Transformers is a media franchise, produced by Japanese toy company Takara Tomy and American toy company Hasbro. Initially a line of transforming mecha toys rebranded from Takara’s Diaclone and Microman toylines, the toy line began in 1984 with the Transformers toy line, and centers on extraterrestrial factions of sentient self-configuring modular robotic lifeforms (often the Autobots and the Decepticons) in an endless civil war. In its history, the Transformers franchise has expanded to encompass comic books, animation, video games and films.