Transformers: Generation 1 (1984–1993) battles
Megatron on the cover of
The Transformers #3.
Generation 1 is a retroactive term for the
Transformers characters that appeared between 1984 and 1993. The
Transformers began with the 1980s Japanese toy lines
Micro Change and
Diaclone. They presented robots able to transform into everyday vehicles, electronic items or weapons. Hasbro bought the
Micro Change and
Diaclone toys, and partnered with
Takara.
Marvel Comics was hired by Hasbro to create the
backstory; editor-in-chief
Jim Shooter wrote an overall story, and gave the task of creating the characters to writer
Dennis O'Neil. Unhappy with O'Neil's work (although O'Neil created the name "
Optimus Prime"), Shooter chose
Bob Budiansky to create the characters. The
Transformers mecha were largely designed by
Shōji Kawamori, the creator of the Japanese
mecha anime franchise
Macross (which was adapted into the
Robotech franchise in North America). Kawamori came up with the idea of transforming mechs while working on the
Diaclone and
Macross franchises in the early 1980s (such as the
VF-1 Valkyrie in
Macross and
Robotech), with his
Diaclone mechs later providing the basis for
Transformers. The primary concept of Generation 1 is that the heroic
Optimus Prime, the villainous
Megatron, and their finest soldiers crash-land on
prehistoric Earth in the
Ark and the
Nemesis before awakening in 1985,
Cybertron hurtling through the Neutral zone as an effect of the war.
The Marvel comic was originally part of the main
Marvel Universe, with appearances from
Spider-Man and
Nick Fury, plus some cameos, as well as a visit to the
Savage Land.
The Transformers TV series began around the same time. Produced by
Sunbow Productions and
Marvel Productions, later Hasbro Productions, from the start it contradicted Budiansky's backstories. The TV series shows the
Autobots looking for new energy sources, and crash landing as the
Decepticons attack. Marvel interpreted the Autobots as destroying a rogue asteroid approaching Cybertron.
Shockwave is loyal to Megatron on the TV series, keeping Cybertron in a stalemate during his absence, but in the comic book, he attempts to take command of the Decepticons. The TV series would also differ wildly from the origins Budiansky had created for the Dinobots, the Decepticon turned Autobot
Jetfire (known as Skyfire on TV), the
Constructicons (who combine to form
Devastator), and
Omega Supreme. The Marvel comic establishes early on that Prime wields the
Creation Matrix, which gives life to machines. In the second season, the two-part episode
The Key to Vector Sigma introduced the ancient Vector Sigma computer, which served the same original purpose as the Creation Matrix (giving life to Transformers), and its guardian
Alpha Trion. In 1986, the cartoon became the film
The Transformers: The Movie, which is set in the year 2005. It introduced the Matrix as the "
Autobot Matrix of Leadership", as a fatally wounded Prime gives it to
Ultra Magnus; however, as Prime dies he drops the matrix, which is then caught by
Hot Rod who subsequently becomes
Rodimus Prime later on in the film.
Unicron, a Transformer who devours planets, fears its power and re-creates a heavily damaged Megatron as
Galvatron, as well as Bombshell or
Skywarp becoming
Cyclonus,
Thundercracker becoming
Scourge and two other
Insecticons becoming Scourge's huntsmen, the
Sweeps. Eventually,
Rodimus Prime takes out the Matrix and destroys Unicron. In the United Kingdom, the weekly comic book interspliced original material to keep up with U.S. reprints, and
The Movie provided much new material. Writer
Simon Furman proceeded to expand the continuity with movie spin-offs involving the time travelling Galvatron. The Movie also featured guest voices from
Leonard Nimoy as
Galvatron,
Scatman Crothers as
Jazz,
Casey Kasem as Cliffjumper,
Orson Welles as
Unicron and
Eric Idle as the leader of the Junkions (Wreck-Gar, though unnamed in the movie). The Transformers theme tune for the film was performed by Lion with
"Weird Al" Yankovic adding a song to the soundtrack. The third season followed up
The Movie, with the revelation of the
Quintessons having used Cybertron as a factory. Their robots rebel, and in time the workers become the Autobots and the soldiers become the Decepticons. (Note: This appears to contradict background presented in the first two seasons of the series.) It is the Autobots who develop transformation. Due to popular demand, Optimus Prime is resurrected at the conclusion of the third season, and the series ended with a three-episode story arc. However, the Japanese broadcast of the series was supplemented with a newly produced
OVA,
Scramble City, before creating entirely new series to continue the storyline, ignoring the 1987 end of the American series. The extended Japanese run consisted of
The Headmasters,
Super-God Masterforce,
Victory and
Zone, then in illustrated magazine form as
Battlestars: Return of Convoy and
Operation: Combination. Just as the TV series was wrapping up, Marvel continued to expand its continuity. It follows
The Movie's example by killing Prime and Megatron, albeit in the present day. Dinobot leader
Grimlock takes over as Autobot leader. There was a
G.I. Joe crossover and the limited series
The Transformers: Headmasters, which further expanded the scope to the planet Nebulon. It led on to the main title resurrecting Prime as a Powermaster. In the United Kingdom, the mythology continued to grow. Primus is introduced as the creator of the Transformers, to serve his material body that is planet Cybertron and fight his nemesis
Unicron. Female Autobot
Arcee also appeared, despite the comic book stating the Transformers had no concept of gender, with her backstory of being built by the Autobots to quell human accusations of sexism.
Soundwave, Megatron's second-in-command, also
breaks the fourth wall in the letters page, criticising the cartoon continuity as an inaccurate representation of history. The UK also had a crossover in
Action Force, the UK counterpart to G.I. Joe. The comic book features a resurrected Megatron, whom Furman
retconned to be a
clone when he took over the U.S. comic book, which depicted Megatron as still dead. The U.S. comic would last for 80 issues until 1991, and the UK comic lasted 332 issues and several
annuals, until it was replaced as
Dreamwave Productions, later in the 20th century. In 2009,
Shout! Factory released the entire G1 series in a 16-DVD box set called the Matrix of Leadership Edition. They also released the same content as individual seasons.
Transformers: Generation 2 (1993–1995) It was five issues of the
G.I. Joe comic in 1993 that would springboard a return for Marvel's Transformers, with the new twelve-issue series
Transformers: Generation 2, to market a new toy line. This story reveals that the Transformers originally breed
asexually, though it is stopped by Primus because it produced the evil
Swarm. A new empire, neither Autobot nor Decepticon, is bringing it back, however. Though the year-long arc wrapped itself up with an alliance between
Optimus Prime and
Megatron, the final panel introduces the Liege Maximo, ancestor of the Decepticons. This minor cliffhanger was not resolved until 2001 and 2002's Transforce convention when writer
Simon Furman concluded his story in the exclusive novella
Alignment.
Beast Wars and Beast Machines (1996–2000) The story focuses on a small group of
Maximals (the new Autobots), led by
Optimus Primal, and
Predacons, led by
Megatron, 300 years after the "Great War". After a dangerous pursuit through
transwarp space, both the Maximal and Predacon factions end up crash landing on a primitive, uncivilized planet similar to
Earth, but with two moons and a dangerous level of Energon (which is later revealed to
be prehistoric Earth with an artificial second moon, taking place sometime during the 4 million year period in which the Autobots and Decepticons were in suspended animation from the first episode of the original Transformers cartoon), which forces them to take organic beast forms in order to function without going into stasis lock. After writing this first episode,
Bob Forward and
Larry DiTillio learned of the G1 Transformers and began to use elements of it as a historical backstory to their scripts, establishing
Beast Wars as a part of the
Generation 1 universe through numerous callbacks to both the cartoon and the Marvel comic. By the end of the first season, the second moon and the Energon are revealed to have been constructed by a mysterious alien race known as the
Vok. attacks
Optimus Prime in a clash of generations. The destruction of the second moon releases mysterious energies that make some of the characters "
transmetal" and the planet is revealed to be prehistoric Earth, leading to the discovery of the
Ark. Megatron attempts to kill the original
Optimus Prime, but at the beginning of the third season, Primal manages to preserve his spark. In the two-season follow-up series,
Beast Machines, Cybertron is revealed to have organic origins, which Megatron attempts to stamp out. After the first season of
Beast Wars (comprising 26 episodes) aired in Japan, the Japanese were faced with a problem. The second Canadian season was only 13 episodes long, not enough to warrant airing on Japanese TV. While they waited for the third Canadian season to be completed (thereby making 26 episodes in total when added to season 2), they produced two exclusive cel-animated series of their own,
Beast Wars II (also called
Beast Wars Second) and
Beast Wars Neo, to fill in the gap. Dreamwave
retroactively revealed
Beast Wars to be the future of their G1 universe, within a story set during Season 3. Beast Wars contained elements from both the G1 cartoon series and comics. Attributes taken from the cartoon include Transformers that were female, the appearance of
Starscream (who mentions being killed off by Galvatron in
The Transformers: The Movie), and appearances of the Plasma Energy Chamber and Key to Vector Sigma. The naming of the Transformer ship, the
Ark (and reference to 1984, the year the Transformers on board are revived), the character
Ravage being shown as intelligent, and Cybertron having an organic core are elements taken from the comics. In 2011,
Shout! Factory released the complete series of
Beast Wars on DVD.
Dreamwave Productions (2001–2005) In 2001,
Dreamwave Productions began a new universe of annual comics adapted from Marvel, but also included elements of the animated. The Dreamwave stories followed the concept of the Autobots defeating the Decepticons on Earth, but their 1997 return journey to Cybertron on the
Ark II is destroyed by
Shockwave, now ruler of the planet. The story follows on from there and was told in
two six-issue limited series, then a ten-issue ongoing series. The series also adds extra complexities such as not all Transformers believing in the existence of Primus, corruption in the Cybertronian government that first led
Megatron to begin his war, and Earth having an unknown relevance to Cybertron. Three
Transformers: The War Within limited series were also published. These are set at the beginning of the Great War, and identify Prime as once being a clerk named Optronix.
Beast Wars was also
retroactively stated as the future of this continuity, with the profile series
More than Meets the Eye showing the
Predacon Megatron looking at historical files detailing Dreamwave's characters and taking his name from the original Megatron. In 2004, this real life universe also inspired three novels and a
Dorling Kindersley guide, which focused on Dreamwave as the "true" continuity when discussing in-universe elements of the characters. In a new twist, Primus and Unicron are siblings, formerly a being known as the One.
Transformers: Micromasters, set after the
Ark's disappearance, was also published. The real life universe was disrupted when Dreamwave went bankrupt in 2005. This left the
Generation 1 story hanging and the third volume of
The War Within half finished. Plans for a comic book set between
Beast Wars and
Beast Machines were also left unrealized.
G.I. Joe crossovers (2003–present) Throughout the years, the G1 characters have also starred in crossovers with fellow Hasbro property
G.I. Joe, but whereas those crossovers published by Marvel were in continuity with their larger storyline, those released by Dreamwave and
G.I. Joe publisher
Devil's Due Publishing occupy their own separate real life universes. In Devil's Due, the terrorist organization
COBRA Command is responsible for finding and reactivating the Transformers. Dreamwave's version reimagines the familiar
G1 and
G.I. Joe characters in a
World War II setting, and a second limited series was released set in the present day, though Dreamwave's bankruptcy meant it was cancelled after a single issue. Devil's Due had Cobra re-engineer the Transformers to turn into familiar Cobra vehicles, and released further mini-series that sent the characters travelling through time, battling
Serpentor and being faced with the combined menace of
Cobra-La and
Unicron. During this time, Cobra teams up with the
Decepticons.
IDW Publishing has expressed interest in their own crossover.
IDW publishing (2005–2022) The following year,
IDW Publishing rebooted the G1 series from scratch within various
limited series and
one shots. This allowed long-time writer of Marvel and Dreamwave comics,
Simon Furman, to create his own universe without continuity hindrance, similar to
Ultimate Marvel. This new continuity originally consisted of a comic book series titled The Transformers with a companion series known as
The Transformers: Spotlight. The main series was broken up into several story arcs. Eventually, with IDW Publishing losing sales, the series was given a soft reboot. Beginning with
All Hail Megatron, the series was set in a new direction, discarding the miniseries and Spotlight format with
ongoing comics. By 2012 the series had split into three ongoing series; The Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye, The Transformers: Robots in Disguise (which later changed in 2015 to "The Transformers") and The Transformers: Till All Are One. In 2022, it was announced that IDW lost the publishing rights to Transformers.
Alternative stories In January 2006, the ''Hasbro Transformers Collectors' Club
comic wrote a story based on the Transformers Classics toy line, set in the Marvel Comics universe, but excluding the Generation 2
comic. Fifteen years after Megatron crash-lands in the Ark with Ratchet, the war continues with the characters in their Classics'' bodies. IDW Publishing introduced
The Transformers: Evolutions in 2006, a collection of mini-series that re-imagine and reinterpret the G1 characters in various ways. To date, only one miniseries has been published,
Hearts of Steel, placing the characters in an
Industrial Revolution-era setting. The series was delayed as Hasbro did not want to confuse newcomers with too many fictional universes before the release of the
live-action film. However, IDW and the original publisher
Marvel Comics announced a crossover storyline with the
Avengers to coincide with the film, titled
New Avengers/Transformers. The story is set on the borders of
Symkaria and
Latveria, and its
fictional universe is set between the first two
New Avengers storylines, as well in between the
Infiltration and
Escalation phase of IDW's
The Transformers. IDW editor-in-chief Chris Ryall hinted at elements of it being carried over into the main continuities, and that a
sequel is possible. In June 2018 it was announced there would be
Star Trek and Transformers Crossover being released in September 2018.
Transformers: Kiss Players (2006–2007) ''
(トランスフォーマー キスぷれ, Toransufōmā Kisu Pure
), shortened to Kiss Players
(キスぷれ, Kisu Pure
), is a Japanese Transformers franchise which began in 2006 to 2007 as was helmed by artist and writer Yuki Ohshima. By virtue of being the only Transformers toyline and fiction released in Japan by Takara between the conclusion of Transformers: Cybertron and the live-action movie, it was also effectively the main Transformers line in the country for that time. It takes place in the Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity, specifically in the five-year milieu between The Transformers: The Movie and Transformers 2010''. The series derives its name from its controversial gimmick, which involves Transformers getting "power-ups" when they are kissed by human girls - the eponymous "Kiss Players" - who fuse with the robots and share their adventures. The plot starts with the Earth Defense Command being formed in 2003 as part of a cooperative human/Autobot effort. When a virus called the Cosmic Rust critically struck the Autobots later that year, the EDC kicked off the Binaltech Project to shore up its defenses. When
Galvatron was hurled out of
Unicron by
Rodimus Prime in 2005, rather than immediately crashing onto the intended target of the planet Thrull, he instead hurtled toward Earth. Landing in Tokyo, Japan, the Decepticon leader's impact decimated the city and scattered his Unicron-mutated cells throughout Earth's atmosphere. Following this catastrophe, the EDC was reborn as an organization dedicated to driving all Transformers off Earth. The organization built an anti-electron field (previously referred to as an
Energon field) to make the planet uninhabitable to Cybertronians, and created a team of 48 transforming robots known as Autoroopers (オートルーパー Ōtorūpā), a Japanese portmanteau of "auto" (オート ōto) and "trooper" (トルーパー torūpā) or Autotroopers (aka Autobot Troopers) in English, are a group of human-created artificial Transformers that serve the Earth Defense Command to combat any other Transformers that remained, recruiting young women who had been infected with the cells and gained Kiss Player fusion abilities to partner with them. The three central characters were a younger version of
Marissa Faireborn as a resistance fighter against the EDC partnered with Optimus Prime who while having died in the movie, his body body was recovered and restored to life in a new body resembling that of a
Dodge Ram pickup by the same organization. Rodimus devastated by his guilt in his role of the destruction of Tokyo stepped down as the then leader of the Autobots reverting to the previous name of Hot Rod in order to return to Earth to atone for his mistake. He's refitted into a vehicle resembling a
Ford GT by his headstrong partner Shaoshao Li, a girl of Chinese descent and an estranged friend of Marissa and used to be one of the EDC's top Kiss Players until realizing that the EDC was conducting experiments behind her back on other girls. She was then rescued by Hot Rod and joins the resistance to combat the EDC and make amends with her former friend. Lastly, Atari Hitotonari of Japanese descent, who "recruited" into the EDC after the death of her parents while suffering from
survivor's guilt. She would shortly become depressed and self-destructive. As she spoke aloud about her nihilistic feelings she would meet her partner by the name Ne-04, an Autorooper built in the form resembling a
Mazda RX-8 would shared the same feeling as she did though with the time they spend together their way of thinking would change throughout their relationship. While this plotline seems like a shift in demographics to little girls, it is said that this line was aimed at a much older adult male audience. The toys bear an "ages 15 and up" warning, and the subject matter of the accompanying manga is far from child-friendly. The franchise itself consists of a toyline, a weekly
radio drama series (featuring voice acting by
Lyrian as Marissa,
Yui Kano as Shaoshao,
Satomi Akesaka as Atari, and Keiji Hirai as Ne-04, among others), and a three part manga, which together tell the story of the line in which the toys and manga all of which were also created by Ohshima. Following the conclusion of its first storyline in late 2007,
Kiss Players moved into its second (and apparently final) phase,
Kiss Players Position, which shifted focus to a distinctly more PG-rated theme, though it was still heavy on the "cute girls" theme. The Kiss Players this time are a pop idol singing group made up of the three girls and three original
mini-cassette Transformers Glit, Sundor
the former is a spy and the latter shows compassion to both allies and enemies, and Rosanna, who is the only
heroic one out of the three. The group's purpose is to promote a positive relationship and friendship between humans and Transformers in the wake of the Tokyo disaster of 2005 and the subsequent rise and fall of the E.D.C.. They wear E.D.C. logos on their costumes as a group, appearing to be either sponsored by or a public-relations arm of the revitalized organization. Reactions ran the gamut from outright disgust to comedic derision, with most fans agreeing that the content such be included a children's toyline was distasteful. The fact that several Japanese fans were themselves openly decrying
Kiss Players, fearing that American fans would think that it was somehow accepted as normal in Japan regarding its sexually suggestive material. Oshima himself even admitted that he crafted the series in this manner for shock value's sake. Many of its characters and ideas have made appearances in other
Transformers media. The Autroopers appeared in
Transformers: Animated in 2009 with an official toyline released in
Botcon in 2011. The colors of white and blue used for Glit would inspire the
Shattered Glass incarnation of
Ravage. A new toy figure of Sundor would be released under the
Transformers Generations: The Fall of Cybertron line in 2012. Several ideas introduced into the 2007 storyline focusing on the introduction of Primus into the Japanese cartoon's timeline have been revisited and expanded upon, which shares
Kiss Players storytelling while attempting to fill in gaps of the timeline in the Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity. The
Transformers Legends manga, while featuring lewd content and new stories and characters, also has the two returning and older characters of Atari and Shaoshao.
Robots in Disguise (2000–2001) First broadcast in Japan in 2000,
Robots in Disguise was a single animated series consisting of thirty-nine episodes. It was exported to other countries in subsequent years. In this continuity, Megatron re-creates the Decepticons as a sub-faction of the Predacons on Earth, a potential reference to the return to the vehicle-based characters following the previous dominance of the animal-based characters of the
Beast eras. It is a stand-alone universe with no ties to any other Transformers fiction, though some of the characters from
Robots in Disguise did eventually make appearances in
Transformers: Universe, including Optimus Prime, Ultra Magnus,
Side Burn and
Prowl. The show was heavily censored in the U.S. due to its content of buildings being destroyed and terrorism references after the
September 11 attacks on the United States and three episodes were cut altogether.
The Unicron Trilogy (2002–2006) These three lines, launched in 2002 and dubbed the "
Unicron Trilogy" by
Transformers designer Aaron Archer, are co-productions between Takara and (lesser extent) Hasbro, simultaneously released in both countries, each lasting 52 episodes.
Armada followed the Autobots and Decepticons, discovering the powerful
Mini-Cons on Earth, which are revealed by the end to be weapons of
Unicron.
Energon, set ten years later, followed the Autobots and the Omnicons in their fight to stop the Decepticons and the Terrorcons from resurrecting Unicron with energon. In Japan, the series
Transformers: Cybertron showed no ties to the previous two series, telling its own story. This caused continuity problems when Hasbro sold
Cybertron as a follow-up to
Armada/Energon. The writers attempted to change certain plot elements from the Japanese version to remedy this, although this largely added up to nothing more than references to Unicron, Primus, Primes and Minicons. Just as Marvel produced a companion comic to
Generation 1,
Dreamwave Productions published the comic
Transformers Armada set in a different continuity from the cartoon. At #19, it became
Transformers Energon. Dreamwave went bankrupt and ceased all publications before the storyline could be completed at #30. However, the Transformers Fan Club published a few stories set in the
Cybertron era.
Transformers: Universe (2003–present) The storyline of
Transformers: Universe, mainly set following
Beast Machines, sees characters from many assorted alternate continuities, including existing and new ones, encountering each other. The story was told in an unfinished comic book exclusive to the Official Transformers Collectors' Convention.
Live-action film franchise (2007–present) In 2007,
Michael Bay directed a
live-action film based on
Transformers, with
Steven Spielberg serving as executive producer. It stars
Shia LaBeouf,
Josh Duhamel,
Megan Fox, and
Tyrese Gibson in the lead human cast while voice actors Peter Cullen and Hugo Weaving voice Optimus Prime and Megatron, respectively.
Transformers received mixed to positive reviews and was a box office success. It is the
forty-fifth highest-grossing film and the
fifth highest-grossing film of 2007, grossing approximately $709 million worldwide. The film won four awards from the
Visual Effects Society and was nominated for three
Academy Awards, for
Best Sound Editing,
Best Sound Mixing, and
Best Visual Effects. The performance of Shia LaBeouf was praised by
Empire, and Peter Cullen's reprisal of Optimus Prime from the 1980s television series was well received by fans. A sequel,
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, was released on June 24, 2009. It received mostly negative reviews, but was a commercial success and grossed more than its predecessor. A third film,
Transformers: Dark of the Moon, was released on June 29, 2011, in
3-D and went on to gross over $1 billion, despite receiving mixed reviews. A fourth film,
Transformers: Age of Extinction, was released on June 27, 2014, which also grossed over $1 billion, though it received generally negative reviews. A fifth film,
Transformers: The Last Knight was released on June 23, 2017 to similarly negative reviews. Unlike its predecessors, the movie failed to recoup its costs for the studio.
Bumblebee, directed by
Laika's
Travis Knight, was released on December 21, 2018, serving as a prequel to the first film, receiving positive reviews from critics. The movie was a box-office success. A sequel to
Bumblebee, directed by
Steven Caple Jr. and titled
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, was released on June 9, 2023 to mixed reviews from critics.
Transformers: Animated (2007–2010) Transformers: Animated is a cartoon that was aired in early 2008 on
Cartoon Network in the
United States.
Transformers Animated is set in 2050
Detroit (after crash landing 50 years earlier), when robots and humans live side by side. Main characters include Autobots Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Bulkhead, Prowl, and Ratchet; Decepticons Megatron, Starscream, Blitzwing, Lugnut, and Blackarachnia; and humans Professor Sumdac and Sari Sumdac. Several characters that were in the original Transformers cartoon and 1986 animated movie, as well as characters only seen in comics and such, make special appearances and cameos throughout the show, with various voice actors (including
Corey Burton,
John Moschitta, Jr.,
Susan Blu, and
Judd Nelson) reprising their roles.
Aligned Universe (2010–2021) Hasbro, in an attempt to stop the wave of reboots that started in 2001, created the Aligned Universe, with the intent to unify every
Transformers media into one continuity. The name of this continuity however, is not official; it was adopted by the fans after Hasbro referred to it as an "Aligned Continuity". The toy lines derived from this continuity are
Transformers: Generations,
Transformers: Rescue Bots, and
Transformers Go! The television series belonging to the Aligned Universe include
Transformers: Prime (including its concluding film
Prime Beast Hunters: Predacons Rising), the
Rescue Bots TV series, its sequel
Transformers: Rescue Bots Academy, the
Go! anime adaptation, and the 2015 series
Transformers: Robots in Disguise. The video games that are part of this shared universe are
Transformers: War for Cybertron (including its
Nintendo DS version and the companion
Transformers: Cybertron Adventures),
Transformers: Fall of Cybertron, the
Prime video game adaptation, and
Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark, that serves as a conclusion of the
Cybertron series and crossover with the live-action film video game series.
Four novels set within the continuity have been published:
Transformers: Exodus,
Transformers: Exiles,
Transformers: Retribution, and
Transformers: The Covenant of Primus. The first three were published by
Del Rey Books, while
Covenant of Primus was published by
47North. In addition,
IDW Publishing has published several comic books, including graphic novels, while
Titan Magazines published
Transformers Comic UK, a 20-issue series from 2007 to 2014. The video games, novels, and television series contradict each other due to creative differences, miscommunications, constant team changes, and Aaron Archer being replaced with a different person that did not know the 354-page brand bible, "The Binder of Revelation".
Transformers: Prime Wars Trilogy (2016–2018) In August 2016,
Machinima and Hasbro co-produced an animated series named
Combiner Wars, simultaneously published on the website Go90 and
YouTube. This was followed by two further installments,
Titans Return and
Power of the Primes. Eric Calderon was executive producer of the trilogy. The events of the series take place 40 years after the end of the Autobot/Decepticon civil war, with the Transformers having returned to Cybertron and now being threatened by ancient technology. The trailer for
Combiner Wars was released on July 26, 2016, along with four prequel episodes. Eight five-minute episodes of the series
Combiner Wars were released weekly beginning on August 2. The cast of the
Combiner Wars was predominantly made up of famous YouTube personalities. The first series was included as a bonus feature on the
Transformers: The Last Knight Blu-ray release. The second series, dubbed
Titans Return featured returning voice cast from previous iterations of Transformers, such as Peter Cullen and Judd Nelson, along with newcomers such as
Michael Dorn as Fortress Maximus and
Wil Wheaton as Perceptor.
Titans Return debuted on November 14, 2017, on the Go90 platform, consisting of ten episodes at roughly 11 minutes each. The series featured returning Titan characters such as Metroplex, Fortress Maximus and Trypticon and the resultant destruction such enormous characters create. The third part of the trilogy, dubbed
Power of the Primes was launched on May 1, 2018, comprising 10 episodes released weekly, each roughly 11 minutes long. FJ DeSanto was executive producer of the third installment. Animation was done by Tatsunoko Productions.
Power of the Primes focused on the arrival of Megatronus, one of the original Primes. In 2019, Machinima shut down and folded into Otter Media. On January 19, Machinima removed all of its videos from YouTube, including those of the Prime Wars Trilogy. After the shutdown, a number of former Machinima creations returned to the web via
Rooster Teeth. The series is available on the Rooster Teeth website.
Transformers: Cyberverse (2018–2021) Transformers: Cyberverse (later known as
Transformers: Bumblebee Cyberverse Adventures for seasons 3 and 4) is an animated series produced by
Boulder Media and
Allspark Animation (later
Entertainment One) which premiered on September 1, 2018 on
Cartoon Network and concluded on November 21, 2021 on
Netflix comprising four chapters, of which the fourth was composed of two specials.
Cyberverse uses characters and elements across various continuities, including G1, Beast Era, the live-action film series,
Animated, and the Aligned continuity, to tell its own story. Comprising three parts, the series was announced on February 15, 2019, for release on Netflix. The voice cast of the show used new actors for recognizable characters such as
Jake Foushou as Optimus Prime and
Jason Marnocha as Megatron. Each series is made up of six episodes, each a half hour long. A trailer of for the first installment
Siege was released on July 8, 2020, with the show following on July 30, 2020, The first series focuses on the civil war on Cybertron and the conflict between the two leaders of the opposing factions, Optimus Prime and Megatron, along with the introduction of a third, mercenary, faction. A trailer for the second series, dubbed
Earthrise, was published on December 7, 2020 The second series debuted on Netflix on December 30.
Earthrise was more limited in scope than the previous series. Instead of the entire Transformer civil war, this series focuses on the two leaders once again and the crews of their starships as Optimus seeks to flee Cybertron and find the missing Allspark. The series also saw the introduction of a fourth faction, the Quintessons. The trailer for the final series,
Kingdom, debuted on July 5, 2021 and the series premiered on Netflix on July 29.
Transformers: BotBots (2022) Transformers: BotBots is an animated comedy streaming television series developed by Kevin Burke and
Chris "Doc" Wyatt for Netflix comprising 20 episodes. The first season of ten episodes was released on March 25, 2022. In a departure from the traditional conflict between the Autobots and Decepticons seen in most continuities, the series focuses on the BotBots, small robots organized in groups of tribes who can transform into everyday objects, and primarily follows the efforts of the Lost Bots, who try to find their own place amongst the others.
EarthSpark is notable for prominently featuring humans after being mostly absent in various media of the franchise in the late 2010s such as
Cyberverse, the 2019 IDW comics and
War for Cybertron Trilogy, and uses a union voice cast for the first time since 2018.
Transformers One (2024) Upon the establishment of a
writers' room for devising ideas regarding future
Transformers films in 2015, the duo of Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari immediately conceived the concept of an animated prequel film depicting the beginnings of the Autobot-Decepticon war on Cybertron. The film is directed by
Josh Cooley, who oversaw the story treatment by Barrer and Ferrari with additional script contributions by
Eric Pearson. The film's narrative is centered on the respective origin stories of Optimus Prime and Megatron, chroncling their early friendship as Energon miners named Orion Pax and D-16, and the rift that causes their evolution into the respective leaders of the Autobots and Decepticons, beginning their long-standing conflict.
Chris Hemsworth and
Brian Tyree Henry lead the film's ensemble voice cast as Orion Pax and D-16 respectively, alongside
Scarlett Johansson,
Keegan-Michael Key,
Jon Hamm and
Laurence Fishburne. The film's score was composed by
Brian Tyler, returning to the franchise after previously scoring
Transformers: Prime.
Transformers One released in September 2024, and received positive critical reception despite
financially underperforming at the box office, grossing $124.2 million worldwide against a budget estimated to be between $75–147 million. Despite this, producer
Lorenzo di Bonaventura expressed the desire for the film to launch a potential trilogy, confirming that the story was mapped out to illustrate a multi-film progression of the characters towards their traditional depictions in other media, such as the live-action films. By the film's release, di Bonaventura confirmed that the filmmakers were already outlining plans for a sequel, and that it would be produced if the film is considered successful.
Transformers: Cyberworld (2025–present) Transformers: Cyberworld is an ongoing British-American animated web series based on the Transformers toy line by
Takara Tomy and
Hasbro. It is produced by Omens Studios and
Hasbro Entertainment, and debuted on July 12, 2025 on
YouTube. ==See also==