Transformers Timelines (fiction)

The name or term "Timeline" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Timeline (disambiguation).

« Timelines » Toyline Fiction

You're semi-evil. You're quasi-evil. You're the margarine of evil. You're the Diet Coke of evil: just one calorie, not evil enough.

Timelines is the franchise under which much of Fun Publications' Transformers fiction is published. It encompasses most of the stories released in conjunction with BotCon and the Transformers Collectors' Club. Some stories build on existing continuities, while others create new ones from scratch.

Timelines began in 2005 with the release of Fun Publications' first BotCon fiction, and it denoted a new approach to convention-based fiction. The previous convention organizers, 3H Productions, had released lengthy storylines with complex ties to existing mainstream stories; these stories sluggishly unfolded across various years' conventions. Timelines instead promised a series of unconnected stand-alone stories, starting with a short comic accompanying the 2005 boxed toy set.

The brand has since expanded to include various other stories in multiple formats, primarily text stories with illustrations made available through the Transformers Club web site, but also script readings and even a computer-animated short feature. Despite the focus on stand-alone tales, many Timelines stories have tied in to the larger ongoing story told through the fan club magazine's monthly comic (which is not itself branded as part of the Timelines umbrella.)

The only stories under the Timelines banner to receive a numbering system are the hard-copy-published comic book issues, listed below.

	Transformers Timelines issues:
v1: #1 v2: #1 #2 #3 Spring Special #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #10

Original continuities

Continuities original to Timelines fiction (and related magazine comics) are:

• TransTech
• Shattered Glass
• Wings Universe
• Beast Wars: Uprising

BotCon stories

Most of the Timelines stories have been made available at the BotCon convention, and mostly feature the characters available as convention exclusive toys that year.

BotCon 2005

• "Descent into Evil"

Format: comic book
Continuity: Indeterminate Generation 1
Story: Ironhide and a team of Autobots attempt to stop Deathsaurus from reviving the Decepticon Empire with a clone army of Insecticons.

• "Intimidation Game"

Format: Live-action script reading.
Continuity: Indeterminate Generation 1 (as above)
Story: Several Predacons test the loyalty of Flamewar.

BotCon 2006

• "Dawn of Future's Past"

Format: Comic book
Continuity: Beast Wars
Story: A Maximal relic has been stolen, and a team of explorers is called to catch the thieves.

BotCon 2007

• "Games of Deception"

Format: Comic book
Continuity: Classics
Story: A team of Autobots led by Ultra Magnus and Grimlock face the mysterious Decepticon Bug Bite and his crew of mind-controlled followers.

• "Theft of the Golden Disk"

Format: Computer animation.
Continuity: Beast Wars
Story: Megatron and his flunkies match wits with Cryotek.

BotCon 2008

• "Shattered Glass"

Format: Comic book
Continuity: Shattered Glass
Story: Cliffjumper is transported to a mad world where the bad guys are the good guys.

• "Bee in the City"

Format: Live-action script reading
Continuity: Animated & TransTech
Story: Optimus, Bumblebee, and Sari are accidentally teleported to Axiom Nexus, and hilarity follows close behind.

BotCon 2009

• "Wings of Honor"

Format: Comic book
Continuity: Wings Universe
Story: Kup tells a story about one of his earliest missions at the beginning of the war.

BotCon 2010

• "Generation 2: Redux"

Format: Comic book
Continuity: Wings Universe
Story: When Clench hijacks the Large Hadron Collider for his lackeys' experiments, can Pyro's Autobots save the day?

BotCon 2011

• "The Stunti-Con Job"

Format: Comic book/live-action script reading
Continuity: Animated cartoon
Story: Following Megatron's incarceration, Sideswipe and Cheetor investigate The Motor Master's Stunt Convoy.

BotCon 2012

• "Invasion"

Format: Comic book
Continuity: Classics & Shattered Glass
Story: SG Ultra Magnus invades the Classicsverse, and Treadshot tries to stop him.

• "Bee in the City 2: Electric Boogaloo"

Format: Live-action script reading
Continuity: TransTech & a G1 universe
Story: Megatron attempts to ruin Transformers forever by replacing Bumblebee as the face of the brand with himself.

BotCon 2013

• "Termination"

Format: Comic book
Continuity: Wings Universe
Story: Autobot generals Strika and Obsidian lead a united Autobot/Decepticon force in a bid to take back Cybertron from Megaplex and his clone armies.

• "Unreliable Narratives"

Format: Live-action script reading
Continuity: Aligned
Story: Kup relates to Hot Shot one of his old Wreckers stories, in which he and Wheeljack once bested a team of Decepticons led by Shockwave.

BotCon 2014

• "Hoist the Flag"

Format: Comic book
Continuity: Wings Universe
Story: Captain Cannonball and his crew of Star Seekers attempt to loot Cybertron of its energy, as a brave team of Cybertronian Knights stands in their way.

• "Prevenge"

Format: Live-action script reading
Continuity: MANY! (Rescue Bots/G1/IDW G1/Shattered Glass/RID (2001)/Beast Wars/Animated/Armada)
Story: A multitude of diverse characters from across the multiverse are abducted from their respective realities by a mysterious captor for an unknown purpose.

BotCon 2015

• "Cybertron's Most Wanted"

Format: Comic book
Continuity: TransTech
Story: The TransTechs must resort to having a band of criminals save Axiom Nexus.

• "The Return of Blurr"

Format: Live-action script reading
Continuity: Animated cartoon
Story: Sari Sumdac stumbles upon an incapacitated Autobot intelligence agent on Cybertron.

Club stories

Text stories

Some club stories were made available via the Transformers Collectors' Club in prose form with illustrations, usually about then-recent toys and/or Club exclusives.

2007

• "The Dark Heart of Sandokan"

Continuity: Unicron Trilogy cartoon continuity
Story: Cannonball pursues an artifact.

• "The Razor's Edge"

Continuity: Beast Wars
Story: Airazor does some stuff.

• "The New World"

Continuity: Classics
Story: Strife emerges among the Mini-Cons on the newly reformed Cybertron.

• "Wreckers: Finale Part II"

Continuity: Universe
Story: The conclusion of the Beast Era Wreckers' adventures.

2008

• "Gone Too Far"

Continuity: TransTech & Classics
Story: Deep in the outworlder city of Axiom Nexus, Jackpot and Hubcap get caught up in the locals' intrigues.

• "Force of Habit"

Continuity: Unicron Trilogy cartoon continuity
Story: A team of Autobots, searching for the Cyber Planet Keys, finds a dead colony world with some dark secrets.

• "Withered Hope"

Continuity: GoBots / TransTech / Classics
Story: Six explorers from a doomed dimension wind up in Axiom Nexus.

• "I, Lowtech"

Continuity: TransTech
Story: Power Master Bulletbike goes on a homicidal rampage.

• "Dungeons & Dinobots"

Continuity: Shattered Glass
Story: A new intellect within Grimlock is awakened by mysterious forces.

2009

• "Do Over"

Continuity: Shattered Glass
Story: The Autobots try to fly their Ark to Earth once more.

• "The Desert Heat!" (2-page comic)

Continuity: Shattered Glass
Story: Heatwave and Soundwave have some adjustment problems after landing on Earth. Prelude to "Eye in the Sky".

• "Eye in the Sky"

Continuity: Shattered Glass
Story: The Autobots and Decepticons have their first round of clashes on Earth.

• "Blitzwing Bop"

Continuity: Shattered Glass
Story: Blitzwing gets turned into a broadcast transmitter that could be deadly to both factions.

• "At Fight's End"

Continuity: Classics
Story: The Decepticon Civil War comes to a close as Megatron advances on Bludgeon.

2010

• "Flames of Yesterday"

Continuity: Wings Universe
Story: The Elite Guard is charged with protecting a discovery related to Cybertron's past from falling into Decepticon hands.

• "A Team Effort"

Continuity: Wings Universe
Story: The Stealth Team has to go undercover to keep Gutcruncher and his lackeys from getting their hands on a mysterious power force.

2011

• "Transhuman"

Continuity: Shattered Glass
Story: The balance in the war between the Transformers shifts when amazing new technology is given to a human.

2015

• "Broken Windshields"

Continuity: Beast Wars: Uprising
Story: Lio Convoy sets an uprising in motion.

• "Head Games"

Continuity: Beast Wars: Uprising
Story: Buzzclaw joins the rebellion.

• "Andromeda - Axiom Nexus News Reporter" (Facebook page posts)

Continuity: TransTech
Story: Andromeda reports to Axiom Nexus.

• "Rook - Axiom Nexus News: Investigative Journalist" (Facebook posts)

Continuity: TransTech
Story: Rook digs deeper into the happenings in Axiom Nexus.

• "Axiom Nexus News Editor" (Facebook page posts)

Continuity: TransTech
Story: The editor corrects any mistakes in Andromeda and Rook's reporting.

• "Ask Vector Prime" (Facebook page posts)

Continuity: TransTech
Story: Vector Prime spends some time in Axiom Nexus to answer questions.

Comic book stories

In early 2008, plans were announced to publish a quarterly Timelines comic book series, available at comic book stores. The first issue, a "Spring Special", arrived in fall 2008. Oops!

2008

• "Cheap Shots"

Continuity: Classics
Story: Nightbeat and his crew search for a kidnapped pilot.

2011

• "Moving Violations" (2-page comic)

Continuity: Animated cartoon
Story: Officer Cheetor apprehends a couple of miscreants with his wantonly destructive totally awesome policing skills.

2012

• "Invasion Prologue" (6-page comic)

Continuity: TransTech & Classics
Story: The TransTech observe an incredible multiversal phenomenon which they trace back to one universe's Overlord.

• "Invasion: Epilogue" (2-page comic)

Continuity: TransTech
Story: In the aftermath of a multiversal crisis, the TransTechs seek assistance from a skilled hunter.

2013

• "Timeless" (6-page comic)

Continuity: TransTech/Aligned/psuedo-IDW G1
Story: Heinrad foreshadows what is to come and promises to help an acquaintance.

2014

• "A Common Foe" (22-page Transformers: Timelines comic)

Continuity: Wings Universe
Story: Immediately following the events of "Termination", the united Autobot/Decepticon army makes one last effort to take back Cybertron from Jhiaxus.

2015

• "Collections" (3-page comic)

Continuity: Indeterminate Beast Wars & TransTech
Story: What Packrat was up to before arriving in Axiom Nexus.

Facebook fiction

Beginning in 2014, the Club took to using Facebook to expand its horizons of storytelling mediums, creating Facebook pages for Transformers characters who post about the their fictional lives and things they know.

2014

• Tornado - Decepticon Saboteur (Facebook page posts & Google documents)

Continuity: Wings Universe
Story: Tornado chronicles/vents about his time as a crew member of Captain Cannonball's Star Seeker space pirates.

2015

• Andromeda - Axiom Nexus News Reporter (Facebook page posts)

Continuity: TransTech
Story: Andromeda reports to Axiom Nexus.

• Rook - Axiom Nexus News: Investigative Journalist (Facebook posts)

Continuity: TransTech
Story: Rook digs deeper into the happenings in Axiom Nexus.

• Axiom Nexus News Editor (Facebook page posts)

Continuity: TransTech
Story: The editor corrects any mistakes in Andromeda and Rook's reporting.

• Ask Vector Prime (Facebook page posts)

Continuity: TransTech
Story: Vector Prime spends some time in Axiom Nexus to answer questions. After he leaves, others host his column.