...and how they could possibly intersect and have it make sense...

nnnot the easiest of tasks B|a

I thiiink the Rescue Bots landed on Earth either right before or right after the "Darkness Rising" movie; that seems like it would make the most sense...

I know the message they received at the beginning of that episode was the same message Arcee and Cliffjumper received in "Out of the Past," so. There's that.

Eatingcrow said that when Heatwave tried to contact Optimus during "The Reign of Morocco" for reassignment, that was apparently during the "Orion Pax" arc and that's why Optimus wasn't answering...

There's 12 episodes between "Family of Heroes" and "The Reign of Morocco"; there's like, at the VERY LEAST, 21 episodes between "Masters and Students" and the first "Orion Pax" episode. :|a Hm.

Bumblebee comes to Griffin Rock to help five RB episodes later, in "Bumblebee to the Rescue"; this has to have happened before the hunt for the Iacon relics in Prime, it wouldn't make any sense otherwise.

So... "Bumblebee to the Rescue" probably synchs somewhere between the beginning of "Crossfire" and before "Armada."

(5 episodes between those two RB episodes; 6-9 episodes between the two TFP episodes, for those keeping track.)

Then it gets a LOT harder to figure out when Optimus and Bumblebee had the time to waltz in and help the Rescue Bots during "It's a Bot Time" and "Bot to the Future."

That can't have happened during the hunt for the Iacon relics, either, or while Bulkhead was in critical condition. But it pretty much HAD to happen before "Hard Knocks"...

...because as soon as Smokescreen was captured, shit hit the fan and they wouldn't have had ANY time or ability to help the Rescue Bots at all during the whole go to Cybertron, rise of Darkmount, etc. thing.

And we know "It's a Bot Time" and "Bot to the Future" happened pre-Darkmount because Optimus Prime wasn't all ridiculously bara.

So... Hm. Those two episodes had to happen sometime between "New Recruit" and "Alpha; Omega." There's pretty much no way around that.

There were 7 episodes between "Bumblebee to the Rescue" and "It's a Bot Time"; 9 episodes between "Armada" and "New Recruit," and 15 episodes between "Crossfire" and "Alpha; Omega."

It looks like not quite two Prime episodes pass for every episode of Rescue Bots, or thereabouts? Timeline-wise, I mean.

It makes sense; episode 26 of Rescue Bots must have happened before episode 48 of Prime; season one of Rescue Bots ended at least 5 episodes before season two of Prime ended.

Also, I'd just like to take this opportunity to point out in minor despair that, man, Optimus Prime didn't keep the Rescue Bots updated about anything or tell them basically JACK SHIT.

Like, yeah, don't get them involved, they're noncombatants, but jfc.

But the fact that the only season of Rescue Bots that's been released so far ends before "Inside Job" and "Patch" and the whole Darkmount thing makes potentially writing a fic... fun.

/chinhands at this plurk

I gotta say, I would not have tried this, so well done

IT WAS A PAIN IN THE BUTT but an oddly satisfying pain in the butt

because i got to spend the entire time vaguely annoyed by optimus prime

"okay so when the hell during your series when you were in the middle of SUPER IMPORTANT THINGS did you have any time to fuck around with the rescue bots, while also never telling them anything. at all. ever."

prime blatantly disrespecting and brushing them off every time he made an appearance in rescue bots was incredibly funny in a sad way though i must say

"oh fuck it's a rescue team, they're useless to me. what do i do now."

"uh. okay guys cybertron's destroyed. that's literally all i'm going to tell you about the war this whole series. now i'm gonna fob you off on this human so he can babysit you."

"study humans, it's super important even though i've flat-out admitted that i'm completely uninterested in learning anything about humans in my own series."

"prime the humans are jerks how ELSE can we help."
"try to make friends with them and learn from them."
"'make friends' is that all you have to say."
"no. also: good luck." /HANGS UP ON THEM

Merciless p r i m u s OP is a jackass

HE IS. HE SO IS i imagine every time they call him up to give a report or w/e he just. heaves a sigh.

also team prime totally didn't even bother to contact the rescue bots ever about anything, like. not to warn them about megatron. not to tell them that cybertron might be perma-lost.

not to tell them THE WAR WAS OVER

just. jeez guys.

I still can't get over the fact that this actually happened, in-series.

That it's not an exaggeration, no lines are falsified or changed, that is 100% exactly the exchange that occurred. And he just. Disconnects immediately after the "good luck." God dammit Optimus.

TFP Optimus is such a dick he can't help being a dick even in the fun pleasant kids' cartoon part of canon. That's talent.

I am AMAZED and strangely gratified that even Transformers: Rescue Bots couldn't make him not a dick. It is definitely talent and I almost want to applaud it.