Millions of years ago, the Autobots were badly depleted of resources to combat the Decepticons, led by Megatron. In a daring move, Optimus Prime hand-selected a team of elite Autobots to join him in a search for resources on a then-uninhabited (by humans) planet. Megatron receives word of this raid and intercepts and later boards the reconnaissance craft, known as the Ark. Sensing imminent defeat, Optimus Prime chooses to crash-land the craft into Earth. The Ark slammed into Mt. St. Hilary, and the impact instantly deactivated all occupants. For four million years, both Autobot and Decepticon inhabitants remained in stasis until a volcano eruption awakened the Ark's central computer, Teletraan 1 in 1984. Within days, the craft had rebuilt all inhabitants to assume forms of common vehicles