Energon bloodline

It's all very straightforward.
(Each pair of colored portraits connect a Prime to a descendant.)

Through their Energon bloodline, a Transformer is descended from one of the Thirteen.

Fiction

Aligned continuity family

In the distant prehistory of Cybertron, when the original Thirteen Primes concluded that their time as stewards of the planet had come to an end, they united their knowledge and power to ignite the Well of All Sparks, the fount of life from which the Transformer race would be born. Each of the Thirteen submitted their "patterns" to the Well—the blueprints of their very being—and thus, each new lifeform that emerged from the Well was shaped in accordance with the archetype that one or more of the Primes represented, both in mind and in body. The individual natures and personalities of each of the Thirteen were reflected in the 'bots that followed them; for instance, Megatron was born of the line of Megatronus, a passionate and resentful outsider, while all those descended from Solus Prime shared her specific data processing architecture (necessary to operate her Creation Lathe), a distinction that became the basis for the Cybertronian model of gender division. Additionally, the unique physical attributes of certain Primes also spawned whole sub-classes of Transformer life: Onyx Prime's descendants had beast modes, Micronus Prime's were Mini-Cons, Nexus Prime's patterns gave Transformers the potential to be combiners, and Amalgamous Prime's gave some the potential for greater-than-average transformation abilities. The Covenant of Primus

Age of the Primes promotional material

Every Transformer could be traced back to one of the original Thirteen. Known lineages include:

Prima Prime Red Alert Cliffjumper

Vector Prime Skydive

Alpha Trion Slingshot Grimlock Powerglide

Solus Prime Crasher Smokescreen

Micronus Prime Waspinator Swerve

Alchemist Prime Fireflight

Nexus Prime Silverbolt Onslaught

Onyx Prime Sky-Byte Razorclaw

Amalgamous Prime Air Raid Excellion Wreck-Gar

Quintus Prime Flatline Ratchet

Liege Maximo Sideways Venin

Megatronus the Fallen Vortex Brawl

Star Optimus Prime Heatwave Big Convoy

Notes

• The concept of alignment to one of the Thirteen originates in the abandoned "polarity" idea featured in the Binder of Revelation, although that was a more complex system, owing to an individual having two polarities instead of one bloodline.
• Energon bloodlines are a thinly sketched gimmick of the Age of the Primes toyline representing an effort to tie the non-Prime toys into the line's central Thirteen motif in a manner analogous to the "Prime Master power" profile cards of 2018's Power of the Primes. The lateral packaging art, for Deluxe, Voyager, and Leader toys, is supposed to feature a cut of the main artwork to indicate which Prime the character is related to, though the art always shows three Primes. The specific lineage is usually clarified by other promotional material. Age of the Primes multi-packs have so far not bothered with the "Energon bloodline" gimmick in any way and do not use said artwork.
• Some figures lack explicitly confirmed lineages in any promotional material, though educated guesses can be made based on their box art.
  • Blast Off's box has Liege Maximo, Megatronus, and Star Optimus. Based on the pattern of the other Combaticons, Megatronus is most likely.
  • Quickstrike's box has Onyx, Amalgamous, and Quintus. Of those, Onyx is most likely.
  • Jalopy's box has Onyx, Amalgamous, and Quintus. Amalgamous is most likely based on fellow Junkion Wreck-Gar.
  • Sureshot's box has Prima, Vector, and Alpha Trion. Since Sureshot’s an egomaniac, maybe Prima?
• Assignment of Age of the Primes characters seems to be either based on a characteristic (being a combiner, a deceiver, etc.) or a reference to previous work (Optimus Prime being a mentor figure to Heatwave in Rescue Bots).
• Noted continuity snarl Sideways plays nice for once with this gimmick, as both Age of the Primes toys of his Unicron Trilogy incarnation list the same ancestor.