Editing Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity

[[File:Starsaber robotmasters minicomic.jpg|upright=2|thumb|EVERYONE IS HERE!]]
The '''Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity''' (often referred to as '''JG1''' for short) is a great and terrifying beast.

In America, ''Transformers'' had multiple continuities right from the very beginning, with the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|cartoon]] and [[List of Generation 1 comics|comic]] going off into very different directions. In Japan, on the other hand, they didn't have those comics—they just had the cartoon, and of the copious amounts of additional media that have come out of Japan in the last forty years, nearly ''everything'' has taken place somewhere in the timeline of the cartoon universe—either by design or as the result of [[retcon]]ning—creating one mighty behemoth of a chronology that reaches from before the [[Big Bang (event)|Big Bang]] to the universe's dying breaths. 

==Overview==
===The 1980s - Generation 1===
[[File:FightSuperRobotLifeTransformersManga.JPG|right|upright=1.7|thumb|Not to be confused with those ''[[Diaclone]]'' toys from last year.]]
Things were pretty straightforward in the 1980s. In addition to creating assorted [[List of Japanese Generation 1 comics|comic book]] storylines that slotted into and around the continuity of the American series, [[TakaraTomy|Takara]] and [[Toei Animation|Toei Animation]] went on to continue the story of the cartoon universe after the show's cancellation in [[Hasbro]] markets, with its original animated series ''[[Transformers: The Headmasters (franchise)|The Headmasters]]'', ''[[Transformers: Super-God Masterforce (franchise)|Super-God Masterforce]]'', ''[[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers: Victory (franchise)|Victory]]'', and ''[[Transformers: Zone (franchise)|Zone]]''. Running alongside all this was a short-lived sister franchise called ''[[Beastformers]]'', Takara's version of Hasbro's ''Battle Beasts'' toyline whose story was chronicled via prose in its catalogs and two special edition {{w|Mook (publishing)|mooks}}. As with the American series, comics and [[story page]]s based around these series ran concurrently with their broadcast. Unlike their American counterparts, the material in the pages of ''[[TV Magazine]]'' was  [[Japanese_Generation_1_cartoon_continuity#1984_-_TV_Magazine_comics_and_story_pages|broadly intended]] to align with the continuity of the cartoon. When production of ''Transformers'' cartoons ceased in [[1991]], this type of print media was used to tell the stories of the subsequent series ''[[Transformers: Return of Convoy (franchise)|Return of Convoy]]'', and ''[[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers: Operation Combination (franchise)|Operation Combination]]''. A few years later, when the series returned as ''[[Transformers: Generation 2 (franchise)|G-2]]'', story pages and [[Pack-in material|pack-in mini-comics]] provided fiction for the renewed line.
{{--}}

===The 1990s - Beast Era===
[[File:DoubleConvoyTogetherAtLast01.jpg|upright=1.4|thumb|Three kings looking at each other.]]
In the United States, ''[[Beast Wars: Transformers (franchise)|Beast Wars]]'' does not explicitly follow on from either the cartoon or comics, picking and choosing select elements from both to form a “mythological” Generation 1 background for the series. Not so in Japan, where the series was treated as part of the cartoon timeline. As with Generation 1, the Beast Era was also expanded through the creation of exclusive sequel series, in this case ''[[Beast Wars II: Super Lifeform Transformers (franchise)|Beast Wars II]]'', ''[[Super Lifeform Transformers: Beast Wars Neo (franchise)|Beast Wars Neo]]'', and even the franchise's second theatrical release in the form of ''[[Beast Wars Special Super Lifeform Transformers|Beast Wars Special]]''. Each of these series had companion comics, although these were explicitly ''not'' part of the same continuity as the cartoons. And thus did the cartoon timeline continue to grow in a linear, sensible fashion, until...
{{--}}

===The 2000s===
2000 saw the release of the first Transformers cartoon of the 21st century with the infamous ''[[Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2001 franchise)|Car Robots]]'', released in America as ''Robots in Disguise'', the franchise's first hard reboot. The cartoon's original incarnation was confidently announced by Takara as a continuation of the established cartoon continuity in early promotional materials, but the western continuity reset, along with a lack of translated material in and around the Japanese Beast Era obfuscating its (fairly slight) connections to prior Japanese seasons led the show's continuity placement to confound Western toy robot scholars for over half a decade.

[[File:AiAlert-Story.jpg|thumb|300px|Twenty years of time to kill lets you save a lot of cats.]]

As the decade progressed, Takara copped on to the worldwide resurgence in the popularity of ''Transformers'' with the [[Unicron Trilogy continuity family|Unicron Trilogy]], and began producing numerous series starring the Generation 1 characters to accompany their return to toy shelves, setting them in the built-in intermezzos of the cartoon universe which had up until this point gone undetailed. This push began with ''[[Transformers: Alternators#Binaltech|Binaltech]]'' and ''[[Robotmasters (franchise)|Robotmasters]]'' in [[2003]] and [[2004]], analogues to Hasbro's ''[[Transformers: Alternators|Alternators]]'' and ''[[Transformers: Universe (2003 franchise)|Universe]]'' lines respectively, which took place in the twenty-year gap between the conclusion of the second season of the cartoon and [[The Transformers: The Movie|the movie]]. Then, two years later, ''[[Transformers: Kiss Players (franchise)|Kiss Players]]'', another component of Takara's ''Alternators'' rollout, slotted itself into the five-year interval between the movie and the beginning of season 3 (an interval that does not exist in the American timeline, owing to the subfranchise ''[[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers 2010 (franchise)|Transformers 2010]]'' moving season 3 from 2006 to, er, 2010).

Also released in 2004 was ''[[Beast Machines: Transformers (franchise)#Beast Wars Returns|Beast Wars Returns]]'', Japan's much belated ''[[Beast Machines: Transformers (franchise)|Beast Machines]]'' import that threw a second wrench into the works by dramatically transforming Cybertron into a post-machine techno-organic paradise, a poetic ending to America's Beast Era that nonetheless made things very awkward for the Japanese ''Beast Wars'' seasons reliant on the Cybertron of the original ''Beast Wars'' cartoon remaining more or less the same for generations into the future.

The Generation 1 continuity made its first significant contact with the [[Multiverse|wider multiverse]] in [[2006]] with ''[[Beast Wars Reborn]]'', in which the [[spark]]s of [[Optimus Primal (BW)|Optimus Primal]] and [[Megatron (BW)|''Beast Wars'' Megatron]] were dragged from the [[Transformer afterlife|great beyond]] into a cosmic conflict between Unicron Trilogy characters [[Logos Prime|Logos]] and [[Vector Prime]] after the events of ''Beast Wars Returns'', the first of many such misadventures for the duo.

In 2007, a paperback collection of the ''Kiss Players'' comic available exclusively at the Japanese convention Wonder Festival included an extensive timeline chronicling the ins and outs of the cartoon universe, incorporating all of the material covered above, while in the process propagating several dramatic changes to things as fans knew them. The timeline integrated series and stories that had previously been either discreetly separate from the Generation 1 cartoon timeline, or at least apathetic on their relationship to it; ''Car Robots'' was bluntly plopped on the chart to the shock of the English speaking fandom, along with the comic ''[[Transformers: The Battle of the Star Gate|Battle of the Star Gate]]'' and many small story points from assorted toy [[bio]]s. On top of this fusion of numerous existing sources, the timeline committed several extensive retcons to existing stories, mostly centered on reinterpreting [[Oracle (G1)|Primacron's assistant]] and tying him into several other characters from various different series.

Meanwhile, 2007 was also the year ''Binaltech'' fiction stopped playing nice, as the previously introduced Beast Era time traveler [[Ravage (G1)|Ravage]] succeeded in derailing the events of the movie and irrevocably branched the timeline, producing the Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity's [[Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity#2007 - Binaltech and Alternity|first intentional branch universe]]. This inflection point, the film, proved a canny mechanism to paper over production inconsistencies between the events of the film and Japan's extra cartoon seasons via traffic between the two universes.
{{--}}

===The 2010s===
[[File:CybertronAllianceReborn.jpg|thumb|400px|At last, Star Peace.]]
With a new decade came new toys, and as the collector-oriented product we know today as the ''[[Transformers: Generations (toyline)|Generations]]'' imprint ramped up, so too did the efforts of Japanese creators to fit stories about these toys into the rapidly dwindling holes in the cartoon timeline. ''[[Transformers United|United]]'' took a sort of "Side B" approach, with ''[[Macrocosmic Seekers]]'' and ''[[Transformers United EX|United EX]]'' following different characters during the events of the third season of the original cartoon and ''Operation Combination'' respectively. TakaraTomy's confusingly named ''[[Transformers: Generations (Japan)|Generations]]'' line (not to be confused with the modern supertitle) situated its [[Transformers: Generations (Japan)#Fiction|''Wars'' series]] in the gap between ''Operation Combination'' and ''G-2''. Next, ''[[Transformers Legends (franchise)|Legends]]''—

Oh, ''Legends.''

''Legends'', the largest of Takara's ''Generations''-equivalent lines encompassing Hasbro's ''[[Thrilling 30]]'' and ''[[Titans Return (franchise)|Titans Return]]'' product  from [[2014]] to [[2017]], employed a [[Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity#2014 - Legends|significantly more convoluted branch universe framing device]] to bop all the way up and down the cartoon timeline, patching holes and dropping characters from one era to another and back again. Some of the highlights included narrative somersaults to justify the various characters introduced twice between the ''Scramble City'' special and season 3, concluding the ''Beastformers'' story after some thirty years, and smoothing over the pretty dramatic changes in setting between the end of ''Beast Wars Returns'' and the beginning of the Japanese Beast Era cartoons set after it in the timeline. The primary era where ''Legends'' planted its flag, however, was the big enchilada: the famous time skip between ''G-2'' and ''Beast Wars'', where it more or less chronicled the period from [[Megatron (G1)|Generation 1 Megatron's]] exile into space at the end of ''G-2'' to the final ceasefire recorded in [[Maximal]] and [[Predacon (BW)|Predacon]] history books.

Co-running with ''Legends'' was ''[[Transformers Unite Warriors|Unite Warriors]]'', Japan's ''[[Combiner Wars (franchise)|Combiner Wars]]'' equivalent which told a relatively restrained story between the ''Masterforce'' and ''Victory'' cartoons. Also around this time, ''Beast Wars Reborn'' and ''Binaltech'' scribe [[Hirofumi Ichikawa]] was given the opportunity to contribute to the [[2015]] edition of the long-running English language feature [[Ask Vector Prime]], where he took the opportunity to tie up some loose ends from the ''Binaltech'' era as well as taking his own trip up and down the timeline, fleshing out the backstories of a variety of characters and plot devices from the Japan-exclusive cartoons.

[[File:Primus Vanguard Reborn.jpg|thumb|left|300px|[[The Reformatting|The seeds of the future ''really did'' lie buried in the past...]]]]

2017 saw an international brand restructuring as Hasbro and TakaraTomy made the decision to unify their collector-oriented franchises under the ''Generations'' branding from ''[[Power of the Primes (franchise)|Power of the Primes]]'' forward.

And the rest was silence.

...until [[2019]] when ''Legends'' and ''Unite Warriors'' author [[Hayato Sakamoto]] returned for the ''[[Generations Selects (franchise)|Generations Selects]]'' franchise and picked up where he left off, delivering something of an epilogue to his previous run by definitively plugging the Generation 1 era into the backstory of the Japanese ''Beast Wars'' cartoons, placing the sealing of [[Unicron]] at the [[Triple Z Point]] pivotal to ''Neo''{{'}}s plot between season 3 and ''Headmasters'' and illuminating the abandonment of Earth by humanity and the Transformers that sets the stage for its transformation into the mysterious future planet [[Gaia]], the setting of ''Beast Wars II''. Oh, and Sakamoto did one more thing: place an [[Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity#2016 - Spin Off and Generations Selects|obscure setting]] from [[Spin Off|about three comics]] from Takara's boutique retailer [[E-HOBBY|e-HOBBY]] on the cartoon timeline before season 1. WAAAAAY before season 1, heaping retcons upon the previous retcons concerning [[Primus]] and [[Primacron]] to tell their origins in the ''previous universe'' before that of the Transformers. This sweeping plot twist essentially repeated the ''Beast Wars'' trick, building out a new setting in cartoon continuity following the adventures of a new cast of characters, an organization of warrior monks known as the "[[Primus Vanguard]]" separated from established fiction by a huge time skip.
{{--}}

===The 2020s===
[[File:End of G1 Uiverse Thirteen Circle.jpg|thumb|400px]]
With the ''Generations Selects'' franchise concluding in 2022, ''[[The Transformers: End of G1 Universe]]'' introduced a dying [[G1 World]] and the creation of [[Dark Amber Leo Prime]] - 1/2 the body of [[Lio Convoy|Leo Prime]], 1/2 remnants of Unicron's Angolmois Energy that remained on Earth. Dark Leo Amber Prime would use his energies to restore a dying Earth, before traveling with the [[Maximal]] [[Blue Bolts (RID)|Bluebolt]] and [[Cyborg Beast]] [[Untite]] to save the universe. 

As ''End of G1 Universe'' was set to be the conclusion to the Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity, it remains unknown if more adventures will be added during the fifth decade of the Transformers brand. Will the plot zig-zag to another unexplored corner of the timeline? Will another series of retcons be introduced in a new series? There's no way to know, but if we can say one thing for certain, it will be ''significantly'' more complicated than whatever Hasbro is doing.
{{--}}

==Media==
As of [[{{CURRENTYEAR}}]], the Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity includes:
===Generation 1 cartoons===
[[File:VictoryPoster1.jpg|right|upright=1|thumb|Takara dares to imagine a world where Optimus and Megatron stayed in the ground for once.]]
*The first two seasons of [[The Transformers (cartoon)|''The Transformers'']], dubbed as ''Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers''
*The third season of ''The Transformers'', dubbed as ''Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers 2010''
*''The Transformers: The Movie'', dubbed as ''Transformers: The Movie'' (no "The")
*Further Japanese sequel series and OVAs:
**"[[Scramble City: Mobilization]]"
**''[[Transformers: The Headmasters (cartoon)|Transformers: The Headmasters]]''
**''[[Transformers: Super-God Masterforce (cartoon)|Transformers: Super-God Masterforce]]''
**''[[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers: Victory (cartoon)|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers: Victory]]''
**''[[Enter the New Supreme Commander, Dai Atlas!|Transformers: Zone]]''
{{--}}

===Generation 1 comics and story pages===
[[File:Battlestars ultra megatron fight.jpg|thumb|upright=1.6|Well it was nice while it lasted.]]
*An extensive run published in [[TV Magazine]] (mostly, [[Japanese_Generation_1_cartoon_continuity#1984_-_TV_Magazine_comics_and_story_pages|see below]]) including:
**Assorted comics:
***''[[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers (manga)|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers]]''
***''[[The Story of Super Robot Lifeforms: The Transformers|The Transformers]]''
***''[[The Great Transformer War]]''
***''[[Transformers: The Headmasters (manga)|The Headmasters]]''
***''[[Transformers: Super-God Masterforce (manga)|Super-God Masterforce]]''
***''[[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers: Victory (manga)|Victory]]''
***''[[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers: Zone (manga)|Zone]]''
***''[[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers: The Battlestars (manga)|The Battlestars]]''
***''[[Transformers: G-2 (pack-in manga)|G-2]]''
**Story pages for all of the above, plus:
***''[[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers: Operation Combination (story page)|Operation Combination]]''

*Also the [[Beastformers catalog|story pages]] included in the product catalogs for ''[[Beastformers]]'', Japan's release of ''Battle Beasts''.
**Yeah you read that right.
{{--}}

===''Beast Wars'' cartoons===
[[File:Whitelionrun maximals.jpg|thumb|250px|[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvrZJ5C_Nwg&t=128 Big Convoy Enough]]]
The cartoons of the ''[[Beast Wars: Transformers (franchise)|Beast Wars: Super Lifeform Transformers]]'' franchises, including:
*The dubbed first season of ''[[Beast Wars: Transformers (cartoon)|Beast Wars]]''
*The second and third seasons of ''Beast Wars'', dubbed as ''Beast Wars Metals''
*''[[Beast Machines: Transformers (cartoon)|Beast Machines]]'', dubbed as ''Beast Wars Returns''
*Additional Japan-exclusive seasons and a feature film:
**''[[Beast Wars II: Super Lifeform Transformers (cartoon)|Beast Wars II]]''
**''[[Beast Wars Special Super Lifeform Transformers|Beast Wars Special]]''
**''[[Super Lifeform Transformers: Beast Wars Neo (cartoon)|Beast Wars Neo]]''
{{--}}

===Legacy media===
[[File:Robots masters.jpg|upright=2|thumb|Yeah they pretty much all look like this now.]]
The storylines of numerous 21st century cartoons, comics, and toylines, including:
*2000s:
**''[[Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2001 cartoon)|Car Robots]]'' and ''[[The Transformers: Super Spychanger Lottery|Super Spychanger]]''
**''[[The Transformers: Micromaster|Micromaster]]''
**''[[Transformers: The Battle of the Star Gate|The Battle of the Star Gate]]''
**''[[Robotmasters (franchise)|Robotmasters]]''
**''[[Story of Binaltech|Binaltech]]'' and ''[[The Transformers: Binaltech Asterisk|Binaltech Asterisk]]''
**''[[Transformers: Kiss Players (franchise)|Kiss Players]]'' and ''[[Information Administration Teletraan 15 Go! Go!|15 Go! Go!]]''
**''[[Beast Wars Reborn]]''
**''[[Transformers: Beast Wars Diorama Story|Beast Wars Diorama Story]]''
*2010s:
**''[[Transformers: Alternity|Alternity]]'', kinda sorta (see [[Japanese_Generation_1_cartoon_continuity#2007_-_Binaltech_and_Alternity|below]])
**''[[Macrocosmic Seekers]]
**''[[Transformers United EX|United EX]]''
**''[[Transformers: Generations (Japan)#Fiction|Wars]]''
**''[[Transformers Legends (comic)|Legends]]'' and ''[[Transformers Unite Warriors|Unite Warriors]]''
**''[[Ask Vector Prime#Facebook|Ask Vector Prime]]''
**''[[The Transformers: Masterpiece#Prose|''Masterpiece'']]
*2020s:
**''[[Generations Selects Special Comic|Generations Selects]]''
**''[[The Transformers: End of G1 Universe|End of G1 Universe]]''

*[[E-HOBBY#e-HOBBY exclusive fiction|Several comics]] exclusively available with various [[e-HOBBY]] toys
*[[Transformers Generations (series)#Fiction|Several more comics]] exclusively available in various [[Transformers Generations (series)|guidebooks]]
*Numerous story points plucked from assorted [[bio|toy bios]]

And some other stuff the guy who wrote [[Japanese Generation 1 cartoon timeline|this timeline]] made up to make it all work.

Phew.

==Splinter continuities==
Despite its creators' extensive, extensive efforts a continuity does not get this big and this old without making a few omelettes along the way. The Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity counts a variety of [[Micro-continuity|smaller fictional universes]] as part of its fabric, both by happenstance and by design. Some of the biggest fish in this small pond are:

===1984 - ''TV Magazine'' comics and story pages===
[[File:TransformersTheComicsCover01.jpg|thumb|175px|]]
Originally conceived as in-continuity supplements to the co-running cartoons, the original ''[[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers (franchise)|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers]]'' comics and supporting story pages of the 1980s have received peculiar treatment by future stewards of the continuity. While produced as a discrete work by head cartoon writer [[Masumi Kaneda]] and character designer [[Ban Magami]] from the first season all the way up through ''[[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers: Operation Combination (franchise)|Operation Combination]]'', the first cracks began to show in the ''[[Transformers: Super-God Masterforce (franchise)|Masterforce]]'' chapter, where Kaneda and Magami opted to retell slightly more fleshed out versions of the cartoon's events rather than entirely avoiding the content of episodes as had been their previous strategy. For many years, the ''Masterforce'' and ''[[Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers: Victory (franchise)|Victory]]'' chapters which took this tack were considered outliers of dubious relation to the main timeline until later writers' timeline micromanagement shenanigans shouldered out the ''TV Magazine'' comic entirely, producing an isolated continuity that nonetheless still dovetails with mainline continuity beginning with ''[[Transformers: Zone (franchise)|Zone]]'', for the practical reason that there was no longer any other media to draw from for the final few years of the Japanese Generation 1 toyline.

[[Hidetsugu Yoshioka]]'s 1995 ''TV Magazine'' run picked up right where Kaneda and Magami left off with ''[[Transformers: Generation 2 (franchise)#G-2|G-2]]'', and was similarly folded directly into the cartoon timeline by future authors as the only fiction associated with Takara's version of the ''[[Transformers: Generation 2 (franchise)|Generation 2]]'' toyline.
{{--}}

===1996 - ''Beast Wars'' pack-in material===
[[File:Convobat.jpg|thumb|upright=0.95|right|Hey I wonder who this bat is.]]
Not unlike its western counterpart, the Japanese ''[[Beast Wars: Transformers (franchise)|Beast Wars]]'' continuity began as a direct continuation of the Generation 1 cartoon continuity starring [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]] and [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] on present-day Earth in new organic alternate modes. Just like its [[Micro-continuity#The "G1 Beast Wars"|Hasbro equivalent]], this setting was quickly dropped to pivot to the plot of the nascent cartoon. Unlike Hasbro's version of the story, however, TakaraTomy very much did connect the continuity of the ''Beast Wars'' cartoon directly to Generation 1, leaving this peculiar little cul-de-sac of pack-in fiction dangling ambiguously until nearly three decades later when the Japanese Generation 1 era and Beast era timelines finally connected, muscling it out into the same micro-continuity status as its western cousin.
{{--}}

===2007 - ''Binaltech'' and ''Alternity''===
[[File:Alternity Ace of Swords Cliffjumper Hytherion.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Licensed cars fare surprisingly well against a terror from beyond the stars.]]
{{main|Story of Binaltech}}
The pack-in fiction of the ''[[Transformers: Alternators#Binaltech|Binaltech]]'' franchise began simply enough, selling Japan's version of the ''[[Transformers: Alternators|Alternators]]'' toyline by giving a fairly down to earth accounting of the comings and goings of the Autobots and Decepticons in the gap between the second and third seasons of the Generation 1 cartoon. This all changed when the Autobots unearthed the spark of ''Beast Wars'' [[Ravage (G1)|Ravage]], having survived his apparent death in the [[Beast Wars: Transformers (cartoon)|''Beast Wars'' cartoon]] and taken the long way home. "Battle Ravage" took immediate and dramatic action to spare the Decepticons from the events of ''Transformers the Movie'' with his second chance, and this change created a branched timeline and a new universe referred to as the "[[BT World]]." The citizens of the BT World eventually discovered how to travel freely between their dimension and the main cartoon timeline, providing an elaborate in-universe explanation for the reappearances of various characters in Japan's extra cartoon seasons after their deaths in the film.

When ''Binaltech'' was greenlit for a sequel toyline in the form of ''[[Transformers: Alternity|Alternity]]'' series author [[Hirofumi Ichikawa]] ''really'' went ham, as the next chapter of the story chronicled how the inhabitants of BT World ascended to become the titular [[Alternity (species)|Alternity]], god-like multidimensional beings aggregating all the iterations of a given Transformer across the multiverse into a singular collective consciousness. As the war between the "[[Protector]]s" and the "[[Hytherion]]" across space and time raged the combatants frequently flitted in and out of "[[universal stream]]s" considered part of the primary cartoon timeline until the Alternity sacrificed their enlightenment to end the conflict, largely returning BT World to normal and ending its active influence on the primary Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity, barring the occasional escapade in [[Fun Publications]]'s [[Ask Vector Prime]] feature to which Ichikawa was a contributor.
{{--}}

===2014 - ''Legends''===
[[File:Legends web comic.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|Continuity between gag strips: Not even once.]]
{{main|Transformers Legends (comic)}}
Initially presented as an out of continuity gag comic to move TakaraTomy's ''[[Transformers: Generations (toyline)|Generations]]'' product via a scenario where super deformed versions of the ''Beast Wars'' cast worked as salarymen and collected ''Transformers'' toys themselves, the setting of ''[[Transformers Legends (franchise)|Transformers Legends]]'' was eventually built out not only to be part of the cartoon continuity, but somehow the backbone of an alarming amount of the timeline.

Let's back up.

As the comic wore on, Transformers from the Generation 1 continuity began ''physically appearing'' in the gag comic setting, known as the "[[Legends World]]," through various sci-fi means. In short order, they began bopping back and forth between the Legends World and points all along the main timeline, filling in gaps and patching up continuity errors left and right. In the bizarre finale, the Legends World was revealed to be a pocket dimension created by the [[Jumpstarter]]s of all people as part of a ploy by [[Zamojin (species)|powerful aliens]] from [[The Face of the Nijika|a single episode of the Generation 1 cartoon]] to harvest the [[Chōkon Power|kung fu energy]] from ''Masterforce''. Through a series of events too convoluted to get into here, the relationship between the Legends World and the world of the Generation 1 cartoon ended on a happy note when a reformed Generation 1 Megatron stepped down as its ruler and guardian and returned to his own dimension to forge the second [[Cybertron Alliance]].
{{--}}

===2016 - ''Spin Off'' and ''Generations Selects''===
[[File:Generations Selects Primus Vanguard.jpg|right|upright=2|thumb|The secret origin no one asked for!]]
{{main|Precursor World continuity}}

The universe of the color-coded warriors known as the [[Primus Vanguard]] was conceived as an independent continuity for [[e-HOBBY]]'s [[Spin Off|comics]], inhabited by a smattering of new exclusives along with a population of [[repurposing|repurposed]] old toys. That all changed when this once obscure little continuity was the subject of a sweeping retcon in the pages of the [[Generations Selects Special Comic|web comic]] for the ''[[Generations Selects (franchise)|Generations Selects]]'' franchise that repositioned it not only on the timeline of the Generation 1 cartoon, but as the universe ''before'' that of the Transformers, with the setting fated to eventually be destroyed in a [[Big Bang (event)|Big Bang]] to produce the familiar world of Optimus Prime and friends in a sort of Ragnarok situation. Furthermore, this "[[Precursor World]]" was elevated to the Japanese equivalent of [[Marvel Comics continuity|Marvel]]'s [[old realms]] with the reveal that it was also the primordial home reality of the [[Unicron]]-creating scientist [[Primacron]] and the Transformers' god [[Primus]] himself.

With the events leading up to said Big Bang left thus far intentionally unrevealed, the Precursor World can at present be thought of as a sort of baroque analogue to the Japanese Beast Era of the 1990s: confidently placed in the Japanese Generation 1 timeline but far enough away from established fiction to functionally present a fresh setting for storytelling without concern for the built up minutiae of the past forty years.

For now.
{{--}}

==Notes==
*It bears remarking that thanks to TakaraTomy's resident [[Hasbro]] lore-master [[Hirofumi Ichikawa]] expounding upon a series of easter eggs by [[Sunbow Productions]] staff,<ref>See our articles on [[Marissa Faireborn]], [[Cobra Commander|Old Snake]], [[Hector Ramirez]] and the [[Concurrence]] for more information.</ref> the world of the Japanese Generation 1 cartoon theoretically encompasses all six seasons and change of [[G.I. Joe (franchise)|''G.I. Joe'']]'s ''A Real American Hero'' cartoon continuity. That said, given TakaraTomy does not hold the license to ''G.I. Joe'' as of this writing (and little of that franchise made its way to Japanese shores in the first place) don't expect to see [[Snake-Eyes]] and pals bounding into your pack-in comics any time soon.
*In-universe dimensional observer [[Vector Prime]] blames the often-convoluted, occasionally-contradictory nature of this universe on quantum shockwaves caused by the [[Cybertron Is in Grave Danger, Part 2‎|destruction]] of its [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]] by [[Scorponok (G1)|MegaZarak]].

==See also==
*[[G1 World|The in-fiction article for this continuity]]
*[[Japanese Generation 1 cartoon timeline|The full chart of this mess, if you dare]]
*[[Generation 1 continuity family|Everything else in the neighborhood of the original 80's franchise]]

==Footnotes==
{{reflist}}


[[Category:Continuities]]
[[Category:Generation 1 cartoon continuity| *]]