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, and 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 was 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.
- The basic overarching nature of the Cybertronian civil war is radically different to earlier G1 continuities, featuring a galaxy-spanning Cold War with complex diplomatic rules of engagement and a heavy emphasis on the covert infiltration of many planets on multiple fronts, while Cybertron itself is an unihabitable wasteland due to a past catyclysm.
- There are no signs 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
- Unlike all previous major incarnations of G1, most of the IDWverse versions of these familiar characters have different altmodes and/or transformations to their original toy-based designs, even after adopting "Earth modes". This tends to be either through having a different vehicle altmode (Skywarp as an F-22 instead of an F-15, Hot Rod as a real car) or even an entirely different transformation scheme for their classic altmode (Bumblebee with the Volkswagen hood in his chest instead of his feet). Even virtually identical characters such as Optimus Prime and Megatron have subtle design nods to differentiate them from more mainstream iterations of G1, such as Prime's truck-mode sun visor, and Megatron's new altmode (and slightly different transformation scheme) as a stockless Walther P99 instead of the classic U.N.C.L.E.-configured P38.
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.
IDW Evolutions
IDW's Evolutions line of comics features explicitly alternate-universe treatments of Transformers characters. E.g., the only existing example, Hearts of Steel, sets the G1 characters in the 19th century, where they transform into locomotives, ironclad ships, etc. As Hearts of Steel broadly resembles G1, it is treated here as part of the G1 family. (Though it is arguably further-out than even the main IDW continuity.) Future releases in the Evolutions line may be judged differently.
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. Also, about half of the robots in the Unicron Trilogy have G1 counterparts(some just in name, others moreso), so there is a precedent for this sort of thing.
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, and even one character from the Go-Bots franchise. 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.
