Editing Zodiac

{{faction|{{factions/icons|custom=PotP-Thirteenth.png|cSize=30px|cLink=Thirteenth Prime}}}}
{{disambig2|the all-important energy orb|help writing Transformer horoscopes|Cybertronian zodiac}}
[[File:Z01 zoodiaku.jpg|upright=1.66|thumb|It's the Magic Cyst of Archimedes!]]
The '''Zodiac''' (ゾディアック ''Zodiakku'') is a mysterious energy source, supposedly responsible for the creation of all life in the universe. It is also an [[Artifacts of the Primes|artifact]] belonging to the [[Thirteenth_Prime#Age_of_the_Primes|Thirteenth Prime]].

==Fiction==
===Japanese cartoon continuity===
====''Generations Selects Special Comic'' (1)====
The Zodiac was forged from the combined life energy of the [[Precursor World|previous reality]] when all of that universe's [[Star Power]] was ignited in the [[Silver Matrix]] to spark the [[Big Bang (event)|Big Bang]], birthing the [[G1 World|universe as we know it]]. {{storylink|Generations Selects Special Comic Finale|Finale}}

====''Unite Warriors/Legends''====
Millenia ago, a malevolent energy being learned that the Zodiac was present on [[Earth]] and moved several stolen [[Powermaster]] bodies there to absorb residual energy from the planet's Zodiac and [[Angolmois Energy]], transforming them into [[Godmaster (lifeform)|Godmasters]]. The entity itself also absorbed this same energy, adopting the name "[[Devil Z]]odiac" to reflect the source of his powers. {{storylink|Legends Comic: Bonus Edition Vol. EX (Grand Maximus)|Bonus Edition Grand Maximus}} As [[Vector Sigma]] explained that [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] could no longer be revived without an energy source equal to the power that created the universe, the Zodiac lay waiting somewhere on Earth. {{storylink|Ruination Chapter, Part Two}}

====''Zone'' cartoon, manga, and story pages====
[[File:Violengiguar menace.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|Violengiguar steals a pieces of Zodiac encased in its heart-like inert form.]]
When the enigmatic supernatural creature [[Violengiguar]] took control of the [[Decepticon]]s, he schemed to harness the power of the Zodiac and merge it with the new super-fuel, [[Energon Z]], which the [[Autobot]]s had developed, in order to dominate the universe. Recruiting a team of [[Nine Great Demon Generals]] from throughout Decepticon history, Violengiguar dispatched his new troops to steal the Energon Z from planet [[Micro|Zone]], and to locate the Zodiac, which was hidden somewhere on [[Earth]].

[[King Poseidon]], [[Trypticon (G1)|Trypticon]], [[Devastator (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Devastator]], and [[Predaking (G1)|Predaking]] ravaged Earth in search of the Zodiac, but when they converged in Japan, they found themselves opposed by the Autobot [[Powered Master]]s, [[Dai Atlas (G1)|Dai Atlas]] and [[Sonic Bomber (G1)|Sonic Bomber]]. When Devastator broke off from the battle and headed underground, Dai Atlas gave chase, and the pair discovered the Zodiac, which had taken the form of something akin to a human heart. Although Dai Atlas was able to bury Devastator beneath a wave of lava, the Zodiac was handed off to King Poseidon, who headed back to the surface with the Autobot in hot pursuit. After a scuffle between the Autobots and Decepticons, the Zodiac wound up in Dai Atlas's hands, just as Trypticon unleashed a destructive beam of Energon Z upon the heroes. As the beam bore down on them, Dai Atlas held the Zodiac aloft, allowing the Energon Z to wash over it. With the two energies united, the true power of the Zodiac was unlocked, and it changed shape, now resembling a translucent blue sphere that contained a galaxy. Dai Atlas and Sonic Bomber were filled with Zodiac energy, and given the ability to transform into powerful new "Zone Mode" battle stations. With the firepower of their new forms, they sent the Decepticons packing. {{storylink|Enter the New Supreme Commander, Dai Atlas!}}/{{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers: Zone (manga)|Zone}}

After the failure of his generals and [[Metrotitan (G1)|Metrotitan]] to recover the Zodiac, Violengiguar took matters into his own talons and headed for Earth. Unfazed by the Powered Masters' attacks, Violengiguar seized the Zodiac {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers: Zone (story page)|Zone story page #10}} and returned to his birthplace on the [[Tenth Planet]]. The Powered Masters pursued him and managed to defeated his three insectoid forms, allowing them to reclaim the Zodiac, {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers: Zone (story page)|Zone story page #11}} but Violengiguar was not yet defeated, and revealed his true form as a flaming, phoenix-like mass of Decepticon spirits. The Powered Masters placed their hands upon the Zodiac and channeled its energy into themselves, then united into their combined form of [[Big Powered]] to destroy Violengiguar with the Zodiac-powered "Rainbow Powered Attack". With Violengiguar eliminated, the rainbow of Zodiac energy transformed the Tenth Planet into a paradise for human and Transformer alike. {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers: Zone (story page)|Zone story page #12}}

====''Legends'' comic====
Once Dai Atlas was done with the Zodiac, it was stolen by [[Topspin (G1)|Topspin]] and [[Twin Twist (G1)|Twin Twist]] who used it in conjunction with [[proton energy]] and the telepathic powers of the [[Zamojin (species)|Zamojin]] to create another universe known as the [[Legends World]]. {{storylink|Legends Comic: Bonus Edition Vol. 66|Bonus Edition Vol. 66}} After crossing over to the Legends World, [[Scourge (G1)|Scourge]] set his sights on powering up with the Zodiac. {{storylink|Legends Comic: Bonus Edition Vol. 26|Bonus Edition Vol. 26}} Somehow acquiring it, Scourge was transformed by its power into a giant two-headed monster and went on a rampage through [[Tokyo]] until [[Blaster (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Blaster]] took the energy source from him, causing its energies to transform his [[transtector]] into a new base mode that allowed him to defeat Scourge with a mighty barrage. {{storylink|Legends Comic: Bonus Edition Vol. 27|Bonus Edition Vol. 27}} [[Highbrow (G1)|Highbrow]] borrowed the Zodiac from Blaster as part of his research into the origins of the Legends World. Figuring out its relation to telepathic energy, he removed a fragment from it and fed it to [[Fortress Maximus (G1)|Fortress]], reversing the effects of his overuse of that same energy. {{storylink|Legends Comic: Bonus Edition Vol. 33|Bonus Edition Vol. 33}}

Since the Zodiac could transform a transtector into a base, [[Soundwave (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Soundblaster]] theorized that the opposite could hold true as well. He stole the power source from Blaster and, after using its energies to hold the Autobots at bay by forcing their transtectors into base modes, hurled it into the [[Dancitron]], causing the club to transform into a Soundwave transtector. {{storylink|Legends Comic: Bonus Edition Vol. 36|Bonus Edition Vol. 36}} Scourge ordered his [[Sweep (G1)|Sweeps]] to find a second Zodiac in the Legends World, but their failure to locate one prompted [[Sweep No. 5]] to surmise that there was likely only one Zodiac per universe. {{storylink|Targetmaster Chapter Prologue}} Upon returning to the Legends World to protect it from [[Windblade (G1)|Windblade]], Twin Twist retrieved the Zodiac from Soundblaster and used his mastery of its energies to change his head into a [[Headmaster (technology)|Headmaster]] and his body into a base that he used to battle Windblade. {{storylink|Legends Comic: Bonus Edition Vol. 65|Bonus Edition Vol. 65}} He then handed the Zodiac to Topspin, who also became a Headmaster before using it to restore everything Windblade had destroyed. {{storylink|Legends Comic: Bonus Edition Vol. 66|Bonus Edition Vol. 66}}{{stub|{{storylink|The Road to Legends' Revival Chapter 2}} {{storylink|The Road to Legends' Revival Chapter 5: LG-EX Big Powered Prologue Part Two|Big Powered Prologue Part Two}} {{storylink|Legends Comic: Bonus Edition Vol. EX 1 Sonic Bomber Chapter|Sonic Bomber Chapter}} {{storylink|Legends Comic: Bonus Edition Vol. EX 2 Roadfire Chapter|Roadfire Chapter}} {{storylink|Transformers Legends Final Chapter "Epiloge"|"Epiloge"}}}}

====''The Battlestars'' story pages====
[[File:PrimeZodiak.jpg|275px|thumb|Convoy prepares for his "How Many Things Can You Cram In Your Chest?" contest against Soundwave.]]
When the Decepticon [[Dark Nova]] threatened the universe, Dai Atlas formed the elite sub-group known as the [[Battlestars]] to revive [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] in the hopes that he could thwart Dark Nova. To this end, Battlestars commander [[Sky Garry (G1)|Sky Garry]] was given the Zodiac by Dai Atlas. {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers: The Battlestars (story page)|The Battlestars story page #1}}

Dark Nova beat the Battlestars to the punch, however, when he stole Prime's body and created a duplicate known as "[[False Convoy]]" which he used to attack the Autobots. {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers: The Battlestars (story page)|The Battlestars story page #3}} The Battlestars managed to defeat False Convoy and rescue Prime's lifeless corpse from Dark Nova's [[Novaroid|Great Novaroid]] forces, and Sky Garry then restored him to life by placing the Zodiac in his chest (cuz it's just that easy). The power of the Zodiac turned Optimus Prime into the even more powerful Star Convoy. {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers: The Battlestars (story page)|The Battlestars story page #4}}

====''Generations Selects Special Comic'' (2)====
In the year [[2050]], the [[Powered Master]]s succeeded in assembling all of the disparate energies of the Zodiac into a single complete vessel, only to see it congeal into the shape of a [[Silver Matrix]]. {{storylink|Abominus comic 2}}

===2005 IDW continuity===
In some strange parallel reality, where the Autobots were on the verge of losing their war with the Decepticons, [[Hound (G1)|Hound]] experimented with Zodiac energy as a replacement for their long-exhausted supply of [[energon]]. When the Decepticon [[Mirage (G1)|Mirage]] infiltrated the Autobots' base, Optimus Prime charged the invader and sent him crashing into the Zodiac energy chamber. The strange cross-dimensional properties of the Zodiac energy offered Mirage a glimpse of another universe, in which he was an Autobot... but that was all just a dream, surely? {{storylink|Spotlight: Mirage}}

===Ask Vector Prime===
In [[Primax 1086.0 Kappa]], the inhabitants of [[Micropolis]] had supposedly created Zodiac energon, which the enigmatic Bio Ranger Iga wanted. He told the disoriented [[Zarak Maximus]] that it would calm the voices in his head, but he was unable to claim it. {{storylink|Ask Vector Prime|Ask Vector Prime, 2015/06/11}}

===Swindle's Spiel===
[[Swindle, Swindle and Swindle]] claimed to have Zodiac energy for sale. {{storylink|Ask Vector Prime#Facebook|Swindle's Spiel, 2015/10/04}}

===''Age of the Primes'' marketing material===
[[Optimus Prime (G1)|Star Optimus Prime]], [[Thirteenth Prime|last]] of the [[Thirteen|Thirteen Primes]], bore the "Zodiac orb" as his [[Artifacts of the Primes|artifact]]. {{storylink|Optimus Prime (G1)/Generations toys#Age of the Primes|Star Optimus Prime product description}}

==Toys==
===''Age of the Primes''===
[[File:AOTP Zodiac.jpg|right|thumb|upright=1|Since when was I an Artifact of the Primes?<br><br>
final (left) stock photography (right)]]
<ul class="iconlist">{{Bp-pr13|'''Star Optimus Prime''' (Titan Class, [[2025]])}}</ul>
{{toydesigner|[[Mark Maher]] (Hasbro), [[Shuhei Umezu]] (TakaraTomy)}}<ref>[https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1Zhi6Y6EkU/ ''Age of the Primes'' panel] with [[Hasbro]] designer [[Mark Maher]] at [[Cybertron Con 2024]] Day 1, recorded at the "Giant Peng Peng" (巨大化鹏鹏) BilliBilli channel.</ref>
:''[[Transformers: Age of the Primes|Age of the Primes]]'' Titan Class “Star Optimus Prime” comes packaged with the Zodiac, now bearing the symbol of the Thirteenth Prime, as it serves as his artifact. It can be stored in a chamber within the figure’s chest as seen in the original ''Battlestars''.

:A different, mystery symbol prominent in ''Age of the Primes'' promotional artwork was shown in place of the symbol of the Thirteenth Prime in some stock photography.

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==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Artifacts of the Primes]]
[[Category:IDW (2005) substances]]
[[Category:Legends franchise]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Power sources]]
[[Category:Return of Convoy]]
[[Category:TransTech]]
[[Category:Unite Warriors]]
[[Category:Zone]]