Continuity family
A continuity family is MediaWiki's term for a group of distinct but closely-related individual continuities. For example, Generation 1, the original Transformers toyline and franchise, had several separate continuities. Therefore, there is no single Generation 1 continuity, but many related ones. Further, these continuities are clearly distinguishable from the various Unicron Trilogy continuities, or from Robots in Disguise.
There are, at this time, five known major continuity families:
There is also one minor (i.e., much less prominent) family:
Specific families
Generation 1 continuity family
Generation 1 is by far the most extensive continuity family in the Transformers multiverse. It includes the original toyline and all related media, the divergent Japanese exclusive material begun in 1987, the Generation 2 revival of the franchise from the 1990s, as well as later "rebooted" versions of the Generation 1 story, such as those created by Dreamwave and IDW. Additionally, the so-called "Beast Era" also belongs to this continuity family. This includes Beast Wars, Beast Wars II, Beast Wars Neo, and Beast Machines.
This family had 17 years of exclusive reign, encompassing all material that was produced between 1984 and the end of Beast Machines in 2001. Even after the establishment of other continuity families beginning in 2001, the rate at which Generation 1 fiction has been produced is almost equal to that of non-G1 fiction.
Robots in Disguise family
This includes the television series, the short comic story from the Dreamwave Summer Special and the expanded toyline-spawned fiction.
Although RiD's original, Japanese incarnation -- Car Robots -- was initially thought of as part of this new family, Car Robots has since been retconned into a part of Japan's Generation 1 continuity family. (See Continuity#Unified Japanese continuities.) Good luck figuring that one out.
Unicron Trilogy family
This includes the Armada, Energon, and Cybertron toylines and all related media. Japanese incarnations are included. Initially, the Japanese version of Cybertron (known as Galaxy Force) was not part of this family, but has apparently been retconned back in. (See Continuity#Unified Japanese continuities.)
Movie family
This family's central feature is the 2007 live-action film Transformers and any sequels. Accompanying the movie is a large array of supporting fiction in the form of prequels, novelizations, children's adaptations, and the like.
Animated family
In 2008 a new continuity family will be born with the premiere of the Transformers Animated cartoon. This family will presumably also include comics and other ancillary fiction.
Go-Bots family
The least prominent continuity family, this is based around the Go-Bots toyline, encompassing the Playskool Transformers lines and cartoons aimed at ages five and below. (Sometimes called Go-Go-Go-Bots by fans.)
Quibbles
Categorizing stories into their continuity families is a subjective business, so all of the above should be taken merely as operational definitions agreed upon by the editors of MediaWiki to make our job easier. They are not declarations of universal truth.
IDW comics
Although the main IDW comics such as Infiltration and its sequels are clearly beholden to Generation 1, the IDW continuity differs from previous G1 continuities more significantly than most. Among the differences:
- Only a handful of Transformers were dormant, hidden away on Earth for an extended period of time. Instead, most of the cast has only recently arrived and they are not stranded.
- Galvatron and Megatron are separate characters with no relationship to each other.
- There is no sign of Primus or Unicron. According to statements by writer Simon Furman, they may in fact not exist at all here, throwing a wrench in Universe's retcons about the gods being "multiversal singularities". On the same note, however, Galvatron serves a very Unicron-like entity. Spotlight: Galvatron
On the other hand, every major and most minor characters (save the humans) come directly from the Generation 1 toyline or the Transformers fiction contemporary with it. While the similarities outweigh the differences, it is still worth noting that this continuity is a bit far out from the center.
Movie
Some fans think of the movie as being another "reboot" of Generation 1 rather than an all-new entity. This is largely because several of the characters are new incarnations of G1 characters. MediaWiki initially decided to treat the movie as a new family as a matter of practicality: the movie was bound to give us large quantities of new information as well as several sub-continuities based on books and comics. Trying to force all of that additional info into already-long Generation 1 articles would be difficult. Additionally, burying movie-related information in gigantic pre-existing articles would be a disservice to people who come to the wiki looking for information about the movie.
In the end, after more background on the movie became known, it became clear that the movie differed quite a bit from G1 despite a handful of mostly-the-same characters.
Universe
The Universe franchise features a meta/cross-continuity family storyline which begins as part of the Generation 1/Beast Era continuity family, but also includes characters from the Unicron Trilogy and Robots in Disguise. If it had continued, at least one character from the Go-Bots franchise would have turned up as well. However, because the "home base" of the Universe stories is post-Beast Machines Cybertron, it is generally thought of as belonging to the Generation 1 family.
