The characters were "robots in disguise," metal men from out of this world who could change into typical earth objects: vehicles, cassette tapes, guns, dinosaurs, insects, and more. In the beginning, there were only two camps: the good guy Autobots, led by semi truck transformer Optimus Prime; and the villainous Decepticons, led by the transforming handgun Megatron. Both hailed from Cybertron, a robotic world fueled by "Energon." When the Autobots set out on a spacefaring expedition to secure more of the fuel, the Decepticons attacked, sending both groups crash landing down to the planet Earth, several million years B.C. and sending everyone into suspended animation.

In the present, a volcanic eruption re-activated the 'bots, and the Autobots and Decepticons decided to carry on their feud in their new locale. There were human co-stars (Spike and Sparkplug Witwicky, and later Chip Chase, for the Autobots; the arch evil Dr. Archeville for the Decepticons), but robots dominated the often elaborate storylines, which frequently stretched over two, three or a full week's worth of five episodes.

Trasnformers, both as a series and as a toy line, was an instant hit, and the robot lineup expanded frequently: Constructicons, Insecticons, Aerialbots, and the dim-witted-but-good-hearted Dinobots. At the height of its popularity, the show even went big-screen with 1986's Transformers: The Movie, which featured the voices of Leonard Nimoy, Eric Idle, and Orson "Citizen Kane" Welles in one of his final roles as Unicron, the Living Planet.

The Transformers fad faded as the 80s closed, as kids moved on to new toy/comic/shows like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but the franchise has managed quite a few comebacks since:

In 1993, old episodes were spiffed up with CGI bumpers and transitions, repackaged as Transformers: Generation II. A true "second generation" arrived three years later, as the computer-generated Beast Wars: Transformers brought new characters and a new storyline to television.

Finally, in 2002, the original 'bots came full circle, as the Japanese CGI series Transformers: Armada reached America's Cartoon Network. Optimus Prime, Megatron and many of the other old school Autobots and Decepticons were back, but this time the two sides were fighting for control of tiny Transformers called Mini-Cons, which amped up the robots' mighty powers to super-Transformer levels.

Though their new millennium revival in America didn't reached the popularity levels of other Japanese imports like Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh!, the Transformers have proven their staying power. With a seemingly permanent place on toy shelves, they're the robot world's version of G.I. Joe - speaking of toy/cartoon/comic synergy…

YouTube: