Editing Transformers (section)

==Beast Wars==
[[File:Not a Trukk.jpeg|250px|thumb|right|This guy caused some very stupid flame wars back in the day for not being a [[Trukk|Truck]]. Let it never be said that fanboys are not incredibly stupid.]]
The first Western-released sequel to G1 (Other than the G2 comic mentioned above), a CGI show created by Mainframe (also responsible for ReBoot and [[War Planets]]). Set up as a "loose sequel" to G1, it involves new transformer races called "Maximals" (Autobots) and "Predacons" (Decepticons). The show's singular most influential element is the idea of the ''Spark''; a Transformer's soul being an actual physical object.

A Predacon terrorist leader styling himself after the original Megatron, including taking his name, hijacks an artifact with a mysterious connection to Megatron the first and goes on the run into deep space with a band of terrorists, planning on restarting the Great War and this time causing a Predacon victory. A Maximal deep-space exploration vessel commanded by Optimus Primal attempts to intercept, and both vessels end up stranded on a mysterious alien world, where an overabundance of raw energon forces them to adopt the forms of local fauna to preserve themselves. The two forces promptly start trying to wipe each other out and then escape the planet. There's also a sideplot involving an ancient alien civilization that ends itself just before the Season 3 finale.

They would eventually find out that this strange world was actually Earth, which was where Megatron II was trying to get all along, and they find the wreckage of the Ark of the original series, when new Megatron decides to headshot Prime in order to change the future for his benefit. It kinda flops when Primal takes old Optimus's spark and holds onto it while they repair his body, gets another upgrade, and becomes sorta-truck. It inspires Megatron II to try the same trick with his namesake, turning himself into a huge firebreathing dragon-bot.

Though Hasbro would mostly consign this story to oblivion after Beast Machines, the characters of Blackarachnia (sexy spider-bot who changes from evil to good thanks to love) and Waspinator (the walking punching bag who the heroes almost invariably blow up only to be fixed later), along with the concept of the Spark (essentially, Transformers' souls) would be re-used in later eras. More importantly, this show saved the franchise after Generation 2 almost killed it.

There's also a Beast Wars II in Japan, but it has absolutely no ties to the original, with a Lio Convoy sharing only physical similarities with Primal and a Galvatron that looks like some sort of dragon but isn't related to either Megatron.