In 2002 Transformers underwent a new transformation as the “third era” of Transformers began late in the year when Transformers Armada was unleashed on the world. Though nobody, not even Hasbro, knew it at the time this line and TV show would be so successful that it would kick off a whole new continuity that would last for the best part of five years, the Unicron Trilogy. But that was not all, because in 2002, after a 10 year long absence, the Transformers finally returned to comics!
Transformers Generation 1 Volume 1 issue #1 Holofoil wraparound variant cover.
Transformers burst back onto the printed page in March 2002 in a six issue (plus preview issue) miniseries from Pat Lee’s Dreamwave Comics. The first six issue miniseries was not initially named, but has since come to be known as Prime Directive, following its collection in trade paperback form. The art garnered praise and criticism in equal measure – while it was generally nicely drawn and captured the feel of the animated cartoons in comic form, the character proportions were often noticeably off-kilter. The story equally was very slow-going, revolving around how following the defeat of the Decepticons the Autobots had left to return to Cybertron only for their ship to explode, apparently going down with all hands. Years later a man named Lazarus found some of the Transformers and remote controlled them as a private army – only for Megatron to break free and restart the war. The “shock” betrayal of Grimlock was seen as being hugely out of character, and the ending – which had Superion take a nuke to save the rest of the cast – drew its fair share of criticism. However, the return of Transformers to comics cannot be understated, as this was the beginning of Hasbro transforming the brand from a toyline with a tie-in cartoon into a full multimedia franchise. Since Dreamwave took the reins, Transformers comics have been in regular publication but for a period in 2004-5 when Dreamwave folded.
Transformers: The War Within issue #1 cover, showing Dreamwave’s take on pre-Earth Optimus Prime, Grimlock, Starscream, Prowl, and Megatron[/size]
Dreamwave followed up their initial Prime Directive miniseries with the much acclaimed War Within miniseries. Penned by longtime Transformers scribe Simon Furman, the first volume of the War Within told the story of the early days of the war on Cybertron – and the rise of a data clerk named Optronix to the leadership of the Autobots, as Optimus Prime. The War Within picked up on many of the earlier elements of the Transformers origin story hinted at in earlier stories, including the Marvel Generation 1 comics and the Generation 1 cartoon, and codified them into a solid narrative. While some of the details have since been reinterpreted, this is the series which crystallized the origin story – the War Within was, ultimately, the first time the origin of Optimus Prime was told and how it fit into the wider context of the war.
Transformers Armada issue 1 cover[/size]
In addition to their Generation 1 line of comics, Dreamwave published a tie-in comic to the Transformers Armada toyline. Like the Marvel comics of old, Armada took its own path and stood apart from the cartoon – notably it gave the Mini-Cons the ability to talk where in the cartoon they just spoke in binary beeps and boops. The series kicked off with a storyline on Cybertron, showing the origins of the Mini-Con campaign and how the Mini-Cons fled off world, before the action moved to Earth. The series notably focused as much on the characters of the Mini-Cons as it did on the Autobots and the Decepticons – a fact which pleased many fans. Six issues of the series were released in 2002, and by the end of the year, readers had seen the Transformers Armada war play out in comic form – with the one and only Simon Furman taking up the reins of this series too in December’s issue 6.
Transformers Armada end credits, featuring a cool instrumental remix of the classic Transformers theme. The show did not have intro credits in the traditional sense, instead featuring a narration of the basic premise. Uploaded to Youtube by OptimalOptimus2.[/size]
2002 saw the first 16 episodes of the Transformers Armada cartoon air as well. The cartoon only ever got a lukewarm reception, due to what fans saw as primitive animation of sometimes wildly varying quality and many errors in both the animation and the dubbing (notably no less than four Mini-Cons were referred to as Leader-1). This was coupled with a story that started out slowly – the initial 12 episodes of the show kicked off with a fairly formulaic plot of “Mini-Con is detected, Autobots and Decepticons race to retrieve it, whoever claims it shows off their new power”. The show is variously and often unfairly derided as a scavenger hunt or “pokeformers” based entirely on these initial episodes. However, as the show continued, the tension began to build, leading to a string of stronger episodes where the true character of the series began to come out – most notably in episode 13, the Star Saber sword was introduced and then in episodes 14 and 15 Scavenger and Sideways made their debuts. The last episode of the year, episode 16 Credulous, was one of the most brilliant episodes of the series so far, where Sideways revealed himself as a double agent after luring Hot Shot into a trap. Transformers Armada was a series that rewarded those who stuck with it – as those who carried on watching new episodes in 2003 would soon find out. The show featured the returning voice talents of Garry Chalk as Optimus Prime and David Kaye as Megatron, with Scott McNeil and the three Dobson brothers (Michael, Brian and Paul) also lending their vocal talents to the production.
A selection of Transformers Armada toys released in 2002[/size]
The Transformers Armada toyline debuted in 2002. The size class system introduced with Beast Wars was overhauled – Basics were dropped and replaced with Mini-Con three packs, Deluxes became known as Super-Cons, Megas were upsized to included more features and electronics as Max-Cons, and Ultras became known as Giga-Cons. The Super class and Supreme class stuck about (Super was referred to as Super Base though). Every Transformers Armada toy, except the Mini-Con tree packs, came with its own partner Mini-Con, and every toy could attach multiple Mini-Cons to itself to unlock new features, or just add more weapons. The toys were simple – big, chunky and noticeably simpler than the extremely complicated new molds from the Robots in Disguise line, which caused more criticism from fans, but children loved the toys and their action features.
Some notable releases in the Transformers Armada line included the Mini-Con “combiners”. The Street Action Team, released in the first wave of three packs, could combine into a moderately larger robot, named Perceptor. Three more packs, released over the course of the first three waves, could combine into three larger weapons for the big robots to wield – Wave 1’s Air Defense Team merged into the Star Saber sword, Wave 2’s Race Team merged into the Skyboom shield, and Wave 3’s Space Team merged into the Requiem Blaster.
Among the larger toys, the Super Base Optimus Prime was the newest iteration of the Autobot leader. As with previous Optimus Primes, he could combine with his trailer to form a super mode, one of the features of Optimus Primes that defined the Unicron Trilogy as an era. Super Base Optimus Prime’s trailer was designed to be remote controlled, and autotransform based on the mode that the Optimus Prime robot was in – shifting to base mode when Optimus Prime was in robot mode, and when Optimus Prime transformed into the upper body of the combined form, the trailer was intended to transform into the legs. In practice, the gimmick was a little hit or miss. Jetfire, a Giga-Con release from later in the year, could form an alternate set of legs for a “Jet Optimus” supermode combination.
Other releases of the year saw the Super-Con Sideways bring back the faction-switching double-agent gimmick and mix it up with a new take on Headmasters. Sideways came with two Mini-cons, both of whom could become a head for his robot mode, and depending on which head he had on his shoulders, his faction would change. The Mini-cons also combined to form a larger figure who acted as a rider for Sideways’ motorbike mode. Targetmasters made a comeback with both Super-Con Optimus Prime’s Overrun and Megatron’s Leader-1 having the ability to turn into hand-held gun forms.
Transformers: Robots in Disguise toys released in 2002, including the store exclusive releases Air Attack Optimus Prime, Megabolt Megatron, Cryotek and Scourge[/size]
While the big thing for toys and cartoons in 2002 was Transformers Armada, there was also the rest of the Robots in Disguise show and toyline. The final episodes of the show, featuring a story arc involving the mighty giant Fortress Maximus, aired early in the year leading up to the epic conclusion of the show where Omega Prime fought Galvatron using a gigantic sword in the Earth’s core.
For the toys, there were still more releases under the Robots in Disguise banner in 2002. Mainline releases included a second three pack of basic sized toys, this time an Autobot team using Beast Machines molds, plus recolors of the previous year’s toys including the three Autobot car brothers Prowl, X-Brawn and Sideburn in their “supercharged” decos and the regal white redeco of Megatron, as Galvatron.
2002 also saw the final releases in the Spychangers / Basic assortment, which was rounded out with smaller versions of Optimus Prime and Ultra Magnus – released as single packs – and a two pack of X-Brawn and Scourge, the first time that larger characters would be rendered at the small “pocket money” scale, and a predecessor to the Legends size class that would debut in 2005 in Transformers Cybertron.
Store exclusives were a major part of the 2002 Robots in Disguise lineup, including some store exclusive releases of the cancelled Beast Machines Megabolt Megatron (at Kay Bee) and Supreme Class Optimus Primal (at Toys R Us). A Walmart set of the Generation 2 Laser Cycles was also released, with the cycles now named Sideways and Axer – with the bio for Sideways mirroring that of the Armada Sideways who was released later in the year. A second major exclusive release for Toys R Us was the full-sized toy of Scourge. Scourge has an interesting story attached to him, because he almost was not released at all, and it was the sheer amount of fan demand for a US release for the Scourge toy that prompted Hasbro and Toys R Us to hammer out a deal to offer Scourge as an exclusive. Toys R Us was promptly rewarded by Scourge going on to become one of their hottest items, paving the way for future Transformers exclusives.
However there was one other major – and fan-demanded – release which did not come to pass. In 2002 Hasbro made attempts to somehow release the gigantic Brave Maximus toy in the US as Robots in Disguise Fortress Maximus, with FAO Schwartz as one of the possible outlets for this release. The intention was to market Fortress Maximus in the original Japanese packaging, and solicits from the time suggested an August 2002 release date. However, the attempts were thwarted by US safety standards, specifically the infamous drop test, which tests the safety of a toy, should it fall from a great height (i.e. should it fall off the top of a closet or off a high shelf in a child’s bedroom). It was found that Fortress Maximus could not pass this test, so a US release was not possible. Fans were fortunately able to fulfill their Fortress Maximus-related needs in 2003 when the Brave Maximus version was released in Korea by Takara licensee Sonokong.
Transformers Mega SCF figures, non-transforming poseable PVC versions of several classic Generation 1 Transformers characters[/size]
Takara meanwhile continued their collector-oriented releases for the Transformers line with more reissues and more releases in their SCF line. They also introduced a second new series, called Mega SCF. The Mega SCF figures were approximately 4 inch tall poseable PVC versions of Generation 1 Transformers characters based on their animation models. They did not transform, but instead were highly poseable, and featured alternate hands and other character appropriate accessories. The comparison with the Action Masters was all too obvious, with some jokingly calling the series “Action Masters done right”. The series produced seven Generation 1 characters, including Convoy, Megatron, Starscream, Star Saber and Victory Leo (who could combine!), Hot Rodimus and Rodimus Convoy.
Hasbro was not blind to the appeal of the SCF figures among collectors, and brought some of the more recognizable releases from the SCF series to the US as “Heroes of Cybertron”. Notably these were carded releases rather than blind-packed. The figures were also reworked to incorporate light-piped eyes, which was done by casting the base toys entirely in translucent blue or red plastic, then painting them. The Heroes of Cybertron line included two build-a-figures in its latter waves, Fortress Maximus and Metroplex. It was also the first time that Overlord would get released in the US, albeit under the name of “Powermaster Gigatron”.
Just a few of examples of toys reissued in the Takara “bookstyle” Transformers Collection series and Hasbro Commemorative Series, both of which kicked off in 2002[/size]
2002 was also the year that classic Transformer toy reissues took off. Both Takara in Japan and Hasbro in the US kicked off their respective lines of reissues, which saw many of the classic characters from the 1984 – 85 lines re-released. Takara’s line was known as “The Transformers Collection”, variously referred to as the bookstyle reissues or the Dreamwave reissues, due to several releases using Dreamwave’s artwork on the fronts of the boxes. E-Hobby’s own series of variant decos continued in step with these reissues.
Hasbro meanwhile ran their own reissues, known as the Transformers Commemorative Series. The Commemorative Series re-released many of the classic toys, but also introduced some previously Japan-only releases to the US market, including the Super Ginrai variant of Powermaster Optimus Prime and the Godbomber armor power-up, which was sold as the “Powermaster Optimus Prime with Apex Armor”. Both Hasbro’s and Takara’s reissue series would run through to 2006, in which time many of the classic Generation 1 toys were re-released between the two reissue lines.
An important thing to be aware of in 2002 was the launch of a pair of lines of Transformers targeted at under 5s – Hasbro’s first real attempt since the First Transformers of the 1980s to capture this group. They started out with a large Tonka Toys release in 2001, the 1-2-3 Transformer Rescue Roy, who was followed up in 2002 with a further four releases, who were smaller and sold at half the price. A Playskool Transformers series, Playskool Big Adventures: Transformers, was also introduced, which included a version of Cheetor and a character called Gorillabot who may have been based on Optimus Primal. Simple and chunky, these figures are very much the ancestors of the current Rescue Bots line. The line carried on through 2005, getting a short-lived cartoon and several name changes – the line is most commonly known as Transformers: Go-Bots, or just merely Go-Bots (both of which were official names for the line at different points in its lifetime).
Some more important convention milestones took place in 2002. 2002 saw the first – and only – Botcon Europe, held in Cheshunt in the United Kingdom. Due to the fact that 3H was also organizing the US Botcon 2002 at the same time, there were some organizational issues, which coupled with a relatively lower attendance than the US Botcon event prompted 3H to decide not to run a Botcon event outside the USA again.
Meanwhile in Canada, the first TFcon (at the time called TransformersCon) was held on November 10, 2002, at Hamilton, Ontario. The event was organized by Aaron Black and Colin Douglas, and has been held annually every year since. TFcon now holds the title of the largest fan-organized Transformers convention in the world.
An important text story was published in 2001-2 by Simon Furman at Transforce 2001 and Transforce 2002. The two-part novella was titled “Alignment” and while non-canonical, picked up numerous plot threads left hanging following the final issue of the Transformers Generation 2 comic book series and ultimately provided a conclusion for that series, which tied the continuity into the Beast Wars series. The storyline resolves the fate of Galvatron II – last seen in Marvel Comics’ Transformers #79 – as well as explaining the true nature of the Liege Maximo and The Hub. The Liege Maximo was revealed as one of the original creations of Primus – a fact only brought into canon in 2011 – and his plan was revealed as a gamble to ascend to godlike status. Megatron, Grimlock and the Dinobots all die hero’s deaths stopping the mad scheme. The story’s conclusion ends with the signing of the Pax Cybertronia which is mentioned in the backstory of Beast Wars.
While not canonical due to the story never being officially recognized by Hasbro, Alignment tied up the biggest threads left hanging after the end of the Transformers Generation 2 comic. It was the first work to establish the Liege Maximo as one of the original Transformers, nearly a full decade before he was canonized as one of the original 13. It is also a glimpse into what Simon Furman may have written, had the Generation 2 comics been able to continue and run their natural course.
2002 was a very important year for Transformers – not only was it the year that Transformers finally came back to the printed page, but it was the year that the Unicron Trilogy debuted and brought Transformers to a whole new audience of children. While the back to basics approach may have irked some, it was what the brand needed at the time, after increasingly dark cartoons and increasingly complex toys had driven children away from the brand. More widely, with the return of Transformers to comics in this year, it is possible with hindsight to see this as the year in which Hasbro began the process of making a multimedia franchise out of Transformers, a theory bourne out by the fact that in 2003, the live-action movie was formally announced.
Superquad7
Agreed! Maybe @Sol Fury can give another one soon!
Back in
Need a update but that ok
Phantformer5533
Thank you for all these links! I definitely needed this in order to make my own list. Glory to transformers!
Vik
Awesome, such a dense history!
Metro Prime
Thanks. I have been doing that since that post. TF Wiki has been answering a lot of questions.
batfan007
You can always read some pages over at TFWIKI to catch up on those years, covers pretty much everthing.
John Does
Awsome looking forward,…
Metro Prime
It took me days to read all of this!
Excellent and informative write up. I'm impressed and it filled in a few blanks for me. I've been collecting since G1 with a few years of breaks until I started a major effort into collecting through the Energon era, the beginning of the Classics line, and intermittently through the years til I saw Titans Return and have been heavily collecting since. This write up has shown me where some of my more eclectic figures have originated.
Is there an update from 2015 to current in the works? I'd love to see what else I've missed.
Excaliberprime
good info here
Abishai100
Gen 1 – Gen 2
I think a good way to think about the immense shift in style and content between TG1 (Transformers Generation 1) and TG2 is to think about how the toys, cartoons, and comics focused more on variability of character significance for various storylines. TG1 offered stories relevant to particular characters, but TG2 offered a more liberal attitude towards who could be a randomized figurehead in a given storyline!
That's why TG2 was the 'gateway' to the modern Transformers era which focuses much more on general concepts and character randomization than did TG1.
That's also why TG1 is the ideal intro for anyone looking to become a Transformers fan. Hey, isn't that why we all love Transformers: The Movie (1986), the real art-piece that began showing us conceptual bridges between TG1 and TG2?
ChromedomeMaster
35 years of transformers, and i have only been apart of it for 10 years
3 Wheeler
I like the Long Haul Pic!!!
Djin
Great read
Blam320
That's really too bad. You're missing out on a lot, and I mean a lot of really good Transformers stuff by only caring about G1.
Rodimus Prime BetterPrime
For years I've wanted the G1 series in a blu-ray release. With this year marking its 35th anniversary, hopefully we'll finally get it. I don't care about anything but G1.