10 Things We Want From Netflix's Transformers: War For Cybertron

From their initial conception, there were several robots in disguise who stood above the others for special abilities. Bots such as Skywarp, who could teleport himself; Mirage, who could turn himself invisible and even set up small holographic images; Frenzy (the blue one), who could let out sonic blasts that could scramble the brains of organics and cause mechanical malfunctions; and Tailgate, who had an impenetrable forcefield.

While these abilities were usually put in to give an easy hook for a character, their origins were usually ignored and the abilities themselves were rarely used. More recently, IDW's Generation One introduced the concept of outliers, who are basically the X-Men of the Transformers Universe, forged with abilities beyond those of a normal bot.

The same continuity gave explanations for other types of toy gimmick that we've seen through the years. The Enigma of Combination was introduced as an ancient artefact of the Primes, and it was what created gestalts from combiner teams. We also saw Scorponok's twisted experiments create Headmasters and the evolution of Pretender Shells as protective spacesuits.

While this sort of world-building is key to the series having depth, it should never be the sole focus of the show as this weakens it. Rather, these things should inform the world and events, both giving the universe mystery while explaining how parts of the world work.