The Fallen

This article is a featured article, and considered to be one of the most informative on this wiki.

This article is about the scary powerful Judas-bot. For the first episode of Cybertron, see Fallen (episode).

The Fallen is an ancient mechanoid in the Generation 1 and live-action film series continuity families.

File:TheFallen ROTF-AdaptationComic.jpg

Not even the comic panel can contain him!

The true name of The Fallen is lost to the mists of time. He was one of the original Cybertronians, a brotherhood of vastly powerful beings dedicated to the well-being of their world. But The Fallen would gain his moniker by turning against his brothers and his purpose to pursue his own ends. This avarice gained him only imprisonment in another dimension, where he waits with eternal patience for the chance to unleash his dark powers once again. In the meantime, he has been able to make contact with willing servants among the Transformers and issue orders to hasten his return.

Like his brothers, The Fallen is a multiversal singularity, meaning that in all of the vast multiverse, there is only one incarnation of him. But he has appeared in different universes, and in each one, his goal and history are described with a unique flavor.

Did we mention that he is also on fire?

Fiction

Origins

As explained in more detail below, The Fallen has been given different origin stories that may be at odds with each other. His Generation 1 portrayal, wrapped in the Primus/Unicron mythology, presents him as having been created by Primus to oversee the orderly process of entropy throughout the universe. Fascinated by the idea of cosmic destruction, The Fallen fell under the sway of the ultimate destroyer, Unicron, and he tried to help his new master by sabotaging Primus's bodily form, Cybertron. This failed, and when Unicron lost the battle against Primus, both he and The Fallen were banished to another dimension. From then on, The Fallen craved only the release of his master and the ultimate death of the universe.

This cosmology is reinforced by The Fallen's brief Unicron Trilogy appearance, where he is seen among the other 13 original Transformers, some of whom are known to have also survived to the present day.

However, his Revenge of the Fallen portrayal lacks the Primus/Unicron element; the only creative power is the All Spark, a far more impersonal entity. The Fallen and his fellow "Primes," who were not actually "Transformers" per se, had one mission: to recharge the All Spark by siphoning solar energy. The Fallen's crimes were that he wanted all of that energy for himself, and he was willing to sacrifice an inhabited world (Earth) to do it. His brother Primes did stop him, but at the cost of their own lives. Despite (or perhaps because of) their deaths, they were able to imprison The Fallen in another dimension, from whence he plots and schemes his escape.

So, while similar in form, The Fallen's stories disagree in many details. The Revenge of the Fallen universe is still being fleshed out, so perhaps future information will clarify the questionable areas.

Generation 1 continuity family

Dreamwave continuity

Comics

Hey, The Fallen, ever heard of Tums?

Approximately 7 million years ago, Optimus Prime and Megatron were lost in a space bridge accident. This accident weakened the barrier between reality and the dimension in which The Fallen was trapped, allowing The Fallen to eventually break free and return to Cybertron.

Ah, you know it's funny, these people, they go to sleep, they think everything's fine, everything's good... They wake up the next day and they're on fire.

The Fallen immediately set about initiating the "Unbinding", an event which required four particular Transformers, who would function as "angles in the geometry of dissolution". To help him round up the required Transformers, the Fallen recruited a trio of Decepticon outcasts, Bludgeon, Mindwipe, and Bugly, who hungered for a command of the occult. The Fallen promised them all manner of dark powers in exchange for serving him. Leading his three followers to a hidden room within Cybertron, he named Grimlock as the first of the angles to be gathered. Fragmentation

The Fallen and company proceeded to construct a strange machine within the Well of All Sparks in preparation for the Unbinding. Unfortunately, Bludgeon and friends got impatient for more than The Fallen's praise and demanded a more tangible reward: the arcane power he had promised them. The Fallen responded by grabbing Bludgeon’s head and giving him a mere glimpse of what he sought: images of a fiery vortex, demonic faces, stabbing swords and a human skull engulfed Bludgeon. The Fallen stated that this was but a peek inside a dark door he would fully open if they served him well. This left Bludgeon suitably inspired to begin hunting down their targets.

Someone should tell Grimlock this more often.

Bugly and Mindwipe leaked information to draw the Protectobots out into combat with Devastator, while Bludgeon hatched a plot to snare both Grimlock andJetfire. Escalation Bludgeon, Bugly, and Mindwipe ambushed Jetfire as he attempted a cross-faction meeting with Shockwave. When Grimlock crashed the party earlier than they expected, however, The Fallen himself had to intervene and caught Grimlock’s blazing energo-sword in his bare hand. Revelation

Grimlock took one punch from The Fallen yet still got back up, so The Fallen grabbed him by the shoulders and unleashed a huge blast of energy that put the Dinobot leader out cold. He dragged Grimlock and Jetfire away and commanded his followers to gather the third angle while he handled the fourth. The Fallen singlehandedly abducted Blitzwing from his well-guarded holding cell in Autobot headquarters, shrugging off attacks by some of the Autobots' best warriors and causing their weapons to corrode away into uselessness with a mere gesture. Bludgeon's team, meanwhile, succeeded in acquiring Hot Spot from the Protectobots.

The Fallen somehow sets himself more on fire.

All four angles were strapped to the device in the Well of All Sparks. Launching into full B-movie villain mode, The Fallen theatrically monologued to the awakening Jetfire that they were casualties in the war of the Gods, and would be used to break the Seal of Primus, after which "all chaos will follow". Confrontation

The Fallen continued his villainous monologue, apparently directing it not at Jetfire but at Primus himself, as the four Transformers' unique sparks were drained to unlock the Seal of Primus. A combined army of forces from several factions defeated the Chaos Trinity and penetrated The Fallen's operation, while Jetfire arranged a force-field to contain the energy of Primus. The God of Light himself was subsequently roused from his slumber; with a gesture of his radiant hand, he engulfed his wayward creation in a torrent of searing energy that was then sucked back into the Seal of Primus. Conflagration

DK Transformers: The Ultimate Guide book

When Primus and Unicron first battled as planets, Primus created the first 13 Transformers to assist him in planet mode. Unicron was able to corrupt one of those 13, who then tried to sabotage his creator's body. This attempt ended in failure, and "The Fallen" fled to his master, but there was little refuge to be found: They were both sucked into a black hole. Transformers: The Ultimate Guide

Toy bio

The Fallen's original purpose as one of the 13 was to oversee entropy, the orderly dissolution of all things in preparation for the next creation. But the concept of destruction fascinated him too much, and he lost sight of the goal of rebirth and the necessity of restraint. His investigations into the dark sciences led him to Unicron, to whom he gave himself. He now seeks only to destroy the Seal of Primus and unleash his master, yearning to see the last star finally die and all creation come to an end.

Unicron Trilogy

Fun Publications Cybertron comic

Back, and to the left.

Vector Prime's reminiscences of his mission and history included standing with his fellow 13 original Transformers, The Fallen's silhouette visible in their ranks. Vector Prime: In the Beginning

This story and comments by Hasbro copy-writer Forest Lee are the basis of the notion that The Fallen, Vector Prime, and the other original 13 are singular entities with no duplicates throughout the multiverse. This was reiterated at BotCon 2009, even in the face of the upcoming Revenge of the Fallen movie. Brave men these Hasbro writers be!

Live-action film continuity family

Plot details for Revenge of the Fallen (franchise) follow. Spoilers have expired, you may remove this tag

IDW Revenge of the Fallen comics

Look familiar?

According to what The Fallen told Megatron as part of the latter's recruitment, The Fallen and his brothers were the first creations of the All Spark. The planet that would become Cybertron was mostly barren, but as the All Spark gradually shaped Cybertron around them and gave The Fallen and his brothers power beyond measure, the All Spark became depleted. They learned that the its power could be replenished by harvesting the energy of stars, but they were unable to locate new stars to suit their purposes, despite their amazing ability to travel between dimensions using triangular "sarcophagi."

A breakthrough came when the All Spark created for them workers that had a power of their own: They could change their forms! Some, called "seekers," could even change into interstellar crafts that could locate suns for them. But as the workers built a harvester on Earth to gather this solar energy, The Fallen wondered evil thoughts. What if only one harvested the energy? What if the power was his alone?

The Fallen betrayed his brothers. To erase their existence, he destroyed their sarcophagi, in which their life forces were stored. But this drained him of almost all his energy, and while he was weak, the brothers he thought he had killed... acted. They sacrificed themselves to trap him in a fiery dimension within his own sarcophagus, while the harvester on Earth was covered by the natives with a pyramid. Defiance issue 4

All right, who changed the thermostat!?

Knowledge of this was lost through the ages, and eons later, a mysterious pylon was found buried on Cybertron by modern-day Transformers and delivered to Megatron's private quarters. Unbeknownst to them all, this was the sarcophagus of The Fallen, and upon activation, it healed the grievously-wounded Cybertronian military leader and established contact between him and its prisoner. Filled with a new resolve to destroy those who sought out the All Spark, Megatron's optics were tinted red by the encounter. Defiance issue 2 In the aftermath of Megatron's ruthless battle against a band of aliens seeking the All Spark, The Fallen further counseled him to seize control of Cybertron to make way for The Fallen's return. He also told him that Optimus sought the All Spark for himself, and Megatron immediately decided that Optimus and his followers deserved to be killed for this transgression. Defiance issue 3

But simply taking the planet would not be enough. The Fallen also ordered Megatron to build a space cruiser to seek out the Matrix, which he said was a prerequisite to his return. As the ship's construction came to an end, The Fallen told Megatron the story of his origin (recounted above) and his plans regarding the harvester on Earth. The Fallen ordered Megatron to put his sarcophagus on the ship and then stay behind to fight Optimus's forces and safeguard the All Spark. Soundwave and a majority of the Decepticon soldiers crewed the ship, which ended up crashing on some barren world under unknown circumstances.

Meanwhile on Cybertron, civil war raged between Optimus's Autobots and Megatron's Decepticons, a war which eventually led to the All Spark being launched into space. As Megatron alone pursued the hurtling cube, he picked up a distress signal from the Nemesis. He found the crashed ship and within it the still-intact sarcophagus. He once again spoke with The Fallen, who was furious that Megatron had taken this detour from his pursuit of the All Spark. He ordered him to resume the chase immediately, confident that it would guide itself to the harvester. Megatron obeyed, leaving the sarcophagus in the barren wreckage. Defiance issue 4

DK Transformers: The Movie Universe book

The 13 original Cybertronians, known as "the Primes," were dedicated to protecting all life, and as such they refused to utilize the harvester on the inhabited Earth. One of their number, however, felt no such compunctions and did battle with the other 12 as he prepared to harvest the planet's sun. In the end, he slaughtered all of his brethren, but they were still able to imprison him in a pocket dimension and save the Earth. In the process, his appearance had changed to a terrifying, cage-like exostructure burning with chaotic energies from the universe's creation, forces that had purged him of all morality. He disowned his old name in favor of "The Fallen", which he found in keeping with his new form. While effectively harmless to the universe outside his prison, his powers remained vast: He could generate space bridges spontaneously, as well as focus his energies into discrete blasts that could unmake creation itself. Were he ever able to escape, he would be a supremely powerful danger. Transformers: The Movie Universe

Revenge of the Fallen movie

File:ROTFteaser2 firerobot.jpg

Touch-DOWN!!!

Some time later, he presumably gets out of that sarcophagus and makes it to Earth. He is so going to get revenge, you betcha. Revenge of the Fallen

Further information in this article is coming soon as it pertains to information that may not yet have been officially released. See Help:Coming soon for policy on the matter, and do not add further information unless the relevant material has been officially released. To the person who added this tag: Please give a "fair game" date with |when=

Revenge of the Fallen: The Game

Voice actor: James Arnold Taylor

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Toys

Hey, Stegmutt! Mister The Fallen is ON FIRE!

Titanium Series

• Fallen (6-inch Cybertron Heroes, 2007)
  • Accessories: Display stand

Instead of being based on his comic appearance, the Fallen toy is loosely based on Don Figueroa's design for pre-Earth Megatron as seen in Infiltration and Stormbringer, though obviously with The Fallen's head and deco. He transforms into a Cybertronic tank. Sadly his tank form doesn't hold together well, nor does he have actual hands, just blocks with holes in them. His side-mounted cannons can peg into his forearms in robot mode, or be held in his fists. He wears a faction symbol of his own effigy. So far, The Fallen is, by a fraction of an inch, the tallest (and the bulkiest) of the 6" Titanium Series figures.

• More information on The Fallen at TFU.info

Revenge of the Fallen

Legends Class

File:ROTFtoy-TheFallenLegends.jpg

*high-pitched helium voice* "I am the Faaallllleeeen!"

• The Fallen (Legends class, 2009)

Part of wave 3 of the Revenge of the Fallen Legends Class toys, The Fallen transforms from robot mode to Cybertronian Destroyer mode.

Voyager Class

Smokin'!

• The Fallen (Voyager class, 2009)

Part of wave two of Revenge of the Fallen Voyager Class figures, The Fallen transforms from a robot into a "Cybertronian Destroyer" mode. The robot mode features several "slide-out energy absorption panels" on his head and arms which can either be deployed or hidden. In addition to that Mech Alive feature, his feet are spring-actioned so that when the toy is not standing on a surface (or in other words, in jet mode), the toes ball up together. Setting the robot back down on a flat surface will splay the toes open again.

There are rubbery connectors that attach his arms to his torso that increase accuracy to his visual portrayal in the live-action film, but this restricts his arm movement severely.

CAUTION: HOT

• The Fallen (Voyager class, 2009)

A Target-exclusive redeco of The Fallen in a black and translucent orange colour scheme, both a homage to the Fallen's original appearance in the Generation 1 continuity, and to presumably to show him being "on fire".

Robot Replicas

Yes! We come from France!

• The Fallen (Robot Replica, 2009)

This nonconvertible figurine of The Fallen boasts several points of articulation, a faithful replication of the robot mode, and little else.

Merchandise

7-11 Slurpee straw topper

Great Transformers tie-in merchandise or the greatest Transformers tie-in merchandise?

• The Fallen

The Fallen will help you uncreate your Slurpee with this Slurpee straw topper figurine! Comes attached to a straw in a baggie and is available at your local 7-11 while supplies last!

Notes

I'm The Fallen, and I can't get up!

• The Fallen design was created by Pat Lee, his first (and only) original Transformers character. (Simon Furman created the concept, see next item.) The early design concept not only lacked The Fallen's characteristic mouthplate, but differed incredibly from the final product. Envisioned as a medieval, ancient-looking Transformer, he glowed like a furnace, though he was not depicted as being perpetually on fire until Andrew Wildman penciled his appearances in The Dark Ages and the colorists caught on.

• The Fallen was also used to recycle some of Simon Furman's unused Last Autobot plans.[1]

• When questioned about him constantly being aflame, War Within writer Simon Furman stated that The Fallen is always on fire "because it looks cool".

The Judasmobile.

• The Fallen's altmode, a tank, though designed, was never used in-fiction.

• Very little of The Fallen's backstory was given in his first fictional appearances, leaving much of The Dark Ages somewhat confusing on its own. Helpful inserts from the More Than Meets the Eye profile books and DK's Transformers: The Ultimate Guide, published around the same time, spelled out more. Eventually, the packaging profile printed on his Titanium figure gave the rest. Oh, and then years later, he was the titular villain of a summer blockbuster film.

• The proper treatment of his name, with its capital-T "The", is established both in the comics and the Ultimate Guide. The one dissenting source is his on-package bio, which simply calls him "Fallen" (as in, "Fallen forgot his real name long ago"). The reason for this awkward treatment is unknown, though the usual culprits behind toy-name oddities are trademark issues.

• The Fallen can speak Spanish. "Estoy en fuego!"

• During San Diego Comic-Con 2008, in an interview on July 25th, Simon Furman claimed that Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen would feature a character called the Fallen, which was a character they created for Dreamwave's The War Within: The Dark Ages. Three days later, IDW Publishing writer Chris Mowry corroborated the claim in an interview with MTV Splash Page, calling "The Fallen" the main villain of the film. Less than a week after this, however, Michael Bay reiterated that everything leaked thus far is part of their misinformation campaign and that only a handful of people involved with the production of Revenge have seen the script, contradicting IDW's interviews where their representatives confirm that they have the script. Curiously, on August 5th 2008, after a fan posted on Michael Bay's forum pointing out the contradiction, all references to The Fallen were removed from the aforementioned interviews, as well as any references to IDW Publishing having the script.

• In Titan Transformers Comic Aftermath Part 2, the newly-ascendant President of the United States is named Theodore F. Allen. It remains to be seen if the wordplay has any significance beyond the fact that he is under Decepticon mind-control.