Transformers: Exodus

Transformers: Exodus is the title of the prequel novel for the Transformers Prime series. Published in 2010. It is meant to tie in with both that series and Transformers War for Cybertron. Its full title is Exodus: The Official History of the War for Cybertron. There is a sequel novel, Transformers: Exiles.

This series has examples of:

 * Asskicking Equals Authority: This is how the gladiators, and eventually, Decepticons, run things.
 * Because Destiny Says So: Orion Pax becoming Optimus? Megatron starting a global war that would destroy Cybertron? Yeah, the Covenant of Primus predicted it all.
 * Black Best Friend: Jazz for Optimus. Though he technically isn't really black...
 * But Now I Must Go:
 * Combining Mecha: The Combiners, of course.
 * Composite Character: Some of the Autobots and Decepticons appear to combine elements of their various portrayals throughout the years. For example, Optimus is a data clerk much like Dreamwave's War Within Optimus, while his preference for using swords in battle harken back to movie Optimus.
 * Continuity Snarl: Though intended to be a backstory for War For Cybertron and link it to Transformers Prime, Exodus contradicts both in several areas, and it even contradicts itself on a number of things.
 * Alex Irvine explained at Bot Con 2010 that differences between the novel and game were not due to miscommunications but, rather, resulted from deliberate choices as both products moved in slightly different directions; Hasbro was aware of and approved all of them.
 * Cyber Cyclops: Shockwave, as per tradition. Though you wouldn't know that from the book alone, as there isn't any reference to it.
 * Feet of Clay: This is how Cybertron comes to view Sentinel Prime. Inverted in that at the end, after being imprisoned for long time, he returns to some of his Badass days in a battle with Megatron, where he fights well enough to earn a sincere salute from the Decepticon Leader.
 * Fight Clubbing: Megatron and a majority of the Decepticons were originally fighters in underground coliseums.
 * Flat Earth Atheist: Jazz doesn't believe in the Thirteen, seeing them only as abstract concepts to guide Cybertronians. To his credit, it's been a while since the Thirteen were around, and he most likely isn't alone in this belief.
 * Info Dump: The first chapter is immensely guilty of this. It takes information that could definitely be introduced later and throws it all into the intro.
 * We don't need to know what the city looks like, when Orion Pax is sitting at a desk, and he's not even looking out a window--or even thinking about the city at all.
 * Did Not Do the Research: The author (Alexander Irvine) admitted that he never played the game it was supposed to link into.
 * Narm: Orion Pax's motivation for relating with Megatron? He wants to go to an amusement park. Granted it's one for the upper crust of society, but that's like wanting to launch a coup because you can't go to your favorite coffee bar or something.
 * The Obi-Wan: Alpha Trion to Orion Pax/Optimus Prime.
 * Retcon: A pretty huge one for the franchise; Alpha Trion is actually
 * Shout Out: An extremely obvious one to the Six Flags amusement parks, with Six Lasers Over Cybertron. Six Lasers itself is a nod to Beast Wars.
 * The Starscream: Three guesses who, and the first two don't count.
 * Debatably, and interestingly, Megatron seems to see Orion Pax/Optimus Prime this way.
 * Megatron also sees Shockwave this way, thinking that Shockwave can and would eventually turn on him.
 * Ultimate Universe: Like the rest of the new Aligned Continuity, the book combines elements of past incarnations of Transformers and combines them into one universe. For example, Primus and Unicron exist, but Primus used the All Spark to create the Cybertronians. At some point, the Quintessons invaded Cybertron, only to be fought back by Sentinel Prime.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: This is how Megatron starts.
 * You Can't Go Home Again: