Many of this year's toys shipped initially with painted die-cast bits, but were later replaced with plastic-parts variants. Ninja Turtles was still dominating the toy aisle and TV ratings, and was even putting out a live-action movie that year. There are certainly a number of notable early variants, such as the red Tracks, as well as the occasional release of toys otherwise exclusive to Japan, such as GiG's Bruticus and Abominus giftsets or the legendary Galaxy Shuttle, but their scarcity has relegated them to "only for the completist with ample funds" category. The line is by far the most diverse in terms of toy styling and design. Transformers finally ended in 1992, as Takara's concurrently-running (and TV-cartoon-backed) non-Transformers "Brave" giant robot lines gained more popularity. The other big move was the return of Optimus Prime as one of the Powermasters, robots whose Nebulan partners unlocked the vehicle-to-robot conversion as engine-shaped "keys". It is not associated with nor endorsed by Hasbro or Takara Tomy. For sheer size and mass, Fortress Maximus remained the largest Transformer produced for over 25 years... and something of a "bragging rights" move on Hasbro's part, showing that they could demand that kind of shelf space from retailers. Despite many/most of the toys having been available just a year or two prior, the new story and cartoon propelled Transformers sales far beyond those of the lines that the toys originally came from. Initially a line of transforming mecha toys rebranded from Takara's Diaclone and Microman toy lines, it spawned the Transformers media franchise. Fast & Free shipping on many items! Unfortunately, it simply wasn't enough, and Transformers was canceled in the US. For the most part, the toys are identical to their previous releases, only with slight changes to the manufacturing stamps, and the occasional minor deco alteration (primarily painted details on the Mini-Cassettes, and some rubsign changes). This more sci-fi look would stick with the line for a little while. Astrotrain. (And yes, most of the previously-mentioned companies now fall under the Hasbro/TakaraTomy umbrella. The basic upshot... Hasbro simply marketed the line better in virtually every regard, and sold kids on the idea that these weren't just robot toys, they were characters... that these plastic doodads were, well, more than meets the eye. 1992 Transformers… The cartoon was ended with a truncated three-part special, with reruns continuing on in syndication. Takara gave the accompanying advertising media different sub-franchise titles for each year, a long-running tradition in kids' media/toylines in Japan (which would eventually end up making its way Stateside), although the toyline itself would not gain over-arching secondary titles until 1991, instead only featuring gimmick-specific brandings for relevant toys, some of which just happened to mirror the accompanying media's title. More importantly, this was the first year Hasbro would push a primary over-arching gimmick as a large percentage of the line: the Nebulan "Master" partners. Home video games were getting even hotter and luring more kids away from toys altogether, especially with the release of the hugely-anticipated Super Nintendo Entertainment System. (Though the king of long-run shipping is surely Kenner's original Star Wars line: the single Darth Vader figure shipped for seven years.). Sure you could get a GoBot or a Mini Vehicle just about any time, but the larger Transformers were something big and special for birthdays or saved-up allowances. And while the shells' minimal articulation (having only stiff shoulder swivels) would be fine for much younger children, the inner robots and number of small parts definitely put them outside of that age group. These groups shipped in mixed-allegiance assortments, which would become more and more common going forward. While the American toyline was shutting down, Transformers in Europe kept on chugging along. 10,607 pages were recently viewed by 2,303 unique visitors. Hasbro tried to rally with something that was very rare for its time: a large-scale appeal to nostalgia. The rubsigns were also key to another bit of promotion, the mystery-allegiance Mini-Spies that came with the Mini Vehicles this year as bonuses. Transformers® G1 $0 to $200 Misc. The Autobots and Decepticons got some physical distinction in their designs in 1992: the Autobots got hot-pink transparent plastic parts, primarily their optics and windows, while the Decepticons got a bright toxic clear-green transparent parts as well as less-human, more angular faces. Many of these toys have outright notorious damage issues, and loose undamaged toys are a bit hard to come by. Transformers Generation 1. These toys being "bricks", mixed with the aforementioned degradation/breakage issues, have largely relegated them to being display pieces for older collectors. © 2021 Seibertron LLC. All in all, 1985's output was roughly double that of 1984's. Several of the toys released this year weren't given individual names, including the re-released Constructicons (who had also lost the parts needed to combine into Devastator, oddly enough). It is typically rare for the most popular action figure in a line to be also the most … ), but eventually would move to easily-readable bars. The remaining unused "Car Robot" models were brought over, as were several redeco/retools of first-year Cars. The figure it. This information was (mostly) obscured and (sort of) unreadable without a red plastic "Tech Spec decoder" inside the boxed toys early on (though the red lens of a pair of 3D glasses would work too, and who didn't have at least one of those lying around in the 80s? Despite running for nigh six years, the Chinese Generation 1 line released only about 100 toys all told. Pure Transformers Toy Images. Deliver To Home . They struck a deal with Bandai for molds from a variety of Japanese toylines. This page was last modified on 19 January 2021, at 13:34. The line would continue through 1991, and a few extra pieces would see release only in Australia. First, they eliminated the miscellaneous subgroups of the past, rolling everything under two over-arching gimmicks: expansions of the Pretender concept, and the new 1-inch-tall Micromasters, the latter being a response to the steadily-growing popularity of then-competitor Galoob's Micro Machines micro-play vehicle line. The older cast of not-shipping-any-more-1984-toys was shuffled out, with many characters openly and brutally killed in the film, to make way for all-new toy-characters who would take the forefront, including new faction leaders. 1989 Transformers. There were a lot more retailers out there, both national and regional, muscling for market share, and virtually all had a sizable toy department. Seibertron.com is operated by Ryan Yzquierdo. The line started very parallel with Hasbro's offerings, but over time the two companies pursued some pretty different visions for the brand. . The big noise this year was the Pretenders, Transformers that wear outer shells in the guise of armored warriors, monsters, and more, effectively giving you two warriors in one purchase. Backstreet. And as you’d expect, there are some rare Transformers toys, so rare you’ll occasionally have to look further than eBay to find them. By this time, Transformers was in serious trouble. Today, even when a single line lasts more than a year, the packaging changes considerably at least every year. Other toys were also licensed from other companies, but didn't have the major-rival-baggage of Bandai's toys, so they could at least be in the show, if not in Takara's version of the toyline. The Transformers is a line of mecha toys produced by Japanese company Takara and American toy company Hasbro. Abominus. with its transforming vehicles, Tomy's Starriors reconfigurable robots (a Zoids offshoot), and approximately eleventy-billion also-rans and cheap knockoffs from a host of now-defunct companies. Hasbro hoped that this would prove stronger from a marketing standpoint than the Autobot/Decepticon distinction from previous years, plus look new and fresh, rather than just another iteration of a now-six-year-old toyline. By 1994, when the Power Master-era toys were released, "Made in China" was added to the box. With petroleum prices lowering, plastics became the less-expensive alternative. 1988 Transformers. And not the fun kind. However, the line didn't exactly excite kids, as most of the inner robots' vehicle modes could be generously described as "vague at best" due to the necessity of fitting inside their shells. This year was almost completely dominated by "sci-fi" vehicle modes, following up on The Movie styling. This year also marks the debut of Transformers internationally, being released in multiple European countries, Japan, Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina... all with various changes from the US line, some minor, some... well, "major" might be an understatement for some. Despite having set the stage for everything that would follow, and in sharp contrast to the nostalgia-sodden market of today, "Generation 1" actually took some time to get back into being a sizable portion of the "modern" toyline following the original's end. Banzai-Tron with Razor-Sharp. Hooooh boy. Even toys in old subgroups gained new gimmicks: the new Mini-Cassettes were combiners, the Seacon combiner team's limb-bots each had a cannon mode the super-robot could use as a handgun, and the Targetmasters each had two Nebulans who could also combine into a super-gun. Before the re-creation boom, there was the re-release boom. We also buy toys, learn more! Takara was the first to get the reissue ball rolling, and generally took the lead in re-releasing classic "Generation 1" molds over the course of several years. However, what put Transformers above the others, both its domestic rivals and the other international licensees, was simply doing a great many things better than is competitors. Mail-away offers were also slowing down, with no new product available from this year on, only older items no longer in stores. Though the previous year saw Bumblebee return as "Goldbug", this large-scale toy of a returning character heralded a shift in Hasbro's strategy, which would get even stronger next year. Attached was the "Tech Specs", numeric rankings of the character's stats. A look inside some of the toy boxes I have had stored away. These so called “generation one” or “Gen 1” or “G1” toys are highly sought after by collectors, and bidding wars happen on a regular basis. If you're a fan the IDW publishing of Generation 1 Transformers, this may be a figure to add to your collection as this is the only incarnation of Rung in toy form. There were multiple large-scale toys-only chains, not just Toys"R"Us (now RIP in the US). 1984 was a roaring, out-of-the-gate success for Transformers, so 1985's offerings upped the ante, both in numbers and in variety of form. See more ideas about transformers generation 1, transformers, transformers toys. Transformers would not be back on Japanese toy shelves until 1995, when the short-lived G-2 toyline would hit. They came in the same packaging as their American (or European) counterparts, only with small stickers in the corner giving the characters' Chinese names. Dallas Vintage Toys is a toy store in the Lakewood area of Dallas TX that buys, sells, and trades toys from the 1960s to present-day including '80s toy lines like vintage Kenner Star Wars, GI Joe, Transformers, and He-man as well as modern collectible toys from Hot Toys, SideShow Collectibles, Marvel Select, Marvel Legends, DC Universe, and so many more. But all this wasn't enough to meet expected demand, so Hasbro looked elsewhere for future Transformers. [×] Transformers 2010 toyline Generation 1 toy images‎ (26 F) [×] Transformers Collection toy images‎ (13 F) V [+] Vintage G1 toy images‎ (1 C, 4 F) Media in category "Generation 1 toy images" The following 200 files are in this category, out of 655 total. No, you had to get out there and shop - or use a big printed mail-order catalog like the old Sears "Wish Book". You are here: Home / Transformers Toys / Generation 1. 99 The Transformers: The Movie. Transformers Generation 1 G1 toys & action figures at our online Transformers store. Starting in 1984, the line ran for seven years in America, eight in Europe and Japan (though Takara would break the line up into multiple sub-franchises). This year even saw the first store-exclusive Transformers, as those same four bots were sold without their Pretender shells as "Legends", available only at Kmart (which wasn't the decrepit shell of a retailer it is now). 1984 Transformers. Thus, the more descriptive bits will be tackled year-by-year... but there's still plenty to talk about in the big picture. But it didn't take long for this to expand into larger, more organized lines: This series would be further filled out with all-new characters set in the classic universe, with redecos of the mold reissues in new color schemes (often -but not always- replicating Diaclone variants the original Transformers line passed on) through outlets like e-HOBBY. Dropshot is a triple changer that was evidently developed for the early part of G1, likely to … Some of the content on this site are sponsored posts for which we have been compensated. This culminated in the mighty Fortress Maximus, a towering two-foot-tall Headmaster city-bot, with a hefty $100 price-tag (in 1987 dollars, which is about the same as a $200 Transformer today). This brand was the mark of a "true" Transformer, and they even spent the money to make a commercial just to say so. On top of this, the packaging changed dramatically, with a new look and logo design, although this change was gradual. Expand your options of fun home activities with the largest online selection at eBay.com. How'd it do that? Kids flocked to this strange new line and its weird new cartoon, leaving Transformers... sorry, there's no helping this... shell-shocked. (The Points were, of course, actually worthless, since you also sent in a check for roughly what the toys would normally cost anyway.) The past lines still had a role to play in this, though. 1991 was an odd hodge-podge of a line, starting with a short burst of exclusive Action Masters (including some that actually did transform! Mattel was still an action-figure heavyweight thanks to Masters of the Universe, which led the boom of cartoon-advertised toy lines (more on that in a bit) throwing out weird concepts in the hope of creating the next big thing. The premise behind the Transformers toy line is that an individual toy's parts can be shifted about to change it from a vehicle, a device, or an … First of all, the market itself was simply broader. The nostalgia-grab got larger, with new toys based on some of the most popular characters from the early years, now back as "Classic Pretenders". Brand Transformers. 1987 Transformers. Smaller figures were packaged with small soft-rubber Decoys of older characters as an extra incentive, but they weren't a fully transformable mini-Transformer. Barrage. Hasbro upped the ante with The Transformers cartoon, giving it a more serious story and higher-quality animation (both low hurdles compared to He-Man but let's not rag on that too much, they were testing the early limits of the medium under the furious eye of scary-loud and panicky parental watchdog groups)... and thanks to the fact that the characters were robots, more violence. The boxed figures featured multiple accessories and add-on stickers for an extra level of interaction with the toy, giving them an extra air of quality. Articulation was also a tertiary-at-best concern in the overall design scheme. Transformers Toys » Transformers » Main Transformers Lines » Transformers Generation 1. Rodimus Prime remembers the Transformers greatest battle on Earth. Facing stiff competition, Hasbro attempted to unify and re-brand Transformers with a new focus and a new look. They would also create a variety of all-new toys unique to their version of Transformers (although some of them also saw release in Europe), most of them highly sought-after by collectors. Transformers Toys Generations War for Cybertron: Earthrise Deluxe WFC-E17 Arcee Action Figure - Kids Ages 8 and Up, 5.5-inch 4.6 out of 5 stars 949 $28.99 $ 28 . Pickup & delivery Walmart.com Walmart.com One particularly helpful bit of marketing for this year is the clean division of good-guy/bad-guy alternate modes. 1988 Transformers. And the market responded... timidly at first, as the markets do, but over time, more and more of the classic series was brought back in one form or another. While Micromasters continued on, the rest of the series was taken up by Action Masters, non-transforming G.I. In 1993, Hasbro changed the traditional faction symbols to the types used in the Generation 2 series, as the US line was changing over that year. Several of these releases had minor changes from the originals, mainly the removal of rubsign indents. The Transformers (also now known as "Generation 1" or "G1" for short, though the line was never branded as such) started as a joint venture between Hasbro of America and Takara of Japan. But many of these items are not cheap on the secondary market due to their scarcity. Ever since the Transformers franchise launched in 1984, children around the world have been playing with Transformer toys. Rung is a decent toy. Great deals on Transformers G1. (After all, that formula worked wonders for Star Wars.) Hoo. If you want strange variants of Generation 1 toys, then the short-lived toylines south of the border are the mother lode. Hasbro generally seemed less keen on remaking the past, focusing their efforts on new lines, but saw the value in trying to get the reissues into fans' hands... even if there had to be compromises for safety reasons. In 1992, the line got much more cohesive, moving back to much more "traditional" Transformers, changing from pseudo-realistic vehicles to robots, with gimmicks that were by and large not super-obtrusive. The two predecessor lines also had some in-development concepts that were pushed into Transformers, and while some would not be ready until next year, Hasbro/Takara were able to get out a set of new Mini Vehicles, and new versions of the large jet mold with all-new wings and weapons. The Heroic Autobots were the cars and trucks, and the Evil Decepticons were... everything else. Japanese-original toys were altered slightly more, changing the Transformers logo to a Chinese-language version. This was also the year die-cast metal started being phased out of the toys' construction. Seibertron.com is an unofficial Transformers fansite. Instead, enjoy this series of links to the numerous toylines that call back to the originals. Another subtle but important change was that the two factions began to share subgroups, with the Autobots gaining their own Mini-Cassettes and Triple Changers, plus both sides had "Scramble City" style combiners. left hand navigation Skip to Search Results. IDW Tarn; G2 Megatron; G1 Alligatorcon; G1 Wreck-Gar; It seems the Transformers franchise is now expanding even more in the non-transforming action figure market. Each action figure is like a puzzle that requires a series of steps to transform into a robot. Included in the fist wave were a number of toys which would wind up within the Transformers toyverse including Gun Robo (Megatron), Cassette Man (Soundwave), Cassettes, and minivehicles At the same time, many familiar faces appear in the catalogs of Takara's Diaclone line; G1 Transformers (Generation 1) are primarily what we buy and sell. close. Dropshot. And with the huge success of the live-action movie spurring things on further right in the middle of that economic boon, China has since become a major part of the franchise's current global success. need your help now! And with a new slew of imitators popping up, Hasbro pushed a new little bit of status-symbol into the line, giving every toy released in '85 —including the re-released '84 toys— a heat-sensitive rubsign. However, this high point also marked the start of the franchise's waning. While the European version of the line would continue on with both new product and a glut of "Classics" re-releases, it would be two years before Transformers would come back to US toy shelves, as Generation 2. Huge selection of official Transformers toy collectible figures on sale! toys for sale at Transformerland.com. But in August 1989, Hasbro International started cranking out classic Transformers at Chinese factories, which were shipped throughout China, as well as Taiwan and South Korea (with additional stickers applied to the packaging for those markets). Unfortunately we are no longer able to ensure delivery by 12/24. Transformers wasn't even the first shape-changing robot toy to US shelves, having been beat to the punch by then-competitor Tonka, who brought over Bandai's Machine Robo toys as GoBots six months prior, plus Takara's own prior attempts to market their toys in the US as Diakron and Kronoform. That Transformers made as big a splash as it did and lasted so long before the revivals and reboots is remarkable. The original Transformers came out in a very different toy environment than what exists today, and at a time when the market was venturing out from the slow-paced 1970s into undiscovered country. Many of these lines are technically multi-franchise ensembles, but the majority of their output is of updated Generation 1 bots. Most every toy (and cereal) mail-away offer asked you to clip out the UPC bar-codes as "proof of purchase" when sending away, but Transformers instead asked for the "Robot Points" clipped from the packaging back. By the end of the series, Takara would go back to following Hasbro's lead for the bulk of the line, with new molds being relegated to a small handful of large pieces. Re-issues began sporadically at first in 2000, mainly major characters (particularly Optimus Prime, Megatron, Rodimus and Starscream) in recreations of the original packaging, with a few special editions. Yes, hot pink and toxic green: the 90s was also the time that the color schemes for new toys overall got brighter and more reliant on pastels (and in some cases, straight-up gloriously awful). The manufacturing information was instead applied as a sticker in Chinese on the back of the box. Robotic beasts made a splash with the Dinobots and Insecticons. Oh yeah! On top of that, extra gimmicks beyond transformation began to play into the subgroups, with the Throttlebots' pull-back motors and the spark-firing Monsterbots. Thus, the more descriptive bits will be tackled year-by-year... but there's still plenty to talk about in the big picture. And let's be honest here: that show was garbage, but kids ate it up. Transformers Generation Toys. Popular features include daily news, toy galleries, a … Toys. 1987 Transformers. Every packaging back had a hefty bio of the character, penned by Marvel author Bob Budiansky. Takara took Hasbro's lead and brought the new universe of living robots to Japan in 1985, where it was a massive success. Though even with all that, seven years was a long time for a toy franchise to run. Aug 25, 2015 - Explore walter arnoldo's board "Transformers Generation 1" on Pinterest. The Mini Vehicles were refreshed by taking the 1984 assortment and extensively retooling them into all-new characters. Some of the links to external sites posted on this site may automatically be converted to an affiliate link for which we may be compensated. This box contains G1 or Generation One Transformers. In contrast to the nigh-solid plastic toys of today, die-cast metal played a large role in these toys' construction. The European line would follow suit in 1993, ending the original "Generation 1" series in European markets without the line being canceled, the only major market to not have a gap between Generations 1 and 2. Things wouldn't really get significantly different until the 1990s. After an idea to rebrand and sell Takara's Diaclone and Microchange robot toys as a whole new line with a new concept behind it (developed by Hasbro's partners at Marvel Comics), Hasbro ultimately created what would be one of the longest-running and most popular franchises for both companies. In the U.S., the toyline ran from 1984 - 1990; in Europe, from 1985 - 1993 (except the U.K. which saw limited 1984 releases), and in Japan from 1985- 1992 (with many variations from the other regions.) These plans would come to life in Transformers as the "Scramble City" style combiners (though that branding was only used in Takara's line; Hasbro called them the "Special Teams" in Europe, and... nothing special in the US). Need your order delivered in time for the Holidays? Transformers Series > Hasbro Transformers > Generation 1. Transformers Ultimates Wave 2 – Pre-orders in Summer 2021. G1 1988. Diaclone and Micro Change were quickly discarded in favor of the new hotness as kids ate up this new take on the giant robot genre, one that was a fresh change from the sheer amount of competing "piloted mecha" robot toylines/cartoons in existence. Air Patrol. 1986 Transformers. Gift eligible. This was actually a cost-saving measure, a lingering effect from the petroleum price crises from the '70s made it a bit cheaper overall to make sizable chunks of toys out of metal instead of plastic! The larger cars (and some of the Mini Cars) also featured rubber tires, and most every toy had some piece on them that was chromed. As with the Micromasters, the focus was mainly on the low-price items, with the carded individual Action Masters getting the largest amount of product. Departments. Axer with Off Road Cycle. Even grocery stores and drug stores devoted a significant amount of space to toys year-round, and not just the cheap stuff! Earthlings: THE S.T.A.R.S. The Little Sticker in the Corner: The Truth about Early-1990's Chinese G1 Transformers Toys, https://tfwiki.net/mediawiki/index.php?title=The_Transformers_(toyline)&oldid=1478023, The term "Generation 1" is a piece of ascended. At $6 it is a fair price, any higher you might be disappointed in what you get for your money. And then there were all the major sorta-likes, such as Kenner's M.A.S.K. ), While most modern toys have a shelf-life of maybe six months, in the 80s a single toy could ship steadily for two years, more if the line was particularly successful. More children of the '80s were out of school and getting jobs and disposable income (yes, that kind of thing used to actually happen) and were looking to reclaim bits of their childhoods. Transformers Collection. Transformers G1 Worlds Smallest Transformers WST Optimus Prime Vs. Megatron Speaking of re-released old toys, 1990 saw the Classics subline debut, the return of numerous toys from the 1984 through 1987 lines. The packaging too was a step beyond what other lines were doing. After four years and slowly-declining sales, the push to make Transformers live up to its new tagline ("More... Much More Than Meets the Eye!") Alma. 1984 Transformers. Brand. Also, in more global terms, Hasbro's Transformers was originally just one of several international outlets for Takara's Diaclone and Micro Change figures, initially coexisting with Joustra's own version of Diaclone in Central Europe, GiG's Trasformer [sic] line in Italy, and Takara themselves were releasing Diaclone in Finland. Delivery & Pickup. Many early articles on the "transforming robot toyline wars" opined that GoBots would win due to its reliance on a large number of small, inexpensive items easy for kids to pick up. 1991 Transformers. BigBadToyStore has a massive selection of toys (like action figures, statues, and collectibles) from Marvel, DC Comics, Transformers, Star Wars, Movies, TV Shows, and More President Reagan's recent deregulation policies allowed for the line between "advertisement" and "entertainment" on television to blur heavily, and toy companies were still exploring how to properly exploit this new "advertainment" method of pushing plastic to preteens. ), ending with several previously-Japanese-exclusive Victory toys. The first three Micromaster patrols released in late 1988 (the Air Strike Patrol, the Off Road Patrol and the Race Car Patrol) still came on old-style cards and featured a unique "Micro Transformers" logo; the Legends kept the overall packaging design but changed the "Transformers" logo to the all-new overall brand logo introduced this year, and changed the on-package Tech Specs to an easier-to-read bar graph; and all other releases, including the remaining Micromaster Patrols, completely ditched the color-coded distinguation between Autobot/Decepticon (other than the aforementioned new "Transformers" logo itself), instead opting for a gimmick-specific color-coding with gold-carded and -boxed Pretenders, and silver-carded and-boxed Micromasters.

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