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 seventies, Japanese toy company Takara manufactured the popular Microman and Diaclone toy lines, which featured figures that transformed into vehicles, robots, and electronics devices. Hasbro was already licensing the Takara technology for the G.I. Joe toy line and continued the partnership to manufacture the Transformers figures toy line, while simultaneously buying the Diaclone toy 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.
Soon afterwards, the Marvel comic was introduced in the United States. It would later be released in Japan and the UK, inspiring new figure variations and multiple names for toys in the process. In 1984 the television series was produced, but the writers didn't precisely follow the original backstory.
In 1986, the full length animated movie was launched, two more seasons of the cartoon show were released, and the UK and Japanese story lines were still being developed. 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 developed by Dreamwave in the early 2000's. This all led to wild discrepancies in characters, plots, backgrounds, and most 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 new Transformers releases, inspired by the 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 Transformers and Star Wars 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.