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Transformers: Generation 2
Logo
Genre	Science fiction Action/adventure
No. of seasons	1
Production
Production company	Hasbro/Takara

The Transformers: Generation 2 (also known asGeneration Two orG2) was aTransformers toy line that ran from 1992–1994, in conjunction with a correspondingcomic book series and edited reruns of the original cartoon beginning in 1993. The prior Transformer television series, comic books and toys became known as "Generation 1" or G1 retroactively, and are now officially referred to as such by toymakerHasbro.Generation 2 was discontinued as the firstBeast Wars: Transformers toys began hitting the shelves.

Generation 2 Transformers toys were reissued versions of G1 toys from the 1980s for the first few months. Some of them were given new spring-powered missile launchers or electronic accessories with flashing lights and sounds, and many of them sported new, vivid color schemes. The trade dress for the toy line included a new logo with alternateAutobot andDecepticonsymbols.^[1]

Because the G1 toys released during G2 represented only a small fraction of the existing G1 toy line, many of the characters featured in the show did not have G2 counterparts in stores. The fact that many of the color schemes were radically altered meant that these characters no longer matched their animated counterparts. The first new molds were introduced in 1993, first with Megatron in a new tank mode, and later with entirely new characters, including European toys that had never been offered in America.

Another type of toy was the video game market:Argonaut Games had made a deal to make a video game based upon the TV series of the same name. The game was to use theSuper FX chip, an enhancement chip for the SNES that allowed 3D games to be much more possible. The game was cancelled in development, and was thought to be transferred over to another Super FX game,Vortex, which had a robot morphing into various vehicles. After an interview withRetro Gamer, it was said thatVortex and Generation 2 were completely separate.

In 1994, the final year of Generation 2, many of the toys in its line were packaged on cards that did not carry the "Generation 2" subtitle under the Transformers name. The two most prominent lines under this banner were the Cyberjets and the Go-Bots (using a trademark acquired by Hasbro from Tonka). The Go-Bots were 1:64-scale cars (compatible with someHot Wheels andMatchbox tracks) with working axles that transformed into equally small robots. There were initially six different Go-Bot styles produced, all of which were eventually given new colors and were assigned the names of G1 characters. The Cyberjets were small jet planes with missile launchers and among the first Transformers to incorporate snap-together ball-and-socket articulated joints for the robot mode. There were three designs available in a total of six styles, three Autobots and three Decepticons. Two of the Autobot Cyberjets (Jetfire andStrafe) were decorated with G2 Decepticon symbols on their tail fins.

A number of toys were planned for G2, for which prototypes were created but were never sold as part of the G2 toy line. Some of these toys were revisited in later lines like Machine Wars and Robots in Disguise, in which the toys were offered under the Flipchangers and Spychangers assortments.

Marvel Comics produced a gritty, twelve-issueTransformers: Generation 2 comic book series. Produced early in the toy line, it features a few new Generation 2 characters, as well as many characters from the original series. The story concerned a form of Transformers, who called themselves Cybertronians, having evolved past Autobot or Decepticon. There was also an overarching enemy, The Swarm, which was slowly approaching the Earth, threatening all Transformers in its path. In his search to discover the nature of the enemy,Optimus Prime went into the matrix, discovering that the Swarm was actually a by-product of an early form of Transformer reproduction. In the UK, a five-issue Transformers: Generation 2 comic was published byFleetway. While the first two issues featured exclusive UK material, the last three issues featured reprinted stories from the US comic.

As a part of the Generation 2 line, several characters were given new forms, such asMegatron becoming atank, due to the efforts ofCobra in Marvel'sG.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #139. New characters appeared briefly towards the end of the series, including the Rotor Force, Laser Rods, and the Combat Hero edition of Optimus Prime.

In Japan, bothTV Magazine story pages and mini-comics packaged with toys told a different G2 story. Set in the animated series' timeline (specifically after the end ofBattlestars: Return of Convoy and thereforeOperation Combination), the story tells of a true time of peace between Autobots and Decepticons, known as theCybertron Alliance, until human soldiers accidentally kill one of Megatron's most loyal followers, causing for him to upgrade to his "Combat Hero" form and causing the war to start yet again. The story also featured a fairly bleak storyline and an art style somewhat similar to the Marvel comics, but was different by focusing more on the "new mold" characters (i.e.: The Laser Rods, Laser Cycles, and Cyberjets) and introducing things such as aReconfiguration Matrix, which allowed Prime to change from hisHero form to hisLaser form after nearly being fatally wounded in battle against Megatron. The story ends with Laser Optimus Prime defeating Megatron, who then leads the Decepticons into space after his defeat, while Prime himself is taken off the battlefield, wounded, but victorious.

Dreamwave comics, which produced several Transformers titles, had several Generation 2 characters make cameos in their stories, including the Turbomasters and Axelerators. (Although technically the Turbomasters were released in Europe at the end of Generation 1, they were re-released in Generation 2.) IDW, the Transformers license holder after Dreamwave, has also had several Generation 2 characters appear in their comics, including Skram, Deluge and Leadfoot.

The only new footage produced in association with G2 was a series of primitive CGI sequences used for the Hasbro toy commercials (making it one of the earliest computer-animated series, predatingReBoot) and an advertisement for the Marvel Comics title. A Transformers: Generation 2 television series did air, but it was a rebroadcast of the originalGeneration 1 Transformers series, using the Marvel Comics commercial as the main title sequence and incorporating CGI footage from the toy commercials for use as the commercial bumpers.^[2] New computer-animated scene transitions were superimposed upon the existingcel animation, with footage occasionally slowed down at the end of each act to mask the original fadeout.

Some of the episodes were slightly abridged.

The original stories were presented as though they were recordings of historical events by the Cybernet Space Cube. The contention was that the cube would display scenes from the series on its six sides, spinning around to a new face of the cube during scene transitions. This replaced the classic spinning Autobot and Decepticon logos originally used as scene bumpers.^[3]

Some of the Generation 2 versions of the episodes have been released in the United Kingdom as region 2 DVDs. Simply entitled "Transformers: Generation 2" the DVD featured the episodes "More Than Meets The Eye" parts 1–3, "S.O.S. Dinobots," and "Heavy Metal War." The DVD was available alongside DVD compilations of miscellaneous original G1 episodes. These early DVD releases were eventually supplanted by Generation 1 DVD volumes and later complete season boxed sets.

Generation 2 episodes were all taken from theGeneration 1 television series, which had been previously produced, but with added effects and editing. These episodes aired between 1993 and 1995.^[3]

• Furman, Simon (2004).Transformers: The Ultimate Guide. DK Publishing Inc. p. 69.ISBN 1-4053-0461-8.

• Alignment –Simon Furman's prose conclusion to the Generation 2 comic book and overall, the Marvel Comics continuity
• Includes scans of the second UK exclusive Transformers Generation 2 Fleetway UK comic
• Includes scans of the first UK exclusive Transformers Generation 2 Fleetway UK comic

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