Quote Originally Posted by BigTransformerTrev View Post
I think in every TF universe (bar IDW) Mini-Cons are Cybertronians, not a seperate alien race.

Perhaps they are just a different species of Cybertronian. Whereas Micromasters are the same species as regular bots, just a lot smaller
Quote Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime View Post
* Micromasters were explained as Cybertronians who had downsized to become more energy efficient. In Beast Wars the Maximals and Predacons continued to be Micromaster-sized and BW Megatron once referred to the Autobots as "archaic Energon guzzlers."

* In the Armada cartoon continuity the Mini-Cons were indeed a separate foreign species introduced to Cybertron by their creator Unicron.
Well there ya go, I stand corrected on the Armada cartoon front. I will admit to having all the DVD's but haven't really watched them enough to remember all the details like the above.

I guess if you take it for granted that Primus and Unicron are the same species as each other (transforming metal planet gods) then the Mini-Cons are the same as other Transformers, just not natives of Cybertron and a different species. They were just introduced to Cybertron by Unicron in the same way rabbits were introduced to Australia by early colonists - not native but certainly not a completely alien lifeform.

Oh and that has always bugged me a bit - the fact that BW characters were suppposed to be Micromaster sized, and were indeed portrayed as such like when BW Megatron flew over a deactivated Soundwave, but in comics like IDW were portrayed as equivalent size and some of them disguised themselves as big creatures such as a T-Rex yet with no discernable size change between modes.