United States of America

Darn illegal immigrants...

The United States of America is a nation-state on the planet Earth. It is considered to be one of the world's two "superpowers," along with its rival, the Soviet Union. The American government is headed by a president. Interaction between that government and Transformers operating on Earth is a near inevitability in most dimensions of the multiverse, although whether that relationship is friendly, adversarial, or somewhere in between varies.

States

The United States of America consists of at least 50 "states", plus various territories, special districts, protectorates, hangers-on, puppet dictatorships and an astonishing number of Banana republics.

Unlike Cybertronian City-states, the divisions of the United States are semi-independent administrative zones existing under an umbrella government, which may in turn have smaller cities within them, which may in turn contain "boroughs" (a sort of township), populated by very tiny humans.

The capital of the country is the District of Columbia, which is not part of any state.

• Alabama
• Alaska
• Arizona
• Arkansas
• California
• Colorado
• Connecticut
• Delaware
• Florida
• Georgia
• Hawaii
• Idaho
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Iowa
• Kansas
• Kentucky
• Louisiana
• Maine
• Maryland
• Massachusetts
• Michigan
• Minnesota
• Mississippi
• Missouri
• Montana
• Nebraska
• Nevada
• New Hampshire
• New Jersey
• New Mexico
• New York
• North Carolina
• North Dakota
• Ohio
• Oklahoma
• Oregon
• Pennsylvania
• Puerto Rico
• Rhode Island
• South Carolina
• South Dakota
• Tennessee
• Texas
• Utah
• Vermont
• Virginia
• Wales
• Washington
• West Virginia
• Wisconsin
• Wyoming

Government

The government of the United States is divided between three branches — the Executive Branch (consisting of the President, Vice President, Cabinet and assorted officials), the Judicial Branch (the Supreme Court and all district and federal courts below them), and the Legislative Branch (Congress, consisting of the House of Representatives and the Senate). The individual powers of these branches within the government are outlined in the United States Constitution, but the powers of one branch are countered by a series of checks and balances. One example of this practice is that either house of Congress can propose, write and approve a bill which the President may or may not sign into law and which the Supreme Court may or may not declare valid under the Constitution.

Needless to say, this can get confusing.

Fiction

Marvel Comics continuity

Generation 1

Events from the UK-only comic stories are in italics.

Not long after awakening on Earth, the Autobots sought to forge an alliance with the human authorities. They contacted the US Government asking for a meeting with the President of the United States to discuss matters. Their offer was accepted and Optimus Prime, Prowl and Warpath traveled to Washington, D.C. to visit the White House.

Unfortunately Soundwave intercepted a human communication giving details of the meeting. Unwilling to risk an Autobot-Human alliance, Megatron activated the Insecticons and sent them to Washington to sabotage the talks.

The Insecticons attacked at just the moment that Optimus Prime and the President met. They attempted to discredit the Autobots by pledging to destroy in the name of Optimus Prime. They then headed for the city and began to cause mindless destruction

Horrified, Optimus Prime led Prowl and Warpath in a counter attack that eventually drove the Insecticons away. Prime then decided that the humans would never believe that the Insecticons were not Autobots and left Washington to go back to the Ark.

The President meanwhile was initially convinced that the Autobots had been set up and allowed them to deal with the Insecticons themselves. When the Autobots then failed to return, the President concluded that he had made a mistake and misjudged the Autobots’ good intentions. He vowed never to make that mistake again.

After this the Autobots’ relations with the US Government continued to deteriorate. The Government assigned the shadowy organization Triple-I to find a way to protect the public from the Transformer threat. Triple-I engaged the Transformers on a number of occasions, although it was usually the Autobots who came off worse.

Over time tensions seemed to ease, mainly due to the efforts of G.B. Blackrock who on several occasions attempted to convince the authorities of the truth of the Autobot/Decepticon conflict.

This ultimately seemed to meet with some success leading to Blackrock forming the Neo-Knights, a group of superhumans that the President then sent to attack a battling Shockwave and Scorponok just before they were transported back to Cybertron by Primus. As this led to most Transformers being removed from the planet, tensions were finally eased.

Generation 1

American cartoon continuity

The Transformers cartoon

After the initial Decepticon threat was repulsed, Spike Witwicky wrote in his journal that "all of the world's governments" were assisting the Autobots' attempts to return to Cybertron. This would presumably include the United States. More than Meets the Eye, Part 3

IDW Generation 1 comics

The United States had a secret intelligence organization named Skywatch, who investigated alien incidents and potential threats. In 1985, after discovering one such alien, they had their budget increased Spotlight: Soundwave — despite that the Pentagon and National Security Council seemed completely unaware that robotic aliens were operating on American soil. Devastation issue 3 We all knew security agencies have rivalries and don't like talking to each other, but damn.

A year after the initial contact, America was hit with a devastating Decepticon attack. New York City was seized and the United States Military humiliated, and then a few days later four other cities came under simultaneous attack - one of which was Washington, D.C., which saw the death of the President. All Hail Megatron

Beast Era

Beast Wars cartoon

Millions of years ago, the Autobot starship Ark was shot down in a space battle with the Decepticon flagship Nemesis and crashed into the side of a volcano, in a region that would one day become North America. The Agenda (Part III)

Much, much later in 1977, the United States' National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA) launched the Voyager probes exploration probes. These primitive, unmanned spacecraft carried golden disks depicting humans, the approximate location of Earth in space as well as containing imaging and audio data on Earth and its inhabitants. When the Autobots and Decepticons on the Ark awoke and resumed the Great War, the Decepticon leader Megatron somehow managed to capture one of the probes and encoded a message within for any descendants. The message was a desperate gamble: should the Decepticons fail to defeat the Autobots, their descendants must use the then-emerging Transwarp technology to go back to the past and eliminate Optimus Prime as he slumbered on the Ark in stasis lock. The Agenda (Part 2)

Years in the future, a rogue Predacon general named Megatron stole the Golden Disk and travelled back in time, though he was loath to follow his namesake's instructions, preferring keep that plan as a last resort. Meanwhile, he used the information on the Golden Disk to destroy the valley where the meddlesome humanity was purported to have evolved from. This act of genocide was prevented by the heroic former Predacon Dinobot, who gave his life to protect the valley, and all-but destroy the Disc. Code of Hero

Live-action Transformers movie continuity

Transformers (2007)

The United States Armed Forces can take on and do serious damage to Transformers. Transformers

Titan Magazines Transformers movie comics

The following events occur in a splinter timeline where Megatron won the battle of Mission City.

The United States Armed Forces all got beaten up off-panel, and the Decepticons rule America. Transformers Comic issue 9

The Decepticons were overthrown by the Autobots, but many cities are left devastated. The previous President is presumed dead, the Georgia town Savannah is the site of a large medical shelter for refugees, and NATO has military command. New President Theodore Allen has been sworn in; let's hope he's not the pawn of an alien robot jet, eh? Transformers Comic issue 14 Transformers Comic issue 15

The Decepticons carried on a deliberate policy of infrastructure destruction Transformers Comic issue 16 that climaxed in six hundred square miles of southern US soil being taken over as a Decepticon nation. They loved it, the humans left it. Transformers Comic issue 20

The Decepticons would go on to launch punitive attacks and a diplomatic assault to get the US government to boot the Autobots out. Revolution Part 1 The day after this was done, the Decepticons swarmed across the Eastern seaboard, overrunning cities like Baltimore while their pet President kept the military from taking action. The Decepticons would've conquered half the country within a few hours if Stockade hadn't taken control of a third of their drones and started a Decepticon Civil War on US soil, halting the advance. Revolution Part 2

Transformers Animated

Much of the story of Animated takes place in the city of Detroit, Michigan.

Notes

Foreign names

• Japanese: America Gasshūkoku (アメリカ合衆国, "United States of America"), Beikoku (米国, "Rice Country")
• Mandarin: Měi-lì-jīan Hé-jùng-gúo (美利堅合眾國, "United States of America"), Měi-gúo (美國, "Beautiful Country")