Onyx Prime

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This subject of this article goes by multiple names that apply to other articles as well. See Onyx, Onyx Primal.

Move over, Predaking!

Of the Thirteen, Onyx Prime, the "Lord of Beasts", is the most spiritually-minded of their number, in tune with both the creatures of the natural world and the intangible realm of the spirit. He alone has the ability to properly use the three-faced Triptych Mask given to him by Primus; this artifact allows him to cast his spirit across vast distances to commune with the dreams of far-off beings, or even track the journey of a Spark across the afterlife. Though some view these strange mental voyages across distant realms as mere flights of fancy, Onyx and his visions make him one of the most inspirational Primes. Onyx Prime was originally a multiversal singularity who existed as one being across all space and time, but that is no longer the case.

Onyx Prime's spiritual aptitude allowed him to cultivate an inscrutable presence that made him appear mysterious and slightly intimidating at the best of times, even to the other members of the Thirteen. In spite of his powers, Onyx Prime is a kind-hearted and friendly individual at Spark, a trait that made him one of the most liked members of the Thirteen. Indeed, all of his siblings treated him as a fiercely loyal companion and a steadfast confidant—Micronus Prime, in particular, once regarded Onyx as his closest friend. As the first Transformer to possess a beast mode, those Transformers who revere him as the greatest of the Primes tend to eschew the vehicular alternate modes of other Transformers, preferring to wear the animalistic forms exemplified by their spiritual progenitor.

Fiction

Aligned continuity family

The Covenant of Primus

Onyx Prime was the eighth member of the Thirteen produced by Primus, to serve as his children and warriors against his opposite, Unicron. As one of the mid-level Thirteen spawned between the opposing warriors Prima and Megatronus, Onyx Prime had a more balanced and elemental quality. He was a fierce warrior and fought valiantly in the battle with Unicron, but also had a spiritual side that intrigued some of his fellows while flummoxing others. He was very close to Solus Prime (often to Megatronus's chagrin) and was perhaps best friends with Micronus Prime.

The death of Solus Prime hit Onyx harder than any other member of the Primes. It was Onyx who discovered her body in her workshop, and the cry he let loose chilled Alpha Trion to his very oil. He had to be physically restrained by Vector Prime's power after finding Solus, and held in that position to prevent him from seeking vengeance on Megatronus himself. When the division between Megatronus and Liege Maximo came to a head, all the remained Thirteen warred with one another in a battle lust that was divorced from all possible reason. When they regained their senses, the Thirteen found Maximo dead and Onyx Prime gravely injured.

As Megatronus declared himself "The Fallen" forevermore and exiled himself from Cybertron, the Thirteen questioned what to do next. Solus Prime's body had melted down to the core of Cybertron, creating a font of life that could potentially produce new Cybertronians. As his dying act, Onyx Prime volunteered to catalyze the process, journeying down into this Well of All Sparks with the power of his Triptych Mask reorganizing the thirteen patterns of the Thirteen into an endless variety of new Cybertronians. They believed the power of Primus would preserve Onyx Prime at the core forevermore, keeping him from the death awaiting his injuries. Quintus Prime, Alchemist Prime, and Amalgamous Prime each contributed some of their power and skills to this experiment as well, ensuring its success. In the end, Optimus Prime and Micronus Prime chose to journey down into the Well with Onyx. Optimus intended to be reincarnated among the new sparks, allowing him to live among them and learn from them. Micronus could not bear to be parted from Onyx, and chose to exile himself to the core with his mortally wounded friend as well.

The experiment was a success, and the Well of All Sparks soon erupted with an endless array of new lifeforms, brought into existence by Onyx Prime and the power of his brothers and sisters. The Predacons of the Age of Evolution certainly drew strongly from Onyx's pattern, as did the other beastformers that followed in their wake over time. The Covenant of Primus

Prime cartoon

According to legend, at the beginning of time, Unicron and Primus battled each other for eons, with neither side remaining victorious for long. Till, that is, Primus created the Thirteen. These Thirteen defeated Unicron and cast him into space. One Shall Rise, Part 1

IDW Generation 1 continuity

In the barbaric age following the departure of the Knights of Cybertron, Onyx Prime was a warlord who ruled over one of the Thirteen Tribes in what would one day become the city of Kalis. The Crucible Unlike his fellow Primes, Onyx had no respect for the myths of Primus or the Guiding Hand, preferring to make history through his own deeds. Origin Myths Onyx Prime also owned the mysterious Talisman, a powerful artifact of unknown origin. The Iron Klaw

When a conquering army of Darklanders swept the primitive world, Onyx and his tribe encountered the Liege Maximo, a fellow leader who had lost his kingdom to the hordes of warriors. The two Primes travelled to the fledgling Crystal City to warn the alliance of Primes — Alchemist, Vector, Solus, Nexus, and Alpha Trion — of the coming danger. Onyx hoped that the Primes and their subjects could all work as one, but, if not, he and his army of beasts would fight the Darklanders alone. When Alpha Trion imparted on him the idea that myths and stories could inspire others to do great deeds, the bestial Prime came to appreciate the power that they held.

Onyx and his tribe trained the humble farmers and laborers in Crystal City in the ways of war, but there was little time to prepare before the Darklanders arrived. As the battle ground on, however, the ground beneath Cybetrtron shook and disgorged three Titans: Metroplex, Metrotitan, and Chela. The sight of the ancient warriors drew the entire battle to a halt, providing Onyx Prime with the opening to slice through the Darklander's ranks and confront their leader... who turned out to be Megatronus, an old friend of his. The two armies made peace shortly afterwards, and that night the eight united Primes agreed to work together to unify their world. Having come to appreciate the values of stories, Onyx began spreading false tales of his own: inspiring the perpetually-drunk Alchemist Prime with stories of a "Chosen One," and designing a sigil for their new alliance, allegedly based on the face of Primus himself. Alpha Trion was less than convinced by Onyx's manipulative tales, worrying that he was beginning to blur the lines between stories and lies.

The eight united leaders were later joined by the remaining five Primes from across the planet, forging the original Thirteen Primes. Origin Myths In this period of peace and prosperity, the Thirteen jointly ruled Cybertron, each possessing a Titan of their own. Onyx forged an alliance with Chela, who became known as the "Talon of Onyx Prime." Windblade vol. 2 #6 This brief era of peace came to an end ten million years ago, when tensions between the tribes erupted following the murder of Solus Prime. Onyx and his tribe of beast mode Transformers were dragged into the First Cybertronian Civil War, pitting the tribes and their leaders against each other. Heavy The Crucible According to Sentinel Prime, Onyx and the Liege Maximo were both "betrayed" by Onyx's closest friend, Micronus Prime. White Heat Crisis Intervention

One way or another, Onyx Prime eventually allied with Nexus Prime, and together they used the Enigma of Combination to create an army of Headmasters: combiners of beasts and 'humanoid' Transformers. Galvatron found this unification disgusting, and eventually killed Nexus, his Headmasters, and those under his command in the twilight of the conflict. The Crucible The Mind Bomb The death of Nexus prompted the Titan Master Infinitus to defect to Onyx. White Heat

Even so, Nexus' passing had proved that the Thirteen were as mortal as any other Cybertronian, provoking most of them into leaving Cybertron. Those members of his tribe who stayed behind continued to fight on in his name, which ended in their subjugation under Nova Prime's growing school of functionist doctrine. The Crucible

According to the inhabitants of the Cybertronian colony world Eukaris, Onyx Prime left Cybertron aboard his personal Titan, the colossal Chela. By seven million years ago, he had settled an uninhabited jungle world, using Chela's hot spot to create a new civilization of beastformers who could live free of the stigma that surrounded beast modes. Windblade vol. 2 #6 Crisis Intervention As his last command, Onyx ordered his Titan to defend the newly-christened Eukaris from all "standard-formers" by any means necessary. By the modern day, Onyx had disappeared. The planet's inhabitants continued to venerate him, and Blackarachnia the Fate Spinner claimed to be his prophet. Windblade vol. 2 #6

Despite Nexus' passing, Onyx knew that Galvatron would be unable to destroy the Enigma of Combination. Helden Approximately 20,000 years ago, he sent the Axalon under the command of Domitius Major to find the relic. For as of yet undisclosed reasons, he entrusted the Talisman to the crew. In spite of his extensive mental conditioning, Centurion remembered Onyx as "his master." Strange Visitors

When the crew failed to return, Onyx sent the Titan Master Sovereign to Earth to find the artifact, and summon the Prime when he had found it. Helden

Friendship is magic.

Another account states that Onyx had fled to a distant and uninhabited planet, the location of which was later discovered by Shockwave. As with the other Primes, Shockwave sent one of his Regenesis ores to Onyx's hiding place. The Crucible Sovereign, clad in a human disguise and conditioned with false memories, remembered a childhood visit from a "black angel" who showed him a world of rust and infinite darkness. Lagrange

At some point, Onyx Prime appeared on the colony world of Caminus, where he and an army of beasts terrorized the inhabitants of Parvus Oppidum. Though the Torchbearers were called to investage, Onyx Prime and his army felled their leader Praesidia Magna and dragged her body into a singularity under Onyx's control. Torchbearer Pyra, who had survived a close encounter with the Prime himself, began experiencing nightmares of her old commander, trapped on the dead, rust-stricken world of Antilla, and Onyx Prime reciting an ancient Camien poem. It wasn't until Pyra Magna realized that if Onyx had fled when the opportunity presented itself, then he could not be infalliable; bolstered by this knowledge, she and a new team of Torchbearers privately began preparing for his return. Ghost Stories

When the Republic of Cybertron made contact with Eukaris in 2015, the presence of Windblade and Starscream on the planet was enough to provoke Chela, who rose to carry out his master's final command. It wasn't enough, however; Starscream killed the Titan, allowing Eukaris and its inhabitants to join the Council of Worlds. Windblade vol. 2 #6

In his final battle with Optimus Prime, Galvatron warned his nemesis that Onyx Prime was on his way to Earth to retrieve the Enigma, and would soon arrive. No Fair Fights When Infinitus and Sovereign made their presence known, Infinitus proclaimed that the Titan Masters were the "harbingers of [Onyx's] return". Though Optimus and Soundwave were given pause to consider what Galvatron had said about Onyx Prime, they were confident they could best the ancient Prime. White Heat

After being captured by the Iron Klaw and hooked into a replica of the Talisman, Blackrock dreamt of Onyx Prime standing over his divided selves, reciting the same Camien poem. This vision caused him to realize that there was a connection between the Talisman and his former master. The Iron Klaw While hacking into I.R.O.N.'s systems, Blackrock found what Onyx had done to Centurion and declared his former master would have to go through him to get Earth. Blackrock was able to use the fact that both were pawns of Onyx to convince Centurion to stand down. Strange Visitors

Fun Publications

Vector Prime fondly remembered the time he spent with his siblings, including Onyx Prime, who Vector noted to be in tune with nature and especially the organic. Ask Vector Prime, 2015/06/14 Vector also noted that both Liege and Onyx utilized female holomatter avatars when interacting with humans. Onyx's avatar inspired/co-opted the myth of Artemis. Ask Vector Prime, 2015/07/20 Vector Prime also noted that there were universal streams where Onyx went by the name Onyx Convoy. Ask Vector Prime, 2015/06/24

When Nexus Prime united the Terminus Blade and Star Saber with the intent of thickening the walls between realities to prevent dimensional travel, Onyx Prime and the other members of the "multiversal singularity" incarnation of the Thirteen gathered to witness this momentous event. When Nexus brought the blades together, Onyx and the Thirteen ceased to exist as singularities and were splintered into multiple different incarnations across the multiverse. Out of the One, Many

The individual Thirteen were not identified on-panel in "Out of the One, Many", but an orange, winged, vaguely bird-like Transformer depicted in the comic was possibly Onyx.

Notes

• Origin Myths gives Onyx Prime a radically different body from his other appearances, depicting him with a satyr-like lower body instead of his traditional centaur-like appearance. Given that Onyx has a different blue color scheme for this issue, maybe this is meant to be on purpose and we're seeing him in an earlier form, but it's easy to believe that this physical attribute could have been accidentally overlooked by the artists.