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 developed by NetDragon, tying into the Transformers: Prime franchise. Players could play as an Autobot or Decepticon, and would tangle with both their opposing faction and the Star Seekers. Beta testing started in August 2011,^[1] and the game launched in March 2012.^[2] The MMO appears to have been abandoned as of October 2012, as it was delisted from NetDragon's product page ^[3] and the official website became non-functional in either late September or early October.^[4]

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.

Overview

Information on the game is relatively scarce in the English-speaking Transformers fandom, owing to its unavailability in Western regions and the fact that it appears to have spent most of its relatively short existence in closed beta testing.

Tying in to the contemporaneous Transformers: Prime cartoon, the game allowed players to take on the role of an Autobot or Decepticon in the period after their war moved to Earth, and also helped debut a brand-new faction that Hasbro had developed for the "Aligned" setting: the Star Seekers, a band of space-faring pirates attempting to hunt down Cybertron and its people. A section of the Cybertronian city Tyger Pax caught in Earth's orbit served as the neutral "hub" area, and it appears a total of six "dungeons" were ultimately developed before the game was shut down. The first three of these focused on PvE combat against the Star Seekers and their minions, while the later three incorporated PvP conflict between Autobot and Decepticon players.

Character creation allowed the player to choose between a male and female design for each faction, and their loadout could be customised with unlockable skills and different ranged and melee weaponry. It's unclear if the functionality made it into the game prior to the end of development, but there also at least existed plans for the player to gain a scanning ability at a certain level, which would then let them unlock new alternate modes by scanning certain vehicles found in the environment.

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, which had been 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.

Oh, he's doin' somethin'...

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