Timeline

Hasbro, Inc. (/ˈhæzbroʊ/; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment holding company founded on December 6, 1923 by Henry, Hillel, and Herman Hassenfeld and is incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of Kenner, Milton Bradley, Parker Brothers, and Wizards of the Coast, among others. As of August 2020, over 81.5% of its shares were held by large financial institutions. Among Hasbro's products are Transformers, G.I. Joe, Power Rangers, Rom the Space Knight, Micronauts, M.A.S.K., Monopoly, Furby, Nerf, Potato Head, Bop It!, Play-Doh, Twister, Tonka, and My Little Pony, and with the Entertainment One (now Lionsgate Canada) acquisition on December 30, 2019, franchises like Peppa Pig and PJ Masks. Hasbro also spawned TV shows to promote its products, such as Family Game Night on Discovery Family, which has been co-owned by Hasbro since 2010. The company sold Entertainment One to Lionsgate (now Starz Entertainment) on December 27, 2023, however, it kept eOne's family brands and eOne's stake in Astley Baker Davies, placing them into a new division known as Hasbro Entertainment, formed on August 16, 2023. Hasbro primarily competes with Mattel.

Tomy Company, Ltd. is a Japanese toy company. It was established in 1924 by Eiichirō Tomiyama as Tomiyama Toy Manufacturing Company, became known for creating popular toys like the B-29 friction toy and luck-based game Pop-up Pirate. In 2006, Tomy merged with another toy manufacturer, Takara, and although the English company name remained the same, it became Takara Tomy in Asia. It has its headquarters in Katsushika, Tokyo.

James Charles Shooter (September 27, 1951 – June 30, 2025) was an American writer, editor and publisher in the comics industry. Beginning his career writing for DC Comics at the age of 14, he had a successful but controversial run as editor-in-chief at Marvel Comics, and launched comics publishers Valiant, Defiant, and Broadway.

Michael Benjamin Bay (born February 17, 1965) is an American film director and producer. He is best known for making big-budget high-concept action films with fast cutting, stylistic cinematography and visuals, and extensive use of special effects, including frequent depictions of explosions. The films he has directed include Bad Boys (1995) and its sequel Bad Boys II (2003), The Rock (1996), Armageddon (1998), Pearl Harbor (2001), the first five films in the Transformers film series, Pain & Gain (2013), 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016), and Ambulance (2022). His films have grossed over US$6.6 billion worldwide, making him the fifth-most commercially successful director in history.

Microman was a science fiction toyline created, manufactured and marketed by Takara Co., Ltd. from 1974 to 1984 as well as from 1998 to 2007. The Microman line was a series of 3.75-inch-tall (9.5 cm) action figures with accompanying vehicles, robots, playsets and accessories. Unlike other toylines at the time, Microman figures were marketed as being the "actual" size of cyborg beings called "Micros" that hailed from a fictional planet known as "Micro Earth" and disguised themselves as action figures while on planet Earth.

Diaclone is a toyline by Takara Toys launched in 1980. It consisted of transforming vehicles and robots piloted by miniature, magnet-shoed figures spin off from the prior Microman toy line. In 1984 the toys would be rebranded for the North America market creating the Transformers toy line.

Optimus Prime, also known in Japan as Convoy (コンボイ), is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Transformers franchise. Generally depicted as a brave and noble leader, Optimus Prime is the supreme commander of the Autobots in their fight against the Decepticons. The Transformers characters were developed for the American market after Hasbro representatives visited the 1983 Tokyo Toy Show. Some designs were modified and the coloring was changed; while the Diaclone version was intended to be a piloted mecha, the Transformers version was a sentient robot. The popularity of the Transformers toys resulted in comics, movies, and a TV series.

Transformers: Beast Wars is an entertainment franchise created by Hasbro. The franchise is part of the larger Transformers world. The franchise directly follows the Transformers: Generation 1 continuity, established by the 1984 series and animated film. It ignores the continuity established by the Japanese Transformers series, though this franchise has two exclusive Japanese series of its own. Before Beast Wars, Hasbro attempted to relaunch the original toys and animation as Transformers: Generation 2. Hasbro intended another franchise titled Transtech to follow, which would have combined Beast Wars and Generation 1 characters and aesthetics, but this was canceled. Instead, the franchise began a series of reboots, beginning with the Japanese-produced Transformers: Car Robot series, internationally known as Transformers: Robots in Disguise.

Unicron is a fictional villain from the Transformers media franchise. Designed by Floro Dery, he was introduced in the 1986 animated film The Transformers: The Movie and has since reappeared in Transformers: Armada, Transformers: Energon, Transformers: Cybertron, Transformers: Prime, Transformers Prime Beast Hunters: Predacons Rising, Transformers: The Last Knight, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, and Atari's 2004 Transformers video game. Unicron is a prodigiously large robot whose scale reaches planetary proportions; he is also able to transform into a giant planet. Unicron's origin has expanded over the years from simply being a large robot to being a god of chaos who devours realities. He often employs the help of Decepticons in his work, and in some stories is considered part of the origin of the Decepticon forces.

Bumblebee is a 2018 science fiction action film based on the Transformers toy line character. Directed by Travis Knight and written by Christina Hodson, it is the sixth installment in the Transformers film series. It stars Hailee Steinfeld, John Cena, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., John Ortiz, Jason Drucker, and Pamela Adlon. Set in 1987, the film follows Bumblebee being sent to Earth for refuge and befriending a teenage girl named Charlie.

Transformers: Generation 1 is a toy line from 1984 to 1990, produced by Hasbro and Takara Tomy. Inaugurating the successful Transformers toy and entertainment franchise, the line of toy robots could change into an alternate form by moving parts into other places. The line was originally called The Transformers, with "Generation 1" originating as a term coined by fans of the toys when the Transformers: Generation 2 toy line was released in 1992. Hasbro eventually adopted the term "Generation 1" to refer to any toy produced in that era.

The Transformers: Generation 2 was a Transformers toy line that ran from 1992–1994, in conjunction with a corresponding comic book series and edited reruns of the original cartoon beginning in 1993. The prior Transformer television series, comic books and toys became known as "Generation 1" or G1 retroactively, and are now officially referred to as such by toymaker Hasbro. Generation 2 was discontinued as the first Beast Wars: Transformers toys began hitting the shelves.

The Transformers: The Movie is a 1986 animated science fiction action film based on the Transformers television series. It was co-produced and directed by Nelson Shin, who also produced the television series, and written by Ron Friedman, who created Bionic Six a year later. It was released in North America on August 8, 1986, and in the UK on December 12. The story is set in 2005, 20 years after the TV series' second season.

Transformers is a 2007 American science fiction action film based on Hasbro's toy line of the same name. Directed by Michael Bay from a screenplay by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, it is the first installment of the Transformers film series. The film stars Shia LaBeouf as Sam Witwicky, a teenager who gets caught up in a war between the heroic Autobots and the evil Decepticons, two factions of shape-shifting alien robots. The Autobots and Decepticons both seek a powerful artifact called the AllSpark, to win the war that has devastated their home planet of Cybertron.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is a 2009 American science fiction action film based on Hasbro's Transformers toy line. It is the sequel to Transformers (2007) and the second in the Transformers film series. Like its predecessor, the film was directed by Michael Bay and written by Ehren Kruger, Roberto Orci, and Alex Kurtzman. Set two years after the events of Transformers, Revenge of the Fallen recounts the battle between the Autobots, led by Optimus Prime (voiced by Peter Cullen), and the Decepticons, led by Megatron (voiced by Hugo Weaving).

Transformers is a mecha media franchise produced by American toy company Hasbro and Japanese toy company Takara Tomy. It primarily follows the heroic Autobots and the villainous Decepticons, two alien robot factions at war that can transform into other forms, such as vehicles and animals. The franchise encompasses toys, animation, comic books, video games and films. As of 2011, it generated more than ¥2 trillion ($25 billion) in revenue, making it one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon is a 2011 American science fiction action film based on Hasbro's Transformers toy line. It is the sequel to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) and the third installment in the Transformers film series. Like its predecessor, the film was directed by Michael Bay, and written by Ehren Kruger. Shia LaBeouf, Josh Duhamel, John Turturro, Tyrese Gibson, Kevin Dunn, and Julie White reprise their roles from the previous films, with Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Patrick Dempsey, John Malkovich, and Frances McDormand joining the cast.

Bumblebee is a fictional robot character appearing in the many installments of the Transformers franchise. The character is a member of the Autobots — a group of sentient, self-configuring, modular, extraterrestrial robotic lifeforms. In the original line of toys and in the animated series, Bumblebee is a small yellow Volkswagen Beetle. In the live-action films, he has appeared as vehicles inspired by Chevrolet muscle cars, with the live-action film versions being a yellow Camaro with black racing stripes. The original vehicle-mode design was based on a classic European Type 1 Volkswagen Beetle. The character is named after the bumblebee, a black-and-yellow striped insect, which inspired his paint scheme. Bumblebee is a fan-favorite, and appears in most of the series, later becoming the main protagonist in Transformers: Robots in Disguise, Bumblebee, and Transformers: Cyberverse. Bumblebee has also taken the form of a Willys Jeep in the 2018 film, Bumblebee.

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is a 2023 American science fiction action film based on Hasbro's Transformers toy line, and primarily influenced by its Beast Wars sub-franchise. It is the seventh installment in the Transformers film series, serving as a sequel to Bumblebee (2018). The film is directed by Steven Caple Jr. from a screenplay by Joby Harold, Darnell Metayer, Josh Peters, Erich Hoeber, and Jon Hoeber, based on a story by Harold.