Beast Wars
The Beast Wars were a conflict that took place on prehistoric Earth, when most of the mammal species that no longer existed by historic times had disappeared and humankind was still in an australopithecene stage. Two Transformer vessels- the Maximal (Cybertron)-piloted Axalon and the Predacon (Destron)-piloted Darkside crashlanded, after having left transwarp space.
The two factions began a war that spanned several years, first with the Maximals trying to stop the Predacons from gaining the planet's energon resources. When they discovered they were on ancient Earth, the Maximals' new mission became stopping Megatron from altering the course of Transformer history by destroying the ancestors of humanity and the Autobots in the Ark. The name "Beast Wars" was coined by Maximal commander Optimus Primal (Convoy).
This war had many twists and turns, including a number of changes and metamorphoses, and births and deaths. The Earth's artificial second Moon, and unnatural energon deposits- not to mention a number of other alien artifacts created by the Vok- were destroyed. Humanity was taught the ways of battle by the Maximals in order to defend themselves from the Predacon threat.
In the end, the remaining Maximals- Primal, Rattrap, Cheetor, Blackarachnia, Silverbolt, and Rhinox- returned to Cybertron (Seibertron) in a shuttle from the Ark, with a defeated Megatron in tow; and they left the reformed Predacon Waspinator as the (brief) ruler of humanity.
