A. Generation 1
1. G1 show
2. G1 Marvel comic
3. Dreamwave comics
4. IDW comics
5. Beast Wars and Beast Machines
6. Prime Wars Trilogy
B. Robots in Disguise
C. Unicron Trilogy
1. Armada, Energon, Cybertron shows.
2. Dreamwave Armada and Energon.
3. Cybertron
D. Live-Action movies
1. The 5 Micheal Bay movies
2. Bumblebee
E. Animated
F. Aligned
War for Cybertron, Fall of Cybertron, Prime, Robots in Disguise, Rescue Bots, Rescue Bots Academy.
G. Cyberverse
H. Timelines
Transformers been around since the 1980s and there's been multiple versions running around. It does get confusing and some of these versions get confusing on their own. I be focusing on the all the major stuff that came out in America. I might focus on the Japanese exclusive stuff in a later blog article.
A. Generation 1
1. G1 cartoon
The well most well known one (aside the movies) is the Generation 1(G1) cartoon.
It ran for three seasons with a theatrical animated movie set between seasons 2 and 3. There is a "4th season" which was mainly a 3-part episode.
2. Marvel comics
When was Optimus the same size as Omega Surpreme and Trypticon?
(The later issues wouldn't have weird covers like this 1st issue.)
Transformers comics from the 1980s that ran for 80 issues under Marvel comics. It was originally part of the Marvel universe with Spider-Man, Nick Fury, and the Savage Land from X-Men making appearances in the early issues but later on because a separate universe without making an another reference to the other Marvel characters ever again.
Marvel UK sort of made their "Expanded Universe" of the US comics. They told stories that happen in-between the US issues and later visit future era of the mid-to-late 2000s which was heavily inspired by the 1986 movie. There was an event called the "Time Wars" which led to future era getting rewritten afterwards.
After that, there 4 or 5 alternate "sequels" to the Marvel G1 comics.
Yeah, this is complicated. This chart was made years before IDW's Regeneration One which is another alternate "sequel" to the Marvel comics.
UK did a few one-shots as the "ending" of Transformers. The G2 comics were the original continuation of the Marvel comics. Classics in the mid 00s was done by Fun Publications that made as a sequel to the US comics that ignore G2 and IDW years later had Regeneration One which is written and drawn by the staff that did the last 25 issues of the original Marvel comics.
3. Dreamwave Comics
Why is everyone posing? Why are Optimus' arms and legs bigger than his torso? Does he have a stretchy neck or something?
(Sadly, this is how most of the comics are normally drawn)
Dreamwave in the early 2000s had the license to run Transfromers comics. They bankrupt themselves very very quickly. Nowdays, people make fun of the art of the series. It is also infamous for it's shady behind the scenes drama with alot employees not getting paid.
4. IDW 2005 comics
Next is the well beloved IDW comics that ran for 13 long years. It does get kinda complicated as you read through the stories. People say Phase 1 was good during it's early years but went downhill in the end. Fans say that Phase 2 is the period when the comics really shined. It came to an end in 2018 and IDW is now starting a whole new universe from scratch.
In 2016, IDW did a crossover event called Revolution and now the Transformers exist with G.I.Joe, Rom, Jem and the Holograms, Action Man, M.A.S.K., and Visionaries. Basically all the Hasbro's properties. So if your a Transformers fan and want see what Skywarp is doing, you may have to now read G.I. Joe comics.
5.Beast Wars and Beast Machines
Came out in the late 90s with the focus on the transformers transforming into beasts instead of vehicles. While the CGI is a little dated, Beast Wars is one of the most beloved versions of Transformers. Beast Machines is ehh...seen as an inferior sequel but compared to certain versions of Transformers that came out in later years, the hate died down.
Beast Wars and Beast Machines can be seen as sequels both the G1 cartoon and the G1 Marvel comics. The characters are the descendants of the Autobots and Decepticons about 300 years after the Great War. They do treat the events of G1 of either the show or the comics as an Arthurian legend. So it's connected to G1 but I won't say it's a direct continuation.
6. Prime Wars Trilogy
Next is the Machinima's Prime Wars Trilogy and they are down right confusing.
The 1st episode feels like it's the 10th episode in the series and the main characters are in the middle of events without explaining to the viewers. I guess combiners are a separate species from Transformers and they want to wreck havoc or something.
It's seems based on the IDW comics that was happening at the time. It's has a post-war Cybertron. Starscream is a governor of the planet. Megatron is reformed. The planet Caminus made contact with Cybertron. However not everyone reads comics and people were surprised to see Starscream chatty in the same room as Rodimus like nothing ever happen. It's like the web series was aimed towards the hardcore comics readers and no one else, but even they find the web series confusing. Then they referenced events like Optimus coming back from the dead or Megatron was once Galvatron in the past that came out of nowhere and got to pretend it happened somewhere in i't's history.
B. Robots in Disguise
As time went on with all the later versions of Transformers, the hate for this show for simply being a reboot has been forgotten.
But in Japan...well I was tell that in another blog article.
C. Unicron Trilogy
1. Armada and Energon Shows
In the Mid-2000s, with got the Unicron Trilogy which is three separate shows that revolved around Unicron one way or the other. They are called Armada, Energon, and Cybertron. These shows are uhh...Not well received. Some opinions vary on them. Most agree Energon is the worse.
Armada and Energon were from Japan and dubbed into English in a very rush way to the point where the animation was halfway done on the Japanese side of the Pacific and aired months before the Japanese version did.
2. Dreamwave's Armada and Energon
When Dreamwave had the license to make Transformers comics, they did their versions of Armada and Energon. It was better received than the shows(especially Energon) but as Armada show gotten better in the 2nd half, some fans started to prefer the show over the comic.
Unfortunately, Dreamwave went bankrupt and Energon came to abrupt end with it's storyline halfway done. The writer of the series did posted on his blog the summaries of his unpublished issues several years after Dreamwave shut down.
3. Cybertron
The 3rd show of the UT era. Cybertron's English dub was far better received than it's two prequels because it didn't rushed itself and took time put in decent dialogue.
In Japan, Cybertron was a stand-alone show with no connection to the others. The English version tried to somehow make it a sequel to the two others. Somehow, the destruction of Unicron from the previous show created a black hole that will devour the entire universe. Megatron and Starscream are somehow alive and escape Hell somehow. Optimus is completely surprised to see Transformers combined despite seeing it all the time in the two prequels.
And yet, in the English version of the final episode, the human allies from Armada and Energon made an appearance.
There was an explanation from Fun Publications(I get to them later) that release stories told in a bi-monthly magazine that the destruction of Unicron from the ending of Transformers:Energon created a multiversal crisis. This caused universes to merge and rewrite reality itself, thus explaining how Cybertron is a sequel to Armada and Energon. Events of the unpublished Dreamwave comics were referenced in Fun Pub's story, meaning the show and comic universes merged. Also in Japan, they retcon the Japanese version of their show as a sequel to Armada and Energon as well.
D. Live-Action movies
1. The 5 Micheal Bay movies
Then you got the most well known version(aside G1), the live-action movies.
The first movie was simple to follow but with each sequel, the movie timeline got more and more crazy. Appearly, Earth has a magical cube in Hoover Dam, then the pyramids are design to drain the sun, then the space race was made to explore and cover up a crashed Cybertronian ship on the moon, than the Dinosaurs were killed by a Transformer, then it turns out the Transformers were on Earth during King Arthur's time and later fought Nazis. There also a secret order called the Order of the Witwiccans that worked with Transformers throughout history.
After 5 movies, I have a hard time believing the Order of the Witwiccans were around and all buddy buddy with the bots long before the events 1st movie. You think they help NEST or try to stop Cemetery Wind. Also how can Megatron be planning to get the Allspark, help the Fallen find the Star Harvester, and aid evil humans to help revive Sentinel Prime? Wasn't Megatron frozen for a century in Hoover Dam? So how can he aid evil humans during the space race?
The IDW comics did made a ton of stories that explained in far better detail and patch up a dozen plot holes. For one thing, Soundwave was unaware that Megatron was frozen on Earth while setting up the events of the 3rd film, by the events the 2nd film was happening, he soon learn Megatron was on Earth and quickly rushed to help him.
Sadly, IDW comics only did movie tie-ins up to the 3rd movie and the Post-Shia movies don't have any tie-ins. Most of the stuff shown with the Order of the Witwiccans greatly clashed the already established material from the IDW's expanded movieverse.
2. Bumblebee
The new Bumblebee film did confused people if it was a reboot or a prequel to the other movies. It was original conceived as a prequel but after reshoots, it ended up as a reboot of the film series. There were signs it was going to be a prequel with Megatron missing due to be frozen in Hoover Dam and Bumblebee gaining the form of a 70s Camero that was seen in the beginning of the 07 movie.
There was even a comic book that was a bridge between Last Knight and the BumbleBee spinoff. Bee was fighting Nazis that was seen in The Last Knight and would lead to this 60s spy thriller theme tale but with reshoots showing Bee arriving on Earth for the very 1st time ever in the 1980s, this comic ended up being incompatible with the movie.
E. Animated
In 2007, there was a stand alone show called Transformers:Animated. It ran for 3 seasons and it abruptly got cancelled. While the animation style did set people off at first, it ended up as a well beloved show.
F. Aligned
There is the Aligned continuity. Hasbro didn't want a Transformers show that be around for a few years and then hit the reboot button. They wanted a big grand timeline that will last a long time. It contains the popular video games, War for Cybertron and Fall of Cybertron. Several TV shows like Transformers: Prime, it's sequel, Robots in Disguise(No connection to the 2001 show or the IDW comic), it's spinoffs, Rescue Bots and Rescue Bots Academy.
However this so called grand timeline barely connects with each other. The two video games from High Moon Studios look like a completely different world than what's seen in Transformers:Prime. They look like two separate universes and they only connect only because Hasbro said so. The problem was that creators of Prime tried to be their own thing and Hasbro forced them to be part of the same world as the video games.
Alot mainstream casuals believe War for Cybertron and Fall of Cyberton are prequels to the G1 show and not some CGI show that airs on some extended basic cable channel. The games were designed to cater to the fans of G1 and wasn't originally conceived to set up the events of TF:Prime. There are dozens of people who grew up with the original show and didn't follow all the later versions. So they jumped on to these games without paying attention to the Aligned timeline.
The sequel TV show, Robots in Disguise did confused people because Bumblebee is back on Earth but doesn't contact his human allies or anyone. People wonder if centuries past since then or something. The answer is told in the show Rescue Bots. This show is aimed towards preschools and instead of focusing on a robot civil war, it's a group of robot rescuers helping out.
The preschooler show had cameos from the dark and gritty show, TF:Prime and they help out for an episode or two. After it's third season, a 3-year timeskip happen and now they have cameos from Prime's far more lighthearted sequel. Sadly, there was never an answer why Bumblebee contact his human allies if a mere 3 years have passed.
Also confusion happen when Grimlock was seen in Robots in Disguise which clashed what's seen of the big dino in Fall of Cybertron
When RID15 aired with Grimlock on the team, people were confused. Suddenly his personality is different and he's suddenly a former criminal. It be ok if it's a different universe but it's supposed to be part of this big grand timeline. It was told on twitter from the show writers that Grimlock is a common name among Dinobots and they are two separate characters.
Sadly, due to clashing visions and all, the Aligned universe didn't go a planned and the very last remnant of this timeline that's currently airing is a sequel to a preschooler show. I'm not against Rescue Bots or anything but I doubt your average Transformers fan wants to watch something aimed towards preschoolers.
G. Cyberverse
This is the newest show that currently airing, Transformers Cyberverse. Another stand-alone show.
H. Timelines
Since I mention them, the group known as Fun Publications ran Transformers:Timelines. A collection of stories told through comics, magazines, and text stories. Timelines told various stories in different universes like...
Transtech- A highly advanced world where the Great War never happen and a inter-dimensional hub where dimensional travelers end up.
Shattered Glass-The Transformers version of the Mirror Universe where the Heroic Decepticons clashed against the Evil Autobots.
Wings of Honor-A sort of retelling of the G1 cartoon as it tells stories from the early days of the Great War. Later on, it told tales set after season 4 of the the original cartoon, to the tail end of the Great War that would lead to the world of Beast Wars.
Beast Wars Uprising- A dark future where the Great War ended due to lack of power and everyone is kicked off of Earth. The Autobots and the Decepticons treated their descendants, the Maximals and Predacons as 2nd-class citizens and made them fight in gladiator arenas but soon, a rebellion is coming.
It does gets very complex and confusing. A dozen background characters will suddenly get focus on. They mention the various universes in the multiverse and you have to try to look up Universal streams like Primax 984.17 Alpha for example. They don't go by Earth 1 or Earth 616. Later on, the universes will crossover with Shattered Glass universe invading the Classicsverse and you have good Autobots fighting evil Autobots and the Decepticons of both universes joining.
You may have to get used to see Gobots alot in these stories. Gobots were rival toyline/show of the Transformers that were owned by Tonka in the 80s. In the 90s, Hasbro bought Tonka and now have the rights to use Gobots characters. They did started appearing in Classics and Transtech as they fled from their universe as it gets destroyed(supposedly). Then years later, they were all over the place in TF:Timelines. The world of Beast Wars Uprising has an invasion of Monster Gobots. Shattered Glass in it's last year was focusing on these guys.
The Ask Vector Prime column was a Q&A thing on Facebook and revealing obscured Transformers stuff. At one point, he took a break and other guests ran the page while Vector Prime was gone. We had famous characters like Grimlock, Sky-Byte, Animated Sentinel Prime, Sideways, then we get Cy-Kill from Gobots and suddenly, it wasn't about Transformers anymore. Gobots fans may enjoy all this but not everyone was into it.
You also have multiverisal singularities where the Transformers creator god Primus and his evil brother Unicron exist as one being in the entire multiverse. Then there's the Original Thirteen, Primus' original children made at the dawn of time. None of them have alternate universe counterparts, they only exist as one single being. This will caused multiversal headaches when your trying to wrap your head around the Fallen from the 2nd Micheal Bay movie and see how it connect the Dreamwave comics or how Unicron from Armada same exact guy from the Marvel comics or the G1 cartoon. They undid all this in 2015 in another multiversal crisis where singularities ceased to be and became separate beings in who can exist in different universes. This was due to all the later versions of Transformers try to be their own thing with their own origin stories and they don't need to be restricted by some stuff told in a bi-monthly magazine.
And some are you wondering, how does Primacron connect to a dark god opposite of the creator god of the Transformers? How can Unicron be one person in the multiverse if the original cartoon said he was build by a ancient space monkey. Well Fun Pub said that the scientist Primacron saw into other realities and saw the dark god. He was inspired to make "His" Unicron. So basically, the Unicron in the G1 cartoon is not a muliverisal dark god but a copycat.
