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Transformers: War for Cybertron Trilogy (also known as War for Cybertron) is an animated series produced by Hasbro and Rooster Teeth based on the War for Cybertron Trilogy toyline, with animation by Polygon Pictures and voice production by Horseless Cowboy. F.J. DeSanto acts as the series showrunner, a role he previously, partially held for the Prime Wars Trilogy web series, with George Krstic, Gavin Hignight, Brandon M. Easton, Tim Sheridan, and Mae Catt as writers. The show also sees Jake Foushee, Jason Marnocha, and Frank Todaro reprising their respective roles as Optimus Prime, Megatron, and Starscream, as well as previous Transformers alumni Keith Silverstein and Jessica DiGiovanni returning for voicework. Three seasons aired on Netflix, one for each of the franchise's three toylines; the first season was released on July 30, 2020, the second season on December 30, 2020, and the third on July 29, 2021.

In conjunction with the series, Hasbro and TakaraTomy released a Netflix-branded toyline featuring more battle-worn decoes for pre-existing War for Cybertron Trilogy toys, as well as toys based on characters introduced in the show. Leading up to the release of the final chapter, TakaraTomy announced the Premium Finish line, half of which features characters from the Netflix show with extremely animation accurate paint jobs.

Overview

The planet Cybertron has been ravaged by an endless civil war between Optimus Prime and his Autobots and Megatron and his Decepticons, with the former in ruins but refusing to stand down. Frustrated, Ultra Magnus surrenders to Megatron shortly before they learn of the life-giving Allspark, and Shockwave's plan to reformat all Autobots on the planet into Decepticons. Ultra Magnus overhears everything and relays it to the Autobots, launching a hunt for the Allspark from both factions. After an imprisoned Ultra Magnus is murdered by Megatron, neutral scavenger Bumblebee obtains the Alpha Trion Protocols containing the location of the Allspark and reluctantly joins the Autobots. Despite warnings of dooming the planet itself, Optimus Prime forms a plan to flee Cybertron aboard the Ark with the Allspark. The Autobots cautiously trust ex-Decepticon Jetfire to lead them into the dangerous Sea of Rust to obtain the Allspark, while Ratchet and Decepticon Impactor repair a derelict space bridge, and Bumblebee steals raw energon from the Mercenaries to power the Ark. The synchronous plan succeeds, though Elita-1 is left to continue the war effort on Cybertron, the Allspark is lost among the stars, and the Ark is left adrift as an unknown ship approaches...

With Cybertron unable to sustain life, Megatron and the Decepticons plan to search for a new world aboard the newly-constructed Nemesis, though Elita-1 and her team cause trouble by freeing prisoners whose sparks power the ship. The Ark Autobots are captured by the Fool's Fortune Mercenaries led by Doubledealer and contracted by Quintesson Judge Deseeus, though he betrays them, motivating the thieves help the Autobots escape, while secretly selling out their location to Megatron. After the Nemesis departs to follow the Ark, Shockwave lures other weak Decepticons to Kaon Arena to harvest their sparks, prompting Elita-1 and Decepticon Scrapface's forces to detonate the harvester, though they are all killed in the blast. Elsewhere, the Ark locates the Allspark and travels to the derelict Nebulon Station, but their attempts to destroy it and pass through the accompanying space bridge come to a stop by the Decepticons. After a united brawl against the Scorponok, Starscream uses the Nemesis cannons to destroy everyone present, but the resulting explosion opens a rift to the Dead Universe. Inside, the Ark crew finds the jaded Sky Lynx, who helps Optimus open an exit rift to Earth. Meanwhile, Megatron temporarily meets his future self Galvatron, who urges him to use his hatred to kill Optimus Prime, leading to Sky Lynx's sacrifice to save the Autobots. The Ark, Nemesis, and the in-pursuit Fool's Fortune, now piloted by Deseeus, escape the Dead Universe and lock into a dogfight, culminating in Megatron stealing the Matrix of Leadership. The Fool's Fortune warp-drive explodes, causing the remaining ships to crash—though they are not the only Cybertronians on the planet...

The bestial Maximals and Predacons locate their ancestors, the Autobots and Decepticons respectively, in the harsh landscape of prehistoric Earth. While the Decepticons and Predacons consolidate their troops together under the command of two Megatrons (who get along surprisingly well), the Autobots and Maximals initially face each other with hostility. Ultimately, the two heroic factions set aside their differences to beat the two bands of 'cons to capturing the Allspark. The mystical artefact creates a series of unsettling illusions to mislead the two sides. However, the Predacon Dinobot betrays his comrades and steals the Matrix of Leadership back from the original Megatron, returning it to Optimus before giving in to his wounds from Predacon Megatron. The Allspark's eerie illusions culminate in a duel between Optimus Prime and a projection of Ultra Magnus. The spirit of the Allspark ultimately sides with Optimus; guiding him to its physical resting place. Upon reaching the Allspark temple, Optimus is greeted by both Megatron and Optimus Primal, the former waging a climactic battle between the two rivals. An Allspark projection of Elita-1 tells Optimus to surrender the Matrix to Megatron against Primal's advice, resulting in the Matrix rejecting Megatron and sending him into a nightmarish vision. As Prime and Primal return with both the Matrix and the dying Allspark in hand, the Nemesis crew attacks the Ark, resulting in a desperate struggle to get the Ark's systems online while fending off the 'cons. Incredibly, the Ark gains consciousness and transforms into robot mode, having been given schematics for conversion within the Dead Universe and enabled by the Allspark. The transformed Ark completely turns the tables on the Nemesis; with the Decepticon and Predacon troops being sealed within the ship's stasis field. The defected Predacon Blackarachnia forms a temporary alliance with the Ark's crew.

As the Ark lands on a desolate, frozen-over Cybertron via a spacebridge network, Megatron is freed from his imprisonment by Galvatron. The Autobots and Maximals emerge from the ship and plan to return the Allspark to its rightful place within Cybertron before the planet is lost for good. As Bumblebee and Optimus set out together, they encounter Optimus's deranged future self Nemesis Prime, who lashes out at his past self for the Allspark. While Megatron and Galvatron join forces with Nemesis Prime, Bumblebee finds the Temple of the Allspark hidden within a canyon, and manages to enter the temple. As the four factions arrive under Optimus Primal, Megatron turns on Galvatron at Optimus's and Starscream's encouragement. As Bumblebee replaces the Allspark in its altar, the golden spirits of many deceased Cybertronians appear, and magically transport Galvatron and Nemesis Prime away. As the spirits reunite with the Allspark, Cybertron is saved, and the Decepticons and Predacons reconcile their conflict with the Autobots and Maximals on the condition the two sides stay apart, leading to an uncertain age of peace. Meanwhile, Unicron punishes Galvatron and Nemesis Prime for their failure, and reformats them...

Cast

Episodes

Chapter 1: Siege

Chapter 2: Earthrise

Chapter 3: Kingdom

Reception

With the same production team as the notoriously unpopular Prime Wars Trilogy cartoon series, fan expectations for the War for Cybertron Trilogy were lukewarm prior to its release, but it was generally considered to be an improvement over its predecessor, though not without flaws of its own.

Voice acting

Like contemporary shows Cyberverse and Rescue Bots Academy, the War for Cybertron Trilogy cartoon used a non-union (a.k.a. cheaper to hire) cast of voice actors, meaning that many major characters—such as Optimus Prime and Megatron—lack their iconic voices, and some of the performances were criticised as being amateur, inexpressive, or otherwise ill-suited to the characters. In most cases, it seems the actors received poor voice direction; for example, Predacon Megatron's dialogue was scripted with David Kaye's delivery in mind, which is not borne through in the performance.

Animation

In terms of visuals also, the show exhibits clear budget limitations when compared to previous Transformers cartoons of the 2010s, having more in common with the 2005 Cybertron cartoon. Nonetheless, the show is distinctly a visual upgrade over the Prime Wars Trilogy, with detailed backgrounds and character models (the latter usually based on CAD models for the toys, although not all characters from the toylines appear) and a deliberate murky style. However, character animation is generally just passable at best.

Pacing and story direction

Despite cramming an absurd number of characters and concepts into its short 18-episode-miniseries run, the War for Cybertron Trilogy cartoon feels slow. Dialogue is drawn-out, both in terms of constantly reiterating exposition (drink every time someone says "Allspark") and in terms of the delivery itself. The plot of Siege in particular is highly protracted, while Kingdom conversely is rushed in many places. Characters often have little if anything in common with their previous incarnations beyond appearance; some of the reimagined portrayals were well-received by some fans, others less so. The three Kingdom episodes written by Mae Catt markedly stand out from the rest, with clear fan appeal in how the likes of Dinobot, Blackarachnia and Starscream are portrayed.

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