LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: It’s taken almost six live-action films for Paramount Pictures to wake up to the promise of Beast Wars in the Transformers series. From the time of Michael Bay who launched the franchise back in 2007, the Transformer series went from one mountain peak to another until it fell drastically. The repetitive action between the Autobots and Deceptions was an unnecessary ping-pong match that offered no thrill. In the latest installment of the Transformers series, this wrong has been identified and corrected. And hence, the fans will witness a new faction of Transformers, who have overstayed their welcome on Earth but have kept a low profile.
These new factions are the Maximals, the animalistic descendants of Autobots and Predacons, and Terrorcons, variants of Deceptions from the planet Cybertron. Both Maximals and Predacons and Terrorcons have adapted with bio-mechanical fixes, synergizing their bodies with the environment of Earth. Maximals have organically taken the form of mammals like gorillas, cheetahs, and rhinos, mixing in with the terrains of the jungle while Terrorcons roam free in water and air in their amphibian and reptilian forms. The Maximals have vowed to protect the universe against all evil, and the biggest evil is the threat of everlasting Decepticons and planet eater, Unicron. One might question that given Maximals and Terrorcons come from the same terrain of Cybertron, why are they still fighting? The answer lies in a civil war that destroyed Cybertron ages ago
The Civil War on Cybertron
Long ago before the Transformers descended on Earth, they were natives of a planet named Cybertron. Peace prevailed for a long time until the Decepticons thought of changing the equilibrium in their favor. Civil war ensued and a few Transformers sought shelter on Earth and vowed to protect the planet and the universe against all evil. Autobots came looking for All Spark, a powerful source that created their race in the first Transformers film and the Decepticons yearned for the power of the All Spark to build an army of machines. Since then, the two factions of the alien species have been at war.
Maximals which include Optimus Primal, a machined guerrilla, Cheetor, a well-oiled Cheetah, Airazor, an Autobot Eagle, and others have lived in peace, guarding the earth. But now, Scourge, a Terrorcon, has gathered the Decepticons and has the backing of Unicron, the ultimate villain of the franchise. The civil war will continue but the field of play will be Earth once again.
Maximals were the first ‘Beasts’
It is believed that the Maximals developed a unique “bio-genetic" morphing process that allowed them to create the perfect fusion of organic musculature and Transformer technology. When the Predacons learned about it, they stole the technology and used it to create their variants of creatures that resemble the ones on Earth. This only intensified the rivalry between the Autobots and the Deceptions who now had another reason to continue the Great War. In the Transformers literature, the residents of Cybertron have even adopted plant or fungus-based alternate modes but that’s a concept that might be explored in films down the line. For now, Terrorcons and Maximals are up against each other, with no possibility of teaming together to fight any villain.
