Seeing this huge business opportunity, Americans will certainly not sit idly by. Therefore, in 1984, Hasbro, an American toy manufacturer, took TAKARA's robot toy image as its main subsidiary, and joined forces with Marvel COMICS Comics, a famous American comic company, to launch a brand-new robot toy series, namely Transformers, which was translated into Transformers in Chinese and Changers in English. In order to better promote these epoch-making toys in the United States, Hasbro has produced three commercial cartoons of Transformers-take a look at them (translated as the first day, the second day and the third day in China) and broadcast them on major television stations in the United States for a fee. At the same time, Marvel COMICS Comics also released the American version of Transformers comics in September of 1984 to echo the animation. (Early American comics were almost parallel to animation, and they were all monthly, and they were changed from the fourth episode to February. Basically, each issue is about 22 pages, with B5 paper and four-color printing. A total of 80 episodes were shown. However, as if to distinguish it from animation, Marvel comics are essentially different from animation in content, except that the main line is the battle between Autobots and Decepticons, which can be said to be absolute in the plot. However, the production of early American cartoons was rough and the painting style was not good, which was really flattering. Therefore, in propaganda, animation has achieved great success, and Transformers once became the most watched cartoon in the United States. Therefore, with this upsurge, Hasbro released thirteen episodes of animation in succession at 1984, and the previous three episodes made a total of sixteen episodes, which was the first season in history. (Now the related DVD has been released by rhinoceros company) Driven by the success of cartoons, the sales of toys are naturally a great success. So, in 1985, Hasbro continued to introduce other robot images owned by Japanese companies, and changed the opening animation on the basis of the first season animation, and produced 49 episodes of animation in the second season. In addition, toy products have been exported abroad, and toy companies from European countries such as Britain have also participated in it. At the same time, Japan in June this year? え! Superorganism, fight! The form of super robot life transformers began to be officially sold in Japan. (At that time, Japan had doubts in the process of introduction. TAKARA was reluctant to give up its own mature products such as DIAKRON and MICROMAN, but when TAKARA's top management saw the American version of the animation, they immediately realized that their products had no development significance. However, in Japan, the names of the characters still keep the names of the previous Diacron period. For example, what is the name of the American version of Optimus Prime, while the Japanese side still uses the name escort. ) Comics, Marvel Comics continues to sell comics, and the story development completely deviates from animation. For example, the shock wave came to earth as Megatron's opponent and competed with it for the throne of the Decepticons. In addition, a branch of Marvel Comics in the UK has made some improvements to American comic books and sold them in the UK in the form of British comic books (British comic books are A4 paper, about 1 1 page), which actually divides American comic books into half, including all American comic books and a large number of original stories related to Britain, so there are more British comic books than American comic books. A total of 3 18 episodes were released) and in Japan, a big animation country, Toastmasters TV magazine also serialized the introductory space related to Transformers for the first time, although it was only three pages. In addition, let's talk about the development of Transformers in other countries around the world: In New Zealand, the main story line is basically the same as Marvel comics, the only difference is that there is no Optimus Prime. Instead, the leader of the Autobots is Skyfire, and the image is the version of the skeleton warrior in the robotech. In France, the arrogant French did not adopt the English version of Transformers, but adopted the Japanese version of Declan. The story begins with Optimus Prime (French translation is truck) against Gutsbruck.
1986, Hasbro began to develop its original toy image, and at the same time, another milestone was born, that is, the release of the Transformers movie version. (RHINO released a DVD) This work jointly released by Hasbro and Marvel Comics /SUNBOW PRODUCTIONS can be said to be the best in the whole series. The plot takes the death of Optimus Prime, high-speed horsepower inadvertently turned into Rodimus Prime to become the second generation leader, Megatron was transformed into Galvatron by the universe emperor, and the first appearance of Energy Treasure and the Five Faces monster as the main line, which leads the original slightly bitter single plot to another higher realm. In addition, it is worth mentioning that the soundtrack of this film is also quite enjoyable. Hasbro also released the soundtrack CD—— of this movie-the soundtrack of Transformers movie. Unfortunately, this film was not introduced to China that year, which made it impossible to connect the plot with the animation in the third season. Similarly, the Japanese side did not directly introduce this masterpiece. Instead, TAKARA and Dongying Company jointly launched a commercial film Scramble-City as a transition between the second and third seasons of animation. Because a large number of Japanese animators were used in the production of the film version of Transformers, and Japan itself is a big country in animation production, it is easy to imitate the style of the American version and produce this animation with Japanese flavor. Then, perhaps because of the high cost of film production, it didn't earn enough income. There are only 30 episodes in the third season, but the episodes are wonderful. In particular, the first five episodes (The Five Faces) can be described as the representative works of a reasonable transitional film version. In addition, the last two episodes describe the resurrection of Optimus Prime, which brings a perfect ending to the whole animation series. In the third quarter, Japan adopted the practice of separating them into series and named them 20 10. In terms of comics, Marvel comics did not end as quickly as animation, but continued the battle between the two sides. Of course, the death of Optimus Prime is also very popular in comics, but it is worthless compared with the movie version. At the same time, in order to echo the movie, Marvel Comics also launched a movie version of the cartoon. In Japan, Toastmasters TV magazine published eight black-and-white cartoons, which described the story of King Kong in Japan with reference to the previous two seasons.
At this point, the most glorious era of Transformers has actually ended. 1987, the United States filmed the animation of the last three episodes of the fourth season-rebirth. In fact, this animation is to promote the new toy style-the principal, the target owner, the clone, etc. So the production was sloppy, and the title of the film was patched together with the title of the third season. In addition, because of the short three episodes, I can't see any personality of the new character at all. Many characters, such as Sixshot, ended their historical mission just by appearing on one side ... With the end of American animation series, the promotion of toys in North America became pure TV advertisements and Marvel comics. That is, since then, transformers toys has gradually become a non-mainstream toy. However, in that year, Transformers animation was reborn in another country-Japan. After purchasing the animation rights from Hasbro, Japan's TAKARA Company independently created a new animation series, and once again cooperated with Dongying Company to produce the first pure Japanese King Kong animation-ヘッドマスタズ (Chief Warrior). The characters in this animation are mainly the chief warriors launched that year. In addition, TAKARA also moved into her company's previous toy image, such as the Flying Team, to form a new Transformers world. However, the Japanese are Japanese after all, and the inherent problems of that kind of Japanese animation also follow, for example, crude dynamic pictures, single characters in the scene, too serious Japanese world outlook and characters, and so on. This made the old audience not adapt for a while. But in any case, this work still retains the shadow of the early American version and is a qualified sequel. (Pioneer released a Japanese DVD in 2002) As for comics, Marvel Comics released four episodes of "The Head of the Company" comics. In the TV magazine of Toastmasters Japan, two 8-character black-and-white cartoons with the theme of 20 10 were serialized, and the first sentence of the cartoon of the Chief Warrior was serialized at the end of the year. In Japanese cartoons, it is mainly to introduce people who are rarely or completely exposed in animation. In addition, the production level of Japanese black-and-white comics can be said to have greatly surpassed that of American color comics. Soon, the time is 1988, and the hot topics this year are the resurrection of Optimus Prime and the emergence of hermit soldiers. First of all, I want to mention Marvel Comics. In order to resurrect Optimus Prime, Dr. HI-Q (the character in the comic book) made a resurrection for Optimus Prime on the planet Brass, but people on that planet seemed to hate King Kong and provided Optimus Prime with toxic energy, which of course could not be used. In order to provide energy for Optimus Prime, Dr. HI-Q transformed himself into an energy man (transformed into an energy chest board). This is the mainstream toy form of that year. In addition, another mainstream toy of that year was Pretend (Hermit Warrior). Speaking of hermit warriors, that is to say, people who appear in normal human form, normal animal form or mechanical form have one common feature, that is, the body shell can be opened, and the robot is hidden inside, and the robot can of course be deformed. It can be said that these are all toys with pure American flavor. However, the Japanese still have a way to put it under their own account. In the same year, Japan's TAKARA Company and Toyo Company introduced the second Japanese animation-Super God! マスタヴォヴス (translated as a hermit warrior in China, in fact, this translation is wrong, because in animation, there are not only hermit warriors, but also energy warriors, chief warriors and other King Kong. This translation should be literally translated into various forces, but it may be because this translation is difficult, so all the characters in the play are translated into hermit fighters. This animation describes King Kong who came to the earth from ancient times and evolved into the same appearance as human beings. In addition, ZILLA, the new generation leader of Autobots in the play, only used Optimus Prime's body in the Japanese version, not the super Optimus Prime in the American version. From this work, Japanese Transformers have begun to break away from the style of early works and move towards their own style development route (spoiler route). On the other hand, Japanese manga series from 1988 to 1989 have completed the black-and-white manga of the Chief Warrior with 8 characters and the black-and-white manga of the Hermit Warrior with 12 characters. At 1989, in North America, in addition to Super Optimus Prime and various stupid hermit warriors, there is a new gadget-a large deformed base and a micro-master attached to the base. Almost all of Marvel Comics's later cartoons were mainly hermit fighters, and even the steel rope, jazz, bumblebee and even Starscream were transformed into hermit fighters. The last leader of the Decepticons is actually a Japanese ghost warrior. The early excellent works have now evolved into a monster war between humans and robots. In a word, the autobots finally won in chaos under the leadership of Optimus Prime, who didn't know how to resurrect.
Japan has not been idle this year, but it has not changed the American version of the characters, but has seriously developed the original characters for the first time. Therefore, a work with the flavor of returning to the original point is Born-トランスフォヴマ┼ビクトリヴ). Almost all the characters have their own unique styles. For example, the breastplate unit that can be changed from breastplate to weapon (combined into malefic star), the brain master of robot face (combined into land king), and multiple teams that can be combined into one (combined into flying wings). In addition to the Decepticons' dinosaur combination-the monster is a hermit warrior in the American version; The four rescue members of Autobots are based on the American version of Miniature Warrior. Almost all the toy images are original in Japan, so this work is also the most popular one in Japan. But for us old audiences, this work is like a robot version of the demon fighter, just covered with the skin of Transformers. The cartoons related to this work are also serialized in the TV magazines of Toastmasters Japan, with a total of 10 words. Moreover, the content is very different from the original work for the first time. For example, the lion king is an existing character, and the ending is that the two sides shake hands and make peace in a peaceful way. This is the first time in the history of Transformers. With the end of the Marvel comic series, North America ushered in the boring 1990s, which was also the last year of the American version of G 1. This year, Hasbro introduced an unconventional toy-an action master (dynamic warrior) that can't be deformed. This series mainly describes that the Transformers absorbed a new kind of energy-nucleus, thus losing the ability to deform, and replaced it with various radiation AIDS that can be deformed. However, almost all the characters in this series are old characters that appeared in 1984 and 1985, giving people a nostalgic feeling, and the joints of the robot can move flexibly. At the same time, Hasbro continues to sell a new batch of micro-warriors. Of course, micro-warriors can't escape the fate of being adapted by the Japanese, and they are still profitable. TAKARA and Japan's コロムビビビトランスス jointly released the last animated film of the battle between Autobots and Decepticons at that time. However, because Transformers had become less and less influential at that time, this OVA cartoon originally planned to shoot two episodes ended after only one episode. This film describes that the autobots' miniature warriors, led by a new generation of leader Dai Atlus, defeated nine fiend generals led by biochemical commandos. As can be seen from the works of this department, TAKARA seems to have the intention of returning to DIARKON, and the new role is the reappearance of the Japanese robot style. As for the familiar American style ... forget it, forget it, let's call it a Japanese Warring States samurai film. The cartoons related to this work come from Toastmasters pamphlet introducing King Kong. Due to the end of the American G/KLOC-0 era, European toy companies have the opportunity to rise. By 199 1, some European companies centered on Britain and Germany continued to inherit the United States, launched a new batch of dynamic warriors, and appropriately copied some unique toy styles of the Japanese version. However, in Japan, there is no new animation released this year, and there is only one corresponding animation-the American version-バトルスタズヴズ (Battlestar) called "The Return of Optimus Prime". Describes the battle between the resurrected star Optimus Prime and Super Megatron. This year, Japan only sells toys related to Autobots, not Decepticons. The only planned Megatron also died in the middle of the fetus.
Well, it's finally the last year of the G 1 era. 1992, like 199 1, is still dominated by European toy manufacturers, who no longer inherit the American toy design route. The main products in Europe this year are mainly Autobots' turbofighters and Decepticons' forged fighters. Judging from these newly designed toys, some early products can be found more or less, and the leaders of the two factions are finally no longer called Optimus Prime and Megatron. At the same time, Japan also introduced the final G 1 toy series, namely the operation combination. Unfortunately, this series has not released any related propaganda works, so I know nothing about its plot, except that the general situation is the simple setting of four robots combined under the leadership of GUARDCITY (the toy prototype is the patron saint) to fight against the new leader of the Decepticons, BATTLEGAIA (the toy prototype is bruticus). At this point, Japan's G 1 era has also come to an end, and the entire glorious G 1 era has also come to an end. After the G 1 era, the story of Transformers did not end there. Later, follow-up works based on the story of Transformers appeared, such as Battle of the Beasts, Machine of the Beast, Transformers 15 Anniversary Edition. The story of Transformers named G2 (Transformers II) continues the story of the struggle between good and evil from generation to generation. It is precisely because of the unique style and extraordinary plot of Transformers that these solid foundations make it unique in today's animation industry and stand proudly for many years. It is this epic plot that has deeply influenced a generation and has an unshakable position in the minds of this generation.