| Transformers | |
|---|---|
 Franchise logo, 2014–present | |
| Created by | |
| Original work | Transformers (based onDiaclone andMicro Change) |
| Years | 1984–present |
| Print publications | |
| Book(s) | Complete list |
| Comics | Complete list |
| Films and television | |
| Film(s) | Animated Live-action |
| Animated series | Complete list |
| Games | |
| Video game(s) | Complete list |
| Audio | |
| Soundtrack(s) | Transformers audio releases |
| Miscellaneous | |
| Related franchises | |
Transformers (stylised asTRANSFORMERS, alternatively titled asTransFormers, or simply abbreviatedTF), is amedia franchise produced by Japanese toy companyTakara Tomy and American toy companyHasbro. It primarily follows the heroicAutobots and the villainousDecepticons, twoalien robot factions at war that can transform into other forms, such as vehicles and animals. The franchise encompasses toys, animation, comic books, video games and films. As of 2011, it generated more than¥2 trillion ($25 billion) in revenue,[1] making it one of thehighest-grossing media franchises of all time.
The franchise began in 1984 with theTransformers toy line, comprising transformingmecha toys fromTakara'sDiaclone andMicro Change toylines rebranded for Western markets.[2] The term "Generation 1" (G1) covers both the animated television seriesThe Transformers and the comic book series ofthe same name, which are further divided into Japanese, British and Canadian spin-offs. Sequels followed, such as theGeneration 2 comic book andBeast Wars TV series, which became its ownmini-universe. Generation 1 characters have beenrebooted multiple times in the 21st century in comics fromDreamwave Productions (starting 2001),IDW Publishing (starting in 2005 and again in 2019), andSkybound Entertainment (beginning in 2023). There have been other incarnations of the story based on different toy lines during and after the 20th century. The first was theRobots in Disguise series, followed by three shows (Armada,Energon, andCybertron) that constitute a single universe called the "Unicron Trilogy".
Alive-action film series started in 2007, again distinct from previous incarnations, while theTransformers: Animated series merged concepts from the G1 continuity, the 2007 live-action film and the "Unicron Trilogy". For most of the 2010s, in an attempt to mitigate the wave of reboots, the "Aligned Continuity" was established. In 2018,Transformers: Cyberverse debuted, once again, distinct from the previous incarnations. Another series,Transformers: EarthSpark, debuted in 2022, again separate from previous continuities. The 2024 animated film,Transformers One, once again takes place in a new continuity.
Although a separate and competing franchise started in 1983,Tonka'sGoBots became theintellectual property of Hasbro after their buyout of Tonka in 1991. Subsequently, the universe depicted in the animated seriesChallenge of the GoBots and follow-up filmGoBots: Battle of the Rock Lords wasretroactively established as analternate universe within theTransformers multiverse.[3]
Generation 1 is a retroactive term for theTransformers characters that appeared between 1984 and 1993. TheTransformers began with the 1980s Japanese toy linesMicro Change andDiaclone. They presented robots able to transform into everyday vehicles, electronic items or weapons. Hasbro bought theMicro Change andDiaclone toys, and partnered withTakara.[4]Marvel Comics was hired by Hasbro to create thebackstory; editor-in-chiefJim Shooter wrote an overall story, and gave the task of creating the characters to writerDennis O'Neil.[5] Unhappy with O'Neil's work (although O'Neil created the name "Optimus Prime"), Shooter choseBob Budiansky to create the characters.[6]
TheTransformersmecha were largely designed byShōji Kawamori, the creator of the Japanesemecha anime franchiseMacross (which was adapted into theRobotech franchise in North America).[7] Kawamori came up with the idea of transforming mechs while working on theDiaclone andMacross franchises in the early 1980s (such as theVF-1 Valkyrie inMacross andRobotech), with hisDiaclone mechs later providing the basis forTransformers.[8]
The primary concept of Generation 1 is that the heroicOptimus Prime, the villainousMegatron, and their finest soldiers crash-land onprehistoric Earth in theArk and theNemesis before awakening in 1985, Cybertron hurtling through the Neutral zone as an effect of the war.The Marvel comic was originally part of the mainMarvel Universe, with appearances fromSpider-Man andNick Fury, plus some cameos,[9] as well as a visit to theSavage Land.[10]
The Transformers TV series began around the same time. Produced bySunbow Productions andMarvel Productions, later Hasbro Productions, from the start it contradicted Budiansky's backstories. The TV series shows theAutobots looking for new energy sources, and crash landing as theDecepticons attack.[11] Marvel interpreted the Autobots as destroying a rogue asteroid approaching Cybertron.[12]Shockwave is loyal to Megatron on the TV series, keeping Cybertron in a stalemate during his absence,[13] but in the comic book, he attempts to take command of the Decepticons.[14] The TV series would also differ wildly from the origins Budiansky had created for the Dinobots,[15][16] the Decepticon turned AutobotJetfire[17] (known as Skyfire on TV[18]), theConstructicons (who combine to formDevastator),[19][20] andOmega Supreme.[19][21] The Marvel comic establishes early on that Prime wields theCreation Matrix, which gives life to machines. In the second season, the two-part episodeThe Key to Vector Sigma introduced the ancient Vector Sigma computer, which served the same original purpose as the Creation Matrix (giving life to Transformers), and its guardianAlpha Trion.
In 1986, the cartoon became the filmThe 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 toUltra Magnus; however, as Prime dies he drops the matrix, which is then caught byHot Rod who subsequently becomesRodimus Prime later on in the film.Unicron, a Transformer who devours planets, fears its power and re-creates a heavily damaged Megatron asGalvatron, as well as Bombshell orSkywarp becomingCyclonus,Thundercracker becomingScourge and two otherInsecticons becoming Scourge's huntsmen, theSweeps. Eventually,Rodimus Prime takes out the Matrix and destroys Unicron.[22] In the United Kingdom, the weekly comic book interspliced original material to keep up with U.S. reprints,[23] andThe Movie provided much new material. WriterSimon Furman proceeded to expand the continuity with movie spin-offs involving the time travelling Galvatron.[24][25] The Movie also featured guest voices fromLeonard Nimoy asGalvatron,Scatman Crothers asJazz,Casey Kasem as Cliffjumper,Orson Welles asUnicron andEric Idle as the leader of the Junkions (Wreck-Gar, though unnamed in the movie). The Transformers theme tune for the film was performed by Lion with"Weird Al" Yankovic adding a song to the soundtrack.
The third season followed upThe Movie, with the revelation of theQuintessons having used Cybertron as a factory. Their robots rebel, and in time the workers become the Autobots and the soldiers become the Decepticons. (Note: This appears to contradict background presented in the first two seasons of the series.) It is the Autobots who develop transformation.[26] Due to popular demand,[27] Optimus Prime is resurrected at the conclusion of the third season,[28] and the series ended with a three-episode story arc. However, the Japanese broadcast of the series was supplemented with a newly producedOVA,Scramble City, before creating entirely new series to continue the storyline, ignoring the 1987 end of the American series. The extended Japanese run consisted ofThe Headmasters,Super-God Masterforce,Victory andZone, then in illustrated magazine form asBattlestars: Return of Convoy andOperation: Combination. Just as the TV series was wrapping up, Marvel continued to expand its continuity. It followsThe Movie's example by killing Prime[29] and Megatron,[30] albeit in the present day. Dinobot leaderGrimlock takes over as Autobot leader.[31] There was aG.I. Joe crossover[32] and the limited seriesThe Transformers: Headmasters, which further expanded the scope to the planet Nebulon.[33] It led on to the main title resurrecting Prime as a Powermaster.[34]
In the United Kingdom, the mythology continued to grow. Primus is introduced as the creator of the Transformers, to serve his material body that is planet Cybertron and fight his nemesisUnicron.[35] Female AutobotArcee 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.[36]Soundwave, Megatron's second-in-command, alsobreaks the fourth wall in the letters page, criticising the cartoon continuity as an inaccurate representation of history.[37] The UK also had a crossover inAction Force, the UK counterpart to G.I. Joe.[38] The comic book features a resurrected Megatron,[39] whom Furmanretconned to be aclone[40] when he took over the U.S. comic book, which depicted Megatron as still dead.[41] The U.S. comic would last for 80 issues until 1991,[42] and the UK comic lasted 332 issues and severalannuals, until it was replaced asDreamwave Productions, later in the 20th century.
In 2009,Shout! Factory released the entire G1 series in a 16-DVD box set called the Matrix of Leadership Edition.[43] They also released the same content as individual seasons.[44]
It was five issues[45] of theG.I. Joe comic in 1993 that would springboard a return for Marvel's Transformers, with the new twelve-issue seriesTransformers: Generation 2, to market a new toy line.
This story reveals that the Transformers originally breedasexually, though it is stopped by Primus because it produced the evilSwarm.[46] A new empire, neither Autobot nor Decepticon, is bringing it back, however. Though the year-long arc wrapped itself up with an alliance betweenOptimus Prime andMegatron, the final panel introduces the Liege Maximo, ancestor of the Decepticons.[47] This minor cliffhanger was not resolved until 2001 and 2002's Transforce convention when writerSimon Furman concluded his story in the exclusive novellaAlignment.[48]
The story focuses on a small group ofMaximals (the new Autobots), led byOptimus Primal, andPredacons, led byMegatron, 300 years after the "Great War". After a dangerous pursuit throughtranswarp space, both the Maximal and Predacon factions end up crash landing on a primitive, uncivilized planet similar toEarth, but with two moons and a dangerous level of Energon (which is later revealed tobe prehistoric Earth with an artificial second moon, taking place sometime during the 4 million year period in which the Autobots and Decepticons were in suspended animation from the first episode of the original Transformers cartoon), which forces them to take organic beast forms in order to function without going into stasis lock.[49] After writing this first episode,Bob Forward andLarry DiTillio learned of the G1 Transformers and began to use elements of it as a historical backstory to their scripts,[50] establishingBeast Wars as a part of theGeneration 1 universe through numerous callbacks to both the cartoon and the Marvel comic. By the end of the first season, the second moon and the Energon are revealed to have been constructed by a mysterious alien race known as theVok.
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 theArk. Megatron attempts to kill the originalOptimus Prime,[51] but at the beginning of the third season, Primal manages to preserve his spark. In the two-season follow-up series,Beast Machines, Cybertron is revealed to have organic origins, which Megatron attempts to stamp out.
After the first season ofBeast 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. While they waited 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 calledBeast Wars Second) andBeast Wars Neo, to fill in the gap. Dreamwaveretroactively revealedBeast Wars to be the future of their G1 universe,[52] and the 2006 IDW comic bookBeast Wars: The Gathering eventually confirmed the Japanese series to be canon[53] within a story set during Season 3.[54]
Beast Wars contained elements from both the G1 cartoon series and comics. Attributes taken from the cartoon include Transformers that were female, the appearance ofStarscream (who mentions being killed off by Galvatron inThe Transformers: The Movie), and appearances of the Plasma Energy Chamber and Key to Vector Sigma. The naming of the Transformer ship, theArk (and reference to 1984, the year the Transformers on board are revived), the characterRavage being shown as intelligent, and Cybertron having an organic core are elements taken from the comics.
In 2011,Shout! Factory released the complete series ofBeast Wars on DVD.[55]
In 2001,Dreamwave Productions began a new universe of annual comics adapted from Marvel, but also included elements of the animated. The Dreamwave stories followed the concept of the Autobots defeating the Decepticons on Earth, but their 1997 return journey to Cybertron on theArk II[56] is destroyed byShockwave, now ruler of the planet.[57] The story follows on from there and was told intwo six-issue limited series, then a ten-issue ongoing series. The series also adds extra complexities such as not all Transformers believing in the existence of Primus,[58] corruption in the Cybertronian government that first ledMegatron to begin his war,[59] and Earth having an unknown relevance to Cybertron.[57][60]
ThreeTransformers: 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.[61]Beast Wars was alsoretroactively stated as the future of this continuity, with the profile seriesMore than Meets the Eye showing thePredaconMegatron looking at historical files detailing Dreamwave's characters and taking his name from the original Megatron.[52] In 2004, this real life universe also inspired three novels[62] and aDorling Kindersley guide, which focused on Dreamwave as the "true" continuity when discussing in-universe elements of the characters. In a new twist, Primus and Unicron are siblings, formerly a being known as the One.Transformers: Micromasters, set after theArk's disappearance, was also published. The real life universe was disrupted when Dreamwave went bankrupt in 2005.[63] This left theGeneration 1 story hanging and the third volume ofThe War Within half finished. Plans for a comic book set betweenBeast Wars andBeast Machines were also left unrealized.[64]
Throughout the years, the G1 characters have also starred in crossovers with fellow Hasbro propertyG.I. Joe, but whereas those crossovers published by Marvel were in continuity with their larger storyline, those released by Dreamwave andG.I. Joe publisherDevil's Due Publishing occupy their own separate real life universes. In Devil's Due, the terrorist organizationCOBRA Command is responsible for finding and reactivating the Transformers. Dreamwave's version reimagines the familiarG1 andG.I. Joe characters in aWorld 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, battlingSerpentor and being faced with the combined menace ofCobra-La andUnicron. During this time, Cobra teams up with theDecepticons.IDW Publishing has expressed interest in their own crossover.[65]
The following year,IDW Publishingrebooted the G1 series from scratch within variouslimited series andone shots. This allowed long-time writer of Marvel and Dreamwave comics,Simon Furman, to create his own universe without continuity hindrance, similar toUltimate Marvel. This new continuity originally consisted of a comic book series titled The Transformers with a companion series known asThe Transformers: Spotlight. The main series was broken up into several story arcs. Eventually, with IDW Publishing losing sales, the series was given a soft reboot. Beginning withAll Hail Megatron, the series was set in a new direction, discarding the miniseries and Spotlight format withongoing comics. By 2012 the series had split into three ongoing series; The Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye, The Transformers: Robots in Disguise (which later changed in 2015 to "The Transformers") and The Transformers: Till All Are One. In 2022, it was announced that IDW lost the publishing rights to Transformers.[66]
In January 2006, theHasbro Transformers Collectors' Club comic wrote a story based on the Transformers Classics toy line, set in the Marvel Comics universe, but excluding theGeneration 2 comic. Fifteen years afterMegatron crash-lands in theArk with Ratchet, the war continues with the characters in theirClassics bodies.[67]
IDW Publishing introducedThe Transformers: Evolutions in 2006, a collection of mini-series that re-imagine and reinterpret the G1 characters in various ways. To date, only one miniseries has been published,Hearts of Steel, placing the characters in anIndustrial Revolution-era setting. The series was delayed as Hasbro did not want to confuse newcomers with too many fictional universes before the release of thelive-action film.[68]
However, IDW and the original publisherMarvel Comics announced a crossover storyline with theAvengers to coincide with the filmNew Avengers/Transformers.[69] The story is set on the borders ofSymkaria andLatveria, and itsfictional universe is set between the first twoNew Avengers storylines, as well in between theInfiltration andEscalation phase of IDW'sThe Transformers.[70] IDW editor-in-chief, Chris Ryall hinted at elements of it being carried over into the main continuities,[71] and that asequel is possible.[72] In June 2018 it was announced there would beStar Trek and Transformers Crossover being released in September 2018.[73]
Transformers: Kiss Players [ja] (トランスフォーマー キスぷれ,Toransufōmā Kisu Pure), shortened toKiss Players (キスぷれ,Kisu Pure), is a Japanese Transformers franchise which began in 2006 to 2007 as was helmed by artist and writer Yuki Ohshima. By virtue of being the only Transformers toyline and fiction released in Japan byTakara between the conclusion ofTransformers: Cybertron andthe live-action movie, it was also effectively the main Transformers line in the country for that time. It takes place in theGeneration 1 cartoon continuity, specifically in the five-year milieu betweenThe Transformers: The Movie andTransformers 2010.[74]
The series derives its name from its controversial gimmick, which involves Transformers getting "power-ups" when they are kissed by human girls - the eponymous "Kiss Players" - who fuse with the robots and share their adventures. The plot starts with the Earth Defense Command being formed in 2003 as part of a cooperative human/Autobot effort. When a virus called the Cosmic Rust critically struck the Autobots later that year, the EDC kicked off the Binaltech Project to shore up its defenses. WhenGalvatron was hurled out ofUnicron byRodimus Prime in 2005, rather than immediately crashing onto the intended target of the planet Thrull, he instead hurtled toward Earth. Landing in Tokyo, Japan, the Decepticon leader's impact decimated the city and scattered his Unicron-mutated cells throughout Earth's atmosphere. Following this catastrophe, the EDC was reborn as an organization dedicated to driving all Transformers off Earth. The organization built an anti-electron field (previously referred to as anEnergon field) to make the planet uninhabitable to Cybertronians, and created a team of 48 transforming robots known as Autoroopers (オートルーパー Ōtorūpā), a Japanese portmanteau of "auto" (オート ōto) and "trooper" (トルーパー torūpā) or Autotroopers (aka Autobot Troopers) in English, are a group of human-created artificial Transformers that serve the Earth Defense Command to combat any other Transformers that remained,[75] recruiting young women who had been infected with the cells and gained Kiss Player fusion abilities to partner with them.
The three central characters were a younger version ofMarissa Faireborn[76] as a resistance fighter against the EDC partnered with Optimus Prime who while having died in the movie, his body body was recovered and restored to life in a new body resembling that of aDodge Ram pickup by the same organization. Rodimus devastated by his guilt in his role of the destruction of Tokyo stepped down as the then leader of the Autobots reverting to the previous name of Hot Rod in order to return to Earth to atone for his mistake. He's refitted into a vehicle resembling aFord GT by his headstrong partner Shaoshao Li,[77] a girl of Chinese descent and an estranged friend of Marissa and used to be one of the EDC's top Kiss Players until realizing that the EDC was conducting experiments behind her back on other girls. She was then rescued by Hot Rod and joins the resistance to combat the EDC and make amends with her former friend. Lastly, Atari Hitotonari[78] of Japanese descent, who "recruited" into the EDC after the death of her parents while suffering fromsurvivor's guilt. She would shortly become depressed and self-destructive. As she spoke aloud about her nihilistic feelings she would meet her partner by the name Ne-04,[79] a Autorooper built in the form resembling aMazda RX-8 would shared the same feeling as she did though with the time they spend together their way of thinking would change throughout their relationship. While this plotline seems like a shift in demographics to little girls, it is said that this line was aimed at a much older adult male audience. The toys bear an "ages 15 and up" warning, and the subject matter of the accompanying manga is far from child-friendly. The franchise itself consists of a toyline, a weeklyradio drama series (featuring voice acting byLyrian as Marissa,Yui Kano as Shaoshao,Satomi Akesaka as Atari, and Keiji Hirai as Ne-04 among others), and a three part manga, which together tell the story of the line in which the toys and manga all of which were also created by Ohshima.[80]
Following the conclusion of its first storyline in late 2007,Kiss Players moved into its second (and apparently final) phase,Kiss Players Position, which shifted focus to a distinctly more PG-rated theme, though it was still heavy on the "cute girls" theme. The Kiss Players this time are a pop idol singing group made up of the three girls and three originalmini-cassette Transformers Glit,[81] Sundor[82]the former is a spy and the latter shows compassion to both allies and enemies, and Rosanna[83] who's the onlyheroic one out of the three. The group's purpose is to promote a positive relationship and friendship between humans and Transformers in the wake of the Tokyo disaster of 2005 and the subsequent rise and fall of the E.D.C.. They wear E.D.C. logos on their costumes as a group, appearing to be either sponsored by or a public-relations arm of the revitalized organization.[80]
Additionally, Ohshima's other major contribution toTransformers at the time, the 1-pageInformation Administration Teletraan 15 Go! Go! comic published inDengeki Hobby magazine, also featured several tie-ins to theKiss Players story. These primarily served to introduce readers to theKiss Players story and characters when the line was launched, and then later, to summarize the final few radio dramas when both series were drawing to a close.Information Administration Teletraan 15 Go! Go! also featured the first part of a story in whichStarscream's ghost possessed Atari (which was continued in the radio drama), and in the second year, notably incorporated the further adventures of theKiss Players Position cassette trio, who were rather confusingly dropped from the radio storyline in its second week and never mentioned again.[84]
Reactions ran the gamut from outright disgust to comedic derision, with most fans agreeing that the content such be included a children's toyline was distasteful. The fact that several Japanese fans were themselves openly decryingKiss Players, fearing that American fans would think that it was somehow accepted as normal in Japan regarding its sexually suggestive material. Oshima himself even admitted that he crafted the series in this manner because he wanted to "make people's jaws drop."[citation needed]
Many of its characters and ideas have made appearances in otherTransformers media. The Autroopers appeared inTransformers: Animated in 2009 with an official toyline released inBotcon in 2011.[85] The colors of white and blue used for Glit would inspire theShattered Glass incarnation ofRavage.[86] A new toy figure of Sundor would be released under theTransformers Generations: The Fall of Cybertron line in 2012.[87] Several ideas introduced into the 2007 storyline focusing on the introduction of Primus into the Japanese cartoon's timeline have been revisited and expanded upon, which sharesKiss Players storytelling while attempting to fill in gaps of the timeline in the Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity. TheTransformers Legends manga, while featuring lewd content and new stories and characters, also has the two returning and older characters of Atari and Shaoshao.[88]
Possibly as a result of the majority of fans trying to distance themselves from the series combined with the then general inaccessibility of the radio show to an English audience, there was minimal awareness of the specific details of theKiss Players storyline in the Japanese fandom. However, on July 19, 2022, most of the original media (including the radio dramas, manga, comic, and other materials) were recovered. This material was remastered and translated into English and released via torrent for download.
First broadcast in Japan in 2000,Robots in Disguise was a single animated series consisting of thirty-nine episodes. It was exported to other countries in subsequent years. In this continuity, Megatron re-creates the Decepticons as a sub-faction 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 theBeast eras. It is a stand-alone universe with no ties to any other Transformers fiction, though some of the characters fromRobots in Disguise did eventually make appearances inTransformers: Universe, including Optimus Prime, Ultra Magnus,Side Burn andProwl.
The show was heavily censored in the U.S. due to its content of buildings being destroyed and terrorism references after theSeptember 11 attacks on the United States and three episodes were cut altogether.[89]
These three lines, launched in 2002 and dubbed the "Unicron Trilogy" byTransformers designerAaron Archer,[90] are co-productions between Takara and (lesser extent) Hasbro, simultaneously released in both countries, each lasting 52 episodes.Armada followed the Autobots and Decepticons discovering the powerfulMini-Cons on Earth, which are revealed by the end to be weapons ofUnicron.Energon, set ten years later, followed the Autobots and the Omnicons in their fight to stop the Decepticons and the Terrorcons from resurrecting Unicron with energon.
In Japan, the seriesTransformers: Cybertron showed no ties to the previous two series, telling its own story. This caused continuity problems when Hasbro soldCybertron as a follow-up toArmada/Energon. The writers attempted to change certain plot elements from the Japanese version to remedy this, although this largely added up to nothing more than references to Unicron, Primus, Primes and Minicons.
Just as Marvel produced a companion comic toGeneration 1,Dreamwave Productions published the comicTransformers Armada set in a different continuity from the cartoon. At #19, it becameTransformers Energon. Dreamwave went bankrupt and ceased all publications before the storyline could be completed at #30. However, the Transformers Fan Club published a few stories set in theCybertron era.[91]
The storyline ofTransformers: Universe, mainly set followingBeast Machines, sees characters from many assorted alternate continuities, including existing and new ones, encountering each other. The story was told in an unfinished comic book exclusive to the Official Transformers Collectors' Convention.
In 2007,Michael Bay directed alive-action film based onTransformers, withSteven Spielberg serving as executive producer. It starsShia LaBeouf,Josh Duhamel,Megan Fox, andTyrese Gibson in the lead human cast while voice actors Peter Cullen and Hugo Weaving voice Optimus Prime and Megatron, respectively.Transformers received mixed to positive reviews and was a box office success.[92] It is theforty-fifth highest-grossing film and thefifth highest-grossing film of 2007, grossing approximately $709 million worldwide. The film won four awards from theVisual Effects Society and was nominated for threeAcademy Awards, forBest Sound Editing,Best Sound Mixing, andBest Visual Effects. The performance of Shia LaBeouf was praised byEmpire, and Peter Cullen's reprisal of Optimus Prime from the 1980s television series was well received by fans. A sequel,Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, was released on June 24, 2009. It received mostly negative reviews, but was a commercial success and grossed more than its predecessor. A third film,Transformers: Dark of the Moon, was released on June 29, 2011, in3-D and went on to gross over $1 billion, despite receiving mixed reviews. A fourth film,Transformers: Age of Extinction, was released on June 27, 2014, which also grossed over $1 billion, though it received generally negative reviews. A fifth film,Transformers: The Last Knight was released on June 23, 2017 to similarly negative reviews. Unlike its predecessors, the movie failed to recoup its costs for the studio.[93]Bumblebee, directed byLaika'sTravis Knight, was released on December 21, 2018, serving as a prequel to the first film, receiving positive reviews from critics. The movie was a box-office success. A sequel toBumblebee, directed bySteven Caple Jr. and titledTransformers: Rise of the Beasts, was released on June 9, 2023 to mixed reviews from critics.
Transformers: Animated is a cartoon that was aired in early 2008 onCartoon Network in theUnited States.[94] Originally scheduled for late after 2007 under the title ofTransformers: Heroes,[95]Transformers Animated is set in 2050Detroit (after crash landing 50 years earlier),[94] when robots and humans live side by side.[95] TheAutobots come to Earth and assumesuperhero roles, battling evil humans, with theDecepticons having a smaller role until Megatron resurfaces.[96] Main characters include Autobots Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Bulkhead, Prowl, and Ratchet; Decepticons Megatron, Starscream, Blitzwing, Lugnut, and Blackarachnia; and humans Professor Sumdac and Sari Sumdac. Several characters that were in the original Transformers cartoon and 1986 animated movie, as well as characters only seen in comics and such, make special appearances and cameos throughout the show, with various voice actors (includingCorey Burton,John Moschitta, Jr.,Susan Blu, andJudd Nelson) reprising their roles.
Hasbro, in an attempt to stop the wave of reboots that started in 2001, created the Aligned Universe, with the intent to unify everyTransformers media into one continuity. The name of this continuity however, is not official; it was adopted by the fans after Hasbro referred to it as an "Aligned Continuity".[97]
The toy lines derived from this continuity areTransformers: Generations,Transformers: Rescue Bots, andTransformers Go! The television series belonging to the Aligned Universe includeTransformers: Prime (including its concluding filmPrime Beast Hunters: Predacons Rising[98]), theRescue Bots TV series,[99] its sequelTransformers: Rescue Bots Academy, theGo! anime adaptation, and the 2015 seriesTransformers: Robots in Disguise.[100]
The video games that are part of this shared universe areTransformers: War for Cybertron (including itsNintendo DS version and the companionTransformers: Cybertron Adventures),Transformers: Fall of Cybertron, thePrime video game adaptation,[101][102] andTransformers: Rise of the Dark Spark, that serves as a conclusion of theCybertron series and crossover with the live-action film video game series.
Four novels set within the continuity have been published:Transformers: Exodus,[103][104]Transformers: Exiles,[105][106]Transformers: Retribution,[107][108] andTransformers: The Covenant of Primus.[109] The first three were published byDel Rey Books, whileCovenant of Primus was published by47North. In addition,IDW Publishing has published several comic books, including graphic novels, whileTitan Magazines publishedTransformers Comic UK, a 20-issue series from 2007 to 2014.
The video games, novels, and television series contradict each other due to creative differences, miscommunications, constant team changes, andAaron Archer being replaced with a different person that did not know the 354-page brand bible, "The Binder of Revelation".[110]
In August 2016,Machinima and Hasbro co-produced an animated series namedCombiner Wars, simultaneously published on the website Go90 andYouTube. This was followed by two further installments,Titans Return andPower of the Primes.Eric Calderon was executive producer of the trilogy.[111] The events of the series take place 40 years after the end of the Autobot/Decepticon civil war, with the Transformers having returned to Cybertron and now being threatened by ancient technology.
The trailer forCombiner Wars was released on July 26, 2016, along with four prequel episodes.[112] Eight five-minute episodes of the seriesCombiner Wars were released weekly beginning on August 2.[112][113] The cast of theCombiner Wars was predominantly made up of famous YouTube personalities.[114] The first series was included as a bonus feature on theTransformers: The Last KnightBlu-ray release.[115]
The second series, dubbedTitans Return featured returning voice cast from previous iterations of Transformers, such as Peter Cullen and Judd Nelson, along with newcomers such asMichael Dorn as Perceptor andWil Wheaton as Fortress Maximus.[114] Guest voices includedMark Hamill andRon Perlman.[116]Titans Return debuted on November 14, 2017, on the Go90 platform, consisting of ten episodes at roughly 11 minutes each. The series featured returning Titan characters such as Metroplex, Fortress Maximus and Trypticon and the resultant destruction such enormous characters create.[117]
The third part of the trilogy, dubbedPower of the Primes was launched on May 1, 2018,[118] comprising 10 episodes released weekly, each roughly 11 minutes long. FJ DeSanto was executive producer of the third installment. Animation was done by Tatsunoko Productions.[119]Power of the Primes focused on the arrival of Megatronus, one of the original Primes.[120] In 2019, Machinima shut down[121] and folded into Otter Media. On January 19, Machinima removed all of its videos from YouTube, including those of the Prime Wars Trilogy.[122] After the shutdown, a number of former Machinima creations returned to the web viaRooster Teeth.[123] The series is available on the Rooster Teeth website.[124]
Transformers: Cyberverse (later known asTransformers: Bumblebee Cyberverse Adventures for seasons 3 and 4) is an animated series produced byBoulder Media andAllspark Animation (laterEntertainment One) which premiered on September 1, 2018 onCartoon Network[125] and concluded on November 21, 2021 onNetflix comprising four chapters, of which the fourth was composed of two specials.[126]Cyberverse uses characters and elements across various continuities, including G1, Beast Era, the live-action film series,Animated, and the Aligned continuity, to tell its own story.[125]
The Transformers: War for Cybertron Trilogy is an animated three-part series that was developed as a co-production betweenRooster Teeth,Netflix and Hasbro.Polygon Pictures was chosen as the animation studio. Headed by FJ DeSanto, a veteran of Transformers animation having previously worked on two installments of the Power of the Primes trilogy, the series tells the origin of the civil war between the Autobots and Decepticons.[127] Comprising three parts, the series was announced on February 15, 2019, for release on Netflix.[128][129] The voice cast of the show used new actors for recognizable characters such asJake Foushou as Optimus Prime andJason Marnocha as Megatron.[130] Each series is made up of six episodes, each a half hour long.[130] The series also had a tie-in toyline.[131]
A trailer of for the first installmentSiege was released on July 8, 2020, with the show following on July 30, 2020,[130][132] The first series focuses on the civil war on Cybertron and the conflict between the two leaders of the opposing factions, Optimus Prime and Megatron, along with the introduction of a third, mercenary, faction.[131][133]
A trailer for the second series, dubbedEarthrise, was published on December 7, 2020[134] The second series debuted on Netflix on December 30.[135]Earthrise was more limited in scope than the previous series. Instead of the entire Transformer civil war, this series focuses on the two leaders once again and the crews of their starships as Optimus seeks to flee Cybertron and find the missing Allspark. The series also saw the introduction of a fourth faction, the Quintessons.[136]
The trailer for the final series,Kingdom, debuted on July 5, 2021[137] and the series premiered on Netflix on July 29.[130]Kingdom picks up where the last series leaves off with Optimus and Megatron searching for the Allspark, having now crash-landed on Earth. On the planet, they encounter characters previously seen in the older seriesTransformers: Beast Wars.[138]
Transformers: BotBots is an animated comedy streaming television series developed by Kevin Burke andChris "Doc" Wyatt for Netflix comprising 20 episodes.[139] The first season of ten episodes was released on March 25, 2022.[140] In a departure from the traditional conflict between the Autobots and Decepticons seen in most continuities, the series focuses on the BotBots, small robots organized in groups of tribes who can transform into everyday objects, and primarily follows the efforts of the Lost Bots, who try to find their own place amongst the others.[139]
Transformers: EarthSpark is an animated television series produced by Entertainment One andNickelodeon Animation Studio for the streaming serviceParamount+ and the television networkNickelodeon, which debuted on November 11, 2022.[141]EarthSpark is notable for prominently featuring humans after being mostly absent in various media of the franchise in the late 2010s such asCyberverse, the 2019 IDW comics andWar for Cybertron Trilogy, and uses a union voice cast for the first time since 2018.
Upon the establishment of awriters' room for devising ideas regarding futureTransformers films in 2015, the duo of Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari immediately conceived the concept of an animated prequel film depicting the beginnings of the Autobot-Decepticon war on Cybertron.[142][143] The film is directed byJosh Cooley, who oversaw the story treatment by Barrer and Ferrari with additional script contributions byEric Pearson.[144][145] The film's narrative is centered on the respective origin stories of Optimus Prime and Megatron, chroncling their early friendship as Energon miners named Orion Pax and D-16, and the rift that causes their evolution into the respective leaders of the Autobots and Decepticons, beginning their long-standing conflict.[146][147]Chris Hemsworth andBrian Tyree Henry lead the film's ensemble voice cast as Orion Pax and D-16 respectively, alongsideScarlett Johansson,Keegan-Michael Key,Jon Hamm andLaurence Fishburne.[148][149] The film's score was composed byBrian Tyler, returning to the franchise after previously scoringTransformers: Prime.[150]Transformers One released in September 2024, and received positive critical reception despitefinancially underperforming at the box office, grossing $124.2 million worldwide against a budget estimated to be between $75–147 million.[151][152][153][154] Despite this, producerLorenzo di Bonaventura expressed the desire for the film to launch a potential trilogy, confirming that the story was mapped out to illustrate a multi-film progression of the characters towards their traditional depictions in other media, such as the live-action films.[155] By the film's release, di Bonaventura confirmed that the filmmakers were already outlining plans for a sequel, and that it would be produced if the film is considered successful.[156]
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