Animated follows the adventures of a small crew of Autobots who come into possession of the all-powerful AllSpark artifact. Stranded on Earth and living among the population of Detroit, they face off against a series of human villains and their mighty Decepticon foes, who seek to possess the AllSpark. Though they were originally a lowly space bridge repair crew, these five Autobots must rise to their circumstances to deal with threats large and small. The series eschews the ever-continuing space opera storylines of the Unicron Trilogy cartoons to return to the episodic approach of Beast Wars; most episodes are standalone stories, but with larger story arcs that stretch through the whole series. The focus is on characterization, dynamic action, and humor. The episodes center not only on the war between the Autobots and the Decepticons, but also on the Autobots' interactions with many of Detroit's human supervillain denizens, including a maladjusted marksman, a speedy racer, and a guy who looks good in a pimp suit. The idea is to present the Decepticons as more of an ongoing background threat instead of having them be repeatedly defeated each episode and look like bumbling fools. The arrival of a Decepticon in battle is a big deal, requiring multiple Autobots working together to stop even a single one. The human villains give the Autobots "everyday" threats, and some of their schemes are the result of Decepticon treachery. Note well: Human adversaries are not new in Transformers continuity. While the series is not a sequel to the live-action movie, they have many thematic elements in common, most notably the central role of the AllSpark and the revelation that all modern technology has been reverse-engineered from the dormant body of Megatron. Hasbro also carried over some design elements from the live-action movie into Animated designs, including not just the aforementioned cube but also Ratchet's medical readout striped deco, Bumblebee's black racing stripe, and Megatron's helmet. These are meant to be "connection points," helping kids who had seen the theatrical film but had no prior Transformers experience ease into understanding the new series.
The series also includes many elements and homages to prior Transformers series. Most conspicuously, it has many parallels to Generation 1 character designs, personalities, and major characteristics; Shockwave and Blurr are even voiced by the same voice actors as their G1 analogues. Beast Wars gets nods in the form of the inclusion of new versions/homages of Blackarachnia and Waspinator, plus the overall plot structure: The main war is over, the good guys won, but now a small team of heroes never meant for combat roles must go up against an upstart cell of villains led by a charismatic rogue. At BotCon 2009, Cartoon Network representatives confirmed longstanding fan rumors that the end of season 3 marked the series finale — meaning it had in fact already ended with no prior acknowledgment or explanation.