The Autobots have spent much of Transformers history fighting the Decepticons, defending Cybertron and other worlds from their relentless attempts at conquest. Across many continuities, this prolonged conflict has devastated their homeworld, driven their forces into retreat, and tested the resolve of even their strongest fighters and closest allies time and again.
Their battles have come at a considerable cost, with entire bases destroyed, treasured allies lost, and devastating defeats leaving the Autobots struggling to recover. Over time, these setbacks have taken many different forms, and the worst of them reveal just how badly the Decepticons and other threats have wounded the heroic faction.
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Overlord’s Rampage Leaves the Lost Light Crew Shattered
The IDW series More Than Meets the Eye placed the Lost Light crew in danger when a prisoner secretly held in the ship’s basement finally broke free. Overlord, a feared Decepticon Phase Sixer, launched a ferocious assault that sent the vessel’s defenders scrambling to contain him before further casualties spread throughout the ship.
His escape killed Pipes and left numerous other crew members injured, while Rewind ultimately sacrificed himself to ensure the cell containing the Decepticon was jettisoned into space. Ultra Magnus was left gravely injured, and the funeral for the fallen forced Chromedome to confront the death of his beloved conjunx endura and closest companion.
9
The Autobots Lose Their Leader After the Battle of Autobot City
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The 1986 animated Transformers film delivered a devastating blow to the Autobots when the Decepticons launched a surprise assault on Autobot City. Several defenders fell before reinforcements arrived, and the ensuing battle left the heavily fortified Autobot stronghold on Earth badly damaged, even though the Autobots eventually forced their attackers to withdraw.
Optimus Prime personally turned the tide by confronting Megatron and defeating his longtime rival, but he suffered mortal injuries during their brutal exchange. As he lay dying, Prime entrusted the Matrix of Leadership to Ultra Magnus, leaving the Autobots without their peerless commander just as the war entered another uncertain chapter.
8
The Decepticons Conquer Earth in All Hail Megatron
IDW’s All Hail Megatron explored what happened after the Autobots were driven from Earth, leaving humanity without its familiar Cybertronian defenders. Megatron seized the opportunity, directing a large-scale Decepticon invasion that began in New York City before spreading to other major American cities and overwhelming the military forces sent to stop them.
With Optimus Prime critically injured on Cybertron, the remaining Autobots were in no position to challenge the occupation taking hold across Earth. During the ambush that forced them off Earth, Megatron’s forces defeated them and tore the Matrix of Leadership from Optimus’ chest, deepening the Autobots’ humiliation while their enemies continued to dominate Earth.
7
Overlord’s Takeover of Garrus-9 Decimates the Autobot Defenders
During Megatron’s wider campaign against Autobot strongholds in The Last Stand of the Wreckers, Garrus-9 came under attack from the Decepticon Predators, who targeted the heavily guarded maximum-security prison overseen by Fortress Maximus. Overlord then arrived, killed the Predators’ leader, Skyquake, took control of the assault, and crushed the remaining Autobot resistance inside the facility.
Overlord left Fortress Maximus badly injured before throwing him among the newly released inmates, who tore into the warden but failed to kill him. His brain was later connected to a high-security door, while the Decepticons used the prison as an arena for captured Autobots to fight for their own entertainment.
6
The Destruction of Autobot Outpost Omega One
In the second season of Transformers: Prime, Optimus’s destruction of the Omega Lock prevented Megatron from cyberforming Earth, but it also ended the Autobots’ only chance of restoring their ruined homeworld. When they returned to Nevada, New Kaon stood beside their hidden base, confirming that the Decepticons had located Omega One and prepared to attack before the Autobots could regroup.
With Fowler and Wheeljack covering the evacuation, the Autobots scattered through the Ground Bridge, leaving Optimus alone to disable the Ground Bridge’s controls. The Nemesis destroyed the mountain base before he could escape, and the blast buried Prime beneath the ruins until Smokescreen found and rescued him during a later search.
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Optimus Prime Falls in the Forest Battle
In the 2009 live-action film Revenge of the Fallen, the Decepticons captured Sam Witwicky after an AllSpark shard imprinted Cybertronian symbols in his mind. Megatron intended to extract that knowledge, but Optimus and Bumblebee interrupted the procedure, allowing the humans to escape while Prime carried Sam away from the abandoned factory.
Megatron, Starscream and Grindor pursued them into a nearby forest, where Prime faced all three Decepticons while ordering Sam to remain hidden. Despite killing Grindor and severing Starscream’s arm, the Autobot leader was eventually stabbed in the back by Megatron, who destroyed his spark and left him among the trees.
4
The Decepticons’ Shuttle Ambush
In The Transformers: The Movie, Ironhide was sent from the Autobots’ lunar staging base to Autobot City to collect Energon supplies for their planned campaign to reclaim Cybertron. Megatron learned of the mission through Laserbeak’s surveillance and intercepted the shuttle in space, intending to use the captured vessel to approach Autobot City undetected.
The Decepticons blasted their way aboard the vessel and overwhelmed the four Autobots travelling inside, killing Brawn, Prowl, and Ratchet before reaching Earth. Ironhide tried to resist Megatron even after the others had fallen, but the Decepticon leader shot him at point-blank range and seized the shuttle for the coming invasion.
3
Starscream’s Underbase Rampage Thins the Autobot Ranks
Marvel’s Underbase Saga reached its bloodiest point when Starscream located the ancient Underbase, a vast repository containing the accumulated knowledge of the Cybertronian race. Optimus may have interrupted his attempt to absorb the entire database, but Starscream retained enough power to face the combined forces sent to stop him on Earth.
Starscream then attacked major cities around the world before the Autobots and rival Decepticon factions could coordinate an effective response, forcing Optimus to dispatch teams against him. His newly acquired power proved overwhelming, killing the Aerialbots, Jetfire, Blaster, several Dinobots, and numerous other Autobots across three separate battlefronts on the planet.
2
Shockwave’s Ruthless Assault on the Autobots
Marvel’s original Transformers comic introduced Shockwave in issue , arriving just as the Autobots appeared to have survived the Decepticons’ latest assault. The enemy forces had nearly defeated them, but Sparkplug Witwicky’s secretly poisoned fuel supply caused the attacking Decepticons to collapse before they could finish their opponents in battle.
The reprieve lasted only moments, as a blast from Shockwave disabled the already exhausted Autobots before they could get back to their feet. Shockwave seized the Ark, left its Autobot captives hanging from the ceiling for salvage, and kept Optimus Prime’s severed head separate from the other bodies within the vessel.
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The Fall of Cybertron
Cybertron was once the thriving homeworld of the Transformers, but generations of conflict between the Autobots and Decepticons gradually ravaged its cities and industrial landscapes. As the war consumed the planet’s remaining Energon, both factions fought over dwindling resources while each new confrontation left less of their once-great civilisation intact.
With their homeworld approaching collapse, the Autobots abandoned Cybertron in a massive starship, seeking fresh Energon and a place where their people could survive safely. That evacuation marked a profound defeat, since the entire faction lost its home, vital infrastructure, and the ground on which its long struggle had begun.
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