The is a line of toys produced by the Japanese company
Takara (now known as
Takara Tomy) and
American toy company
Hasbro. The Transformers toyline was created from toy molds mostly produced by Japanese company
Takara in the toylines
Diaclone and
Microman. Other toy molds from other companies such as Bandai were used as well. In 1984, Hasbro bought the distribution rights to the molds and rebranded them as the
Transformers for distribution in
North America. Hasbro would go on to buy the entire toy line from Takara, giving them sole ownership of the Transformers toy-line, branding rights, and copyrights, while in exchange, Takara was given the rights to produce the toys and the rights to distribute them in the Japanese market. The premise behind the Transformers toyline is that an individual toy's parts can be shifted about to change it from a vehicle, a device, or an animal, to a robot
action figure and back again. The taglines "More Than Meets The Eye" and "Robots In Disguise" reflect this ability.