Cybertron (The Transformers)

Cybertron, as presented in the original "The Transformers" animated series, was considerably smaller than the planet Earth. Entirely metallic on the surface, some of the lowest levels of Cybertron consist of rock and dirt, suggesting a natural beginning to the planet. Its gravity is light enough that humans are able to traverse the surface without any trouble, and it possesses a breathable atmosphere. Water is not uncommon on the planet - lake and rivers have been shown to exist, albeit sparingly. Cybertron is orbited by at least two unnamed moons, but its own place in the cosmos appears unfixed - in 1984, it was clearly shown to exist outside of the Milky Way galaxy; however, nine million years prior, Starscream and Skyfire had been able to fly from the planet to Earth under their own power, suggesting that it may drift freely through space, and had been passing through the Solar system at that point, going on to drift out of the galaxy over the ensuing millennia.

If the assorted colourful exclamations made by numerous Transformers are anything to go by, Cybertron also plays host to a vast array of fauna, including but not limited to: ant-droids, bolt-bats, cyber-ducks, dynametal ducks, electro-toads, glitch-mice, guineapigatrons, helio-hamsters, hydro-weasels, photovoltaic pussycats, retro-rats, robo-rats, sheepacrons, titanium moose-bots, turbo-foxes, zap-mice and robotopossums.

History

Twelve million years ago, Cybertron was a factory used by the multi-faced aliens, the Quintessons, to manufacture two lines of commercially-sold robots - consumer goods and military hardware. It is never stated whether or not the Quintessons "built" Cybertron, or if they terraformed an organic world, or if they colonised an existing metal planet, but their hold on the world was quickly established, as they used the mighty furnace of the Plasma Energy Chamber to forge the bodies of their robot creations and programmed them with the mega-computer, Vector Sigma.

But, after a million years of slavery, their creations, having developed true sentience, could think and feel and knew the difference between oppression and freedom. The consumer goods robots, led by A3, spearheaded the First Cybertronian War, the rebellion against the Quintessons, prompting the aliens to create the massive "Dark Guardians" to protect their cities and crush the rebels. However, thanks to A3's coda remote device and a little intervention from five time-displaced Transformers from 2006, the Guardians were deactivated and the Quintesson's main base, Hive City, fell, beginning the toppling line of dominos that saw the Quintessons forced off the planet and the robots attain their freedom.

The brief peace, however, was not to last - lusting for power, the military hardware robots, now calling themselves the Decepticons, began a war with the more peaceful consumer goods robots, now known as the Autobots. Some fled the planet. Others who were unsuited to combat, the Autobots could not hope to beat the Decepticons with strength, and turned to stealth, inventing the art of transformation - reconfiguring their bodies into new, disguised shapes. With this added skill, the Autobots were able to achieve victory in the Second Cybertronian War, and an era of tranquility descended on the planet, policed by the reprogrammed Dark Guardians, now called "Guardian Robots". Life was good, energy was rich and plentiful, and Cybertron shone with a healthy golden glow, distinguishing the time as the Golden Age of Cybertron.

But within this paradise, a viper lurked. Although defeated and living in peace with the Autobots, the Decepticons' ideals of conquest had not been crushed, but merely temporarily halted. In time, they too adopted transformation, and coupled it with the new invention of robot-mode flight powers, leading to the creation of the malevolent Megatron roughly nine million years ago. Immediately, Megatron destroyed the current Autobot leader in a strike on one of Iacon's outer cities, and used the reprogramming device known as the Robo-Smasher to brainwash Autobots into his service alongside his like-minded minions. Megatron's actions were not wide public knowledge, however, with only rumours circulating as A3 - now called Alpha Trion - diligently worked on a new process to reconstruct Autobots into battle-hardy configurations that they might truly fight in the war he knew was coming.

That war finally erupted in full when Megatron duped a naive young dock worker, Orion Pax, into allowing him access to his energy warehouse. Unaware of their true nature, Pax idolised Megatron and the Decepticons, but soon learned the error of his ways when Megatron fatally wounded him. Alpha Trion made him the first subject of his new process, reconstructing him into Optimus Prime, who would lead the Autobots in the Third Cybertronian War.

After five million years of war, during which many Autobots fled the planet, the Decepticons had acquired a large hold on the planet, with the majority of it under their control. The main Autobot force continued to operate from the capital city-state of Iacon, but Cybertron's energy levels were depleted to a dangerous low, necessitating a space mission to locate a new planet with new sources of energy that the Transformers could harness. Optimus Prime led his best and brightest on the Ark, but they were pursued by Megatron's elite troops, and all were stranded in stasis on Earth for four million years.

In the ensuing four million years, Shockwave, who Megatron had left in charge as guardian of the planet, maintained the Decepticon hold on the planet, though he was unaware of the continued guerilla efforts of Elita One's Female Autobots to undermine him as they raided his energy supplies. Eventually, Cybertron's energy level dipped so low as to put the planet in immediate, mortal danger. Re-establishing contact with Megatron, who had awoken with the other Transformers on Earth in the year 1984, Shockwave co-designed the space bridge, an intergalactic transport system that could transport Energon Cubes from Earth to Cybertron, abating the planet's impending doom.

Cybertron's place in the universe was forcibly altered in 1984 when the Decepticons constructed a colossal spacebridge that actually transported the entire planet into the Sol system, into Earth's orbit, where its gravity wreaked havoc with the planet's natural balance, unleashing an uneding torrent of energy created by natural disasters. The energy acquired re-energised Cybertron enough to put it out of the danger zone, but the planet was soon knocked out of orbit by a massive Energon explosion, and set drifting off through the solar system. At this closer range Cybertron remained easily accessed throughout 1985 at least, with the Autobots now able to reach it by conventional transportation (Omega Supreme), rather than having to constantly hijack use of the spacebridge.

By the Earth year 2005, Cybertron had exited the Solar system, but was still relatively easily accessible by shuttlecraft from Earth. By this time, the Decepticon forces had succeeded in conquering the entire planet, forcing all the Autobots off it, leading them to relocate to Autobot City on Earth, and to two staging ground bases on Cybertron's moons. It was at this time that Cybertron came under attack from the world-eater, Unicron, who consumed the two moons and assaulted Cybertron itself only to be destroyed by the power of the Matrix of Leadership. His deactivated, decapitated head fell into orbit around Cybertron, a grisly new satellite to replace those he had destroyed. With the Decepticon forces in disarray after Unicron's attack, Rodimus Prime and his troops succeeded in driving their foes off Cybertron, reclaiming the planet for the Autobots. They restored and re-energised much of the planet by 2006, when the world came under frequent attacks from the returning Quintessons, whose previously-secret history with the Transformers came to light.

In the year 2007, Cybertron was once again wrenched from its place in space when Galvatron and the Decepticons invaded the planet and constructed a massive planetary engine that propelled Cybertron back into Earth orbit once more. Once there, Galvatron opened the Plasma Energy Chamber, intending for the energy release to drive the Sun supernova, consuming Earth, Cybertron and everything else in one final destructive blow. Spike Witwicky and the Autobots' Nebulan allies were able to stop this plan by reversing the rocket engine, which drained off the excess solar energy and channeled it straight into Vector Sigma, which used it to full re-energise Cybertron. Its rich golden hue restored, Cybertron entered a new Golden Age.

Locations

*Iacon
** Autobot HQ
*Decepticon HQ
*Cybertonium Pits
*Elita-One's (first) resistance base
*Vector Sigma Chamber
*Plasma Energy Chamber
*Wheeljack's Workshop

Japanese Series

While the American "Transformers" series was concluded with the three-part miniseries, "The Rebirth", depicting the 2007 events noted above, in Japan it was opted to continue the series, and so "The Rebirth" was disregarded in favour of producing "Transformers: Headmasters", a full-length 35-episode series set in the year 2011.

In 2011, it was discovered that the release of the energy of the Matrix by Optimus Prime to cure the Hate Plague had much more far-reaching consequences that anyone suspected. With the Matrix's energy depleted, Vector Sigma's balance - previously tilted in favour of the Autobots by the existence of the Matrix - was reset to neutrality, allowing the Decepticons, bolstered by their new Headmaster troops, to freely invade Cybertron "(known as Seibertron in Japan)". Eventually, this forced Optimus Prime to sacrifice his life by merging with Vector Sigma in order to stabilise the computer before it destroyed Cybertron from within.

Not long thereafter, Vector Sigma developed a new metal alloy dubbed Cybertonuron, which enticed Galvatron into another raid on the planet. However, the Decepticon Headmaster leader, Zarak, feared the power that Galvatron would gain from the alloy, and so, to prevent either him or the Autobots from obtaining it, arranged for his Headmasters to plant bombs at the core of the planet, within Vector Sigma's chamber. The Autobots were unable to stop the countdown and the bombs detonating, tearing Cybertron apart and leaving it a charred uninhabitable ruin drifting in space.