User:Fanofcoolstuff27/sandbox/WIP

This is where anything I am working on that doesn't require an entire page will go.

Autobots	Decepticons
Sky Lynx (de facto leader) Grimlock Ramhorn Slag Sludge Snarl Steeljaw Swoop	Blot Cutthroat Divebomb Headstrong Hun-Gurrr Overkill Rampage Ratbat	Ravage Razorclaw Rippersnapper Sinnertwin Slugfest Tantrum Trypticon

Autobots	Decepticons
Sky Lynx (de facto leader) Grimlock Ramhorn Slag Sludge Snarl Steeljaw Swoop	Blot Cutthroat Divebomb Headstrong Hun-Gurrr Overkill Rampage Ratbat Ravage Razorclaw Rippersnapper Sinnertwin Slugfest Tantrum Trypticon

Marketing material

When the War for Cybertron Trilogy was first conceived, Hasbro worked hard to establish a multi-platform storyline for audiences to build upon with both their toys and their imaginations.

This continuity is somewhat similar to the cartoon continuity above, however; several elements within both storylines are very different from one another. To put it simply; both pieces of War for Cybertron Trilogy fiction spawned from the same outline that had been established, and move in their own unique directions.

War for Cybertron: Siege

“	It is the day of reckoning. The Autobots, led by Optimus Prime, make a perilous last stand to hold off the Decepticon conquest of Cybertron. Outnumbered, outgunned, and pushed to the brink of extinction, the battle-weary band of resistance fighters orchestrates a desperate series of counterstrikes on a mission that, if everything somehow goes right, will end with an unthinkable choice: kill their planet in order to save it.	”
—War for Cybertron: Siege website blurb.

The storyline started out strong with the War for Cybertron: Siege line, which placed all of its fiction during the final days of the war for Cybertron. In order to add depth to the characters, each were assigned a unique military insignia, that were made up of smaller chunks, representing the different divisions, units and ranks within the respective faction's miltary. These rankings also severed as a means to show the dark past behind some of the characters that would adapt into the fan-favourite icons that we all know and love.

The main key points of the story relied on both visual storytelling through each toy's box art and the "Teletraan-1 Data Files" which were mostly found on the Siege website, but could also be found on Hasbro Pulse through occassional blog entries and downloadable desktop wallpapers from both sites. Each Date File listed off the last location a character had been seen or heard from, giving an idea to who were together during the final battle and what role they played in making the ultimate sacrifice—sending the AllSpark off-world, leaving their planet to ultimately perish.

The Siege story consists of the following media (in no particular order):

• The Teletraan-1 Data Files on the Siege website and Hasbro Pulse
• Character bios on the Siege website
• Box art and desktop wallpapers available on the Siege website and Hasbro Pulse
• "Autobots vs. Decepticons" stop motion posted to both the website and the Official Transformers YouTube channel
• Military insignia found on the back of boxes, in the instructions and on the website
• Various behind the scenes blog entries on Hasbro Pulse
• Several Hasbro product descriptions on Amazon, Hasbro Pulse and other online retailers

War for Cybertron: Earthrise

“	Following the events of SIEGE, the Autobots hurtle deep into the unknown as their pursuit of the Allspark through space turns into a furious race for their own survival. With unforeseen dangers lurking ahead and the Decepticons closing in from behind, the only way out is to find a way through. The crew of the Ark must escape the perils of space as they chase the thin sliver of hope that lies on the edge of the horizon. They will reach their salvation, or they will meet their end.	”
—War for Cybertron: Earthrise website blurb.

Contrary to popular belief, the War for Cybertron: Earthrise story mostly revolved around space travel, rather than spending time on Earth. The storytelling elements found in this line mostly consisted of a map of the universe that was printed on packaging inserts that required the owner to carefully cut out and keep to build the full map. Also included were transparent red decoders that revealed the names of locations on the map pieces and the path that the Ark and the Nemesis took as they searched for the AllSpark. Carrying on from Siege, Hasbro also released several character bios on the Earthrise website.

Eventually, more elements of the story were revealed in the exclusive "Galactic Odyssey Collection" listings on Amazon. Each of the five sets came with a detailed universe map of the five planets the Transformers interacted with while searching for fuel and the AllSpark. Story elements that described each of the planet's inhabitants and habitat were also printed on cards included in the sets.

To be frank, Earthrise was released at what can only be described as the worst possible time. As the COVID-19 pandemic hit worldwide in 2020, the same amount of effort found in the Siege storyline, could not be found in Earthrise, likely due to the lack of staff on-hand for health and safety reasons. Also due to the pandemic, worldwide distribution was holted and several countries went into lockdown, resulting in the toyline being cut short, with around half of it only being sold as online exclusives. To top it off, what was being distributed appeared to be supplied in such short number, that most of the line never saw the light of day in some countries and even parts of the United States. Ultimately, the storyline took just as big of a hit as the toys it was made to advertise.

The Earthrise story consists of the following media (in no particular order):

• Character bios on the Earthrise website
• Box art and desktop wallpapers available on Hasbro Pulse
• Military insignia found on the back of boxes, in the instructions and on the Earthrise website
• Various behind the scenes blog entries on Hasbro Pulse
• Several Hasbro product descriptions on Amazon, Hasbro Pulse and other online retailers

War for Cybertron: Kingdom

“	In the third and final chapter of the War for Cybertron trilogy, the Autobots and Decepticons awaken after crash-landing on pre-Ice Age Earth…They are closer than ever to finding the Allspark. But they are not alone. Transformers beasts, the Maximals and Predacons, have traveled across time to find the Allspark and change the fate of Cybertron. As the power of the beasts is unleashed, Optimus Prime and Megatron fight their greatest battle as the two leaders come face to face with the consequences of their war.	”
—War for Cybertron: Kingdom website blurb.

Finish off the trilogy with a bang and celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the original Beast Wars franchise, the War for Cybertron: Kingdom line took a new spin on both the Beast Wars and its famous time travelling theme. Waking up from stasis before 1984, the Autobots and Decepticons found themselves caught up in the Beast Wars where the Maximals and Predacons had been fighting over the AllSpark to right the wrongs the Transformers' battle had brought to their future timeline.

Kingdom's biggest story elements are the collectible "Golden Disk destiny" cards selected at random and included inside the packaging of mainline figures. Each card features four possible destinies for each of the six different character cards. Each of these destiny cards represent readings of alternate futures that had been imprinted onto the Golden Disk.

Another element used was, once again, the website's character bios. Releasing in conjunction with the Kingdom cartoon, the Kingdom website's bios heavily reflected the characters from the cartoon over the pre-established continuity given with the previous two lines, even going so far as to include characters/toys only released in the War for Cybertron Trilogy, Siege and Earthrise toylines, instead of the ones released in the Kingdom line itself, such as the Fossilizers. Also following on from the theme of possible destinies, the toyline saw the exclusive "Golden Disk Collection" subline imprint, which followed the same suit as the "Galactic Odyssey Collection", placing large chunks of the line's fiction in product descriptions on Amazon.

Released around the same time, The Transformers: The Movie toys released in the Studio Series toyline had also been described by Hasbro as being alternate universe counterparts to the War for Cybertron Trilogy characters, due to characters like Cyclonus and Galvatron being released in one line, while Scourge and the Sweeps were in the other. This made for more of an additional personal canon-type element to the story and playability between the lines.

The Kingdom story consists of the following media (in no particular order):

• Golden Disk destiny cards
• Character bios on the Kingdom website
• Box art
• Military insignia found on the back of boxes and in the instructions of Autobots and Decepticons
• Several Hasbro product descriptions on Amazon, Hasbro Pulse and other online retailers

Continuity notes

Unlike the original Beast Wars cartoon, the time travel elements within the War for Cybertron Trilogy marketing material fiction don't entirely mesh as well as they could.

Though there is a bulk of fiction released in Earthrise that takes place in space before reaching Earth, there are other elements of the story the depicts their battle on Earth during 1984. This makes placing Kingdom on a timeline somewhat difficult, as several Autobots and Decepticons are depicted in their Earth vehicle modes over the Cybertronian vehicle modes from Siege. Further, the Kingdom website blurb has them wake up on pre-historic Earth to participate alongside their descendants in the Beast Wars, which makes one wonder, how did they get these modes if Earth vehicles don't exist yet? The product descriptions for the Earthrise Autobot Alliance and all five of the Seeker Elite members also suggest they woke up in 1984, which adds to the confusion.

There seems to be only two logical explanations:

1. The first is that the Autobots and Decepticons woke up on pre-historic Earth, fought in the Beast Wars, and then went back into stasis, before waking up again to continue the battle in 1984....but that still leaves the question as to where the Earth vehicle modes came from, which leads into the second theory:
2. It takes place in an alternate timeline. The Kingdom blurb does hint at some kind of catastrophy taking place in the distant future where the Maximals and Predacons hail from, which led them to pre-historic Earth in search of the AllSpark to fix whatever happened, so it is possible that some kind of time vortex-type issue may have played into this.

If the second theory is to be the "correct" one, then that would mean the events of Kingdom never happen in one reality, but happen in another, so one could happily skip the continuity headache (and the Beast Wars) altogether.

At the end of the day, the marketing material fiction built around the War for Cybertron Trilogy is only there to sell the toys it's advertising. A lot of the fiction isn't all that easy to find if you don't know where to look for it either, so the attention to smaller details aren't all that needed for something with very little significance over a cartoon which more people are likely to see.