The cartoon version of Transformers (the Transformers) is a series of toys and a series of cartoons/films jointly developed by Hasbro of the United States and TAKARA of Japan from 1984 to the present. General term. However, due to the misunderstanding of adults who do not know much about cartoons, it has been broadly extended to various (deformable) robot toys and cartoons to a certain extent.
The American version of "Transformers G1" lasts for 4 seasons. The first two seasons are about the relationship between the Autobots led by Optimus Prime and the Decepticons led by Megatron (McGarden). war story. Season 3 is the story of Rodimus Prime, who succeeded Optimus Prime, and Galvatron (Megatron, who was repaired and transformed by the Emperor of the Universe), leading their own armed forces to fight for their beliefs. The American version of "Transformers" also has a big movie, which tells the process of the transfer of power between Rodimus and Optimus Prime, and the deeds of all Transformers working together to destroy the Emperor of the Universe.
The idea of ??transformable robots was first proposed and used in actual toy production by the Japanese toy company TAKARA. In 1983, they launched two transformable robots called DIAKRON and MICROMAN. These two toys have received unprecedented praise in the U.S. market, and their sales are also amazing. These two robots are the predecessors of Transformers, but the essential difference between them and later Transformers is: Although both can transform, DIAKRON is designed to They are still human-controlled mechas, similar to the settings of the fighting mechas in the Gundam and Macross series. They are still just combat tools. What really gives them soul and life is the American toy manufacturer Hasbro. ), so the real birth of Transformers began in 1984.
In 1984, Hasbro reached an agreement with TAKARA to use their patents and images to develop American versions of transforming toys. In order to cooperate with the sales of toys, Hasbro also entered into an agreement with the American animation giant MARVEL Company (which, together with DC Company, is an American animation publishing giant with many comic hero images such as Spider-Man, Hulk, X-Men, Fantastic Four, etc.) has cooperated to develop comic products related to the new robot series. These toy images The name adopted in the comics became what became known as "Transformers" (literally translated as "Transformers"). The most epoch-making thing is that in the comics produced by MARVEL, the transforming robots were given life for the first time. In order to promote these toys through multiple channels, Hasbro produced a three-episode commercial cartoon for these robots, and paid the TV station to be broadcast on TV as a commercial advertisement, and the MARVEL comic series also On sale at the same time. In the story setting, robots are divided into righteous Autobots and evil Decepticons. The early classification criterion was whether they could transform into cars or airplanes. The same setting was adopted in the comics, but the story was completely different. . This one is called Transformers—More than Meets the Eye. (respectively translated as the first day, the second day and the third day in China) once the TV animation was broadcast, it quickly became the most watched cartoon in the United States at that time. For the United States at that time, it was in the 1960s and 1970s. For the generation that has just begun to fade away from rebellion and liberation thoughts, this kind of animation and toys with novel ideas and fascinating plots but still tend to be conservative in values ??just suits their needs. This is also the reason why Transformers The factors of the times that can achieve great success, and the three-episode animation still has some unfinished ideas. Therefore, the situation forced Hasbro to receive wide acclaim in both animation and toys. While making a lot of money, it continued to develop new products to meet market demand. At the same time, it also had to Not continuing to produce animations, this is the beginning of the Transformers legend that has lasted for more than 20 years.
Most of the "Transformers" characters launched in 1984 were repackaged and put on the market using TAKARA's original backlog of inventory. Beginning in 1985, Hasbro relaunched the toys with a heat logo and made some changes to the packaging.
For example, the mini car characters launched in 1984 were packaged in car form, while the 1985 re-release was packaged in human form. Moreover, several "mini cars" also come with a "mini spy", which is a simply transformed pull-back car.
In addition to the re-released products, Hasbro has launched more characters, including "Dinobot", "Constructicons", and "Insecticons" , and "Triple Changers" and other products derived from the "Diaclone" series. Originally in the "Diaclone" series, the "Construction Truck Six" (the Destroyer in "Transformers") and the "Train Six" (Thunderbolt in "Transformers: Boss Warriors") appeared in pairs, but Because train toys were not very popular among teenagers in the United States at the time, the Train Six was not selected for the Transformers series. In addition, the "Diaclone" series has two "Triple Transformers". One is Lightning, who was selected for the Transformers series; the other is a character who transforms into a helicopter and an X-wing fighter. The latter was not selected for the Transformers series. , replaced by the Wisdom Star, which had been designed at the end of "Diacron", and appeared directly as Transformers. At the same time, Hasbro has also launched some activities to collect points to exchange toys: as long as you collect the points on the packaging and send them back to the company, you can exchange them for some characters that cannot be purchased through stores. "Power Dashers" and "Omnibots" from "Diaclone" have become trading objects.
After two years of market cultivation, "Transformers" has become a well-known toy brand at that time. Hasbro has launched many original characters since 1986, and some of the prototypes of these characters were designed in the later stages of "Diaclone". The new products launched this year began to have new features: the integration mechanism. Originally, the fusion in "Diaclone" was basically a combination of six or more people. Later, TAKARA designers standardized the fusion force into a five-person fusion, with the larger captain serving as the torso during the fusion, and four smaller ones. Team members as limbs. Characters such as super soldiers and omnipotent warriors, defenders and bustards have been paired up one after another.
In terms of cartoons, Hasbro has planned a movie version of "Transformers: The Movie". In the movie, many existing characters were killed and a new generation of characters were added. Therefore, the actual role of "Transformers: The Movie" is to pave the way for the upgrading of toy products. The design style of the new generation of Transformers has also undergone many changes. Instead of using existing vehicles as the transformed mode, the design begins to be more futuristic. This is not only because the plot begins to move from the earth to other planets, but more importantly, it does not have to spend a lot of money to purchase model rights from car companies. At that time, Hasbro was responsible for the plot and setting, while TAKARA and Toei Animation were responsible for animation production, toy development, and character design. At that time, companies could only discuss work through regular long-distance phone calls, resulting in insufficient communication during the design process. In order to prevent the plot of the big movie from being leaked, Hasbro did not tell them that these two characters were the leaders of a new generation when they handed over the design of Rodimus and Galvatron to TAKARA and Toei Animation. The designers of TAKARA thought that Galvatron was just a fortress consultant and Rodimus was just an ordinary medium-sized Transformer, so they were not as involved in the design as the leader. As a result, many players were disappointed when the toys of these two characters came out. TAKARA's designers regretted it afterwards, saying that if they had known their identities at the time, they would have designed better. There is a planet in the distant universe - Cybertron. There is a kind of metallic life form on the planet, and they have differentiated into the righteous Autobots and the evil Decepticons in nearly a million years. The two sides have been at war for millions of years, and the planet's energy has been exhausted. The Decepticons followed the Autobots to the earth. The spaceship crashes into a volcano. Four million years later, the main computer of the volcanic eruption spacecraft, Imaging No. 1, was activated and the two armies were transformed into airplanes and cars. The war started on the earth, and in 2000, the Autobots and the Decepticons launched a bloody battle.
Under the leadership of Megatron, the Decepticons attacked the Autobots' spaceship. The big man, police car, etc. were killed by Megatron one after another. The Decepticons attack the Autobot base. Optimus Prime leads all the Autobots to face the Decepticons, and Optimus Prime and Megatron finally fight. Due to Hot Rod's competitiveness, Optimus Prime was seriously injured and died in the battle. After being seriously injured, Megatron was rescued by Soundwave and brought back to the train, but was thrown out of the train by Starscream. Megatron was floating in the vast space, and a voice awakened him. This voice was Unicron, and he was transformed and strengthened into Galvatron by Unicron. Galvatron killed the usurper Starscream and regained control of the Decepticons. Optimus Prime died in battle and handed the Matrix (leadership module) to Ultra Magnus. Later, Ultra Magnus was killed by Galvatron and took away the Matrix. Hot Rod defeated Galvatron in Unicron's body and took back the Matrix. With the help of the Matrix, he became the Complementary Matrix. Tianshi. Rodimus takes over as leader of the Autobots. The war rages across the universe.