Timeline / Transformers Aligned Universe

The Beginning

• A single omnipotent being travels the galaxy, discovering life along the way. With no other creatures equaling its power, the being converses with itself, and and begins to split into two personas; Primus, who represents order and is a peace with the Universe, and Unicron, the representation of chaos and seeks to correct perceived flaws within the universe. The two personas turn on one another, split into two separate bodies. Unicron grows increasingly destructive, while Primus grows increasingly withdrawn. Eventually, Primus takes up arms to stop Unicron from devouring the galaxy. This struggle lasts for eons, with neither side able to gain an advantage over the other.

The Thirteen Primes

• The Thirteen Primes manage to defeat Unicron in battle, casting him off from Cybertron and taking leadership over a new era of peace.
• Unicron's inert body drifts to the Milky Way galaxy, where his gravity draws in space debris and matter, forming the planet Earth. Unicron's body lies at rest at the core of the planet.

Age of Evolution

Age of Origins

Age of Wrath

The Golden Age

The Age of Rust

• In the gladiator Pits of Kaon, a fighter who dubbed himself Megatronus, after the Fallen Prime, became a notable figure. He vowed to challenge Cybertron's leadership and bring overturn the caste system. His rhetoric inspires a group of followers that includes fellow gladiator Soundwave and scientist Shockwave. A young clerk, Orion Pax, also became concerned with the inequality of Cybertron's masses, and corruption in the government. He began corresponding with Megatronus, and the two grew a firm friendship. They have intense but friendly debates over the nature of free will and the danger of their ideals, and soon Orion begins training with Jazz, learning to fire an ion-cannon and to fashion his arms into an axe and a sword. Orion and Megatron, as he would shorten his name to, would grow to become as close as brothers.
• Terrorists, calling themselves "Decepticons", begin bombings in Megatron's name. Megatron himself makes his first public announcement , stating he is not responsible for the attacks and will bring the perpetrators to justice. In reality, however, Megatron had heard rumours about the bombings and terrorist attacks but did nothing to prevent them.
• Megatron and Orion are eventually granted a meeting with the High Council. In his speech, Megatron demands that he be named the next Prime, and threatens to violently overthrow the Council if they do not comply. Orion, who does not believe in violence, follows him up with a speech of his own. He argues that the members of Cybertron should be autonomous robots, or "Autobots", and that everyone should be able to make their own choices in life. Orion's speech moves the Council and inspires them to appoint Orion a Prime. They give him the new name of "Optimus". Megatron is incensed by the fact that his speech went unnoticed. In a fit of anger, he kills the Council member Halogen and spitefully severs all ties with his former friend. At Optimus's urging, the two sides retreat for now to avoid further bloodshed in the Council halls. However, the Council becomess fragmented, with Contrail, Ratbat, and Drivetrain joining the Decepticons. Megatron, taking command of the Decepticons, officially declares war on Optimus Prime and his followers, sparking the Great War.

The Great War

War for Cybertron

• Megatron seeks out the power of Dark Energon, conquering Trypticon space station and recruiting its' lead scientist Starscream to his cause. After the Seekers acquire the means to produce more Dark Energon, Megatron invades Iacon to acquire the key to the Core of Cybertron, Primus' inert form, to infect it with Dark Energon.
• Megatron defeats Sentinel Zeta Prime, who reveals the actual key is the Autobot Titan Omega Supreme. Megatron battles Omega and narrowly manages to fell him, and successfully infects the Core with Dark Energon.
• Optimus rescues Zeta only for him to perish, prompting him to journey to the Core to heal the infection. Primus announces that it will take millions of years to recover from Megatron's actions, and Optimus orders an evacuation of Cybertron as it will become uninhabitable.
• While most of the population evacuates, Optimus and a small army remain behind. Optimus commissions the Ark, a spaceship to eventually ferry them off the planet.
• Trypticon is revealed to be a sentient Decepticon, but he is defeated by Optimus, Ironhide, and Bumblebee.

Fall of Cybertron (The Great Exodus)

• With the Core shutting down, Cybertron's Energon supplies dwindle causing mass desperation. The Decepticons maintain control over most of Cybertron's remaining Energon, giving them the advantage in the war against the Autobots who remain.
• Trypticon's body is eventually recovered, his energy being cannibalized by desperate Autobots.
• As the shutdown approaches, the Autobots all but concede the war for Cybertron to the Decepticons.
• Shockwave uses an ancient map room in the Sea of Rust and a space bridge to peer into Earth during its' Cretaceous Period, noticing its' dinosaurs and deeming the planet a good source of natural resources with which to rebuild Cybertron.
• Megatron mounts a final assault on Autobot City as the Ark is prepared for lift-off. Optimus summons the Titan Metroplex to turn the tide, and Metroplex eventually kills Megatron. However, the battle came at the cost of the Autobots' Energon supplies leaving them without fuel for the Ark.
• Starscream takes command of the Decepticons in the wake of Megatron's death. However, his poor leadership and management exhausts the Decepticons' carefully maintained Energon supplies leaving them in just as dire straits as the Autobots.
• After the Lightning Strike Coalition failed to maintain their post prior to the battle, Cliffjumper and Jazz are sent to investigate their last known whereabouts in the Sea of Rust. The pair discover Shockwave's designs for Earth and lay claim to an Energon reservoir he had been using.
• Optimus commissions a massive Energon hauler to transport the contents of the reservoir to the Ark. Starscream orders a bullheaded assault on the hauler, but the Combaticons manage to stop half of the Energon from reaching the Autobots.
• Megatron is resurrected by Soundwave and quickly puts his house back in order, humiliating and defeating Starscream. Megatron agrees to head for Earth at Shockwave's suggestion and reclaims Trypticon's body. Though learning that Trypticon is alive, Megatron has him forcibly converted into the starship Nemesis as punishment for his failure.
• The Lightning Strike Coalition, reformatted into the Dinobots by Shockwave, manage to escape their confinement and storm Shockwave's space bridge. The team leader, Grimlock, alerts Optimus of the space bridge. Metroplex allows his Energon to be used to power the Ark, sacrificing his life to engineer the Autobots' escape as Cybertron finally shuts down.
• The Nemesis launches an attack on the Ark, sparking a ferocious battle before the two ships are flung into the universe.
• Only a select few Cybertronians remain on the planet - Ultra Magnus and his Wreckers, Alpha Trion, the Dinobots, and Shockwave chief among them.

Discovering the Colony Worlds

Rage of the Dinobots

• After Ultra Magnus leaves Cybertron to look for other Autobots, Grimlock becomes the de facto king of a tribe of surviving Autobots and Decepticons.

Transformers Prime

• "Team Prime", a unit consisting of Optimus, Ratchet, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead, arrive on Earth and have a confrontation with Megatron. In the aftermath, Team Prime establishes contact with the US government and become allies of them, being given a secret base, with US Agent William Fowler appointed their human liaison.
• Megatron goes into deep space to seek a new army, leaving Starscream in command.
• Three years of peace go by on Earth, with Starscream refraining from open warfare and instead stockpiling on Energon across the planet.
  • During this time, Arcee and Cliffjumper join Team Prime.
• Cliffjumper happens upon an Energon cache but is captured and killed by Starscream.
• The Decepticons track down and hunt Arcee, leading to humans Jack Darby, Miko Nakadai, and Raf Esquivel discovering the existence of Cybertronians. Optimus orders the children taken in and assigned guardians - Arcee with Jack, Bulkhead with Miko, and Bumblebee with Raf.
• Megatron returns having attained Dark Energon, seeking to raise an army of Terrorcons - undead Cybertronians - with it, but is injured. Starscream retakes command until Megatron recovers, but flees after attempting to defect to the Autobots.
• US Colonel Leland Bishop, taking the alias "Silas", forms MECH, a black ops human paramilitary force. They become a threat to Autobot and Decepticon alike and begin scheming to build man-made Cybertronians.
• Other Decepticons arrive on Earth, including the rogue Airachnid (who later rejoins Megatron's command); and medical officer Knock Out and his partner Breakdown.
• Optimus observes a planetary alignment arriving lines up with a prophecy in the Covenant of Primus, one that foretells a dark evil rising during the alignment. Megatron also believes he is the dark evil the prophecy tells of, but both factions discover that the prophecy actually refers to Unicron, who awakens and threatens Earth should his physical form revive properly.
  • Optimus beseeches Unicron to spare Earth, but Unicron is repulsed by his unwitting progeny and vows to destroy all life on Earth with his awakening. Optimus and Megatron team up to go to the Earth's core, where Optimus uses the Matrix to put his physical form back into suspended animation.
  • The use of the Matrix also wipes Optimus's memories of his time as a Prime. Megatron takes advantage of this and convinces him to join the Decepticons, painting them as the heroes in the Great War. Jack is able to restore Optimus's memory with the Key to Vector Sigma.
• The Autobots and Decepticons begin hunting relics from Iacon sent to Earth by Alpha Trion.
• When Dreadwing arrives on Earth, Megatron orders him to kill Airachnid to replace her as his second-in-command. Dreadwing fails and returns from the assassination minus Breakdown, whose corpse is recovered by MECH. Megatron answers Airachnid's challenge for leadership and defeats an Insecticon scout, but has to be saved by Dreadwing when the Autobots attack, and promotes Dreadwing to second.
  • Wheeljack, after having briefly visited Earth, returns and eventually joins Team Prime full-time.
• MECH creates a replica of Optimus as the prototype for their army, but Silas is defeated and mortally wounded in a fight with Optimus and Fowler. To save his life, MECH grafts Silas's body into Breakdown's corpse, creating a human-Cybertronian hybrid. Renaming himself Cylas, he wipes out his organization and tries to join the Decepticons, but is eventually consigned to be Knock Out's latest dissection experiment.
• Airachnid attacks the Nemesis with an army of Insecticons, but when she is sealed in a stasis pod and captured by Arcee, the Insecticons join Megatron's forces. During the chaos, Bulkhead, who accidentally ended up aboard the Nemesis, cripples it and causes the ship to crash. Megatron uses Dark Energon to speed up the ship's recovery, reactivating Trypticon who decodes numerous coordinates for Iacon relics on Earth.
  • After Trypticon is put back into stasis, both factions spread out across the globe to claim the relics. During the hunt, Bulkhead is wounded by Insecticon Hardshell, who is killed by Miko in revenge.
• Optimus recovers the Star Saber, giving him a massive power Megatron cannot match until he forges his own Dark Star Saber. Optimus receives a recorded message from Alpha Trion from the sword, and learns that the last relics are Omega Keys, which can activate the Omega Lock which can restore Cybertron.
• Starscream acquires the Omega Keys and brings them to Megatron to earn back his place in his command. Dreadwing, angry over Starscream's earlier desecration of his brother Skyquake's corpse, attacks him and is put down by Megatron.
• During a battle on Cybertron, Optimus destroys the Omega Lock to prevent Megatron from cyberforming Earth. Megatron responds by destroying the Autobot base, forcing Team Prime to scatter. Megatron declares war on Earth from his new fortress of Darkmount, but the fortress is toppled when Ultra Magnus recollects Team Prime and Optimus is reformatted by Smokescreen using the Forge of Solus Prime.
• Shockwave arrives on Earth to join Megatron's army and brings a clone of a Predaking he created with him. Megatron orders Shockwave to clone an army of Predacons, but falters when he learns Predaking is intelligent. Despite Predaking's loyalty to Megatron, Megatron fears he will rebel and succeed in usurping him and orders the cloning project terminated, turning his attention to rebuilding the Omega Lock.
• After Ratchet is kidnapped by the Decepticons, the Autobots storm the Nemesis, kill Megatron and use the Omega Lock to restore Cybertron's core, ending the Great War with an Autobot victory.
• Optimus reclaims the Allspark from deep space only for Unicron's spiritual form to revive upon sensing the revival of Primus. Unicron commandeers Megatron's corpse to go and destroy Cybertron, and is resisted by an alliance of Autobots, Decepticons, and Predacons led by Bumblebee and Predaking. Optimus seals Unicron away at the cost of his life, as he is forced to take the Allspark into his spark and must now become one with the Core to fully revitalize Cybertron. With Optimus's death, the age of Primes end as new Sparks begin to be formed once again.
  • Megatron, restored to life and freed from Unicron, disbands the Decepticons and goes into exile.
• Unbeknownst to anyone, the Primes pluck Optimus's Spark before it becomes one with the Allspark, saving him from death but trapping him in the Realm of the Primes, seeking to train him against the threat of Megatronus.

Rescue Bots

• During the war on Earth ^note See the above Transformers: Prime section Rescue Force Sigma-17 drifts to Earth where they are found and debriefed by Optimus Prime, who assigns them to continue their functions as Rescue Bots on Griffin Rock, a technological hub island off the coast of New England. They are ordered to pose as experimental, non-sentient machines built by Doctor Ezra Greene, serving the Burns family as their rescue vehicles; Heatwave pairs with Kade, Boulder with Graham, Blades with Dani, and Chase with family patriarch Charlie.
• The Rescue Bots become known as the town's dependable servants, occasionally accepting assistance from Optimus and Bumblebee during their visits to the island. Various unscrupulous villains such as Doctor Thaddeus Morroco, Madelyn Pynch, and Colonel Quint Quarry occasionally menace the island.
• The Rescue Bots also begin seeing new arrivals to their ranks, including High Tide, Salvage, and Blurr.
• After three years in Griffin Rock^note roughly around the time of the first season finale of Robots in Disguise, see below section, the Velgrox aliens invade the island to harvest the townspeople as food. The Rescue Bots are forced to break their cover in order to convince the Velgrox to stand down and leave Earth. The townspeople are grateful to be rescued and accept the Rescue Bots for the sentient aliens they are.
• The Rescue Bots defeat a grave threat poised by a sentient virus created by Morocco. Optimus declares the time has come for the team to receive new assignments, branching out to the wider world beyond Griffin Rock now that they have proven themselves as a family of heroes.

Robots in Disguise

• Cybertronians return to the planet and new Cybertronians are born, restoring the planet to much of its' former glory.
• However, the Autobot council that governs the planet is quietly assassinated by a cell of Decepticons led by Cyclonus who either don't believe or are unaware of Megatron's change of heart, as they begin plotting to set up a new Decepticon Empire for him to rule.
  • The council blames Optimus Prime and any Autobots affiliated with him - Wreckers, Rescue Bots, Team Prime alumni, etc - for the Great War, blacklisting them. The Autobots accept lower roles in society due to believing the public wants it, but the council secretly uses mind-control technology to keep the populace happy and compliant with their anti-Autobot rhetoric.
• Decepticons are notably discriminated against despite the Council's true nature, especially revolutionary Steeljaw.
• From his prison, Megatronus manipulates the prime reality to cause the prison ship Alchemor to crash on Earth, freeing its' numerous Decepticon prisoners. However, a sizable chunk of the inmates stay with the wreckage of the ship to form a base under the command of Saberhorn, Glowstrike, and Scorponok.
• Bumblebee and Strongarm pursue renegade Autobot Sideswipe to Earth where they discover the crash of the Alchemor. They form a team alongside Alchemor prison guard Fixit, Alchemor escapee Grimlock (a different individual than the one who was forcibly converted into a Dinobot by Shockwave), and human father and son Denny and Russell Clay based out of the Clay's junkyard, resolving to hunt down and recapture the Alchemor escapees.
• Steeljaw forms a "pack" out of several Decepticons and is contacted by Megatronus, who orders him to build a device capable of bringing him to Earth.
• The Bee Team encounters visions of Optimus appearing to them from the Realm of the Primes.
• Steeljaw succeeds in bringing Megatronus to Earth, only to learn he intends to destroy the planet and Cybertron as well. Optimus is fully revived from the dead by the Primes and helps defeat the ancient evil Prime.
• Optimus and Bumblebee have tension over the latter's leadership, with Optimus worried his former protege isn't ready to lead, but eventually they resolve their feud.
• Steeljaw forms a second iteration of the pack and joins up with Saberhorn, Glowstrike, and Scorponok's army, quickly working his way into their command structure and displacing Scorponok. He seizes control of the army when he gains access to the Autobots' Decepticon Hunters.
• Ratchet arrives on Earth and informs the others he has been exiled for being an old supporter of Optimus, causing the Autobot leader to grow suspicious of the current government.
• The Bee Team, Optimus, and Ratchet defeat Steeljaw, with Optimus taking the imprisoned Decepticons on his journey back to Cybertron to investigate their apparent corruption.
• Starscream returns to Earth in search of the discarded Dark Star Saber but is defeated by the Autobots and imprisoned. The Stunticons led by Motormaster also menace Earth for a time, but are defeated when the Bee Team forms a combiner powerful enough to counter them.
• Cyclonus's council frees Steeljaw and his pack and orders them to rendezvous on Earth with Mini-Cons who are working towards releasing Soundwave, who has been trapped in the Shadowzone since the final battle of the Great War. Soundwave is defeated and recaptured.
• Optimus and a team of "All-Stars" - Ratchet, Windblade, and Bulkhead - return to Earth to inform the Bee Team of the Council's true nature and that they are preparing for an invasion. While the Bee Team forms an alliance with Steeljaw to infiltrate Cybertron, the All-Stars do battle with the Council's forces who are already preparing for the invasion on Earth. The Bee Team is able to defeat and capture Cyclonus's cell and free Cybertron from their mind-control, restoring peace.
  • In the aftermath, Optimus passes control of Cybertron to the All-Stars led by Ratchet, believing he is a wartime leader and not a peacetime leader; and appoints the Bee Team as ambassadors to Earth. Steeljaw remains at large, and the Bee Team happily accepts Earth as their home.

Rescue Bots Academy

• Peace is finally achieved between Autobots and Decepticons. Among them, Laserbeak has fully reformed.
• A new generation of Rescue Bots undergoes training overseen by the first generation from Griffin Rock.