The Problem
Like the Marvel and DC, Transformers fiction is filled with many continuities/timelines/universes.
While it is clear that Generation One Optimus Prime and the Optimus Prime in the Unicron Trilogy are different characters and thus have been given their own pages on this wiki for years, I still feel their pages are too long by including Cartoon and Marvel Comics stuff on the same page.
Now both Hasbro and TakaraTomy have acknowledged that there are different universes in their Ask Vector Prime Facebook posts and All Spark Almanacs and have given them the following names:
- Primax
- Basically every variation G1, G2, Beast Wars and almost everything you can think of that is related to them.
- Aurex
- Unicron Trilogy
- Uniend
- The Aligned Continuity
And many others
My Proposal
Character, Mecha and Terminology Pages
We will basically separate character pages by their universal clusters and further separate them by universal streams. There will be subpages and master pages. Master pages will utilize the Tab view extension and transclude each subpage.
Case 1: Name Unique to a Stream
A name that has only ever been used a character in one continuity will simply be the title of that character's page. No parentheses or additional name spaces are necessary.
- Example: Abel only ever appeared in The Headmasters so we keep his page as is and refine it.
Case 2: Name Unique to a Cluster
For names used by characters only in cluster they will be named like <name>/<cluster> <stream> and <name> will be a master page.
- Example: Fortress Maximus will be the master page.
- Fortress Maximus/Primax 984.17 Alpha will be the page for Fortress Maximus as he appears in The Transformers cartoon.
- Fortess Maximus/Primax 209.0 Gamma will be the page for Fortress Maximus as he appears in Beast Wars: Uprising.
Case 3: Name Used Across Different Clusters
For name used by characters across different clusters, they will be named as such: <name> (<cluster>)/<stream> with <name> (<cluster>) being the master page and <name> being a redirect to a disambiguation page.
- Example: Optimus Prime (Primax) will be a master page for the character represented by the original G1 Toy.
- Optimus Prime (Primax)/984.17 Alpha will be the page for Optimus Prime in The Transformers cartoon.
- Optimus Prime (Primax)/984.0 Gamma will be the page for Optimus Prime in the U.S. Marvel comics.
- Optimus Prime (Primax)/Toys will list all the toys and will be written from an out of universe perspective using the toyline titles rather than universal stream designations.
- Example: Optimus Prime (Aurex) will be a different master page for the variations of Unicron Trilogy Optimus Prime.
- Optimus Prime (Aurex)/802.23 Alpha will be the page for Optimus Prime in Armada, Energon and Cybertron television series.
- Optimus Prime (Aurex)/103.10 Alpha will be the page for Convoy in Micron Legend and Super Link. The page itself will refer to the character as Convoy, not Optimus Prime.
Now, this will mean repeated information. Marvel U.S. and Marvel UK both share certain issues and The Transformers and Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers share a lot of similar stuff. However, taking a look at the Wookieepedia, both canon and legends share the Six Movies and The Clone Wars and thus there are common events within their two Luke Skywalker pages. Repeating information should not be a concern in my opinion.
Case: 4 "Multiversal Constants"
Yes, Primus in Galaxy Force is actually the same character as Marvel Comics Primus. I believe we should just deal with Multiversal Constants in similarly to Case 3. They will be named as such: <name> (<cluster>)/<stream> with <name> (<cluster>) being the master page and <name> basically being a more detailed disambiguation page explaining that the character is a multiversal constant, common attributes they have and any events that involve crossing multiple universal streams.
- Example: Primus will be its own article on and there, w will explain that he is a multiversal constant and the common attributes he has include being a Transformer deity or having Cybertron as a body. It will have a list of his incarnations in the different clusters.
- Primus (Primax) will be a master page with a template linking back to Primus.
- Primus (Primax)/785.06 Alpha will be the page for Primus/Oracle/Vector Sigma in Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers.
- Primus (Primax)/984.20 Gamma will be the page for Primus in the U.K. Marvel comics.
- Primus (Primax) will be a master page with a template linking back to Primus.
Case 5: Very Different Interpretations in the Same Cluster
- Example: Megatron and Galvatron are the same character in The Transformers but are different characters in the IDW G1 comics.
- Megatron (Primax) will be a master page.
- Megatron (Primax)/984.17 Alpha will be the page for Megatron in The Transformers and we will mention that he was later known as Galvatron, all of Galvatron's history in that continuity will be part of it too. Galvatron (Primax)/984.17 Alpha will be a redirect.
- Megatron (Primax)/1005.19 Gamma will be a page for IDW Megatron transcluded in the Megatron (Primax) master page.
- Galvatron/Primax 1005.19 Gamma will be its own article not transcluded anywhere. It will link back to Galvatron which is a redirect to Galvatron (disambiguation).
- Megatron (Primax) will be a master page.
- Example: Cybertron in the G1 continuity family almost always refers to the planet but in the Japanese G1 continuity, Cybertron is a faction, the equivalent of Autobot.
- Cybertron (Primax) will be the master page.
- Cybertron (Primax)/785.06 Alpha will not be a subpage, instead, the article for Japanese G1 Cybertron will be Seibertron/Primax 785.06 Alpha and it will be transcluded in the Cybertron (Primax) master page. Seibertron/Primax 785.06 Alpha will link back to the Seibertron page which is a redirect to Seibertron (disambiguation).
- Cybertron (Primax) will be the master page.
- Autobot (Primax) will be another master page
- Autobot (Primax)/785.06 Alpha will not be a subpage, instead the article for the heroic faction in Japanesse G1 will be Cybertron/Primax 785.06 Alpha and it will be transcluded in the Autobot (Primax) master page. The reason it is not Cybertron (Primax)/785.06 Alpha (notice the presence of parentheses) is so that it would not have a link back to to the Cybertron (Primax) article. Instead it will link back to the Cybertron page which is a redirect to Cybertron (disambiguation) on that page we will mention that the term can refer to both planets and factions.
- Autobot (Primax) will be another master page
Media Pages
This applies to the Japanese dub of The Transformers and the English dubs of Car Robots, Micron Legend, Super Link and Galaxy Force. With the Omni Productions dub of The Headmasters, Super-God Masterforce and Victory, we should just use the Japanese names since they clearly are not set in Primax 984.17 Alpha as Blaster is called Billy and the clear contradiction with Season 4.
Approach 1: Include in Notes & Trivia
We will favor one language over another and include dub differences in the Notes & Trivia section at the bottom of the page.
Example: The Galaxy Force episode Wondrous Planet Speedia which was dubbed into the Cybertron episode Space.
We can leave it as is and refine it a little. Or we can rename it Wondrous Planet Speedia and change the dub names to Japanese names.
Approach 2: Tab View
We create two similar pages and a master page with a tab view transcluding both. We will still need to favor one language over the other as the main page.
So there will be a page called Space with a tab view transcluding a subpage called Space/English and another subpage called Space/Japanese. Alternatively a page called Wondrous Planet Speedia with a tab view transcluding a subpage called Wondrous Planet Speedia/English and another subpage called Wondrous Planet Speedia/Japanese.
For those concerned with repeating information. I will again use Wookieepedia as an example, there are two pages for the same Star Wars: The Clone Wars episode The Gathering; one canon and one legends. In the original legends version, the episode involves Lightsaber crystals and Kaiburr crystals are only one of many. Now, canon has retconned Kyber Cystals to be a synonym for Lightsaber crystals.
Approach 3: No Bias
Simply one page called Wondrous Planet Speedia and another page called Space and each will have a disambiguation template at the top linking to the other language counterpart. I think this is the best approach.