Five Faces of Darkness, Part 1

Twenty years after the movie, Rodimus Prime leads a freed Cybertron, but the Quintessons begin a hidden campaign to reclaim their lost creations.

The closing scenes of The Transformers: The Movie show us the destruction of Unicron and the Autobots' escape, along with their victory celebration on Cybertron.

It is the year 2005. Autobots have reclaimed Cybertron while the Decepticons, now squabbling with each other for energon, retreated to the planet Chaar. Astrotrain returns to the planet with a pitiful number of energon cubes, resulting in a tussle as the Decepticons fight for their share. Cyclonus realizes that to return the Decepticons to fighting form, they need drastic measures.

Somewhere else, the first Galactic Olympics are being held. Blurr is griping about being stuck in a mission with Wheelie when he wants to join the events. But Perceptor wants them to go to Autobot City on Earth, to deliver the new transformation cog for Metroplex, as his old one was damaged during the battle the year before.

Meanwhile, the Galactic Olympics are being sabotaged. A Skuxxoid detonates the Olympic flame, raining smoke down on the area and allowing a group of Sharkticons to land. The Autobots fight back, but in the confusion, Spike, Kup and Ultra Magnus are kidnapped. Rodimus Prime immediately suspects Decepticon shenanigans and orders the planet quarantined, but they are unable to prevent the Skuxxoid's spaceship from taking off. Arcee and Springer set off to find a spacecraft of their own so they can pursue it.

Cyclonus, Scourge and the Sweeps sneak into Unicron’s head, still orbiting Cybertron. They're able to access Unicron's memory banks and watch footage of Rodimus's battle with Galvatron, culminating in the Decepticon leader being flung into space. Cyclonus then does some fast calculations and works out that Galvatron would eventually have reached the planet Thrull. There they see their leader soaking in the hot lava pools.

On Earth, Blaster and Outback go to the Federated Republic of Carbombya to investigate EDC reports of Decepticons in that country. Despite the country's ruler, Abdul Fakkadi, claiming that they would never harbour such criminals, the Autobots land. Outback, equipped with a "Decepticon detector", then flushes out Dirge and Ramjet. The two Autobots get the coordinates of Chaar from them... which they report to Rodimus Prime who wants to go there to investigate.

Arcee and Springer, meanwhile, have pursued the Skuxxoid to an asteroid, which he ducks behind. The Autobots follow, only for their ship to be seized by a huge claw. They evacuate the ship, only to find that the "asteroid" is actually a disguised spacecraft. Springer hijacks it from the Skuxxoid, who escapes in his smaller ship and then calls his benefactor to confirm that the Autobots indeed suspect the Decepticons to be behind the disruption. The tentacled, egg-shaped benefactor listens to the report and then tunes out as he sees their prisoners, Spike, Kup and Ultra Magnus, being led by a Sharkticon.

Cyclonus, Scourge and the Sweeps return to Chaar, where the rest of the Decepticons are convinced that the solution to their problems is to have a strong leader again. They cheer when they hear that Galvatron lives, and are desperate enough that they give their remaining scraps of energon for reviving him. Rodimus Prime and Grimlock are spying nearby. Rodimus almost pities them, while Grimlock finds it funny (giving a rather possessed-sounding chuckle). Rodimus realizes that the Decepticons are too down on their luck to be the ones responsible for the kidnappings. Their cover suddenly gets blown and the Decepticons attack.

—Rodimus Prime and Ultra Magnus open the Galactic Olympics

—Ultra Magnus and Kup

—Cyclonus and Scourge learn that daddy's still home.

—Rodimus Prime and Outback

—Springer and Arcee are suddenly and dramatically broken out of their cynicism.