Remember when I gushed over Dinobot at the end of my writeup for Earthrise? Well, my gushing was well-founded! I think the folks behind Kingdom also gush a little over Dinobot, and it shows, and so a lot of episode 3 felt very me-targeted. I am the intended audience.

Kingdom Core Transformers Toys Generations War for Cybertron: Kingdom Core

Dinobot even gets to call him “vermin” once, even though the two never speak otherwise. Sometimes Beast Wars fans get fan service, too. Beast Megatron, no Image: Netflix Entertainment News International (ENI) is the #1 popular culture network for adult fans all around the world. Includes Transformers Generations War for Cybertron: Kingdom Leader Class figure, accessories, Golden Disk card, and instructions.We see Menasor! (He’s the combined form of the Stunticons, who do not appear in this trilogy.) Image: Netflix Includes a Golden Disk card that reveals a possible destiny of a key character. Collect other Kingdom figures to reveal all 3 alternate destiny variants for each character! (Each sold separately. Subject to availability.) GOLDEN DISK CARDS REVEAL POSSIBLE DESTINIES: Includes a Golden Disk card that reveals a possible destiny of a key character. Collect other Kingdom figures to reveal all 3 alternate destiny variants for each character! Beast Megatron steals the disk for the same reason he did in the original series: because long ago G1 Megatron encoded information on the disk that gave information on how to change history and alter the course of the war in the Decepticons’ favor! And so Beast Megatron and his Predacons stole the disk and also a ship that could travel in time (they just leave those out and about in Cybertron’s future), they were followed by Optimus Primal and his Maximals, and both factions crash landed on prehistoric Earth. They’re from the future and know a lot about history Image: Netflix

Transformers Generations War for Cybertron: Kingdom Core

Includes Transformers Generations War for Cybertron: Kingdom Core Class Optimus Prime figure, 1 accessory, and instructions. Optimus Primal’s friendliness is a little suspect here in context, considering Dinobot is very likely responsible for no small portion of the 200 Maximals Primal lost in battle with the Predacons. Primal must have gotten the memo that Dinobot is Awesome and this is a Very Important Death.) Beastify the battlefield! Worlds collide when the Maximals and Predacons join the fight, coming together with the Autobots and Decepticons in an epic battle that will alter their destiny forever. True to form, the good guys arrive too late around Dinobot’s dying body, the Predacon turncoat having wrestled the Matrix of Leadership away from Megatron, and the Autobots and Decepticons give him their last respects as he shuffles off towards the Transformers Afterlife. It’s just like Dinobot’s death in “Code of Hero” except Prowl and Sideswipe are also there! Image: Netflix Also: Kingdom’s Dinobot is voiced by Krizz Kaliko, the rap artist. I am only bringing this up because this means Dinobot is… A VELOCIRAPPER! Eh? Ehh?)

When the Autobots and Decepticons meet up with the Maximals and Predacons on Earth in Kingdom, Beast Megatron has the Golden Disk already. So how does Beast Megatron get the disk? Why, the same way he got it in the original Beast Wars — he stole it. B This is wrong! It’s so wrong that even Optimus Prime’s Matrix-less chassis starts throwing a fit and showing him images of the way things were supposed to be. Anyway, yeah, they find The Last Autobot and restore Cybertron. And that’s who the Ark’s robot mode is designed to look like. That dude! Ed. note: Spoilers for Transformers: War for Cybertron - Kingdom follow.] One more ’80s hit for the road In Beast Wars, Rattrap was a wise-talking, ill-mannered saboteur with a Brooklyn accent. In Kingdom, Rattrap is played pretty much the same way, probably owing to Rattrap’s voice actor, Frank Todaro, who’s also been voicing a pretty good Starscream in War for Cybertron’s trilogy. Todaro’s been in Transformers fandom forever, so it makes sense!

Transformers Generations – Hasbro Pulse - UK

It’s absolutely shameless, but you can tell it was written under the throes of Dinobot Fever, which is a malady I also suffer from. So I give it all four of Dinobot’s thumbs up. A+ Dinobot pandering, would binge again. Oh wait, there’s still more ’80s stuff! Image: Netflix Beast Wars Scorponok was a pretty forgettable also-ran henchman, so it’s honestly no real loss that in Kingdom he’s a generic. The real tragedy is that we never see Scorponok’s little claw pal, Cyberbee! There’s so many Scorponoks and yet zero Cyberbees. It’s a crime. We have “Code of Hero” at home Image: Netflix In episode 3, as the Autobots and Decepticons wander the forest around where the Allspark is located, it starts to give them each personalized hallucinations. Megatron sees Galvatron. Optimus Prime sees his perished mentor Alpha Trion. Arcee sees Cog (who died in Earthrise). Sideswipe calls out for Sunstreaker, his twin brother who doesn’t appear in this trilogy. Starscream’s hallucination is, of course, his crown and cape from his coronation scene in The Transformers: The Movie. Image: Netflix In Beast Wars, G1 Megatron’s face is reflected in the disk as he’s encoding a message in it while in deep space.Includes a Golden Disk card that reveals a possible destiny of a key character. Collect other Kingdom figures to reveal all 3 alternate destiny variants for each character! What I’m saying is that green Cog’s name is obviously Christmas Cog. Spoiler Toys III Photo: David Willis Unleash the primal power of the beasts with the ancient and highly advanced F.O.S.S.I.L. technology. Sentient Fossilizer bots, infused with primordial energy, break apart and weaponize their allies. Use Deluxe Fossilizer figures to beastify this figure with epic bone armor accessories! (Each sold separately, subject to availability.) The last chapter of War for Cybertron left viewers wondering how Galvatron obtained the Voyager Golden Record that he was trying to pass off to Megatron. Would you believe … from one of the two Voyager probes? It’s crazy, we know! DISCOVER KINGDOM: Worlds collide when the Maximals and Predacons join the fight, coming together with the Autobots and Decepticons in an epic battle that will alter their destiny forever

War for Cybertron: Kingdom Leader Transformers Generations War for Cybertron: Kingdom Leader

This Optimus Prime collectible figure stands at the new Core Class scale! The 3.5-inch mini-figure allows fans to collect a mini version of the iconic character to pose out with other Optimus Prime figures at larger scales! (Each sold separately, subject to availability.) As the cast fills up with more and more new characters, the need for filler dude generics has shrunk. But sometimes we still see one or two! Cog, the partner to an unseen Fortress Maximus, died heroically in Earthrise, but his palette-swapped clones still hang out with the Autobots. The blue Cog was originally paired with the blue Fortress Maximus, the red Grand Cog was paired with the red Grand Maximus, but there’s also a third, green Cog who shows up frequently in crowd scenes! His presence implies the existence of a green Fortress Maximus. In a major departure from most Generation One Transformers retellings, Optimus Prime, Megatron, and their double crew of warring robots actually survive their double crash on prehistoric Earth! They just get up off the floor easy as they please, rather than taking a four million year nap. Nobody even wore a seatbelt. BEASTIFY THE BATTLEFIELD: Unleash the primal power of the beasts with the ancient and highly advanced F.O.S.S.I.L. technology. Sentient Fossilizer bots, infused with primordial energy, break apart and weaponize their allies. Use Deluxe Fossilizer figures to beastify this figure with epic bone armor accessories! (Each sold separately, subject to availability.)

The transforming Ark robot is the largest toy in the Kingdom toyline, and so yes obviously it was going to show up in Kingdom, just as Omega Supreme and Scorponok showed up respectively in Siege and Earthrise. But a deeper reference is who Hasbro designed the Ark robot to resemble: the Last Autobot, the Autobot symbol-faced demigod who appeared in the last two issues of the original Marvel comic book series. Image: IDW Well, why is anything important? Because it happened before, OK? When we were five years old. Image: Netflix