’80s Transformers fans, Hasbro has heard you.

You want the Generation 1-style characters you remember. You want robots, not humans, to be the focus. And you want real stakes and danger. Machinima‘s Combiner Wars series is about to deliver, and if you don’t believe us, watch the first of four preludes to the series above, in which Optimus Prime gets you up to speed on where the story begins. Hint: he’s no longer the leader of the Autobots. But yes, he still believes freedom is the right of all sentient beings, and remains determined that in his battle with Megatron, one shall stand and one shall fall.

Inspired by both the ongoing IDW comic series and the current branding of the main toy line, Combiner Wars is billed as “the first installment of the Generations Prime Wars Trilogy.” The new series is aimed at older fans who aren’t as big on the live-action movies and want characters more like they remember, in storylines more geared to fans who want a bit more complexity than kids do. Combine Wars will launch August 2 on Machinima, but starting today, four weekly preludes will let viewers know what kind of Cybertron to expect. Per press release:

1) Optimus Prime, the former leader of the Autobots, reflects on the great war and how it finally ended with a duel between him and the mighty Megatron.

2) Victorion, a Combiner born from the magic of the ‘Enigma of Combination,’ describes her anger with this new state of affairs and proclaims her intention to save the Transformers galaxy from the chaos created in the aftermath of disbanding the Autobots and Decepticons.

3) Starscream, no longer the villain we once knew him as, is now a member of a great ‘Council’ along with The Mistress of Flame from the planet Caminus and Rodimus Prime. The burden of responsibility is heavy on the three due to the destruction and loss of life from the ongoing Combiner Wars.

4) Windblade, once an official ‘City Speaker’ to the gigantic ‘Titans’ is tired of the bureaucratic non-action of the Council, who seem to sit idly while her people and her cities on Caminus perish. She decides that the only way to end the Combiner Wars is to take matters into her own vengeful hands.

Victorion, we should also note, is also the first ever proper female combiner in the Transformers toy line (unless you count Mini-Cons), and was voted on by fans.

This is the first time we’ve seen Megatron in his original form for a long time, mainly because his realistic gun alt-mode is no longer legal for a toy in the U.S. But the end of the mini-sode above leaves us questioning his fate. Will Gun Megatron be reborn, if only in cartoon form? Or is he about to change into yet another form? The battle between arch-enemies is certainly not over.

Which G1 characters do you want to see get back into the battle? Is Judd Nelson ready to play Rodimus again? Can we hope the Junkions will return to spread the glory of Weird Al?

Roll out into comments below, and transform our thoughts by adding yours.

If you think Transformers: Combiner Wars seems interesting, wait’ll you hear how weird Transformers: The Last Knight sounds.

Images: Hasbro/Machinima