Optimus was a young and optimistic recruit in the Autobot Academy, wanting to face off against real Decepticons in a battle as part of the Elite Guard. Unfortunately, he missed the war by a few million years, and eventually failed to pass the Academy. His ambitions and dreams crushed, Optimus was instead assigned command of a small maintenance crew for the tedious and boring duty of repairing and cleaning-up the Space Bridge network. But when the Autobot crew accidentally comes across the very powerful, life-giving All Spark which was lost at the end of the war, they are suddenly ambushed by the greatly-feared leader of the Decepticons, Megatron, and his own broken army of experienced soldiers in their search for the legendary artifact. The Autobots get away from the Decepticon warship, and Megatron is destroyed in a fluke explosion, but damage causes their ship to crash on an unknown planet. Optimus Prime and his crew go into emergency stasis lock for 50 years, and reactivate in the future underneath Lake Erie near Detroit, Michigan.

Transformers: Armada, referred to as Transformers: Micron Legend in the Japanese version, is the title of the Transformers animated series and toyline which ran from 2002-2003. As the first series co-produced between the American toy company, Hasbro, and their Japanese counterpart, Takara, Armada begins a new continuity/universe for Transformers, with no ties to any of the previous series. The show was criticized by some for having a simplistic plot and one-dimensional characters, but also has a devoted cult following, particularly for its later storylines incorporating Unicron and its more developed role for Starscream. Ultimately, it is one of the most highly debated Transformers series in terms of quality. It would go on to birth a sequel in the form of Transformers: Energon. (Wikipedia)

Beast Machines was an animated television series produced by Mainframe Entertainment that was a direct sequel to Beast Wars and is the final television series to take place in the original Generation 1 continuity. The show ran for two seasons, airing on Fox and YTV from 1999 to 2000. Of the Transformers animated series produced in North America, Beast Machines was the only one to have been completely conceptualized and outlined in advance, lending it a more serialized and linear storyline than the others although the quality of the storylines themselves have been heavily debated amongst fans. The Beast Machines intro theme was "Phat Planet", by Leftfield.

It started to air in Japan in 2004 under the title of Beast Wars Returns on a special Takara subscription service, with fairly good response. Toys were only available at Toys R Us stores in Japan & the UK. (Wikipedia)

Beast Wars (Beasties in Canada) was a line of toys under the Transformers banner, released by Hasbro between 1995 and 1999. The toys spawned a full-CG animated series set in the Transformers universe, produced by Mainframe Entertainment of Canada. The series debuted in 1996, as a sequel to the original Transformers which debuted in 1984 as both a television series and as a comic book series published by Marvel Comics. The television series was followed by various limited comic book stories from several companies including Dreamwave comics and IDW.

The series follows the adventures of the "Maximals" and the "Predacons", rival factions of beings who transform between their natural robot and alternative "beast" modes. The Maximals are descendants of the Autobots from the original series, while the Predacons's ancestors were the Decepticons. An interesting element of the series frequently leans the balance of power in the favor of the Predacons, many of whom have spent their lives in the art of warfare. The Maximals, mainly comprised of scientists, have been drawn into an ongoing conflict beyond the scope of their experience. Overall, Beast Wars is one of the most beloved Transformers series made as many fans across the world cherish it for its sophisticated writing and in-depth character development. (Wikipedia)

Transformers: Cybertron (Transformers: Galaxy Force in Japan) was the 2005-2006 Transformers toyline and animated series, another co-production between Hasbro and Takara. Hasbro clearly conceived the series to follow on from its predecessors, Transformers: Armada and Transformers: Energon, and all their toy materials repeatedly push this idea. However, the resulting production by GONZO was a show that re-booted the continuity. The dub of the show has made an effort to link it with the previous series, but the results are ambiguous. (Wikipedia)

Transformers: Energon (Transformers: Superlink in Japan) was the 2004-2005 Transformers toyline and animated series, another co-production between Hasbro and Takara and a direct sequel to Transformers: Armada. In this series the Transformer's big gimmicks are the Autobots' ability to combine with partners of the same size, the Decepticons' ability to use powered up forms, and the addition of Energon weapons and stars that can be placed on any Transformer. Minicons, from the previous line, are still present, but all Minicon pegs are "dead," and do not activate a function on the toy. (Wikipedia)

Robots in Disguise is the title of the 2001 American Transformers line of toys and cartoon series, a self-contained universe separate from any of the other existing Transformers Universes. It is an imported and dubbed version of the Japanese series from the previous year, Transformers: Car Robots, brought to the West as a "filler" line while production on the next series, Transformers: Armada began. (Wikipedia)