Transformers (fiction)

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Transformers


A battle between the Autobots and Decepticons. In the centre are Optimus Prime (right) and Megatron (left). Artwork by Don Figueroa, 2004.

First appearance 1984
Created by Hasbro
Base(s) of operations Cybertron

Transformers are fictional alien robots and the titular characters of a popular[1] Hasbro toy line and its spin-offs. They come from the planet Cybertron and are divided into the heroic Autobots, led by Optimus Prime, and the evil Decepticons, led by Megatron. They are able to "transform", rearranging their bodies into a common and innocuous form, such as a car, aircraft, or animal, which is reflected by the taglines "More Than Meets the Eye" and "Robots in Disguise". Beyond that, they can displace mass, combine or apply synthetic flesh.

All Transformer incarnations have been based around this core concept since their debut in 1984 in various media. The first split occurred from the beginning with the launch of the TV series and Marvel comic, which further divided into Japanese and UK spin-offs respectively. The two became known as "Generation 1" which led to sequels in the 1990s such as the Generation 2 comic book and Beast Wars TV series. During the 2000s, Generation 1 characters have undergone two reboots with Dreamwave and IDW Publishing, with four anime series and a live-action film set in their own fictional universes.

Most commonly, the various depictions tend to depict varying reasons for the Transformers coming to Earth, their concepts of gender, as well as their creation. During his time for writing for the Marvel UK comic, Simon Furman created the god-like Primus, and since then Hasbro has used this character to endorse all Transformers-related storylines as canon, as various parallel universes.

Contents

[edit] Generation One (1984-1992)

Spider-Man battles Megatron on the cover of The Transformers #3
Spider-Man battles Megatron on the cover of The Transformers #3

Generation One (G1) is a retroactive term for the characters that appeared between 1984 and 1992, and this is the only defining aspect of the multiple fictional universes based on this era of the franchise. The Transformers began with the 1970s Japanese toys, Microman, fully poseable humanoid toys. In 1980, the Diaclone spin-off line began, where the toys were also designed to double as inanimate objects. Hasbro, fresh off the success of the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero toyline, which utilised the Microman technology to great success, bought the Diaclone toys, and partnered with Takara.[2] Jim Shooter and Dennis O'Neil were hired by Hasbro to create the backstory, the latter of whom christened Optimus Prime.[3] Afterwards, Bob Budiansky created most of the Transformers characters, giving names and personalities to many unnamed Diaclone figures.[4] The primary concept of G1 is that Optimus Prime, Megatron and their finest soldiers crash land on pre-historic Earth in the Ark and the Nemesis before awakening in 1984. Notably, the Marvel comic was originally part of the main Marvel Universe, with an appearance from Spider-Man and Nick Fury[5] as well as a visit to the Savage Land.[6]

The Transformers TV series began around the same time. Produced by Sunbow Productions, from the start it contradicted Budiansky's backstories. The TV series shows the Autobots looking for new energy sources, and crash landing as the Decepticons attack.[7] Marvel interpreted the Autobots as destroying a rogue asteroid approaching Cybertron.[8] Shockwave is loyal to Megatron in the TV series, keeping Cybertron in a stalemate during his absence,[9] but in the comic book he attempts to take command of the Decepticons.[10] The TV series would also differentiate wildly from the origins Budiansky had created for the Dinobots,[11][12] the Decepticon turned Autobot Jetfire,[13] known as Skyfire on TV,[14] the Constructicons (who combine to form Devastator),[15][16] and Omega Supreme.[15][17] The Marvel comic establishes early on that Prime wields the Creation Matrix, which gives life to machines. By the second season, the TV series introduced the ancient Vector Sigma computer and its guardian Alpha Trion as having that role.[citation needed]

In 1986, the cartoon became a film entitled The Transformers: The Movie, which is set in the year 2005. It introduced the Matrix as the "Autobot Matrix of Leadership", as a fatally wounded Prime gives it to Ultra Magnus. Unicron, a transformer who devours planets, fears its power and recreates a dying Megatron as Galvatron. Eventually, Rodimus Prime takes up the Matrix and destroys Unicron.[18] In the United Kingdom, the weekly comic book interspliced original material to keep up with US reprints,[19] and The Movie provided much new material. Writer Simon Furman proceeded to expand the continuity with movie spin-offs involving the time travelling Galvatron.[20][21]

The third season followed up The Movie, with the revelation of the Quintessons having used Cybertron as a factory. Their robots rebel, and in time the workers become the Autobots and the soldiers become the Decepticons. It is the Autobots who develop transformation.[22] Due to popular demand,[23] Optimus Prime is resurrected at the conclusion of the third season,[24] and the series ended with a three episode story arc. However, the Japanese broadcast of the series was supplemented with a newly-produced OVA, Scramble City, before creating entirely new series to continue the storyline, ignoring the 1987 end of the American series. The extended Japanese run consisted of The Headmasters, Super-God Masterforce, Victory and Zone, then in illustrated magazine form as Battlestars: Return of Convoy and Operation: Combination. Just as the TV series was wrapping up, Marvel continued to expand its continuity. It followed The Movies example by killing Prime[25] and Megatron,[26] albeit in the present day. Dinobot leader Grimlock takes over as Autobot leader.[27] There was a G.I. Joe crossover[28] and the limited series The Transformers: Headmasters which further expanded the scope to the planet Nebulon.[29] It led on to the main title resurrecting Prime as a Powermaster.[30]

Over in the UK, the mythology continued to grow. Primus was introduced as the creator of the Transformers, to serve his material body that is planet Cybertron and fight his nemesis Unicron.[31] Female Autobot Arcee also appeared, despite the comic book stating the Transformers had no concept of gender, with her backstory of being built by the Autobots to quell human accusations of sexism.[32] Soundwave, Megatron's second-in-command, also broke the fourth wall in the letters page, criticising the cartoon continuity as an inaccurate representation of history.[33] The UK also had a crossover in Action Force, the UK counterpart to G.I. Joe.[34] The comic book featured a resurrected Megatron,[35] whom Furman retconned to be a clone[36] when he took over the US comic book which depicted Megatron as still dead.[37] The US comic would last for 80 issues until 1991, and the UK comic lasted 332 issues and several annuals.

[edit] Generation 2 (1992-1995)

It was five issues[38] of the G.I. Joe comic in 1993 would springboard a return for Marvel's Transformers, with a new twelve issue series entitled Transformers: Generation 2, to market a new toy line. The UK comic came back for five issues and an annual. This story revealed that the Transformers originally breed asexually, though it is stopped by Primus as it produced the evil Swarm.[39] A new empire, neither Autobot or Decepticon, is bringing it back though. Though the year long arc wrapped itself up with an alliance between Optimus Prime and Megatron, the final panel introduced the Liege Maximo, ancestor of the Decepticons.[40] This minor cliffhanger was not resolved until 2001 and 2002's Transforce convention when writer Simon Furman concluded his story in the exclusive novella Alignment.[41]

[edit] Beast Wars/Machines (1996-2000)

Main articles: Beast Wars and Beast Machines

Unlike the various contradictory and separate G1 universes, the 1996 TV series Beast Wars and its spin-offs form an extended and cohesive story. The story focused on a small group of Maximals (led by Optimus Primal) and Predacons (led by Megatron), 300 years after a "Great War". They crash land on a planet similar to Earth, but with two moons and a dangerous level of energon, which forces them to take organic beast forms.[42] After writing this first episode, Bob Forward and Larry DiTillio learnt of the G1 Transformers, and began to use elements of it as a historical backstory to their scripts,[43] establishing Beast Wars as a part of the Generation 1 universe through numerous callbacks to both the cartoon and Marvel comic. By the end of the first season, the second Moon and the energon are revealed to be constructed by the Vok.

Megatron II attacks Optimus Prime, in a clash of generations
Megatron II attacks Optimus Prime, in a clash of generations

The destruction of the second Moon releases mysterious energies that make some of the characters "transmetal" and the planet is revealed to be prehistoric Earth, leading to the discovery of the Ark. Megatron attempts to kill the original Optimus Prime,[44] but at the beginning of the third season, Primal manages to preserve his spark. In the two season follow-up, Beast Machines, Cybertron is revealed to have organic origins, which Megatron attempts to stamp out. Although the organic origin of Cybertron, the presence of female characters and Starscream's appearance hinting at his demise in Transformers: The Movie bought the series closer to the G1 TV series, the appearance of Ravage's intelligent Marvel incarnation[44] and the comics only terms the Ark left the show in a grey area of "a" Generation One.

Since then, the saga has been increased. After the first season of Beast Wars (comprising 26 episodes) aired in Japan, the Japanese were faced with a problem - the second Canadian season was only 13 episodes long, not enough to warrant airing on Japanese TV. So, while they waiting for the third Canadian season to be completed (thereby making 26 episodes in total when added to season 2), they produced two exclusive cel-animated series of their own, Beast Wars II (also called Beast Wars Second) and Beast Wars Neo, to fill in the gap. Dreamwave retroactively revealed Beast Wars to be the future of their G1 universe,[45] and the 2006 IDW comic book Beast Wars: The Gathering eventually confirmed the canonicity of the Japanese series with appearances of the Japanese characters[46] within a story set during Season 3.[47]

[edit] Dreamwave Productions (2002-2005)

In 2002, Dreamwave Productions began a new universe of comics adapted from Marvel, but also included elements of the cartoon. The Dreamwave stories followed the concept of the Autobots defeating the Decepticons on Earth but their 1999 return journey to Cybertron on the Ark II[48] is destroyed by Shockwave, now ruler of the planet.[49] The story follows on from there, and was told in two six-issue limited series, then a ten issue ongoing series. The series also added extra complexities such as not all Transformers believing in the existence of Primus,[50] corruption in the Cybertronian government that first lead Megatron to begin his war[51] and Earth having an unknown relevance to Cybertron.[49][52]

The three Transformers: The War Within limited series were also published. These are set at the beginning of the Great War, and identify Prime as once being a clerk named Optronix.[53] Beast Wars was also retroactively stated as the future of this continuity, with the profile series More than Meets the Eye showing the Predacon Megatron looking at historical files detailing Dreamwave's characters.[45] In 2004, this fictional universe also inspired three novels[54] and a Dorling Kindersley guide, which focused on Dreamwave as the "main" continuity. In a new twist, Primus and Unicron are siblings, formerly a being known as The One. Transformers: Micromasters, set after the Arks disappearance, was also published. The fictional universe was disrupted when Dreamwave went bankrupt in 2005.[55] This left the Generation One story hanging and the third volume of The War Within half finished. Plans for a comic book set between Beast Wars and Beast Machines were also left unrealised.[56]

[edit] G.I. Joe crossovers (2003 onwards)

Throughout the years, the G1 characters have also starred in crossovers with fellow Hasbro property G.I. Joe, but whereas those crossovers published by Marvel were in continuity with their larger storyline, those released by Dreamwave and G.I. Joe publisher Devil's Due Publishing occupy their own separate fictional universes. In Devil's Due, the terrorist organization Cobra is responsible for finding and reactivating the Transformers. Dreamwave's version remagines the familiar G1 and G.I. Joe characters in a World War II setting, and a second limited series was released set in the present day, though Dreamwave's bankruptcy meant it was cancelled after a single issue. Devil's Due had Cobra re-engineer the Transformers to turn into familiar Cobra vehicles, and released further mini-series that sent the characters travelling through time, battling Serpentor and being faced with the combined menace of Cobra-La and Unicron.

IDW Publishing have expressed interest in their own crossover.[57]

[edit] IDW publishing (2005 onwards)

The following year, IDW Publishing rebooted the G1 series from scratch within various limited series and one shots, beginning with The Transformers: Infiltration. This allowed long time writer of Marvel and Dreamwave comics Simon Furman to create his own universe without continuity hindrance, similar to Ultimate Marvel.[58] Furman's story depicts a Cybertron that the rogue Pretender Thunderwing destroys,[59] so the Autobots and Decepticons have to infiltrate various planets. Earth comes under particular scrutiny due to a particularly potent form of energon which Shockwave seeds millions of years ago,[60] with the Decepticons escalating political tensions by replacing people with clones.[61] The Ark origin is absent in this series, and females do not exist either, as Furman felt that "Every time I try and rationalize gender in giant robots it makes my head hurt."[62] The continuity was also the first to adknowledge the existence of mass displacement in transformations, such as when Megatron downsizes himself into a gun.[63]

[edit] Alternative stories

IDW Publishing introduced The Transformers: Evolutions in 2006, a collection of mini-series that reimagine and reinterpret the G1 characters in various ways. To date, only one miniseries has been published, Hearts of Steel, placing the characters in an Industrial Revolution-era setting. The series was delayed as Hasbro did not want to confuse newcomers with too many fictional universes before the release of the live-action film.[64]

However, IDW and the original publisher Marvel comics announced a crossover storyline with the Avengers to coincide with the film, entitled New Avengers/Transformers.[65] The story is set on the borders of Symkaria and Latveria, and its fictional universe is set between the first two New Avengers storylines, as well in between the Infiltration and Escalation phase of IDWs The Transformers.[66] IDW editor-in-chief Chris Ryall hinted at elements of it being carried over into the main continuities,[67] and that a sequel is possible.[68]

[edit] Robots in Disguise (2001)

Broadcast in 2001, Robots in Disguise was a single animated series from Japan, consisting of thirty-nine episodes. In this version, Megatron creates the Decepticons as a subfaction of the Predacons on Earth, a potential reference to the return to the vehicle based characters following the previous dominance of the animal based characters of the Beast Era. It is a stand alone universe with no ties to any other Transformers fiction. Some of the characters from Robots in Disguise did eventually make appearances in Transformers: Universe, including Optimus Prime, Sideburn and Prowl.

[edit] Armada, Energon and Cybertron (2002-2005)

These three lines, launched in 2002 and dubbed "The Unicron Trilogy" by Transformers designer Aaron Archer,[69] are co-productions between Hasbro and Takara, simultaneously released in both countries, each lasting 52 episodes. Armada followed the Autobots and Decepticons discovering the powerful Mini-Cons on Earth, which are revealed by the end to be weapons of Unicron. Energon, set ten years later, followed the Autobots stopping the Decepticons from resurrecting Unicron with energon.

In Japan, the series Transformers: Cybertron showed no ties to the previous two series, telling its own story. This caused continuity problems when Hasbro sold Cybertron as a follow-up to Armada/Energon. Plot elements have been changed from the Japanese story into references to the previous shows to enhance continuity, but they largely only add up to mentioning Unicron once or twice.

Just as Marvel produced a companion comic to Generation One, Dreamwave Productions published a comic entitled Transformers Armada set in a different continuity to the cartoon. At #19, it became Transformers Energon. Dreamwave went bankrupt and ceased all publications before the storyline could be completed at #30. The Transformers Fan Club made it into the Cybertron era.[70]

[edit] Transformers: Universe (2003-2006)

The storyline of Transformers: Universe, mainly set following Beast Machines sees characters from many assorted alternate continuities - including existing and new ones - encounter each other. The story was told in an unfinished comic book exclusive to the Official Transformers Collectors' Convention .

[edit] Film (2007)

Teaser Poster
Teaser Poster
Main article: Transformers (film)

The live-action film Transformers is directed by Michael Bay and produced by Steven Spielberg, Don Murphy and Tom DeSanto. The screenplay is written by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. The film goes for a more complex design aesthetic than previous Transformer incarnations, as well as a larger human focus. As well as the film itself and two potential sequels, there will also be a four issue prequel comic book by IDW Publishing and another prequel in the novel Transformers: Ghosts of Yesterday.

The first issue of the prequel comic shows that Optimus Prime and Megatron rule Cybertron together, until Megatron begins a war to fully control the life giving Allspark. Optimus sends it to another planet to make sure Megatron does not get his hands on it. Bumblebee, a war hero, is sent to find it though, as its absence will cause Cybertron to shut down.[71] Megatron comes to Earth to capture the Allspark, but landing in the Artic burnt up on entry and lacking energon causes him to enter stasis-lock. In the nineteenth century, Captain Witwicky discovers his body, and it is taken by Sector 7 in storage.[72] In 1969, Sector 7 has reverse engineered a spaceship named Ghost 1 from Megatron and launch it on the same day as Apollo 11 for distraction. It winds up in a battle between the Autobots and the Decepticons on their stations the Ark and the Nemesis and end up sacrificing their lives. Learning of Megatron's location, they move ahead to Earth. Soviet forces attempt to steal Megatron but are killed during his brief re-activation.[73]

Optimus, Megatron and Bumblebee will be in the film, as will Starscream, Jazz, Frenzy, Ironhide, Scorponok, Ratchet, Brawl, Bonecrusher, Barricade and Blackout.[74]

[edit] Heroes (2007)

In a Cartoon Network 2007 Program Schedule shown at ToonTalk, a new series called Transformers Heroes was announced. It is expected to premiere in Fall 2007, and it is the first in the series to be produced by CN Studios. Appearing to be stand alone, Heroes is set in the future, when robots are humanity's servant class. They have a secret however that endangers humanity and the arriving Autobots.[75]

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[edit] External links

 v  d  e Transformers
Toy Line Transformers (Generation 1) | Transformers: Generation 2 | Beast Wars | Machine Wars | Beast Machines | Robots in Disguise | Armada | Universe | Energon | Alternators | Cybertron | Titanium | Classics | BotCon
Comics Marvel Series: The Transformers| G.I. Joe and the Transformers | Headmasters | Universe | Generation 2
Dreamwave Series: Generation 1 | Armada/Energon | Transformers/G.I. Joe | The War Within | More Than Meets the Eye (G1/Armada) | Summer Special | Micromasters
IDW Series: The Transformers | Spotlight | Beast Wars | Generations | Evolutions | Movie Prequel | New Avengers/Transformers
BotCon Exclusives: The Wreckers | Universe
TV series Generation 1: The Transformers | The Headmasters | Super-God Masterforce | Victory | Zone
Beast Era: Beast Wars | Beast Wars II | Beast Wars Neo | Beast Machines
Robots in Disguise
Unicron Trilogy: Armada | Energon | Cybertron
Characters Optimus Prime | List of Autobots | Megatron | List of Decepticons | Primus | Unicron | Optimus Primal | List of Maximals | Megatron (II) | List of Predacons | List of Mini-Cons
Films The Transformers: The Movie (1986) | Transformers (2007)
Factions Autobots | Decepticons | Quintessons | Maximals | Predacons | Vehicons | Mini-Cons
Video Games Battle to Save the Earth | Convoy no Nazo | Beast Wars | Beast Wars Transmetals | Transformers (2003) | Transformers (2004) | The Transformers: The Game (2007)