Transformers Online (2012 video game)

Developer	NetDragon
Publisher	Hasbro
Platforms	Online
Release date	March 2012

This article is about the 2012 MMORPG. For the 2017 team shooter, see Transformers Online (2017 video game).

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Transformers Online (变形金刚在线 Biànxíng Jīngāng Zàixìan) was a Chinese MMORPG. It was developed by Chinese company NetDragon, and it is based on Transformers: Prime. Players could choose to be an Autobot or Decepticon, and would tangle with both their opposing faction and the Star Seekers. Megatron opened a space bridge, sending Tyger Pax off of Cybertron and towards Earth. Split into two pieces, one half fell into the ocean, another orbiting Earth, with only government agencies and a few other humans aware of the occurrence and the Transformers themselves. The remains of Tyger Pax, along with the Autobots and Decepticons are hunted by the third faction.^[1] Beta testing started in August 2011,^[2] and the game launched in March 2012.^[3]

The MMO appears to have been abandoned as of October 2012, as it was delisted from NetDragon's product page ^[4] and the official website became non-functional in either late September or early October.^[5]

The original cast, naturally, have Mandarin Chinese names. All of them have since been given English names by Ask Vector Prime in 2015, through some very blatantly leading questions and comments. This is a change from how the fandom usually dealt with foreign names, where a fandom consensus romanisation of their original names would be used: for example, Sutā Seibā to Star Saber, Jinrai to Ginrai, or Baiorenjaigā to ~~Violent Jiger~~ ~~Bio Ranger Iga~~ ~~Violen Jiger~~ Violengiguar. The reasons for this are mainly down to Mandarin names being harder for Western fans to pronounce, while many Japanese names were based on English words and were easier to transliterate.

This game should not be confused with the British Transformers Universe.

Synopsis

In an attempt to eliminate the Autobots stationed on Earth, Megatron uses the Solar System's space bridge to send the floating city of Tyger Pax, ejected from Cybertron alongside the AllSpark, hurtling towards the human planet. Following a fierce battle that sees Megatron badly injured, Tyger Pax splits into pieces, with a large portion entering Earth's orbit, while others fall to the planet below, hidden by optical camouflage.

Tutorial

Starscream, having taken command of the Decepticons during Megatron's recovery, launches an attack on a ship carrying Optimus Prime and other Autobots back to Earth from the orbiting Tyger Pax. During the battle, however, the mysterious Star Seekers launch their own sneak attack, causing the ship to crash down into a volcano on the verge of erupting. Both the Autobots and Decepticons manage to escape from the crater and retreat to their bases for repair, although the faction leaders are nearly killed in the process – Prowl subsequently becomes acting commander of the Autobots in Optimus's stead.

Both factions subsequently send teams back to Tyger Pax to collect resources, and there they learn more about the Star Seekers pirates who attacked them, discovering that their leader Thundertron has arrived in the Solar System aboard the Tidal Wave as part of a long-running revenge plan, seeking to hunt down the Autobots and Decepticons, and extract information on the location of Cybertron itself. They also hear rumours of unusual activity on the dark side of Earth's Moon, and Prowl and Starscream each launch missions to investigate.

1. Dark side of the Moon

The spacecrafts carrying advance teams of Autobots and Decepticons to the Moon are both shot down by what quickly becomes clear is a large-scale Star Seeker base that had been forewarned of the missions. Both factions send in rescue teams to extract the advance parties, and find themselves battling both pirates and domesticated mechanical creatures. In the process, the Autobots and Decepticons learn that the Star Seekers are planning to repair Tyger Pax's space bridge, which now rests at the bottom of Earth's oceans, in order to reach Cybertron and allow Thundertron his final revenge against the planet. The Autobots and Decepticons also begin to suspect that somebody within their ranks is collaborating with the pirates, feeding them information to help them strike against both warring factions.

2. Undersea ruins

The Tyger Pax space bridge is found to have crashed into the flooded ruins of an ancient civilization, and is now releasing energy that displaces vast amounts of water to create a dry area on the seabed, surrounded on all sides by towering walls of ocean. While the space bridge still requires repairs before it can open a gateway to Cybertron, the device is protected by an impenetrable forcefield, so the Autobots and Decepticons each send in teams of technical experts to shut down the barrier. After battling through Star Seeker defenders and harvesting equipment and materials from their mechanical creatures, the teams are able to disable the forcefield and destroy the space bridge before it can be used. Two of Thundertron's generals are also recruited by the Cybertronians, with Grotusque joining the Autobots and Iguanus joining the Decepticons.

3. Siberia

Shortly after the destruction of the space bridge, a distress call goes out from a secret Autobot base in Siberia – Famine, revealed as the Star Seeker spy among the Cybertronians, has taken over the site, imprisoned its Protectobot defenders, and stolen information on combiner technology. Both the Autobots and Decepticons learn of the attack, with Prowl gathering a rescue team, and a newly-recovered Megatron assembling his own force aboard the Nemesis to kill Famine for operating as a spy in the Decepticon ranks.

While Famine is expecting a counterattack and has made plans to capture reinforcements, the Cybertronians are able to push through the inclement weather conditions in Siberia and defeat him. In exchange for his life, Famine gives Megatron the intelligence he obtained on combiner technology, revealing that the Autobots are cooperating with the US government at a secret research facility beneath the Steel City.