The Great Shutdown (also known as The Big Shutdown) is an event from the G1 Dreamwave continuity.

Taking place approximately 1205 vorns after the launch of the Ark, (3.5 million years before the Transformers awake on present-day Earth) the Great Shutdown marked the end of conflict on Cybertron for a staggering 46,592 vorns. During this time all known Cybertronians on the planet were in an enforced stasis lock, rendering them inoperative.

The exact reasons for the Great Shutdown remain a mystery but the basic belief is that despite attempts to conserve energy, such as Micromaster technology, Cybertron's energon completely dried up, and Transformers all across the planet simply began to shutdown as they entered a pre-programmed period of hibernation allowing Cybertron itself to heal from its grievous war wounds.

After about 36 vorns, Shockwave was reactivated and began awakening others bringing the Great Shutdown to an end.

Initially, after Cybertron's reawakening, Autobots were reluctant to trust Shockwave until key Autobots agreed to share leadership of Cybertron with him. An underground resistance movement was formed and a young Hot Rod rose to leadership of one such faction.

It wasn't until Optimus Prime's return to Cybertron that the majority of Autobots rededicated themselves to eliminating the Decepticons. War and Peace