A science fiction franchise from the 80s and onwards that started as a popular line of transforming robot action figures produced by Takara and Hasbro.

In 1984, American toy company Hasbro licensed the Japanese Diaclone Car Robots toyline (1982) along with the Japanese Microman Micro Change toyline (1982) from Takara and merged both series of toys to create many of the original Transformers. Takara eventually discontinued the Diaclone and Microman toylines in 1985 in favor of the Transformers rebranding in Japan.

The Marvel comics company also contributed to the original franchise by developing the whole fictional Generation 1 universe of the series and its robot characters info and backgrounds, all created by Marvel comics writer Bob Budiansky. It also published a comic book adaptation of the series during the 80s and 90s.

Due to its great success, Transformers has been adapted into many animated TV shows, an animated movie, and six live-action movies.

This tag is for the series as a whole. For the original 1984 series, see Transformers: Generation 1.