It's long been a tradition among manufacturers of action figures to include with the figure some sort of card, describing the character's fictional profession and personality in order to give them an added sense of realism. In the Transformers toy line, these cards were called "tech specs". Each one included a color cartoon of the Transformer, his allegiance and specialty, a quick rundown of his personality, and a series of rankings for strength, speed, intelligence, etc. on a scale of 1 to 10 (which, on careful inspection, would sometimes appear to contradict the personality writeup).
Throughout the on-again, off-again lifespan of the Transformers toy line, the tech specs have remained a presence on the boxes and cards that the toys were sold in. Any serious and diligent Transformers collector carefully clipped and saved the tech specs for every toy they received, and on slow winter weekends they could make for good reading. They are typically worth a few bucks if sold on eBay in good condition, either with or without the figure in question.
It's worth noting that while the Transformers comics from Marvel followed the characters' tech specs religiously when depicting them in stories, the cartoon was generally more liberal with them. What you saw on the screen was not necessarily what was written on the card.
- Minicars
- Brawn - Bumblebee - Cliffjumper - Gears - Huffer - Windcharger
- Cars
- Bluestreak - Hound - Ironhide - Jazz - Mirage - Prowl - Ratchet
- Sideswipe - Sunstreaker - Trailbreaker - Wheeljack
- Leader
- Optimus Prime
- Cassettes
- Buzzsaw - Frenzy - Laserbeak - Ravage - Rumble
- Jets
- Skywarp - Starscream - Thundercracker
- Communicator
- Soundwave
- Leader
- Megatron
- Minicars
- Beachcomber - Cosmos - Powerglide - Seaspray - Warpath
- Jumpstarters
- Topspin - Twin Twist
- Cars
- Grapple - Hoist - Inferno - Red Alert - Skids - Smokescreen - Tracks
- Dinobots
- Grimlock - Slag - Sludge - Snarl - Swoop
- Deluxe Vehicles
- Roadbuster - Whirl
- Communicator
- Blaster
- Defense Base
- Omega Supreme
- Scientist
- Perceptor
- Air Guardian
- Jetfire
- Constructicons
- Bonecrusher - Hook - Long Haul - Mixmaster - Scavenger - Scrapper - Devastator
- Insecticons
- Bombshell - Kickback - Shrapnel
- Triple Changers
- Astrotrain - Blitzwing
- Deluxe Insecticons
- Barrage - Chop Shop - Ransack - Venom
- Jets
- Dirge - Ramjet - Thrust
- Military Commander
- Shockwave
- Minicars
- Hubcap - Outback - Pipes - Swerve - Tailgate - Wheelie
- Cars
- Blurr - Hot Rod - Kup
- Aerialbots
- Air Raid - Fireflight - Silverbolt - Skydive - Slingshot - Superion
- Protectobots
- Blades - First Aid - Groove - Hot Spot - Streetwise - Defensor
- Cassettes
- Eject - Ramhorn - Rewind - Steeljaw
- Triple Changers
- Broadside - Sandstorm - Springer
- Heroes
- Rodimus Prime - Wreck-Gar
- Space Shuttle
- Sky Lynx
- Autobot City
- Metroplex
- City Commander
- Ultra Magnus
- Cassettes
- Ratbat
- Jets
- Cyclonus - Scourge
- Stunticons
- Breakdown - Dead End - Drag Strip - Motormaster - Wildrider - Menasor
- Combaticons
- Blast Off - Brawl - Onslaught - Swindle - Vortex - Bruticus
- Predacons
- Divebomb - Headstrong - Rampage - Razorclaw - Tantrum - Predaking
- Triple Changers
- Octane
- Battlechargers
- Runabout - Runamuck
- Sharkticon
- Gnaw
- City Commander
- Galvatron
- Camera
- Reflector
- Decepticon City
- Trypticon
- Throttlebots
- Chase - Freeway - Goldbug - Rollbar - Searchlight - Wideload
- Clones
- Cloudraker - Fastlane
- Doublespy
- Punch-Counterpunch
- Technobots
- Afterburner - Lightspeed - Nosecone - Scattershot - Strafe - Computron
- Monsterbots
- Doublecross - Grotusque - Repugnus
- Targetmasters
- Blurr - Crosshairs - Hot Rod - Kup - Pointblank - Sureshot
- Headmasters
- Brainstorm - Chromedome - Hardhead - Highbrow
- Headmaster City
- Fortress Maximus
- Cassettes
- Overkill - Slugfest
- Duocons
- Battletrap - Flywheels
- Clones
- Pounce - Wingspan
- Terrorcons
- Blot - Cutthroat - Hun-grrr - Rippersnapper - Sinnertwin - Abominus
- Six Changer
- Sixshot
- Targetmasters
- Cyclonus - Misfire - Scourge - Slugslinger - Triggerhappy
- Headmasters
- Mindwipe - Skullcruncher - Weirdwolf
- Headmaster Horrorcons
- Apeface - Snapdragon
- Headmaster City
- Scorponok
- Sparkabots
- Fizzle - Guzzle - Sizzle
- Triggerbots
- Backstreet - Dogfight - Override
- Cassettes
- Grand Slam - Raindance
- Small Targetmasters
- Landfill - Quickmix - Scoop
- Small Headmasters
- Hosehead - Nightbeat - Siren
- Powermasters
- Getaway - Joyride - Slapdash
- Pretenders
- Cloudburst - Groundbreaker - Landmine - Sky High - Splashdown - Waverider
- Pretender Beasts
- Catilla - Chainclaw
- Pretender Vehicles
- Gunrunner
- Powermaster Leader
- Optimus Prime
- Six Changer
- Quickswitch
- Firecons
- Cindersaur - Flamefeather - Sparkstalker
- Seacons
- Nautilator - Overbite - Seawing - Skalor - Snaptrap - Tentakil - Piranacon
- Triggercons
- Crankcase - Ruckus - Windsweeper
- Cassettes
- Beastbox - Squawktalk
- Small Targetmasters
- Needlenose - Quake - Spinister
- Small Headmasters
- Fangry - Horri-bull - Squeezeplay
- Powermasters
- Darkwing - Dreadwind
- Powermaster Mercenary
- Doubledealer
- Pretenders
- Bomb-burst - Bugly - Finback - Iguanus - Skullgrin - Submarauder
- Pretender Beasts
- Carnivac - Snarler
- Pretender Vehicles
- Roadgrabber
Beginning in 1988, the Transformers toy line deteriorated rapidly. The Pretenders were the last real innovation added to the toy line, and they were expanded somewhat in 1989, but in that year the Transformers were overwhelmed with an obsession with "Micromasters", tiny four-to-a-package Transformers that tried to piggyback on the success of the recently-released Micro Machines. This lack of variety and creativity, coupled with the absence of the Transformers comics or any Transformers cartoon in either America or Japan, led to rapidly declining sales. The glory days were gone, done, finis.
Hasbro never forgot the success of the Transformers toys in principle, however. The "Generation 1" toys, as they came to be called, had two more years before they stopped in 1990. 1993 saw the arrival of Generation 2 toys, about half of which were simply brightly recolored versions of popular Generation 1 Transformers. They persevered for three years before the Beast Wars arrived in 1996, with a completely new theme, all-new toys (even if the names weren't all new), and an all-CGI animated show on television to help promote it.
I leave it to other noders to complete the remaining tech specs, if they so desire, or to begin a new metanode of tech specs for later Transformers toy lines. Barring individual updates as I discover more information, I will consider this project finished.
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