The Prime Wars Trilogy is a sub-division of the overall Transformers franchise, particularly Transformers: Generation 1 that refers to the following series:
- The Transformers: Combiner Wars
- The Transformers: Titans Return
- The Transformers: Power of the Primes
Each series was produced by Machinima, with animation by Tatsunoko Production, and released over a period from 2016-2018. Taking place in a post-War Cyberton, Optimus and Megatron no longer lead the Autobots and Decepticons as a new Council of Worlds remains dedicated to maintaining the peace. But sinister forces are at play, as a wave of new Combiners heralds powerful new enemies and the fate of the Cybertronian race hangs in the balance.
Initially released to tie-in with the toyline of the same name, both Combiner Wars and Titans Return were hit with production delays that resulted in them being released just as their respective toylines had come to an end. Each of the shows premiered on the go90 streaming service before being released on other platforms. The collapse of both go90 and Machinima led to most of the series being deplatformed, but they were eventually released under Rooster Teeth where they can be viewed today.
Tropes
- Adaptation Amalgamation: The trilogy takes most of its inspiration from IDW's Transformers comics, particularly the status quo set by Robots in Disguise. But other elements are borrowed from other series, such as the backstory of the Thirteen Primes from The Covenant of Primus and mentioning events like Optimus dying or Megatron's turn as Galvatron from The Transformers: The Movie.
- Adaptational Badass: While Windblade was a capable fighter in her debut in the Hasbro Comic Universe, here she's able to take down a combiner on her own; comic Windblade needed to enlist the help of other combiners to take down her universe's Menasor and Devastator.
- Adaptational Heroism: At the start of Combiner Wars, Megatron is a Retired Monster who's perfectly content to stay out of the current politics on Cybertron. By each series, Megatron starts to put his life on the line to save others, although he tends to justify it as him trying to save his own skin.
- Big Bad: Megatronus Prime is the mastermind behind the entire series, having manipulated the Combiner Wars and the one who resurrected Trypticon. He steps out to become the main villain by Power of the Primes where it's revealed his plan is to sacrifice the entire Cybertronian race to ressurect Solus Prime.
- Cel Shading: The series utilizes this and a low framerate to give the series a 2D feel.
