Continuity family

A continuity family is TFWiki.net's term for a group of distinct but closely-related individual continuities. It is not an official term, but it is an extremely useful organizational tool, providing the essence of how we divide one page from another.

For example, the Generation 1 franchise has always comprised multiple separate continuities, most prominently the original cartoon and comic books. Therefore, there is no single "Generation 1 continuity", but many (many many) related ones. It would be madness to make a separate page for every single incarnation, of, say, Starscream, so we group all of his portrayals across the Generation 1 franchise into the same article, considering them a united "family." And, just as a single franchise can contain multiple continuities, so can multiple franchises encompass a single continuity. For example, Beast Wars is a separate franchise from Generation 1, but its storyline draws heavily upon Generation 1 continuity, so it is considered part of the same continuity family, and Starscream's appearance in the Beast Wars cartoon is also included on the same page.

Determining where one continuity family ends and a new one begins is an inherently subjective matter and occasionally a cause of debate (see Quibbles below). One general guideline that fits most cases is that a new family is begun when a series is both a) a fresh continuity and b) within a separate franchise. Robots in Disguise was the first series to break from tradition in both criteria and therefore form a new family.

Within the fiction, the "universal stream" concept seems to correspond to our notion of continuity families, wherein alternate universes are grouped together according to some sort of relationship they share. Five major families have been noted within this schema, and known stream designators are included in parentheses:

1. Generation 1 (Primax)
2. Robots in Disguise
3. Unicron Trilogy (Aurex)
4. Live-action film series (Tyran)
5. Transformers Animated (Malgus)

Other families not yet given designators:

1. Go-Bots
2. Shattered Glass

Specific continuity families

Generation 1

The Generation 1 continuity family is by far the most extensive in the Transformers multiverse. It began with the Generation 1 franchise and continued with the Generation 2 revival in the 1990s. The "Beast Era" also belongs in this family, since the Beast Wars cartoon firmly established its universe as an extension of the Generation 1 mythos. The Generation 1 franchise was revived in the 2000s with "reboot" comic series from Dreamwave and IDW, and new Generation 1-themed toys have appeared under the Classics line and the Universe G1 Series. TakaraTomy has also contributed to the family in recent times through Japanese franchises such as Binaltech and Henkei! Henkei!. For a complete list of franchises included in this family, see the main-article link above.

Robots in Disguise

The Robots in Disguise franchise was the first break from the Generation 1 continuity family. It includes a television series, a short comic story from the Dreamwave Summer Special and many characters who only exist as toys. Since there is no contradiction between those elements, they could be considered a single Robots in Disguise continuity and therefore a continuity-family-of-one.

In Japan, where the franchise is known Car Robots, the cartoon was presented in the same manner, as a completely new continuity. However, a few years later TakaraTomy claimed that it was actually part of the Generation 1 family (see Unified Japanese continuities.) Good luck figuring that one out.

Unicron Trilogy

This includes the Armada, Energon, and Cybertron toylines and all related media. Japanese incarnations are included. Initially, the Japanese version of Cybertron (known as Galaxy Force) was not part of this family, but like Car Robots, it has apparently been retconned back in. (See Unified Japanese continuities.)

Live-action film series

This family features the Movie and Revenge of the Fallen franchises. This includes the showcase films Transformers and Revenge of the Fallen and their associated toylines. There is also a large array of supporting fiction in the form of books, comics, video games, and online games.

Transformers Animated

In 2008, a new continuity family was born with the premiere of the Transformers Animated cartoon, and soon grew to also include comics and other ancillary fiction.

Shattered Glass

In 2008 Fun Publications introduced the Shattered Glass continuity family, a "mirror universe" where heroic Decepticons and evil Autobots battle. Though largely taking its lead from Generation 1, the twisted (and often deliberately surreal) "evil" versions of existing characters don't follow any single set pattern, and it is considered its own family. The Shattered family includes the wacky quasi-British Shattered Expectations and the somewhat more serious Shattered Glass continuities.

Go-Bots

The least prominent continuity family, this is based around the Go-Bots toyline, encompassing the Playskool Transformers lines and cartoons aimed at ages five and below. (Sometimes called Go-Go-Go-Bots by fans.)

TransTech

TransTech is a single continuity separate from all other families, another continuity-family-of-one. It has been featured in several Fun Publications comics and text stories which, like the 2003 Universe franchise, openly acknowledge the concept of the multiverse. A key feature of TransTech stories is that characters from different continuity families interact within the TransTech world. In fact, TransTech is the source of the "universal stream" system mentioned above, which is essentially an in-fiction codification of the idea of continuity families.

Quibbles

The concept of a continuity family is not an official one; it was generated by editors of this wiki as an organizational tool. While the "universal stream" concept lends an air of canonicity to the idea, so far only a small handful of continuities have been offically categorized according to that schema. So for the bulk of Transformers fiction, deciding where the lines between families are drawn is a subjective business, balancing both abstract guidelines and practical considerations.

Universe (2003)

The 2003 Universe franchise features a cross-dimensional storyline that touches upon every continuity family that existed up to that point (with even a character from the Playskool Go-Bots franchise). However, because the "home base" of the Universe stories is post-Beast Machines Cybertron, it is considered here to be part of the Generation 1 family.

IDW comics

IDW Publishing's ongoing Generation 1 comics are included within the Generation 1 continuity family by virtue of being part of the Generation 1 franchise. However, looking beyond the fact that the Transformers in the cast are almost entirely Generation 1 characters, the continuity is nevertheless a full reboot. The backstory has little to do with any pre-existing history, and many of the characters are portrayed in unique ways. The question of whether or not, for example, the IDW version of Galvatron should be considered the "same character" as previous incarnations has been a contentious one, and it cuts to the core of where we consider an old family to end and a new one to begin.

IDW Evolutions

IDW's Evolutions line of comics features explicitly alternate-universe treatments of Transformers characters. The only existing example, Hearts of Steel, sets the Generation 1 characters in the 19th century, where they transform into locomotives, ironclad ships, etc. As Hearts of Steel broadly resembles Generation 1, it is treated here as part of the Generation 1 continuity family, though it certainly pushes that envelope.

Live-action film series

Where the IDW examples demonstrate this wiki's willingness to include diverse and fairly dissimilar continuities in the same family, the live-action film series shows the opposite. Several members of the main cast are clearly based on Generation 1 archetypes, but the aesthetic, backstory, and tone are different enough that many consider the films to be a new family. This was a focus of no small disagreement when the first movie franchise appeared, as some people considered the movie to be analogous to the IDW comics. Had the franchise never grown beyond the movies, it's entirely possible that the wiki would have ended up including it under the Generation 1 umbrella; however, the staggering breadth of movie-related media has made that option wildly impractical.