@Scrounge  
I prefer to deal with the continuity differences the Transtech way: They’re all different timelines, but they all party in Axiom Nexus!

@WM-R  
Although navigating the tangled web of continuities that is the Transformers multiverse (and Aligned, which is allegedly outside the multiverse) can sometimes be a pain too, particularly in the club stuff where there’s dimension-hopping between them.

@Scrounge
 
Ah. In this, we are in complete agreement.

@WM-R  
Trying to deal with disagreements over what was in which continuity when is the part that tends to hurt.

@Scrounge
 
If it’s only sometimes, you should be grateful, yes? And admit it, part of the fun of a fandom is trying to make all the pieces fit.
 
Wasn’t there a group of people complaining about how Tanks for the Memories suggests that all of the Mane Six’s adventures only took place within a year?

@WM-R  
Continuity makes my head hurt sometimes.

@Scrounge
 
I think it’s one of those ‘depends on who you talk to’ or ‘what do you accept as canon’ kind of things.
 
For those not in the know, there was a manga called the Stargate Battles set in the G1 universe. At the climax virtually every Transformer on Earth (Autobot and Decepticon alike) was left injured or missing following a battle in Earth’s orbit. Car Robots/ RiD 2001’s cast were allegedly dimensional travellers who came to take advantage/ prevent evil-doers from taking advantage of the situation.
 
It’s sort of the same situation Galaxy Force is in. While Armada, Energon and Cybertron are all part of the same trilogy, Galaxy Force was initially treated as separate from Micron Densetsu and Superlink. After the series finished airing, Takara declared it part of the trilogy, despite several things not meshing well.

@WM-R  
It was my understanding that they intended it to be part of G1 to begin with and the first big breakup in the Japanese continuit(y/ies) was “Micron Densetsu”.

@Scrounge
 
‘Sometimes’? Remember when they tried to shoehorn Car Robots/ 2001 Robots in Disguise into G1?
 
And that whole bit with RID’s Fortress Maximus being the inspiration for Headmasters Fortress Maximus’ battleship?

@WM-R  
Japanese TF continuity can get weird sometimes.

@Roy-of-Asturia
 
To be fair, they eventually rebuild Cybertron several series later.
 
Only for freaking Unicron to possess it during Beast Wars Neo.
 
@DJ1107
 
I’d also point out that Optimus in ‘The Rebirth’ seemed, for want of a better word, tired. That, or old. Can’t blame him, though. He’d already been fighting for millions of years, and he can’t even rest in peace.
 
Can you imagine how people’d feel if Optimus was revived and the first thing he asks is, “Why?”

@Scrounge  
Yeah I choose to believe “The Rebirth” as Non-canonical & “The Return of Optimus Prime” as the true series finale since…..Well it has better finality.

TF The Headmasters (still part of G1), Episode 3  
 
The first rare team-up of Optimus Prime and Rodimus Prime
 
Seconds later in the same episode  
 
Optimus Prime sacrificed his spark to stabilize the Vector Sigma
 

 
Do you know what’s sadder than Optimus’ many deaths?  
 
And this is not even the final episode.

@SaburoDaimando  
At least in Animated they didn’t drag it out, but yeah, it’s starting to feel mandatory at this point. (It also happened in Beast Machines, but that’s a whole can of worms all on its own.)

@WM-R  
Yeah. On the other hand, I loved the idea of Optimus being the only Autobot around all while guarding three humans who are being hunted down alongside him. And even though he did unite with his fellow Autobots, it was still an interesting approach for Optimus to be a wanderer with only a few organic souls as his only traveling companions.

Fluttershy  

@Deadmeat
 
Try telling that to kids watching the hero of the show speak his last words as his eyes flicker and then go dark while his friends weep over his body.
 
And he was reassembled in the episode Dark Awakening, but he wasn’t quite…him.
 
@SaburoDaimando
 
To be fair, Optimus was meant to stay dead, but Hasbro completely underestimated how popular he was amongst the kids. I mean, I still remember someone telling Peter Cullen (Optimus’ voice actor) that when he was growing up, Optimus was basically the only father figure he’d ever known.
 
And at least in the movie he was killed in combat, instead of committing suicide because he killed some NPCs in a video game.

@Scrounge  
“The Rebirth” ain’t so bad not so good but not so bad

@Scootaloo The Awesome  
I once thought as you do, but I couldn’t make it through the whole first season before I stopped caring. It’s got most of the problems typical of an 80’s toy ad cartoon.
 
Beast Wars is better, though it does take a little while to find its feet.

@Scootaloo The Awesome  
It’s no longer on Netflix, but you can buy the individual seasons on DVD(I bought the complete series in 2009 at Comic-Con, minus the movie(That is where Optimus dies)

Never saw G1 transformers…. now I need to.

@DJ1107  
Season finale.
 
Series finale is “The Rebirth”, and while I haven’t experienced it myself, from what I’ve heard there’s a reason it’s not spoken of much.

Well he did reappear as a kinda/sorta zombie in one episode…. & made a full return in the series finale….

Like Tank, Optimus will be back in a few months time.
 
He’s just cybernating.

@the metal bronyhead  
Personally, I find the whole “Optimus Prime is dead” trope to be overdone in the Transformers franchise. G1, Beast Wars, Armada, Animated, the Movies, Prime. In some cases, having Optimus react to another character’s death(Ex: Bumblebee in Prime(Thankfully, he gets better)) was a much better approach.