Megatron is the main antagonist of the Transformers media franchise produced by the American toy company Hasbro and the Japanese toy company Takara Tomy. He is the tyrannical leader of the Decepticons, a villainous faction of alien robots that seeks to conquer their home planet of Cybertron and the rest of the known universe, and serves as the archenemy of Optimus Prime, the leader of the rival Autobot faction. As with all Cybertronians, Megatron can disguise himself by transforming into vehicles or weapons. His alternate modes have included a Walther P38 handgun, a particle-beam weapon, a telescopic laser cannon, a Cybertronian jet, and various tanks, depending on which continuity he is depicted in. His original name is D-16.
Unicron is a fictional villain from the Transformers media franchise. Designed by Floro Dery, he was introduced in the 1986 animated film The Transformers: The Movie and has since reappeared in Transformers: Armada, Transformers: Energon, Transformers: Cybertron, Transformers: Prime, Transformers Prime Beast Hunters: Predacons Rising, Transformers: The Last Knight, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, and Atari's 2004 Transformers video game. Unicron is a prodigiously large robot whose scale reaches planetary proportions, and he is also able to transform into a giant planet. Unicron's origin has expanded over the years from simply being a large robot to being a god of chaos who devours realities. He often employs the help of Decepticons in his work, and in some stories is considered part of the origin of the Decepticon forces.
Grimlock is the name of several fictional robot characters in the Transformers robot franchise. He is usually portrayed as the leader of the Dinobots, which are a subfaction of Autobots who can transform into metal dinosaurs. Grimlock is known for his dialogue being spoken in the third person. He appeared on screen along with other Dinobots in the fourth installment of the Transformers film series.
Beast Wars: Transformers is an animated television series that debuted on September 16, 1996 and ended on May 7, 1999, serving as the flagship of the Transformers: Beast Wars franchise. It was one of the earliest fully CGI television shows. The series is set in the future of the "original" Transformers franchise, 300 years after the events of The Transformers, and features the Maximals and Predacons, descendants of the Autobots and Decepticons respectively. While engaged in battle, small teams from each faction crash land on an unknown planet, and must find a way to return home while continuing their war.
Starscream is a character in the Transformers media franchise produced by the American toy company Hasbro and the Japanese toy company Takara Tomy. He is the second-in-command of the Decepticons, a villainous faction of alien robots that seeks to conquer their home planet of Cybertron and the rest of the known universe. As with all Cybertronians, Starscream can disguise himself by transforming into vehicles, in his case a fighter jet, and he is usually portrayed as a treacherous but cowardly air commander who seeks to overthrow his leader Megatron and assume control of the Decepticons.
Transformers, is a media franchise produced by American toy company Hasbro and Japanese toy company Takara Tomy. It primarily follows the heroic Autobots and the villainous Decepticons, two alien robot factions at war that can transform into other forms, such as vehicles and animals. The franchise encompasses toys, animation, comic books, video games and films. As of 2011, it generated more than ¥2 trillion in revenue, making it one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time.
Ultra Magnus is a character from the Transformers franchise.
Soundwave is a fictional robot character appearing in various Transformers continuity lines within the Transformers franchise. His most well-known disguise is that of a micro cassette recorder. Throughout most of his incarnations, he is an underlying loyal lieutenant of the Decepticon leader Megatron. He is commonly depicted as Megatron's communications officer and in some interpretations, only speaks when mocking the Autobots.
Transformers: Energon, known in Japan as Transformers: Superlink, is a Japanese anime series which debuted on January 9, 2004. It is a direct sequel to Transformers: Armada. It is also the first Japanese Transformers show where the Transformers are computer-generated (CG), in a cel-shaded technique similar to the Zoids anime, which was a trend that would continue into the next series, Transformers: Cybertron.
There have been four main publishers of the comic book series bearing the name Transformers based on the toy lines of the same name. The first series was produced by Marvel Comics from 1984 to 1991, which ran for 80 issues and produced four spin-off miniseries. This was followed by a second volume titled Transformers: Generation 2, which ran for 12 issues starting in 1993. The second major series was produced by Dreamwave Productions from 2002 to 2004 with multiple limited series as well, and within multiple story continuities, until the company became bankrupt in 2005. The third and fourth series have been published by IDW Publishing with the third series starting with an issue #0 in October 2005 and a regular series starting in January 2006 to November 2018. The fourth series started in March 2019 with issue #1 and concluded in June 2022. There are also several limited series being produced by IDW as well. Skybound Entertainment began publishing Transformers comics starting in June 2023, kicking off the Energon Universe. In addition to these four main publishers, there have also been several other smaller publishers with varying degrees of success.
Super Life-Form Transformers: Beast Wars Neo is a 1999 Japanese animated television series Transformers franchise. It serves as a sequel to the preceding series Beast Wars II. The production of the series involved NAS, TV Tokyo, and Ashi Productions. Hozumi Gōda reprised his role as Lio Convoy from Beast Wars II in this series. Each episode has a runtime of approximately 30 minutes and was broadcast in the standard 4:3 aspect ratio.
Transformers: The War Within is a series of comic book mini-series written by Simon Furman and published by Dreamwave Productions featuring Generation One characters with brand new pre-Earth designs.
The Transformers: Hearts of Steel is a comic book miniseries published by IDW Publishing. It was intended to be part of a comic book line titled The Transformers: Evolutions, following the same idea of DC Comics' Elseworlds series. Each series was to create an alternative reality: a continuity in a different time era during which the Transformers would exist. In other words, the Transformers can exist at places and at points in time that would not be possible in the current 'IDW-verse'. As of 2007, only the Hearts of Steel series was produced, which is set in the United States during the Industrial Revolution. The rest of the series was cancelled, likely due to poor sales and IDW had announced that there would be no more Evolutions series until after the 2007 movie, as Hasbro did not want to make things confusing with more alternate universe tales.
Beast Wars II: Super Life-Form Transformers is a 1998 Japanese Transformers anime series, spawning a movie and a toyline. It was broadcast on TV Tokyo from April 1998 to January 1999, and was the first Transformers anime to be produced by Nihon Ad Systems and animated by the studio Ashi Productions. The series was preceded by Beast Wars: Transformers, and was followed by Super Life-Form Transformers: Beast Wars Neo. The series has a much lighter tone and is aimed more toward children, whereas the more accessible Beast Wars was intended for a wider age-range. The anime uses conventional animation rather than the CGI of its predecessor. With the exception of the faction leaders, all of the characters within the toy-line are either remolds, reissues, or recolors of earlier Beast Wars or Generation 2/Machine Wars toys.
Transformers: Generation One was a Dreamwave Productions comic book series, consisting of two six-issue limited series and an ongoing title. Within the same continuity were three other Dreamwave series: a series of character profiles entitled Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye, a prequel miniseries entitled, Transformers: Micromasters and another prequel ongoing miniseries called Transformers: The War Within. In addition, a single story was part of the Transformers Summer Special. All ongoing series were cancelled in 2005 due to Dreamwave's bankruptcy, leaving their plotlines unresolved.
Transformers: Beast Wars is an entertainment franchise from Hasbro and is part of the larger Transformers franchise. The franchise directly follows the Transformers: Generation 1 continuity established by the 1984 series and animated film. It ignores the continuity established by the Japanese Transformers series, though this franchise would have two exclusive Japanese series of its own. Before Beast Wars, Hasbro had attempted to relaunch the original toys and animation as Transformers: Generation 2. Hasbro intended another franchise titled Transtech to follow which would've combined Beast Wars and Generation 1 characters and aesthetics, but this was canceled. Instead, the franchise began a series of reboots, beginning with the Japanese-produced Transformers: Car Robot series, internationally known as Transformers: Robots in Disguise.
Transformers Prime Beast Hunters: Predacons Rising is a 2013 American animated action adventure television film that concludes the Transformers: Prime television series. It was first broadcast on Hub Network on October 4, 2013. After the Autobots' victory on Earth, Unicron returns in possession of Megatron's body with the intent on destroying Cybertron, forcing Autobots, Decepticons, and Predacons to form an unlikely alliance to counter this threat.
Dinobot is a fictional character from Beast Wars in the Transformers universe. He is driven by a code of honor somewhat modeled on samurai bushido. He first debuted in the series premiere as a subordinate of Megatron, leader of the villainous Predacons. While he initially joins Megatron, Dinobot eventually challenges Megatron's leadership and is shortly expelled from his crew. He then joins the ranks of Optimus Primal and the Maximals. He fights alongside the Maximals as part of their crew before ultimately sacrificing himself to save a group of primates that eventually become the human race from a Predacon onslaught.
