Transformers War For Cybertron: Earthrise Ending & Kingdom Setup Explained

Transformers: War for Cybertron marches on as Earthrise leaves the Autobots and Decepticons with an uncertain future on the mysterious new world glimpsed at the end of the series, setting up Kingdom. The Transformers: War for Cybertron trilogy has mined different aspects of the robots in disguise franchise’s history to tell a new, gritty story of the eternal conflict between Optimus Prime’s Autobots and Megatron’s Decepticons.

Transformers: Siege chronicled the final days of the war on the Transformers’ home planet of Cybertron, while the second installment, Transformers: Earthrise, chronicled what most assumed would be the Autobots’ journey to modern day Earth, where the classic setting for the Cybertronian war usually moves next. But the ending of Earthrise threw something of a curveball – the Ark did indeed arrive at Earth, but a prehistoric version of the planet where the war has seemingly already begun.

So where does the battle go from here? Will Megatron finally gain control of the Allspark, will Optimus find peace, or will the mysterious inhabitants of this prehistoric Earth throw a wrench into everyone’s plans? Here’s what the end of Transformers: War For Cybertron – Earthrise means and how it sets up the next part in the trilogy, Kingdom.

The Ark’s New Planet

In traditional Transformers lore, the Ark – the Autobots’ massive ship – crash lands on prehistoric Earth, where it lies dormant for millions of years before the inhabitants awaken and begin their war anew. In Earthrise, the Autobots trace the location of the Allspark to prehistoric Earth, and the Ark does indeed arrive at that planet, but with a caveat – it appears the war has already reached Earth before the Ark did.

Who The Dinobot Is

As the Ark hits Earth’s atmosphere, a lone velociraptor is seen watching the ship’s descent. As he watches, his eye transforms, seemingly tracking the Ark with technology that shouldn’t exist on prehistoric Earth. This is almost certainly Dinobot, one of the most beloved characters from Beast Wars: Transformers. Dinobot came to Earth with a new Predacon calling himself Megatron – not the original Generation 1 iteration – who planned to change history so the Decepticons defeated the Autobots using a mysterious artifact called the Golden Disk. Dinobot defected early on during Beast Wars to the Maximals, the descendants of the Autobots, who sought to protect and preserve the timeline. An abrasive, hot-headed warrior, Dinobot’s loyalties were often in question until he heroically sacrificed himself to thwart Megatron.

The Fate Of Elita-1’s Rebellion

A curious development in Earthrise was that it kept a large focus on events occurring on Cybertron. With Optimus and Megatron off in space, Elita-1 and Jetfire led what’s left of the dwindling Autobot forces against Shockwave and the Decepticons. Shockwave has found a way to harvest the energy from Cybertronian sparks to create fuel for Megatron’s ship, the Nemesis, as well as for Shockwave’s own depraved experiments. Earthrise seemingly ends with Elita-1’s troops consumed by a massive explosion, but chances good are she and her band of guerrilla warriors live to fight another day in Kingdom.

Why Galvatron Is Changing The Future

In one of the most exciting developments in Earthrise, Megatron is visited by his future self, Galvatron. Galvatron pleads with Megatron to find the Golden Disk so that he can change his personal future. As most Transformers fans know, Megatron is reformatted into Galvatron by Unicron – a massively powerful planet-sized Transformer – after Megs nearly dies at the hands of Optimus Prime in the Battle of Autobot City. Galvatron was more powerful than Megatron, but he was also a slave to Unicron as long as the planet-eater lived. Megatron’s attempts to change his own future may be the most intriguing potential storyline going into Kingdom.

Earthrise’s Golden Disk Explained

The Golden Disk is based on a real-world item, which was placed aboard the Voyager space probe in the 1980s. In Beast Wars, there was a secret message encoded on the disk by Generation 1 Megatron as a contingency plan in case he lost the Great War. He did, of course, and the disk would eventually fall into the hands of the Beast Wars era Megatron, who followed its instructions to go to prehistoric Earth, while the Autobots and Decepticons still lay dormant in the Ark. Megatron tried a few less invasive plans before he ultimately followed his predecessor’s instructions by attempting to kill the dormant Optimus Prime before the war could ever be restarted on modern-day Earth.

Why Optimus Prime Refuses To Kill Megatron

The relationship between Optimus Prime and Megatron in War for Cybertron is complicated. Rather than polar opposites on the good and evil spectrum, they’re framed as political adversaries who both have reasonable points to make about the way Cybertronian society has unfolded, and both had made their fair share of mistakes. Granted, Megatron’s mistakes tend to lean more into homicidal territory, and Earthrise sees him make the horrific choice to sacrifice his own troops as fuel. Yet despite his atrocities, Optimus can’t bring himself to kill Megatron when given the opportunity. This version of Optimus still believes there’s hope for Megatron, that he can be reasoned with and perhaps even convinced to renounce his ways. It’s a naive belief, but a somewhat commendable one. Megatron, for his part, would have absolutely no problem killing his old friend.

How Earthrise Sets Up Transformers’ Beast Wars

The Ark crashing on prehistoric Earth with Cybertronians already on Earth – as well as the already released toy line – confirms Transformers: Kingdom will be a riff on Beast Wars, the classic 1990s iteration of the franchise. In that much loved time travel series, the Maximals and Predacons engage in a war with far-reaching implications on prehistoric Earth, eventually defending their ancestors the Autobots and Decepticons as they slumber in the Ark only to be awoken in 1984. Kingdom will offer a new spin on the events of Beast Wars, as it seems the Autobots and Decepticons will be alive and well to take part in the battle for the missing Allspark. Fans have long dreamed of Autobots and Maximals standing side by side in battle, as well as the opportunity for the cunning, charismatic Beast Wars Megatron to meet his namesake while leading the Decepticons. More so than the previous two entries, Transformers: Kingdom promises something new and inventive for the robots in disguise as the Transformers: War for Cybertron trilogy reaches its conclusion.

About The Author

Dusty Stowe
(587 Articles Published)

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Dusty Stowe has been writing for Screen Rant since 2016. A native of Yorktown, Virginia, he moved to Los Angeles in 2010 to pursue a career in the entertainment industry. He currently writes lists, features, and news articles covering movies, comics, and television. He is a devoted fan of Doctor Who, DC Comics, and whatever David Lynch deems us worthy of viewing. Star Trek: The Next Generation lit up his five year-old brain like a firework, ensuring he’d be a progressive nerd for the rest of his life. His current focuses are on covering the Arrowverse, Star Trek: Discovery, and the DC Cinematic Universe. He is also a trained audio engineer with a degree from the Los Angeles Film School, and manages multiple corporate social media accounts. He really, really wants a new Green Lantern movie. You can talk to him about football, politics, and his weird nerd takes on Twitter @dustystowe.

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