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We received the following message from Hasbro yesterday morning which addressed conflicting reports about the continuity of Transformers Prime, War for Cybertron, and Exodus. According to Hasbro, all 3 are part of the same continuity despite several conflicts from the Transformers Prime episodes.

Hasbro wrote:---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, Dec 8, 2010 at 9:00 AM
Subject: From Hasbro's Transformers brand


Hello,

A question was recently posed to Hasbro’s UK office asking if the Transformers Prime television series and the Transformers War for Cybertron video game were in a connected continuity. Unfortunately the wrong answer was delivered and that answer has made its way to the fan community. The TRANSFORMERS brand team would like to confirm that Transformers War for Cybertron video game, Transformers Exodus novel, and the Transformers Prime television show are in the same aligned continuity. Hasbro is creating a single continuity to tell the bulk of our TRANSFORMERS stories going forward.

Please look for further details about the continuity plan and new projects over the next year.

Sincerely,
Joe Moscone
on behalf of Hasbro, Inc.

Did Hasbro announce that they were trying to create a single continuity from now on?

Pretty ambitious but it should be exciting.

Great. Now we have yet another broken continuity to go with our IDW universe (with the various character style and design variety as well). Don't get me wrong, WFC is amazing, and I think Prime has potential...but come on they already had continuity issues between WFC and the first few episodes of Prime..and I have a feeling it's gonna get worse when WFC2 comes out. And honestly, Prime can't possibly match the graphical standards of the games...so it seems even more out of place.

After episode 2 of Prime, it was abundantly clear that this press release is nonsense. It also shows that NO ONE at Hasbro has either played (or watched it played) War For Cybertron or watched ANY of Prime at all!

For the record, Prime HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH WAR FOR CYBERTRON....or any other existing continuity....This might change if they suddenly decide to take the series proper in a TOTALLY different direction than the pilot, which would be a tragic turn of events.

NOOOO!!! I REJECT IT!
Even if it is right...uh, the ignorance in bliss or something...

This.
Is.
Idiocy.

Not only that, but it seems to go against everything the designers of the game intended. WFC=G1. Pass it on.

Somehow I expected this. It doesn't really affect me either way to be honest.

Idiocy indeed... I'll go one step further...

This.
Is.
Redundancy.

Talk about your infinite loop of main cast. I know Rodimus Prime failed initially, but I think we're all ready to move on. Iterations of Optimus, Bumblebee, Megatron, Starscream, et al are immensely " " thematically. Will we ever see Generation 3?

On Topic: Perhaps the continuity errors are due to the same story being told over and over again. Maybe they should have never brought Optimus or Megatron back in the first place.

Not sure is any of you have read Exodus yet, but I have to call bullsh..err...horsehockey! (To quote Colonel Potter. You know Colonel Potter? From M*A*S*H? )

I don't know if it needs it, but I will try to spoiler protect what follows:

There are many inconsistencies, and downright changes to the story, between Exodus and WFC. In reading Exodus, I could see that perhaps it could be in the G1 continuity, but there was a point about two thirds of the way through when it was painfully obvious this was probably the movie-verse instead. It outright contridicted G1 in several aspects.

As far as Exodus and WFC, towards the end of Exodus, it tells the same story about Omega Supreme as WFC, but in a completely different manner. Omega was brought down by Starscream and the seakers and crashed in the book, not in any way like how it happened in WFC with Megatron taking out Omega. The manner in which Zeta Prime (Sentinel Prime) is taken down/out by Megatron is completely different too. As is how Optimus gets the matrix and becomes Prime.

The Book's a decent read, but it's just too different from WFC which is too different from Prime which is too different from the movie-verse which is too different from G1 which is too different from the Unicron Trilogy which is too different from all of the comic universes... I could go on, but I think I've gone on too long already.

The point is that Hasbro already has so many universes. Let them be! Don't fight it. In fact, one of the great things about Transformers is that we each can tell whatever stories we want with whatever characters we want. How much fan fiction is there out there? Some of it really good, much of it horsehockey. But all of it the author's own. The toys spawn creativity and imagination. Let it happen! Don't try to reign it in or put boundaries on it. All that will end up happening is people will rant, get upset about every little detail and inconsistency in every piece of fiction produced. As a TF fan I can say: WFC is FUN TO PLAY!! Exodus was fun to read. The Bay movies are fun to watch. G1 is fun to experience, though it feels different now than when I was ten. Beast Wars was awesome! I did not care for the dubbing on the Unicron Trilogy, but there were some excellent toys and gimmicks in the lines. I love all of the toys! Why must any of it be shoehorned into one universe? Let it be and let the universes grow and flourish within each of our imaginations.

Man, I didn't mean to rant like that. I guess work has been just that stressful.

Skyfire-5 wrote:Will we ever see Generation 3?

That's what Beast Wars was

I always hated this idea when it was first hinted upon, it doesn't make any sense first of all, secondly, I haven't read the novel, but they don't mention any key plot elements that would connect the two (like why no one else seems to know what dark energon is), and the character designs are FAR different. They really needed more communication between their game development teams, their writing teams, and their animated series teams.

But nobody seems suprised that Hasbro UK have given out the wrong answer ;-p

Ha yeah you just keep telling yourself that hasbro, WFC>Prime and are not in the same continuity, how does Soundwave go from badass to a bitch drone and all the bots go from looking awesome to looking worse than bayformers? And besides hasbro can resist changing the sereies, you know if they do manage to have a singe continuity they'll "reboot it" 3 years later. Just give us transtech already.

That doesn't make any sense. There are FAR, FAR too many plot holes for this to be legit.

Fact is, WFC was made as a prequel to G1 and it works as a prequel far better then anything we've previously had. It works better as a prequel to G1 then it does Prime, that's for sure! The only major contradiction that is in WFC is the existance of Silverbolt and Airraid, but the story is open enough for there to be a reason for them needing to be re-created. Not to mention the fact that G1 itself wasn't really good at the whole "they were made during the series, they cannot be on Cybertron" thing (Looking at YOU, Constructicons!).

Exodus is just on its own, it isn't the same story as WFC and unlike WFC it doesn't fit into any continuity. It's a single continuity.

I told you all WFC is the begining of time and it is connected to Prime which is the future. Prime isnt related to the movies or have any connection to them.

WFC, WFC 2, Exodus, Prime. I been gettin things right alot any more and I was right about the Transformers Time line.

The movie-verse is it own unique thing it just borrows from other aspects of past Transformers and usses plot devices in its films however the Allspark was never seen in any of the series expcept for Animated.

So there Prime and WFC are connected howver Prime & the movies are not connected.

2 seperate universes 2 diffrent versions only thing in common they share the same name Transformers.

Think video games like Bioware they make Dragon Age & Mass Effect they are done under Bioware but they are done buy seperate teams only common thing they have they are owned by EA/Bioware.

Think in terms of Star Wars as WFC is the Beginning then Exodus is the middle and Prime is the Present.

It's an interesting twist that the creators of a certain property are the ones fascinated by trying to unify all of its iterations into one coherent story as opposed to the fans. Look at the storied "Legend of Zelda" series, for instance. So many fans try so hard to place each game in the series into a timeline, even going so far as to create alternate timelines that split and recombine and whatever just to avoid having to admit that the games just flat out contradict one another time and again. Even the creators admit that the games don't all fit together and are just retellings of the same stories and themes.

That's what I've always thought of the Transformers franchise. Every few years, it's a brand new take on the same basic premise: Autobots vs. Decepticons, war leads to fleeing Cybertron, the battle comes to Earth, and the rivalry of Optimus Prime and Megatron lives on. I think that makes the brand as a whole stronger in the sense that it can keep re-inventing itself around the same basic idea and it still (usually) works. When you start trying to make it all fit together, it all comes apart, and all the individual tellings of the story are diminished. We don't need a streamlined singular timeline, or a fully mapped out "multiverse," or poorly thought out ideas like each member of the original Thirteen being the same entity in every universe, to enjoy Transformers.

I wonder if this effort by Hasbro to make everything Transformers fit into a unified timeline is mostly motivated by a perceived need to rein the Transformers brand back into a fully unified, singular line of toys for the sake of the retailers? I don't know why that would be such an issue now, as both collectors and kids seem not to have trouble at all buying the toys they like and ignoring the rest.

What if we're looking at this all wrong? While we're looking at the stories of Video Games, Cartoons, and books, Hasbro is looking at toys. We're trying to make all of the stories fit into one line and Hasbro is trying to make all of the toys fit in one line, Generations.

Just a thought

bs

Rodimus2006 wrote:Think in terms of Star Wars as WFC is the Beginning then Exodus is the middle and Prime is the Present.

You very clearly have not read Exodus. Exodus starts off BEFORE WFC, then completely retells WFC's story with only very superficial similarities(Dark Energon, Starscream on a sattelite, Omega Supreme does... Something.). Neither stories, in anyway, fit together in the same timeline nor can they plausibly fit into Prime's continuity... In just FIVE episodes it's contradicted most of the events in both the game and book's continuity.

Not to me they are not.
Dis Continuity!

Yeah... I don't think so Hasbro!

What ever. I mean, if they were trying to make one single continuity than wouldn't they have made sure they all tied together? The book contradicts the game, the cartoon contradicts the game, and so we have one big contradictory blob of nonsense that Hasbro is trying to say is a continuity. It has more loose ends and incongruities than G1 did. Way to start off a new continuity on a high note. Maybe try next time?

What a mountain of bull-ox!!

Just to clarify; I've watched the first two episodes of Transformers: Prime, I've played and completed War For Cybertron, and read Exodus cover to cover. All three have one main theme in common: dark energon. And yet this fact is what would suggest that there is no continuity between any of them. In all three dark energon is treated like a brand new and unexplored substance. Surely that is the single biggest piece of evidence that no continuity exists.

I can imagine someone at Hasbro customer services went down to Transformers head office to get an answer for this question. But it sounds like they walked in on them during a rather intense game of CoD.

Customer services: "We've had an email from a fan asking whether Prime, War For Cybertron and Exodus share a continuity. What should I tell them?"

Mr. Transformers: "Die, die, die! Oh man, did you see that headshot?! You know he'll blame that on lag.... Uh, what? Er...yeah. Yeah sure. Why not?"

Personally, I view Prime as a unique series that just takes it's characters from the movies. Both War For Cybertron and Exodus could be different preludes to G1, but I prefer Exodus because it involves the evacuation of Cybertron and I really don't like Zeta Prime.

I read Exodus. I have not played WFC. From what I gather here, neither meshes with Prime, which I have seen.

It looks to me like Habro is trying to do what DC did in the original Crisis On Infinite Earths series: jam everything together into one new, single mess of a continuity that in the end makes no sense at all.

I don't understand the need to mesh everything together. I understand they are trying to figure out the best way to market their toy line, but what's wrong with keeping things separate?

Why not have just a movie-verse with its own toys and media?

Why not have a G1-verse made of homage updates that relate enough to the original cartoons and comics which they are in the process of releasing again?

Why not have an IDW-verse with it's own toys?

Why not have a new cartoon every half decade or so that tells it's own story with it's own toy line, even if that line is unique? That new cartoon-verse is what's going to grab the next generation of fans.

The part they are messing up is unfortunately the cartoon line. Animated was far too short. The toy line was incomplete. The story had room to grow for another few seasons, and even a sequel series along with a movie or two or three to break up the story arcs. Like Dragon Ball and the way Japan continued G1, a story can grow over time, old characters can evolve and leave, new characters can step in and take over the story, and the lifespan of one continuity can last close to a decade before the big finale of finales. Then they can take a few years off, just show reruns, complete the toy line, and develop the next universe to retell the story in a new way to a new generation.

So now they are rebooting with Prime, and that's fine with me. However, I find it too soon to do this. Animated should still be the cartoon right now. But it was scrapped, so here's Prime. But why does Prime have to be in sync with Exodus and WFC? And if they felt the need for Prime now, why not keep rolling Animated and make Prime for teens and adults, since that seems to be what it is right now anyway?

As mentioned earlier, Exodus loosely tells the story of the war. But this is very loose, an overview, really, and not a very good one (the war, the build up was decent). I would rather have had Exodus as a series of novels that go into great detail about the war, and in the process explore and unravel the mysteries of Cybertron in its own separate universe, with the war finding its way off Cybertron to other worlds, including Earth. As is, Exodus is merely a loose framework from which all current story lines can work off of, whether they do so perfectly or not. That's the impression the book gave me, and from what I'm seeing, that's what Hasbro intended.

The fact is, the movie is its own world. IDW is its own world. G1 is its own world. What's wrong with that? The toys will sell with or without media. Media does help, but it does not have to be a TV show or a movie, a simple series of internet comics or a novelization would be fine. Even mini comics included with the toys that tell their own small stories and connect to form a larger one would be enough. Kids need to read more anyway, so how about a toy line to accompany a series of novels? Kids read Harry Potter, so if done right won't they read Transformers too?

If Hasbro wants to believe everything is the same, good for them. We all know it's not, and they are actually hurting their marketing by trying to convince us otherwise, as gamers, readers (comics and/or novels), and TV watchers are not all necessarily interested in the same things. Hasbro should embrace that, expand their product accordingly, and watch as their profit margins go through the roof.

The Dude wrote:This.
Is.
Idiocy.

Not only that, but it seems to go against everything the designers of the game intended. WFC=G1. Pass it on.

No, WfC contradicts G1 as well. Jetfire, Trypticon, Zeta Prime, how Optimus gets the Matrix, the reason for leaving Cybertron (Energy Crisis vs Dark Energon Corruption), there's too many inconsistencies there as well.

But I'm with everyone else here. There's no way Prime can fit in with WfC. Unless Starscream and Megatron had complete memory wipes regarding Dark Energon. And there's the problem that Megatron's endgame is turning Cybertron into a Zombie Planet by infecting it with Dark Energon, except if it ties into WfC then there's no point because he already did that.

When you try to tie two series together, make sure to tie them together in a way that we can't point out the gigantic glaring contradictions.

The only way this could possibly make sense is if they are rebooting an entire multiverse's continuity and these are different universes. I haven't seen Prime, but from what I've read, clearly it doesn't fit with WFC and Exodus, and while WFC and Exodus could both plausibly be prequels to the original G1 cartoon (the book much moreso than the game as the inclusion of certain characters in the game, even if you try to make a side story in your head to explain why they'd be there, just doesn't make sense, while the book goes out of its way to try to include all the events from Cybertron's past that were a part of the TV show and doesn't have any major contradictions that are any more an issue that was the show already had within itself), neither of them really fit together with each other, so you could only have one or the other be prequels to the show (I'd pick Exodus, the game was super fun, but just a few small tweaks would have fixed a lot storywise). They have to be talking about a whole new multiverse here, or they just haven't actually read their own stories.