Artifacts of the Primes
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In their heyday, the Thirteen original Transformers wielded many powerful weapons and tools. These relics, collectively known as the Artifacts of the Primes, operate on a level far beyond even the most advanced Cybertronian science—they can bend time and space, alter gravity and mass, imbue inorganic matter with life, or even rewrite the fundamental laws of the universe.
Many Cybertronian legends attribute the existence of these artifacts to Solus Prime, the smith of the Thirteen. According to some accounts, others were bestowed upon the Thirteen by Primus himself at the moment of their creation; a few were crafted or claimed by individual Primes over the course of their many adventures.
Long after the heyday of the Thirteen and the subsequent fall of the Primes, most of these relics are now considered the stuff of legends, but legends have a way of turning up again...
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Fiction
[edit]Aligned continuity family
[edit]The Artifacts of the Primes were forged by Solus Prime for usage in the upcoming battle against Unicron. They did little to deter to the Chaos Bringer before Optimus Prime exposed his own spark to Unicron's anti-spark, knocking both beings into stasis lock. In the aftermath, Quintus Prime used the Emberstone to revive Optimus while Vector Prime used the Blades of Time to form a time-loop around Unicron so as to lock him in stasis forevermore. Template:Storylink The more potent of these artifacts would only activate in the hands of Primes. Template:Storylink Template:Storylink
When the Rust Plague struck the Cybertronian colonies, the inhabitants of Neutronia fled their world. With the Space Bridges destroyed, they drifted aimlessly in space, eventually finding the Transformation Cog of Amalgamous Prime in the orbit of a black hole. When they brought the artifact aboard their ships, the artifact's energies caused them to mutate into the Mutacons. Template:Storylink
During the Age of Rust, Alpha Trion received the Badge of Vector Prime from Vector Sigma, which would later be given to Sentinel Zeta Prime in the hope that it would drive him into action. Template:Storylink.
When war broke out on Cybertron, Alpha Trion launched several Artifacts of the Primes into space and onto the planet Earth, for Optimus Prime to eventually make use of. Template:Storylink Template:Storylink The database containing the coordinates of these relics was raided from the Hall of Records by the Decepticons in the final days of the Great War, but they were unable to break the encryption. Template:Storylink
When the Ark launched, Alpha Trion indulged in fantasies of Optimus returning to Cybertron with the AllSpark and the other lost artifacts of his brothers. Template:Storylink During their voyage, the Ark crew came across several of Cybertron's long lost colony worlds and found the fragments of the Cyber Caliber which eventually led to Nexus Prime reforming on Junkion. Simultaneously, Junkion itself was discovered to have formed around the gravitational pull of the Requiem Blaster, which was then stolen by the Star Seekers and affixed to the Tidal Wave. Template:Storylink In a later space battle against the more agile Nemesis, the pirates were forced to detach the Requiem Blaster after it threatened to overheat and destroy their vessel. Template:Storylink
Unknown years later, Optimus Prime and Megatron discovered Alpha Trion's work, with Megatron managing to claim the Forge of Solus Prime only to discover he could not access its power. Template:Storylink After Optimus Prime acquired the Star Saber, Template:Storylink Megatron took drastic action and stole the arm of the deceased Liege Maximo to access the Forge. Via the Star Saber, Optimus learned of the Omega Keys and their potential to revive Cybertron via the Omega Lock. Template:Storylink Upon Starscream rejoining the Decepticons, via gifting the Omega Keys to Megatron, Template:Storylink Dreadwing gifted the Forge of Solus Prime to the Autobots, who used it to upgrade their GroundBridge into a Space Bridge. Template:Storylink When Megatron threatened to use the Omega Lock to cyberform Earth, Optimus destroyed it with the Star Saber. In retaliation, Megatron destroyed Autobot Outpost Omega One, wounding Optimus Prime Template:Storylink to the point of death before Smokescreen used what little power remained in the Forge of Solus Prime to revive him. Template:Storylink In the aftermath, Ultra Magnus claimed the Forge as a standard war hammer, Template:Storylink before it was shattered by Predaking. Template:Storylink
Discovering an alternate method to synthesizing cyber-matter, the Decepticons began rebuilding the Omega Lock. Template:Storylink Once completed, they attempted to use it to cyberform Earth once again only for the Autobots to claim the device and instead use it to revive Cybertron. Template:Storylink
Shattered Glass
[edit]As Ultra Mammoth and Ultra Magnus dueled on the dimensionally-displaced "Classicsverse" Earth, each boasted of possessing an Artifact of the Primes, evil Magnus with the Terminus Blade and good Mammoth with the Origin Matrix. When Magnus tried to stab his heroic counterpart in the spark, the Blade suddenly reacted with the Matrix, Template:Storylink recharging the Blade. Soon afterwards, Nexus Prime arrived to take custody of the Star Saber and the Terminus Blade. Template:Storylink
2005 IDW continuity
[edit]Some of these legendary artifacts, such as the Matrix of Leadership and the Enigma of Combination, predated the rise of the Thirteen. Template:Storylink Template:Storylink Following the unification of the Thirteen, Solus Prime forged the Star Saber. Template:Storylink Some believed these artifacts to be magical in nature while others thought them merely the products of advanced science. Template:Storylink Template:Storylink In truth, these artifacts were, according to Alpha Trion, more akin to "metaphors made real" with their universe bending powers being beyond the comprehension of modern Cybertronian science. Template:Storylink
Following the conclusion of the First Cybertronian Civil War, the warrior Galvatron launched the Enigma of Combination off Cybertron, with it eventually crash landing on Earth. Template:Storylink The only artifact that was known to remain on Cybertron in the era that preceded the Great War was the Matrix of Leadership. Template:Storylink
Circa 2012, Alpha Trion deduced the location of the Enigma and set out to retrieve it. Template:Storylink In the process, he sparked a three-way race for it, with Scoop eventually bringing it to Starscream. Template:Storylink
Though the religious symbolism regarding the Primal artifacts had lessened on Cybertron, they remained venerated on the colony worlds, Caminus in particular. Victorion eventually questioned Optimus Prime on what the Matrix of Leadership meant to him. Prime revealed he saw it as nothing more than a piece of technology. Template:Storylink
Before departing Cybertron in 2011, Optimus Prime split the Matrix in two, giving half to Rodimus and half to Bumblebee. Rodimus's half of the Matrix was destroyed when he used it to counteract the effects of Tyrest's universal killswitch, while the other half was consumed by a black hole shortly before Unicron's apocalyptic attack thanks to Shockwave's machinations. Template:Storylink Template:Storylink As part of the plan to defeat the Chaos Bringer, Soundwave harnessed the full power of the Enigma of Combination and used it to connect to the Afterspark. Though he was successful, the strain turned both him and the Enigma to dust. Template:Storylink
Prime Wars Trilogy cartoons
[edit]In addition to the Matrix of Leadership, several artifacts were crafted by Solus Prime to help battle against Unicron, such as the Enigma of Combination and the Requiem Blaster. Template:Storylink When Solus was accidentally killed by the Blaster, it was sealed away in Primal Swamp. Template:Storylink Eons later, the Enigma of Combination caused the outbreak of the Combiner Wars, while the Matrix proved instrumental in stopping a rampaging Trypticon. These were ultimately revealed to be part of a grand plan by Megatronus, which ended with him obtaining the Enigma and Matrix for his own. Template:Storylink He later regained the Requiem Blaster, intent on combining the three into a device capable of draining the life from all Transformers and resurrecting Solus. Template:Storylink However, these artifacts were removed from the device by a team of heroes before they could complete this task. Template:Storylink
2019 IDW Continuity
[edit]Counting fourteen in total, Template:Storylink the Artifacts of the Primes were said to be forged by Solus Prime and were thought lost after the Age of Primes came to an end, save for the Matrix of Leadership. Template:Storylink While some Cybertronians regarded the artifacts as Cybertron's greatest power and glories, others doubted their grandiose history. Template:Storylink
Noted scholar Termagax was an avid study of the artifacts, and was the one who instructed the Constructicons on the history of the Enigma of Combination when they stumbled onto it beneath Rivets Field. Template:Storylink Termagax personally doubted the existence of the Thirteen themselves, suspecting that they had been dreamt up to explain where the artifacts had come from. Template:Storylink
After the signing of the Nominus Edict, the fact the Autobot-led senate wouldn't search for the other missing artifacts was one of many points of contention that led to Termagax secluding herself from Cybertronian society. Template:Storylink
In her partnership with Thunderwing, the amoral scientist Airachnid began a project to recreate the artifacts within the asteroid colony of Hexagon. When confronted by Scattershot's team of technical specialists, Airachnid briefly monologued about the project before a battle accidentally sent the five Autobots plummeting into the Combination Core, an artificial Enigma of Combination, from which they emerged as Computron. Template:Storylink
EarthSpark cartoon
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In the era of the Thirteen, one of their number, Liege Maximo, went rogue and sought to turn Cybertron into the centre of a galactic empire with other planets as sources of energon. To accomplish this, he needed the artifacts of his siblings to reshape Cybertron. Defeated by his siblings, he was banished to a lightless void. Template:Storylink
When the Great War broke out on Cybertron, laborer Orion Pax was granted the Matrix of Leadership, ascending to become Optimus Prime. Template:Storylink
Quintus Prime's Emberstone eventually wound up on Earth beneath the land that would one day become Witwicky, Pennsylvania. Template:Storylink
In the modern era, after the Autobots and Decepticons had come to Earth, the human siblings Robby and Mo Malto fell into the Emberstone's cave. After knocking it off its pedestal, the siblings replaced the Emberstone, causing it to activate, creating Twitch and Thrash from a pool of water and bestowing cyber-sleeves upon the humans to guide the newborn Terrans. Template:Storylink
When Optimus Prime was informed how the Terrans had come into being, he recognized the Emberstone's powers from legend, having the Terrans and Maltos retrieve it for him. After he explained its capabilities, the relic was teleported out his hand by Skywarp. After it had been returned to the Maltos, Optimus ordered them to retreat and protect it. Falling back to the cave, the family, outnumbered by Arachnamechs, appealed to Quintus for aid. Heeding their call, the Emberstone created Hashtag, Jawbreaker and Nightshade before Nova Storm's missile barrage caused a cave-in. In the subsequent chaos, Mo lost her hold on the Emberstone, sending it flying into the pool. Template:Storylink
When explaining the power of the Primes to the Malto family, Optimus Prime showed them the Matrix of Leadership and briefly mentioned the artifacts of the other Primes. Template:Storylink
The Emberstone was eventually retrieved by G.H.O.S.T. but eventually came to be digitized and stored in the cyber-sleeves of the Malto siblings. Template:Storylink
Eventually managing to escape his prison, Liege Maximo began to hunt down the other members of the Thirteen, slaying them one by one and claiming their artifact, accumulating them all save the Emberstone and the Matrix of Leadership. Returning to Cybertron, Maximo found the AllSpark, poisoning it with one his Liegian Darts to win the loyalty of those Cybertronians still active on the planet. Template:Storylink When the space bridge to Earth reopened, Maximo sent Hot Rod to retrieve the Emberstone, granting him a Liegian Dart that could reconstitute it from the cyber-sleeves. Template:Storylink
Using the Emberstone and the Enigma of Combination, Maximo was able to start his plan only for the Decepticons to abandon him when his abuse of the AllSpark was discovered. To try and regain Breakdown as a minion, Liege unleashed the Blades of Time but instead struck Bumblebee. After Maximo had struck Megatron with the Blades, he shot the former Decepticon with the Requiem Blaster before Maximo himself was banished back to his prison. Template:Storylink
One film
[edit]The Primes wielded various weapons during their war against the Quintessons, such as Amalgamous Prime's Scythe. The Matrix of Leadership was held by Zeta Prime until his death at the hands of his aide, Sentinel Prime. The Matrix rejected Sentinel and disappeared, causing Cybertron's energon supply to dry up. Fifty cycles later, Primus deemed Orion Pax worthy of the Matrix, transforming him into Optimus Prime. Template:Storylink
Age of the Primes marketing material
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Games
[edit]Transformers: Devastation
[edit]The Star Saber and Forge of Solus Prime were the melee weapons the Autobots could find in their quest to stop Megatron. The Star Saber could be wielded by any Autobot, while only Optimus Prime and Grimlock were strong enough to wield the Forge. Template:Storylink
Transformers Roleplaying Game
[edit]The Forge of Solus Prime was powered by the "Flame of Solus Prime", a supernatural force of energy equivalent to a collapsing neutron star. Some Cybertronians believed that Solus Prime used her Forge to smith the various artifacts of the Thirteen, including the Matrix of Leadership and the Enigma of Combination, while others believed she wielded it as a weapon in the battle against Unicron.
The Enigma was said to have no set physical appearance, and exposure to it could modify the transformation cogs of Cybertronians into "C-State" cogs, which allow them to combine with others. Template:Storylink
Transformers: Earth Wars
[edit]According to the Covenant of Primus, the Artifacts are indestructible, Template:Storylink and any three of them can form an ultra-powerful Trinity. Template:Storylink The Thirteen appointed the warrior Sentius Nobilius as the guardian of their Artifacts, granting him his own weapon, the Sword of Balance, for the task. Sentius was betrayed by one of the Primes, who turned his own sword against him to cleave him in two, creating the Relic Guardian of Light, Sentius Magnus, and the Relic Guardian of Darkness, Sentius Malus. Both resumed their duties in their own ways, with the strict Magnus only allowing heroes of the present day to "check out" his charges under the most dire of circumstances, while Malus took glee in passing out the relics to the most dangerous agents of change he could find and watching the fireworks that ensued. Template:Storylink Template:Storylink
Gameplay
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Transformers: Galactic Trials
[edit]The Proton Spear was one of the Artifacts of the Primes that Nemesis Prime attempted to steal, and which the Autobots and Decepticons engaged in races to claim. Template:Charstubgames
Toys
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Timelines
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Combiner Wars
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Power of the Primes
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Age of the Primes
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- Age of the Primes features the first full-scale set of figures of the Thirteen, each possessing at least one of their signature artifacts, marked with a tampograph of the respective Prime's personal insignia. While included with their Prime figures, Prima's Matrix, Micronus's Apex Armor mech suit, and Amalgamous's Scythe are not called out as Artifacts on the packaging and are not marked with insignias.
- Hasbro Age of the Primes design lead Mark Maher has hinted that all of the Artifacts of the Primes from this toyline can be combined into a single object of major significance, though he has yet to reveal what that object actually is or how to create it, presumably waiting on the full announcement of an also-teased Vector Prime to complete the set.<ref>Template:Citesocial</ref>