There's a limit to the necessity of synergy. You don't have to pass down continuity guidelines to sell a TV show.

And Beast Wars saved the whole damn franchise back in 1996 if you haven't been paying attention. Never mind that I didn't even use the word "handful".

If this is such a successful strategy, pray why is no other franchise outside of Star Wars attempting it? Why did we get 'Batman: the Brave and the Bold' while 'the Dark Knight' was breaking box-office records? Why don't we just do what they did in the '90s and make every cartoon an expanded universe to a movie?

I'm all for keeping some basic guidelines, but this is overboard.

 

I don't see why they're trying to shoehorn Prime and WFC/FOC into the same specific universe...the whole multiverse thing is an elegant and yet lazy solution to all their problems, and they've been using it for years, so why bother trying to tie obviously different universes together now?

 

How can we know if it's a successful strategy for TFs yet, or whether it is or not for other vaguely similar franchises with such a small sample size? Let's see how this one does.  

Is it overboard, or underboard? That's what no one can seem to agree on.

What has Archer/Hasbro done, other than to say "let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater by default?"

Supposedly the greatest horror perpetrated by this policy was the "shoehorning" of WfC into the Prime universe instead of letting it be G1-esque. Of course, this shift had no effect on dialogue or characterization, nor did prevent High Moon Studios from using the Dinobots at their own request. So horrorble.

 

I think Hasbro's argument is that it is a very big Universe with plenty of room, and within a few hundred millenia different things can happen and rapid changes can take place unseen. A cop out, but no more so than a multiverse.

Basically, from what I can tell, the purpose of 'Aligned' is to help Hasbro manage an unprecedented amount of independent Transformers IP media projects.

Aligned is not about fixing past continuity errors to the fans satisfaction, or coming up with a less convoluted alternative to multiverses.
It's the new ground rules for the umpteen different projects (that we're fortunate enough to have) spawning out of the Transformers franchise currently.

Traditionally, Hasbro has had to contend with supportive comics and TV series for most of their product lines. Armada got comics, TV and a game.
At about the time the movies were released they had to juggle: Movies, Movie comics, movie games, Animated Show, G1-ish comics, and attempted Animated comics.
Not only did they have to contend with more forms of media, they also had two separate continuities (and one of them had most of their primary details under wraps).
This must have been a monumental headache for Hasbro IP, and probably inspired the need for some kind of continuity for future projects.

Using the success of the Movies, Hasbro were open to development of new game concepts. We know what happened there, and we also know that Orci and Kurtzman wanted to show their own take on Transformers too.
That would be four different stories running simultaneously (IDWG1, Movie, Prime, WFC. Possibly Exodus too, though it's more of a binder).

I'm sure Archer, and the IP crew have their head around Transformers, I'm sure they Grok all of Hasbro's other Ips too. But it's obvious that giving all the Transformers media products some common ground would make their job a hell of a lot easier, and allow further projects.

In my opinion, having the Aligned continuity affords us the variety of Transformers media we have at the moment. Its not about restricting the IP, its there to fee it.

Apart from a few bits of established lore, main character requirements, and maybe some fanwank, there doesn't seem to be too much crossover between Prime and WFC, so neither currently seems too threatened by the other.
It just means each creative team sticks to their own broken up and allocated segments of the timeline.

Both creative teams obviously had a different angle, but held true to Habro's basic requirements, and subsequently helped write aspects of the Aligned continuity.

 

So if I am getting this right, "Aligned" is a set of conceptual/thematic bullet points that all future Transformers fiction will be expected to adhere to, albeit loosely?

Less like a canon or continuity than a... treatment ...or even a constitution, a Transformers-Fiction "mission statement".

How specific do the guidelines get? If they're really specific, that could be bad for future fictions.

I'm going to call it as I see it and say that, given how much WFC and Prime stand apart from each other, Hasbro is okay with two works having very divergent continuities, as long as they hit the basic principles.

 

I was actually surprised at how well the Prime backstory fits with Exodus and WfC. The only really big difference is Optimus vs. Orion Pax, but all oft he same things happen. That's pretty good considering the past.

 

Dark Energon? In WFC it is a form of synthesized Energon. There's also Trypticon, which I suppose could be written to fit what was done in Exodus, who was, well already the way he is without Shockwave doing a thing. Bumblebee being a spud in WFC and a stud in Transformers: Prime, Breakdown and well, there are quite a few differences really, but they are more alike than they are different 

 

No, it isn't.

I was referring specifically to the backstory, not to apparent contradictions created by backstory we don't have yet. It's also been rather clearly stated that BB's got backstory we haven't seen yet.

I will certainly agree that there are details that preculde the universes from being literally the same, but there is an admirable unity that I'm seeing. It's also possible that in a few years we'll be dismissing the differences as a bit of this.

 

What do you mean “no it isn’t?” Megatron tells you while playing the game that an explosion caused by the ancients messing with the unknown properties of Dark Energon blew away part of the station Starscream commanded, and Starscream, after destroying as much of the Dark Energon as he could before Megatron’s arrival, tells Megatron that he knows how to manufacture more of it after having a change of heart.

 

Lazy marketing that has a side effect of insulting the average person's intelligence.

 

The idea is that you click on the hyperlink.

"Manufacturing" Dark Energon in WfC still requires you have some of the substance to start with. Then, you need regular energon and let Dark Energon corrupt it. Hence the "Energon Bridge." It's not truly synthetic, like Ratchet's green stuff.

Amazing how every poster is the average person, isn't it?

 

I still don't see how this proves me wrong.

Megatron embodies Dark Energon.

How do we know this? The game said nothing of the sort.

 

I think the reason behind it is that they are trying to create a level of consistancy in the brand while still allowing creative teams to well create. personally i think it is a great idea to establish one continuity that follows the same guidelines but still allows for flexiability in any given project.

This single, yet flexible, continuity will strengthen the brand's mythology, something that it was in desperate need of. Besides if you do not like the Prime, Exodus/Exile or WFC/FOC aspect of the new continuity simply ignore that particular aspect of it, thus is the nature of this flexible continuity.

 

The bulletpoint thing isn't a problem at all, it's the super-fan who insists that they are identical who are the problem.

 

Imma let u finish Hasblow, but let me just say G1 continuity was THE BEST DAMN STORY OF ALL TIME. All this "the Primes" BS, Cybertron-born Dinobots, data clerk Optronix S*** makes me f*****g sick. Sure the Aerialbots making Optimus Prime was kind of a continuity black hole, but it was a hell of a lot more epic than this current garbage.

 

It is too bad that couldn’t fix the inconsistences of old and furthered that storyline with a much more mature theme. I myself would have preferred that. I don’t particularly like the 13 Primes and the godly weapons, but I am willing to give them a chance, but from what I’ve read in Alex Irvine’s books, I don’t like them at all, not even Alpha Trion. Hopefully, Transformers: Prime, assuming they do more with them, do something different.

 

Lazypants.

"Transformers: War for Cybertron

Dark Energon was discovered over ten thousand years ago. When the Transformer race learned of its powerful yet volatile nature, it was sealed away in an orbital space station and placed under the watchful eye of the Seekers, including the scientific Jetfire and the former Sky Commander, Starscream. At some point, experimentation on Dark Energon began, and a small quantity of the substance became unstable. The resulting explosion ripped apart an entire section of the space station; a level of destruction beyond any weapon known to the Cybertronians. The horrors of Dark Energon were noted by many, such as Jetfire, and it was deemed that it must remain sealed for the rest of time. This continued to be the case for centuries, causing the existence of Dark Energon to become a myth that few believed.

After learning the existence of this substance, Megatron took a fleet of cruisers to lay siege to the station, crashing his own ship into it to gain entrance. Once inside, he had to battle the forces of Starscream and Jetfire, both of whom attempted to dissuade him, claiming that Dark Energon was impossible to control. As Megatron drew closer to the storage chamber, Starscream attempted to destroy the last remnants of Dark Energon, but Megatron was able to breach the core before the Sky Commander could complete the destruction. When the dark substance was finally revealed, Megatron, believing himself to be worthy of such a weapon, confidently immersed himself in it.

Despite Starscream's insistence that Dark Energon destroyed everything it touched, the Decepticon leader managed to control it, emerging more powerful than ever. His first act was to infuse Brawl and Barricade with Dark Energon; claiming it was their birthright. His second act was to cut through the final defenses between himself and the Seekers in a matter of seconds, thanks to his new power. Seeing Dark Energon being tamed, Starscream offered his services to Megatron, claiming he knew of an Energon Bridge that could produce more of the substance. Seeing this as an act of betrayal, Jetfire escaped the station in order to inform Zeta Prime of this treachery.

Shortly after this, Starscream, Skywarp, and Thundercracker travelled into the depths of Cybertron in order to reactivate the Energon Bridge. Facing many defenses and enemy Autobots, they managed to corrupt the central generator of the Energon Bridge. Fending off the initial infection, the core attempted to defend itself and purge the Seekers, but the evil planes quickly brought it down. This allowed the Energon Bridge to activate and beam its contents to the orbital station, allowing mass production of Dark Energon. "

Emphasis mine. Note the key points. "Production" of Dark Energon requires that you start with some (if Starscream had destroyed the last DE they would have been up a creek, it is implied) and have a massive amount of energon to make more. This implies conversion, not production.

Synthetic energon wasn't a one-for-one conversion of existing energon in Prime. If it were, it would have been completely useless to the Autobots.

Since when?

It didn't say it was manufactured, either. Only that it was experimented on and that it can corrupt other Energon.

Moreover, as one of the core concepts of "Aligned" continuity, it's all the same stuff, unless there is evidence to the contrary. I fully expect that DE was always intended to be the stuff of Unicron. Megatron doesn't use DE to revive the dead in WfC, but this is as simple as supposing that he didn't know how to use the stuff to do that yet. The biggest continuity gap is the relative lack of knowledge of Starscream about the stuff in Prime.

It's generally accepted that despite all its different "flavors," energon is the same basic stuff in all Transformers stories. I don't see any compelling reason to suppose different with DE. I really don't think it was intended to be synthetic in WfC, though we don't know the circumstances of its discovery.

 

Well said

 

Hardly. I played the game. I remember the story and I read the info in the hyperlink in your previous post. Like I said early, I still don’t see how this proves me wrong.

War for Cybertron’s story drops cues here and there that Dark Energon was created.

Natural Energon was synthesized into a volatile form of Energon.

I don’t disagree with this.
I’m not sure what we’re doing here, really. You don’t like my word choice?

Since he endowed himself with it—I was only pointing out that if Dark Energon was needed to make more of it, Megatron was available for the task.

Starscream said he knew how to manufacture more of it, so there’s a formula somewhere.

Not necessarily. Optimus was always Optimus in WFC, while he was Orion before Optimus in Transformers Prime, yet they are the same guy. What does it matter if Dark Energon is manufactured in one continuity or the blood of Unicron in another if their properties are virtually the same?

I think we’ll get more story on that in FoC, so until then I’ll go with what was said in the game.