I'd like to think they were just on cybertron and emigrated once they had lost the fight on cybertron and Autobot city was constructed.

 

I see three possibilities:

1. They were part of a resistance group on Cybertron.

2. They were somewhere else in the galaxy and caught word of Optimus's presence on Earth.

3. They were created in that 20 years time.

Could be a combination of all three.

 

As far as I know, this is the only canon pre-movie cartoon continuity fiction

The Transformers (Madman) - Transformers Wiki

And unfortunately, it answers none of these questions.

 

Thanks for the link,Fit! I always thought that Megs finally gave up on conquering earth and finally consolidated his position on Cyberton. Metroplex was built on earth in the toon continuity.

 

And then Trypticon was somehow built out of a human city overnight without anybody noticing until he transformed.

That's witchcraft, that is *folds arms*

 

Well, there was a whole war going on on Cybertron, and the Ark only contained a small amount of both sides, which was meant to come back and continue to assist the war effort. I always assumed that the entire planet was populated with bots we never saw.

 

Due to Cybertron's energy crisis, I assumed that most of the planet's population was elsewhere in the universe, or in stasis. With the exception of Shockwave, his drones, and a few small resistance groups.

 

Prime mentions in Ultimate Doom that "we have friends there!" which implies that many still live on Cybertron although in a state that's weakened because of the energy crisis. I believe that the war was stagnant for 4 million years thanks to Shockwave's efforts but most were in hiding. The second season bots showed up out of no where but my best guess is they were the crews looking for Optimus and MEgatron. I'll bet Omega Supreme and Astrotrain where there shuttles respectively. AS for the third and fourth season bots, they were always on Cybertron and met up with the rest inbetween seasons 2 and 3.

 

I agree. What the DW comic seemed to be getting ready for was its own variation of the movie. I do think they could've done some things differently but all in all Figeroa's art rocked.