Franchise

A franchise, for lack of a better term, is an incarnation or "generation" of the Transformers brand. The word is used here to refer to the collection of not just toys, but also media, merchandise, and ideas that surround each of these incarnations. Because of these other elements, the word "toyline" would not be broad enough -- the toyline is just the toy component of the whole thing.

US Franchises
There have been many franchises over the two decades that Transformers has been around:


 * 1984-1991: Generation 1 is the retroactively-applied term for the original toys and associated media.


 * 1993-1995: Generation 2 was a relaunch of the line, a mix of old and new toy designs.


 * 1996-2001: Beast Wars changed the direction of the line with robots that changed into "realistically"-styled animals, and soon moved into other varieties of animal-alt-mode robots.


 * 1997: Machine Wars was a limited line of redecorated older toys, released to capitalize on the popularity of Beast Wars.


 * 1999: Animorphs was a short-lived franchise using the Transformers name but unrelated with regard to fictional backstory.


 * 2000-2001: Beast Machines continued the directions of Beast Wars, and added futuristic vehicles to the mix. The latter portion of this franchise was subtitled "The Battle for the Spark".


 * 2001-2003: Robots in Disguise was a port of the Japanese Car Robots toyline and cartoon, padded out with additional toys in the US.


 * 2002-2003: Armada marked a new beginning for the toys and fiction, and the addition of the Mini-Con faction. The latter portion of the franchise was subtitled "The Unicron Battles".  It was marketed in Japan as Micron Legend.


 * 2002-2005: Universe supplemented the wildly successful Armada with redecos of older toys and convention-based fiction.


 * 2003-2005: Go-Bots introduced a line of larger, simple toys aimed at children too young for the mainline toys.


 * 2003-2005: Energon followed up on Armada. The latter portion of the franchise was subtitled "The Powerlinx Battles".  It was marketed in Japan as Superlink.


 * 2003-2006: Alternators, a toy-only franchise, combined licensed 1/24th scale-replica vehicles with complex transformations and Generation 1 characters. It was marketed in Japan as Binaltech.


 * 2005-2006: Cybertron completed the arc begun by Armada, capping off the "Unicron Trilogy". The latter portion of the franchise was subtitled "Primus Unleashed". It was marketed in Japan as Galaxy Force.


 * 2006-2007: Classics acted as a stop-gap until the next franchise was ready.


 * 2006-2007: The Titanium Series was aimed specifically at fans, with a range of characters from older franchises and more obscure corners of the fiction, and die-cast metal designs.


 * 2007: The "Movie" franchise marked a new level for Transformers, with the live-action film as its centerpiece. The later portion of the toyline, primarily consisting of redecos, was subtitled "Allspark Power".


 * 2008: Transformers Animated is the first American-written cartoon franchise in just under a decade. It carries on the brand with a new look and some old familiar faces.


 * 2008: Universe (2008 franchise) re-uses the catch-all name of several years prior, but is a new franchise that continues the design and story directions of Classics.

Generation 1
Beginning in 1986, (the second year of the franchise in Japan), Takara got into the habit of annually rebranding the Transformers property. Moreover, 1987's The Headmasters kicked off a trend in which Takara's toylines and fiction branched off from Hasbro's versions to increasingly significant degrees. Thus, the later iterations of Japanese Generation 1 are often referred to as "franchises", despite being part of the larger Generation 1 franchise. They include:


 * 1985: Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers


 * 1986: Transformers 2010


 * 1987: The Headmasters


 * 1988: Super-God Masterforce


 * 1989: Victory


 * 1990: Zone


 * 1991: Battlestars: The Return of Convoy


 * 1992: Operation Combination

Beast Wars
To fill the sometimes-lengthy gap between the seasons of the Beast Wars television show, Takara decided to augment that series with two Japanese-exclusive franchises.
 * 1998: Beast Wars II, with a toyline mostly consisting of redecorated existing Beast Wars toys.


 * 1999: Beast Wars Neo, additional redecos combined with numerous new molds.

Post-Beast Wars

 * 2000: Car Robots was a mixed line of complex new molds and redecorated toys from previous lines. An expanded version was later marketed in America as Robots in Disguise.


 * 2003: Smallest Transforming Transformers (often mislabled "World's Smallest Transformers") reworked early Generation 1 toys at extremely small scale.


 * 2004-2005: Robot Masters was a line of mixed heritage, collecting characters from several continuities. Most of its toys were redecos or new designs based on larger toys reduced in scale.

Merchandising Franchises
Several lines of non-transforming figures have been released in recent years, capitalizing on the popularity of the Transformers characters.
 * Robot Heroes
 * Heroes of Cybertron
 * MyClone