Functionist Universe

The Functionist Universe, designated Primax 1114.26 Gamma, was born as a divergent timeline from Primax 1005.19 Gamma, created when Perceptor tampered with the paradox locks of Brainstorm's time travel device. In this universe, Megatron as he was known never came to exist, meaning that the Senate remained in power and the Great War never occurred. The Senate was eventually replaced by the Functionist Council. Thus, the entirety of Cybertron adhered to the fascist ideals of Functionism, where one's form defined their function.

Fiction

IDW Generation 1 continuity

Some time after unseating the Senate, the Functionist Council outlawed the Intellectual Class and deported all Transformers who had been constructed cold. From their headquarters in The Cog, they determined which classes still had value and which no longer had a purpose. When a class was deemed obsolete, they were "recalled" by lethally detonating obsolescence chips that the council had installed in the heads of every Cybertronian. The reasoning behind this mass murder of the populace was that "by downsizing the population, the Council is honoring the Guiding Hand -- principally Adaptus -- and reducing demand for finite energy supplies. Mass recalls should therefore be regarded as acts of both sacrifice and pragmatism." In reality, however, many of the recalls (the Intellectual Class likely among them) were motivated by the fear that they would act against the Council. Rewind would later recall that the laser pointers had been recalled in 6th cycle, 351 in an event known as the Dark Dawn.

They continued to practice empurata on dissenters, until it became so commonplace it lost its effectiveness; when that happened, they began replacing Transformers' heads with monitors that removed their ability to speak, replacing it with text that scrolled across the screen. Known as "flatheads," their faces were considered Council property and the Functionist Council could co-opt the screens to display their own messages of unity if the subject continued speaking out of turn. Some Transformers would attempt to pose as higher-class citizens by attaching kibble to themselves to give the appearance of a more useful alt mode; as a result, the Council's functionaries began directly inspecting the transformation cogs of suspicious 'bots. By the present day, even animals were being added to the Grand Cybertronian Taxonomy.

At some point, the Primal Vanguard was sent to Luna 2 to fight the Black Box Consortia for control of the moon. After half a million years of fighting, the Council agreed to peace terms that gave the moon to the Consortia. With no more need to travel to the moon, the Astro Class was subsequently recalled and the Primal Vanguard returned to Cybertron. En route, the Council had all of the soldiers' eyes replaced with new ones that would allow the Council to watch the populace through them. When this test proved effective, they decided to roll this compulsory upgrade to the rest of the population. Around this same time, the "willfully non-employed" began rebelling against the Functionist Council, rejecting alt modes altogether and rallying around a figure known as the "Useless One." The Council violently suppressed them and prevented their revolts from being broadcast to the populace. Shortly thereafter, they ordered the data slugs recalled as their ability to store information could be used against their government.The Custom-Made Now

{storylink|Elegant Chaos Part 1: All Our Parlous Yesterdays|All Our Parlous Yesterdays}} Predestination: An Expert's Guide