Transformers Animated timeline

This timeline covers the history of the Transformers Animated cartoon continuity. Note that since the timeframes for some events are given in only vague terms, the exact ordering of portions of the timeline is a "best guess". Also, the Animated units of time "solar cycle" and "stellar cycle" both appear to be rough equivalents of an Earth year.

Over 10 billion years ago

• Before time began, there was the AllSpark.
• The Transformer race is "born". Blast from the Past One of the Transformers uses a Hammer to forge a container for the AllSpark, becoming the first Magnus of Cybertron.

"4 million stellar cycles" ago

• Megatron begins his search for the missing AllSpark. Transform and Roll Out Megatron Rising - Part 2
• Starscream begins attempting to destroy Megatron and become leader of the Decepticons. A Bridge Too Close, Part II
• Lockdown captures Ratchet and Arcee to bring to Megatron so he can acquire the activation codes for Project: Omega, held in Arcee's data banks. Ratchet reluctantly uses his EMP generator to erase her memory core, but not before Lockdown overloads and steals it. As a result, Arcee is left unaware of who she is or what she's meant to do. The Thrill of the Hunt
• Ratchet is then forced to perform open-processor surgery on Arcee (who appeared to already have been operated on) to retrieve the codes via a failsafe device. Omega Supreme is then activated, with Ratchet himself replacing Arcee as his designated "mentor-bot." TransWarped
• Arcee would apparently never awaken from the surgery, and would lie in a hospital bed in Cybertron Central Infirmary until the 22nd century. This Is Why I Hate Machines

"2 million stellar cycles" ago

• Omega Supreme sacrifices his spark to win the Great War and is put into modified stasis thereafter. A Bridge Too Close, Part II

Over a million stellar cycles ago

• A delinquent Prowl attempts to avoid fighting in the Great War, but is caught by Warpath. He is taken to see Master Yoketron who accepts him as a student of the Cyber-Ninja Corps in the hopes of teaching him discipline through Circuit-Su. In the final stage of his training, Prowl is sent on an optics quest to "find his spark". Five Servos of Doom
• Lockdown, himself a former student of the Cyber-Ninja Corps, leads an attack on Yoketron's dojo in order to steal the protoforms being protected within. Five Servos of Doom
• Having made no progress on his optics quest, Prowl returns to Yoketron for guidance only to find him lying mortally wounded. After an unsuccessful attempt to save his master's life, Prowl leaves Cybertron with the intention to finish his optics quest and thereby complete his training. Five Servos of Doom

Thousands of years ago

• Sentinel Prime last performs drill sergeant duty. First (and Second) in Flight

This seems to conflict with other events in the timeline. Possibly Sentinel was exaggerating how long since he'd done this in order to cover for his mistake?

"Centuries" ago

• Seemingly quite some time after the AllSpark is lost, the Great War ends with the Decepticons defeated. Transform and Roll Out

"A thousand stellar cycles" ago

• Autobot Academy members Optimus, Sentinel, and Elita-1 explore an alien planet in search of a crashed Decepticon ship and its store of energon. After a battle with indigenous giant spiders, the guys escape, but Elita is left behind where she unwillingly absorbs the spiders' organic element and metamorphoses into Blackarachnia. Optimus returns to the scene after things have died down a bit, but Blackarachnia doesn't reveal herself, leading him to assume she is dead. The Decepticons later drop by, and she joins their ranks. Along Came a Spider
• Optimus and Sentinel are brought before Ultra Magnus on charges of tresspassing on an organic planet, thus breaking Cybertronian law and causing the apparent demise of Elita-1. Sentinel blames Optimus for everything and, as the senior cadet, Optimus accepts full responsibility. As a result, he is expelled from the Academy and made ineligible for service in the Elite Guard. Mission Accomplished Endgame, Part I
• Sentinel, on the other hand, is promoted to the rank of Minor and becomes the drill sergeant of the Autobot boot camp, where he gives the recruits their names and punishes them with lots of Transform-ups. JERK!. Autoboot Camp
• Shockwave infiltrates boot camp in the guise of Longarm, in hopes of becoming an Autobot intel bot. Autoboot Camp
• Bumblebee goes to boot camp in hopes of becoming an Elite Guard soldier. Autoboot Camp
• Ironhide goes to boot camp in hopes of becoming an Autobot soldier. Autoboot Camp
• Wasp goes to boot camp in hopes of becoming an Autobot commander. Autoboot Camp
• Bulkhead leaves the energon farm and goes to boot camp in hopes of becoming an expert space bridge technician. Autoboot Camp
• Shockwave, in order to keep the suspicious Bumblebee off his trail, puts his gear in Wasp's locker. Wasp is framed as a spy and goes to jail. Autoboot Camp A Bridge Too Close, Part II
• After graduating from boot camp, Bulkhead becomes Cybertron's top space bridge expert by getting a higher score on his aptitude test than any other scientist, and he and Bumblebee join Ratchet as the crew of a space bridge repair ship. Sentinel Minor joins the Elite Guard and is promoted again, this time to the rank of Prime. Longarm goes on to graduate from the Autobot Academy, eventually also being promoted to Prime and becoming head of Cybertron Intelligence. Autoboot Camp A Bridge Too Close, Part I
• Ultra Magnus pulls some strings for Optimus, giving him the position of Prime and command of his own space bridge repair ship, complete with a three-bot crew. Endgame, Part I

At some point

• While maintaining a space bridge on a remote asteroid, Optimus Prime and his crew of Ratchet, Bulkhead, and Bumblebee discover Prowl meditating in a cave, still trying to complete the optics quest he started a million stellar cycles ago, and accidentally destroy his ship. He agrees to help them with their work in exchange for a ride home. Endgame, Part I
• The crew stumble upon the lost AllSpark when it suddenly arrives through the space bridge they're maintaining. After a battle with Megatron and the Nemesis, their ship crashes on Earth, settling underwater in Lake Erie. Transform and Roll Out

50 years later (22nd century)

• The Autobot repair crew awaken sometime in the 22nd century and become celebrities in the city of Detroit. Transform and Roll Out Blast from the Past Megatron Rising - Part 2
• Sari Sumdac, daughter of Isaac Sumdac, meets the Autobots and encounters the AllSpark, which turns her her security key into an ultra-powerful MacGuffin. Transform and Roll Out
• Sari shows the Autobots a new home. Transform and Roll Out
• The Nemesis crash-lands on the Moon. Transform and Roll Out Lost and Found
• Starscream and Blackarachnia arrive on Earth. Transform and Roll Out Along Came a Spider
• Starscream scans a Harrier jet. Transform and Roll Out
• Starscream attacks Detroit, wanting the AllSpark. He fights all the Autobots, and Optimus is offlined when a huge burst of AllSpark energy ends the fight, knocking the Decepticon to parts unknown. He is then revived by Sari's Key, channelling a huge burst of power from the AllSpark itself. Transform and Roll Out
• Megatron awakens and learns of his imprisonment and Starscream's betrayal. Home Is Where the Spark Is Blast from the Past
• Prowl develops a fascination with organic life. Home Is Where the Spark Is Nature Calls
• Porter C. Powell cuts Prometheus Black's funding and, as a result, Black turns into Meltdown. Total Meltdown
• Megatron helps Sumdac rebuild animatronic dinosaurs. Blast from the Past
• Sari's AllSpark Key accidentally turns the dinosaurs into Dinobots. After a rampage, Prowl and Bulkhead save them and take them to Dinobot Island. Afterwards, the Dinobots learn how to transform. Blast from the Past Survival of the Fittest
• Lockdown is hired by Blitzwing to capture Optimus Prime for destroying Megatron, both unaware of Megatron's weakened state. The Thrill of the Hunt
• Ratchet encounters Lockdown again and takes back his E.M.P. Generator. The Thrill of the Hunt
• Nanosec is hired by Megatron to steal some Destronium for him. However, Bumblebee uses his new turbo boosters to detonate it in the atmosphere. Nanosec suffers rapid premature aging and is arrested. Nanosec
• Optimus learns of Blackarachnia's true identity. Along Came a Spider
• For Sari's birthday, Megatron "helps" Sumdac create Sari's present: a musical robot named Soundwave. Soundwave eventually gains a mind of his own and begins a brief robot revolt against the humans, which is thwarted by the Autobots. Sound and Fury
• Blitzwing and Lugnut arrive on Earth. Megatron contacts Lugnut and has the two of them go after the Allspark. The Autobots almost leave Earth, but instead, they reactivate some of their ship's defenses and defeat Blitzwing and Lugnut. Starscream returns. Lost and Found
• Meltdown uses the Dinobots to kidnap Sari, intending to use her as his new experiment test subject. Prowl, Bulkhead, and Police Captain Fanzone stop his plans and save Sari. Survival of the Fittest
• A newly hired Sumdac employee, Henry Masterson, is fired for building technology for warfare use and then takes on the persona of the Headmaster. He steals Bulkhead's body and threatens to blow up the city, but is stopped by the Autobots. Headmaster
• A monster made of space barnacles shows up outside Detroit, and Bumblebee, Prowl, and Sari defeat it. Nature Calls
• The Decepticons steal the AllSpark Key. Megatron gets a new body and seemingly kills Starscream. The Autobots and Decepticons duke it out on Dinobot Island. Optimus disperses the Allspark. Sumdac is captured by Megatron. Megatron Rising - Part 1 Megatron Rising - Part 2
• The Cybertron Elite Guard arrive on Earth. The Decepticons set up a base in a mine. Megatron begins his next plan to create a Space Bridge of his own. The Elite Guard
• Porter C. Powell becomes the new CEO of Sumdac Systems. Sari is kicked out of Sumdac Tower and is revealed to have no legal identity. She goes to live with the Autobots. The Elite Guard The Return of the Headmaster
• Henry Masterson is rehired by Powell. He steals Sentinel's body, but avoids going to jail. The Return of the Headmaster
• Random Decepticon attacks occur near Cybertron. Mission Accomplished
• The Elite Guard tries to force Optimus's team off of Earth. Starscream is kept alive by an Allspark fragment. He fails several times to eliminate Megatron, and so then sets a trap for the Decepticons, which draws the attention of the Elite Guard. He is arrested by the Elite Guard, and Optimus's team remains on Earth. Mission Accomplished
• The (hilarious) robot known as Wreck-Gar is created. He causes several mishaps, but (sort of) learns the error of his ways, saving Detroit from the threat of over-consumptive nanobots. Garbage In, Garbage Out
• Bumblebee enters an underground street race hosted by Master Disaster, which features a mysterious blue race car. Velocity
• Two oil-guzzling robots called Scrapper and Mixmaster are created and cause a bit of trouble. Rise of the Constructicons
• Starscream escapes captivity. Prowl teams up with Lockdown to hunt him down. Starscream creates clones of himself. A Fistful of Energon
• Several of Detroit's minor super-criminals join together for a crime spree. A mysterious benefactor helps them, so long as they help him out. The benefactor is revealed to be the arms dealer Swindle. His plans are thwarted. SUV: Society of Ultimate Villainy
• Wasp escapes his captivity, swearing revenge on Bumblebee. Autoboot Camp
• Bulkhead and Bumblebee, having received a mysterious message, search for the Decepticons, while remembering their Autobot Boot Camp days. Autoboot Camp
• Blackarachnia has the Dinobots abduct Meltdown and forces him to try to remove her organic half. Optimus and Grimlock team up to help as well, but both she and Meltdown double cross everyone. Black Friday
• The Constructicons show up at the Autobots' warehouse base looking for oil, and Sari is the only one there to stop them. Blitzwing takes them to Megatron, where they are made into full-fledged Decepticons. Sari, No One's Home A Bridge Too Close, Part I
• Megatron completes his Space Bridge with the help of the Constructicons and Bulkhead. The blue race car is revealed to be the Elite Guard member Blurr, who leads the Autobots to the Decepticons' base. A Bridge Too Close, Part I
• Starscream creates several more clones of himself and launches his own attack on everyone in the Decepticon base. A Bridge Too Close, Part I A Bridge Too Close, Part II
• Ratchet and Sari, using the AllSpark fragments, revive the their ship's true identity: Omega Supreme. They attack the Decepticons all at once. Several characters are flung into the Space Bridge, including Megatron, Starscream (just his head) and Omega Supreme himself. A Bridge Too Close, Part II
• Sari is revealed to be more than an ordinary human girl. A Bridge Too Close, Part II
• Megatron and Starscream('s head) are left floating in space, bickering with each other. They are soon captured by Omega Supreme, who they eventually commandeer to return to Earth. However, the Autobots are able to randomize Omega's Transwarp jumps, rendering Megatron and Starscream nonthreatening for the time being. A Bridge Too Close, Part II TransWarped
• While repairing the Space Bridge in Sumdac Tower, Bulkhead and Sumdac accidentally create Dirt Boss, who leads Scrapper and Mixmaster in a host of oil-thefts around Detroit, culminating in their defeat. Three's a Crowd
• Wasp arrives on Earth, and manages to switch places with Bumblebee in an attempt to have him imprisoned; however, Optimus Prime's team is able to not only reveal the deception, but also clear Wasp's name. Where Is Thy Sting?
• Shockwave's deception is also revealed, and before he can be taken into custody he attacks and greatly injures Ultra Magnus, as well as stealing his hammer. Where Is Thy Sting?

See also

• Units of time