The Wild Generations of The Transformers Toy Lines
After their debut in 1984 as a children’s cartoon, the Transformers have gone through numerous changes to arrive at the wildly varied and complex environment that we see today. The core concept remains the same: Transformers are robots that have the ability to transform into other forms, including vehicles and aircraft.
The original 1984 Transformers are now known as Generation 1, or G1 for short, and this includes the original children’s cartoon, as well as the Marvel comic. Complicating this somewhat is the fact the comic was available in three versions (US, UK, and Japan), and each version has different names and characters.
Generation 2, or G2, contained the expanded comic book along with the Beast Wars television series. That series grew and morphed and essentially formed an entire branch of transformers figures on its own.
In the 90’s, the toy line was expanded dramatically, and it continued to expand with the addition of characters by Dreamwave and IDW Publishing. In addition to the character changes and additions, major new storylines were introduced to accompany the new figures. The popular Unicorn Trilogy came from this era.
All-in-all, this makes for a very rich, but very confusing and intricate, collectible market.