In the early years of the line, a red plastic 'tech spec decoder' and various mail-away offers were included as well. In addition to the toy and its weapons and accessories, Generation One toys typically included a sticker sheet, instructions showing how to transform the toy and apply the stickers, and a toy catalog flyer showing the entire year's toy line. Other 'premiums' which didn't survive the 1980s included robot points and various mail order exclusives. Most prominent among these were package art showing the character's robot form, tech specs rating the character's abilities, bios giving a personality profile of the character represented by the toy, and (in the Japanese toylines) ID numbers for each figure to identify them. The Generation One line introduced a number of concepts which would stay with subsequent iterations of the brand. The changing circumstances of retail have made this a thing of the past toy lines now require yearly rebranding. Toys tended to linger longer in the line a few (Starscream, Bumblebee) were even sold for three years in a row. In contrast to today's franchises, which tend by design to run 12 to 18 months, Generation One was essentially an unbroken line from 1984 to 1991 its logo and packaging format only underwent one major change in that time. After an idea to rebrand and sell Takara's Diaclone and Microchange robot toys as a whole new line with a new concept behind it, Hasbro unknowingly would wind up creating what would be one of its longest running franchises.

The Transformers (retroactively called Generation One or G1) started as a joint venture between two companies: Hasbro of America and Takara of Japan.

Transformers action figures list