How robots have transformed history and you had no idea
Did you know the Moon landing was initiated by the Transformers? And that the Autobots fought wars and foiled assassination attempts? Ben Walsh uncovers an alternative universe
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Your support makes all the difference.As any devotee of Michael Bay’s Transformers franchise knows, the Ark, a Cybertronian spacecraft carrying an invention to end the war between the Autobots and Decepticons, crash-landed on the dark side of the Moon and was detected by Nasa. It led President Kennedy to authorise a mission to the Moon as a cover for investigating the craft.
What isn’t known — and remains strictly classified — is that the crew of Apollo 11 would never have reached the Moon without the assistance of Bumblebee and Optimus Prime, who thwarted a Decepticon plan to destroy the spacecraft before it landed.
And that’s not only the time the Transformers have had a hand (or a wheel) in the history of humankind and its adventures in space. Fans will also be aware that the Transformers were around when the Beagle 2 Mars Rover hit trouble on the Red Planet. However, they may be less mindful that the worrying Apollo 13 saga — immortalised in Ron Howard’s rousing 1995 gem starring Tom Hanks — benefited from the assistance of Ratchet and Ironhide who combined to repair a vital component on the stricken craft. While the efforts of the three astronauts (Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise) and the ingenuity of Nasa can’t be diminished, the Transformers’ heroism can’t be ignored either. This is a common theme throughout the (mostly unknown) escapades (good and bad) of the Transformers’ history with humankind.
Transformers and famous battles throughout history
“For a thousand years we’ve kept it hidden, the secret history of the Transformers,” maintains the mercurial Sir Edmund Burton in the fifth Transformer instalment, The Last Knight. And the English Lord is right, as behind every infamous battle, the Transformers have stood with (or in some cases against) humanity.
In England, the Transformers, most notably Optimus Prime and Ironhide, made sure the Spanish Armada, intent on conquering Elizabeth I, was “blown” off course and never landed on English shores in 1588. The Queen knew of their assistance and was forever (secretly) grateful.
Before that they were summoned by the magician Merlin to fight alongside King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table in his epic 12 battles, starting against the Bernician settlers on the River Glein before they fought the Saxon menace on the River Dubglas, finally halting the Saxons (with the considerable help of Autobots Sergeant Kup, gutsy Hound and wisecracking Trailblazer) at the Battle of Badon Hill.
However, while their European and Far Eastern — Autobot Drift also battled alongside the samurai in medieval Japan — escapades are wide and varied, it’s the Transformers’ interventions in American combat that loom largest. Name a famous US battle and the Transformers have been there or thereabouts. From the Battle of Gettysburg (the turning point in the US Civil War), where Optimus Prime and Ratchet ended General Lee’s attempts to invade the North, to interceding in the Battle of Midway, with Bumblebee vitally contributing to the defeat of the Imperial Japanese Navy — which had been assisted by Decepticon Starscream’s F-15 Eagle and Scourge’s Hovercraft — near Midway Atoll.
Other notable Transformers interventions occurred at the Battle of Bunker Hill, the Bulge, Iwo Jima, Okinawa and the Allied invasion of Italy, where Optimus Prime backed up US General Harold Alexander’s 15th Army Group in Salerno. Once again, highly classified.
Transformers and world leaders
The Transformers have foiled numerous attempts on world leaders’ lives. The Autobots saved President John F Kennedy on many occasions but Lee Harvey Oswald, protected by a cunning Frenzy, slipped through the net. These failures are rare, however. The Autobots have prevented targeted hits against our current Queen (on three occasions), Winston Churchill (by the Nazis and their Transformers allies) and Bill Clinton, where a trap was laid by Megatron and his accomplices in the mountains of Arkansas. Business pioneers, such as Mark Zuckerberg have also had their lives saved by the robots in disguise, totally without their knowledge.
Transformers, Stonehenge and the Great Wall of China
Debates on how Stonehenge was built and what it means have been raging for centuries, not least by Spinal Tap. Well, big reveal, it was constructed by the Transformers as a signal to their fellow Autobots — if deciphered it means “roll out and catch The Cube”. Similarly, the Great Wall of China was built with the assistance of the Autobots, who surreptitiously embedded another vital message (which can be seen clearly from outer space) to their fellow Autobots. What does the message say? Well, it says: “Sam Witwicky will prove our greatest friend and ally.” The Transformers have always been with us — and always will…
Transformers and popular culture
Even Transformers have some downtime and occasionally take a break from carnage, violence and saving-the-world capers. In Bumblebee’s case, he’s a keen music enthusiast — witness the Camaro blast out The Cars’ Drive, Linkin Park’s What I’ve Done and James Brown’s I Got You (I Feel Good) in the first slice of Transformers — and has transported the likes of The Beatles, during their time in Hamburg in the early Sixties, Elvis Presley, in order to reach Sun Studio in Memphis, and Oasis to both Knebworth and Maine Road for career-making concerts. Meanwhile, avid film enthusiast Ratchet has repeatedly made sure that movie stunts — on the likes of Live And Let Die, Raiders Of The Lost Ark and the Pirates Of The Caribbean franchise — have gone smoothly with some well-timed assistance.