In 2011, Earth went dark – at least, such was the tagline of Transformers 3! Transformers: Dark of the Moon was the third release in the Transformers live-action movie franchise, and rounded out a loose trilogy formed by the first three live action movies. As always director Michael Bay and Paramount delivered a special effects tour de force, this time in 3D! The Aligned continuity continued to grow and gather pace, with the first full season of Transformers Prime and a follow up to the novel Exodus, called Exiles. Hasbro also kicked off their push to expand the appeal of Transformers by introducing a new Playskool Heroes Transformers series, Transformers Rescue Bots, and they also introduced the new building-block system Kre-O, which was all about Transformers. Amid all this, Takara-Tomy rolled out a new Masterpiece Convoy, the MP-10 Convoy Version 2, which was a new and smaller interpretation of Optimus Prime in the Masterpiece series, setting the trend for a whole line of new Masterpieces…
Transformers Dark of the Moon theatrical trailer. Uploaded to Youtube by Michael Bay’s official Youtube account[/size]
2011 was a huge year for Transformers content with the first season of Transformers Prime and major events taking place in the IDW comics, but the event that stands out most in the public consciousness is Transformers: Dark of the Moon. Dark of the Moon was Michael Bay’s third live action Transformers movie, which was filmed in 3D.
The plot of Transformers: Dark of the Moon concerned a lost Autobot spaceship, the Ark, and its pilot, Sentinel Prime (voiced by Leonard Nimoy), the mentor of Optimus Prime. Creating more trouble for the Autobots and their NEST allies was the arrival of the menacing Decepticon bogeyman Shockwave on Earth, who the Autobots initially confront in Chernobyl where they find the first clues that humanity had access to advanced Transformer technology. This leads to the rediscovery of The Ark and Sentinel Prime.
The movie moves through at a brisk pace, revealing that Sentinel Prime had in fact sided with Megatron and the Decepticons in a plan to enslave humanity to force them to rebuild Cybertron. After Sentinel seemingly has all the Autobots exiled from Earth and destroyed, he launches an all-out assault on Chicago, reducing the city to ruins. The Autobots however survived and battle is joined to liberate Chicago. During the course of the battle the main Decepticons are all killed, including Starscream, Soundwave and Shockwave. Sentinel Prime was defeated in the end by Megatron, although it was Optimus who delivered the killing blow, followed swiftly by Optimus also killing Megatron, before throwing his weapon away in apparent disgust.
Transformers: Dark of the Moon in many ways resolved the plot threads of the loose trilogy of the three live-action movies, not least by killing off nearly all of the named Decepticons and several major Autobots including Ironhide. More broadly it also concluded Sam Witwicky’s journey from a boy in the 2007 movie to a man as of Dark of the Moon. Megan Fox was replaced with Rosie Huntington-Whitely, playing the role of Sam’s new love interest Carly, although if Megan Fox had stayed on, the last scene involving Bumblebee presenting the couple with a gear (which was formerly a piece of Soundwave) would have closed the pair’s relationship with the implication that they would soon be married.
However there are hints that the ending of Dark of the Moon, where Optimus Prime killed Megatron after finishing off Sentinel Prime, was not the original planned ending of the film. Both the novelization of the movie and the IDW comics adaptation featured an alternate ending, where after making his entrance in the final battle and blasting Sentinel Prime, Megatron helped Optimus Prime to his feet and the two fought side by side against Sentinel Prime; and following Sentinel’s death, Megatron took the Decepticons back to Cybertron to rebuild the world and atone for the destruction they had caused, having become sick of the endless war. This ending was perhaps the original intended ending for the trilogy of movies, as it would have brought full circle the idea that Optimus Prime and Megatron were once close friends who regarded each other as brothers – alluded to in the finale of the 2007 movie – and would have been a far more satisfying payoff for Megatron’s increasingly apathetic attitude throughout the movie. Alas, this was not to be, with rumors suggesting that the ending may have been changed due to the original ending leaking when the entire IDW movie adaptation comic was posted on Amazon.
The Dark of the Moon toyline was quite unlike the previous two Movie toylines, not least in that it ended much sooner and phased out the Fast Action Battlers subseries, in favor of making the mainline simpler overall (which was not entirely unjustified, given how hideously complicated the mainline Revenge of the Fallen line was at times). The line split into three broad categories – MechTech, the main line assortment which included an expanded Human Alliance series; Robo Power, which was the home of the simpler and more gimmicky toys; and Cyberverse, an expansion of the previous movie toyline’s Legends class.
Some of the releases from the Transformers: Dark of the Moon toyline, including the Leader class Sentinel Prime, the Voyager class Megatron and Shockwave and the unreleased (in the US) trio of Soundwave, Leadfoot and Wheeljack / Que[/size]
The MechTech movie mainline toys were, as noted, by and large much simpler in design and execution than previous Movie Transformers toys, though they were still excellent reflections of the characters from the movie. The line’s gimmick was MechTech weapons, large spring-loaded guns which could transform into different weapons at the pull of a trigger (and fold back up again when the trigger was released, although the Voyagers had a way to lock the weapons in their deployed state). The MechTech mainline consisted mainly of Deluxe and Voyager class releases, with three Leader class toys released over the line’s run – Sentinel Prime, Bumblebee, and Ironhide – no Leader class version of the new Megatron, to the frustration of the fans! Fans also complained about the way that the MechTech weapons could not stay deployed without opening them up and removing springs or otherwise using clear rubber bands. There were also grumblings about how these large transforming weapons meant that the toys were reduced in size from previous Deluxe class offerings although complaints that the new Deluxes were the size of Scout class toys were an exaggeration.
Two toys planned for the line never made it to the US because the last assortment that included them was under-ordered by retailers. These toys were Soundwave and Autobot Que, aka Wheeljack. More frustrating for fans was that several non-movie characters were included in earlier assortments, which was perceived as delaying these last two on-screen characters into extinction. Likewise Leadfoot, who was to be released as a Target exclusive, also went unreleased in the US – all three were released in Japan, and a handful of Wheeljacks were released later on in Asia. A further “Movie All Stars” assortment was also planned, originally for a US release and then later as an Asia exclusive assortment, but it too was cancelled, save for a release of a set of Optimus Prime with a trailer. (A toy of the character Dino, who also showed up in the Movie, was hit with complications involving the licensing of his vehicle mode and thus no toy of Dino was released).
The largest toy in the line was the Ultimate Optimus Prime, a huge version of Optimus Prime which included the trailer from the movie. The trailer transformed into full-on super mode armor for Optimus, which was not shown in the film. It was the first instance of the “trailer forms parts for super mode” in the line since Transformers Cybertron ended.
As with previous Movie toylines, Takara-Tomy released the Dark of the Moon toys in Japan (under the name “Darkside Moon”) in packaging that was largely the same as the US releases, just with Japanese language stickers. This time out though there were some changes. All the Japanese releases came with collector cards which included clear overlays with the character’s MechTech weapons on them. The idea was you could swap the overlays with other toys’ cards to represent different weapon loadouts. Deluxe Bumblebee in Japan came with a special card holder to facilitate this gimmick. Darkside Moon also saw a small selection of Japanese market exclusive toys get released, including Revenge of the Fallen Arcee in a deco based on her Transformers Prime colors and the Deluxe Starscream decoed as Thundercracker. There was also a remolded version of the new Voyager class Optimus Prime who included a trailer which could store a veritable arsenal of MechTech weapons when opened.
Takara-Tomy also compensated for the lack of a Leader class Optimus Prime in the Dark of the Moon toyline with not one but two different Leader class Optimus Primes for their line. Both were retooled versions of the Revenge of the Fallen Leader class Buster Optimus Prime, altered to resemble the new CGI model of the character. The first was Jetwing Optimus Prime, who came with a gigantic flying wing accessory almost as big as the toy itself, to represent the flight pack that Optimus Prime used in the climax of Dark of the Moon. The toy also included some absurdly huge gatling guns. The toy was available in Japan in July 2011, with an Asian market exclusive black version released in December. A recolored version with Generation 1 inspired stripes on the wings was released as an Amazon exclusive in the US in 2012.
The second of the Japan exclusive Leader Primes was Striker Optimus. Striker Optimus was again a Revenge of the Fallen Leader class Optimus Prime remold. This version featured new MechTech blasters and a shield, which could attach to the vehicle mode to give Optimus Prime’s truck mode a “Stealth Force” battlemode. Like the Jetwing release, an Asia exclusive version of this iteration of Optimus Prime would also be released, but not until 2012. This release was one of the first to feature store exclusive accessories, with a pair of swords being available when the toy was purchased through Toys R Us Japan.
The Dark of the Moon Human Alliance Basic class releases featured a human pilot and a small Transformer for them to interact with. Each Transformer could transform into a vehicle mode for the human to ride or a weapon for any Transformer with a 5mm hole to wield[/size]
The Human Alliance series made a return appearance for Dark of the Moon, having undergone a retool of sorts. The assortment kicked off with a black Stealth Bumblebee version of the previous Human Alliance Bumblebee and included larger versions of the cars from the movie, including a Target exclusive Leadfoot, and a Soundwave who again did not make it to US retail for the same reason as his Deluxe counterpart. The series also introduced new “Human Alliance Basics”, smaller toys a little larger than Scout class who were not based on existing characters or licensed vehicles. Instead they were vehicles like military buggies and gyrocopters which could be piloted by the included human figure, or transformed into a robot or a weapon. The weapons featured 5mm pegs and were intended for use by the larger MechTech figures. Fans quickly latched on to alternate transformations, or fan modes, for these toys, having them turn into mechsuits for the human riders (with the exception of Thunderhead, who had an actual mechsuit mode).
The Transformers: Dark of the Moon Cyberverse line. The large Autobot Ark playset came with an exclusive Cyberverse Legion Roller, who is seated above Sentinel Prime. An assortment of the other Legion and Commander class offerings from the series are shown here[/size]
The Cyberverse series was an expansion of the previous Legends class. The Legends scale stuck around, but was now known as Legion class, with a larger class introduced called Commander class. Commander class was slightly smaller than the previous Scout class, which it effectively replaced. Vehicle playsets were also released for the Dark of the Moon line, with a $14.99 “Cyberverse Action Set” pricepoint and a larger set based on the Ark from the movie. The line notably included some characters not released in the mainline, including the other two members of the Decepticon unit known as the Dreads. The Commander class played host to larger versions of characters from across the movie series, including a more screen accurate version of Blackout from the first movie. The Cyberverse Action Set series included a version of Optimus Prime with his trailer, which could transform into both a battle station and a full-on powerloader style mechsuit, with a similar set made for Megatron.
The Robo Power series was comparatively the smallest of the three series of the Dark of the Moon line. It included the Robo Fighters series, who were simplified and less poseable versions of the previous two movie’s Robot Replicas. The Go-Bots name was revived for another of the series, a series of three pull-back and go autrotransforming robots in a style similar to the Generation 1 Jumpstarters. The Activators series also made a return, this time becoming a hybrid of the Revenge of the Fallen Gravity Bots and the spring-loaded auto transforming Activators.
The Speed Stars line also continued but soon petered out. The Stealth Force series notably introduced a series where smaller cars were packed in with PVC versions of characters in their robot modes. The smaller cars had flip-out panels with weapons instead of button deployed ones like the larger Stealth Force releases. The packed in PVCs were more or less spiritual successors to the Robot Heroes line, although had slightly more realistic proportions. The Stealth Force series, like the Speed Stars, faded away during the run of Dark of the Moon.
The Dark of the Moon line was an exceptionally short line, compared to the past movie toy lines, and lasted just over six months at retail. The toyline had a lukewarm reception due to the trend toward smaller toys and the fact so many later releases were not released at US retail, and the decision to make Leader class versions of Bumblebee and Ironhide ahead of a Megatron. However, in the wider scheme of things, Dark of the Moon was a huge success grossing over a billion dollars worldwide.
A set of Transformers: Dark of the Moon tie-in videogames were also released by Activision, with the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions developed by High Moon Studios. The PS3 / 360 game took a different approach to the previous movie tie-in games, by being made as a prequel rather than an adaptation of the film’s events. The game consisted of one singular narrative rather than Autobot and Decepticon campaigns, switching between characters and factions as the story progressed. As well as robot and vehicle mode, Stealth Force made an appearance in the gameplay to allow the vehicle modes to weaponize and become more effective in combat. A multiplayer mode consisting of deathmatch, team deathmatch and capture the flag “conquest” modes was also available, with limited character customization. Overall, this version of the game was well received, and the prequel approach was welcomed by the gamers among the fanbase who did not want to be spoiled on the story before going to the theater.
There were also a selection of other tie-in videogames available, including a mobile game which was a top-down shooter, a pair of DS games – which were once again available in Autobot and Decepticon editions – and a “Stealth Force Edition” game for Nintendo Wii and 3DS. Transformers: Dark of the Moon Stealth Force Edition was a shoot ’em up game that saw you taking control of a Transformer to blast through waves of enemies using that character’s Stealth Force mode – the game did not allow you to transform to robot mode at any point, sort of defeating the object of making a Transformers game, although the game did include Lockdown (based on his Revenge of the Fallen toy from 2010) among the roster of playable Decepticons. The game was otherwise unspectacular. Likewise the DS titles were fairly basic 3D run and gun games, marred by poor quality character models and fairly basic gameplay. These titles were not developed by High Moon Studios.
Transformers Prime Season 1 and 2 opening credits. Uploaded to Youtube by AeonMagnus[/size]
Aside from Dark of the Moon, Hasbro pressed ahead with their other ventures including the all-new fully CGI Transformers Prime TV series. Transformers Prime’s first season continued on The Hub intermittently throughout the year, showing a handful of new episodes then taking a break, to the annoyance of fans, which led to the 21 remaining first season episodes taking nearly ten months to complete airing (on the other hand, it ensured a steady drip of new Transformers cartoon fun all year long).
The season picked up where Darkness Rising left off, with Megatron critically damaged and Starscream taking the lead on the Decepticon cause. New Decepticons were introduced in the form of the vain medic Knock Out and his brutish assistant Breakdown, who had some implied history with the Autobot Bulkhead. Another Decepticon introduced in the first season was the insidious Airachnid, who had a rivalry with Arcee. Human foes were also introduced in the shape of MECH and their leader, Leeland “Silas” Bishop, who served as a rival for Agent Fowler.
Mid-series, Megatron was revived after Bumblebee was forced to use a Cortical Psychic Patch to enter the comatose Decepticon’s mind, leading to Megatron seizing control of Bumblebee’s body and deepening Bumblebee’s hatred for the Decepticon leader who was the one who rendered him mute. With Megatron back in control of the Decepticons, Starscream was increasingly driven to the sidelines, leading to his second in command role being taken by Airachnid and Starscream going rogue.
The season concluded with the four-part arc made up of One Shall Fall and the three part One Shall Rise, which revealed the Earth was, in fact, a shell formed around the ultimate enemy of all Cybertronians, Unicron. This time out, Unicron was presented as a demonic intelligence, who manifested as legions of stone copies (including vast, mountain sized ones). The mutual threat forced Optimus Prime and Megatron to form a shaky alliance to work together and seal Unicron’s essence, which was located at Earth’s core. Optimus Prime used the Matrix to accomplish this goal, but in the process, lost his memory – and believing himself to be Orion Pax once again, left with the one who he recognized as a friend, Megatron…
The first season of Transformers Prime was excellently animated and well-plotted, with individual episodes developing the personalities of the cast extremely well, although sometimes the plots seemed to rely too much on “ancient Transformer artifact rediscovered on Earth”. A criticism was leveled at Bumblebee being hard to relate to, because of his lack of a voice, and at Optimus Prime for being written as too staunch and stiff a character. Some also found fault with how the main thread about Dark Energon seemed to take a back seat for most of the intervening 15 episodes between Darkness Rising and the season finale, although the character development – and the plot revolving around Megatron being comatose and under repair for many of the early episodes – arguably makes up for this. The series was nominated for many Daytime Emmys over its run, frequently winning awards for its color and background design.
Transformers: Exiles cover[/size]
The development of the Aligned continuity’s history continued with the release of the second novel, Transformers: Exiles. Exiles was a sequel to Exodus, and followed the adventures of the Autobots as they explored the stars, finding lost colony worlds including Velocitron (from Transformers Cybertron) and Junk (from Transformers The Movie). The legacy of the original 13 Transformers was built upon, with Vector Prime making another appearance, and Nexus Prime – originally created by the Transformers Collectors Club – making his debut in the Aligned Continuity. Solus Prime, who chronologically was the first female Transformer, was also referenced, and her hammer, the Forge, would play a larger role in Transformers Prime Season 2. The novel also introduced a new faction, called “Star Seekers”, who were intended as rivals for both Autobots and Decepticons. They were led by Thundertron, although they had minimal involvement in the plot of the novel and were included to set them up for their role in a massive multiplayer online game which never saw the light of day. Their inclusion was also intended to drive an idea that the Transformers as a race had more than two factions, a fact we also see coming out with the neutral Transformers faction in the 2012 IDW comics.
The Transformers Prime First Edition toyline was the last line that Transformers design team member Eric Siebenaler worked on. Eric had previously played a major role in the Transformers Animated line as well as the Classics, Cybertron and Energon lines
Late in the year, the very first Transformers Prime toys got a limited release – many of them never even made it to US retail at first. The First Edition series were some of the last toys designed by Hasbro’s Eric Siebernaler, who had been working on the brand since Transformers Armada, and had led on the design of several series of toys including the Transformers Animated line. The First Edition Transformers Prime toys were originally intended for inclusion in the Generations line rather than as a line of their own, as evidenced by listings in Wal-Marts computers. The line of toys that was released focused almost entirely around those characters featured in the Darkness Rising pilot episodes, with the core Autobots – sans Ratchet – Starscream, Cliffjumper in normal and Terrorcon versions, and a Vehicon among the releases. All were Deluxes, except Optimus Prime and Bulkhead, who were two of the best Voyagers ever made. A Megatron was also released at Deluxe scale, though unless you imported a Japanese one, he was only available in a two-pack with a different, Deluxe class Optimus Prime and PVCs of the three humans Jack, Miko and Raf. The Deluxe class Optimus Prime was also made available as a San Diego Comic Con exclusive, with extremely nice packaging, and a set of First Edition Bumblebee and Arcee was the first-ever New York Comic Con Transformers exclusive. This set featured a pink Generation 1 Arcee, Bumblebee done in a New York taxi styled deco and the Jack and Raf PVCs.
The Prime First Edition series proved to be somewhat hard to find – with retailers once again underordering, this time in anticipation of the Prime mainline the following year, not wishing to have two different series of Prime toys on their shelves. This meant outside of the initial Deluxe class wave of Starscream, Bumblebee and Arcee, the toys were hard to find in the US, with Canada and Asia faring better and getting more releases. Hasbro fixed this in 2012, though, when they struck a deal with Toys R Us to offer a second run of the First Edition toys as Toys R Us exclusives.
A selection of Reveal the Shield branded Transformers releases, including the Voyager class Lugnut and the 2010 release Jazz and Tracks. The Transformers United versions of Rumble and Frenzy are also included here – Rumble (the blue one) was originally intended for the Reveal the Shield line, but was cancelled[/size]
Earlier in the year Hasbro released more Classics style Transformers under the Generations and Reveal the Shield series, including a Deluxe Wreck-Gar who was designed so he could ride on his own motorbike mode (which was made easier when his redeco, Junkheap, was released later in the year). A Generation 2 Laser Optimus Prime homage was released, with fans calling for a Robots in Disguise Scourge redeco (which arrived in 2013). The Reveal the Shield line expanded into the Voyager, Legends and Scout classes, although these did not make it to the US until much later due to retailers wanting to focus on Dark of the Moon toys. The Legends class brought forward Legends versions of more classic Generation 1 characters, including a version of Generation 1 Megatron who turned into a gun. The Voyager class added a Classics style Grapple and a Classics style version of Lugnut from Transformers Animated, while the Scout class introduced Windcharger, and plans were made to also release a Rumble, who was a tank and would feature piledrivers formed from the treads, in a later wave. The under-ordering of the series though meant the Voyagers and the Scouts, including Windcharger, saw a limited release, and Rumble was outright cancelled.
… except in Japan, where Rumble was released in a two pack with Frenzy as a part of the Transformers United line. Transformers United was Takara-Tomy’s latest iteration of a Classics line, and like the Animated toys in 2010 featured metallic paint on many of the releases (leading to a very shiny, gold Classics Bumblebee). Many of the 2010 and 2011 Generations and Reveal the Shield Classics toys were released in this line, often with tweaked decos. Some earlier Classics releases were also brought back for the line, including the aforementioned Bumblebee redeco and also the Deluxe class “Ultimate Battle” Classics Optimus Prime.
Masterpiece Convoy Version 2 and Masterpiece Rodimus Convoy were 2011’s new additions to the Transformers Masterpiece series. Hasbro versions shown in this photo. Photo by Tony_Bacala[/size]
A pair of new Masterpieces also made their debut in Japan in 2011. The first of them was Masterpiece Rodimus Convoy, an ambitious release even by Masterpiece series standards which was to be both a Masterpiece Rodimus Prime and a Masterpiece Hot Rod, in effect transforming from one character into the other. It accomplished this task with some insanely clever engineering, although the toy was notorious for being extremely fragile. A US release followed in July, which omitted the trailer from the Japanese version, but included an additional Targetmaster partner, Offshoot, and a new deco.
In March, the original MP-1 Convoy was re-released for the last time as a special “Last Shot” edition, marking the end of the reuses of the mold. A new, smaller MP-10 Convoy Version 2 was released in September, with an updated design that was even closer to the style of the original animation model. It included a trailer – with Roller – and a tiny figure of Spike who could ride inside Convoy’s chest or inside Roller. Convoy was greatly celebrated for being a solid release, though some questioned “why another Convoy?”
As it turned out, Convoy Version 2 was the beginning of a new chapter for the Masterpiece series – the beginning of a drive toward releasing Masterpiece versions of all the original Generation 1 characters, although few at the time could scarcely imagine that was the direction Takara-Tomy was moving in.
2011 was a year of expansion for the Transformers brand too, with Hasbro making moves to capture the imaginations of pre-schoolers with a new series called Transformers Rescue Bots. The line focused around a team of six Autobots – Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, and four new characters named Heatwave, Chase, Boulder and Blades – who worked with human rescue workers to save people from fires and natural disasters. The line was very much a spiritual successor to the (Hasbro owned) Tonka Go-Bots line of the 1990s, using many of the same themes. The line spawned a cartoon show which premiered late in the year.
Hasbro also made a move to capture some of the lucrative building-block market with their Transformers Kre-O line. The line was very similar to the Built to Rule line introduced in Transformers Armada, but was much better executed. The initial year of sets focused on classic, Generation 1 characters with a few Movie cues thrown in, with each set being capable of being built as either a robot or as a vehicle. The sets included Lego mini-figure styled Kreons, which some collectors sought out for their collections in their own right.
Fun Publications, for the 2011 Botcon convention, once again returned to Pasadena and once again arranged a screening of some exclusive footage from the latest live action Transformers movie. The 2011 Botcon exclusive toys took a Transformers Animated theme, with the boxed set being a set of five Transformers Animated Stunticons. Add on sets included the Autotroopers, characters with cameos in the Animated cartoon based on Kiss Players Autorooper. They were sold in a set of three, as the 2011 “troop builder” exclusive. The set overall is held in high regard by Transformers Animated fans.
In comics, Titan UK rebranded their Transformers comic once again, to Transformers Dark of the Moon. This rebranding lasted three issues, and did not produce any particularly memorable stories (in three issues, there wasn’t exactly much time to). The comic then rebranded again, this time to Transformers Prime, which it has remained with ever since. The stories contained within the Transformers Prime comic from Titan UK tend to be inoffensive, but often out of continuity storylines with minimal ongoing plot threads – a far cry from the overarching plots of the previous comic stories.
Transformers Dark of the Moon: Rising Storm issue #4 cover, showing Optimus Prime facing off against Bludgeon
As was by now almost a tradition when a new Movie arrived, IDW published a pair of movie prequel miniseries along with an adaptation of Transformers Dark of the Moon. John Barber, who wrote the Sector 7 miniseries, wrote both the prequels, Rising Storm and Foundation, along with the Dark of the Moon adaptation comic which included a text story, Transformers: Convergence, which was another exercise in refitting and retconning sometimes contradictory plot points between the various movie prequel novels and movie universe comics – as well as resolving some major plot points, such as how The Fallen escaped the sarcophagus he was seen in during the Defiance Revenge of the Fallen prequel series.
Foundation was the “Cybertron” based miniseries of the two Dark of the Moon prequels, exploring the rise of Optimus Prime and Megatron, and their relationship with Sentinel Prime in the early days. The miniseries chronicled the growing jealousy between Megatron and Optimus Prime and more of Optimus’ own friendship with Ironhide. The miniseries also goes into trying to explain the berserker side of Optimus Prime’s personality that tended to come out when he went “full action hero” during the battle sequences of the movies.
The second prequel miniseries, Rising Storm, as set on Earth between the end of the Nefarious miniseries and lead straight into the events of Transformers: Dark of the Moon. The miniseries introduced Shockwave, Wheeljack and Mirage (the latter known as Que and Dino in the film) as well as clearing out large numbers of the cast from the various miniseries, including Arcee and her sisters. Rising Storm also gave some background to Shockwave and his ambitions, including how he arrived on Earth. The prequel also explains where Brains came from, as his addition to the cast is largely unexplained in Dark of the Moon.
The Transformers Ongoing series written by Mike Costa reached its conclusion in 2011. The year’s story arc kicked off with the five part Revenge of the Decepticons, which saw the return of Megatron. Megatron’s return was heralded by the proliferation of guns based on his original (Generation 1) alternate form, which Soundwave was using to influence their holders, one of whom had shot Bumblebee in one of the last issues of 2010. The story arc saw human / Transformer relationships strained as pro-human / anti-Transformer groups gained traction, and was not helped when Jazz was forced to kill a human in self-defense. This was all a part of Megatron’s plan – he aimed not to merely defeat the Autobots but to utterly destroy them, and after several issues of causing massive problems for the Autobots and Optimus Prime, he surrendered, claiming he was “where he needed to be”.
The action then broke off to focus on Hot Rod, lost and adrift in space, as he found his way to Wheelie and formed a new crew, consisting of himself, Wheelie, Hardhead and the alien Garnak. The four journeyed to Cybertron and discovered that the planet was under the control of Galvatron and his army of Sweeps.
The stage was set for the final two arcs of the ongoing, which were published on a bimonthly basis. Galvatron’s return and the buildup to his role in the finale of the ongoing were explored in the Heart of Darkness miniseries. Heart of Darkness focused on Galvatron and the rest of the Dead Universe cast, as Galvatron tried to use the power of the titular Heart of Darkness to build an army to face off against a monstrous Dead Universe entity known as the D-Void. This miniseries was received poorly, both because the art was substantially below par in several panels, and also because the story seemed particularly nonsensical. IDW’s crossover event, Infestation, fits into continuity roughly around this time and has the Autobots fighting zombies. It’s main role in continuity was to have Kup sent into the Dead Universe, removing him from the main action of the series.
The final arc of the IDW Ongoing was Chaos, which kicked off with a two part storyline called Chaos Theory, written by James Roberts exploring the early history of IDW’s Optimus Prime and Megatron in their early days, back when Optimus Prime was still law enforcement officer Orion Pax, with scenes cutting back to the present day woven between the flashbacks. The two issues delve into both character’s backstories and are as important for the series to come as they are for the remainder of the ongoing.
The Chaos event in the ongoing series split the plot into two pieces. The Earth-based plot thread involving Spike and Skywatch continued and concluded with Police Action, where Spike murdering Scrapper was fully exposed, as well as Spike’s own shady dealings to procure weapons for Skywatch through Swindle. These latest events led to the end of the Autobots’ time on Earth, shifting all the action of the IDW comics back to Cybertron. The Cybertronian plot thread, Chaos, dealt with the Autobots fighting against Galvatron’s army and the rest of the Decepticons for the domination of Cybertron, culminating in the emergence of a gigantic creature formed by the combination of every Decepticon, the Deceptigod, a manifestation of the D-Void. Galvatron, completely brainwashed by the D-Void, was tricked into hurling the Heart of Darkness into Vector Sigma, poisoning Cybertron and allowing the D-Void a foothold on entering the universe – to stop the D-Void emerging, Optimus Prime took the Matrix and thrust it into Vector Sigma, enveloping Cybertron in energy and reducing the planet back to a primordial state.
The final issue of the ongoing series was set many hundreds of years later. The last of the Autobots, Ironhide, spends his twilight years among a new generation of Transformers with Alpha Trion, and the two wonder if Megatron is still out there, somewhere.
So ended Mike Costa’s ongoing Transformers series, with editor Andy Schmidt leaving IDW for Hasbro. But the adventures of the Transformers continued in a new series by a new creative team of James Roberts and John Barber, who kicked off the new direction for the Transformers comics in a one-shot titled The Death of Optimus Prime. With Cybertron reborn, Optimus Prime found that the war was finally over, and he was a relic, a reminder of the violence of the war that the Cybertronians were trying to move on from. Optimus Prime renounced leadership of the Autobots and took up his old name, Orion Pax, once more. As he left, he handed half of the Matrix to Bumblebee and half to Rodimus, symbolically handing on the torch to the two lead characters of the new Transformers ongoing comics that would launch in 2012 – More than Meets the Eye, and Robots in Disguise.
Superquad7
Agreed! Maybe @Sol Fury can give another one soon!
Back in
Need a update but that ok
Phantformer5533
Thank you for all these links! I definitely needed this in order to make my own list. Glory to transformers!
Vik
Awesome, such a dense history!
Metro Prime
Thanks. I have been doing that since that post. TF Wiki has been answering a lot of questions.
batfan007
You can always read some pages over at TFWIKI to catch up on those years, covers pretty much everthing.
John Does
Awsome looking forward,…
Metro Prime
It took me days to read all of this!
Excellent and informative write up. I'm impressed and it filled in a few blanks for me. I've been collecting since G1 with a few years of breaks until I started a major effort into collecting through the Energon era, the beginning of the Classics line, and intermittently through the years til I saw Titans Return and have been heavily collecting since. This write up has shown me where some of my more eclectic figures have originated.
Is there an update from 2015 to current in the works? I'd love to see what else I've missed.
Excaliberprime
good info here
Abishai100
Gen 1 – Gen 2
I think a good way to think about the immense shift in style and content between TG1 (Transformers Generation 1) and TG2 is to think about how the toys, cartoons, and comics focused more on variability of character significance for various storylines. TG1 offered stories relevant to particular characters, but TG2 offered a more liberal attitude towards who could be a randomized figurehead in a given storyline!
That's why TG2 was the 'gateway' to the modern Transformers era which focuses much more on general concepts and character randomization than did TG1.
That's also why TG1 is the ideal intro for anyone looking to become a Transformers fan. Hey, isn't that why we all love Transformers: The Movie (1986), the real art-piece that began showing us conceptual bridges between TG1 and TG2?
ChromedomeMaster
35 years of transformers, and i have only been apart of it for 10 years
3 Wheeler
I like the Long Haul Pic!!!
Djin
Great read
Blam320
That's really too bad. You're missing out on a lot, and I mean a lot of really good Transformers stuff by only caring about G1.
Rodimus Prime BetterPrime
For years I've wanted the G1 series in a blu-ray release. With this year marking its 35th anniversary, hopefully we'll finally get it. I don't care about anything but G1.