WMG / Transformers: Fall of Cybertron

The Starscream we see in Prime is a clone

The Starscream we see here and the last game seem more competent and physically stronger than the one we seen on Earth, not to mention having a different voice.

• It could explain why Prime Starscream doesn't seem to know much about Dark Energon.
• Alternatively it is Shockwave in disguise explaining the different voice.
  • Jossed. Shockwave himself shows up in the third season of Prime, voiced by David Sobolov (who voiced Depth Charge in Beast Wars).
• This troper has to argue at what the OP considers "competent". Prime Starscream's plans actually make sense and he knows when to quit while he's ahead, where Cybertron Starscream arrested a fellow Decepticon because he disobeyed him after his screwed up his own plans due to his ego and impatience. Not to mention both are actually capable fighters, depending on the scenario.
  • The difference is, Starscream in Fall is a dangerous fighter in MOST scenarios against huge odds, whereas Prime Starscream wins maybe one in ten fights on average.
• Then explain of he still remains with Megatron despite being smashed into a control panel by Grimlock. Speaking of, why would Megatron keep Starscream around he stole his rank and backstabbed him?
  • Megatron was probably impressed with Starscream breaking into Shockwave's lab undetected, and decided there was hope for him yet.
• He was in Shockwave's lab, so perhaps he was made into another "experiment"?

Bumblebee's injuries in Fall of Cybertron is the reason he's mute in Prime

Assuming they're staying true to the original Word of God declaration of Transformers: War for Cybertron and Transformers: Prime being in the same universe, then Bumblebee's not going to die from them. So it could be that Bumblebee's injuries in FoC might be a means to explain the more movie-esque idea of making Bumblebee mute and using sounds to communicate.

• Though we don't see the act (unless we count the trailer), it's pretty much confirmed, I'd say.

One or more of Soundwave's cassettes will die in this game

He was shown to be quite protective of them in WFC. One of them dying would have to be the reason why he's so stoic in Transformers: Prime.

• Possibly more than one, given his only Deployer in Prime is Laserbeak...
  • Jossed

The game will involve finding other Cybertronian artifacts, such as the Key to Vector Sigma

Optimus has the Key to Vector Sigma in Transformers: Prime, and WFC shows him acquiring the Matrix of Leadership. Given they are trying to escape the planet they are probably looking for everything of value they can take with them.

• Jossed: Artifacts aren't the case in Fall of Cybertron, only Energon for the Ark. A different story could be said about the Decepticons, if you consider the Space Bridge an artifact.

Guesses on who might die.

Since the game is obviously going for a Darker and Edgier approach, might as well guess who is going to die. Don't like mine, than guess your own.

Autobots:

• Perceptor: Maybe the Decepticons attack a lab he's in and kill him.
  • Jossed, he shows up in Transformers: Exiles, a sequel novel. Sort of.

• Jazz: Might end up dying at the hands of Megatron or Shockwave as a Sacrificial Lion.
  • Well, it wouldn't be the first time.
  • Jossed, he shows up in Transformers: Exiles, a sequel novle. Sort of.

• Warpath: Killed by Brawl in combat.
  • Jossed. He survives the mission he is in, but never shows up after.

• Metroplex: Would probably die to save the Autobots. He'll certainly be stuck on Cybertron for some time at least.
  • confirmed, he gives his energon to allow the ark to take off.
    • He heard Prime and Ironhide's conversation at the end of Chapter 3, about it possibly costing them their future to see Megatron smashed like that, because the energon reserve for the Ark was gone, presumably in his 'birth'. They were standing on his shoulder for it, and he looked slightly in their direction. Way to make him feel like he's at fault for that, Prime.

Decepticons:

• Shockwave: He's going to create the Dinobots. That probably won't end well.
  • and indeed it did not he was maimed and sent to a Disney Death. How he survived is not clear, though seeing as he can fly, and limb loss, as well as intense damage isn't uncommon in Transformers (with his gun arm getting foreshadowed) can allow one to make their own conclusions. Shockwave's survival, however, was confirmed in the tie-in comic and the Prime Show.

Combaticons: Will probably die as Bruticus or individually.

• appears confirmed, is knocked off the Ark while in space, but he might have survived
  • Seems that the Combaticons survive in the Dinobot comics, where Blast-off gets stabbed by Grimlock, jury's still out on whether or not that was fatal.

Onslaught: Probably will end up in battle with Optimus or Ironhide.

Vortex: An attempt to torture an Autobot could go south.

Brawl: Might charge headfirst into the main Autobots.

Swindle: May end up double crossing someone he shouldn't in a deal.

Blast Off: May have a large dogfight with the Arielbots.

• In the comics Grimlock stabbed him in the chest, his fate is unknown.

• Optimus Prime: Not like it wouldn't be expected. He hasn't had his inevitable death/resurrection in this continuity yet.
  • Jossed: The game's like War for Cybertron, his surviving to land on Earth with the others is a Foregone Conclusion.
• Jetfire: He actually will die in the manner he almost did in WFC (getting gunned down by Trypticon).
  • Jossed. Survives the Trypticon/Nemesis assault on the Ark.

We will learn why Breakdown looks the way his does in Prime.

It'd just be interesting to see how he went from a a coward to a bruiser.

• Likely involving Shockwave experimenting on him at some point, possibly as a test subject.
  • Jossed

We will learn why Soundwave is mute and why his design is different in Prime.

• Jazz put a cannon to Soundwave's chest and then boom! Little bits of Soundwave went everywhere. He'll probably be rebuilt sans voice/face.
  • Jossed by Word of God. By the time of Prime, the notion is that Soundwave can talk, but just chooses not to (which is why certain characters even give him chances to speak up, only for him to remain silent). And definitely so by "Minus One" where he did indeed speak. The scene where Jazz blows him up was only in the trailer.
  • This being Transformers, he probably picked up his current look and mannerisms sometime during the time between the game and Prime Show. Though Broad Strokes most likely comes into place somewhere.

The Insecticons (Kickback, Hardshell, and Sharpshot) will be a Wolfpack Boss for a level where you play as a Wrecker.

The fight would leave Kickback and Sharpshot dead and Hardshell out for revenge against Wreckers. He then might hunt down and kill one in his own level.

• Jossed. There's no mention of the Wreckers, but Hardshell and Sharpshot are killed by Grimlock.
  • Hardshell and Kickback only seemed to be knocked out (and besides, Hardshell appears and dies in Prime, so he had to have lived); Sharpshot, on the other hand, was pretty explicitly killed. Later comics have Kickback getting killed Sludge.

There will be several cases of The Other Darrin in order to try and align the continuity with Prime, with other characters showing up from Prime later.

While it's clearly not happening with Ratchet, Jetfire, Warpath, Ironhide, Shockwave, Megatron, or Starscream (who have kept their voice actors from WFC), we could hear Arcee's Prime VA, Sumalee Montano, show up at some stage. Some members of the Wreckers could also show up, such as Bulkhead and Wheeljack. (Optimus doesn't count as Peter Cullen is in both the game and TFP, and Soundwave has no voice actor in TFP so far, so he doesn't count either). Jetfire, Warpath and Ironhide are also not due to appear in Prime (yet).

• Wheeljack's been confirmed.
  • And he didn't speak, and it's not like Prime itself helped matters, considering Shockwave got darrin'd with David Sobolov taking over despite Steve Blum being a regular nor did they get Issac C. Singleton Jr. and Johnny Yong Bosch for the respective roles of Soundwave and Bumblebee, instead having Frank Welker reprise the former and getting Will Friedle to voice the latter.

Alpha Trion will make some kind of appearance.

When Optimus activates a Teletraan terminal, it erroneously calls him Orion Pax, a sign that the developers are trying to tie the game with Prime.

• Jossed

The third game in the series will be called Rise of Cybertron.

And following media trilogy conventions, it'll be the only game without a Downer Ending.

• Partially Jossed, the third game in the series is called Rise of the Dark Spark, and will crossover with the movies.

When Starscream defects,

the Combaticons will follow.Promotional materials say that Starscream will attempt a coup Big suprise. Having the Combaticons on his side will mimic the original TV show, which the video games have a fun time referencing. They are also seen working together in several of those promotional materials. Onslaught will probably be The Dragon.

• Jossed, the Combaticons clearly hate him and are glad to see Megatron throw him out.

The third game in the series will be called "Welcome to Earth"

...and (possibly in flashback) finish the bridging between WFC and Prime.

• Considering the Sequel Hook with the abrupt end of the game, it's no doubt they'll end this series as a trilogy with the final gap filled between Cybertron and Prime.
• Jossed, the third game is Rise of the Dark Spark, but it will feature another reality's earth.

Grimlock survived the game's events and will return in the sequel.

• Matt Tieger made a personal push to get him in the game, I doubt he'd have him killed off.
  • Confirmed by the tie-in comic to Prime's third season.
  • Another Grimlock is confirmed to make a playable appearance.

The third game will have focus on the lost colonies of Cybertron.

It would have some basis from the novel, Transformers: Exiles.The Autobots and Decepticons will travel to different worlds after surviving the space bridge collapse. This will let us play as new characters and types of Transformers from Velocitron and Junkion.

• It will end, of course, with them going to Earth.
  • Jossed for the most part, with the exception of another Earth.

The third game will feature Fortress Maximus.

The first two games already used Omega Supreme and Metroplex (the other two Autobot giants), so...

• In response, the Decepticons will have Scorponok, who will be fought by Grimlock in a boss battle— thus finally following up on Grimlock's Hall of Fame bio, which mentions him having some kind of grudge toward a heretofore unseen Aligned-verse Scorponok.
  • Jossed

The third game will introduce the second generation characters.

Referring to The Movie protagonists: Hot Rod, Ultra Magnus, Kup, Arcee and Blurr.

• Well, one of the the movies, at least.
  • Confirmed... kinda. While not actually part of the story, one of the DLC packs for the game contains the parts for Ultra Magnus.

When Soundwave rebuilt Megatron...

It wasn't really Megatron. It was a clone. Why would I say this? Mostly because I find Metroplex crushing Megs to only a hand and Soundwave being able to rebuild him kinda odd. Plus it's extremely convenient that it happens right when Starscream is about to be made Decepti-King.

• To be fair, Metroplex also pounded a good crater. Megatron was mangled, but wasn't reduced to just a hand. Most of the rest of him was just embedded into the rubble, and considering an Easter Egg shows Soundwave and Laserbeak could sneak into the area virtually undetected even when swarming with enemies, it's not hard to imagine them doing so again to retrieve Megatron's body.

Brawl received processor damage between War and Fall

Brawl's character Took It A Level In Dumbass between games, as mentioned on the main page. It makes sense that perhaps during battle Brawl was injured, causing a drop in intelligence.