Great Exodus or the Greatest Exodus?

When Cybertron proved uninhabitable after cycles of war, Optimus Prime and Megatron led most of their respective armies off-planet. The Great Exodus left their home planet a barren wasteland, though Ultra Magnus and Shockwave stayed behind to command what few Transformers remained. The Great Exodus would last until the eventual restoration of Cybertron and the end of the Great War.

Fiction

Aligned novels

After Optimus Prime removed the core's Dark Energon infection, a voice informed him that they had to leave the planet as it healed, and gave him the Matrix of Leadership. Optimus returned and initiated Project Generation One, a project that Jazz rechristened the Ark. Alpha Trion oversaw construction of the ship in the Well of All Sparks, while Optimus led a distraction by having the Aerialbots gather every available ship. The Autobots flew these ships towards the last surviving space bridge in Cybertron's orbit, drawing out Trypticon. The fleet dispersed while Optimus's crew guided the Eight Track to a blind spot on Trypticon, boarding the station and fighting through to the Spark Chamber, firing at it and causing Trypticon to crash.

As Optimus's crew returned to a completed Ark, it emerged Trypticon had survived and was heading for Iacon. Jetfire and Springer gave up a place to buy time, and soon Ultra Magnus and his Wreckers also gave up their places. Ratchet informed Prime and Magnus that Omega Supreme would also be nobly refusing a seat. Trion refused to board the Ark, explaining he would find refuge with Vector Sigma. As the Ark took off while Decepticon forces flooded Iacon, Trypticon transformed into the Nemesis. Megatron and his elite warriors boarded the ship and gave pursuit, while Shockwave took command of the Cybertronian Decepticons. The Ark and the Nemesis entered the last space bridge, but were distributed to different parts of space. Exodus

During the Exodus, the crew of the Ark would have encounters with the peoples of Velocitron and Junkion, a few members of the Thirteen, Exiles and the Quintessons. Retribution

Cartoon continuity

IDW Aligned Comics

Cybertron's conditions continued to deteriorate, and eventually, Ultra Magnus put out the call for the final evacuation of the planet. A convoy of ships escaped, but Magnus's craft was shot down, and the Wrecker leader was captured by the Forged, a faction of ex-Decepticons serving under Shockwave. Rage of the Dinobots #1 Eventually Ultra Magnus was freed, and he joined the rest of the Autobot fleet in space while the Dinobots elected to remain on Cybertron. Rage of the Dinobots #4

Prime cartoon

Alpha Trion launched Cybertronian relics located within the Iacon Hall of Records to Earth, not to keep them from the Decepticons, but to ensure that Optimus would eventually find them. Alpha/Omega

Eventually, Cybertron was deserted by both sides, the masses "[scattering] to the galaxies" when the planet went dark. Decepticons began to bait Autobot refugees with false beacons. Con Job Cybertron would eventually be restored by the Omega Lock Deadlock and the return of the AllSpark Predacons Rising.

Robots in Disguise cartoon

Cybertron was eventually fully rebuilt, once again a populous, thriving planet after the end of the Great War and the Exodus. Pilot (Part 1)

The Covenant of Primus

Following Cybertron's core being poisoned by Dark Energon, Alpha Trion scavenged whatever starships he could to evacuate the Autobots, using the chaos of it all to covertly launch powerful relics in the Vaults of Iacon to the distant planet Earth. The Covenant of Primus

Games

Transformers: War for Cybertron (Xbox 360/PS3/PC)

Little did the Autobots know that the Ark was sabotaged to fly into a volcano.

This can, in no way, backfire on us, even though the Decepticons have just taken over a massive cannon and something to power it. Right, gu- *boom*

After receiving the Matrix of Leadership from Cybertron's Dark Energon infected core, Optimus Prime ordered an evacuation of all Autobot cities. As ships began to launch, Trypticon began firing on them, Megatron contacting Optimus and Ratchet to tell them that this was punishment for their defiance. Optimus ordered Silverbolt, Jetfire and Air Raid to disable the station. Before Trypticon could locate Optimus Prime and destroy him, the airborne Autobots attacked Trypticon, damaging his transformation cog, reverting him to robot mode at which point more damage from the Aerialbots caused the Titan to fall to the planet. On the ground, Trypticon was defeated by Optimus, Ironhide and Bumblebee allowing the evacuation to continue. Afterwards, Optimus gathered his comrades and showed them the Ark under construction, and declared they would leave aboard it once Megatron was stopped. Transformers: War for Cybertron (360/PS3/PC)

Transformers: Cybertron Adventures (Wii)

Air Raid had disabled the Energon bridge that fed Trypticon's power supply, but Starscream reactivated it in time for the Exodus. Jetfire flew to disconnect the Energon relay satellites feeding the orbital weapon, and Trypticon crash landed. He battled Optimus, Ironhide and Bumblebee in robot mode before being finally defeated, but Megatron was not bothered by the loss of Trypticon, as he had removed the datacore from the beast's head... Transformers: Cybertron Adventures

Transformers: War for Cybertron (DS)

Transformers: War for Cybertron (DS)

Transformers: Fall of Cybertron (Xbox 360/PS3/PC)

Many years after Optimus Prime had given the order to evacuate Cybertron, the majority of the Autobot fleet had launched. When the last Autobot ship, the Ark, was due to launch, the Decepticons launched an assault on Iacon to claim the ship. While defending the city, Optimus Prime discovered the ancient Titan Metroplex, who swiftly turned the tide and crushed Megatron to death, Starscream ordering the Decepticons to retreat from the city. With all of the Autobots' energon now fuelling Metroplex, Jazz and Cliffjumper were sent to track down the missing Lightning Strike Coalition Force, whose desertion of their post had allowed the Decepticons to strike Iacon undetected. When the two scouts picked up on the missing unit's trail in the Sea of Rust, the found that Shockwave had set up a base around an ancient space bridge, fuelling it via an energon lake. After sabotaging Shockwave's facility, the two called in their find, the Autobots sending a large refinery transport to bring the energon back to the Iacon. The Combaticons managed to bring down the transport in transit, claiming back what energon had survived the crash. Megatron, having been covertly repaired by Soundwave, deposed Starscream, who disastrous failure of a regime had drained the Decepticons' energon supplies to the point that they had to evacuate the planet. Shockwave's studies of space bridges had led to him finding a new world, rich with energy. With Shockwave already having built a new space bridge, Megatron claimed Trypticon's inert form, transforming the Titan into the Nemesis spacecraft. Starscream's power plays resulted in the released of Grimlock who caused the space bridge to collapse, destabilizing the portal. With no other options, Metroplex sacrificed his life and energon to fuel the Ark's departure from Cybertron. The Ark subsequently engaged the Nemesis in a lengthy battle, but both ships were haphazardly sucked into the collapsing space bridge. Wherever they may have gone, the Autobots and Decepticons achieved their mission and ended the Great Exodus, leaving Cybertron a quiet, lifeless husk. Fall of Cybertron

Notes

• The term Great Exodus is given twice in 2011's Transformers Hall of Fame profiles, mentioning that Shockwave stayed behind, and Jazz went with Prime on the Ark.