So, you don't know who the Transformers are. Well, to make a long story short, the Transformers are giant sential beings made out of metal that can transform to a second alternate shape (usually a car or airplane)--hence the name Transformers. In order to run at full efficiancy they need an energy food called Energon -- which can come in different forms and taste. In order to get Energon, the Transformers usually have to harvest any other type of energy and refine/compress it into 'edible' Energon. Their home world is Cybertron, and the two factions that take up all the screen time on the Cybertronian Universal News are the Autobots and Decepticons.
The Decepticon leader, Megatron, is determined to rule everything and anything, usually seeing any other beings as inferior. He has his army pull energy from any type of planet with no care as to the lives ruined to satisfy his own lust for power. The Autobot leader, Optimus Prime, and his army have sworn to fight against the Decepticons destructive conquest and most of them feel it is their duty to protect any beings against the Decepticons.

There have been five different types of Transformer shows so far. They all have the same general story line, but vary in how things happen from show to show. They are (from oldest to newest):
Generation one: (G1 for short) Though not always and not a rule, this usually means season 1-2, then comes the "Transformers: The Movie" (in which Megatron is transformed into Galvatron), then season three and four are usually refered to as Generation two(G2 for short).
Beast Wars:(BW) I have never seen any episodes on this show and know nothing of it. Except that the Transformers chance into animals instead of the usual.
Beast Machines:(BM) The same with this show as well.
Transformers: Robots In Disguise: (RiD) I believe this is the best balanced out Transfomers show there is and I'm on the lookout for when it comes out on VHS/DVD. This is the only one so far that does not seem to involve the Autobots and Decepticons crashing on a primitive Earth with no humans and staying out of the picture for the millions of years for evolution to kick in and make humans. Instead, it seems the Autobots have secretly made an outpost on Earth incase Megatron set his eyes of conquest and energy depriving on it. Which he does. The Optimus Prime in this one is my favorite--not to mention that his alt-mode(or vehicle mode) is a fire-semi.
Armada:(Umm...Armada?) This is the newest Transformers show. I have only seen the three begining episodes of this show and so I don't know too much about it. It has an added element in this that the others didn't have. Instead of the Decepticons fighting to take Earth's resources and the Autobots fighting to defend it for the humans, the Transformers are instead fighting over Minicons, 'bots that are about averange human size and in some way maginfies a Transformers powers when they combine with a normal Transformer. Whoever has the most Minicons has the most power. The Decepticons use them as slaves, but the Autobots are fighting to keep them free. The artwork on this is good, but from what I've seen the animation isn't the greatest.
Energon is to be Armada's sequel, where they fight the evil Unicron. If you go to any of the dedicated Transformers web sites you'll find more information.

Recently there has been talk of a live action Transformer movie. Seems they have already some producers together in a contract for it... forget when it's suppose to come out though.

If you would like to see some images of these shows (screen grabs), go to Seibertron.com and click on IMAGES, and then the show name that you want. They have a lot of graphics on the web site so I don't know if you would want to go here if you have a really really slow modem or connection.
If you would like to browse through some Transformers fanart, go to the Iacon Art Gallery forum.

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