Autobot

If you don't recognize this symbol, what in the name of Primus are you doing here?

"'Til all are one."

―Autobot rally cry

The Autobots are one of the primary factions in the Transformers mythos. They usually find themselves defending other species against the Decepticons and upholding justice and freedom throughout the galaxy.

They are considered "the good guys" in most Transformers stories.

A generally heroic, honorable group, they tend to be dedicated to peace, rather than conquest. As a result they are usually Transformers who change into non-combat oriented alternate modes such as domestic vehicles, cars, trucks, or rescue vehicles. This is not always the case, however, as their ranks certainly contain neer-do-wells, malcontents, and unsavory types, and the neccessities of war have lead many to adopt more combat-oriented alternate forms.

Japanese name: Cybertron

Generation 1

Marvel Comic

The birth of Prima, the first Autobot. Just before Primus went around handing out cigars.

In the beginning Primus created the Transformers, a race of living robots that could change their bodies into the likeness of weapons, vehicles, and machinery, and all Transformers were Autobots, and he saw that they were good. The Autobot symbol (or Autobrand as it is sometimes called) was based on the face of the Last Autobot, the sleeping guardian Primus left for the day when his plans came to fruition.

At first Autobot numbers were small, (a mere 13 began things) but through budding they expanded their race to fill the planet. When the correct level of population was reached a mechanism triggered and memory of the process was wiped from the Transformers minds. At some point in these early days Unicron was able to reach through the mental link he shared with Primus and sow the seeds of corruption in a few Autobots, though this dark cult of Unicron would not bear fruit for a long time.

Eons passed in relative peace. Autobot society formed its own traditions, institutions, city-states and politics. From a human perspective this society resembled that of ancient Rome. Senators and Emirates governed wisely or corruptly, priests worshiped Primus and passed his holy Matrix to the chosen bearer (the linage: Prima to Prime Nova, Prime Nova to Sentinal Prime), gladiatorial games were held for sport and entertainment, and above it all the Overlords ruled.

It was only with the advent of Megatron at the end of the Golden Age, coinciding with the death of the last hereditary Overlord, and the subsequent rise of the Decepticons, that the words "Autobot" and "Transformer" ceased being necessary synonyms and the population was divided by war.

Optimus Prime appears to turn the tide.

In the early days of the war the Autobots were overwhelmed by the Decepticon war machine. They fell back again and again and for a while it looked like the war would be quickly lost... and then a young warrior rose from their ranks and rallied the troops to fight back. He made his reputation by denying Megatron access to the Underbase, soon rose to command the Autobot's elite air corps and then, at last, was granted full command of all Autobot armies. Optimus Prime had turned the tide, and under his leadership the Autobots fought back until Megatron's war machine was stalled out and stalemated.

The war ground on until Autobot scientists detected that their planet's path was going to pass through a deadly asteroid belt. Putting the planetwide conflict aside for the moment they turned their attention to planetary salvation and the Ark was built.

And now, shadow puppet theatre.

Optimus and a crew of his best soldiers took the Ark into space and cleared the a path for the planet through the asteroid field. Unfortunately with their power depleted from that Herculean task they were then ambushed by Megatron and his Decepticons. The crews of both ships were lost to history.

Without Megatron or Prime the pace of the war slowed considerably. Still, fighting continued and both sides dug-in for a long bitter struggle. In Prime’s absence Emirate Xaaron lead the Autobot forces in their struggle to retake their homeworld.

The next four million years passed quickly (as it is wont to do) and without any major alteration (only a general degradation) of the situation. Finally news came to Cybertron: Optimus Prime and his forces lived! Yet this news came at a steep price as it meant a new front had opened in the war. Optimus Prime and his forces fought the Decepticons on the distant world of Earth, while Xaaron, his Wreckers, and others carried on the war for Cybertron.

Highpoint of ancient and virtuous Autobot civilization, me am sure.

Not long after his survival was discovered tragedy struck and Optimus Prime was killed on Earth. The Dinobot commander Grimlock took on the leadership of Prime's soldiers, though he favored the abandonment of Earth and a renewed focus on Cybertron.

At roughly the same time, the great Autobot warrior Fortress Maximus reached an important decision. He was tired of the war and if he could not end it he would leave it behind. Gathering a large following of likeminded warriors he left Cybertron for the world of Nebulos in hopes of a new and peaceful life. This was not to be. Decepticons followed Maximus and oppened a third front to the war. In the end both factions abandoned Nebulos and Maximus lead them to Earth to unite with the forces under Optimus Prime.

From Prima to Last Autobot, we come full circle. You may close your notebooks.

However when they arrived they discovered Prime dead and Grimlock less than welcoming. Grimlock and Maximus attempted to establish a single Autobot leader with trial by combat but were interupted by a devastating Decepticon attack. The upside of it all was that they ended up putting their differences aside and Optimus Prime was soon reborn to take up leadership of the Earth-based forces once again.

Not long after, a dimensional transporter accident lead to the rediscovery and accidental disturbance of Primus deep in the center of Cybertron. The Autobots learned that their ancient myths about Primus were the truth, and now Unicron was now coming for them. The Creation Matrix lost and corrupted, Optimus Prime offered the Autobots unconditional surrender to the Decepticons in the hopes that this would lead the two factions to stand together against the coming threat. It did, and the Matrix was retrieved and purified in time to stop Unicron. Both Optimus Prime and Emirate Xaaron were killed in the battle and Grimlock ascended to Autobot leadership again, this time over all Autobots.

The alliance with the Decepticons would be short lived. Cybertron appeared to be destroying itself and the Decepticons betrayed the Autobots, leaving them to die with their world. Grimlock’s leadership lead to the Autobots escaping that trap, and walking right into a different one. Oops. Thankfully, the awakening of the Last Autobot saved Cybertron and lead to the rebirth of Optimus Prime, who reclaimed Autobot leadership and beat the Decepticons once and for all.

(From this point both the Marvel Generation 2 and the Fun Publication's Classics comics continue the story in seperate and mutually exclusive directions.)

Generation 2

The war finally over, most of the Autobots retire to the revived and prosperous Cybertron. It's not to last. Grimlock leeds a crew of Autobots not ready to take a vacation and put their feet up to try and track down any remaining Decepticon trouble. They find more than they could imagine as they descover a vast and millitant Empire constructed across the stars by Decepticons who left Cybertron long ago.

At the same time Megatron rears his head again on Earth and soon the surviving Decepticons from the end of the war join him, intent of restarting the war on Earth. It's not long before Decepticon and Autobots are teamed up against the forces of the Cybertronian Empire. Though this new conflict never touches the revived Cybertron, Earth is devastated by it. The Bot/Con alliance win, but how long this new alliance will last and what new threats await remains a question.

Cartoon

A Quint slave robot who would later become Autobot leader and bearer of the Matrix: U-Haul Robot lived in the era before cool names were invented.

The Autobots originated as the Quintesson's domestic slave line. They are sub-divided into "male" and "female" sublines. The Autobot symbol was in fact the original Qunitesson slave brand. They generally have blue glowing optics. (Though the series did not always abide by it, there was some attempt to establish the fact that Autobots could not fly unaided in robot mode while the Decepticons generally could).

Having achieved sentience and emotion against their creator's expectations they rebeled and together with the Quintesson's military hardware (the future Decepticons) achieved freedom and kicked their masters to the curb.

For a time peace reigned. But the military hardware grew restless and eventually declared war on their peace-loving brothers and sisters. During this dark time many ships of Autobot refugees left Cybertron to try to form peaceful colonies elsewhere in the universe.

Eventually the millitary robots were defeated when the Autobots invented the art of transforming. A new peace settled over Cybertron and what became known as the Golden Age began. This age was characterized by peace, prosperity, and an abundence of energy such that the metal of the whole planet literally glowed golden with its power.

But eventually the Decepticons aquired the Art of Transforming as well. Megatron was born and under his leadership they rose up against the Autobots once more. U-Haul Robot was killed by Megatron and passed the matrix of leadership to Alpha Trion who held it safe until a young robot named Orion Pax was injured in one of Megatron's raids and rebuilt by Trion into the first of a new breed of Autobots specifically designed to combat the Decepticons. Thus Optimus Prime was born and under his leadership the Decepticons were stalemated.

The war raged on and eventually drained the entire planet of its once-rich sources of energy, leaving it a damaged, burnt-out gray husk of its former self. With no other choice the Autobots constructed the Ark, designed to fly Optimus Prime and his comrades to other planets in the search for new sources of energy.

The Ark launch bay was attacked just prior to lift-off and the Female Autobots under the command of Elita One vanished in the explosions. They were presumed destroyed by both sides, but actually survived to continue underground operations against Shockwave's regime on Cybertron.

Ambushed by the Decepticons, the Ark crashed into nearby planet, named Earth. Crashing into a volcano, the impact rendered all the passengers, including members of both factions, into stasis lock. They were brought back online when the volcano erupted, and immediately resumed combat, this time on Earth.

By 2005, the Decepticons had driven the Autobots from Cybertron, and they were now forced to operate out of two bases on Cybertron's moons with a reserve force at Autobot City on Earth. The Decepticons hijacked a supply shuttle, laying siege to Autobot City. The battle saw the deaths of many Autobots, including Optimus Prime, who in turn passed the Matrix of Leadership to Ultra Magnus. However, Unicron arrived and devoured the two moons. Megatron, who had been reformatted into Galvatron, stole the Matrix from Magnus, intending to use it against Unicron. Galvatron could not open the Matrix, and Unicron proceeded to attack Cybertron, decimating the Decepticon forces on the planet. However, the young Autobot Hot Rod managed to take the Matrix from Galvatron, causing him to become Rodimus Prime. Rodimus through Galvatron into the planet Thrull, and opened the Matrix, causing Unicron's body to self destruct. Leaderless, the Decepticons fled the planet, and the Autobots reclaimed Cybertron.

(Note: in Japan, during Transformers 2010, the Cybertrons who transformed into automobiles were referred to as a subgroup of the faction called "Autobots".)

Beast Era

In Beast Wars continuity, the Maximals were the descendants of the Autobots and worked under the same morals and laws. They faced the Predacons in the same way their ancestors had fought the Decepticons.

Unicron Trilogy

Animated Continuity

Armada

Throughout the Unicron Trilogy, the Autobots switched motives after each major conflict. At first, they were attempting to liberate smaller robots, called Mini-Cons, from the tyrannical control of Megatron, who saw them as tools to be used and disposed of when no longer needed. The Autobots followed the Mini-Con's ship to Earth, where they crashed and eventually continued their battle against the Deceptions (some two-million years later. Geez, Megs can hold a grudge).

These two sides would unite to fight the Chaos Bringer, Unicron, when he threatened to devour Cybertron. With Megatron sacrificing himself to save the rest of the Universe, Unicron shut down and was destroyed. The remaining Transformers united as the Autobots, following Megatron's order to assist them in rebuilding Cybertron.

Energon

Megatron's final orders to his troops still stood: work with the Autobots. The Decepticons maintained a degree of autonomy, still wearing the faction sigil and often taking military/defensive positions in the growing number of energon-mining colonies, but they were ultimately answerable to Optimus Prime and the Autobots. There were, of course, dissenters, most of which were captured and imprisoned. For a decade, Autobot and Decepticon worked side-by-side in a somewhat stable truce.

Both sides found themselves the target of attacks from Unicron again; hordes of Terrorcon drones, sent by Alpha Quintesson to steal energon ore with which to revive the now-shattered husk of Unicron. What the alien did not count on was that Megatron's spark had survived within the remains, and was siphoning energon from Unicron's body. Soon the Decepticon leader had revived himself in a new form, drove off Alpha Quintesson, and along with an elite cadre of soldiers and a seemingly inexhaustible supply of mindless Terrorcon drones, began his new plans for conquest.

When news of Megatron's return reached Cybertron, hundreds of Decepticons rose up and rebelled, eager to get back to conquering. But having been joined to Unicon for so long apparently had given Megatron a taste of godhood; he had no more interest in amassing a galaxy-spanning army of troops. Countless Decepticons died in the resulting battles, with Megatron more than willing to sacrifice them without a thought to attain ultimate power for himself. As the "Powerlinx Battles" -as they came to be called- came to their climax, Megatron found that his actions and thoughts were being influenced and controlled by the dark spark of Unicron. Unwilling to let Unicron stand in his way, Megatron ultimately sacrificed himself (again) and seemingly destroyed Unicron's spark by plunging himself into a newly-formed energon sun created by Primus.

Cybertron

Another ten years after Energon, the Energon sun created by Primus was gone, collapsed into the Unicron Singularity, a giant black hole threatening to devour all of existance. In death, Unicron's power to destroy his only oppostion - Primus - was greater than ever. The Autobots searched for a method of destroying the Black Hole and found a single answer; the Omega Lock, a powerful artifact linked to the Spark of Primus. With it, the Universe could be saved... or destroyed. Seeing an opportunity to rebuild existance in his own image, Megatron sought out the Omega Lock and the Cyber Planet Keys.

As the two sides battled for the Keys, the Autobots would eventually find all four and use them to revive Primus, but in doing so caused a massive earthquake that began shattering the planet around them.

Or so they thought.

Primus was emerging from Cybertron, awakened from the body he sculpted into a world for his creation. When informed of Unicron's destruction, he was infuriated to find that the universe was out of balance because of a severe lack of evil. Until Starscream attacked his weakened form, due to the smaller robot stealing a piece of his spark and becoming an even equally huge monster, but was quickly dispatched by his creator. Defeated, Starscream flew off, leaving the Autobots to seal the Black Hole. Once this was accomplished, Galvatron attempted an escape from his fire dimension, but by combining Vector Prime's sword with the Omega Lock, the portal was sealed, the the Autobots returned home in peace.

The remaining Decepticons joined the Autobots, save for four who left Earth to start the New Decepticon Army. Their ship made it to Mars before being caught in the gravity well, and one of them may have attacked the Mars Beagle II rover.

Movie

The Autobots are the Transformers who rallied around Optimus Prime to prevent Lord Megatron from stealing the AllSpark. Although they fought valiantly, the Decepticons were more warlike, and they began to gain ground. In a move to prevent the Decepticons from acquiring the AllSpark, Prime sent it hurtling into deep space. Megatron followed, and disappeared. The Autobots then scattered among the universe, searching for the AllSpark.

In the novelization of the movie, when Optimus states that they are "independently cognitive mechanical entities from a very distant world [...] You could also think of us as autonomous robotic organisms" (p.169, Chapter 8), Mikaela murmurs "Autonomous robots--Autobots" (Autonomous Robots) (p.169, Chapter 8). Later, after Optimus has the glasses, and has analyzed them, he thinks of what would be an "appropriate indigenous designation for bots of this kind?" (p.221 Chapter 11), Optimus says "Autobots--roll out!". This means that, in the novelization, they didn't call themselves Autobots.

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