Alright, time to do this differently, here we go. Prepare for a very long one. I changed a lot, while keeping some parts from the original film.
Act One
We open up with a narration from Optimus Prime, telling us the legend of Primus and Unicron. The two brothers titans fought across the depths of space, until the Lord of Chaos was defeated by the Primes with the help of the Matrix of Leadership, forcing him to fall asleep and transform into a planet. Then, Primus became Cybertron. Some time passed, as the land mass of a planet formed around Unicron. The title rolls (not the one from the original film, that one sucks. The title from the trailers which was much more creative than what we got).
And with that, we return to Earth. It’s been three years since the Hong Kong uprising and a lot has changed: after the uprising, humanity has gone to war with transformers. Autobots have gone hiding and Galvatron went missing. However, gigantic horns have started protruding from Earth’s crust, called “Horns from Hell”.
We begin the first act with Cade Yeager and Longarm (transforms into a blue tow truck), (whose remains were found by Yeager years ago and who was fixed), scavenging the downtown parts of Chicago wreckage, searching for any surviving autobot refugees. They come across a cybertronian ship inside some wreckage. The cybertronian inside of it reveals himself as a Knight of Iacon, a follower of Primes, who is severely wounded. He gives Cade the talisman, telling the two that there isn’t much time left. Afterwards, Barricade knocks Longarm out of his way and fires rounds at the Knight. Bumblebee leaps into action and the two autobots force the decepticon renegade to flee. Cade is unable to save the Knight of Iacon who tells Cade that “she” is coming, before dying.
Cut to a view outside of an ancient castle. We then focus towards the Round table. Former Sector 7 agent Seymour Simmons, instead of Sir Edmund Burton, is silently watching over it, as it’s top starts transforming. As soon as it finishes, Simmons touches the table, smiling. He turns around to face Cogman and says the line:
“At last, Cogman. It begins. The talisman has been bestowed, just as expected. Our Messenger has been destined.”
Meanwhile, Barricade arrives inside the knightship, where Galvatron has resided. The decepticon reports seeing the legendary Talisman of Iacon, killing it’s previous bearer, but unable to kill the human. Galvatron, after bewildering Barricade and “teaching him a lesson”, decides that it’s time for decepticons to rise up once again. He takes out his former sword, which forces him to revert back to his gladiatorial form. And with that, Megatron is reborn. Megatron orders Barricade to find out of any decepticon who is alive on this planet, then transforms and takes off in his cybertronian jet form.
Back in the Chicago outskirts, Longarm, Bee and Cade return back to Lockdown’s spaceship, the remote autobot base. Drift, just like in the original film, is meditating on top of a sword outside. We see a day in the life of the autobots - Bee and Crosshairs usually get into immature fights, Joshua and Cade are working on creating new efficient technology for the autobots, including comms, weapons, etc., with Longarm watching their work. Joshua has also paid for Tessa’s college (which is why her awful character isn’t in this rewrite). Hound is training with Dino (who survived AoE), even surprising the autobot sergeant with his invisibility attacks. You know, the character stuff.
Longarm, while watching this, feels that decepticon aggression is meaningless, in the end they are all the same cybertronian race. Sometimes, in late evenings, he shares a ride with Cade, both looking at the stars, waiting for
Prime to return. “My name is Optimus Prime and I send this message to my creators - leave planet Earth alone. Cause I’m coming… for you.”
Optimus Prime, who has been flying through many planets, finally arrives on what he suspects is the remains of Cybertron. The Last Prime then walks inside the center of Cybertron, guided by what he thinks is the voice of Primus at first. He arrives into the core and sees a figure standing from far away. It’s Quintessa. As Optimus approaches her, ready to strike her down, only to see his body surrendering to Quintessa’s mind control, revealing herself as the main Creator of Cybertronian race. She tells Prime that because of what he did, Primus had died together with Cybertron and now Quintessa wants to build a new Cybertron so that the cybertronian race could thrive forever, but for that to happen, the planet needs giant amounts of energon.
As more infernocons and Quintessons appear from behind, Quintessa also reveals what Prime was suspecting for a long time - that Unicron is indeed inside the Earth. If Cybertron was to drain his power, Unicron would be weakened to the point where they could destroy him. Optimus rejects Quintessa’s offer at first, but his sister tells Prime he is in need of an upgrade. Camera cuts to black, as soon as we hear Optimus’s agonizing scream.
The next morning, Cade Yeager is woken up by Cogman who’s trying to take the talisman off his arm. Realizing he was the chosen, Cogman gets a gun at his face and is asked why he came to the Junkyard. Cogman then proceeds to tell Cade and the autobots that he was sent here by Simmons to find the Final Messenger of the Primes. Upon hearing that an impending doom is coming towards Earth, Cade agrees to help.
We return to Megatron and Barricade attacking a decepticon holding facility somewhere in Austria. Barricade hacks into the facility systems, freeing all the decepticons held in there. During the onslaught (see what I did there?), a bunch of decepticons are killed by the security, but many more flee just like humans. The remaining decepticons are - silent but deadly assassin Bludgeon (battle tank), enthusiastic and energetic Nitro (white multirole fighter jet), tactical and cynical Slipstream (F-22 jet), furious beast Berserker (black SUV), incredibly skilled, but egoistic constructicon Hook (a green crane truck) and lousy as heck comedic arms dealer Swindle (military hummer). Megatron then tells them that the hunt is on and that the decepticons shall rise to glory again. General Morshower is notified about this and orders colonel William Lennox to regroup NEST and find the autobots.
Act Two
Lennox is notified about a couple of vehicles rolling out Chicago. He tells her to round up the others, meeting Epps and telling him that they will meet the autobots in their end-point.
With Cybertron finally approaching the Solar System, Quintessa fuses his Matrix of Leadership with his sword, creating the “Star Saber”. Quintessa then, with some little brainwashing and a dose of dark energon, finally ends up “fixing” Optimus, now Nemesis Prime for her needs. She reveals to Prime that he will be one who will weaken Unicron, so that Quintessa could kill him. With that, the Last Knight heads off to planet Earth.
The autobots arrive at the same chapel from the beginning where Seymour Simmons and NEST meet them. Autobots aren’t so keen on trusting a military organization after the Cemetery Wind fiasco, especially Hound and Crosshairs, however Dino and Bee calm them down since they recognise both Simmons, Epps, Lennox and some other guys from previous movies. While Longarm’s memory might have jumbled up a lot, he somehow remembers the colonel, which is then revealed that the autobots worked with NEST, before he was heavily injured and his brother Wreckage got killed by a seeker with the two getting sold for parts years later.
After all the introductions and explanations, Simmons invites the heroes inside the chapel where he explains that once the talisman is found by a new messenger, the life of the Last Knight will be in danger. The retired Sector 7 agent then gives them a brief history lesson. When the Quintessons, all those 65 millions of years ago, commanded by Infernocus dropped the Seeds to terraform Earth, they didn’t only build it for transformium to create the Allspark, but also as a barrier to keep Unicron from ever escaping. However the Prime of Life miscalculated transformium’s strength and what humans would do to their planet, making large excavations to the deep beyond. And now, if the Last Knight finds the location of where Unicron’s Crown is buried, Earth will be devastated and billions will be killed, melted to the ground in less than an hour.
The talisman was once used to summon the legendary Knights of Iacon, but it must be connected to the Staff (which it can lead too) or it will not work. And it will only come off when it “wants too”. Slipstream intercepts the signal and reports back to Megatron. The decepticon leader then realises that Earth is indeed Unicron. He orders his decepticons to transform and attack, with Hook saying “Finally I’ll get to rip one of them apart after what they did to their home.”
As soon as Lennox and the autobots leave the building, Hound notices a missile incoming and tells others to dock. The autobots pull out their guns, ready for another attack. Cogman sends out a message for reinforcements, as another missile hits Bumblebee from behind. Hound realizes it was planned and tells the humans to fall back. Then, decepticons reveal themselves and an all out fight begins between the two factions.
Bludgeon calls Drift a traitor and they fight with their blades. During this battle, Swindle uses all sorts of weapons to slow down and ultimately weaken Cogman by throwing different kinds of traps and equipment he got from the Black Market. Hook and Hound go all out in a gunfight, resulting in Hook firing a bunch of missiles and a swing in his chest, injuring the autobot sergeant. Bumblebee and Barricade have a rematch to re-establish their rivalry from the first film.
Dino calls Berserker an ulgy beast sarcastically, the two getting into a brutal fight. Crosshairs and Longarm fight Slipstream and Nitro back to back on the rooftop. From a single sentence, Longarm recognises Nitro as the seeker who killed his brother Wreckage. The young autobot is then stabbed and thrown into the chapel, crashing through the roof.
Amongst all this chaos, Megatron finally arrives. He watches the autobots falling to fight back and is disappointed. Dino sees this as an opportunity and becomes invisible again. Just as Megatron is about to execute Bumblebee with a single blast to the head, Dino jumps in and even though injured, keeps kicking Megatron’s ass, coming from all sides. However, the evil decepticon warlord is able to predict the autobot’s movement and he also realizes the autobot is bleeding. He pulls out his sword and hacks it into Dino’s shoulder, ripping his arm off. Megatron calls Dino brave, but stupid. Then, as Dino says “Till all are one”, the decepticon leader blasts the autobot apart, killing him with a shot to the head.
Other autobots are shocked by their brother’s death. Humans start firing their guns at the decepticon leader, with Hook and Megatron returning fire back at them. Then, someone touches Megatron’s shoulder. He turns around only to get punched away onto the grass. Decepticons turn around to see Ultra Magnus and First Aid (who’s a female in this rewrite) standing from behind. Roadbuster walks up from behind Slipstream and points his saw at her neck. Ultra Magnus punches the ground with his hammer and tells Megatro to retreat or they’re gonna do this all day.
Megatron: How glad I am to see you here, Elite Guard. It is my honor.
Ultra Magnus: Leave, Megatron. Now.
Megatron: Why throw your life so recklessly protecting those parasites?
Ultra Magnus: Because it is my duty. “Freedom is the right of all beings”. Seems as in your ideology of perfect Cybertron, you forgot about that.
Megatron: Yes… freedom. Like Optimus used to say. I believe in peace instead. Peace in tyranny. Cybertron needs my strength.
Ultra Magnus: I said, leave and never come back.
Megatron (growls): Decepticons, retreat!
Swindle: But Lord Megatron.
Megatron: Now.
All 8 decepticons transform and leave with Barricade telling Bee they’ll eachother soon. Hound is happy to see the Commander of Wreckers still alive. First Aid checks for injuries on all the autobots. Upon asking, Ultra Magnus tells them that he and First Aid arrived on Earth when Cybertron got destroyed. Few years later, they were contacted by Cogman. Simmons asks why it took them so long, with Ultra Magnus replying that their ship got destroyed. Longarm tells the commander that they have a ship. However, Ultra Magnus doesn’t know this autobot.
Anyway, that’s when First Aid notices Dino’s body. Crosshairs and Drift bury it underground and all autobots pay a silent tribute for a minute.
Meanwhile, Nemesis Prime crashlands somewhere in the mountains. Lennox hears about this and the autobots realize that Optimus is back. Crosshairs and Drift transform and speed off to the Junkyard to get Lockdown’s ship.
Cut to Nemesis Prime speeding on a highway, crashing into civilians. The autobots chase after him. They are able to catch up to Prime. Soon they realize he has changed. Ultra Magnus tries to speak with his former brother, but to no avail. Bumblebee runs up to Prime, just like in the teaser trailer. He grabs the yellow bug and slams him onto the ground, just as Cade runs up to them. Nemesis says “Forgive me” and pulls out a forearm blade, but before he can stab Bee, Crosshairs lands on him and fires rounds at Prime, telling him to stop this. Nemesis throws Crosshairs onto the ground, then blows Crosshairs’ leg off. Drift fights Prime, and with help from First Aid, they are able to put Prime down, but only for a couple of seconds, as Nemesis gets up again and kicks First Aid away, then breaks Drift’s sword in half and stabs the white autobot samurai with it.
All the while Megatron is watching this, smiling. Prime notices his former friends on the battlefield fallen, for a split second Optimus snaps out of Quintessa’s control, only for Nemesis to regain it back. He transforms again and rolls out. Everyone is in shock once again, but this hits Longarm the most. Optimus was the one who he looked up to, he was the one who inspired him. And now, the autobot saw Prime’s darkest side. Drift tells First Aid that he is fine and pulls out the blade from his body, as the injury disappears. Lennox is notified by general Morshower that the UN who gave the chance to re-establish the autobots have now voted to eliminate them in fear, if this isn’t taken care of in the next 2 hours.
Simmons says that there might be a way to save Prime, but they need to find the Knights first. Cade agrees and feels that the talisman is pulling for the east. The autobots, Cade and Lennox hop into Lockdown’s ship. Cogman asks for Simmons to join, but Simmons states that for him, adventures are over. The autobots then fly off to England.
On the ship, Drift tells the autobots that his brother is indeed Bludgeon and that he was in a decepticon pact and who escaped it. Which is why Bludgeon is hunting him now. The autobots arrive in London and are dropped off there with Megatron and his seekers attacking the ship. Bee, Cade, Lennox, Drift, Longarm, Ultra Magnus and Cogman roll out. Of course, we then have a chase around London with Barricade, Swindle and Berserker. Bumblebee and Barricade have a chase sequence, while Berserker is acting like a beast, destroying everything in his way. During the chase, Big Ben falls over on the road, even with Longarm trying to hold it. Hound arrives into the battlefield and together with Cogman, they are able to kill Berserker with guns and a quick decapitation.
Ultra Magnus and Cogman are able to defeat Hook and the autobots arrive at the caves. A bunch of fighters are sent out to take out decepticons in the air. With this distraction, autobots dive below into the ocean and find the legendary Staff. Nemesis Prime arrives once again and fights the autobots, injuring Cogman and mortally wounding Bumblebee, then ripping his spark out. That’s when Longarm snaps. He lunges at Nemesis and punches him multiple times, before the Last Knight grabs his fist and throws Longarm out of his way. He takes the Staff and is about to crush Cade, but Ultra Magnus interferes. Megatron, Bludgeon and Nitro arrive.
Drift and Bludgeon have a second sword duel. In the end, Bludgeon is able to cut into Drift’s chest and then stab him, killing his own brother. Nitro, while fighting Longarm< calls it flawless victory. As the big battle ensues, Cade is able to get the Staff and raise the ship from water. Cade is then taken by Megatron, who gets knocked on top of the ship by Nemesis. It’s a three way fight, but eventually, Cade activates the Staff, just as the talisman leaves his hand and connects itself to the ancient relic. A dragon roar is heard somewhere deep inside the ship. Then, a giant dragon breaks through and flies out of the Knightship. Megatron fires his cannon at the Knight, then orders a retreat, with Nemesis Prime already gone and Cybertron nearing Earth, devouring the moon and everything on it.
Dragonstorm speaks with Cade on why he is here. Upon asking to lead the autobots to Unicron’s crown, Dragonstorm just laughs.
Cade: You don’t understand! Quintessons is coming here right now and will drain Unicron, then use his power to create life on her new Cybertron.
Dragonstorm: Ah. Seems as the archives there indeed rewritten. Now tell me - why would the Quintessons create a new planet for transformers if the REAL Cybertron is still floating around? Why drain his power if you could devour every other planet, hmm?
Cade: So, that means…
Dragonstorm: Indeed. The Quintessons were never going to kill Unicron, but revive him. Transport his vessel to a new planet, a new body while the old one will die.
Cade: “For one world to live, the other must die.”
Dragonstorm: Exactly. You fools, y’all believed what the Quintessons wrote in the archives themselves. And your precious Optimus Prime has been brainwashed into believing that he’s going to kill Unicron, except the sword Quintessa gave him will only start transporting his vessel, only to force Unicron.
Cade: Then helps us end this.
Dragonstorm: How exactly do you plan to end it, hmm? How? That’s right, nobody knows. But I do. So does many others - the Matrix of Leadership. But to get it… well, we’d have to rip it off Prime’s sword, though it would be hard.
Cade: So… will you help us.
Dragonstorm: You are a young species with much to learn. I never followed any Prime, nor any human or decepticon. Why should I listen to you?
Cade: Because this is your duty. Look, I know your world was destroyed. And I’m sorry. But please *sight* don’t let our planet die.
Dragonstorm (thinks): Very well. I will lead you there and after this is over, I will retire.
Meanwhile, Longarm has lost all hope. He no more believes in himself or even Prime. First Aid comforts and tells him that he shouldn’t give up and should continue to fight. To believe in others.
Act Three
Dragonstorm flies the Knightship towards the North Pole. Lennox contacts Simmons who then contacts the general to tell them where the Final Battle will take place. Seymour Simmons then gets his own helicopter and flies to the Arctic.
Nemesis Prime follows the Knightship in his alt mode, just as Quintessa’s “Cybertron” reaches Earth’s atmosphere. The autobots land on the icy site where they see a giant site around them. Hound, Crosshairs and Roadbuster regroup with other autobots and are at first afraid of Dragonstorm. Hound asks about Drift and Cogman carries the dead autobot’s body in front of Hound and Crosshairs. It’s complete silence once again.
Then, autobots are once again ambushed by Megatron’s forces. Megatron beats up Ultra Magnus and is about to kill him. Just as both factions are about to fight again, Longarm and Dragonstorm run towards Megatron and tell the truth about the Quintesson plan. Megatron then decides to temporarily join forces with autobots, much to both sides' dismay.
They all arm up, as Simmons arrives, surprised to see Megatron as an ally. Yet, both haven’t forgotten each other. General Morshower contacts Lennox again and tells him that his NEST forces are dealing with the New Cybertron right now, trying to tear it down. Then, Nemesis Prime enters the view.
Dragonstorm, who is standing on top of the crown’s center, tells Longarm to protect it and transforms into a dragon again. With Nemesis come dozens of Quintessons and Infernicons and even Quintessa herself, watching from above.
And so, the Quintesson War begins. Both autobots and decepticons start to grow bonds with each other. Sadly, it is too late since Nemesis just keeps tearing through the battlefield towards Longarm. While Quintessons themselves are weak, they are protected by much stronger Infernicons.
During the battle, Nemesis pushes Longarm aside. The two then fight, however Longarm is easily defeated and even reveals the actual Quintesson plan, but Prime doesn’t want to hear it. He kicks Longarm away but before he can kill the autobot, Barricade jumps in between, getting stabbed instead, dying a hero. Nemesis shakes it off, then turns around and is about to stab the ground, Simmons starts firing his guns at him. Nemesis shoots Simmons, mortally wounding him. Megatron notices this and tries to stop him but it’s too late - as Megatron tackles Nemesis onto the ice and into the water, the sword erupts a giant hole in the middle of the crown, as giant light comes out and starts transporting Unicron’s vessel to the new planet.
Around the globe, we see the news speaking about Earth’s atmosphere heating up. In less than an hour, Earth will be nothing but a frying pan. Megatron and Nemesis fight once again, with Megatron saying: “We were brothers once, Prime. Do you remember it? Do you!?”
With Optimus replying: “I… I cannot c… control it… t.”
They keep fighting, as Quintessa arrives on Earth and walks towards the battlefield. Cogman comes to Simmons, who dies peacefully with an autobot at his side. Autobots and decepticons slowly start to get overflown by the Quintesson swarm. Dragonstorm notices the sword and goes to grab it, but Nemesis steps in and they too fight.
This time, it’s Dragonstorm and Megatron against Nemesis Prime. They eventually lose and Nemesis stabs Dragonstorm five times. Cade then realizes what he has to do. He takes out his talisman and is about to put into the sword, as a blast sends him away from it. Quintessons and Infernicons cry in joy, as Earth starts crumbling, Unicron having finally regained a new body. Humans, Autobots and Decepticons fall to their knees and drop their weapons. Quintessa then orders Nemesis to kill Megatron, as the autobot leader keeps beating Megatron til his brother spits out energon.
Then, Nemesis grabs his sword and is about to kill his brother. He says “This is the end” and raises his sword. Megatron tells Prime to remember who he is and even tells him “Freedom is the right of all beings”. However, Nemesis, encouraged by Quintessa, stabs.
All cybertronian look in surprise. Turns out, Nemesis didn’t stab Megatron, only the ground next to him and Optimus starts to slowly regain control. Then, Quintessa, angered, pulls the sword out and starts electrocuting both Prime and Megatron. Longarm sees this as an opportunity, takes the sword away from Quintessa and throws it too Dragonstorm who catches it and blocks Quintessa’s lightning.
Quintessa: Fools, this is your fate. Your end!
Dragonstorm: Sorry, I don’t believe in fate.
Dragonstorm then jumps into the hole and forces the “Star Saber” and the Matrix of Leadership to collide with the core, rebuilding everything. The beam of light from the Matrix forces Unicron to fall back. Quintessa screams, as both Prime and Megatron swing their swords and cut her in half, but it’s just a projection. Infernicons and Quintessons are then all killed by both autobots and decepticons. Only a couple escape.
Infernicus sees this and orders his fleet to retreat. Prime is free of Quintessa’s control and the autobots and decepticons mourn the loss of Dragonstorm. That day a funeral happened with both factions and humans standing in front of graves of Dino, Bumblebee, Drift, Barricade, Simmons and Dragonstorm. Sam and Mikeala are also there. Megatron tells Prime that even though they defeated their main enemy, they themselves are still the enemies. Prime tells Megatron that he wouldn’t be so sure of that, as the decepticons leave.
Cade goes back to see his daughter Tessa, Lennox goes back to see his kid and wife while Cogman joins the autobots who are now seen as both heroes and villains, since they stopped the apocalypse but with help from decepticons. Optimus Prime decides to go on an exile for what he did, even though he is forgiven by the autobots.
While rolling down a road, Optimus delivers his amazing ending monologue:
“With our future left uncertain, we march into a new era of peace. At the heart of every legend, there is truth. A few brave souls unite to save their world. We can be heroes in our own lives, if we only have the courage to try. Our fates were always intertwined, but now our worlds are joined as one. With Unicron freely drifting in space, our future is left uncertain, though I feel that there is more to this planet than meets the eye. My name is Optimus Prime, and this message is to all autobots, it is time to come home.”
End credits scene - Quintessa is roaming Earth. She walks inside a cave and finds something with a smile.
Post credits scene - Unicron starts his path of destruction once again.
