Timeline: G1 Cartoon (or “The Primus Forsaken”)

This timeline corresponds to the Transformers cartoon, which aired in the United States in the mid 1980's. For the purposes of this game, this timeline is treated as an alternate timeline from the Beast Wars series. Consequently, players familiar only with the G1 cartoon series are neither expected nor required to be familiar with anything retconned in by any later series ("sparks", Primus, Starscream’s Beast Wars appearance). A player who wishes to play a G1 character that includes these elements is, essentially, playing a character from the Beast Wars timeline's ancient history. However, don't expect us to allow, for example, a G1 'toon Jazz and an Ancient History BW Jazz at the same time without an incredibly good justification, as the characters would be so similar as to make such a move unnecessarily redundant.

Transformers History (S1-S4, movie included)

Cybertron's earliest form is lost in pre-history. Although the planet was obviously incredibly rich in metals, the lower levels appeared to be of rock and dirt. Eventually, many millions of years ago, it was colonized by the Quintessons. After several failed attempts to produce a marketable bio-mechanical species, they instead turned Cybertron into a factory planet and began mass producing robots for export and sale. These robots fell into two broad categories: military hardware and service machines. Eventually the machines began to develop self-awareness, and started to revolt. The Quintessons used very large, powerful, but non-sapient robots referred to the Guardian robots to keep the Cybertronians in line, but they were doomed to failure. The Cybertronians succeeded in ousting the Quintessons in the First Cybertronian War. The Guardian robots were retained by the Cybertronians and eventually converted into planetary guardians, although only one of their number is ever confirmed to have developed self-awareness of his own.

Cybertron was at peace for a time, although eventually the military hardware, who later become known as the Decepticons, and the services units, later called the Autobots, began fighting amongst themselves. The general consensus is, the Decepticons wanted to rule Cybertron (and everything else), and the Autobots objected to this game plan. Militarily, the Autobots were outmatched, despite the use of an artifact known as "The Matrix of Leadership", which was passed down from leader to leader. However, they were able to gain the upper hand in the war through the development of transformative technology. Eventually the Autobots won the Second Cybertronian War and created what is presented as a lasting peace, which is commonly known as the Golden Age of Cybertron. The Matrix of Leadership came into the care of the ancient Autobot Alpha Trion during this period.

The exact cause of the eventual return of the Decepticons are uncertain, but the name of the single figure held responsible for the disruption of the Golden Age and the start of the Third Cybertronian War will forever live in infamy: Megatron. It is known that Megatron, in his early days, made use of a device called the "Robo-Smasher", a machine which somehow reprogrammed Transformers an ideological level, allowing Megatron to swell his ranks. The origin of the Robo-Smasher is uncertain; perhaps it was a leftover Quintessonian artifact. The Decepticons were also able to adapt the transformational technology of the Autobots and were further boosted by two additional technological advancements: robot mode flight and gestalt technology. It would be millions of years before the Autobots developed gestalts of their own, and robot mode flight would forever be almost entirely absent in their ranks.

The first gestalt team became known as the Constructicons, a team of engineers, technicians, and builders who were themselves forced conscriptees. Under Megatron’s orders, they destroyed Crystal City, a city they themselves had constructed, and betrayed their former friend, the Guardian robot Omega Supreme, in the process earning his eternal enmity.

At close to the same timeframe, a Decepticon attack against a dockside energon storage warehouse lead to the creation of the Autobots' greatest leader, and Megatron's greatest foe. A grievously injured Orion Pax was brought to Alpha Trion for repairs by a group who would not be identified until some nine million years later as the temporally displaced Aerialbots. Orion Pax was rebuilt into Optimus Prime and granted the Matrix of Leadership, while his girlfriend, Ariel, was built into the powerful female warrior, Elita-One.

Although the creation of a new, war-built breed of peace-loving Autobots helped their chances, they still faced a long, slow war of attrition that continued for another five million years, depleting Cybertron's precious resources, particularly its energy supply. Over this time, at least two groups of Autobots and one group of Decepticons (probably more) left the planet, the Autobots to escape the war, the Decepticons to discover more resources to continue it. One Autobot splinter group, the Thirteenth Legion of Autobots, colonized the planet Antilla, where the entire colony eventually succumbed to a Cosmic Rust plague; its fate was not discovered until millions of years later. A second group settled on Paradron, where they built a peaceful, energy rich utopia. Meanwhile, a Deceptitraan robot accompanied by an army of Decepticon drones conquered the planet Tralakan, enslaved its inhabitants and used them as a source of energon.

Eventually the Autobots left on Cybertron became so bereft of energon that Optimus Prime and several of his elite soldiers were forced to launch an expedition to discover new energy resources. Megatron, leading a group of Decepticons, followed, intending to defeat the Autobots and take whatever energon their enemies had discovered for themselves. The Autobots realized they were being tailed and attempted to evade the Decepticons, forcing Megatron to step up his plan and board the Autobot vessel early. During the battle, the ship entered into the gravity well of a passing planet and crashed. They entered into a state of stasis, and stayed that way for four million years.

Little is known of what happened back on Cybertron during this interim. It appears that the Decepticons, despite their energy deficiency, nearly completed their conquest of their home planet, although numerous small resistance pockets remained active.

Finally, the volcano the Autobot ship had crashed into erupted, activating the ship's computer, Teletraan 1. Teletraan sent out drones to explore the planet, now called Earth by its inhabitants, and used the data gathered to rebuild all the Transformers, both Decepticon and Autobot, with Earth-based alternate modes. The war resumed at full force, now on Earth. Eventually the Decepticons built a spacebridge with which to travel to Cybertron, and over time both sides gained a number of reinforcements, some of whom arrived via the spacebridge, some via ships of their own, and some entirely new Transformers, built both on Earth and on Cybertron. Ways to create simple new minds were developed by the Autobot Wheeljack and used to create the Dinobots, and not too long after Vector Sigma, the ancient computer used for creating more complex Transformer personalities, was rediscovered. The Autobots finally adapted gestalt technology for their own use, while the Decepticons created new gestalt teams of their own. Also, the Autobots formed numerous alliances amongst the people of Earth, gaining resources to support their side of the war effort, while the Decepticons gained their necessary requirements by taking what they needed.

A number of significant events occurred during this time period. Only a few of the most notable are listed.

By using a giant spacebridge, the Decepticons were able to transfer Cybertron to orbit around the Earth, causing massive environmental upheaval. The Autobots were later able to knock Cybertron out of orbit, sending it hurtling off into space. It is known that Cybertron, later on, has two moons; where they are during this business is unexplained. Perhaps it picked them up later on.

The Decepticons manipulated Earth’s media, fooling the people of Earth into believing that the Autobots were, in fact, the dangerous faction. The Autobots were exiled from Earth, but as soon as they had left the Decepticons showed their true colors and so, once the Autobots managed to find a way back to Earth, the war returned to its status quo.

An element essential to the operation of Cybertronian life-forms, Cybertonium, was discovered to have worn away to the point of causing severe malfunctions in most of the Transformers. The Dinobots, who were built on Earth, and the Constructicons, who had had Earth-based bodies built for them when their rocket ship had crashed on the planet, were both immune to these effects. The Decepticons were able to recover more of the element via the spacebridge, and the Autobots by taking it from the Decepticons.

The Autobots intercepted a distress signal. Upon investigation, however, they learned that the signal had been sent by Deceptitraan, the Decepticon computer which ruled Tralakan. The Autobots aided the local resistance, and even the arrival of Decepticon reinforcements was insufficient to prevent the shape-changing Tralakans from throwing off the yoke of their Decepticon oppressors.

On Cybertron, Optimus Prime was reunited with Elita-One, leader of one of the remaining Autobot resistance groups on Cybertron, and his creator, Alpha Trion. Elita-One remained on Cybertron, while Optimus Prime returned to Earth to continue his battles there.

Soon after, the Decepticons rediscovered Vector Sigma (as mentioned above) and used it to give the Stunticons life. When they were finished, they stole the key to Vector Sigma, but Alpha Trion was able to reactivate the machine by merging with it, allowing it to grant the Aerialbots personalities as well.

The Aerialbots were sent back in time thanks to Decepticon treachery, leading to Orion Pax’s rebuild into Optimus Prime, as described previously.

It was during this phase of the war that Antilla was rediscovered by the Decepticons, who unknowingly brought deadly Cosmic Rust spores back with them to Earth. These spores nearly wiped out the Autobots before a cure was discovered in the form of Perceptor's creation, Corr-o-Stop.

Over this period, the Decepticon leadership was contested multiple times. One such time, Starscream used the personalities of several Decepticon prisoners to create the gestalt team known as the Combaticons. This attempted coup, as all others during this time frame, ended with Megatron still in power and the rebelling Decepticons still occupying their original places in the rank structure.

The Decepticons finally succeeded in ousting the Autobots from Cybertron, forcing the Autobots to build bases on Cybertron’s two moons instead. The Autobots, thanks in part to their close ties to humanity, remained the dominant force on Earth and eventually constructed Autobot City. An Autobot shuttle sent from one of the Moon Bases to Earth was attacked by the Decepticons, who ruthlessly slaughtered everyone on board before using the shuttle to attempt to sneak past the city's defenses. The Autobot Hot Rod, however, realized the ruse, and the city's defenses were brought on-line, although at a far later time than would have been optimal. The siege of Autobot City lasted all day and all night, but finally the Decepticons broke through the Autobots defenses. When Decepticon victory appeared all but certain, a fresh wave of Autobot reinforcements, including Optimus Prime, arrived and routed the Decepticons. Their victory was not without price, however, for Optimus Prime was fatally injured in battle, and several other prominent Autobot warriors also lost their lives.

A fuel shortage on the return trip to Cybertron caused the Decepticons to decide jettison several of their injured into space. Starscream took advantage of this to include Megatron amongst the abandoned and to seize control of the Decepticon leadership. His ascendancy would prove to be short lived, however; the planet-eating monster Unicron reformatted the abandoned Decepticon soldiers, turning Megatron into Galvatron, and ordered them to destroy the Autobot Matrix. Galvatron's first move was to claim leadership of the Decepticons, and in doing so, he destroyed Starscream.

The Autobot Matrix was passed first to Ultra Magnus, who proved unable to activate it before it was lost to Galvatron. Galvatron hoped to use it to control his master, but was also unable to open the Matrix. Unicron responded by swallowing his wayward herald before initiating an attack on Cybertron. The Cybertronian forces were unable to repel the giant, but Hot Rod gained control of the Matrix and was reformatted into Rodimus Prime. Rodimus Prime opened the Matrix, and it destroyed Unicron, leaving his head as a new moon to replace the ones he had previously eaten.

Rodimus Prime, believing Galvatron defeated, proclaimed the war to be over, but their peace was short lived as the other Unicronian Decepticons quickly recovered their leader and reunited the remnant Decepticon forces on Charr. The Quintessons, also, returned, hoping to recover their ancient "merchandise". Among the most significant events during Rodimus Prime’s period of leadership was the reanimation of Optimus Prime as part of a Quintesson plot to gain control of the Matrix (one that ultimately failed), and the rediscovery and subsequent destruction of the planet Paradron. Rodimus Prime came to the conclusion that Paradron represented far too valuable a resource to allow to fall into Decepticon hands, and ordered the planet destroyed. One can only hope no Autobot leader ever decides Earth is too valuable. The Transformers also encountered Primacron, a strange, ape-like being who claimed to have created Unicron. His (and Unicron's) connection to the Autobot Matrix of Leadership remained vague.

A human scientific expedition intent on testing a new super-metal discovered Optimus Prime's body and returned with it to Earth, along with a number of spores that induced feelings of hatred, anger, and the need to perform violence, in all known life forms: humans, animals, and Transformers alike. Virtually all of Earth was wracked by the Hate Plague, and most of the Autobots, including Rodimus Prime, were affected. With the aid of a lone Quintesson, a small group of still-sane Autobots and humans were able to reactivate Optimus Prime and coat him in the super-metal, which made him immune to the Hate Plague. He battled Rodimus Prime for the Matrix, and was able to use the Matrix to eliminate the plague, draining the Matrix in the process.

The Autobots again experienced a brief peace before it was broken when Galvatron led the entire Decepticon armada in an attack against the Autobot City on Earth. Their goal: the Key to the Plasma Energy Chamber, which they succeeded in stealing. The Decepticons returned to Cybertron, and Scourge activated the Plasma Energy Chamber which, like most interesting things on Cybertron, was far beneath the surface. A surge of Plasma Energy struck an Autobot shuttle, sending it and its crew across the galaxy where it crash landed on the planet Nebulous. There the Autobots learned of the Nebulan civil war with their evil masters, the Hive. The Autobots joined forces with the Nebulan resistance, several Autobots volunteering to merge with Nebulans to create Headmasters. Cyclonus and his Decepticons were captured by the Hive, and so were born the Decepticon Headmasters and Targetmasters. Galvatron ignited powerful rocket engines on his homeworld, moving Cybertron closer to Earth. Fortress Maximus and Scorponok, two city-sized headmasters, battled on Nebulous, while the activated Plamsa Energy Chamber ignited the Sun, nearly causing it to go nova. The human and Nebulan Headmasters and Targetmasters allied with the Autobots shed their exosuits and so were able to deactivate the Plasma Energy Chamber, revitalizing Cybertron in the process. Meanwhile, Scorponok and every Decepticon onboard, including Galvatron, were shot to the other end of the universe, finally ending the war between the Autobots and the Decepticons.

So far as anyone knows.

Random Important Facts

• G1 Cartoon Decepticons can fly.
• Timeline is modified vice what is shown in the cartoon to allow for a Golden Age long enough that a species whose members lives millions of years to have had enough time to have forgotten the Second Great War.
• The Ark left for Earth four million years prior to present.
• Nine Million Years Ago: Start of the Third Cybertronian War; Orion Pax becomes Optimus Prime; Fall of Crystal City (unchanged from Standard)
• Sixteen Million Years Ago: End of the Second Cybertronian War, start of the Golden Age.
• We're not going to work back all the way to Cybertronian creation, but it can be assumed that the Second Cybertronian War ran for 3-5 million years, and that the planet had at least a few million years of peace before that.
• During the Golden Age, knowledge of the Second Cybertronian War was heavily suppressed in fear of "giving ideas" to the "wrong sorts of people."