another way to go is to say that all that happened in beast wars was supposed to happen. on an interesting note to fallow that is in the g1 cartoon the nemesis was never found. so the fact that bw megs found it, trashed it and left it for scrap fallows the origional show were the deceticons never found it. or looked for that matter because in mtmte they just built a new ship once they were on earth.

No, the Nemesis was found, just not on the bottom of the ocean. In the episode "Microbots", which I believe is in the first half of season 2, some archeologists find the Nemesis somewhere that seemed like Central America, and Megatron goes and gets the item that's inside, the Heart of Cybertron, which boosted his power tenfold. So Perceptor, Brawn, and Bumblebee shrunk down to get inside of him and dismantle it from his core so that the Autobots were no longer in a threatened position. :tftongue

dude, take into account the events of Beast Wars. although the maximals and predacons were the decendents of the autobots and decepticons, the beast wars took place when humans were barely evolved. the nemesis originally landed in the ocean, as Tarantulas proved and Megatron found out for himself. here's a quote from TRANSFORMERS FOREVER to show it:

 

While the other Maximals prepared to move the Ark Optimus entered the Nemesis and breached the bridge and battled Megatron. Megatron saw Optimus closing in on him  but was unusually silent. Megatron then said "Well come on, let's have it! The usual destiny and honor speech!" Primal merely said "Speech THIS!" and punched Megatron. Megatron returned the blow and the two fought but Megatron was winning. Dinobot 2 then showed the Maximals that an Autobot shuttle was in the Ark and Rhinox launched it toward the Nemesis. Megatron beat Optimus and ordered Dinobot 2 to fire. He refused and stated he regained his honor. Megatron slammed him aside but was beaten when Rhinox rammed the shuttle through the Nemesis bridge tower. Nemesis' bridge was consumed in flames and the ship disappeared over the horizon as it crashed again. 

 

The ship wasn't seen again until the Original Cartoon Episode: MICROBOTS when Megatron of the Decepticons found the ship buried in the base of a pyramid in South America and took from its engines a tiny crystal called the Heart of Cybertron which was the main power source of the ship. The crystal was later destroyed by the Autobots.

 

and another thing: the G1 insecticons (Shrapnel & co.) were not in the nemesis when it crashed into the ocean. here's a quote from the Transformers On-Line Encyclopedia:

When Megatron attacked the Ark four million years ago, he left three Decepticons aboard his own ship, just in case. During the mayhem of the battle, the Decepticon ship was also sent plummeting out of control towards the Earth. Although the inhabitants got out in an escape pod, they too were damaged. Eventually, their escape pod was also able to repair them, changing their forms to match those of the surrounding insects and giving them the ability to extract energon from biomass. Unable to actually shrink to the size of insects, the three (calling themselves Insecticons) caused terror in the humans living nearby.

:pfx 1000%

So what about the other three?

I remember when beast wars ended with waspinator on earth, I thought the Insecticons were decended from him (bugs, could eat for fuel, smaller, etc), or his spare parts persay...but then beast machines killed that theory

Well, Waspinator had himself quite a following.... maybe he had more of an effect than we think.....

 

And if the Insecticons were modeled after insects, then why the heck were they so big? Bugs are small.

:pfx 1000%

So what about the other three?

if u're referring to the other insecticons (not shrapnel & co. and the clones), they were never introduced in the American G1/BW/BM continuity...

I remember when beast wars ended with waspinator on earth, I thought the Insecticons were decended from him (bugs, could eat for fuel, smaller, etc), or his spare parts persay...but then beast machines killed that theory

Well, Waspinator had himself quite a following.... maybe he had more of an effect than we think.....

 

And if the Insecticons were modeled after insects, then why the heck were they so big? Bugs are small.

i guess they were unable to do so... either they did not have the built-in transformation components Megatron and Soundwave use to shrink to the size of a real gun/tape recorder, or the insecticons did have them, but the components were damaged beyond repair...

See, I always figured the insecticons got their forms from very ancient bugs.. you know, the gargauntuain (spelling) ones that you see in history books.. I'm not sure if they match the time frame, but you gotta keep in mind.. an 80s cartoon isn't the most scientifically correct form of media out there.. don't get me going about towering robots turning into tapedecks.. but I thought of them as prehistoric bugs that roamed the swamps at the time when the pod reformatted them. Basically an early form of beast wars.. =P

See, I always figured the insecticons got their forms from very ancient bugs.. you know, the gargauntuain (spelling) ones that you see in history books.. I'm not sure if they match the time frame, but you gotta keep in mind.. an 80s cartoon isn't the most scientifically correct form of media out there.. don't get me going about towering robots turning into tapedecks.. but I thought of them as prehistoric bugs that roamed the swamps at the time when the pod reformatted them. Basically an early form of beast wars.. =P

ok...

 

these giant insects died out way before the age of the dinosaurs. the ark and nemesis landed on earth after the dinosaurs became extinct, and the beast wars took place shortly after that.

 

and i don't seem to recall reading about grasshoppers (kickback's present day alt mode) being present in prehistoric ages...

Big Robots make Big insects.

Waspinator wasnt small either. He was the same size of Terrorsaur's beast mode. That's a big wasp or a very small datel.

Waspinator wast small either. He was the same size of Terrorsaur's beast mode. That's a big wasp or a very small datel.

Yeah the beast modes weren't to scale with the real animal all the time. Hence Rattrap, for example. And Rampage, and Depthcharge, and BA, and Tarantulas, etc.