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

In the 1970's, Japanese toy company Takara manufactured the popular Microman and Diaclone toy lines, which featured figures that morphed into vehicles, robots, and electronics devices. 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 also purchasing the Diaclone line outright.

A backstory was developed for the toy line and many new figures were added, while many of the original Diaclone figures were reworked to blend into this new backstory. That's the straightforward part of their history. Then things get confusing.

Soon afterwards, the Marvel comic was introduced in the United States. The comics would later be released in Japan and the UK, inspiring new figure variations and dual names for characters in the process. In 1984 the television series was released, but the writers veered from the original path that was set.

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

Concurrently, Hasbro was creating more and 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 toys were truly engineering marvels. Wait, you thought there was just one toy line?!

Adding to the confusion are the current Transformers launches, inspired by the popular 2007 movie. 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 disntant memory for many collectors; they are also a perfect example of cooperation, design ingenuity, and creativity rarely 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.

Jared is a vintage toys and games enthusiasts, and focuses much of his collections on vintage Pez, Star War vintage action figures, and vintage Transformers figures. You can read about the history and backstory of each of these classic product lines on his blogs devoted to the subjects.

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