Toy



Toys are the core of the Transformers brand, its reason for being. Most of the fiction exists to showcase, spotlight, promote, and in general to sell toys. Merchandise and other "artifacts" also generally exist in support of the toylines.

Transformers toys are generally created and marketed as part of a particular "franchise" (ie Beast Wars, Armada, the retroactively-named Generation 1 etc.), a whole merchandising family with associated characters and fiction; however, this article deals with the physical toys themselves, separate from their representation as fictional characters.

Design


Most Transformers are designed as a joint venture between Hasbro in America, and TakaraTomy (previously Takara) in Japan. Hasbro typically provides concepts and artistic direction, while Takara(Tomy) handles the engineering tasks of turning the designs into working physical objects. This division of labor is not cut and dried, however; the process involves a great deal of back-and-forth communication between the two companies, with staff members from both working in close conjunction, even traveling overseas several times a year to meet in person.

The process begins with a range of character types and possible alternate modes. In the days of Beast Wars, for example, a range of about 100 animal forms was considered.

Nearly all Transformers toys have a minimum of two forms, most commonly a humanoid "robot" form and an alternate mode. This means that even a fairly simple Transformer is much more complex than the typical action figure. Multiple alternate modes, articulation, and complex transformations can multiply this many times over. TakaraTomy works out transformation schemes; as of 2002, Takara still did this on paper. Hasbro would then overlay their detailing designs on the drawings. The entire process of taking a toy from concept to finished, mass-produced product takes approximately one year.

Because of their worldwide marketing, Transformers must be designed to meet many widely varying safety laws. This often results in certain limitations, and even changes being made when toys are sold in the highly litigious United States of America compared to their Japanese releases.

Related articles:
 * Hasbro
 * Takara
 * For safety reasons
 * Transformation
 * Alternate mode
 * Scale
 * Kibble
 * Shellformer
 * Partformer

Design Elements


Transformer toys contain a "vocabulary" of working parts, joint types, and standardized design items that reappear across many figures. The vast majority are humanoid in their robot mode, and thus require a head, (at least) two arms, two legs and a torso.

The complexity of Transformers toys has grown over time, making several leaps forward during the course of Generation 2 and Beast Wars, then again during the recent Movie line. Beast Wars in particular featured a number of toys with extremely complicated transformations and a maximum number of ball joints, providing a huge range of articulation. Other toy lines would revisit these levels of complexity, particularly Robots in Disguise and Alternators.

Related articles:
 * Articulation (see also: Brick)
 * Ratchet (mechanism)
 * Slide joint
 * Swivel joint
 * Ball joint
 * Peg
 * Hardpoint

Materials


The vast majority of the toys are made of plastic, held together with metal screws and pins, along with the occasional adhesive. The plastics used in Transformer construction have generally increased in flexibility and durability over the years, allowing toys to survive child-inflicted trauma that would have destroyed early Generation 1 toys.

Die-cast, used as an accessory material from 1984-1986, has all but been abandoned due to its excessive cost, shipping weight and design limitations, though it has recently reappeared in the fan-oriented Binaltech and Titanium Series sublines.

Related articles:
 * Plastic
 * Die-cast
 * Rubber tires

Production/Manufacturing


Though the toys are designed in America and Japan through a collaborative process between Takara and Hasbro, most are manufactured in places like China.

The production process is complex and expensive. Before mass production can begin, a hard-copy prototype must be created. Steel-cut molds can then be made; this is by far the most costly part of the process. Once the molds are cut, one or more test shots are typically created, usually in random colors. If the molds are ready, mass production commences.

The expense of cutting molds is the reason that retools and recolors are such a common phenomena in Transformers. Recolors allow Hasbro and TakaraTomy to capture a greater return on their considerable investment.

Related articles:
 * Prototype (includes test shots)
 * Mold
 * Gang-molding
 * Retool
 * Sprue
 * Running change
 * For safety reasons

Common Gimmicks


As if Transformers weren't complicated enough, Hasbro has seen fit to revitalize and enhance the line constantly with numerous special features, commonly referred to in the fandom as gimmicks. These may range from things as simple as a common decorative theme (such as vacuum metalizing on the Transmetal toys) to complex mechanisms that drive the entire design of a toy. Gimmicks have been a part of Transformers from Day 1 and continue to provide the line with diversity and interest today.

Main article: Gimmicks

Static Gimmicks

 * Rubsign
 * Spark crystal
 * Light-piping
 * Energon stars

Active Gimmicks

 * Missile
 * Pull-back motor
 * Autotransform
 * Sparking gimmick
 * Soundbox
 * Light-emitting diode
 * Combiner
 * Mini-Con
 * Cyber Planet Key (toys)
 * Automorph

Decoration


Most Transformers are cast in a limited number of plastic colors. To help bring them to life, paint, tampographs, and stickers are commonly used to provide additional color.

Stickers were common in the days of Generation 1, but have mostly dropped out of use as aesthetic tastes change and more complex paint operations become feasible. Today, faction symbols are typically applied via tampograph, with most other details called out by paint applications.

Related articles:
 * Sticker
 * Paint application
 * Paint mask
 * Vacuum metalizing
 * Unpaintable plastic
 * Tampograph
 * Redeco
 * Repaint (see also: Black repaint)

Problems


Transformer toys are, to put it bluntly, not meant to last forever. They are marketed to a fleeting and transitory age group, with the notion that if they last a few years, their work is done. Thus collectors who have retained Generation 1 toys for many years can find some unexpected surprises as their toys age. Among these are plastic discoloration, deterioration of rubber tires (and rubber Pretender shells), and deterioration of sub-par plastics that can cause a toy physically to disintegrate.

Related articles:
 * Photodegradation
 * Gold Plastic Syndrome

Marketing


However awesome the toys themselves may be, they tend to sell better when they represent fictional characters. The marketing engine that promotes the toys is organized into franchises, each encompassing a range of related toys and a storyline built around them. A full-blown, flagship franchise typically features an animated cartoon and often a comic book series as well. These fictional portrayals may be a source of considerable income for Hasbro/TakaraTomy as well, but ultimately they exist to sell toys.

The toy packaging also commonly supports the marketing effort, with biographies and package art of the characters being sold, as well as cross-sell ads promoting other toys currently available. Inside the packaging, catalogs and pack-in flyers further market other toys.

Related articles:
 * To sell toys
 * Franchise
 * Trademark
 * Tech spec
 * Bio
 * Package art
 * Catalog
 * Cross-sell
 * Pack-in flyer

Distribution and Retail


Once the toys are manufactured and packaged, they are shipped from their place of birth in the Orient to America. As of 1998, their first destination was a Seattle distribution warehouse. From there, they proceed to the distribution centers for the various chain stores that sell the toys at retail; at that point, control of distribution is out of Hasbro's hands. On average, it takes six to eight weeks from the time the toys ship from Hasbro to their appearance on retail shelves.

Today, the most common distributors of Transformer toys in America are Walmart, Target, and Toys R Us, though the toys can also be found at many other stores such Meijer, Kay-Bee, Kohl's, and Walgreens.

Related articles:
 * Market six
 * Exclusive
 * Rebranding
 * Subline imprint
 * Shortpacking
 * Blindpacked
 * Shelfwarmer