Transformers: Cybertron (franchise)

Unicron Trilogy continuity family « Cybertron Toyline Cartoon Manga Commercials

Transformers: Cybertron is the third and final Transformers franchise in the Unicron Trilogy. It was made concurrently and cooperatively with Takara, who named the franchise Transformers: Galaxy Force (トランスフォーマー ギャラクシーフォース Toransufōmā Gyarakushī Fōsu) in their markets.

The Cybertron franchise featured the following primary components:

• A toyline
• A cartoon series

A comic book series was initially planned for Cybertron, but its intended publisher, Dreamwave, went out of business before the line began. IDW Publishing originally discussed doing a Cybertron series, starting it off with a Generation 1 crossover, but this was dropped (the pitch is included in the Best of Simon Furman trade).^[1]

The Transformers Collectors' Club published a 12-part story arc titled Balancing Act in comic form, in the monthly magazine, branded with the Cybertron name. This comic, while featuring Unicron Trilogy characters, also stars various characters from other universes, and is loosely tied to 3H's The Wreckers and Universe series.

The Transformers Collectors' Club fiction:

• Balancing Act
• "The Dark Heart of Sandokan"
• "Force of Habit"

Galaxy Force

Galaxy Force, the Japanese version of Cybertron, is somewhat different than its English counterpart.

Before the cartoon series

As originally intended by Hasbro and Takara, the story was a continuation of the previous Armada/Legend of the Microns and Energon/Super Link series. Many of the toys were clearly designed to be recurring cast members from those series. An October 2004 press release by We've, the producers of the cartoon, treated Galaxy Force as a continuation. However, a few weeks later, the November issue of Newtype magazine did a special feature on the upcoming show where there was no connection to the previous series.^[2] A list of toys dating to February 2005 showed how many characters had been renamed to distinguish them as entirely new characters: Hot Shot/Exillion, Red Alert/First Aid, Landmine/Guardshell, and Jetfire/Dreadrock.^[3] As written, the Galaxy Force cartoon wound up having no story ties to any previous Transformers series, instead presenting a standalone continuity.

When dubbed into English as Cybertron, the cartoon's plot was treated as a continuation of Energon. Most notably, the "Grand Black Hole" which drives the plot was explicitly recontextualized as the "Unicron Singularity", created in the wake of Unicron's destruction at the end of Energon. For the final episode, Hasbro even went so far as to commission original animation calling back to Armada and Energon. However, simply by nature of how the show was being written, many inconsistencies arose with the previous series along the way.

All that said, TakaraTomy themselves consistently treated Galaxy Force as being part of the Japanese Unicron Trilogy, as per the original plan. In addition to liner notes published with the Galaxy Force DVDs making references to previous series in a manner that mirrored the American material before the show was even off the air, a timeline published in early 2007 on TakaraTomy's official Transformers website outright stated that Galaxy Force took place in the Unicron Trilogy universe (albeit only one year after Energon/Super Link, rather than the ten years established in American material). A flowchart published on the then-contemporary "World of the Transformers" website, as well as later charts and timelines published by Japanese magazines in the years since, have likewise grouped Galaxy Force with its two immediate predecessors, but also took a more ambiguous stance on its exact placement in relation to them.

Notes

• When IDW Publishing picked up the Transformers license, Simon Furman pitched an idea for an ongoing Cybertron comic that was ultimately never used. The plot would have been generally similar to that of the cartoon; however, planet Cybertron would have been tethered to Earth's "energon core" to delay its destruction. The comic would also have tied in to an ongoing G1 comic that Furman pitched simultaneously, with Vector Prime travelling between both universes to guide the Autobots of both worlds. Furman intended both series to eventually converge in an epic clash uniting Transformers from across the multiverse in a huge battle over the fate of existence.^[4]

References

1. ↑ Simon Furman Q&A Volume 2 LIVE! via Wayback Machine
2. ↑ 22 October 2004 and 10 November 2004, Fantofan.jp via Wayback Machine
3. ↑ "A mysterious document. 神秘の文書。"—Monzo, Twitter, 2019/04/27
4. ↑ Pitch printed in The Transformers: The Best of Simon Furman.

External links

• Takara's official timeline placing Galaxy Force in continuity with Legends of the Microns and Super Link^{(dead link)}