Transformers Online (2012 video game)

This article is about the 2012 MMORPG. For the 2017 team shooter, see Transformers Online (2017 video game).

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Transformers Online
变形金刚在线 (Biànxíng Jīngāng Zàixìan)
Developer	NetDragon
Publisher	Hasbro
Platforms	Online
Release date	March 2012

Transformers Online was a Chinese MMORPG developed by NetDragon, tying into the Transformers: Prime franchise. Players could play as an Autobot or Decepticon, and would tangle with both their opposing faction and the Star Seekers. Beta testing started in August 2011,^[1] and the game launched in March 2012.^[2] The MMO appears to have been abandoned as of October 2012, as it was delisted from NetDragon's product page ^[3] and the official website became non-functional in either late September or early October.^[4]

The original cast, naturally, have Mandarin Chinese names. All of them have since been given English names by Ask Vector Prime in 2015, through some very blatantly leading questions and comments. This is a change from how the fandom usually dealt with foreign names, where a fandom consensus romanisation of their original names would be used: for example, Sutā Seibā to Star Saber, Jinrai to Ginrai, or Baiorenjaigā to Violent Jiger Bio Ranger Iga Violen Jiger Violengiguar. The reasons for this are mainly down to Mandarin names being harder for Western fans to pronounce, while many Japanese names were based on English words and were easier to transliterate.

This game should not be confused with the British Transformers Universe.

Contents 1 Overview 2 Synopsis 2.1 Tutorial 2.2 1. Dark side of the Moon 2.3 2. Undersea ruins 2.4 3. Siberia 2.5 4. Steel City 2.6 5. Mount St. Hilary 2.7 6. Death Ruins 3 Characters 4 Gallery 5 Toyline 6 References 7 External links

Overview

Information on the game is relatively scarce in the English-speaking Transformers fandom, owing to its unavailability in Western regions and the fact that it appears to have spent most of its relatively short existence in closed beta testing.

Tying in to the contemporaneous Transformers: Prime cartoon, the game allowed players to take on the role of an Autobot or Decepticon in the period after their war moved to Earth, and also helped debut a brand-new faction that Hasbro had developed for the "Aligned" setting: the Star Seekers, a band of space-faring pirates attempting to hunt down Cybertron and its people. A section of the Cybertronian city Tyger Pax caught in Earth's orbit served as the neutral "hub" area, and it appears a total of six "dungeons" were ultimately developed before the game was shut down. The first three of these focused on PvE combat against the Star Seekers and their minions, while the later three incorporated PvP conflict between Autobot and Decepticon players.

Character creation allowed the player to choose between a default male and female design for each faction, and their loadout could be customised with unlockable skills and different ranged and melee weaponry. It's unclear if the functionality made it into the game prior to the end of development, but there also at least existed plans for the player to gain a scanning ability at a certain level, which would then let them unlock new alternate modes by scanning particular vehicles found in the environment. Huge swathes of additional original characters were revealed for the game that presumably correspond with these new scannable modes and/or NPCs from Tyger Pax, but the degree to which any of these appeared in-game is similarly unclear.

Synopsis

In an attempt to eliminate the Autobots stationed on Earth, Megatron uses the Solar System's space bridge to send the floating city of Tyger Pax, which had been ejected from Cybertron alongside the AllSpark, hurtling towards the human planet. Following a fierce battle that sees Megatron badly injured, Tyger Pax splits into pieces, with a large portion entering Earth's orbit, while others fall to the planet below, hidden by optical camouflage.

Tutorial

Starscream, having taken command of the Decepticons during Megatron's recovery, launches an attack on a ship carrying Optimus Prime and other Autobots back to Earth from the orbiting Tyger Pax. During the battle, however, the mysterious Star Seekers launch their own sneak attack, causing the ship to crash down into a volcano on the verge of erupting. Both the Autobots and Decepticons manage to escape from the crater and retreat to their bases for repair, although the faction leaders are nearly killed in the process – Prowl subsequently becomes acting commander of the Autobots in Optimus's stead.

Both factions subsequently send teams back to Tyger Pax to collect resources, and there they learn more about the Star Seekers pirates who attacked them, discovering that their leader Thundertron has arrived in the Solar System aboard the Tidal Wave as part of a long-running revenge plan, seeking to hunt down the Autobots and Decepticons, and extract information on the location of Cybertron itself. They also hear rumours of unusual activity on the dark side of Earth's Moon, and Prowl and Starscream each launch missions to investigate.

1. Dark side of the Moon

The spacecrafts carrying advance teams of Autobots and Decepticons to the Moon are both shot down by what quickly becomes clear is a large-scale Star Seeker base that had been forewarned of the missions. Both factions send in rescue teams to extract the advance parties, and find themselves battling both pirates and domesticated mechanical creatures. In the process, the Autobots and Decepticons learn that the Star Seekers are planning to repair Tyger Pax's space bridge, which now rests at the bottom of Earth's oceans, in order to reach Cybertron and allow Thundertron his final revenge against the planet. The Autobots and Decepticons also begin to suspect that somebody within their ranks is collaborating with the pirates, feeding them information to help them strike against both warring factions.

2. Undersea ruins

The Tyger Pax space bridge is found to have crashed into the flooded ruins of an ancient civilization, and is now releasing energy that displaces vast amounts of water to create a dry area on the seabed, surrounded on all sides by towering walls of ocean. While the space bridge still requires repairs before it can open a gateway to Cybertron, the device is protected by an impenetrable forcefield, so the Autobots and Decepticons each send in teams of technical experts to shut down the barrier. After battling through Star Seeker defenders and harvesting equipment and materials from their mechanical creatures, the teams are able to disable the forcefield and destroy the space bridge before it can be used. Two of Thundertron's generals are also recruited by the Cybertronians, with Grotusque joining the Autobots and Iguanus joining the Decepticons.

3. Siberia

Shortly after the destruction of the space bridge, a distress call goes out from a secret Autobot base in Siberia – Famine, revealed as the Star Seeker spy among the Cybertronians, has taken over the site, imprisoned its Protectobot defenders, and stolen information on combiner technology. Both the Autobots and Decepticons learn of the attack, with Prowl gathering a rescue team, and a newly-recovered Megatron assembling his own force aboard the Nemesis to kill Famine for operating as a spy in the Decepticon ranks.

While Famine is expecting a counterattack and has made plans to capture reinforcements, the Cybertronians are able to push through the inclement weather conditions in Siberia and defeat him. In exchange for his life, Famine gives Megatron the intelligence he obtained on combiner technology, revealing that the Autobots are cooperating with the US government at a secret research facility beneath the Steel City.

4. Steel City

Megatron dispatches a team to attack the laboratory through the city's sewers, seeking to secure the combiner technology for the Decepticons. The Autobots quickly detect the incursion and respond, leading to the first direct conflict between the two factions since the battle on Tyger Pax. The combat gradually moves from the underground tunnels to the city's surface, and both sides find themselves fighting at a disadvantage, with the Decepticons lacking numbers and fighting in unfamiliar terrain, while the Autobots must take care to protect the city and its inhabitants. The situation is further complicated by the presence of Star Seekers lurking around the city, and ultimately the Decepticons are able to successfully escape with the intelligence they came for.

5. Mount St. Hilary

After a period of quiet following the battle at Steel City, the Decepticons once more break the peace by attacking an Autobot base located at Mount St. Hilary, forcing them to urgently mobilize troops to defend it. Despite the aggressive assault, however, Prowl notes that the Decepticon attackers lack the numbers needed to overwhelm the Autobots stationed at the base, and determines that the attack must be a feint, diverting attention from a larger plan. Indeed, Megatron has discovered a forgotten Dark Energon mine beneath the mountain, and his true objective is to obtain the mysterious and powerful ore. The Autobots launch a counter-offensive to prevent Dark Energon from falling into enemy hands, and while they repel Megatron's forces from the mines, the Decepticons escape with a large amount of the substance.

6. Death Ruins

With the assistance of human scientist Doctor Arkeville, Megatron refines the Dark Energon he has obtained, and to test the rumored powers of the substance, travels to another section of Tyger Pax that fell to Earth: its cemetery. The Decepticon leader exposes the fallen Cybertronians within to Dark Energon, raising them from the dead as Terrorcons, but the zombies proceed to attack everyone in sight, including Megatron himself. Both Autobots and alien Junkions in the service of Thundertron also arrive at the cemetery, and a chaotic battle ensues between all parties. Eventually, the cemetery and the Terrorcons are destroyed and, having lost this chance at an undead army, Megatron turns his attention back to the orbiting Tyger Pax, with further conflict inevitable...

Characters

Gallery

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  If Hasbro is smart, there WILL be toys. They weren't and there wasn't.

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  Tank-character smash!

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  Crimson Phantom strutting her stuff.

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  Can he deal with it? We have no idea.

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• Extended TF Online gallery

Toyline

• Transformers Online was intended to be complemented by an Asian market capsule subline of Hasbro's Transformers: Prime franchise, similarly to the "Global Development Organization" Generations releases from that same year. The range was at one stage planned to include Deluxe Class toys of Bumblebee, Starscream, Ironhide, and Frenzy, as well as Voyager Class toys of Thundertron and Ultra Magnus; the Deluxe toys at least were intended to each come with some description of collectible card and slug figure.^[5] When the capsule didn't pan out, the newly-developed toolings saw release in Hasbro's main Prime toyline, where they stood out for being the only four toys not based on characters from the cartoon. In the case of Ironhide and Frenzy, their intended toys were redecoed to create Sergeant Kup and Rumble in Hasbro's markets; toys of Ironhide and Frenzy, in the molds that were planned to be bespoke to them, were released exclusively by TakaraTomy in the Japanese version of the line.^[6]

References

External links

• Story background (archived)
• Map descriptions (archived)
• Faction descriptions (archived)

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