Thirteen: Difference between revisions
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*'''[[Alpha Trion (G1)|Alpha Trion]]''' - the chronicler of Cybertronian history, and the last known member of the Thirteen to be active after the First Cybertronian Civil War between the Thirteen and their tribes. | *'''[[Alpha Trion (G1)|Alpha Trion]]''' - the chronicler of Cybertronian history, and the last known member of the Thirteen to be active after the First Cybertronian Civil War between the Thirteen and their tribes. | ||
*'''[[Alchemist Prime]]''' - a member of the Thirteen who supposedly dreamt up the idea of the "Chosen One" after consuming twelve drams of rancid Engex. | *'''[[Alchemist Prime]]''' - a member of the Thirteen who supposedly dreamt up the idea of the "Chosen One" after consuming twelve drams of rancid Engex. | ||
*'''[[Micronus Prime]]''' - who fled Cybertron in his colony ship to eventually settle on [[Earth]], only to further retreat into a dimension of his own creation, [[Microspace]]. | |||
The remaining tribal leaders' names are '''[[Vector Prime]]''', '''[[Amalgamous Prime]]''', and '''[[Quintus Prime]]'''. The true name of the final Prime is unknown; they are referred to only as '''The Arisen''' by the religion of Caminus. | |||
===Other members=== | ===Other members=== | ||
Revision as of 00:12, 5 February 2017
| This article is about the group of ancient Transformers. For the comic series that might never be published, see Transformers: The Thirteen{{#switch:{{#sub:Transformers: The Thirteen|-1}} | != | .= | ?= | .
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The Thirteen are the first Transformers created by Primus. Rightfully huge and powerful, each was designated a Prime,<ref>A Hasbro Q&A response would later try to alter this. See Notes above.</ref> and given unique roles and natures to battle Primus's ancient foe Unicron.
Conceptual history
The concept of the Thirteen has only been around for about a third of the Transformers brand's thirty-year history, and the slow drip-feeding of information that characterized the early stages of their story was not been presented in a very linear manner. The development of the concept is described in this section to minimize confusion; for details of their history and actions in specific bits of fiction, see below.
The very earliest seeds of the Thirteen can probably be found in material produced by 3H Productions for BotCon, most notably 2000's "Covenant". This story introduces the undeniably similar concept of the Covenant, a group of twelve zodiac-themed robots who are the first creations of Primus, created as a test-run for the Transformer race. Despite the basic similarity between the Covenant and the Thirteen, though, the two groups were not connected until 2015, and those same stories by 3H would ultimately contradict the later lore of the Thirteen by introducing Primon, a Matrix-bearer who preceded Prima, which should not be possible. (That 2015 connection was an October entry for "Ask Vector Prime", which flagged up that nobody in-universe knew if the Covenant had a link to the Thirteen and that they may just be stories the Thirteen tell themselves.)
It was in the pages of 2004's Transformers: The Ultimate Guide that the mysterious "Thirteen Original Transformers" were first spoken of, and their basic origin was laid down: they were the first Transformers created by Primus to battle Unicron, and their number included Prima, the first Matrix-bearer from the Marvel Comics series and The Fallen, an enigmatic servant of Unicron from Dreamwave Productions' 2003 comic, War Within: The Dark Ages. The book also noted that if Alignment had been published, the Liege Maximo, an ancient evil Cybertronian from the Generation 2 comics, would have been counted among them as well (retroactively, of course, since Alignment predated the idea of the Thirteen). The book also contained a passing mention that the enigmatic manager of Maccadam's Old Oil House, a Cybertronian pub introduced in the UK Generation 1 Marvel Comics, was rumored to be one of the Thirteen (though it also admits that this could be a fabrication by the pub's drunken patrons). Not surprisingly, it was the creator of all four of these characters, Simon Furman, who both wrote the guide and conceived the idea of the Thirteen.<ref>Simon Furman panel, BotCon 2012</ref> While it was Furman who also created the Covenant, it is not yet known whether or not he was deliberately drawing upon his old idea when he introduced the Thirteen in this book.
The concept of the Thirteen quietly bubbled under for the next year, until another element was added with the introduction of Vector Prime in 2005's Cybertron series. Although presented merely as a very ancient Autobot in the original Japanese version of the Cybertron cartoon, Hasbro envisioned him as one of the Thirteen, and writer Forest Lee made this explicit in the first story produced for the Transformers Collectors' Club. This story also introduced the idea that all of the Thirteen were Primes, and that each had a specific function or purpose; Vector Prime's was stewardship of time, while a 2007 bio written for The Fallen's Titanium Series toy would later reveal he was the overseer of entropy. Between these two releases, in 2006, the short Japanese text story Beast Wars Reborn introduced Logos Prime; as a Japanese creation, his status among the Thirteen would be in question for years.
While it was not immediately apparent, Hasbro had put a plan in motion for the Thirteen with the Collectors' Club comic: across the next five years, five separate robots were introduced who were gradually revealed to be components of a combiner, Nexus Prime, who was one of the Thirteen. During this five-year span, the subject of the Thirteen often came up at BotCon Q&A sessions, during which the idea of them being multiversal singularities solidified—a concept which purported that across all the different universal streams, only one incarnation of each of the Thirteen existed, moving between worlds. This idea would later be canonized with the pages of Fun Publications' comics.
Also during this time, current Transformers comic license holders IDW Publishing spoke often of a potential comic book mini-series about the Thirteen to be written by Simon Furman, but this was eventually nixed, with Furman noting in 2009 that this was because it had "become more of a Hasbro thing than an IDW thing."<ref>Furman talks about the Thirteen in an interview on DeviantArt</ref> Hasbro's desire to control and fully conceptualize the story of the Thirteen was further made evident when, after Fun Publications' Nexus Prime story concluded in the same year, they effectively took "custody" of the character as part of their future plans. This control, however, was evidently not all-encompassing: also in 2009, The Fallen made a surprising appearance as the titular villain of the second-live action Transformers film, Revenge of the Fallen, where he was a member not of a group of thirteen, but only seven Primes. Hasbro's October 2009 online Q&A retroactively justified this by explaining that while all the Thirteen were Primes, only seven actually had the word "Prime" in their names.
Eventually, in 2010, the grand scope of the new Aligned continuity family became the "delivery method" for Hasbro's long-percolating tale of the Thirteen. However, the "Aligned" continuity was also established to not be part of the multiverse in which all preceding Transformers fiction took place, which until then had lain the groundwork for the Thirteen. As such, the new information introduced by the Aligned continuity was only true for that continuity, and even chose to ignore or overrule some previous pieces of the story that had been revealed in "Multiverse" stories—The Fallen was given a much more tragic origin story that involved no connection to Unicron, Logos Prime was not included in the ranks of the "Aligned Thirteen", and Alpha Trion was named as a member of the Aligned group. From 2010 to 2013, various pieces of Aligned media—including the novels Transformers: Exodus and Transformers: Exiles, the Transformers: Prime cartoon, and the prose work Transformers: The Covenant of Primus—detailed in full the complete roster and history of the Thirteen in the Aligned Continuity, including many brand-new characters and events, which can all be read about further down this article.
In 2014, things got a little complicated when Robots in Disguise #34 introduced the Thirteen into IDW Publishing's Generation 1 continuity...except that the Thirteen involved in the story were not the "Multiverse Thirteen", but a version of the "Aligned Thirteen", with a backstory that did not match either incarnation. Over the course of the next year, the Q&A feature Ask Vector Prime worked to explain this, revealing that non-singularity versions of the Thirteen also exist within the multiverse, and that the "Aligned Thirteen" were one such example. The feature also revealed the remaining members of the "Multiverse Thirteen", which included a mixture of the new characters from the Aligned version of the group, and other characters drawn from Transformers history. The completion of the roster was done as a "last hurrah" for the singularity version of the Thirteen—in 2015, the Collectors' Club comic storyline Another Light saw the Thirteen's existence as multiversal singularities nullified. Freed from the complex bounds of this concept, the story of the Thirteen is now free to be told any way, in any continuity, with membership freely able to differ across universes.
Members
Because of their complicated fictional natures and conceptual histories, TFWiki.Net opts to break our standard rules a little and give most members of the group a single article that covers all different versions of that character, as opposed to separate articles (G1, Unicron Trilogy, Movie, etc...) for each incarnation. That's why the lists below group the characters by roster, but the individual links all lead to the same place.
Multiverse
Prior to Another Light, the Thirteen were considered multiversal singularities, but Another Light brought that concept to an end. The members of this original group of singularities were:
- Prima - The first Matrix-bearer and first Transformer born from Cybertron, the leader of the Thirteen.<ref>Sentinel Prime was one of a dynasty of Primes, stretching back to the original 13 Transformers and their leader, Prima. — Transformers: The Ultimate Guide (2005) 1st ed p15, "Sentinel Prime"</ref> He wielded the Star Saber, a mighty blade capable of unparalleled destruction.
- Vector Prime - The guardian of space and time, who spent most of his life outside of reality, observing it and occasionally stepping in to help.
- Megatronus - Formerly the guardian of entropy, whose name was stricken from history when he betrayed his brothers and became a Herald of Unicron under the new name "The Fallen".<ref>Transformers: The Ultimate Guide</ref>
- Nexus Prime - The first combiner and the guardian of Rarified Energon.
- Logos Prime - An enigmatic figure who, operating in the present day under the new name Soundblaster, sought to pass on his incredible powers over time and space to an heir.
- Micronus Prime - The progenitor of the Mini-Cons.<ref>Rook - Axiom Nexus News: Investigative Journalist</ref>
- Liege Maximo - A legendary schemer.<ref name="askvectorprime">Ask Vector Prime on Facebook</ref>
- Solus Prime - A renowned smith who wielded a powerful Forge.<ref name="askvectorprime" />
- Epistemus - Renowned for his unconventional intellect.<ref name="askvectorprime" />
- Autonomous Maximus - A lonely sentinel who renounced his name, becoming simply known as the Last Autobot.<ref name="askvectorprime" />
- Solomus - A gentle and kind individual.<ref name="askvectorprime" />
- Onyx Prime - In-tune with nature and the organic.<ref name="askvectorprime" />
- Alchemist Prime - Rumored to have established a bar on modern Cybertron, seeking to provide a respite from endless war.<ref name="askvectorprime" />
Aligned
The "Aligned Thirteen" were initially separate from the singularities as a result of their universal cluster being separate from the multiverse. When the dividing membrane was pierced, they slowly began merging with their "Multiverse Thirteen" counterparts, but Another Light undid any merging that happened.
- Prima - The leader of the Thirteen, a warrior of light who wielded the Star Saber.
- Vector Prime - The master of time and space, which he could manipulate through his Blades of Time.
- Alpha Trion - Holder of the Quill, which he uses to record the past, present, and future of Cybertron in the Covenant of Primus in his role as recordskeeper of the Primes.
- Solus Prime - The master artificer and creator of many of the Primes' weapons through use of her incredible Forge. She was the first female Cybertronian.
- Micronus Prime - The conscience of the Thirteen, and the first Mini-Con, able to link up with and enhance the power of his siblings through the use of his Chimera Stone.
- Alchemist Prime - Student of the elemental structure of the natural world, aided in this by his Lenses, which allowed him to see further and deeper than anyone, in both material and spiritual senses. Co-founder of Cybertronian civilization with Alpha Trion.
- Nexus Prime - The first and greatest combiner, granted the ability to divide himself into separate forms by his Enigma of Combination. Unpredictable, fascinated by change, and a lighthearted prankster.
- Onyx Prime - The first beast-form Cybertronian, a primitive and spiritual being able to view other times, places, souls, and even the afterlife through his three-faced Triptych Mask.
- Amalgamous Prime - The joker of the Thirteen and the first Shifter, unpredictable and easygoing. He was first Cybertronian with the ability of transformation, granted him by his Transformation cog, which became the basis for the cogs in all subsequent Transformer life.
- Quintus Prime - A daydreamer and perfectionist whose drive to express his ideas led him to become a scientist. His artifact was the Emberstone, which gave him the ability to create life; the Quintessons were among his creations.
- Liege Maximo - The manipulator. Though his artifact was notionally the toxin-loaded Liegian Darts, his real skill was his ability to talk others into his way of thinking—a black art that ultimately caused the downfall of the Thirteen.
- Megatronus - The warrior of darkness, Prima's opposite number, whose role as the necessary counterbalance set him apart from his fellow Primes. His artifact was the Requiem Blaster, created for him by Solus; this act began a doomed romance between the two that led to his turning on his brothers and becoming known as The Fallen.
- Optimus Prime - The mediator of the Primes, who united the Thirteen by being the first among them to raise an arm in greeting. He would subsequently be reincarnated as Orion Pax.
IDW
The IDW version of the Thirteen is almost entirely based on the Aligned version. If the splintering of the singularity versions of the Thirteen is thought of as functioning retroactively, it may serve as an explanation for why IDW's non-singularity versions of the Thirteen appeared to exist concurrently with them.
- Prima - leader of Nova Major's tribe on ancient Cybertron, who was betrayed by Megatronus, leading to the First Cybertronian Civil War between the Thirteen and their tribes.
- Megatronus - leader of Galvatron's tribe on ancient Cybertron, who conspired with the Liege Maximo to start a war between the Thirteen and their tribes. His name had been stricken from history on both Cybertron and Caminus, and he is known in their records only as The Fallen.
- Nexus Prime - leader of the ancient Headmasters and owner of the Enigma of Combination, who blamed Megatronus for the war between the tribes. He was killed by Galvatron.
- Onyx Prime - leader of a tribe of bestial Transformers, including Rhinox.
- Solus Prime - a female smith member of the Thirteen, who was betrayed by Megatronus, leading to the First Cybertronian Civil War between the Thirteen and their tribes.
- Liege Maximo - conspired with Megatronus to start a war between the Thirteen and their tribes.
- Alpha Trion - the chronicler of Cybertronian history, and the last known member of the Thirteen to be active after the First Cybertronian Civil War between the Thirteen and their tribes.
- Alchemist Prime - a member of the Thirteen who supposedly dreamt up the idea of the "Chosen One" after consuming twelve drams of rancid Engex.
- Micronus Prime - who fled Cybertron in his colony ship to eventually settle on Earth, only to further retreat into a dimension of his own creation, Microspace.
The remaining tribal leaders' names are Vector Prime, Amalgamous Prime, and Quintus Prime. The true name of the final Prime is unknown; they are referred to only as The Arisen by the religion of Caminus.
Other members
Following the splintering of the Thirteen, any possible number of incarnations of the group could be introduced in future stories, with any Transformer, new or old, conceivably depicted as a member of the group in their specific universe. Thus far, only two new members have been named: Ask Vector Prime specified that in at least one universe, Mortilus and Adaptus were part of the pantheon.
Fiction
Dreamwave Generation One continuity
The Fallen was thwarted in his attempt to sabotage Primus's physical form, and the Thirteen allegedly died after casting the Fallen and his master Unicron through a black hole into another dimension. In truth, the Fallen was imprisoned in another dimension, while Alpha Trion kept watch over the Transformers in the Well of All Sparks and Primus entered his eternal sleep to hide from Unicron. Transformers: The Ultimate Guide
After Optimus Prime and Megatron were lost in a space bridge explosion, the Fallen was free from his prison in underspace, and returned to Cybertron. He immediately set about trying to undo the Seal of Primus that locked the Well of All Sparks. However, upon his success, the Fallen was promptly destroyed by his reawoken creator. Transformers: War Within: The Dark Ages
In the present day, Jetfire discovered that Shockwave had broken the Seal for his cloning experiments. The Fallen's essence escaped and corrupted Sunstorm, and following his death, passed into Jetfire. This corruption caused Jetfire to be plagued by many visions, among them The Fallen beating down his brethren in an ancient battle. The Enemy Within
Fun Publications
Vector Prime aided the Autobots in finding the Cyber Planet Keys to close the Unicron Singularity. He regularly reported their progress to Alpha Trion, but during one visit Unicron's servants Ramjet and Nemesis Prime attacked. Balancing Act Skyfall came to Cybertron looking for clues to his past, only to be attacked by Dark Scorponok, Balancing Act, Part 2 but his forcefield protected him. Ramjet offered him clues to his past in exchange for his soul service. Balancing Act, Part 3 They went to Primus's spark core to destroy him with the Dead Matrix, but Vector and Sentinel Maximus fought back. Balancing Act, Part 4 Ramjet said he would stop trying to kill Primus if Vector aided them in restoring the balance by resurrecting Unicron, but he refused. Balancing Act, Pt 5 Skyfall tried to save Ramjet but his forcefield only ignited an explosion that killed Ramjet. Revelations Part 1 Vector had drones repair Skyfall and found Omega Prime—the creation of one of Trion's Viron counterparts—had helped Sentinel defeated Nemesis. Omega's presence saddened Vector, as it confirmed the multiverse was falling apart, and he left for Earth. Revelations Part 2
Skyfall was helping Sentinel repair Vector Sigma, when Over-Run informed him he had found a twenty-million-cycle-old carving of him and another bot. Revelations Part 4 Immediately during a battle between Mini-Con Autobots and Decepticons, Skyfall found Landquake. Revelations Part 5 The two seemingly vanished when Unicron attacked, Revelations Part 6 when they had been transported to Breakaway's universe, Crossing Over, Part 1 and the trio and went through a space bridge Crossing Over: Part 6 to find Topspin in Axiom Nexus. Cheetor and Silverbolt introduced the trio to Alpha Trion. However, Shockwave had Breakaway quietly subdued and taken to his laboratory. Transcendent: Part 1 Skyfall and Landquake realized Breakaway was gone, but Alpha Trion told them to come with him if they wanted to rescue their brother from the evil TransTechs. Transcendent: Part 2 He explained he was not from this dimension and was part of a resistance movement, introducing them to Topspin, whose job was to transfer their lowtech followers' sparks into their TransTech counterparts. Realizing Topspin was one of their kin, Skyfall and Landquake agreed to help. Transcendent: Part 3 Nightscream found Breakaway was being held near the portal to Alpha Trion's dimension, Transcendent: Part 4 and his acolytes attacked, rescuing Breakaway Transcendent: Part 5 and entering the transwarp device. Alpha Trion explained to Skyfall he was the key to the reunification, and killed him as they entered his universe. Transcendent: Part 6
"Holy crap!"
"It's perfect!"
"This is the best thing!"
Despite his claim his was a peaceful world, Alpha Trion shot Downshift, and Breakaway realized Skyfall had been killed by an energy blade rather than shot from behind as the old Autobot claimed. Alpha Trion's troops arrived, took the four components and he proclaimed he would kill them all—as reunification still worked with one of them dead—and that his reign would begin. Reunification: Part 1 Landquake manipulated the raw energon and used smokebombs to escape, with Topspin and Breakaway carrying Skyfall. Weeks later, after trying unsuccessfully to revive Skyfall, Reunification: Part 2 the Quintesson Aquarius appeared to take them to Megatron. Reunification: Part 3 Landquake explained their situation to the Decepticons, and Megatron asked Cyclonus to bring Heatwave, but then Cyclonus, revealing himself to be an agent of Alpha Trion, assassinated Megatron. Reunification: Part 4 Breakaway suggested they use their powers to revive Megatron, and found themselves in a white space with Skyfall and Primus. They made their choice: Nexus Prime was reborn. Reunification: Part 5 Nexus resurrected Megatron as Galvatron and defeated Omega Doom. Reunification: Part 6 Using Galvatron's gift of the stellar spanner, Nexus and Aquarius began dimension-hopping to find the shards of the artifact he had been entrusted with, so he could complete his memories. While Nexus outlined the artifact's background to Aquarius, the faces of Vector Prime and The Fallen flashed through his mind. The Coming Storm: Part 1
The TransTechs knew the Mini-Cons to be the children of Micronus Prime Rook - Axiom Nexus News, 2015/05/09 and early on in their history were threatened with an ultimately failed coup led by Jhiaxus, a follower of the Liege Maximo. Rook - Axiom Nexus News, 2015/05/06
When the TransTechs detected significant multiversal chaos resulting from negative polarity Primax Autobots crossing over into a mirror universe, they suspected that Rarified Energon was somehow involved. Rhinox was also aware of (correct) rumors that the Thirteen were involved with Rarified Energon. Invasion Prologue As part of their response to the multiversal chaos, the TransTechs deployed Depth Charge to prehistoric Shatteredverse Earth in order to keep the Origin Matrix out of evil hands. Invasion: Epilogue
After several unspecified adventures, Aquarius ended up in Axiom Nexus and took charge of a shard of the Star Saber from a courier. In exchange, he promised to help her get home. Transformers I.Q. last issue review To their surprise, however, they ended up on Shatteredverse Cybertron. It soon became obvious that Nexus had transported them there in order to receive the Origin Matrix, the fifth and final piece, from Ultra Magnus, recently retrieved from prehistoric Shatteredverse Earth. Transformers I.Q. trivia bonus #12 Falling into Place
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Beast Wars Reborn
The Ancients (エンシェント Enshento) were the original clan of Transformers created by Primus before he became Cybertron, and possessed extraordinary powers over space and time. One of them, Logos Prime, lost sight of his objective and memory of him faded away. Planetfall He would return under the name of Soundblaster, abducting Optimus Primal and Megatron so he could apparently appoint Megatron as his successor. Vector Prime was sent by Primus to stop the plot and was taken aback when confronted with his fellow Ancient who he thought lost. Master of the Game While Vector Prime and what remained of Logos Prime fought on the astral plane, Soundblaster revealed the Zeonomicon, the key to his power, and had Optimus and Megatron hunt it down on Animatron to decide who would inherit his power. Planetfall
Live-action film series
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The Primes were the guardians of the AllSpark, charged with replenishing it. They commanded Seekers and workers to find stars and replenish the AllSpark with their energy. The Fallen began seeing himself as the AllSpark's chosen one and began destroying solar systems with sentient life to replenish the Cube. His brothers warned him not to do it again, so The Fallen tried it again on Earth to lure them. Tales of the Fallen #3 The Fallen slaughtered all his brothers bar Prima himself, who gathered his brothers' lifeforce to trap The Fallen in his sarcophagus. Prima sacrificed himself to form a tomb with his brothers' bodies to hide the Matrix. Tales of the Fallen #4
A long time passed, and The Fallen was eventually dug up. From his prison, he pushed High Protector Megatron into forming the Decepticons. Defiance #2 Thousands of years later, Optimus Prime, the sole surviving descendant of the Primes to survive The Fallen's rampage, Revenge of the Fallen #3 had been killed. The Primes appeared to Sam Witwicky, giving him the Matrix to revive Optimus, and Optimus avenged The Fallen's brothers by killing him. Revenge of the Fallen
Aligned continuity family
Legend says that Primus created the Thirteen to defeat Unicron. The Thirteen succeeded, and Unicron's defeated form was cast by them into space. One Shall Rise, Part 1
Statues of the Thirteen were created at some point after they defeated Unicron. One Shall Rise, Part 3
What is known about the Primes is that their war made "enemies of brothers, murderers of lovers, heroes of the insignificant, and cowards of the mighty". Allegiances formed and broke apart: Megatronus refused to bow before his brothers, and he believed he would be vindicated someday despite his destructive methods. The murder of one sent them across the stars, to battle among themselves for billions of cycles. Finally, there came a time when Prima had to relinquish the Matrix. Afterwards, the Covenant of Primus decreed Cybertron could only have one Prime at a time.
Alpha Trion remained on Cybertron, recording these events into the Covenant, and the Primes became myths doubted by some. Alpha Trion retreated into becoming the Archivist of the Hall of Records when Sentinel Prime, the High Council, and the Guilds of Cybertron ignored his protests about the caste system. The Matrix did not bestow itself onto another until the unworthy Sentinel died, and Optimus Prime was imbued with it, while his nemesis had become known as Megatron, who like his namesake had come to destroy that he believed in. Exodus
After his death, Optimus was able to appear to Bumblebee when the Primes deemed the young bot's need was most dire. W.W.O.D.? As part of Optimus's training, Micronus challenged him to a test which resulted in him unlocking the capabilities of the Prime Decepticon Hunter. Out of Focus Though Optimus did not fully complete his training, he had six of the Primes in the Realm of the Primes send him to Earth to deal with the return of Megatronus, Battlegrounds, Part 1 which he successfully accomplished with the aid of the Bee Team. Battlegrounds, Part 2
IDW Generation 1 continuity
After the departure of the Knights of Cybertron, the remaining Transformers formed the Thirteen Tribes: each united under a separate Prime, a warrior-leader who built a distinct civilization. There was balance until Megatronus Prime, plotting with the Liege Maximo, betrayed Prima. The ensuing First Cybertronian Civil War between the tribes tore the planet apart.
Ten million years ago, Galvatron slew Nexus Prime after destroying his Headmasters...despite persistent rumors that a Prime could only be killed by another Prime. Said other Primes fled the planet for other worlds, with the exception of Alpha Trion. The war finally ended when Galvatron and Nova Major famously routed the bestial hordes of Onyx Prime and, with Trion's aid and blessing, united the tribes as one planet under Nova Prime. Only Galvatron and Trion were left aware of what had happened to the Thirteen Primes.
Well, until Shockwave learned about them and sent his ores off to where he thought the other eleven had gone...
Meanwhile, Alpha Trion simply let himself fade into the background of Cybertronian society, his true background as a Prime forgotten by the general populace. The Crucible
Solus Prime apparently departed Cybertron aboard the colony Titan Caminus, helping to found his namesake colony. In the present day, Camien society developed a single religion, the Way of Flame, which deified Primus and the Thirteen Primes, Solus chief among them. The Sum and Its Parts Similarly, Onyx Prime supposedly left Cybertron with Chela to create a society of beast mode Transformers on Eukaris. By the present day, Blackarachnia had the position of being his prophet. Windblade vol. 2 #6
Notes
- Transformers: The Ultimate Guide asserts that all of the Thirteen were destroyed in the early battle between Primus and Unicron, but the statement was disproven by the book itself, since it recounted how The Fallen was not destroyed but exiled to a transdimensional prison from which he later escaped. Fun Publications comics would later depict Vector Prime as the sole surviving member of the Thirteen, and then go on to introduce Nexus Prime as a co-survivor alongside him.
- In Hasbro Q&A on October, 2009 from The Allspark Forum, The Thirteen are referred to as "the Original Epic Warriors of Cybertron" by Hasbro.
- The notion of the Primes being originally huge is similar to early Revenge of the Fallen concepts where the Fallen dwarfed Optimus and was almost the size of a pyramid, as evident from Defiance #4 and the novelization.
- In "Primus: You, Me, and Other Revelations", James Roberts came up with a completely different creation story for IDW Publishing's Transformers, just because he can. There is still an original group of Transformers and a war caused by treachery, but in that version the traitor is another god named Mortilus. "The Crucible", by John Barber, subsequently established there existed 13 original Primes in the IDW continuity, based off the Thirteen as depicted in the Aligned continuity family. While they were indicated to not be the very first Transformers, Alpha Trion mentions they possessed a bond to Primus.
References
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