The Transformers is a half-hour American animated robot superhero television series which originally aired from September 17, 1984 to November 11, 1987. The first of many series in the Transformers franchise, it was based upon Hasbro’s Transformers toy line and depicts a war among giant robots that can transform into vehicles and other objects.

This series is also popularly known as “Generation 1”, a term originally coined by fans in response to the re-branding of the franchise as Transformers: Generation 2 in 1992, which eventually made its way into official use.

The cartoonset up the basic story of Transformers that most other incarnations were to follow: two warring factions of robots on the planet Cybertron leave in search of resources. The factions crash-land on Earth and, millions of years later, begin their battle anew in Re

agan-era America and across the globe.

Once established, the cartoon rarely took any steps to upset its status quo. Plots generally centered on a Decepticon plot or invention of the week, which would be used to gather energy or Defeat The Autobots FOREVER!!, and the Autobots’ efforts to stop the plan. Most of the time the Decepticons were forced into retreat, and the Autobots drove off victorious. At most, a new character or team was added to one side or the other. Plots became a bit less formulaic during Season 3, though character death and true plot upheaval remained a rarity.

The original cartoon also served to make icons out of many of the main characters of the series, and gave us memmorable characters including Bumblebee, Soundwave, Jazz, Ravage and more. However, the standouts were probably Megatron, Starscream and of course, Optimus Prime. Megatron and Starscream made for a terrific villainous pairing, with the ruthless and evil Megatron constantly fending off the power hungry plotting of Starscream. As for Optimus Prime, as silly as it sounds, the giant robot who could transform into a truck became a huge hero for kids, who loved to see his brave acts and hear the comforting voice of Peter Cullen intoning “Autobots, transform and roll out!”

Through its 98-episode run, this series took viewers around the globe and to many strange places and times: across the alien Cybertron, the Earth’s prehistoric past, the Earth’s then-future of 2005, the Metropolis-like society of Nebulos, and more.