The G1 cartoon ended because it had simply run its course in syndication. 98 episodes was more than enough for TV networks to play in reruns for years on end. It also lost steam by 1987 since it couldn't compete with the new hot fads of the time: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, DuckTales, and the Nintendo Entertainment System. The three-episode fourth season didn't generate enough viewership to warrant production on another full-season's worth of episodes.megatran wrote:Sabrblade wrote:Transformers did die for a couple of years after 1990 in the US, with G2 fully starting up in 1993.chuckdawg1999 wrote:I don't even think it's that. Transformers lasted WAY longer than most lines do, people were ready to move on.
The G1 animation TV series, which was a glorified TV advertisement, ended by then, too. Now, it could be the case of which led to what; the chicken or the egg story. Perhaps the show ended because of flagging toy sales & interest.
But even after the G1 cartoon died, the toyline continued for three more years until 1990 without any need of a cartoon to support, while the Marvel Comics ran for three-and-a-half more years until mid-1991. The comics in particular really took off once the cartoon ended since Simon Furman took over as writer of the US issues from Bob Budiansky, and Furman really kicked things up a notch first with his four-part "return of Megatron" story arc, his 16-issue Unicron storyline, and the final five issues that brought the story to a close (due to Marvel executives deciding to pull the plug on the comic series since the toyline was basically over and the sales weren't as high as they'd have liked them to be, when the sales numbers for the Transformers Marvel comics at the time were doing even better than most comic sales of today).
