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Many years before the Cybertronian Civil Wars, the five-faced Quintessons built large numbers of robots for sale to their customers. Their two main product lines were military hardware and consumer goods, who would eventually call themselves Decepticons and Autobots, respectively. The symbols used to differentiate them would become known as the Autobot and Decepticon insignias (Autobot rebels referred to theirs as a "slave brand"). Much to the dismay of the Quintessons, their creations became alive, and resisted being enslaved. Nonetheless, the Quintessons continued their operations, using giant Guardian robots to protect themselves.
One Autobot named A-3 (who would eventually become Alpha Trion) helped to start a rebellion. With the help of a small group of Autobots accidentally sent from the future, A-3 managed to build a device that was able to defeat the Quintesson Guardians. The Quintessons were exiled from the planet for good.
Years later, the Decepticons wanted to take the planet for themselves, and built Megatron to lead them to victory. (The Constructicons were depicted as being Megatron's creators by the Matrix, but this evidence is questionable for several reasons.) Megatron made his opening salvo when he attacked young Orion Pax, and his friends Dion and Aerial, during a raid. The time-displaced Aerialbots, who saw the attack, brought Orion and his girlfriend to Alpha Trion, who rebuilt them into Optimus Prime and (presumably) Elita-One. Some time after this, Optimus Prime became the leader of the Autobots.
Years passed and the Autobot forces found they were losing badly. The energy supply on Cybertron had diminished to dangerous levels. Optimus Prime gathered his best troops to go out on a mission to find more energy.
In space they encountered an asteroid field, and there, they were attacked and boarded by the Decepticons, led by Megatron. The Autobot ship eventually crashed on Earth and the Autobots and Decepticons inside remained dormant until a volcanic eruption revived them four million years later (in 1984). The war continued on both Earth and Cybertron. However, while the Autobots on Earth were quite successful, the Decepticons on Cybertron had virtual control over their home planet.
In the year 2005, the Autobots had established Autobot City on Earth, but they had lost Cybertron. However, they were able to set up outposts on its moons instead. The Autobots were hoping to use these moonbases as staging grounds for an eventual retaking of Cybertron.
In a preemptive strike, the Decepticons launched a full scale assault on Autobot City. In the ensuing battle, Optimus Prime was mortally injured by Megatron, but managed to punch his archnemesis over a ledge, crippling him from the fall. On his death bed, Optimus Prime passed the Autobot Matrix of Leadership to Ultra Magnus.
When Megatron was recreated by Unicron into Galvatron, he was forced to hunt down Ultra Magnus. This he did easily, and had the Sweeps destroy the Autobot leader. The Matrix was kept by Galvatron. The Junkions, natives of the planet Ultra Magnus died on, rebuilt him as a sign of friendship with the Autobots. The Autobots then went after Galvatron, who unsuccessfully tried to enslave Unicron with the Matrix. There found Unicron attacking Cybertron. Hot Rod and several other Autobots managed to get inside the monster planet, where Hot Rod met and fought Galvatron. When Galvatron moved to strangle the young Autobot, he got hold of the Matrix, and it turned him into Rodimus Prime. With his new body, he easily defeated Galvatron and opened the Matrix, which destroyed Unicron from the inside.
Rodimus Prime led the Autobots from that moment on, and under his leadership, the Autobots somehow managed to win back Cybertron. Despite his success, Rodimus often wished he was never leader.
When the Hate Plague threatened the universe, Optimus Prime was resurrected in the hopes that the former leader would have a solution. Optimus defeated the infected Rodimus and took the Matrix from his body. He then opened it, curing the plague and emptying the Matrix of its accumulated wisdom.
Earth and Cybertron were at peace for a while, but the Decepticons eventually returned and launched a full scale assult on Autobot City. This allowed them to steal the key to the Plasma Energy Chamber on Cybertron. When Scourge opened the chamber, several Autobots went after him and took the key. The shuttle they where in was hit by a jolt of plasma energy and they where shot into space and ended up on the planet Nebulos. Like the Decepticons who eventually followed them, the Autobots became Headmasters and Targetmasters.
At this point, Optimus Prime learned from Vector Sigma that a golden age was coming and where to find the missing Autobots. As a result, Optimus travelled to Nebulos, but the Decepticons got the key and returned to Cybertron in Scorponok. The Autobots followed but there, found that Cybertron had moved to Earth's solar system due to rocket thrusters Galvatron had his troops build into the planet.
There, Galvatron opened the plasma energy chamber, hoping to make the Earth's sun go nova and wipe out the solar system.
Instead, the stray plasma energy hit Scorponok, who was leaving the planet with all the Decepticons inside, sending them spinnng out of control. While the Autobots malfunctioned due to the plasma energy, the Headmaster and Targetmaster Nebulans built a device out of the rocket thrusters to absorb the plasma energy. This energy replenished the planet, creating a new Golden Age for Cybertron.
