Generation 1 (Japanese toyline)
From Transformers Wiki
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TakaratookHasbro's lead and brought the new universe of living robots toJapanin1985,where it was a massive success. Despite many/most of the toys having been available just a year or two prior, the new story andcartoonpropelledTransformerssales far beyond those of the lines that the toys originally came from.DiacloneandMicro Changewere quickly discarded in favor of the new hotness as kids ate up this new take on the giant robot genre, one that was a fresh change from the sheer amount of "piloted mecha" robot toylines/cartoons out prior.
The line started very parallel with Hasbro's offerings, but over time the two companies pursued some pretty different visions for the brand... and then swungbackcloser together before finally ending in 1992.Transformerswould not be back on Japanese toy shelves until1995,when the short-livedG-2toyline would hit.
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TakaraFight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformersline
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Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformerswas the overarching branding for theTransformersline in Japan all the way up to 1992, and was in fact theonlyconsistent branding for every year up until 1990, despite the corresponding cartoons using a variety of unique secondary titles, some of which were reflected onsome(but notall) of those years' toys.
TransformersandTransformers 2010(1985-1986)
- Jump to:1985andScramble City / 2010
Takara launched theTransformersbrand in 1985, a year later than Hasbro, and releasedmostof the products from Hasbro's 1984 and 1985 offerings during its initial year. Some toys weren't sold due to being made by rival companies (particularlyBandai) or other licensing issues; a few were simply delayed until the following year, others were relegated to mail-aways, and a small number just never happened at all, for no discernible reasons. By and large, what was released was identical to the Hasbro releases, save for having fully-functional spring-loaded launchers (due to differing safety standardsin Japan), and a few notable color variants, namely a "NASA" -themedAstrotrainand an unchromed, blue-accented, cannon-lessMegatron.
By the second year, Takara had mostly caught up with Hasbro, releasing a few stragglers not included in the 1985 line-up as well as the vast majority of Hasbro's 1986 offerings. This year's product was almost completely identical to the Hasbro 1986 line, from releases to colors, mostly minusSky Lynxdue to mold licensing issues. A considerable number of toys featured an additional "Scramble City" branding on their packaging, marketing them as part of the eponymousplay patternthat was advertized by anoriginal video animation.Meanwhile, toys that are commonly associated withTransformers 2010,the Japanese dub of season 3 of the original cartoon, featured no additional branding at all.
The Headmasters(1987)
- Jump to:The Headmasters
1987 featured the toys accompanying the first Japanese-only follow-up anime,The Headmasters.It was during this year that Takara took its first steps in breaking away from Hasbro's line. While most of the line is pretty dang identical to the US line, Takara added a large number of extra toys to its line: the previously-unusedDiacloneTrainbots,retooledand redecoed prior toys likeTwincast,Soundblaster,StepperandArtfire,and even the all-new-moldAutobot Master WarriorsandW Cassettebots.Contrary to the anime itself, only the toys that wereactuallyHeadmasters featured an additional "The Headmasters" branding on their packaging, while Targetmaster figures featured an additional "Targetmaster" branding instead, and twocombinerteams even featured the "Scramble City" branding again. Another big and odd addition is that theBeastformers,released by Hasbro as a standalone toy line (named "Battle Beasts" ) from the get-go, were initially released by Takara inTransformers-branded packaging before they became their own thing in Japan as well.
Super-God Masterforce(1988)
- Jump to:Super-God Masterforce
1988 was the year that Takara really tookTransformersin its own direction, accompanied by the second Japanese-original anime series,Super-God Masterforce.While the toyline mostly featured the samesculptsas the Hasbro line, many were given new decos, and portrayed as completely different characters (namely, thePowermasterswere dubbed theGodmasters,and like the newHeadmasterswerehumanswho piloted unliving robotTranstectors). The line also tossed in a few new items, most importantly the colossal Decepticon double-GodmasterOverlord.This series was also the first one to release a female character toy, theHeadmaster JuniorMinerva.She'd then be the only one for the better part of a decade. Similar to previous years' offerings, the "Super-God Masterforce" branding appeared nowhere on the toys' packaging, with the exception of two role-play items. Instead, various sub-brandings such as "Godmaster", "Pretenders", "Seacons" and the previous year's "The Headmasters" are used to identify specific toy gimmicks.
Victory(1989)
- Jump to:Victory
By 1989, Takara's direction of theTransformersbrand had diverged so far from Hasbro's that the Japanese toy line was almost completely different from what Hasbro's markets received that year, accompanied by the third and final fully-fledged Japanese-original anime,Victory.The majority of the line-up was made up of all-new sculpts unique to Japan (although one of them also saw release in Italy, of all places), with the rest filled out by significantretoolingsof Hasbro-released sculpts.Combinerswere a major focus, with four combiner teams in the central cast, and the huge Autobot leaderStar Sabercombining with his own jet-base as well as another huge bot to become an absolutelymassivewarrior. Once again, the "Victory" branding appeared nowhere on the toys' packaging, which instead featured gimmick-specific sub-brandings such as "Brainmaster", "Multiforce", "Crossformers", "Dinoforce" and "Breastforce".
Zone(1990)
- Jump to:Zone
As the Hasbro US line was winding down in 1990, Takara kept going, butTransformers's star was fading in Japan as well. For the first time, the toy line-up was no longer backed by a TV-aired cartoon, instead relying on asingle OVAandmagazine layoutsto advertise it. While the new sculpts continued with the three largerPowered Masterstaking center stage, the rest of the line wasMicro Transformers,and only some of them wereredecoedfrom Hasbro's releases. TheDestronpresence was alsoseverelycut back, on the theory that kids were way more interested in buying "good guy" toys. (Japanese toylines in general tend to be light on the villains.) Thus all but one of the Hasbro Decepticon Patrols were changed into Cybertrons for Japan, and the only large villain isMetrotitan,a redecoedMetroplex.Gimmick-specific sub-brandings for this year were "Micro Transformers" and "Micro Transformers Powered Masters" (plus a re-release of the 1987Trainbots,now with their own "Trainbots" sub-branding), while the actual "Zone" branding only appears on a single product that includes the aforementioned OVA.
Return of Convoy(1991)
- Jump to:Return of Convoy
1991 featured the first actual fully-fledged subline that can be considered such, seeing as the titleReturn of Convoynot only appeared consistently onallof that year's toys' packaging, but was also presented on equal footing with the mainFight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformerstitle. In keeping with tradition, though, the corresponding fiction (namely,magazine spreadsand aone-shot comic) wasnottitled "Return of Convoy", but rather "The Battlestars", the name of the series'main hero team.Return of Convoytook a grab at nostalgia in an attempt to stave off cancellation.Optimus Primewas brought back as "Star Convoy", and even came with aMicromaster version of Hot Rod.They were backed up by a handful of new molds, including asix-Micromaster super robot combinerbut most of the small line was recycled Micromasters andMicromaster Combinersin their Hasbro decos, all as Autobots.
Destrons werecompletelyexcised from the line this year. While a reborn"Super Megatron"was presented as the primary villain in-fiction, he would not receive a toy for30 years.
Operation Combination(1992)
- Jump to:Operation Combination
The final series of Japan's "Generation 1",Operation Combinationplayed up combiners, which were popular toys in Takara's concurrently-running (and TV-cartoon-backed) non-Transformers"Brave"giant robot lines, effectively competing against themselves. The Destrons were back, but a bit outnumbered.
The two stars of the line areGuard CityandBattle Gaia,redecos ofDefensorandBruticusrespectively, and two of the most expensive-on-the-secondary-market items in the entire Japanese "G1" line due to their incredible scarcity. Four more Cybertron Micromaster six-teams and a set of four "Vs" sets, straight re-packs of the smaller European-lineTurbomastersandPredators,filled out the JapaneseTransformersfranchise's swan-song.
