Generation 1 cartoon timeline

A timeline for the events of Sunbow's animated Transformers series that ran from 1984-1987.

Timeline

Millions of Years Ago

"Near the beginning of the universe," an entity known as Primacron began to create. Among the beings to which he gave life were the first mechanoids known as "Primitives," one of which he took as his assistant in his continuing experiments. His creations steadily grew bigger and more complex until eventually, he created the planet-sized transforming robot called Unicron. Primacron intended for Unicron to consume all life in the universe, leaving it a blank slate for him to do with as he wished, but Unicron rebelled. Seriously injuring Primacron, he set out into the universe on his own, and Primacron's assistant escaped to a world near the centre of the galaxy.

12 million years ago

On the metal planet of Cybertron, the alien Quintessons mass-produced a race of robots to serve as their personal slaves. Forging their bodies in the fires of the Plasma Energy Chamber and imbuing them with intelligence using the mega-computer Vector Sigma, the Quintessons created two classes of robot - consumer goods and military hardware. Quintesson culture grew progressively more decadent, and the robots functioned or were deactivated at their whims - violent gladiatorial matches were held amongst the robots, with the losers smelted and their raw materials used to create new robots.

At some point during this period, the consumer goods robots came into possession of the mysterious Matrix of Leadership. The origins of this talisman are unknown (there is some suggestion it may be connected to Primacron's assistant), but it was passed from robot to robot through the years. Known holders during this time include the "Ancient Robot", the "Powerful Robot" and the "Brooding Robot".

Eventually, the consumer goods robots emerged into true sentience, and came to know the difference between freedom and slavery. They rose up in rebellion against their Quintesson creators, and the "First Cybertron War" began.

11 million years ago

A rebel cell of consumer goods robots led by A-3, including Beta, turned the Quintesson slave brand into a symbol of freedom when they assaulted the Quintesson's Hive City. Although they met resistance in the form of the Quintesson's gigantic Dark Guardian robots, A-3 activated the coda remote device he had placed within his slave brand, decativating the Dark Guardians and allowing the robots to take the city. This proved to be a key victory in the war - from this victory, the Quintesson line of dominoes began to fall, until the aliens were eventually defeated, and forced to flee the planet.

Peace then came to Cybertron for a time, with the robots building their own society, during which time, the Matrix was held by the "Pre-Transformer". However, the violent military hardware robots, now known as the Decepticons, sought conquest, and began the Second Cybertronian War when they turned their agression against the consumer goods, now called the Autobots, at the time led by the "New Narrator". Never having been designed for combat, the Autobots realised the futility of attempting to match the Decepticons strength and firepower, and, under the leadership of the "U-Haul Robot", instead turned to stealth, reconstructing their bodies so that they could transform into vehicles and machinery.

With this new innovation, the Autobots were ultimately able to win - or at least stalemate - the war, and peace retuned to Cybertron, now policed by the Guardian Robots, reprogrammed version of the Quintesson's Dark Guardians. Energy was plentiful, and the planet shone with a healthy golden glow, denoting this period as the Golden Age of Cybertron. Eventually, however, the Decepticons also developed transformation, and coupled the technology with robot-mode flight powers to renew their aims for conquest - thus it was that Megatron was born.

Assembling a small group of like-minded individuals, including Shockwave and Soundwave, and increasing his ranks by using his Robo-Smasher to reprogram Autobots, Megatron staged an attack on one of Iacon's outer cities. Presumably, this was also the attack which also saw him claim the life of the "U-Haul Robot", who entrusted the Matrix to the aged A-3, now known as Alpha Trion.

9 million years ago

For whatever reason, Megatron's actions were not made full public knowledge, and the Decepticons' impressive fight powers made them objects of hero worship for the young Autobot dock worker, Orion Pax. Orion couldn't believe his luck when Megatron approached him about securing a warehouse for his use, but soon came to realise the Decepticon's true evil nature when he revealed his plan to steal the energy in the other warehouses. Orion's girlfriend Ariel was shot down by Megatron, and when Orion attempt to avenge her, he met the same fate. Rescued by the time-displaced Aerialbots, Orion was brough to Alpha Trion, who was in the process of developing a means to reconstruct Autobots into truly battle-hardy configurations. Orion became the first to undergo the process, and was reconstructed into Optimus Prime. Given the Matrix by Alpha Trion, he became Autobot leader for the newly-begun Third Cybertronian War.

Footnotes

From Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki, a Wikia wiki.