When unicron reformatts a cybertronian, they get enhancements and full body mods at the cost of EXTREME PAIN.

 

Thought up an idea for Rodimus Prime based on this idea for the Primes I had:

Rodimus Prime would be among the last Primes forged before the war started and the hotspots stopped producing new sparks. He may even be the last Prime. Like Optimus, who is a bit older than him, Rodimus chose to abandon the aristocratic lifestyle that he was born into. Unlike Optimus, however, Rodimus would do this primarily because he saw the formalities of upper-class life too restraining and stiff. Using much of his own personal wealth, Rodimus would buy his own space ship (called, perhaps, the Lost Light) and leave Cybertron, becoming a Star-Lord type bounty hunter. Eventually he would become a member of the Autobots, though he would maintain his reckless, daredevil persona. Maybe he would first come into contact with the Autobots when pursuing the bounty on some Galvatron character who seems to have some connection to the Decepticons and Megatron in particular. Regardless, he would mature over time after officially joining the Autobots and, by the end of the war, would come to be viewed by many as a potential successor to Optimus as Autobot leader. Rodimus Prime, however, spending most of his years alone and free, would be a little reluctant to assume command, belying his usual natural confidence.

 

Challenge of the Go-Bots
Hailing from the transitional period between the era of the prmitives and the age of primes. The go-bots landed somewhere in between, evolutionarily speaking. Adjacent to the transformers, their humanoid appearances were cruder, due to being formed from vehicle drones that became aware, rather than the primitives, who adopted vehicle modes to become modern transformers. They too had a war, between cybertron's first leader (his name is lost to history, but anthropologists designate him leader-1) and a renegade barbarian named Cy-Kill.
For his crimes, Cy-Kill was banished from cybertron to a planet of junk. It is rumored his decedents still watch cybertronian broadcasts, though the intent was lost to time.
As for the Guardians, they were eventually assimilated by the smaller primitives to become transformers, allowing them to assume vehicle modes. Rumor has it that starscream is a direct decendent of Leader-1, but he's just delusional, right?

 

Autobot Canopy. Was barely a Character in TLK.

My version: Canopy is considered a Minibot Titan. Normal Titans turn into massive cities / transport vehicles. Canopy turns into a house and a space transport vehicle that can hold about 2-3 cybertronians. Canopy is normal lazy and likes to stay in Low power mode hiding on earth as a vacant condemned house. When push comes to shove Canopy isn’t afraid to put up a fight, he just hopes he wins so that he can go back to sleep.

 

Cross-posting from the Definitive Decepticons thread.

A Short History of the Decepticons (Part 1)​

Although many pro-Functionist groups rose and fell during the Autobot Era, the most successful of these groups was the Decepticons. Through a combination of overt brutality and covert subversion, the Decepticons have come back from defeat time and time again.

Beginnings

The Decepticon movement formed in the aftermath of the Quintesson War. Trannis, a veteran of the war, accused the Autobot government of starting the war in the first place to advance the financial interests of Chancellor Proteus and the plutocrats who financed his campaigns. Proteus branded Trannis and his supporters Decepticons for their supposed slander, a name Trannis and his supporters eagerly adopted. The Decepticon movement attracted a multitude of Cybertronians who believed the Autobots were corrupt and had led the Commonwealth into a steep decline. Trannis promised to purge the government of corruption, revitalize Cybertronian culture, and strengthen the Cybertronian military. The Decepticons' advocacy of Functionism, which would have been political suicide just twenty megacycles ago, began to receive increasing popular support. In the 46th megacycle of the reign of Regulus Prime, Trannis was appointed Chancellor after the Decepticons won a plurality in the Commonwealth parliament.

Rise to Power

Over the next megacycle, the Decepticons would increase their hold on power by staging false flag terrorist attacks and blaming them on the Autobots. After the last attack ended with the assassination of Proteus, Trannis had Regulus Prime declare a state of emergency, suspending parliament and ruling by decree. However, since Regulus Prime was ancient even by Cybertronian standards and becoming increasingly infirm, he was but a puppet for Trannis. When Regulus Prime died in the 47th megacycle of his reign, Trannis, rather than the First Senator, became acting head of state. He had the office of Prime abolished and had both its powers and those of the Chancellor transferred to a new position—Liege Maximo.

The New Cybertron

Now with unlimited power, Liege Maximo Trannis wasted no time in shaping the Commonwealth into his idea of perfection. The capital was moved from Iacon to Trannis's own base of power at Kaon. The constitution was abolished and Functionism was made the law of the land. Cybertronians were sorted into castes based on their alternate modes. Changing modes required a special dispensation from Trannis himself. Enemies of the state were placed under the care of The Institute, a facility where Cybertronians were subject to mnemosurgery and reeducated to become "patriotic citizens who loved the Liege Maximo unconditionally". Non-Decepticons were barred from any kind of government service. All media companies were nationalized and made to broadcast Decepticon propaganda. The colonies were stripped of their autonomy and subject to direct military control. To compensate for the increased demands on the military, Trannis ordered the construction of a new generation of Decepticon warriors. This was how future Decepticon leaders Megatron and Straxus came into being.

The Autobot Uprising

In the fourth megacycle of Trannis's reign, the colonists of Paradron overthrew their military governor and proclaimed independence from Trannis's regime. Trannis ordered Liege Centuro Cannibaron to crush the rebels at any cost. Cannibaron made short work of the rebellion and bombarded Paradron from orbit, superheating the southern hemisphere and exterminating half of the Paradronian population as a result.

The Paradron Massacre caused outrage throughout the Cyberverse and many Cybertronians, Autobots and non-Autobots alike, began openly rebelling against the Decepticons. Lieges Centuro Obsidian and Strika were horrified by such wanton brutality and conspired to assassinate Trannis. However, the assassination attempt failed and the pair were quickly arrested and sentenced to death. Liege Centuro Sentinel, a friend of Obsidian and Strika, helped them escape and the three of them joined the Autobot rebels. Sentinel rallied the disparate rebel factions into a united alliance and led them in the resulting civil war. The Autobots seized control of Cybertron and Trannis was killed in the battle.

Though Trannis was dead, the Decepticons were far from defeated. Cannibaron became the new Liege Maximo and ruled from his stronghold on planet Gorgon. Cannibaron was just as charismatic as Trannis but twice as brutal. He personally led the Decepticons in a great counterattack that threatened to reverse the Autobots' gains. Cannibaron and Sentinel fought each other for the first and only time at the legendary Battle of Prominion where the Decepticon Liege Maximo was slain.

Rapieron, head of the Decepticon secret police, became the next Liege Maximo. Since he came online after the Quintesson War, Rapieron had no military experience to speak of. Rather than leave the war in the hands of his generals, Rapieron believed winning the war was a matter of ideological fidelity and willpower. Military command was given out based on political reliability rather than actual military competence. As a result, the Decepticons soon began to be driven from world after world. Rapieron met his end at the Battle of Klo where he became the third Decepticon leader to be slain by Sentinel.

Rise of the Triumvirate

Klo had been the last planet under Decepticon control. With no territory to rule, the Decepticons became a roving band of insurgents skulking around the outer rim of the Cyberverse. A triumvirate of Lieges Centuro consolidated power by surreptitiously assassinating their rivals and seizing control of their meager assets. The Decepticon Triumvirate saw that the war was lost and ordered that the Decepticons retreat from the Cyberverse and take refuge in the Greater Magellanic Cloud. The Decepticons began raiding poorly defended border worlds for Autobots to take as slaves. If the Decepticons were to rebuild their forces, they needed the labor to make it a reality. The Triumvirate had planned to reconquer the Cyberverse one day and ordered Liege Superio Shockwave to stay behind and do what he could to weaken the Autobots from within.

The Great Exodus

The exodus to the Greater Magellanic cloud was long and arduous, so much so that a group of dissidents renounced the Decepticons and colonized the planet Monacus instead. Eventually, the Decepticons reached the Greater Magellanic Cloud and started the construction of a series of fortress worlds known as the Exclave. The Exclave was completely militarized, the only civilians were the Autobot slaves who were brutally worked to death. When the Autobot numbers were depleted, the Triumvirate then authorized the creation of a Decepticon labor force called the Proletaricons. The Decepticon Exclave began to grow little by little until it was rocked by a crisis so great, it threatened to destroy the Decepticons once and for all—civil war!

The Decepticon Civil War

Six megacycles after the Exclave was created, the Triumvir Siezer was assassinated. Siezer's second-in-command, Calibreak, was accused of being the mastermind behind the assassination and was thus barred from becoming a Triumvir himself. The other members of the Triumvirate, Octus and Legonis, launched simultaneous invasions of Siezer's former territory. Calibreak's forces were no match for the combined might of the Triumvirs. Calibreak was killed in battle and most of his generals defected to either Octus or Legonis.

Soon, Legonis and Octus began to argue over which territory belonged to them and fighting soon broke out between the two. The resulting civil war threatened to completely undo all the progress that had been made. During the war, Megatron and Straxus proved themselves in battle after battle and rose through the ranks. Megatron became the youngest Liege Centuro in history, with Straxus serving as his second-in-command. The two warriors fought at the Battle of Lucifer which saw the death of Lepidus and the end of the war. However, the killing was far from over.

While Octus celebrated his victory and ascension to sole ruler of the Decepticons, he was poisoned by his second-in-command, Terminus. Unknown to all, it was Terminus who had ordered the assassination of Siezer which set the entire war into motion in the first place. The entirety of the war had been a long gambit for Terminus to seize power. And seize power he did. A number of Legonis's generals who had previously been spared by Octus were accused by Terminus of assassinating him. These generals and anyone else who posed a threat to Terminus were eliminated. Terminus then declared himself Liege Maximo and began preparing the Decepticons for the reconquest of the Cyberverse. Legions of Decepticons were constructed and fleets of warworlds were built. Space bridges were built and placed at strategic locations to provide an easy path to the Autobot Commonwealth.

The Insidious Shockwave

Meanwhile, Shockwave continued his work on Cybertron undetected. After the war, he had gathered former Decepticon soldiers and reorganized them into a terrorist organization called The Rise. In addition, he ingratiated himself with a young Maraudicon prelate named Black Shadow and helped him become Pontifex of the entire Maraudicon Syndicate. With both The Rise and the Maraudicons under his control, Shockwave became the secret ruler of the Commonwealth's criminal underworld.

Shockwave used the Maraudicons to bribe, and The Rise to threaten, politicians into adopting a platform of demilitarization and pacifism. The task was not too difficult, the Autobots had become both war-weary and warry of standing militaries in general after the war. Territorial defense would be left to colonial militias while an Elite Guard would be created to coordinate defense should war break out. Shockwave saw his opportunity to infiltrate both groups and subvert them from within. Shockwave's infiltration of the Elite Guard was so thorough that the Autobots did not have a military intelligence service, Shockwave had a military intelligence service.

As a result, the Autobots were completely blind to the threat the Decepticons posed and were completely unprepared when the Decepticons launched their invasion of the Autobot Commonwealth and began the Great War.

 

My idea for Unicron:

It was an ancient spirit that existed long before the first Cybertronians. Millions of years ago, the 13 Primes were able to seal It away in a ritual using the Matrix of Leadership, imprisoned in the core of a distant uninhabited planet. They forbid any Cybertronian from ever going near it, knowing that the weaker-minded would be susceptible to Unicron's influence if they landed on the planet. But they couldn't prevent other species from eventually finding it, and over the eons Unicron exerted Its influence over whatever spacefarers got close enough, forcing them to rebuild the planet with machinery and a metal shell. Once mobile, Unicron began to roam the cosmos devouring other worlds for more resources to augment Its body, turning Its prison into the ultimate weapon. Cybertron has all but forgotten Unicron by the present day, Its existence just a little-mentioned legend (aside from the occasional Unicron cultist, like Scourge, regarded as creepy madmen by everyone else). But Scourge's ravings will soon be validated when the Cybertronian Civil War is interrupted by the arrival of a terrifyingly transformed Unicron, hell-bent on revenge for Its eons of imprisonment.

 

The Rainmakers, an elite Seeker Squadron commanded by Ion Storm. It's members include Acid Storm, Nova Storm, Sunstorm, and Jetstorm. Acid Storm is a genius chemist who releases chemical trails in the air that can create acid rain, hence her name. Nova Storm is a quiet, deadly soldier, who has the ability to super heat her external armor plating, engulfing herself in fire and becoming hot to the touch. The fanatical Sunstorm, convinced his abilities mark him as a "divine vessel", has the power to generate and control solar plasma and direct radiation bursts. Of the team, Jetstorm perhaps has the biggest ego, with biting sarcasm to boot, he can control air currents. Finally, Ion Storm is capable of generating massive electrical surges and firing lighting from his tesla coils. Ion Storm expects his unit to act with precision and grace, with the highest success rating in the entire Decepticon Armada.

Unfortunately, he's stuck with three walking egos and exactly one efficient soldier.

 

Millions of years ago, a being that went by the name of "Primus" had come into our galaxy, spreading and creating life throughout the stars with the help of his Custodies of lead by his Primes. First were the Quintessons, then the Humans, the Cybertronians, the Nebulans and so on.

Overtime these species grew quickly from their home worlds into the galactic community. Interacting, trading, and spreading their cultures, ideas, customs, animals and much with each other following they united as one before going for the stars of course, as who knows what types of conflicts that could cause. There were issues and conflicts came about of course with the forming of alliances and rivals, but it wouldn't take long for Primus or his Primes to come to end the conflict, as Primus wished for all to live peacefully as one. The Quintessons however, grew more and more greedy over time. Seeing as they were the first to be created by this "Primus" they saw it as their right to be the leaders of caretakers of this galaxy, to mold it into their image. Accusing Primus of not doing enough, with the introduction of an experimental Spacebridge Network not being enough. Complaints from the Quintessons Primus chose to ignore.

One day, word would reach the Quintessons that Primus was supposedly thinking on giving a species the means to "leap forward" and guide the Galaxy as one. And those he had in mind were the Humans or the Cybertronians.
Outraged and disgraced that they weren't even being considered for the part, the Quintessons declared war on Primus and his legions before his intentions were truly made clear. Declaring him "a pretender to Godhood", they launched a surprise offensive that was relatively short, yet utterly devastating. This conflict had left Primus in a critical state and casualties were high on both sides. Primus was forced to retreat back into the space between galaxies with his Primes and their legions, unfortunately leaving one behind. The rest of the Primes had left the traditional way, but Primus used on of his spacebridge networks he was working on inorder to attempt to make the journey quicker and to be safe from further attack.

Eventually the Primes and Custodies made it to their destination, and primitive world with a species that wouldn't prove a problem for the Prime or them for the primitives, but Primus was nowhere to be found. The Primes would wait and prepare in order to assist their master upon his return. Weeks turned into months turned into years turned to decades turning to centuries. But eventually the space bridge would open, and out would come that who entered,

But it was not Primus.


From the space bridge came a gross and hideous monster, made up of a fusion of metal rust flesh and a twisted form of what Primus had once been.
Something had happened to Primus on his journey, in his weakened state, something or someone must have done this too him, but before the Primes could have their answer, all they heard in their minds was "HUNGER" and were set upon. Hordes of hideous creatures flew from Primus, attacking anything insight. What wasn't killed was taken and absorbed, mutated with those around them mechanical or flesh into beings in everlasting pain and torment, states of not being truly alive or dead.


Only one Prime and a handful of his forces were able to escape and flee, and with the populace of the planet and the Primes and been converted, Primus transformed into his new monstrous, multilayered planet form and had consumed the world. The first of many. Primus than took his forces and proceeded to return back to the Milky Way galaxy.
By the time of Primus's return via spacebridge, the Quintessons were the dominant race in the galaxy, "guiding" other races under their rule and their constructions, whether they wanted the Quintessons to or not. Seeing the state of the Galaxy in the centuries since his departure, Primus chose to bide his time and, with his still control over the Spacebridge Network, moved his forces slowly planet to planet, beginning cults of worship with naïve and unknowing followers in order to weaken the galaxy for his arrival. Coming off as a gentle, soft spoken and caring being to his new followers, making deals, promises and manipulating people into believing that what they were doing was the natural course of evolution, that they would solve all of the galaxies problems with the promise of continuing his old mission, for all to become one.

The surviving Prime eventually reached the Galaxy, avoiding the use of spacebridges inorder to avoid Primus's gaze. When she returned she attempted to warn of Primus's arrival, but the Quintessons, fearing her being the bringer of revenge, attacked her. The Prime would eventually leave for Human and Cybertronian space, but ran into the Prime that was left behind. The returning Prime, assuming he found an old friend, told him of the situation. But the Prime she found had always been a strong believer of Justice, and said that this was the ultimate for of Justice for a species that betrayed and slaughtered them and a galaxy that didn't care. Realizing that the Prime she once knew was blinded by hate and would not assist her, the Prime left, with the hate filled Prime seeking out and returning to Primus, swearing loyalty to him.

The Prime would eventually make it to Cybertronian space, whom have been working with human forces to secretly usurp their Quintesson rulers. With the knowledge of Primus's arrival, the joint forces hastily went to work to attempt to stop his forces before his attack could begin. This lead to open warfare with Primus's "spawn" that would lead to devastating outcomes for both sides, and leading some like the Prime to commit actions she would resent for the rest of her days. The Quintessons at first say this as subjects fighting amongst themselves, which they saw little reason to interfere with, but eventually saw this as a direct attack on them, and declared war, nearly wiping out the Human/Cybertronian forces.

Seeing the situation, Primus fully launched his offensive. World after world after world began to fall suddenly throughout the galaxy in every species area of space thanks to Primus's cults and his control of the Spacebridge Network, something many species still used despite the Prime's warnings . With the planets themselves after either being consumed, or were somehow... changed. The Quintessons realizing what was truly happening, the Quintessons ceased their offensive on the rebels inorder to asses the real threat. Primus by this point had become well known to the galaxy, and was now being called many different names. But the most common had become the Quintesson word for sayings like "The Great Destroyer" "The bringer of Rust", which when translated, became Unicron.

The fighting would continue for decades, but it would become clear that no matter how many fought or what new creations the Quintessons would throw at him, Unicron's victory was inevitable. Desperate, the Quintesson and the Prime's forces constructed massive devises all over the remainder of the galaxy. These "harvesters" would harvest Unicron's every energies and activate a pulse targeting all that is Unicron powered by the relic that the Prime still held from Primus, the Matrix. This would cut the galaxy off from the Spacebridge Network and thus Unicron from the fast travel he had been using, and hopefully destroy Unicron, but would also either kill or regress any and all species as well, essentially a galactic wide forced restart. Unicron caught wind of this and sent his Prime and his forces to destroy these installations, forcing the Prime and galactic forces to move in to defend. The two Prime's would meet in a final battle on one of these installations, and with their hand forced, the Quintessons pre-emptively activated the harvesters. The Quintesson species, robbed of the time to prepare for the activation, were completely wiped out, along with some other species. The vast majority of Unicron's forces were destroyed, and the remaining species where all regressed to different points in their evolutionary cycles, with some of the same species and many of their cultural works and animals being stuck on different planets. What remained of the old Galaxy would eventually be found and reinterpreted by the ancestors of those who remained, beginning the creation myths of the Quintessons, of Primus vs Unicron, the tale of the 13 Primes, the Arisen and Fallen who's tales constantly contradict on if either of them survived the final battle between good and evil (which clearly must be Primus and Unicron), why Energon can be found naturally forming on other planets, why some species look very much alike, why Cybertronians like the Predacons have very Earth-like real or "fictional" beast modes.

But Unicron himself was not destroyed, he had fled severely wounded, and now un able to return into the Milky Way thanks to a shielding the Harvesters put up. But Unicron would bide his time, he would travel to other galaxies to repeat the cycle. Strengthening himself, bolstering his forces, feeding his everlasting hunger and ensuring all would be one. All he would have to do now, was wait. For if the harvesters would be destroyed, or some unfortunate civilization would discover and recreate the spacebridge, he would be waiting.

 

@Nova Maximus That's a super interesting take, and I'd love to see media of it. Personally, I prefer more traditional takes for my own canon, but I love seeing major reinventions like this, especially ones with so much storytelling potential.

 

A Short History of the Seekers​

Overview

The Seekers were a mass-produced series of clones used as shock troops by the Decepticon Empire. The Seekers were the tip of the spear of any planetary invasion force, they were often sent ahead to break the planet's defenses before the Decepticons could land troops. The Seekers were usually kept separate from the other Decepticons due to both the Decepticons being unnerved by the clones and the Seekers believing they were a superior order of life.

Inception

Starscream had originally envisioned creating a clone army to fight the Decepticons once he became Prime. However, since the Primal Conclave instead gave the Primacy to Optimus Maximus, Starscream felt the Decepticons would be more appreciative of his gifts. To that end, he secretly negotiated with the Decepticon leader Megatron to bring his homeworld of Archon under Decepticon control. To sweeten the deal, Starscream promised Megatron a new corps of aerial warriors loyal solely to Megatron. Since Megatron had only recently become Liege Maximo, he was quick to accept the offer.

Starscream publicly announced that he would personally spearhead the creation of a clone army that would serve as a home guard to protect Archon while its Colonial Defense Force was deployed under the Elite Guard elsewhere. The choice of CNA donors was obvious to both Starscream and the citizens of Archon—Archon's favored sons and daughters, the Aerialbots. During the Autobot Uprising, Starscream was the commander of a team of flying commandos native to Archon called the Aerialbots whose tales of daring-do were the stuff of legend throughout the Commonwealth. Starscream willingly volunteered his CNA and was easily able to browbeat Thrust and Slipstream into providing theirs. Although Jetfire and Alpha Bravo refused to give their permission, Starscream was secretly able to obtain their CNA and began production of their clones as well.

When the Seekers were revealed to the public, their lack of Autobot insignia did not go unnoticed. Instead, they bore a unique sigil designed by Starscream. The Seekers were adored by the Archonites and became celebrities in their own right. When Seekers began appearing on every street corner, they were greeted as noble protectors. With the Seekers protecting Archon, Starscream was able to convince the Elite Guard to call up even more of the colony's CDF. With only a token Autobot presence on Archon, Starscream gave the Decepticons the signal to begin the invasion.

Treachery

When the Decepticons invaded Archon, the citizens believed the Seekers would protect them. They could not have been more wrong. Operating under Starscream's Contingency Order 66, the Seekers turned on any CDF or Elite Guard personnel still on the planet and killed them on the spot. Only Jetfire and Alpha Bravo were spared because they registered as fellow Seekers by the clones. The Decepticons were able to take control of Archon without firing a shot. With Archon under their control, the Decepticons had a base to stage their offensive into the poorly defended core worlds of the Commonwealth and eventually take Cybertron itself. In each of these battles, the Seekers proved invaluable as shock troops and were essential for conquering Cybertron.

Ascendency

As the Decepticons' fortunes in the war rose, so too did that of the Seekers. They were increasingly favored by Megatron, who saw them as the perfect warriors with seemingly no personal ambition whatsoever. The success of the Seekers led to Starscream being given the position of Minister of Science and Technology. However, it wasn't long before the Autobots devised their own answer to the Seekers—The Aerialbots. A mass-produced army of flying soldiers personally designed by Jetfire, the Aerialbots proved to be the Seekers' equals in combat. Nevertheless, the Seekers frequently bested them with the aid of the formidable Decepticon war machine.

Ironically, the Seekers continued to gain influence even after the tide of war began to turn against the Decepticons. As Decepticon forces became more and more depleted from attrition, Liege Maximo Straxus ordered an increase in the production of mass-produced troops such as the Seekers and Insecticons to fill out the Decepticon ranks. Unfortunately, the frantic pace at which the new Seekers were produced led to a decrease in effectiveness. However, their quantity soon compensated for any drop in quality. After the failed Gigatron Conspiracy, Straxus began to rely on the Seekers as the backbone of his forces and Starscream as his second-in-command. This proved to be a critical error when Starscream used the Seekers to overthrow Straxus and install himself as Liege Maximo. Starscream immediately ordered a withdrawal of all Decepticon forces back to the Exclave, the series of fortress worlds from which the Decepticons launched their invasion of the Commonwealth. With his army of Seekers behind him, Starscream quickly gained control of the Exclave and began reshaping the network of fortresses into a viable nation.

Virtually overnight, the Seekers became the ruling class in the Decepticon Empire. Most of Starscream's advisors were Seekers and Seeker Lieges Centuro commanded the Decepticon armies. Any dissent was ruthlessly crushed by the Decepticon Secret Police, commanded by Thrust and made up almost entirely of Type IV Seekers.

Legacy

Three hundred megacycles after the Great War, the Seekers were mythologized by both Predacons and Maximals as powerful warriors that were vital to the success of the Decepticon Empire. The writings of Thundercracker was practically required reading in military academies throughout the galaxy. Both Optimus Primal and Nightscream claimed descent from Seekers and were highly adept at using Seeker Scimitars.

Types of Seekers

The Seekers were clones of an elite team of flying commandos known as the Aerialbots commanded by Starscream during the Autobot Uprising. As a result, there were five types of Seeker:

• Type I: This type of Seeker was modelled from Starscream himself and were usually seen to act as unit commanders. Because each Type I Seeker also had Starscream's intelligence, they were exceptionally dangerous opponents to face in battle.
• Type II: This type of Seeker was modelled after the Aerialbots' second-in-command, Jetfire. This type was mainly seen as the heavy muscle of any Seeker unit. Despite being clones of Jetfire, Type II Seekers only displayed normal levels of intelligence due to Starscream manipulating their neural architecture during their planning phase.
• Type III: This type of Seeker was modelled after Starscream's sister, Slipstream. Mirroring her role in the Aerialbots, the Type III Seekers were used for sabotage and intelligence gathering.
• Type IV: This type of Seeker was modelled after the Aerialbots' strategist, Thrust. Nicknamed "Squid Heads", this type of Seeker was commonly used as occupation forces and enforcers of discipline for the Seeker Corps as a whole. As a result, they were disliked by virtually all the other Seekers.
• Type V: This Type of Seeker was modelled after the Aerialbots' weaponry technician, Alpha Bravo. This type of Seeker was mostly used as medichanics, technicians, and administrators.

Notable Seekers

Type I

• Thundercracker: The first Seeker to be created and the leader of the entire corps throughout the Great War. Thundercracker was fanatically loyal to Starscream due to believing he was indebted to Starscream for creating him in the first place. As a result, Thundercracker became Starscream's personal favorite. Many mistook his loyalty for mindless obedience, but Thundercracker was highly intelligent in his own right. Many Decepticon victories were attributed to his insights.
• Skywarp: The second Seeker, Skywarp was almost everything Thundercracker wasn't. A born psychopath, Skywarp reveled in slaughter and liked to play cruel pranks on anyone weaker than him. Although he secretly sought Starscream's approval, his love of murder and chaos disgusted Starscream, who kept him at arm's length. Perhaps for that reason, Skywarp was able to form a bond with the Terrorcons, who were also neglected creations of Starscream.
• Redwing: The third Seeker to be created, Redwing grew to despise Starscream and believed himself to be an overall improvement over his creator. Redwing spent most of the war living vicariously through Starscream and fantasizing about murdering him. After the War, Red Wing decided to make his fantasy a reality and made a poorly-conceived attempt to assassinate Starscream. Red Wing was exiled from the Empire and became a pirate.
• Hotlink: Hotlink was built to serve as Starscream's chief engineer. He took Starscream's ideas and found ways to make them a reality. He was despised by his fellow Seekers who saw him as a spineless sycophant.
• Jhiaxus: Jhiaxus was a true believer in Cybertronian supremacy and the Decepticon cause. When Starscream signed the Tyrest Accords, Jhiaxus believed he betrayed Cybertronian civilization and defected to Straxus's army. Although he initially mistrusted him, Straxus allowed Jhiaxus into his inner circle due to lack of personnel.

Type II

• Sunstorm: Ironically for a clone of Jetfire, Sunstorm was a religious fanatic who believed the Great War was a holy crusade against the heretical Autobots. After the war, Sunstorm was thought lost in a trans-dimensional accident. However, he later reappeared with strange new powers he claimed was given to him by a being he called Tornedron.
• Overcast: One of the first Seekers to rebel against Starscream, Overcast grew disgusted by Decepticon atrocities and defected to the Autobots.

Type III

• Acid Storm: The self-loathing Acid Storm despised herself for being a clone. She saw herself as being a meaningless copy among a sea of meaningless copies. As a result, she grew bitter and hateful towards anything and everyone. She wanted everyone to feel as miserable as she did.
• Nova Storm: The cheerful Nova Storm saw the war as one great big game and treated the Autobots no worse than an athlete would treat a fellow competitor. She didn't know why anyone would take the war so seriously. After the war, Starscream made her the Decepticon ambassador to the Commonwealth just to be rid of her and her bubbly personality.
• Ion Storm: The level-headed Ion Storm was Acid Storm's and Nova Storm's self-appointed minder, making sure they were focused on their missions. She soon gained the reputation of being a duty-bound killjoy, but Ion Storm took it as a badge of courage. Someone needed to make sure everyone was doing what they needed to be doing, it might as well be her!
• Bitstream: Bitstream was an expert hacker and adept at conducting acts of cyberterrorism.

Type IV

• Dirge: A grim nihilist, Dirge believed the war was an exercise in futility. Nevertheless, he believed he had no choice but to fight since he was created for that very purpose
• Ramjet: A shameless flatterer, Ramjet constantly shadowed Thrust and plied him with complements in the hope of receiving praise and validation.
• Contrail: A bot of insatiable greed, Contrail was a ruthless merchant of death who commanded a modest mercantile empire after the Great War.

Type V

• Spinister: Although Spinister was assigned to be a medichanic, he found he preferred taking lives to saving lives. Patients under his care more often then not ended up dead of "natural causes". After the war, he decided life was too short not to follow one's dreams and became a mercenary.
• Blackout: Red Wing's friend, Blackout followed him into exile and became his second-in-command when Red Wing became a pirate.
• Grindor: A data analyst by day and a pit fighter by night, Grindor was a bot of sound mind and body.
• Evac: An expert in search and rescue, Evac became disillusioned by the Decepticon cause and defected to the Autobots.
• Skybite: A Seeker infused with Sharkticon CNA, Skybite was an outcast among the other Seekers. After the war, he swore fealty to another bestial creation of Starscream, Deathsaurus.

 

Like us humans, Transformers are no strangers to love. They know the rules and so do we. Romance, marriage, commitment, they know all those as well as we do.

Difference is in how they raise children. See, Transformers don’t reproduce in the traditional sense like us. Instead, whenever a newly married Cybertronian couple wants to seek a baby, a licensed “Hatchling Hunter” would literally hunt for a randomly generated/newly spawn Cybertronian hatchling and give it to the couple at a fee.

Essentially they don’t know about giving birth, only adoption.

 

I basically prefer to leave the creation of a sparkling to the imagination, but damn, this is actually a good way to explain it.

 

Ancient Transformers:

Grimlock the First: Warrior King Founder of Simfur (shamelessly stolen from @Honorbound ). His tale would be told in a historic epic with loads of furmanisms and the modern Grimlock would be a rid 2015 inspired wrestler who took his stage name in homage.

The Fallen: The Thoth-Amon to Grimlock's Conan. Name truly lost to history as Grimlock had all record of him stricken. The first Dark Scientist, some believe he still lives trapped in one of the dimensions that run askew of our own.

Prima/ Primus: Miner who rediscovered Vector Sigma and became the first prophet of the religion of Primordialism. Her name means "The First One" though Primordialists usually use Primus meaning "Esteemed First One".

Megatronus Maximus: The last Liege Maximo and first Maximus of Iacon. See, whenever a war broke out, the noble Titans of Iacon would send some of their children to defend it and appoint one of those children their Liege. The Lieges would then come together and elect someone to organize and lead the army as a whole, the Liege Maximo. Megatronus famously said after winning a battle as Liege Maximo "Well, I already have an army" and proceeded to double or triple the size of Iacon's territory. Afterwards, the era of Lieges was dropped and Iacon became a dictatorship with a standing army ruled by the Maximus.

Halonix Maximus: The Iaconic ruler who made a deal with Dezarus to create the Predacon Guard.

Nexus Maximus: Iaconic ruler famous for his hedonism.

Pious Maximus: First Primordialist Maximus.

Autonomous Maximus: Slave who led a successful revolt then established reforms. Nicknamed "The First Autobot".

The other rulers were at least Peritus, Dauntless, and Bruticus.

Dezarus: Besides what was mentioned above, he was one of the most successful "King of the Predacons " or Predakings. It was more of a "King Beyond the Wall" scenario than the rigid power structures of the Maximuses.

Solus Magnus: The first Magnus, unifier of Cybertron, and the reason the symbol of office is a hammer.

Nominus Magnus: The one who negotiated a peace deal with the Solstar Order and created the Nominus Edict putting an end to the Age of Expansion.

 

Ain't stealing if you've got the go-ahead.

Frankly, that's an idea that I should have come up with, because if you're gonna have a Conan-style Grimlock, you need an evil sorcerer for him to oppose, and the Fallen works rather well in that context. My own take on Conan!Grimlock's era was that you had a bunch of Cityspeakers who wielded Outlier powers granted to them by the dead-yet-dreaming husks of ancient Titans. Most of them were as abusive as you'd expect an ancient god-king granted actual powers would be. Windblade was a cityspeaker in this era, one of the only decent ones. Grimlock wasn't a cityspeaker, but he did slay one in order to gain his throne.

 

Since King Grimlock brought it back, let's look at Menonia.

Menonia is an alternate dimension once traversed by ancient humans, having come into contact with residual transwarp fields on Earth that were left behind in the wake of the Beast Wars. Menonian Humans would naturally evolve to be capable of learning to wield the mystical powers of this dimension. A Vok would find themself stranded in Menonia, where they take on the identity of the Golden One - their natural psionic abilities enabling them to manipulate this dimension's magic to suit their ends, becoming a powerful sorcerer. Using these abilities, the Vok guided the Menonian humans, until the arrival of the Quintesson Mara-Al-Utha, who also learned to use sorcery and threw Menonia into chaos by challenging the Golden One's rule.

This dimension had previously been discovered by Adaptus, who experimented in the creation of techno-organic life during his time there, creating the Wood-bots. Mara-Al-Utha would enslave and create more of them to serve his ends in Menonia.


EDIT:
While on that topic, it just occurred to me...Using Menonia in the place of the Visionaries in First Strike would have been better. Replace Merklyn with Mara-Al-Utha, completely scrap TF vs Visionaries and replace it with a story about liberating the displaced people of Menonia from the Quintesson wizard's control, and boom.

EDIT2
So Cyberverse included a "Lockdown", based loosely on basically every non-Animated version of the character. I say loosely, because appearance and alt-mode are all Cyberverse Lockdown has in common with other Lockdowns. I think I'd give him a different name, maybe some slight changes to his appearance, too - Rundown would be a good Decepticon name. Give him a visor instead of exposed eyes, and a color scheme based on the Prime Vehicons.

 

This created setting is pretty much copying some themes from Beast Wars but with some added twists to set it apart from it. Ever since The Great War escalated to the point of Cybertron becoming almost uninhabitable and
the War soon afterwards spreading across the stars where many alien & Cybertronian worlds eventually end up facing the horrors of the War in varying degrees. While there is a medium amount of Cybertronian planets with
a widespread population that have managed to shakily withstand the conflicts of the war and from vengeful organics, there are small pocket communities that have decided to stay invincible, reclusive and hostile. This is either
done out of religious beliefs, security, or knowing the eventual end will come for the major colonies. Hi' Sik is one of these communities and it's population of 67,285 has been steadily growing due to taking cautious measures
and properly managing resources. Unfortunately, resources are becoming harder to manage and in order to keep planet Harkell's appearance as a uninhabitable peaceful world the government has not only sent out miner
expeditions to start harvesting resources on far flung planets/asteroids but also not too large sized groups of bounty hunters in order to get hard to find materials.

One of these bounty hunter groups were making their way to a near by alien world to sell off 5 out 16 captives when their was unfortunately a jailbreak on board the Render. The fighting from this debacle left the piloting
controls in ruins and left the ship spiraling, not too close, into Black Block Consortia territory. Before the Render can safely crash land on this not quite death world, the captives take a few escape pods in order to not meet their
end. Both bounty hunters and former captives have taken on beastformer disguises to not only survive their environment but to avoid getting the Consortia's attention at all cost. This story doesn't exactly follow the bounty
hunters but the mixed 9 captive individual group of Autobots, Nuetrals and Cons who will try to kill their former handlers, fix the ship and leave.

Bounty Hunters: Downshift, Vroom, Derail, Deadheat, Scalpel, Assessor, Flame and Astraea
Captives: Bots(Lancer, Playback, Kick-Off, Neutral: Retrax, Manta Ray, Iguanus Cons: Kaon, Aquablast, Divebomb

 

Dion: A Tale of Two Brothers

Optimus Prime and Megatron are like fire and ice. Those two couldn’t possibly be together in the same room without tearing the whole place down trying to kill the other. This wasn’t always the case though. They weren’t just cordial, they actually thought of each other as brothers back during the Golden Age of Cybertron.

Dion and Orion, as they were known back then, were two bots as close as brothers could ever be. Working in the docks did not provide much money, but it was all they were able to do. So to keep up with demands of the times, they both fell into a world of crime. They were a notorious duo, with Orion even earning the nickname "Nemesis Prime" for how far he would go to get vengeance against people he felt wronged him.

This went on until they were caught and sent to jail. This episode in their lives caused Orion to snap and realize his errors. They were eventually released, where Orion began a career interning for the High Council as a librarian. Dion on the other hand never changed and itched to get back to their old life of crime which Orion had steadfastly outgrown.

Time went on and Orion eventually rose up all the way towards becoming apprentice to Sentinel Prime. Dion grew resentful and felt like Orion had abandoned him. He simply could not fathom why Orion was getting showered in the love, attention, and respect Dion felt entitled to. While Orion was training to succeed Sentinel as bearer of the Matrix of Leadership, Dion discovered the teachings of Megatronus Prime, leader of the Decepticons, and became obsessed with them.

Sideways, a self proclaimed "agent of Unicron", was seeking individuals to help stage an attack on the Senate with the help of Senator Longarm, a senator banished for accusations of treason seeking vengeance.

Together, they would lure or entrap not only prominent politicians and celebrities, but also people whom they saw as having the potential for gaining prominence in the future. They were gathering an army to stage an attack on the government, which had seen disapproval rising due to growing poverty and reckless clampdowns by the Senate.

The two met Dion at a Decepticon gathering, flattered him with praise for his exploits as a criminal with Orion, and invited him to discuss helping leak the layout for the Senate Capitol (where Congress presides over sessions). In order to do so, he had to use his connection with Orion, now Optimus Major, to get him to reveal the layout, which he did.

Every single Senator died during the attack, including Sentinel Prime. Because Optimus had not officially been inaugurated as Prime at the time, Sentinel still carried the Matrix which was effectively declared missing in the heat of the attack. Without the Matrix, Optimus was unable to assume the role of Primehood just yet. He did however assume de-facto leadership and led the Autobots in their war for Cybertron.

To cover his tracks, Dion faked his death with the help of Shockwave (formerly Longarm). Shockwave "killed" Dion with a blast to his chest while Dion charged head on in an apparent last stand against him. No body was ever recovered for the funeral, in which Optimus mourned the lost of a bot he considered his brother. Since then, Optimus swore vengeance against the one-eyed Senator.

In truth, he had fled Cybertron under Sideways’ orders. With coordinates sent by him, he set out in search of the AllSpark - the artifact which once bore life for Cybertron’s populace. It had disappeared for reasons unknown and its absence was threatening the livelihood of the planet. It was the reason for the gradual erosion of governmental and societal stability, which Sentinel tried as hard as he could to hold at bay to no avail. It crucial that the AllSpark come back so it could be used to restore the now-barren planet.

Optimus thought the same. It seems the two "brothers" are in for an unexpected collision course.

 

Reinvention of Megatron's backstory for an idea I've posted a bit about already: instead of somebody born into the lowest rung of the social ladder, he's practically nobility, born to a renowned and respected military lineage. Like is expected of him, he joins the military and quickly makes a name for himself as an extremely talented soldier and commander. He eventually reaches the top of the ranks, but he wants more. He's convinced of his own superiority and ultimately disposes of the Senate in a military coup, installing himself as Cybertron's new ruler and quickly making plans to expand outwards.

 

Traachon​

Traachon was the ill-fated Supreme Commander of the Autobot Resistance during the Autobot Uprising. A direct descendant of Nova Prime, Traachon was part of the Autobot political elite and expected to one day succeed his grand uncle Regulus as Prime. However, Traachon's plans came to a sudden end when Trannis came to power. In quick succession, the old Autobot order was replaced by the totalitarian rule of the Decepticons. One of Trannis's first decrees was the complete purge of non-Decepticons from the military, Traachon included.

Although he was tempted to join the Decepticons, Traachon was far too proud to renounce his Autobot heritage. He instead fled to Quintessa where the surviving Autobot members of Parliament appointed him the Supreme Commander of the Resistance Army. As a general, Traachon was average, relying more on his family name and personal charisma to maintain his position. If he perceived any other general as a potential rival, Traachon would find some way to have them sidelined.

Ironically, such acts proved to be the beginning of his undoing. The Autobot ranks were so desperate for generals that the Resistance High Council quickly accepted the former Decepticon generals Sentinel, Strika, and Obsidian into their ranks. Additionally, the Resistance leadership began to lose confidence in Traachon's command abilities due to the Autobots' lack of strategic progress. As Sentinel's star rose in the Resistance, so too did Traachon's begin to fall. The Autobot commander-in-chief feared that he would be replaced by Sentinel before long and jealously guarded whatever dwindling authority and prestige he still had. No matter how many so-called impossible missions he sent Sentinel on, he managed to return the victor.

The last straw came when Traachon was put before a board of inquiry after the disastrous Battle of Tsienshi, which he led personally in an attempt to gain even the smallest shred of glory. Although he managed to retain his command, Traachon knew it was only a matter of time before he was forced into retirement and pushed into some dead-end political appointment. It was in this desperate state of mind that Traachon did the unthinkable—he attempted to collaborate with the Decepticons to have Sentinel killed in battle.

Unfortunately for him, Xaaron had Traachon's office monitored and recorded the entire treacherous conversation. The intelligence chief gave him an ultimatum—resign, or have his treason exposed and see his family's honor tarnished for all time. Traachon, proud to the very end, barricaded himself inside his office and took his own life. Xaaron kept Traachon's collaboration with the Decepticons to himself and the Autobot general was interred with full military honors. Sentinel was appointed Supreme Commander in his place.

Ultimately, Traachon's attempt to preserve his family's honor would be futile. Before he left for Quintessa at the start of the Uprising, Traachon had a son and daughter constructed on Archon. Although his children would be heroes of the Autobot Resistance, their infamous betrayal in the subsequent Decepticon Invasion would destroy their family's honor more than Traachon's petty treachery ever could.

His children were Starscream and Slipstream.