(merged the two review/discussion topics)

So now that several people have seen the first 13 episodes, has there actually been anything within the episodes that has specifically mentioned or referred to something in TFPrime?
Like, we have Optimus as a ghost, but do they actually refer to how he died, so that it clearly links this series to TFPrime?
Do the characters that were in TFPrime (Bumblebee, Optimus, Grimlock) actually behave the same, or are too different to be the same characters?

With so many new characters, and only three (so far) from TFPrime, I just haven't been hearing or seeing anything significant that makes this series a follow-on from the TFPrime cartoon... other than press releases telling us that it is. So far the episode descriptions and comments make this sound more like a stand-alone universe that shouldn't be shoe-horned into TFPrime.

Beast Machines was a clear follow-on from Beast Wars, while Energon and Cybertron were each including characters or plot elements from their preceding series even though the Japanese versions had "Cybertron" a separate universe. This one just doesn't feel like it would be a follow-on series if Hasbro marketing didn't claim it was just to help sell it to retailers and consumers.