Editing Transformers (section)

==Generation One==
The original, the alpha iteration, the place where it all to began. Sometimes mockingly called Geewun because of the nostalgia fags who hate on everything that come after it. No matter how good they are. At the time, it was just called "The Transformers", with a "four-issue limited series" from Marvel that ended up running for 80 issues, a cartoon by the same name for three seasons (and ''three'' more seasons in Japan) from 1984-87 and the animated film "The Transformers: The Movie" in 1986.  The movie's soundtrack is awesomely 80's, and it features the amazing song "The Touch" when Optimus Prime fights Megatron. Quite literally, this movie shit all over Bay's multi-million crappers... and that's the problem; the movie was so good that it marked the peak for the young franchise and it began a downhill slide from there, with the show scrambling to cope with all the losses (yeah, lots of people died here, even Optimus), while the toys began getting gimmickier without getting better. One of the most memetic Low Points of the Toyline was the Action Masters, Transformers figures with increased articulation... at the cost of ''not being able to transform.''

The "Generation One" title was applied retroactively after Hasbro released the "Generation 2" line in 1993. By the way, G2 was the reason Transformers was considered dead for most of the 90's. The comic was that cheap sort of [[Edgy|"gritty for no real reason"]] the 90's was infamous for and the toys had pretty much burned themselves out and no gimmick could really help them on that. There was also a short-lived "Transformers G2" show, but it was just G1 with new CGI openings/endings and scene changes, so it only lasted a few episodes before flopping.

It should also be mentioned that the G1 universe is typically implied, if not shown outright, to exist concurrently with [[GI Joe]]. the original cartoon showed side characters that also appeared in ''GI Joe: A Real American Hero'', like Hector Ramirez(whom also appeared in many of Sunbow's other shows), the use of the Cobra-produced song "Cold Slither", and mentions of their Joes' Soviet rivals the Oktober Guard. The Post-Movie season went a step farther, with the introduction of a Human ally named Marissa Faireborne. It should be noted that one of the Joes, Commander Flint, is named Dashiell R. Fairborne. One episode had an enemy attempt to lure her with an image of her father, who while unnamed, looked like an older Flint and shared the same Voice actor. But the most famous unofficial crossover was the episode "Only Human", where a crime boss enlists the help of "Old Snake", who is obviously Cobra Commander, in an attempt to fight the Autobots with the help of Cobra's Synthoid technology. Comics made the crossover even more overt, with Marvel, Devil's Due, Dreamwave, and IDW all doing direct crossovers, to the point that for a time the (former)Decepticon Skywarp was actually a member of GI Joe during IDW's run. 

Of note is that if you want to experience G1 without having to dig up the eps from some torrent or Netflix, you can get the video game ''Transformers Devastation'', which is essentially a G1 ep in [[Video_Games|vidya]] form produced by PlatinumGames, the guys responsible for balls-to-the-walls hypefests like ''Metal Gear Rising'', ''Bayonetta'', and ''The Wonderful 101'' (aka [[/m/]] the game). Most of the actors are present, there's murderfests and speed, and big bosses. Also you get to run idiots over (but no pedestrians). Only letdown is the short length of the game and the lack of a Decepticon story and Abominus. However, as of now, [[Hasbro]] have officially released all of G1 on Youtube for free, minus the movie of course.

===Marvel's The Transformers===
What a lot of people who weren't kids in 1984 may not remember is that the first piece of long-form Transformers fiction ever was not the cartoon, but the Marvel comic book, produced in direct partnership with Hasbro as an expansion on the toy bios and character names that Marvel had already written to jam the random designs that had been licensed from Takara into a cohesive toyline. Most of the themes and tropes that people think of as "Transformers" were developed by Marvel, from the idea of living robots coming to Earth in search of energy to the most common origin for the planet-eating Unicron. Sometimes, Marvel published gripping stories exploring the dynamic of mechanical life forms adapting to an entirely alien environment and the humans caught in their crossfire. Sometimes they published stories about robot professional wrestling and evil car washes. Still, the stories had soul, and the comic ended up lasting a full year after the toyline it was made to promote ended in America. (As a sign of the times, one of the reasons the comic was canceled were its low sales of ''70,000 copies an issue.'')

British kids got an additional treat in the form of original stories from Marvel's UK division, printed in between serialized edits of the US issues in weekly installments. Most of these were done by the inimitable '''Simon Furman,''' who went on to write the US Transformers comic as well and has become the most prolific writer of Transformers fiction in the world.

===Japanese G1===
In the West, The Transformers ended after season 3, save for a failed 3-episode season 4 multi-part pilot episode called "The Rebirth". In Japan, however, the series was continued on into three more seasons, each with their own unique title. A defining characteristic of Japan's G1 is that it's much more influenced by mecha anime of the time, which wasn't always a ''good'' thing. All three were dubbed into English, with the attempt being '''legendarily''' awful, which has contributed to their obscurity.

The first season of Japanese G1 is '''Transformers: Headmasters'''. Taking the basic concept from "The Rebirth" as its basis, this series sees the war between Autobot and Decepticon continued with the introduction of a new faction; the "Masters", an offshoot race of miniature Cybertronians who have learned to compensate for their stature by building mindless giant mecha bodies called ''Transtectors'' that they can interface with and control. Whilst the animation was generally better, continuity was more solid and the story was overall darker and more serious, the series also had a notorious tendency towards Dragon Ball Z-esque overly complicated and flashy fight scenes. They also killed off Optimus Prime, AGAIN!

The second season of Japanese G1 is '''Transformers: Super-God Masterforce'''. Officially, this is the sequel series to Headmasters, but continuity is a ''mess''. This series revolves around a long-lost Cybertronian subrace, the "Pretenders", who can disguise themselves as organic beings and who have been living on Earth for eons - the monstrous Decepticons, who were sealed away in ancient monoliths, and the faux-human Autobots. When the Decepticons escape captivity, the Autobots rise up to battle them. Both forces begin recruiting human children, who can fuse with Transtectors (mindless, non-living Cybertronian bodies) as either Headmasters or Powermasters (called "Godmasters" in the Japanese) to become powerful new warriors for their respective sides. Built upon ''Headmasters'' efforts at developing the continuity and character development angle.

Lastly, there's season three: '''Transformers: Victory'''. No gimmicks here, just straight up Autobot vs. Decepticon conflict, albeit featuring a brand new cast of heroes and villains, Including the fabulous Star Saber. Why, if it weren't for the fact the Autobot leader has an adopted human ward whose parents were killed by Decepticons, you'd hardly tell this was a Japanese G1 series! Unfortunately, it's noted for having some of the flattest, most boring characters of the Japanese G1 shows.