Transformers figures are incredibly collectible toys thanks to their excellent story lines, storied past, and sheer coolness factor. While recent entrants in their toy line are impressive with their gadgetry and intricate transformations, the clunkier and heavier toys of the 80’s are very desirable, partially thanks to their storied past.
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 created for the toy line and a plethora new characters were added, while many of the original Diaclone toys were reworked to blend into this new story line. That’s the straightforward part of their history. Then things begin to get confusing.
Shortly thereafter, the Marvel comic was launched in the United States. It would later be released in the UK and Japan, inspiring new figure variations and dual names for figures in the process. In 1984 the TV series was launched, 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.
Concurrently, Hasbro was releasing many more Transformers figures and sets, including Actionmasters, Multiforce, Powerlinx, Pretenders, Micromasters, Technobots, Targetmasters, Omnicons, Masterforce, Combiners, Brainmasters, Aerialbots, Minibots, and many more. Many of these lines were truly engineering wonders. What, don’t tell me that you thought there was just 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 prime example of design ingenuity, cooperation, and creativity rarely seen in the current mass market toy releases. Thanks to their past, vintage Transformers figures should remain collectible and valuable for many years to come.
Tags: collectables
