Is Transformers: Rise of the Beasts a sequel to Bumblebee? Really, the eighth Transformers movie simultaneously functions as a franchise reboot, sequel, and prequel. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts of course follows the production of Michael Bay's quintet of Transformer movies, varied in success, and a lone Travis Knight Bumblebee franchise adaptation that served more as a spinoff than a direct ode to Bay.

This is very much a new direction for the franchise, as Rise of the Beast's cast of characters and storyline softly disrupt familiar Transformer's continuity in key ways. Along with a pivotal regression in the setting of time, Rise of the Beasts also resets the recognizable Transformers concept to include Hasbro's Beast Wars narrative - an era in the whole of the Transformers franchise that depicted confrontation between animal Transformers. And crucially, Rise of the Beasts' function as a Transformer's reboot, sequel, and prequel...