The Transformers is the name of a line of toys designed and produced by toy companies Takara in Japan, and Hasbro in the United States, from 1984 onward. A Transformer is a robot that is able to "transform," or reconstruct itself, into a common and innocuous form, such as a car, an aircraft, a device, or an animal. The taglines "More Than Meets The Eye" and "Robots In Disguise" reflect this ability. There have also been a number of spin-offs based on the toys including a Marvel comic book series, an animated television series program presented by Claster Television, a television production company that Hasbro organized for this and similar purposes, that began transmissions in 1984 (Transformers series) and a feature-length movie, The Transformers: The Movie. The original series program was followed by a number of spin-offs with varying levels of popularity. A live-action movie, directed by Michael Bay under the sponsorship of Steven Spielberg, premiered o...