The Transformers toyline and series were inspired by Takara's Japanese Diaclone and Micro Change toy lines, which featured tiny pilots driving transforming vehicles and 'actual size' items that turned into robots like microcassettes and guns.

Hasbro product developer Henry Orenstein discovered the Diaclone and Micro Change toys at the 1983 Tokyo Toy Fair and pitched combining them into a single new toyline for Western markets.

The show was greenlit partly because U.S. regulators had loosened restrictions on promotional content in children's TV by 1984, clearing the way for a toy-based cartoon.

Following the successful G.I. Joe marketing model, Hasbro again partnered with Marvel Productions and Sunbow Productions; Sunbow's Jay Bacal coined the name 'Transformers' for the new robot series.

Marvel Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter created the initial concept of warring Autobots and Decepticons, but the character names and profiles by editor Dennis O'Neil were rejected by Hasbro, and O'Neil refused to revise them.

After several writers turned down the assignment, editor Bob Budiansky hastily rewrote the character names and profiles over a single weekend, and Hasbro loved the results.

Toei Animation co-produced the first two seasons, handling character models, transformation designs and storyboards, before its involvement was reduced in season three and animation duties shifted mainly to South Korean studio AKOM, founded by the show's supervising producer Nelson Shin.

Legal issues over incorporating the Bandai-derived character Skyfire led to his quick removal early in season two, and no other Bandai-licensed characters were used in the show as a result.

The death of Optimus Prime in the 1986 movie and subsequent season three episodes proved so unpopular that a fan letter-writing campaign convinced Hasbro to bring the character back in the two-part episode 'The Return of Optimus Prime'.

A 1988 rerun season added new framing scenes featuring a human boy played by Jason Jansen interacting with a stop-motion Optimus Prime puppet operated by Sesame Street performer Martin P. Robinson.

Because some original 35mm film stock was missing, the 2002-2004 Rhino DVD releases used incomplete earlier animation, introducing errors like mis-colored Decepticon jets and a scene where Megatron teleports without actually disappearing.