Ask John: Is Transformers Anime?

Question:
I have been seeing lately, a lot of people who are including the cartoon Transformers when they talk about anime. I was just wondering, is Transformers an anime that was brought over here or was it an American idea that was animated in Japan or is it neither of these.

Answer:
Perhaps more so than any other questionable series, the historical status of Transformers as anime can be debatable, but the series now is firmly, unquestionably anime. Transformers toys actually began their life as part of the Japanese Microman toy line from Takara. Earlier Microman figures had been brought to the US by Hasbro under the name Micronauts. Hasbro, in a co-production with Takara and Marvel Comics, adopted the new Microman figures for the American market by creating a new name and origin for them, and by slightly altering their original designs. These new Microman toys became the Transformers. The television cartoon was originally an American production, animated in Japan for broadcast in America. The series was also broadcast on Japanese television, and proved popular enough to spawn numerous series, including Transformers Victory, Masterforce, Headmasters, 2010, and Zone. Since its birth in 1984, Transformers has sustained its own life in Japan, and even in recent years has had numerous television series and movies, including a cel animation Beat Wars series and the current traditional cel animation Transformers: Car Robots TV series.