Transformers One: Is the Movie’s Story Based on Canon?

While Transformers One focuses on a young Orion Pax and a young D-16, the robots who would become Optimus Prime and Megatron respectively, the animated film has brought up some questions surrounding Cybertron. Since the Transformers first debuted as an animated series in 1980s, they have gone on to forge countless television series, comic books, movies, and video games. With just as many timelines as projects, many Transformers fans wondered if Transformers One is considered “canon”, aka in-continuity and we have some answers for Autobot fans.

Transformers One takes a chance to focus on the friendship between Optimus and Megatron, a relationship that was confirmed in various projects in the Cybertron universe. On top of focusing on the Autobot and Decepticon leaders, the movie has countless references to other Transformers in the universe, such as Bumblebee, Elita-1, Starscream, Soundwave, and Shockwave to name a few. While the prequel film never specifically confirms which Transformers’ universe it could lead into, there’s an argument to be made that it could be a starting point for all of them, at least according to the movie’s director.

Is Transformers One Canon?

Yes and no. Earlier this year, we here at ComicBook.com had the opportunity to hear straight from the horse’s mouth regarding where Transformers One takes place in the Cybertronian timeline. Director Josh Cooley stated that not only is the movie canon, it also classifies as a “fresh start” and “its own thing”, “The answer is yes to all of the above.  Hasbro gave me this bible of the entire history of Transformers, which is, as you probably know, massive.’ And I was like, wow, I did not know it went this deep. It was like this Tolkien-esque scale…There’s obviously different variations of it. So we did our take on the origin, which is still staying true to the lore of Transformers, but it’s also, this is something we’ve never seen before on screen. So I wouldn’t say that this is a direct prequel to anything that’s been done with live-action ones, but it’s definitely its own story as well.”

Cooley then explained the movie’s approach at the Autobots, the Decepticons, and how they transform, “I said, everything has to be related to the fact that they’re robots and the fact that they’re Transformers. So they can go into partial transformations. They can have their legs transform, but let their top half stay normal. There’s very cool things, very cool action that we can only do in this movie because of that. And so I wanted to really take advantage of that. And every step of the way was if it looked too similar to a human fighting, we would change it. So it’s like, how can this only be awesome for our movie?”

How Transformers One Sets Up The Future

While Transformers One sets up the future of the Autobots and Decepticons, it’s not quite clear which future it is hurdling toward. Certainly, based on how Optimus Prime and Megatron look at the end of the prequel movie, they look far more like their animated counterparts than the live-action versions we have witnessed in recent years. Should Transformers One receive a sequel, it is sure to focus on the early battles featuring the Cybertronians.

Want to stay up to date on the animated Transformers? Follow along with Team Anime on ComicBook.com for the latest updates on the Cybertronians and hit me up directly @EVComedy to talk all things comics and anime.