MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE!

 With the Transformers RPG soon to be released by Renegade Game Studios, I've been working on a timeline for my own personal Transformers universe. I have many inspirations for the TFs to draw upon, and have the ability to pick and choose which settings I can access and which I can ignore entirely.

The Transformers have a long history... millions of years, in fact. However, the long and ancient Cybertron War, while important to the plot, is not what we are going to focus on. We are more interested in the events of the TFs landing on Earth and how they interact with humanity.

There are also other characters and settings that I plan to incorporate into my personal TF campaign, such as G.I. Joe and M.A.S.K.. I have not yet got them fixed into my timeline, as I am not sure if I plan to run a "traditional" TF game  (set during the 1980s) or something more modern day.

IN THE BEGINNING…

Primus manifests in the physical universe from the Astral Sea. Unable to maintain his divine form in the mortal coil, he assumes the more dormant shape of the planet Cybertron.
THE PRIMES…
The Thirteen Primes are created by Primus to battle the manifestation of Unicron.

[more to be added here, regarding Solus Prime and Megatronus]

~12 Million Years Ago…

The Titans leave Cybertron and venture into outer space to seed more Transformer life on other worlds.
The colony Titan Caminus settles on a small moon, establishing a new outpost for Transformer civilization.

The Quintessons evolve on the dormant world of Unicron. As the world begins to gain sentience again and begins venturing across the stars, the Quintessons abandon their homeworld in search of more stable planets.
Discovering Cybertron, the Quintessons enslave the primitive Cybertronians, using them to create the grand Quintesson Federation. The Federation is linked by the use of vast space-bridge rings, built in outer space but located near worlds where Cyber-Titans have taken root.

[The idea of Quintessons having evolved on the world of Unicron was given to me by Karyn Willow Logan... and I love it!]

~11 Million Years Ago…
Alpha Trion leads a rebellion against the Quintessons, who are forced to flee from Cybertron. The Quintesson slave brand is turned into a symbol of freedom for the newly christened “autonomous robots” (aka Autobots).

.....

A lot of stuff happens in Cybertron's past that occurs so long ago, it's not so much "history" as it is "myth." Even the TFs, who have robotic brains are not perfect in their manufacture. They forget things that happen in their past, just like humans. And things in their distant past...? That sort of thing requires great effort to recall such events.

With that in mind, I am going to skip to relevant Earth events I have in mind...

1944

??: William Irving “Sparkplug” Witwicky is born.

1950

June 25: Korean War begins.

1953

July 23: The Korean War ends with the signing of an armistice and the creation of a DMZ.

1955

November 1: The Vietnam War begins.

1962

??: William Irving Witwicky joins the Army Corps of Engineers, earning him the nick-name “Sparkplug.”

1969

??: Charlene “Charlie” Wilson is born.

1970

??: Steven “Spike” Witwicky is born to William Irving “Sparkplug” Witwicky in Oregon.

1975

April 30: The Vietnam War ends as Saigon falls and the United States pulls out its military forces.

1984 - THE EVENTS OF THE BUMBLEBEE MOVIE!

??: Bumblebee arrives on Earth, crash-landing into a GIJoe training facility. Colonel Jack Burns presumes Bumblebee to be hostile and orders his men to attack. Bumblebee scans a Willy’s MB Jeep and flees to a mine, where he is ambushed by the Decepticon seeker Blitzwing. When Bumblebee refuses to reveal the whereabouts of Optimus Prime, Blitzwing tears out his voice box and damages his memory core, but Bumblebee critically injures Blitzwing with one of his own missiles. Bumblebee scans a nearly 1967 VW Beetle before collapsing from his injuries.

(Returning to the Decepticon headquarters via a space bridge, Blitzwing is placed in stasis-lock until he is eventually repaired as a triple-changer by Shockwave)

1985

??: After successfully performing the triple-changer process on the Autobot Springer, Shockwave uses the technology to augment the Decepticons, starting with Blitzwing and Astrotrain.

1987

??: The Decepticon triple-changers Dropkick and Shatter track Bumblebee’s homing signal to Earth. They convince G.I.Joe agents that they are bounty hunters from Cybertron in search of a criminal (Bumblebee) from their home world. Using Cybertron technology, the Decepticons augment Earth satellites to track Cybertronian life signatures, allowing them to hunt Bumblebee down. Capturing Bumblebee, the Decepticons discover that Optimus Prime intends to use Earth as a rally point for the Autobot forces. They attempts to contact Cybertron with a modified communications satellite, but are destroyed by Bumblebee, Charlie Wilson, and G.I.Joe agent Jack Burns before they can signal Megatron’s forces.

September: Inspired by her interaction with the Autobot Bumblebee, Charlie Wilson begins attending MIT.

Autobots and Decepticons begin arriving on Earth in numbers.

1988

??: Spike Witwicky joins the US Navy.

1991

??: Spike Witwicky and Charlie Wilson are married.

1993

??: Daniel Witwicky is born to Spike and Charlie Witwicky.

1994

??: Jackson “Jack” Darby is born to nurse June Darby.

1995

??: Nakadai Miko is born in Tokyo, Japan.

1998

??: Rafael Jorge Gonzales “Raf” Esquivel is born.

DANIEL WITWICKY NEEDS FRIENDS!

I consider it hugely problematic that, in the traditional G1 TF series, Daniel Witwicky has NO human friends! However, This gets fixed, if we draw upon other TF series. For example, TF: Prime introduces a wonderful trio of teens who bond not only with the Autobots, but also each others over the course of the series. Not only that, but if one takes their ages and backtracks their birth years... they are all paramours of Daniel! As such, in my personal campaign, Jack Darby, Nakadai Miko and Raf Esquivel are all friends of Daniel Witwicky, having met through their various personal interactions with the Autobots.

2001

??: After gaining access to the power-enhancing abilities of the Mini-Cons, the Decepticons successfully overcome all Autobot forces on Cybertron. Megatron rules the planet as its supreme dictator from his throne on Kaon. Autobot forces are removed from Cybertron, taking up positions on hidden bases located on Cybertron’s two moons (thanks to the aid of the Mini-Cons wanting to be free from Decepticon tyranny).

Construction of Autobot City begins on Earth.

MINI-CONS... THE KEY TO DECEPTICON VICTORY!

According to the general TF G1 timeline, the Decepticons succeed in finally conquering Cybertron for themselves and driving off the Autobots in 2001. But what else happened around 2001 in TF history? Well, the newest TF series to come out was TF: Armada in 2002, which introduced the Mini-Cons.

The Mini-Cons were used by the Decepticons to enhance their powers. As such, I used the discovery of the Mini-Cons on one of the moons of Cybertron as the catalyst to the final Decepticon victory.

2003

Construction of Autobot City (Metroplex) on Earth is finished near Lookout Mountain in the Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee tri-state area.

2004

??: Spike Witwicky achieves the rank of Commander within the US Navy.

Thanks to his existing relationship with the Cybertonians, Spike is placed as the new military liaison at Metroplex City, where he moves with his wife Charlie and son Daniel.

2005 - THE EVENTS OF TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE
??: Unicron devours the planet Lithone. The scientist Arblus is the sole survivor, but is eventually captured by the Quintessons.
??: “The Battle of Autobot City.” Optimus Prime is killed by the Decepticon leader Megatron. Before his death, Optimus passes the Matrix of Leadership to his brother Ultra Magnus. 😭😭😭😭😭
??: Severely injured by their battle at Metroplex, the Decepticons Megatron, Skywarp, Thundercracker, and the Insecticons Bombshell, Kickback, and Shrapnel are cast out into the void of space. They are eventually drawn to Unicron, who transforms the Decepticons into his new minions: Galvatron, Cyclonus, Scourge, and the Sweeps, who are tasked to hunt down and destroy the Matrix of Leadership.
??: Galvatron returns to Cybertron and destroys Starscream.
??: Unicron devours the two moons of Cybertron. It currently spares Cybertron, waiting to discover if Galvatron is successful in service to the planet-eater.
??: Gathering the Decepticon army under his banner, Galvatron returns in force to Earth to eliminate the remaining Autobots at Metroplex. Ultra Magnus and his cohorts leave Metroplex in two shuttlecraft, hoping to draw away the Decepticon fleet from the other surviving Autobots. Magnus’ gambit succeeds, but the shuttle containing Hot Rod, Kup, and the Dinobots is shot down (crash landing in the oceans of Quintessa). Magnus’ shuttle is also damaged, forcing them to land on the planet of Junkion.
??: The Decepticons follow Ultra Magnus to Junkion, where Galvatron and the Sweeps destroy him. Galvatron claims the Matrix of Leadership from Magnus’ body.
??: Kup and Hot Rod are captured by the Quintessons. They escape with the aid of the Dinobots, but fail to rescue the Lithonian Arblus who is devoured by Sharkticons. The Autobots flee Quintessa aboard a Quintesson cruiser. Tracking the Autobot shuttle to Junkion, Kup and Hot Rod rescue their allies from being destroyed by the native Junkions.
August 8: Galvatron attempts to enslave Unicron using the Matrix of Leadership. Unicron attacks Cybertron. The Autobots crash the Quintesson cruiser into the eye of Unicron. Within Unicron, Hot Rod finds the Matrix of Leadership, ascends into Rodimus Prime, defeats Galvatron, and destroys Unicron (saved only by removing his head before being entirely destroyed by the Matrix’s purifying light).
??: With the disappearance of Galvatron and the absence of other strong leaders such as Starscream and Shockwave (who was destroyed during Unicron’s attack on Cybertron), the Decepticon Empire quickly collapses, allowing the Autobots to reclaim Cybertron.

2006…
??: Following the end of the Cybertronian Wars, Spike Witwicky is made Earth’s official ambassador to Cybertron.
September 15: The Decepticon remnant gathers on the world of Chaar. Cyclonus and Scourge sneak aboard the head of Unicron to access Unicron’s memories of Galvatron’s defeat. Tracking Galvatron’s trajectory, Scourge tracks the Decepticon leader to the world of Thull. Despite surviving the battle, Galvatron has clearly been driven insane by the destruction of Unicron and the psychic backlash of Unicron’s mental tortures.

October 21: The ghost of Starscream possesses a Sweep and convinces the head of Unicron to provide him a new body in exchange for connecting Unicron’s head to Cybertron (to be used as Unicron’s new body). Starcream betrays Unicron at the last minute (surprise, surprise!).

2007
February ??: The “Hate Plague” sweeps across Earth and spreads to other connected worlds.

February 25: Optimus Prime is restored to life. Recovering the Matrix of Leadership from Rodimus Prime, Optimus focuses the Matrix’s energy into the space-bridge network and purifies the Hate Plague across the known universe.
July: After venturing into the depths of Cybertron and restoring the energy of the Matrix of Leadership using the supercomputer Vector Sigma, Optimus Prime returns the Matrix to Rodimus Prime.
November: xx [Autobots find Nebulos, discovering the Titan Fortress Maximus]
Galvatron leaves known space with the intention of gathering a new army. The Decepticons, now under the command of Cyclonus, avoid conflict with the Autobots, and continue to secretly mine Earth’s energon.

??
During his three-year journey, Galvatron finds a far greater prize than new troops: solidified crystals of Dark Energon.

2010
September: Having a love of American popular culture, Miko Nakadai becomes an exchange student, transferring to Jasper, Nevada.
November: While investigating possible Decepticon activity outside the city of Jasper, Nevada, Arcee and Cliffjumper are attacked by Cyclonus. The Decepticon offlines Cliffjumper while Acee is distracted, protecting the human teens Jack Darby, Raf Esquivel, and Miko Nakadai.
[Insert various events from the TF: Prime series. Galvatron is gravely injured by a space-bridge eruption and restored to life as Megatron by Soundwave]

2014
Using the sensors of Fortress Maximus, several of his Titan brethren and their colonies are remotely located. The Autobots send scouting parties to these worlds to establish contact with the lost Transformer colonies.
The Autobot Thunderclash discovers the world of Caminus.
Hoping to establish a link to Cybertron so their ancestral homeworld can rescue their dying colony from certain death, the Mistress of Flame sends Windblade, Chromia, and Nautica on this task. With the aid of Wheeljack, they are able to repair a nearby space-bridge after several months.

2015
The Council of Worlds is established, featuring a representative from each of the TF colonies. Cybertron is represented by both Rodimus Prime (representing the Autobots) and Starscream (representing the Decepticons)

2016
The Combiner Wars...

2017
Titans Rising...

2018
Power of the Primes...