Micronauts. Transformers Generation 1. What do they have in common? They are both beloved toys from the 70's-80's. Also, they were both based on Japanese toyline Microman. Microman was based on Henshin Cyborg. It featured life sized 3-inch figures that fought with tanks and robots. A sub-series: called Micro Change, featured household objects that became robots that were driven by the Micronauts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZmyA2j-REw&feature=youtube_gdata_player
The other transformers came from Diaclone, a cousin line that had one-inch figures representing full-sized human pilots who piloted all manner of robots. Amongst them were the Car Robots. These robots turned into cars. These became Optimus Prime amd the autobot cars.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn-YSnJrcO4&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Ultimately, a reccession in Japan caused Takara to seek.new frontiers: the west. As their previous attempts: like Diakron, failed, they turned to hasbro. Hasbro's use of TV with Monopoly, G.I. Joe, and Mr. Potato Head proved to.be sucessful. Hasbro took the Diaclone and Micronauts robots and gave them personality, life, and a story. The ones that became cars were Autobots, good guys. The ones that became war vehicles or household objects were bad, named Decepticons. Hasbro knew it was so.good with TV, that they took it a step further: they made an entire TV series.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLS2N9mHWaw&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Soon, Hasbro produced new toys for the line, like Galvatron, Blurr, and Fortess Maximus. Some characters, like Arcee and Unicron, didn't get toys. In 1989, however, the US and Japanese lines took completely different directions.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cajc3d081Y4&feature=youtube_gdata_player
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbMKtmPNz5g&feature=youtube_gdata_player
However, America got action masters. Years after that, we got G2, which had some novel concepts, but ultimately failed. After that came Beast Wars.
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