By 1986, The Transformers seemed to be on an unstoppable rise. Nearly 60 new Transformers would be available, including the first exclusively conceived for Transformers. Hasbro continued to pad out the line with licensed toys from manufacturers other than Takara. The line's most momentous achievement was a feature-length animated film, Transformers: The Movie. It was surrounded by a merchandising blitz, with contests, promotions, mail-ins and special edition toys.
Combiners were the stars of 1986, with almost half of the year's releases being members of “Special Teams” – five themed toys that could transform into one giant robot. The toys designed specially for the main characters of the movie changed the aesthetic of the line to a more futuristic, sometimes more alien appearance that would last through the remainder of Generation 1. Transformers also secured its place in the highest price points with the massive transforming cities Metroplex and Trypticon.
Around the world, Takara and other Hasbro licensees had largely fallen in step with Hasbro aligning their releases to include the dozens of new characters introduced in cartoon, comic, and movie fiction. Despite the euphoric sales high experienced worldwide by the brand in 1986, it would not top the amount of growth and popularity it had experienced until many years later.
