The toys came first
The Transformers began in 1984 as a range of toys. The American toy company Hasbro took transforming robot toys from two Japanese toy lines, gave them names, personalities and a story, and launched them with a comic and a cartoon series. The cartoon was made largely to sell the toys, and it worked: they became some of the best-selling toys of the decade. The slogan printed on the boxes, more than meets the eye, became the name of the first episode. The live-action films, starting in 2007, went on to earn billions at the box office.
The story is simple. Two sides of living robots from the planet CYBERTRON, the heroic AUTOBOT forces and the evil DECEPTICON army, bring their war to EARTH, where they disguise themselves as cars, trucks and planes.
Megatron used to be a gun
In the original toys and cartoon, MEGATRON, leader of the Decepticons, transformed into a handgun. Later versions changed him into a tank, a jet and other vehicles. BUMBLEBEE, the small, friendly Autobot, began as a yellow Volkswagen Beetle; in the 2007 film he became a Chevrolet Camaro, and in the 2018 film Bumblebee he went back to being a Beetle.
OPTIMUS PRIME, the Autobot leader, who turns into a truck, has been voiced by the same actor, Peter Cullen, since 1984, including in the live-action films.
The film that made children cry
In The Transformers: The Movie, released in 1986, Optimus Prime was killed. The film-makers wanted to replace the old characters with new toys, but children who had grown up with Optimus were deeply upset, and many parents complained. Optimus was brought back to life in the cartoon the following year, and he has stayed at the heart of every version since.
The live-action films, directed by Michael Bay from 2007, used real military vehicles, aircraft and bases, with the help of the United States armed forces.
A car that really turns into a robot
In 2018 a Japanese company showed off a real, working transforming car. J-deite Ride is a two-seater car that can fold itself up into a robot about four metres tall, with a person sitting inside, in around a minute. It walks very slowly and is mostly a demonstration, but it proves the idea is not only science fiction. Our robots page covers the real machines being built today.
In the stories, a Transformer's life force is its SPARK, and the robots run on ENERGON, a glowing fuel. The ALLSPARK, a CUBE that can bring machines to life, is what both sides fight over in the first live-action film.
The rest of the grid
The Autobots include IRONHIDE, the weapons expert, RATCHET, the medic, and JAZZ, the cool second-in-command. The Decepticons include STARSCREAM, a jet who is always plotting against Megatron, and SOUNDWAVE, who can spy on anything. Sam WITWICKY is the teenager who becomes their human friend.
Every ROBOT and every BOT can TRANSFORM, and every film ends in a huge BATTLE, with the old catchphrase of robots in disguise. In the cartoon, Optimus sent his troops into action with the order to transform and roll out, and some modern collectors' figures take dozens of careful steps to change from vehicle to robot and back.