( In the sequel series Beast Machines, the process during which Autobots and Decepticons became Maximals and Predacons is referred to as " The Great Upgrade.

Thus, Autobots and Decepticons became Maximals and Predacons, each ruled by a council, but with the Maximals firmly in control of the planet.

Systematic defeat by the Maximals eventually left all his options exhausted, and he proceeded to strike at Optimus Prime, only to be once again thwarted by his enemies.

Though the Decepticons and Predacons share many similarities, several important differences exist, such as leadership and ideals ( for example, choosing a pretense of peace with the Maximals rather than maintain a war at all costs ).

It was a Third person shooter, based on the first season of the show, in which you can control either the Maximals or the Predacons in a series of missions to undermine the other faction's attempts at gaining enough resources to win the war between them and escape the planet.

Delighted, Starscream took her under his wing to teach her the ways of treachery, and at the same time, he wards off Scorponok and forced the surrendering Maximals to attack the Predacon base by threatening their leader Optimus Primal and Dinobot with death, revealing his true intentions to rule both Maximal and Predacons.

The Maximals and Predacons are much smaller than their Autobot and Decepticon ancestors, standing at roughly human size, rather than twenty or more feet tall.

It was not long before Rhinox sprang into action, using the residual transwarp energy to access the Matrix, from which he plucked Primal's spark, installing it within a blank protoform ( which was also a victim of the quantum surge, but remained blank until a spark with a beast form was installed ) Emerging in a new transmetal body at a moment of great crisis, Primal used his new powers to save the Maximals from a massive Predacon attack with the aid of the Fuzor, Silverbolt.

With all the other Predacons dealt with, and Megatron finally their captive courtesy of Rhinox's quickly strategised intervention, the Maximals clamped him to the hull of the Autobot shuttle, and, with the Beast Wars finally concluded, headed back at last to Cybertron.

When the Maximals arrived on the planet at their intended destination time, they found a world that Megatron had conquered using a transformation-freezing virus and an army of Vehicon drones.

In response to this, the Maximals use the device to pluck Optimus Primal, referred to as " Convoy " in the Japanese continuity, from prehistoric Earth at a point prior to his becoming a transmetal to join with their leader, Lio Convoy to battle the demonic Transformer.

Megatron's plans had finally been thwarted and he was at last captured by the Maximals.

When the Maximals emerged from the timestream at their intended point in time, they found the planet under Megatron's control, and were immediately devolved to their original beast modes by the virus.

The Maximals and Predacons are much smaller than their Autobot and Decepticon ancestors, standing at roughly human size, rather than twenty or more feet tall.

In the season one finale, he joined Megatron and Terrorsaur at the alien structure, where the Maximals Rattrap and Optimus Primal were trying to get inside of it to rescue Airazor.

Scorponok announced to Megatron that he had one mega missile to shoot at the Maximals while they were inside, to which Megatron replied, " Excellent!

" Inferno was extremely tough and powerful, while at the same time being amazingly loyal, even igniting energon crystals rather than lose them to the Maximals, as per Megatron ’ s orders.

Breaking free, he killed his father and his army, and vowed to kill Megatron and all the Maximals and Predacons, but met his own end at the hands of Optimus Primal.

The one exception was Beast Wars, by which time most Autobots had been retrofitted into Maximals.

Each side is governed by a council ; the Maximals governing body is known as the Maximal Imperium while the Predacons ' version, the Tripredacus Council, operate out of a satellite orbiting the planet or star, quietly working to their own agenda ... an agenda that was sorely disrupted by the rise to power of the renegade, Megatron, who stole a ship and escaped to prehistoric Earth with the intent of altering time.

Megatron's perfect technosphere was shattered with the return of Optimus Primal's Maximals, arriving in their intended time period to discover Megatron's mastery of the planet.

In a Deleted scene for this Episode ; before the Maximals Leave the planet, it shows Optimus pulling the Original Megatron's spark out of his foes ' chest and returning it to the Shell of the original Megatron himself to ensure events and time were not altered when the time would come for the Autobots and Decepticons to awaken and rebegin their fight on earth.

Megatron's sudden development of a transformation-freezing virus, spark-extraction and Vehicon technology and drones went without explanation in the animated series, with the large time gap between his return and the Maximals ' left to serve as a grey area in which these innovations occurred.

For the Maximals, the emphasis is on team spirit and good-natured arguing, especially from Rattrap, but the Predacons argue and battle for leadership, which impairs their effectiveness against the Maximals.

Relieved, Primal and the Maximals return back to their base, and Waspinator is repaired back to normal by Megatron, who is informed by Blackarachnia of the reasons of her betrayal were to find out Starsceam's true intentions.

Later, when Tripledacus confronts Megastorm, Starscream and BB the Maximals arrive to chase the Predacons away from their new ally.

The explosion was enough to shock the brainwashed Maximals back to their senses.

In another it was surrounded by a program known as the Oracle in an age where Maximals and Predacons had taken the place of their ancestors as the primary residents of Cybertron.

After the destruction of one of their probes and the Floating Island and the sending of a signal prior to its destruction, they investigated remotely, and found the planet infested with the time-travelled Predacons and Maximals.

Realising their might was woefully inadequate against the new threat, the Maximals decided on a different strategy after several failed assaults.

Primal's new form was that of a technorganic gorilla, but he soon discovered that transformation was no longer simply a matter of command codes and on board computers-now, he and the Maximals had to find their “ spiritual ” centers and focus upon their transformations, growing as both machines and animals.

In the Beast Machines series that came out after Beast Wars, the Maximals lose their Transmetal forms after they are exposed to Megatron's transformation virus, which reverted them back to their previous " beast modes ".

After some encounters with remnants of their technology left on the planet, and the discovery of a second Golden Disk of alien origin, which foretold their coming to Earth, Megatron entered into an alliance with the Maximals in hopes to stopping the Vok's plan to sterilize the Earth with a massive heat beam.

After returning the original Megatron's spark to his body ( in a cut scene from the final episode ), the Maximals chained Megatron to the upper hull of their craft, as they blasted off from Earth and entered transwarp space, heading back to Cybertron.

Starting off, Starscream manages to fomulate a successful attack on the Maximal spaceship, forcing the Maximals to flee in defeat, leaving the Predacons to take control of the ship.

The Maximals ' own ship however, the Axalon, fell into the water by Rampage.

The Maximals witnessed this as they were tossed about the ship with every klik ( earth second ) it spent traveling through Transwarp space.

A retaliatory attack by the Vehicons crashed the ship, and the Maximals subsequently fell one by one until only Primal was left to face off with Megatron, who had installed his spark in a copy of Primal's old " Optimal " body.

Planning to take the ship back to Cybertron, he was thwarted by an unlikely alliance between the Maximals and Tarantulas, which succeeded in destroying both the ship and the second Golden Disk.

Megatron predictably pulled a double-cross, forcing Tarantulas ( who had planned to do the same ) to form a wary alliance with the Maximals to stop him from returning to Cybertron with the ship, actually helping them to stop Megatron due to his hatred of the Vok.

When he was finally defeated by the Maximals, the original Megatron's spark was returned to his body ( in a deleted scene from the television series, that is available on the season 3 DVD 2 in the " Scene Selection " menu ), and history carried on as before.

Subsequently, new energy-conservation methods resulted in what was termed " The Great Upgrade ", a planet-wide upgrade of Autobot and Decepticon into new, smaller, more energy-efficient forms, leading the races to rename themselves " Maximals " and " Predacons ", respectively.

One of his first major battles on Earth was a duel with the renegade Predacon Dinobot, whose life Primal then saved — grateful, Dinobot joined the Maximals, and Primal dubbed the ensuing conflict for control of the energon on earth as the " Beast Wars ".

Ravage aided Primal and the Maximals in finally capturing Megatron, but switched sides when he discovered that Megatron was following instructions left by his former commander, the original Megatron ( decepticon commander ).

On the Maximals return trip to Cybertron after the end of the Beast Wars, Megatron was able to break free and exited the timestream, returning to Cybertron before the Maximals.

It was Cryotek who masterminded the theft of the Golden Disk, but Megatron betrayed his mentor and fled Cybertron with his prize, leaving Cryotek and Dirge to be arrested by Maximals.

Three centuries after the end of The Great War, when Maximal and Predacon had risen to replace Autobot and Decepticon, one Predacon in particular was discontented with the Maximals ' control of Cybertron following the Autobot victory in the war.

Predictably, he failed due to the efforts of the Maximals and Blackarachnia's own treachery, and his spark was cast out once again.