Bayverse

The Bayverse refers to the Transformers cinematic universe from the Michael Bay directed Transformers films. The Bayverse covers five films: Transformers (2007), Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009), Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011), Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014), and Transformers: The Last Knight (2017). It excludes the live-action Transformers movie Bumblebee (2018), as Bay was only a producer. 
While every film in the series has been critically panned by the fandom, they have all made extremely large amounts of money. The first film had a 58% on Rotten Tomatoes,Transformers (2007), Rotten Tomatoes (Accessed 1/17/2021), but Revenge of the Fallen had 20%, a full 38% drop just between the two movies.Revenge of the Fallen, Rotten Tomatoes (Accessed 1/27/2020). The subsequently three Bay films continued to make equally as low scores, and critics' poor opinions are reflected in a large portion of Transformers fans. 
==Canon==
The first three movies take place in a single, fairly straightforward continuity. The fourth movie is a soft reboot. It takes place sometime after the third movie but doesn't feature any of the live action actors or actresses. The only returning voice actors were Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime, Robert Foxworth as Ratchet, and Reno Wilson as Brains. The fifth film is a sequel to the fourth and saw the return of Josh Duhamel as Major Lennox and Glenn Morshower as General Morshower from the original trilogy.
However, there are other closely related continuities that are not directly in the movies' continuity. The most notable of these are the Titan Magazines alternate-universe comics, which were originally intended to fit into the then-ongoing IDW tie-in series' continuity, but couldn't because the writers didn't know what was going to be in Revenge of the Fallen or what IDW intended to do. Thus, they simply set the series in their own alternate universe. 
==Fandom==
Transformers (Bay Movies) have 3,477 fanfics on Archive of Our Own as of Jan 2021, compared to 19,063 for Transformers Generation One, 6,710 for Transformers Prime, 2,252 for Transformers Animated, and 902 for The Transformers (Cartoon Generation one). Out of all Transformers media types, the Bayverse takes up only 9% of AO3 Transformers fanfiction. However, they have brought a large number of new fans into the fandom, possibly because of their accessibility. Some fans did not appreciate this influx of newcomers to their fandom, but many welcomed it.
When the live action film Bumblebee was announced, many hardcore Transformers fans who did not like Bay's films were pleased to learn Bay was only a producer. Some fans made jokes at his expense, such as one fan making a "Michael Bay do not interact" banner.Michael Bay Don't Interact, Jun 6, 2018 (Accessed 1/27/2021) Another fan made a Drake meme where Drake disapproves of the Bay films' Bumblebee but approves of the Travis Knight Bumblebee.I mean u know it true, Jun 5, 2018 (Accessed 1/17/2021) Though the Bumblebee movie is not considered a part of the Bayverse, some fans may still multi-tag the film with Bayverse because it is live action in the same way Bay's films were.
===Shipping===
Interestingly, while the most popular character to write about is Optimus Prime, the most popular pairing is Bumblebee/Sam Witwicky. As of Jan 2021 Bumblebee/Sam Witwicky has 196 fanfics on AO3, or 5% of the shipping for the Bay films. Pairing Sam with Mikaela Banes, his canonical girlfriend from the first and second movies is much less common than pairing him with Bumblebee, being the third most shipped on AO3 with 131 fanfics (3%). The second most shipped is Jazz/Prowl at 173 fanfics, or 4%. The most common pairings for Optimus are with Megatron or with Cade Yeager, a human from the Age of Extinction film. 
==Fanworks==
===Visual===
File:Deceptiwolves redraw sterlingkato bayverse.jpg| by sterlingkato
File:Bayverse rubywing reference sheet by starrytiger.jpg| OC by starrywolf
File:A forgotten artifact of an alien civilization by akyuatron bayverse.jpg|by Akyuatron
===Video===
*Bayverse Dank Memes
*RIP Transformers Bayverse Series- Video lamenting the film Bumblebee being a reboot to the Bayverse films
*Transformers Bayverse as Vines
*R.I.P Transformers Bayverse (a tribute)
*Carol of the Bells | BAYVERSE
===Fanfiction===
*Swim Away- Bay fanfic with most kudos, also a crossover with Transformers: Prime
*My First Decepticon- Gen fanfic
*Into the Fire- Sam/Bumblebee ship fic
*Tender Morsel- Optimus/Cade ship fic
*Climate Change- Sam/Optimus ship fic
==Archives & Fannish Links==
* Transformers (Bay Movies) works at AO3
==References==
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Category:Live-action Film