Transformers Inducted into 2024 National Toy Hall of Fame

About Transformers: Hasbro, Inc. first offered Transformers, a toy line of action figures that change their shapes, in the mid-1980s. Marketed with an elaborate backstory supported by a Marvel comic book series, a cartoon television series, animated movies, electronic games, consumer goods, and even its own cereal, Transformers have remained popular ever since. Their popularity has been fueled by additional movies, television shows, and comic books. For more than 40 years now, the appeal of Transformers is, in part, that the toys do what kids do anyway—change the toy to suit the needs of play.

Says Chris Bensch, chief curator, “Transformers enjoy such popularity, in part, because Hasbro has used tried-and-true marketing methods—the multimedia venues for toy-related shows, books, and movies; related consumer products; and new variations and characters regularly added to the line—to keep the toy in front of American kids. But the toys are also popular because they are so suited to the ways kids play. The toy line feeds kids’ imaginations and fantasy play.”