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Box art forOptimus Prime in 1984 byJeffrey Mangiat.

Throughout the life of theTransformers brand,package art has been one of its most common elements. Though not as widely noted and celebrated asTech Specs, it is just as enduring and iconic to the brand. In the fandom, it is also referred to asbox art, though it also appears on carded toypackages.

Transformers package art most often serves to portray the toy in the mode that it isn't packaged in. As most Transformers are sold in their non-robot forms, it typically shows them as robots (or whatever their equivalent primary mode is.)

Generation 1

Hasbro (The Transformers)

All that hard work and they STILL missed a mode.

Every Transformer sold in Generation 1 featured hand-painted artwork on the front of the package, most often showing therobot mode, with the vehicle form of the actual toy visible alongside it through a clear plastic window or bubble. A smaller version of the art was shown as part of the character'sbiography andTech Spec profile. Generation 1's package art also showed up in numerous merchandising items, such asAction Cards,pack-in flyers,iron-on patches, party hats, and more.

Some toys would also have art depicting theirvehicle mode. TheJumpstarters had vehicle art because they were packaged in robot mode, and theTriple Changers had art for the vehicle mode the toy wasn't packaged in. The tech specs still used the robot art only.Punch also had boxart for both of his robot modes. Another exception to the rule was theClones, sold packaged in their identical robot modes, with artwork of their different alternate modes alongside them. Vehicle mode art was generally used only on windowed boxes, since the non-windowed boxes (such asOmega Supreme,Metroplex,Fortress Maximus, andCountdown) had large pictures of all alternate modes on the front.

Package art for the multiple-formPretenders featured all of their forms: outer shell and both modes of the inner robot. As the multiple-formMega andUltra Pretender toys came along, this resulted in some rather crowded package art.

When we win the lottery, this is where we're going.

The character art for many of theDiaclone-licensed characters was directly appropriated from their original Diaclone boxes, including Autobot vehicles, Dinobots, and Decepticon cassettes. This style was maintained for all newly commissioned Generation 1 (and Generation 2) character art, presumably for consistency.

This art style often depicted a somewhat fictionalized version of the robot mode. While the reproduction of the toy's finer details was done very faithfully, the actual poses were often utterly impossible to reproduce given the limited articulation of most Generation 1 toys. Seemingly, the less the posable the toy was, the greater the artistic exaggeration tended to be; thus, theThrottlebots andBattlechargers were shown with jointed arms, separable legs and posable heads, even though the represented toys lacked all these features.

Some of the first year's character art, such asOptimus Prime,Jazz, and some of theSeekers, were painted byJeffrey Mangiat. The1984 mini-vehicles, as well asShockwave andJetfire, were illustrated byMark Watts. A large portion of the 1986 through 1988 character line art was done byRichard Marcej[1], including some if not all of thePredacons,Headmasters,Targetmasters,Powermasters,Seacons andPretenders. Much of the late-run Generation 1 package art was the work of Japanese illustratorHidetsugu Yoshioka, whose work brought a dynamic and appealing style to the often blocky and simplistic toys.

A number of the original Generation 1 paintings have appeared for sale at recentBotCons, at asking prices starting at $650 and ranging up to several thousand dollars. The classic character artwork reappeared with the release of theVintage G1 line, featured on both the front of the box and on theTech Spec card on the back.

TakaraTomy (Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers)

Takara followed Hasbro's lead with regard to the packaging design of Transformers, with the vast majority of the character artwork for the first three years of the line being identical to their U.S. releases. In some instances however, Takara utilized different artwork from Hasbro for some of the line's figures, including among others alternate character artwork for Optimus Prime,Megatron,Astrotrain (white version),Trypticon and Fortress Maximus. Takara also had new artwork in the same style as the preceding Diaclone and Hasbro character artwork created for Japanese-only retail figures, and this artwork style was maintained through to the end of the Japanese Generation 1 run in 1992. In some (but not all) instances where a toy was released in different colors than the Hasbro release, the Hasbro artwork was simply reused with the appropriate modifications, such asQuickswitch andSixknight.

Back of the box art

Hasbro

My name is Optimus Prime. I'm Japanese!

For the first five years, the boxed toys of Generation 1 also featured hand-painted, mural-like artwork depicting that year's toyline engaged in battle.

Compared to the fiction which developed around the toys, these paintings often feature some rather surreal elements. Multiples of the same character are shown (sometimes to depict movement, and possibly a result of theTransformers toys' original fictional origin as piloted mecha), and cars are seen to fly through space. Occasional off-model characters appear as well, such as a red Tracks or a strange-looking Broadside.

The original 1984 painting byDavid Schleinkofer showed the Transformers battling in deep space. The 1985 toy assortment was shown fighting in Earth orbit, with the planet sustaining some massive damage below them. In 1986, they were on the barren surface of a planet, centered around Metroplex. (1985 and 1986's were painted by Jeffrey Mangiat.) The 1987 battle was once again in deep space, withFortress Maximus andScorponok as the clear centerpieces; 1988 was likewise set in deep space.

I'll finish you yet, Dudley Do-Right!

With the proliferation of Pretenders andMicromaster bases in 1989, the standardized back-of-box art was replaced with a series of rather crude and cartoonish hand-drawn scenes, each showing a few of that year's characters engaged in combat, typically the toy type (Micromaster base, Mega Pretender, etc.) that was being sold in the package. The line art for these illustrations was apparently all done byRichard Marcej[2], who was creditably also responsible for much of the higher-quality character art from earlier years.

The Action Masters in 1990 did get a more traditional mural painting, showing a battle in low Earth orbit, complete with ground vehicles flying through space.

With theVintage G1 line, the classic box styles returned, including the back of box mural art.

TakaraTomy

For the back-of-box artwork Takara initially reused the 1984 painting for their initial releases in 1985, but later switched to a heavily modified version of Hasbro's 1985 back-of-box art, altered to include several more characters, most prominentlyDevastator, while at the same time totally removing the non-Takara toys such as theDeluxe Insecticons andJetfire. For 1986, Takara had a totally unique piece of artwork in a similar style spotlighting the 1986 Scramble City combiner and citybot toys, in addition to also reusing Jeffrey Mangiat's 1986 mural on other boxes. For 1987 and 1988, Takara again used the same back-of-box artwork as Hasbro, but 1989'sVictory line by necessity used a totally new piece of artwork spotlighting the unique-to-Japan toys.Zone did away with a fully painted battlescene, the back of the boxes simply including photographs of the main line. 1991'sReturn of Convoy on the other hand had two new battlescenes painted for the line, one spotlighting Sky Garry and Grandus, and the other one appropriately featuring Star Convoy.Operation Combination, like Zone, retained the painted character artwork but did not feature a new battlescene.

Generation 2

Generation 2 featured a combination of retouched (or redrawn-to-look-as-if-it-were-retouched) Generation 1 (obviously for the repainted or retooled Generation 1 toys) and all-new artwork to accompany the new toys. This new artwork was closer in resemblance to the artwork seen in the last years of Generation 1 than the early art.

Some ofGeneration 2's package art was reproduced on a series of pack-inReal Action Pop-Ups 3-D Transformer Trading Cards.

TakaraTomy (Transformers G-2)

With the reintroduction of Transformers to Japan in 1995, Takara elected to try a new approach by utilizing computer generated models to represent the characters on the packaging instead of painted artwork.

Beast Era

Beast Wars

The Batclaw.

Beast Wars continued the painted-art standard of Generation 1, though now in a more exaggerated, aggressive style befitting the aesthetics of the age of theTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles by veteran Hasbro artistDoug Hart. Occasional use of the mutant head feature on the earlyBeast Wars toys led to a particularly dramatic contrast with the more restrained show models.

Terror Claws, the nemesis of Echowarrior.

Three of the largestBeast Wars toys (the TransmetalsDepth Charge,Rampage andOptimal Optimus) featured a "schematic" drawing of the toy in robot mode on the back of the box, in blue line-on-black form, alongside a photograph of the actual toy. The drawing had call-outs for suchbizarre technical details as "galva-conductors", "terror claws", "space cruiser wings", and "LED smart missile plasma cannons".

The later Transmetal 2 toysTigerhawk and Megatron omitted the line art and used the toy photo to call out the techno-nonsense. These two toys also featured added box art placed so that the toys, visible through the box's plastic window, appeared to be firing their weapons. Megatron, for example, appeared to have a stream of fire spewing from his dragon head's mouth.

TakaraTomy (Beast Wars: Super Lifeform Transformers)

Takara initially returned to hand drawn artwork for the first several releases of their Beast Wars line in 1997, but rather than repurpose the U.S. artwork for the relevant toys, these were all-new renditions that, where appropriate, were based on the characters' visual appearance in the Beast Wars TV show (Optimus Primal having a mouth, for example). Shortly into the line, Takara abandoned the hand drawn artwork and returned to computer generated models, which were done in a style reminiscent of the Beast Wars animated series.

Takara continued this package style through the two subsequent "Beast" lines,Beast Wars II andBeast Wars Neo, with only theAutorollers using traditional-style box art.Beast Wars Metals abandoned character artwork on the boxes altogether in favor of larger windows to show off the toys.

Beast Machines

TheBeast Machines toyline was the first to break with the tradition established by Generation 1. Most packages featured the CGI-rendered robot mode ofCheetor, rather than the character whose toy was being sold. For the "The Battle for the Sparks" subline, Cheetor was replaced byOptimus Primal inbeast mode. The "Dinobots" subline featuredT-Wrecks in beast mode.

The CGI model of boxed characters who appeared onthe show, such asTankor, appeared on the back of their boxes alongside their profile.

Machine Wars

Machine Wars was composed of mostly repaints/retools from the 1992 European Generation 1 toyline and previously unusedGeneration 2. The only packaging art created for the line was the art forHubcap andHoist.Sandstorm,Soundwave andStarscream used art from theGeneration 1 toys they wereredecoes of. The Basic jets used recoloredPredator art, andProwl andMirage usedLaser RodJolt's art. Oddly,Optimus Prime didn't useThunder Clash's art, but instead used a heavily edited version of Laser Optimus Prime's art. (As a result, Prime's box art indicates that the toy has a mouthplate, which is not the case.)

Robots in Disguise (2001)

The2001Robots in Disguise toyline restored individual character portrayals to the front of packages... but these were simply computer-enhanced photographs of the actual toys within, often transformed to varying degrees of accuracy. The JapaneseCar Robots releases continued to use the type of CGI boxart used on the JapaneseBeast Wars toys.

TakaraTomy (Car Robots)

Car Robots featured new computer-generated artwork on the line's boxed figures, with carded figures simply featuring the toy's corresponding collectors' card (complete with a CG rendition of the character) placed in a window above the figure.

Unicron Trilogy

Armada

With the newArmada toyline and franchise continuity, Hasbro'sTransformers packaging returned to hand-drawn character art for the first time since the end ofBeast Wars. Drawn by artists fromDreamwave Productions, this art followed a comic book style with modern Photoshop colouring, rather than the hand-painted work of Generation 1.

This art was also reproduced onto a collectible sticker that was included with allArmada toys from the Super-Con size class and upwards.

• The Mini-Con class toys featured a single piece of artwork of one of the Mini-Con team members on the insert tray card
• The Super-Con class toys did not feature artwork directly on the packaging card itself, instead opting to display the collector sticker in the packaging bubble.
• Max-Con, Giga-Con, Super Base and Supreme class toys all featured art directly printed onto the packaging.

TakaraTomy (Legends of the Microns)

TheLegends of the Microns toys, much like Generation 1 before it, simply repurposed the artwork as drawn by Dreamwave Productions. Also like later Generation 1 figures, Takara altered the colors ofsome characters where necessary to reflect their slightly different colors in the Japanese marketplace, and had new artwork done for theMagna Convoy DX Set in a similar style.

Energon

Hahahaha, I've got your purse!

TheEnergon toyline featured the same style of comic artwork first seen in theArmada line, this time featuring all of the characters included in a toy package where possible (for example, an entire Mini-Con team as opposed to just a single member as seen duringArmada). Once again, artists affiliated with Dreamwave Productions provided the artwork. Similarly toArmada, for toys Deluxe class and upwards the packaging art was reproduced on collectible tech spec cards included with paperwork or taped inside the packaging bubble.

TakaraTomy (Super Link)

Consistent with the corresponding animated series, theSuper Link toyline utilized CG artwork taken directly from the character models as used on the TV show.

Cybertron

It's gonna be a Cybertronsical Transformertastic Snit in thePit! Only $49.95 on Pay-Per-View!

Cybertron's packaging artwork headed in a dramatically different direction to the previous years, dropping the comic book style in favour of focusing on the upper torso of the character while they were in a 'ready to fight' pose, similar to the advertisingposters of boxing matches. The artwork was drawn mostly by now-freelance ex-Dreamwave artists, and coloured in a style passably similar to the painted Generation 1/Generation 2 art.

TakaraTomy (Galaxy Force)

As with Super Link before it,Galaxy Force simply used the character's CG models from the accompanying animated series as the character artwork on the boxes. In the cases of non-show characters likeBuzzsaw andRunabout, hand-drawn artwork was used instead.

Commemorative Series

TheGeneration One Commemorative Series series featured a wide range of previously seen art, from the original 1980s packaging art to theTransformers Collection reissue artwork byHirofumi Ichikawa. Additionally, all-new art by Dreamwave artist/presidentPat Lee was commissioned for several of the later reissues, coupled with a few instances of recycled artwork originally drawn by Lee for the covers of Dreamwave'sfirst Generation 1 mini-series.

Universe (2003)

Hey! Come back with my purse!

Universe packaging art were mostly by the Dreamwave affiliated artists, but while the penciling was of the same general quality and style of the mainline art, the colouring was often much flatter and lacking in depth. Additionally, some toys featured artwork by Hasbro's in-house artists attempting to emulate the then-popular Dreamwave style, to extremely varied results.

Alternators

Combaticon Night Fever

TheAlternators toyline originally featured the same style of full-body artwork seen in the otherTransformers toylines at the time, once again by various Dreamwave artists (namelyPat Lee,Don Figueroa,Alex Milne,Joe Ng,Guido Guidi andMarcelo Matere). However, when the packaging style switched to the large plastic bubble/cardboard tray configuration in late 2005, the packaging art style—now entirely drawn by Marcelo Matere—was changed to emulate the focused upper torso style seen in theCybertron toyline, though the art was coloured more closely to the comic book style.

Classics

Similarly toRobots in Disguise, theClassics toyline was created as a 'filler' line, to plug the gap between the end ofCybertron and the beginning of the 2007 live action movie toyline. As such, Hasbro once again returned to using photographs of the toys instead of actual drawn artwork.

A feature of the packaging was a card on the front that, when moved, revealed one of the toy's modes.

TakaraTomy (Henkei! Henkei!)

You don't want him pulling you over on the road.

Henkei! Henkei! used both toy photography and original art for their packaging art. The first four waves (C-01 to C-06 and D-01 to D-04), plus C-18 Minibot Attack Team and C-19 Minibot Spy Team used simple toy photos of them in robot mode,Skyfire in vehicle mode. The remaining waves had hand-drawn artwork done by artistNaoto Tsushima.

Masterpiece

Starscream in his elder years.

Masterpiece figures use photographs for their box art, but also have "real" package art on the covers of theirinstruction booklets and on their included collectible cards.

Robot Heroes

Robot Heroes featuredextremely cutesuper deformed-style artwork of the figures.

Live-action film series

Transformers (2007)

Like most movie characters, he could stab you with his head.

Cyber SlammerBrawl, adorable death machine.

The majority of the "main line" toys from the2007 movie toyline featured a very exactingly detailed mugshot of the character (seemingly hand-painted), surrounded by technological greeblies. The characters featured in the film appear to use the movie models as a starting point, though there are some difference in coloration and detail.

In Europe, this art was replaced by a photo of the toy in robot mode, which was also used on the rear of the packaging. Some of this art (as well as the packaging design) was also used by several licensed merchandise manufacturers.

TheFast Action Battlers andCyber Slammers sublines had traditional hand-drawn art, but done in a more rounded, 'cuter' style to fit the younger target age group of the toys.

TheReal Gear Robots opted to use a closeup photograph of the toy's upper torso, similarly toClassics, while the Target-exclusive Scout class range of redecos lacked any sort of packaging art.

Revenge of the Fallen

Blowpipe's package art.

Demolishor's package art.

The return to the live-action movie toy line withRevenge of the Fallen sees a return to minimalist character artwork. Instead of the 2007 movie line's head-on, forward-facing headshots, theRevenge of the Fallen toy line uses three-quarter profiles of the head.

Dark of the Moon

Darksteel's package art.

Dark of the Moon once again returned to the live-action movie-style minimalist character artwork, all the while taking some cues from the previous 2010 toyline. Instead of the 2009Revenge of the Fallen line's three-quarter profiled head-shots,most Deluxe-class toys and allCyberverse playsets now depict a rendered bust-like shot of the character, seen from a slightly upward angle and with the characters staring off into the distance. The Voyager, Leader, and Cyberverse Commander classes have rendered vehicle forms instead, also seen from an angle. The art itself takes a big step forward, with the renders themselves (which were made byIndigo Studios) beingridiculously detailed and shiny, looking almost realistic and being as close to the live-action movie aesthetic as possible. This even applies to some non-film characters, likeSpace Case andDarksteel, who received incredibly detailed mugshots that make them look like they could plausibly be rendered and easily fit alongside the other robots on film.

Age of Extinction

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The Last Knight

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Bumblebee

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Rise of the Beasts

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Animated

Three annoying companions, two bladed mecha stars, and a ninja in a park tree.

Grumpy bot for sale.

TheTransformers Animated line predominantly uses character models and promotional images from the actualTransformers Animated cartoon, which is a first for the North American Transformers toyline.

The Deluxe packaging features a large image of the character, showing the bulk of their body and generally in an action pose, on the front of the plastic packaging bubble. A different image is used as a smaller mug shot on the side of the bubble and on the back of the card by their quote, possibly makingAnimated the first series to give each toytwo unique pieces of character package art.

This layout is replicated for the Voyager size-class toys, though obviously the front and side images are printed on exterior cardboard.

Universe (2008)

DO NOT WANT

The all-newUniverse sees a return of comic book-style packaging art, with an upper torso drawing of the character printed either on the carded package or the box. To the amusement of all, some of the art also sees a return of theglassy-eyed, slack-jawed expressions first seen during the days of Dreamwave Productions. ArtistMarcelo Matere commentedon his deviantART page that Hasbro had requested a more static, statue-like depiction for this line.

Transformers (2010)

Highbrow's package art.

The secondary-title-less2010Transformers line changes the Voyagersize class, withall toys in that size now being packaged inrobot mode. As a consequence, the package art now depicts each toy in itsalternate mode on the front of the packaging, with the robot mode art being placed on the side of the packaging, just above thebio. The Leader-class and Scout-class toys remain packaged in their robot modes, so they get the same treatment, although the small size of the Scout class limits their art to their alternate mode.

Power Core Combiners

Steamhammer with hisConstructicons. PELVIC THRUST. WOOOO!

ThePower Core Combiners are also packaged in robot mode, so the two-packs feature their combined alternate mode/Mini-Con art. The five-packs' package art only depicts thecombined robot mode, however.

Generations

The third iteration of the Classics/Universe franchise, the Deluxe-onlyTransformers: Generations line hastwo styles of packaging art, reflecting how it's essentially two separate lines connected by name. The first line of Generations toys were done with packaging art similar to Universe's style. However, the robots usually didn't suffer fromDull surprise, and are a fair bit smaller. The second iteration of Generations, released in 2012 as a toyline forTransformers: Fall of Cybertron in all but name, have a much larger render of the respective robot behind the line's title.

Prime Wars Trilogy

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Combiner Wars

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Titans Return

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Power of the Primes

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Studio Series

Studio Series boxes up until 2025 (see below) had three images of the character; the front being a render of most of the character's body, the left side showing a bit less of the same render, and the right side zooming in for a close-up of the character's face. The renders used will vary between one from a film's marketing material or an original render created exclusively for the toyline. This may result in the character getting their first render, period; as was the case with examples likeCrowbar andJolt, the latter of whom's render was notably the first high-resolution look at his final character model fromRevenge of the Fallen.

For characters who do have a pre-existing render already, and if they have appeared in multiple films, the render will be pulled from the movie the toy is representing. For example, the2018 Voyager class figure of Optimus Prime uses renders dating back to the 2007 film's release; while his 2018 Leader class figure representing his flight mode fromDark of the Moon uses renders created for that film. There are a few exceptions for characters who didn't receive a new render for a new film and simply didn't receive a new render forStudio Series either; such asSideswipe, whose initialDark of the Moon figure uses the renders of him from theRevenge of the Fallen line, whileGrindor uses another render of his original body-type's ownerBlackout. This practice has also unfortunately shown how much the renders of theWar for Cybertron characters likeOptimus Prime are showing their age due to being from two console generations ago as of the toy's release, as they look particularly grainy on the right side of the box for the close-up.

Some figures have seen their packaging art renders edited to more accurately reflect their on-screen appearance, such asJetfire, whose render on the front of the box is new and incorporates the expressive mouth that the concept art (seen on the sides of his box) lacked. The Fallen's packaging art and renders also saw an edit of his concept art render but with the updated face seen in the final film added. Others have rather inexplicable edits; Megatron's2020 Voyager figure's render has hisRevenge of the Fallen head on his 2007 body, while the aforementionedDark of the Moon Optimus has his wings poorly slapped on behind him. Another oddity came up with 2024'sWheeljack Deluxe, which features his vehicle mode on the front of the box instead of his robot mode; however, 2025 saw further toys such as'86 Galvatron andHatchet with their vehicle modes on the front of the box, starting an official new trend.

From 2022-2023, starting withCoronation Starscream, the Leader class figures saw the front of their boxes have expansive package art to take advantage of the new window-less format. 2024 would see the return of window packaging.

2025 would see a refresh of the line's packaging with the return of windows, and now having both the character's robot mode and vehicle mode render on the front of the box, sacrificing the render of the robot mode on the right side of the box as a result. All of this is done with original artwork as opposed to pre-existing renders for the movie andWar for Cybertron game rosters. The back of the box has a header section featuring a screenshot or promotional image of the character from their source material.

War for Cybertron Trilogy

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Siege

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Earthrise

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Kingdom

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Legacy

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Evolution

Evolution would feature a large collage that highlighted many of the characters from the first wave of the year. Dominating the center of the art is a close-up ofNemesis that homages the cover of "Rules of Disengagement" that featured the iconic close-up ofTarn, also giving him a highlight since the year saw his first toy being released. At the time of the package art's debut, Nemesis had not been announced yet, but Hasbro specified that the characterwasn't Tarn, providing a sneaky hint towards the Titan figure of 2023; her alternate mode is also towards the top right to further foreshadow her. Above her isArmada Optimus Prime, the Commander figure of the year. She is flanked by major releases from the first wave's toys likeArmadaHot Shot andLeo Prime, while below her lies a charge of Junkions and Dinobots, representing the Junkion combiner gimmick for the year and the Core class Dinobot series. Also notable towards the top left is a space bridge from theAnimated universe, as a way to commemorateAnimatedProwl getting a toy and being the first mainlineAnimated toy since the line's cancellation.

This collage is split in half for each toy box's left side, and can be lined up with another box to form the full art. The front cover of the box is a render of the character's alternate mode, while the right side has a headshot and a full robot mode render for the character.

United

United followed the format of the previous year's art, centered around the year's Commander entryMagmatron, with the character roster from the first wave of the year surrounding him such asAnimatedOptimus Prime andBumblebee,Windblade in the center to highlight her big return in toy form, and the year's Titan entry,Tidal Wave, looming in the top far right corner.Thundertron also is prominently featured as he leads Walmart's pirate-themed "Star Raider Collection" for the year.

Age of the Primes

The primary artwork for theAge of the Primes line focuses on a depiction of golden statues of the Thirteen standing around theWell of All Sparks, which is split among the various boxes for the year's releases. The front of the box contains a render of both the robot and vehicle mode for the character, one side having the robot mode, and the other having part of the overarching Thirteen image.

Aligned

Prime

Package art of "Robots in Disguise"Thundertron, a character who had previously only existed inprose... and a canceledChinese MMORPG.

Package art of "Beast Hunters" Voyager ClassShockwave, seen here wearing his fancy removable toy-accurate "beast armor", and, er, saluting?

There were essentially three toylines under theTransformers: Prime banner.

First Edition

The first toyline was "First Edition", a "preview" toyline of sorts which featured package art consisting of touched-up concept art of the cast of Prime.

Robots in Disguise

The "main" toyline was "Robots in Disguise", and used CGI renders of the characters for its package art. Forredecoed/retooled characters, (such asHot Shot, aretool ofBumblebee) the CGI was often modified, featuring different colors, heads, and even poses/angles.

Beast Hunters

The third and final toyline was "Beast Hunters", which still used CGI renders for its package art. A CGI render ofPredaking in his dragon mode was featured in some way on all of the packages, and the Deluxe Class and Cyberverse toys lacked individual package art, using only toy stock photos, whereas only the Voyager and Ultimate Class toys continued to use CGI renders.

Rescue Bots

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Rescue Bots Academy

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Triple Combination: Transformers Go!

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Robots in Disguise (2015)

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TakaraTomy (Adventure)

Cyberverse

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EarthSpark

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One

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Around the world

Europe

No deceptive advertising allowed.

For a long time,European packaging had featured the same package artwork as the toys' respective North American versions (and, in the case of the European exclusive toys from the early Nineties, its own unique artwork). However, during the last waves ofEnergon (specifically, beginning with the second wave of the Superion Maximus limbs,Terradive andWindrazor), the package art was replaced with airbrushedstock photos of the toys themselves on European packaging. The same happened with EuropeanAlternators packaging starting withWindcharger andSwindle. From then on, EuropeanTransformers packaging omitted any artistic renditions of the toys in favor of strictly accurate depictions of the products themselves (at least as "accurate" as Hasbro's early hand-painted/airbrushed prototype stock photography can be).

After theRobot Heroes andFast Action Battlers from the2007 Movie toyline had started to feature package art for the European packaging again, this policy was abandoned entirely with the advent ofAnimated andUniverse in 2008, resulting in a full-scale return of character artwork.

No official explanation for these changes has ever been given by Hasbro. The most likely reason is a newly introduced European Union guideline (subsequently implemented into national law) regarding "misleading advertising", whichcould be interpreted to extend to artistic renditions of products on the packaging, especially inposes not actually possible with the toy. The question, however, is why artistic depictions suddenly became okay again several years later.

Canada and Latin America

It'sBeast Machines all over again!

The2008Universe line also saw a strange twist for thetrilingual packaging used by Hasbro for the Canadian and Latin American markets: All the Deluxe Class figures only sport the character art of one "representative" toy per wave (Wave 1:Sunstreaker, Wave 2:Acid Storm, Wave 3:Ironhide) on the front of the card, regardless of which toy actuallyis in the packaging. (The artwork on the side of the bubble is correct, though.) The Voyager Class toys, meanwhile, feature no character artwork on the front of the box at all.

Collections

Transformers Tapestry

Holy...

Thee-HOBBY New Year Special2008Transformers Tapestry is a 750mm x 615mm wall scroll that was released in spring 2008. It featured head and bust shots of the box art of every Transformer released in Japan from1984 until1995.

Legacy: The Art of Transformers Packaging

A 296-page art book fromIDW Publishing released in fall of2014 featuring the packaging art of Generation 1 and Generation 2.

Transformers: A Visual History

Published in2019, this 408-page book collects official Transformers artwork across multiple media. One of its chapters is focused on package art, starting at Generation 1 and continuing throughWar for Cybertron: Siege.

External links

• Botch's Transformers Box Art Archive - covers Generation 1
• Pyre's Domain - Beast Wars Box Art Archive