Transformers: Generation 1

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Generation 1 (also known as Generation One or G1) is the name used retroactively to refer to the original Transformers toyline, comics, movie and animated series produced from 1984-1991, as well as new comics based on these characters.. Generation 1 covers the original American animated television series as well as several Japanese animated series including Headmasters, Super-God Masterforce, Victory and Zone, the original Marvel US and UK comic book series and toyline predating Generation 2. These series were not actually introduced as Generation 1, however after the name Generation 2 was given to the Transformers incarnations from 1992 to 1995, the fans applied the name (later made official by Hasbro) as a method of separating Transformers eras. Such has also been done with the Unicron Trilogy and to a lesser extent the Beast Era, which tends to broken up into Beast Wars (sometimes in including Beast Wars II and Neo) and Beast Machines.

The various incarnations of Generation One include:

It should be noted Beast Wars uses elements of the cartoon and Marvel comic to its time travel backstory, and that many characters in the upcoming film are based upon Generation One personalities despite differing alternate modes.

Contents

[edit] The Animated Series

Fifty-three episodes of The Transformers were later repackaged as Transformers: Generation 2, broadcast in no particular order with added CGI borders and effects.

[edit] Japanese Television Series

Japanese Generation One continuity follows the American animated continuity, adding to it, and in some small cases, taking away. Some episodes of the series were not widely broadcast on Japanese television, appearing only in certain areas, with some debuting on Laserdisc. The episodes were not aired in any particular order respective to their original American order, and several new episodes, which combined footage from other episodes, were created. Some character names are different in Japan, most notably the Autobots and Decepticons, known there as the Cybertrons and Destrons.

The first Japanese-exclusive Transformers animated project was the direct-to-video Scramble City, a short OVA introducing Metroplex and focusing on the combining teams, playing up the interchangeability of their limbs. The next exclusive was the Transformers: Headmasters series, which supplanted the fourth and final American season and serves as the branching-off point of Japanese continuity, featuring a depiction of the title characters different to their Western selves.

Following Headmasters was the wildly different Super-God Masterforce, creating a new story for Powermasters and Pretenders different from the American take on the concepts which revolved around Transformers who could disguise themselves as humans and humans who could use Transformer battle suits known as Transtectors. Following this, a return to more traditional action was obvious in Victory, which features toys and characters which are almost uniquely Japanese.

The final animated cartoon, Zone, was intended to be a direct-to-video series, but was cancelled after one episode, and had the remainder of its story played out in manga (Japanese comic book or graphic novel) format. Zone told the story of Dai Atlas, an Autobot who became a massive jet, fighting nine of the mightiest Decepticon generals in the service of the villain, the insectiod Violenjiger. Subsequently, the Japanese resurrected Optimus Prime yet again as Star Convoy in the Battlestars: Return of Convoy toyline. The supporting fiction comprised only one chapter of manga, with the remainder of its tale being told via color spreads in the Japanese publication, TV Magazine, and shows Star Convoy lead the Battlestars forces against Megatron, recreated as Super Megatron by the evil Dark Nova.

The story of the final Japanese G1 line, Operation Combination, was told only through colour spreads, featuring Guard City and Battle Gaea - repaints of Defensor and Bruticus - along with the new Micromaster combiners and the Autobot Rod Army and Decepticon Jet Army Corps (direct imports of the UK-exclusive Turbomasters and Predators). The final villain of Operation Combination, Scrash, was left unrevealed, but it seems apparent that he was intended to be an import of the UK Predator figure, Skyquake.

[edit] Marvel Comics

Offering a different version of the Transformers to the TV series, and also informs most of the later incarnations of the mythology, such as Dreamwave and IDW Publishing. It is important to note that at first the comic was part of the main Marvel Universe, to the point of a guest appearance by Spider-Man, before being pulled out as another universe. Toy wise, G2 was an attempt by Hasbro to reintroduce the characters for a new generation. Storywise, it was a 12 Issue comic by Furman, which saw Optimus Prime and a revamped Megatron going up against the second generation of a hidden Decepticon Empire. The story also saw the introduction of the Liege Maximo.

Although a clear-cut continuation of the existing series, the G2 comic had some continuity hiccups - it was launched with a crossover from Marvel's G.I. Joe series (which had previously been seen to share continuity with the U.S. G1 comics), and Joe characters continue to make appearances as late as issue 6. However, later events, including the orbital bombardment of earth by Bludgeon (issue 4), Megatron's assault on Washington D.C. (issue 6) and the destruction of San Francisco by Jhiaxus (issue 11), are never mentioned in G.I. Joe continuity.

[edit] Marvel UK

In the United Kingdom, the American comic series was reprinted in a fortnightly magazine which soon began to run the risk of getting ahead of the US and running out of material to reprint. So to fill in the blanks, original material began to be produced for the UK comic, which began to come into its own after the inclusion of time-travel and elements taken from the future era introduced in Transformers: The Movie. Some parts of the U.S. comics were re-written for UK audiences, and the G.I. Joe crossover is not part of its continuity. The UK comic ran to 332 issues before ending. A few years later, there was a short-lived attempt to reprint the G2 comics, which began with two issues of original UK material to replace the G.I. Joe story that preceded it, and then three mores issues of US reprints before it was cancelled. It has a few unusual crossovers with Marvel UK output.

In the comic books, the stories of the movie and third series become a mere alternate future.

The stories were notable for being the first work of writer Simon Furman, who would go on to involve himself on most incarnations of the Transformers and shape the mythology. After his work on the UK comic, he work take over the US title at Issue 56, where he reintroduced his concepts of Primus.

[edit] Dreamwave Comics

Having obtained the Transformers license in 2002, comics company Dreamwave Productions created a new Generation One continuity which draws on aspects of the Marvel comic and Animated Series to its modern day action. It comprises:

  • "Transformers: Generation One" Vol. 1 (six issues), Vol. 2 (six issues) and Vol. 3 (ten issues)
  • "Transformers: The War Within" (six issues) and two further six-issue miniseries, The Dark Ages and The Age of Wrath telling tales from Cybertron's past.
  • "Micromasters" (four issues)

A profile series, Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye, was released for this universe, and the Dorling Kindersly book, Transformers: The Ultimate Guide treated it as the main G1 timeline. Three novels were released set in this timeline, and a Beast Wars comic was planned that would make the events of the cartoon series part of Dreamwave's universe, (so simply, Dreamwave's continuity is the Beast Era's fictional history).

Unfortunately, the company went bankrupt in 2005 and closed before this series could be released, as well leaving the plot threads of the G1 ongoing dangling, and The Age of Wrath only half-completed, along with a never-completed Energon MTMTE to match the G1 and Armada guides.

[edit] IDW Publishing Comics

Since Dreamwave's bankruptcy, the Transformers license were acquired by IDW Publishing in 2005. They began publication with a new version of the Generation One universe, focusing heavily on the "disguise" aspect, in 2006.

Written by Simon Furman, the new IDW comics are similar to the Ultimate Marvel in terms of style. The stories thus far are:

This series portrays a dying Cybertron (dumping the Ark crashland and burial concept, a first for "Generation One"), with other planets including Earth as secret garrisons for the Autobots and Decepticons.

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