Leo Convoy fight him for it.
Beast Wars Neo: Japanese-only Beast Wars series and sequel to Beast Wars II.
Car Robots (Eng: Transformers: Robots in Disguise): The Predacons travel to Earth and kidnap Daichi Onishi, a specialist on Earth's energy, causing the Autobots to team up with Daichi's son Yuki (Eng: Koji) to stop him. This series is a brand new show, it doesn't tie into any other show in any way.
Transfomers: Micron Densetsu (Eng: Transformers: Armada) A new show. The Autobots and Decepticons are fighting over a 3rd faction of Transformers called Minicons, which have the ability to power up Autobots and Decepticons. At the end of the series all 3 factions must unite to drive off the planet devourer Unicron.
Transformers: Super Link (Eng: Transformers: Energon). Sequel to Armada. 10 years on, Unicron is trying to revive himself and enlists the help of the Decepticons. The Decepticons seek to make Unicron thir puppet though and remake the universe in their image. Naturally, the Autobots try to stop them. At the end Unicron is totally destroyed.
Transformers: Galaxy Force (Eng: Transformers: Cybertron). Sequel to Energon. A black hole left behind by the destruction of Unicron was theatening to wipe out the universe. The Autobots seek the 4 Planet Keys and the Omega Lock which contain the power of their creator Primus to save the universe. What is worth noting is that whilst the english dub is a sequel to Energon, the original japanese version is its own standalone show, tying into nothing else.
Transformers: The recent live-action movie. A self-contained story, due to be continued in the inevitable Transformers 2. The Autobots and Decepticons trvel to Earth to reclaim the Allspark Cube, which was lost during their war on Cybertron.
Transformers: Animated (Jap: ??): The most recent show, currently airing on Cartoon Network in the US and due to start on Nickelodeon in the UK very soon. An Autobot maintenance ship finds the Allspark on a remote asteroid but are then pursued to Earth by the Decepticons who seek its power. Please note that this is in no way related to the recent live-action film.
Two more posts to follow: The comics and the collector's lines.
Credits: Nemesis Scourge for reminding me of Scramble City and numerous smaller things. Tetsuro for info on Headmasters, Battlestars and Machine Wars.
Edited by Protoform X on 23 March 2008 at 10:23am
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Protoform X
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| Posted: 11 March 2008 at 10:19pm | IP Logged
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This second post deals with the various Transformers comics series that have appeared over time:
The original Transformers comic was published by Marvel and ran at the same time as the TV series aired. It contained the same basic concepts as the TV show, but told a very different story. The best example to give is of the origin of the Transformers and Unicron. In the TV show, the Transformers were created by an alien race called the Quintessons to be their slaves. But the Transformers rebelled and drove the Quintessons off Cybertron. Unicron was simply a gigantic robot built by a scientist called Primacron who rebelled against his master. In the comics, Unicron was actually a drak god who had existyed since the beginning of time. The Transformers were cteated by Primus, the light god, to be an army to stand against Unicron when he threatened the universe.
The comics themselves followed two different stories. The American comic was a totally different story but the English comic followed the story of the TV show as far as the end of Transformers: The Movie and then branched out on its own as an alternative to series 3 of the cartoon.
The original comic was followed by a ver breif Generation 2 comic, which was a sequel to the Generation 1 comic. It told the story of a second generation of Transformers who reproduced via a process similar to cell division. This 2nd generation of Transformers retured to wipe out their ancestors (Optimus Prime, Megatron and co.) as they believed them to be antiquated. The end of this comic introduced a character called the Liege Maximo, but this story was never advanced in the comics as they were cancelled at that time.
After Generation 2, nothing happened with Transformers comics until 2002, when Marvel sold the rights to a company called Dreamwave. Dreamwave produced a 6-issue Transformers comic designed to fit in with the G1 TV show between series 2 and Transformers: The Movie. However, this did so well that Dreamwave expanded the story into their own transformers universe with a follow-up called Transformers: War & Peace and its sequel Transformers: G1 Ongoing. This series ran unti Dreamwave went bust a couple of years ago. During this time though Dreamwave did produce numerous other Transformers comics:
Armada and Energon: Comics tied to the most recent Transformers series at the time. Like the G1 comics, they contained the same basic concepts as the TV show but told the story in a more adult fashion.
Transformers: The War Within. This comic and it's sequels The Dark Ages and Age of Wrath were set before the events of Generation 1. they told of how Optimus Prime became leader of the Autobots in the first place and how a demonic Transformer called The Fallen came to Cybertron as an emissary of Unicron. Unfortunately, Dreamwave went bust before the story ccould be developed any further.
Transformers vs. G.I. Joe: A series set in WWII with Cobra instead of the Nazis. Cobra and G.I.Joe stumble upon an old monastery where the Transformers lie dormant. This comic only ran for 6 issues so no story really developed.
More Then Meets The Eye: A complete collection of profiles and artwork for all Generation 1 characters. A version for Transformers: Armada was also produced.
Transformers: Micromasters - a mini-series for mini Transformers. Again, due to the size of the series, the story never really truly developed but it tried to focus on the Micromasters being tteated as second-class citizens due their size.
After Dreamwave went bust, the licence for Transformers comics was picked up by a company called IDW who have produced several Transformers comics:
They have created their own generation 1 universe and this story is told by the comics Transformers: Infiltration, Transformers: Stormbringer, Transformers: Escalation and Transformers: Devastation. These comics bring the whole "Robots in disguise" idea to the fore as in this case the Decepticons like to bring worlds down from the shadows, never revealing themselves until they have to. There's much more stealth in these comics.
Transformers: Spotlight - set in IDW's G1 storyline, each issue of this series focusses purely on one character, allowing that character to develop much more and gives the reader a better insight into their motives.
Transformers: Evolutions - these comics will have the Transformers coming to at various points in Earth's history to fight the Decepticons. So far only Hearts of Steel has been released, which was set in the age of steam in the USA.
IDW is also producing a Beast Wars comic, which tells of a group of Predacons sent by the Tripredacus council (The Preacon ruling council) to prehistoric Earth to recapture the renegade Megatron and return him to Cybertron. The events of these comics take place during the 3rd series of the Beast Wars TV show.
Currently IDW is releasing a series called Transformers: Origins - Megatron, set in the G1 timeline and telling how Megatron rose to power in the first place. They are also planning a series called All Hail Megatron! although details on that are sketchy right now.
The final post will deal with the collector's side of Transformers (Collectors' lines, conventions, etc)
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Protoform X
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| Posted: 12 March 2008 at 7:56am | IP Logged
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And so finally, the Transformers collectors's scene:
The Trabsformers collectors' scene really started with the dawn of the internet and newsgroups such as alt.toys.transformers. As web desgin became more accessible to all, numerous Transformers websites sprung up discussing the toys and the at-the-time new Beast Wars line when it emerged. The first official recognition of this came in 1996 when Hasbro held the first ever BotCon - the official Transformers convention. Here Transformers fans could get together along with people involved in the creation if the toys and TV shows and discuss it. Hasbro also offered an exclusive figure at each convention. 12 years on and BotCon is still going strong - Hasbro use it to make sneak previews of up-and-coming Transformers toys and fans can now get their hands on multiple exclusive figures at each event. BotCon is only held in the USA, apart from 2002 when a one-of BotCon Europe was held in Cheshunt, UK.
Today there are annual Transformers conventions held all over the world. BotCon is the only one where exclusvive figures can be bought as it is the only one endorsed by Hasbro but aside from that they all offer pretty much the same experience.
With the relase of Beast Wars, Takara started re-releasing various G1 Transformers figures so that fans had the chance to secure figures theye didn't get the first time round. Takara have a habit of randomly restarting their reissue line. The first releases where just random figures in their original packagaing. Then the packing was redesigned and the line was called The Transformers Collection. After just over 20 figures, that line was stopped and the now-current line, Transformers: Encore was started. Whilst most of the figures in these lines are different, there are some figures that Takara just seem to release whenever they can, such as Optimus Prime, Soundwave and Starscream. It is a running joke on thses forums just how many variants of Optimus Prime Takara can actually make.
Hasbro did for a time have a G1 reissue line known as Transformers: The Commerative Series. This line did not fare so well as Takara's figures as a lot of the original Transformers had to be altered to meet with current health & safety legislation (Missiles rounded off and made bigger so kids couldn't swallow them and the springs being taken out of missile launchers so they couldn't fire are two examples) and so the line has now been pulled.
Along with G1 reissues, there are some other lines of Transformers aimed at collectors:
Transformers: Masterpiece - in 2004 Takara released a new Optimus Prime figyre to celebrate 20 years on Transformers. Completely accurate in both truck and robot modes, the figure is widely regarded as the best Transformers figure ever made. A new Masterpiece figure is released on average once a year and so Prime has been joined by Ultra Magnus, Starscream, Skywarp and Megatron, although none of those figures have matched the quality of Prime's figure yet.
Transformers: Alternators (Jap: Transformers: Binaltech) - For this line Hasbro and Takara secured the permissions of certain car manufacturers to use their car models with Transformers figures. the result is a range of highly detailed and posable figures that transform into scale models of actual cars. For example Windcharger is Honda S2000, Smokescreen is a Subaru Impreza WRC. It's worth notong that Hasbro's figures in this line are all plastic whereas Takara's contain an amount of die-cast metal.
Transformers: Universe - this line, designed by Hasbro, was released about the same time as Energon and featured recoloured figures from Beast Wars, Beast Machines, Robots in Disguise, Armada and Energon. The storyline for Universe is largely told through the Transformers Club site and by picking up comics at BotCon. The exclusive figures released at BotCon each year are generally released as part of the Universe line.
Transformers: Classics - this line is currently in production with the first wave of figures out and the second due later this year. It bases itself on taking classic Transformers characters and reimagining them today. Sort-of "What if Transformers had been created today rather than in 1984?". A good example is Astrotrain - in the original series he transformed into a steam train and a shuttle. His Classics version has had its train mode updated to a shinkansen bullet train.
And that's Transformers from past to present! As I said at the start, if anyone thinks I've missed anything, please PM me (So this topic isn't cluttered up) and if I think it's valid I'll add it in and credit you for it..
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Tetsuro
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| Posted: 22 March 2008 at 5:34pm | IP Logged
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There are some errors/omissions I would like to straighten out...
Protoform X wrote:
| It's also worth noting that, originally, Transformers: The Movie wasn't going to be released in Japan. In order to plug the gap in continuity and introduce all the new characters, a two-part episode called Scramble City was to be produced, and the first part was. However, then it was decided that Japan would get the movie and so Scramble City was never finished, although the first part can be found on sites like YouTube, albeit not very good quality. |
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You sure about that? I though the idea was that Japanese made Scramble City to try and do something to bridge the 20 year gap between season 2 and the movie, intending to get the film all along, but when it blundered in box office, it wasn't until 1989 when they actually got it; however, most people did have a general idea of the events of the movie thanks to healthy coverage in TV Magazine and other TF publications. Why exactly Scramble City was left at only one episode is unknown.
Quote:
| Transformers: Headmasters - a sequel to Generation 1. Only aired in Japan but subtitled DVDs are now available. |
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Worth pointing out, Headmasters starts off from where season 3 ended, thus ignoring the events of the three-part Rebirth.
Quote:
Transformers: Return of Convoy - not to be confused with the G1 episode The Return of Optimus Prime (Convoy is Optimus Prime's japanese name). Sequel to Zone. Never had a TV show. Story was told in magazines.
Transformers: Operation Combination - sequel to Return of Convoy. Again, no TV show. |
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The complete name is actually "Battlestars: Return of Convoy", which oughta make the difference between it and the final 2-parter of season 3 clear. Battlestars, like Zone, received one chapter of manga, but Operation Combination only got the story page treatment.
Quote:
| Machine Wars: A US-only line. No story to it at all. Most Machine Wars figures mae it to the UK only in the form on garish repaints in a line simply called "Transformers". |
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The other way around, actually. Machine Wars was a collection of repaints of European Autobot Turbomasters and Decepticon Predators, with their very powerful spring-loaded missiles pretty much castrated.
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Tetsuro
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| Posted: 23 March 2008 at 4:53pm | IP Logged
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Besides, what's wrong with the original Turbomaster color schemes? They don't look so garish to me. Machine Wars is the ugly repaint...
Edited by Tetsuro on 23 March 2008 at 5:04pm
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Transformers Forum : Transformers General Discussion
Topic: Transformers - a brief history
