Bumblebee and Wheeljack find energon on a scouting mission. On their way to Iacon, The Seekers attack them.
The Autobots launch the Ark on a mission to find energon. The Decepticons follow them. The Decepticons on the Nemesis board the Ark.
During the fight, both ships crash on Earth, the Nemesis into the ocean and the Ark into Mount St. Hilary. Before the crash, however, several objects are ejected from the Nemesis, including an escape pod and what will become the Pearl of Bahoudin (from "More Than Meets The Eye Part 1").
ca. Middle Paleolithic
An alien race known as the Vok decide to perform strange experiments on Earth for their own purposes, leaving behind an array of strange artifacts and devices on the planet. This includes a Planet Buster disguised as a second moon.
The Predacons and Maximals travel back in time, crashing on Earth. Before the Axalon crashed, however, several stasis pods were launched from the ship. The two factions begin to fight over the energon on the planet, leading to the start of the Beast Wars
The Vok become aware of the conflict on Earth after the destruction of a floating island they created. They declare their experiment to be a failure and attempt to use the Planet Buster to wipe out all life on Earth. Optimus Primal sacrifices himself to stop the weapon, creating a quantum surge that ignites most of the planet's energon in the process.
Optimus Primal is later revived by his second-in-command Rhinox.
Megatron attempts to wipe out a tribe of primitive humans so humanity will never help the Autobots defeat the Decepticons in the future. Dinobot gives his life to protect the protohumans from the Predacons, which inspires them to form tools of their own.
Ravage is sent by the Tripredacus Council back in time to take out Megatron. Megatron convinces him to change sides, claiming to know the location of the Ark from a secret message encoded on the Golden Disk by his namesake. Megatron creates a timestorm that nearly erases the Maximals from history when he shoots the unconscious Optimus Prime, but the Maximals are able to repair the Autobot leader and save his spark from being extinguished.
Depth Charge winds up on Earth after an temporal anomaly sends him back in time during his search for Rampage (aka, Protoform X).
Megatron finds the Nemesis sunken beneath the sea and reactivates the warship in an attempt to destroy the Ark once and for all. The Maximals are able to defeat Megatron and send the Nemesis crash landing into South America.
With Megatron captured, Optimus Primal declares the Beast Wars over and the surviving Maximals return back to their own time using one of Ark's shuttles. Waspinator is left behind on Earth, where he is briefly worshipped by the protohumans before he is chased off the planet.
1984
The Ark is unearthed, awakening the Autobots and Decepticons. Taking on the forms of the various vehicles on the planet, the Great War is reignited.
2005
Optimus Prime is killed during an attack on Autobot City. Megatron is heavily injured during the fight and launched into the depths of space. He is found by Unicron and reformatted into Galvatron, who takes over command of the Decepticons again after killing Starscream.
The young Autobot Hot Rod ends up in possession of the Matrix of Leadership following Prime's death and takes up the mantle of Rodimus Prime. Rodimus destroys Unicron using the Matrix and helps usher in a new age for Cybertron.
Late 21st Century
The Great War comes to end, as the Autobots assume command over Cybertron. Ravage is one of the few Decepticons who is granted amnesty for his crimes following the end of the war. Both sides assume smaller, more energy-efficient forms, creating a new subset of Cybertronians referred to as Maximals and Predacons.
24th Century
The Maximals perform experiments to duplicate Starscream's immortal spark. Their creation, "Protoform X", is uncontrollable as he proceeds to massacre the civilians living on Colony Omicron. Depth Charge is the sole survivor, and vows to kill Protoform X once and for all.
Protoform X is contained and taken into custody by the Maximal Elders. Declaring Protoform X to dangerous to be kept on Cybertron, the Elders assign Optimus Primal with the mission of dumping his stasis pod on a barren world during the next voyage of the Axalon.
A devious Predacon named Megatron leads a heist to capture the legendary Golden Disk in the hopes of changing history so the Decepticons (and by extension, the Predacons) win the Great War instead. The Maximals manning the Axalon on sent to stop the Predacons, but end up travelling through time and crash-landing on prehistoric Earth.
The Tripredacus Council detect the destruction of the Planet Buster and proceed to cover it up before the Maximals can detect it. Declaring Megatron's actions in the past are far too dangerous, they send Ravage to travel back in time to assassinate both sides of the conflict.
Depth Charge is on the pursuit of Protoform X, before a temporal anomaly transports him to prehistoric Earth.
The Maximals encounter a temporal storm on the way back to their present that causes enough commotion for Megatron to escape his confinement on their ship. Megatron returns to Cybertron well in advance of the Maximals and unleashes a crippling transformation virus that puts the entire population into stasis lock. He harvests the sparks of all Cybertronians and creates an army of Vehicon drones to serve him, as he eventually plans to consume them all and become a god.
The Maximals return to Cybertron at last, only to quickly be shot down by the Vehicons. The Maximals who underwent upgrades into Transmetals are returned to their original Earth modes, but Rhinox and Silverbolt, who never did, are put into stasis lock (as well as Waspinator when he returns on his own).
Optimus Primal, Cheetor, Rattrap, and Blackarachnia are visited by the Oracle and reformatted into techno-organic forms and become guerilla fighters to resist and overthrow Megatron, who responds by using Rhinox, Silverbolt, and Waspinator's sparks to create the Vehicon generals Tankor, Jetstorm, and Thrust.
Primal becomes a fanatic seeking to turn Cybertron organic, but after a near-death experience realizes he must find a balance between the organic and the technological.
Tankor, and Rhinox with him, is killed during the conflict; while Silverbolt is freed from Jetstorm's body and rejoins the Maximals. Megatron recruits Generals Obsidian and Strika to his cause.
A final battle takes place between the Maximals and Vehicons. Megatron's generals fall, but the Maximals also fall and have their sparks ripped out. Optimus and Megatron battle until Optimus plunges them into Cybertron's organic core, killing them and causing a planet-wide reformatting.
The captured sparks are freed and placed into newly born techno-organic bodies. Though Optimus is gone, Cheetor declares the beginning of a new age of Cybertron, which is finally at peace.
