The Autobots stumble upon a Quintesson plot to use a Time Window to alter history and preemptively crush the slave rebellion that forced them off Cybertron millions of years ago. As a group of Autobots wind up in the past, the Autobots in the present have to protect the rebel leader A-3 from further harm. As the Time Window left open, time itself starts to unravel and soon puts the entire universe at risk.
Tropes
- Fountain of Youth: A time ripple created from the open Time Window hits Marissa Faireborn during a training exercise and causes her to turn into a baby.
- "Groundhog Day" Loop: One of the side effects of the time ripples is time looping in on itself. This is showcased as Wheelie is stuck in loop where he wins a race over and over.
- Make Wrong What Once Went Right: The Quintessons remove A-3 from the timeline right before he led the initial slave revolt that overthrew the Quintessons on Cybertron 11 million years ago. While they do succeed in removing A-3 from the past, the plan goes sideways as the Time Window is left open and causes the universe itself to unravel.
- Stable Time Loop: The Aerialbots save A-3 from being destroyed by the Quintessons and learn that he will eventually become Alpha Trion, who merged with Vector Sigma so the Aerialbots could be built back in "The Key to Vector Sigma". On top of this, the Aerialbots had earlier played a role in Alpha Trion building Optimus Prime when they travelled back in time in "War Dawn". Optimus would be the one to ordered the Aerialbots to built in the first place, which is only possible because the Aerialbots would go on to save his creator later in the timeline.
- Storyboarding the Apocalypse: Inquirata gives a detailed explanation to his fellow Quintessons on how the time ripples will effect the universe and eventually cause it to unravel. This is illustrated by showing the ripples trapping Wheelie in a time loop, causing water in a dam to reverse, and turning Marissa back into a baby.
- Temporal Duplication: Superion gets struck by chronal energy, causing him briefly to exist in two places at once.
- Tempting Fate: Ramhorn asks Perceptor why they had to accompany him in investigating the chronal pulses coming from a nearby asteroid. Perceptor explains the Rodimus insisted he needed protection for the mission and describes his concerns as "absurd". Before Perceptor can even finish his sentence, the Quintessons reveal themselves by firing upon the Autobots.
- Time Crash: The Quintessons accidentally leave the Time Window open after retrieving A-3, and the resulting energy causes "time ripples" to leak across the universe. This causes time itself to destabilize at a cosmic scale and the Quintessons fear this will lead to the entire universe being destroyed if the Time Window is not shut down in time.
- Time Travel Episode: As the Quintessons pluck A-3 from the past, a group of Autobots accidentally fly through the Time Window and wind up on Cybertron 11 million years in the past. They quickly find themselves moments before A-3 led the assault on Hive City, which was the first step in the Cybertronian slave revolt that overthrew the Quintessons and ushered in a new age of freedom for their kind.
