As a franchise, Transformers has seen a number of crossovers. Most recently, IDW Publishing released Transformers vs. The Terminator #1; later this year, the publisher will also release My Little Pony/Transformers. Honestly, it seems like Optimus Prime facing off against the scourge of Skynet might be the most outlandish combination of franchises out there -- but it's not.
The following consists of 10 major Transformers crossovers, ranked from least to most epic.
10. Toys
When it comes to toys, Transformers has numerous toy crossovers including Star Wars and Neon Genesis Evangelion. While these toys are fascinating and fun, they never had any continuity to justify the blending. That said, seeing Chewbacca and Han Solo as Transformers who combine to create the Millennium Falcon is simply too cool a concept to ignore entirely.
9. The X-Files
One of the odder crossovers is with The X-Files. In IDW's major event, The X-Files: Conspiracy, there is a crossover series where three government agents stumble upon Optimus Prime and Bumblebee while investigating a dangerous virus from the future.
8. Friday the 13th
This film-only crossover occurs in the Michael Bay-directed Transformers film and his produced Friday the 13th remake. In both films, there is a character named Trent DeMarco played by the same actor. The jerk from Transformers is the same man who, a couple years later, would get skewered on spikes by Jason Vorhees.
7. Mars Attacks!
In another IDW comic crossover event with Mars Attacks!, there is a one-shot where the Autobots and Decepticons team up to fight the martians from the Tim Burton film. It's a silly little crossover featuring wacky sci-fi action but very little meat. It's also a one-shot, so the narrative is resolved almost too easily.
6. Keroro Gunsō
In a goofy crossover, Keroro Gunsō X Transformers, the iconic Japanese character Keroro summons Starscream to recruit him as his Number 2. Starscream doesn't take kindly to the offer and the two engage in a frankly comedic conflict.
5. Mazinger Z
In Mazinger Z Vs. Transformers, the transforming robots in disguise get to fight and team up with one of the first giant robots ever as their adversaries, Megatron and Dr. Hell, join forces to unleash a new brand of destruction upon the world. Go Nagai, the original series creator of Mazinger Z, actually helped bring this one to life, along with multiple older Transformers writers like Hirofumi Ishikawa and Naoto Tsushima.
4. Ghostbusters
In IDW's Transformers/Ghostbusters: Ghosts of Cybertron, the Autobots abandon Cybertron to Megatron and, in their retreat, pick up a distress signal from Earth. This brings them crashing into the lives of the Ghostbusters and hilarity ensues. This is a far more light-hearted and silly crossover than many of the others, but it fulfills the dreams of all children of the '80s to see these franchises meet after 35 years.
3. G.I. Joe
One of the first major crossovers with Transformers, G.I. Joe and the Transformers features the Autobots and Joes teaming up to stop Cobra and the Decepticons, who have also teamed up -- to take over the world. This Marvel release was the first of multiple crossovers involving the two franchises; in fact, IDW has published three volumes containing Transformers/G.I. Joe crossovers in chronological order. The full scope continues to astonish, to the point where a film was almost produced.
2. Star Trek
One of the most memorable and entertaining crossovers for the franchises is Star Trek vs. Transformers, published once again by IDW. The comic features the crew of the Enterprise, as depicted in the 1970s animated series, answering a distress call from the Transformers through time. They end up getting caught up in the war for Cybertron very quickly and chaos ensues. The series manages to integrate the two franchises masterfully together, doing a fantastic job at integrating drastically different characters in a way that makes logical sense.
1. Marvel
Marvel published the earliest versions of the Transformers comics. As such, there were multiple moments where the Transformers would casually crossover with other characters in the Marvel Universe. Spider-Man appeared in the third issue of Marvel's run on Transformers, for example.
What makes this crossover so memorable is how natural and prolonged it seemed. At first, Transformers was just a license Marvel owned, but since the license has traded hands over the years, this crossover has become a remarkable novelty of its time.