The History of the Transformers Universe

The origin and history of the TransFormers differs depending on the source. The original origin was left vague, stating that these "mechanical lifeforms" were created eons ago on the planet Cybertron by creators unknown. The comic book published by Marvel Comics later revealed that the TransFormers were an army created by Primus for the specific reason of combatting his ancient enemy Unicron, although the first issue stated that they were the product of mechanical evolution. Then the cartoon (Five Faces of Darkness, pts. 1-5) contradicted that origin by stating that the TransFormers were an out-of-control experiment by the Quintessons. Confusing, no? At any rate, we will ignore all given origins for the context of this article and state what is known, meaning those facts that the cartoon and comic series agree on.

What is known is that by Earth's prehistoric age, the planet Cybertron had been devastated by an eons-old civil war between the noble Autobots and militaristic Decepticons. During the course of the war, the planet broke loose from its orbit and began to hurl through space. While near a solar system with a yellow sun, the Autobot leader Optimus Prime left Cybertron with several of his best warriors, on a mission whose goals depend on the continuity. Learning of the mission, the Decepticon leader Megatron also left with several of his warriors in an attempt to intercept the Autobot mission. The two ships caught up with each other shortly after entering the system. As the Decepticons boarded the Autobot vessel codenamed ARK and began to wage war on their enemies, the vessel crashed on the third planet of the system, the planet later inhabitants would call Earth. The ship savagely impacted into a volcano, burying itself under tons of ash and rock and rendering all Transformers on board inoperable.

Nearly four million years later, the volcano erupted, activating the computer systems aboard the ARK. Responding to its damage control protocols, the computer (coded as TELETRAN I) began to send out probes that surveyed the terrain. It found a civilization flourishing on the planet, one teeming with vehicles and aircraft. Most of the data gathered by the probes came from two locations near the volcano - an interstate highway and a military base. Using this data, TELETRAN began to repair the TransFormers on board, altering their transformed modes to blend in with the civilization detected and feeding the information it had found directly into each robot's computer core. Unfortunately, in its damaged state, it failed to distinguish between Autobot and Decepticon and repaired both sides.

Quickly realizing what had happened, the Decepticons fled from the ARK and attempted to destroy it. Failing that, they fled to begin construction on their own base of operations that would assist them in their new quest to plunder the planet's resources. The Autobots began to explore on their own and soon discovered the Decepticon plan. Vowing to prevent the Decepticons from destroying the lush planet as they had Cybertron, the Autobots undertook missions to defeat the Decepticons at every turn.

Before long, both sides had formed alliances with the planet's inhabitants, called humans. These small, organic creatures were physically weak as compared to Cybertronian life but proved to be highly intelligent and resourceful. Through these alliances and the use of human technology, both sides strove to reestablish contact with their homeworld. Unbeknownst to them, however, the war on Cybertron had been all but won by the Decepticons, reducing the Autobots to a few rebel factions. Because of this, it was ultimately the Decepticons who established contact first. Both sides began to recieve reinforcements from Cybertron, and the war seemed to begin anew.

Around the year 2005 on the Earth calendar, the Autobots had effectively driven the Decepticons from Earth, but had lost their foothold on Cybertron. Although the war continued, it was interrupted by a menace that neither side had dreamed of -- the arrival of Unicron. Unicron was an ancient being, a TransFormer who devoured entire planets. Possessing enormous power, Unicron set his sights on Cybertron and could not be stopped by either side. To defeat this terror, the Autobots and Decepticons were forced to join their considerable forces together - a first in the turbulent history of their race.

After the defeat of Unicron, the TransFormers began to rebuild their shattered planet. The different continuities began to diverge again at that point. Some say that the TransFormers were united in peace, thus beginning a new Golden Age on Cybertron, while others state that the war continued. As for the truth, we may never really know.