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Transformers figures are incredibly popular toys due to their excellent story lines, wild history, and simple coolness factor. While newer additions to the toy line are impressive with their gadgetry and intricate transformations, the clunkier and larger toys of the eighties are extremely desirable, partially due to their controversial history.

In the 1970’s, Japanese toy company Takara manufactured the popular Microman and Diaclone toy lines, which featured figures that morphed into robots, electronics devices, and vehicles. Hasbro was already partnering with Takara for the G.I. Joe toy line and continued the partnership to create the Transformers figures toy line, while simultaneously purchasing the Diaclone line outright.

A backstory was commissioned for the toy line and many new figures were added, while many of the original Diaclone toys were reworked to fit in with this new story line. That’s the easy piece of their history. Then things begin to get confusing.

Soon after, the Marvel comic was released in the United States. The comics would later be released in Japan and the UK, inspiring new figure variations and bilingual names for figures in the process. In 1984 the animated series was developed, but the writers didn’t precisely follow the original backstory.

In 1986, the full length animated movie was launched, two more seasons of the animated series were developed, and the UK and Japanese story lines were still being launched. In the early 90’s, the second generation series was produced (G2), followed by Beast Wars, followed by a new series of toys and comics created by Dreamwave in the early 2000’s. This all led to wild discrepancies in backgrounds, plots, characters, and many other aspects associated with the backstory and toy line.

At the same time, Hasbro was creating more and more Transformers figures and sets, including Constructicons, Sparkobots, Throttlebots, Protectobots, Headmasters, Powermasters, Dinobots, Triggerbots, Trainbots, and many more. Many of these lines were truly engineering marvels. What, you thought there was only one toy line?!

Adding to the confusion are the current Transformers toy lines, inspired by the PG-13 Michael Bay feature film. Some of these new toys even feature cross-over promotions with the popular Star Wars franchise. While these transforming figures don’t carry the same geek appeal as Star Wars vintage action figures or the original Transformers figures, they are very popular with newer fans of both the Star Wars and Transformers series.

The bottom line is that Transformer action figures are more than just a fun memory for many collectors; they are also a perfect example of cooperation, design ingenuity, and creativity not often seen in the current mass market toy releases. Thanks to their past, vintage Transformers figures should remain popular and collectible for many years to come.