The Transformerstm history can be told two ways, the history of the toyline, and the mythos of the Transformerstm themselves. A true telling of the Transformerstm Mythos would take over 10 pages alone. The history of the toyline is much easier to tell. The toyline started in Japan as many separate toylines made by Takarac, Bandaic, and other companies. The toylines included the Diaclones, The Micromen, and others(Alt 9/1). Most of these toylines failed in Japan. However, because a similar toyline, The Gobotstm, had been very successfu

hen five years after a one year break between G1 and G2. The toyline could not have survived that long without the help of the marketing Hasbro put into it.

Along with the toyline came a marketing blitzkrieg the likes of which had never been seen before and was not seen again until the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle toyline. The same year the toys themselves came out, an animated television show was produced. It was in essence a half-hour commercial for the Transformerstm, and by the end of that year it was running daily. The animation may not have been that good, and it has documented errors, but it was still a fun show to watch. As a Saturday morning cartoon it was bound to be enjoyed by many kids. The show itself was fun to watch, and it introduced young impressionable minds to the entire cast of Transformerstm. Every transformer who had a toy was on the show. Even some that didn't have toys, the Femmebots and Alpha Trion for example, were on the show(Alt 9/1). Many children would buy the toys of their favorite characters and then sit in front of the television and transform the toys while watching the show. Children were !

Transformerstm, Hasbroc produced a TV show for the Transformerstm in 1984. The show was a hit, and the toys sold out in stores. In 1985, Hasbroc re-exported the Transformerstm into Japan through Takarac and they were a huge hit there. Hasbroc then signed Marvel Comicsc to produce a Transformerstm comic book. This decision was another wise move and Transformerstm sales soared. The following year the Transformerstm Movie was made. It starred Orson Welles, Lenard Nemoy, and other famous actors as the voices of the animated Transformerstm(Alt 9/1). It was a huge hit. Transformerstm Generation 1(G1) sales were very good. However, sales started dropping after the third year of G1 production. In 1990, the line was canceled due to dropping sales. However, two years later, 1992, Generation 2(G2) was introduced. It was a hit, but it lasted only until 1995. At that point Hasbro moved the Transformerstm line onto its newly acquired subsidiary, Kenner. Kenner canceled the G2 line a!

A third reason the Transformerstm toyline was so successful was, and still is, the amount of fan interaction, both in the real world and on the Internet. On the Internet, fans have found a common ground on which to gather and share ideas and their own writings. There are five Usenet newsgroups and countless scores of Internet sites based on Transformerstm(Alt 9/1). An Altavista search came up with 155,420 references to the word Transformerstm. These sites hold information on upcoming toys, television shows, reviews, personal collections, fan written stories about Transformerstm (fanfics), and much much more. In fact the healthy fanfic flow on the Internet helped to keep the fandom alive during the few years when there was no TV show or new toys coming out. These fanfics deal with topics never touched upon by Hasbro. Hasbro only told part of the Transformerstm story(Dom index.html). Hasbro eluded to earlier times and how the Transformerstm came into existence, but there was !

Not even a year later Marvel Comics was producing the Transformerstm comic book. The comic books expanded the story and the audience, giving Transformerstm a teenage fan-base along with its younger audience. The comic book became an entirely separate continuity from the television show. Although the comic book had the same characters, portrayals and settings were very different. The comics lasted for the same three years as the car

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Approximate Word count = 2401
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)