The Transformers began life as a toy line, produced in Japan by the Takara company. Although at that point there were originally two toylines to speak of, consisting of the Diaclone and the Micro Change series, these two were combined and rebranded for the western market in 1984 and sold by Hasbro as Transformers.
For those of you who don’t know, a Transformer is a living machine (from the planet Cybertron), able to reform and reconfigure itself into weapons, vehicles and more - the tagline ‘Robots in Disguise’ summing it up nicely.
The backstory and history of the Transformers universe (for the toyline, comics and animated shows) was developed initially by the Comicbook writers Jim Shooter and Dennis O’Neil, with the subsequent development and fleshing out done by writer Bob Budiansky, and Floro Dery being responsible for the visual aesthetics in his work on the cartoon series and animated movie - there have of course been many others also who have contributed to the franchise, including Simon Furman’s writings on the Transformer’s origins and mythology.
The Transformers primarily consisted of two opposing sides, The Autobots (Cybertrons in Japan) being the good guys and the Decepticons (Destrons) being the baddies. The Autobots leader was Optimus Prime, who originally transformed into a ‘cab over’ flat-nose truck. The Decepticons were led by Megatron, who transformed into (among other things) a Walther P38 gun and a porsche. As a general rule, the Autobots would transform into warm-colored cars and ground vehicles and the Decepticons into cold-colored planes, but there were exceptions to that rule.
These two factions battled for control of their home planet, a war which eventually spilled over to Earth.
Transformers: the Movie, the 1986 animated film, features the Decepticons having taken control of the home planet, led by Unicron - a planet-forming Transformer (voiced by Orson Welles), and the Autobots becoming a resistence group against them from their base of Autobot City on Earth. The movie introduced new characters and killed off quite a few of the original ones, including the fan-favourite Optimus Prime. There seemed to be inconsistencies in the deaths, with some characters dying and then reappearing in subsequent cartoon series, and the ease with which they could be killed in one series and then defy injury in another.
There have been various updates and incarnations of Transformers over the years too: Beast Wars, Machine Wars, Beast Machines, Go-Bots, and more.
The most recent incarnation will be the live-action Transformers movie being released for 2007. Directed by Michael Bay, the movie will feature the Autobots and the Decepticons bringing their war to Earth, both sides searching for the ‘Allspark’ - a mysterious lifesource that is hidden somewhere on Earth.
The film is intended to reboot the franchise (producing new toylines, comics and the possibility of film sequels), and updating the Transformers with a more contemporary SF tone. Despite the varied reactions to the changes made in the movie by fans, the Transformers will no doubt continue to be popular and long-living.
Mo Ali was born in a haunted hospital and has exceeded all expectations and kept breathing.
A digital artist, poet and writer, he needs to find some paid work before the inevitable apocalypse. To make matters worse he lives in Berkshire.