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==Conceptual history==
==Conceptual history==
[[File:Fallenpatlee.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Original Dreamwave Productions concept art for the Fallen]]
[[File:Fallenpatlee.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Original Dreamwave Productions concept art for the Fallen]]
Created by writer [[Simon Furman]] as the antithesis to "[[Prima|the first named Prime]]", the Liege Maximo was introduced as the bigger bad behind [[Jhiaxus]] in the final page of ''[[Transformers: Generation 2 (Marvel)|Generation 2]]'' comics. Revealing himself as the progenitor of the Decepticons, he was set to enact his plans, only for [[w:Direct market#1990s|real world economics]] to end the G2 era with a cliffhanger. This would mark an unfortunate pattern of failed attempts and minimialized appearances to re-introduce this ancient villain.  
Created by writer [[Simon Furman]] and artist [[Geoff Senior]] as the antithesis to "[[Prima|the first named Prime]]", the Liege Maximo was introduced as the bigger bad behind [[Jhiaxus]] in the final page of ''[[Transformers: Generation 2 (Marvel)|Generation 2]]'' comics. Revealing himself as the progenitor of the Decepticons, he was set to enact his plans, only for [[w:Direct market#1990s|real world economics]] to end the G2 era with a cliffhanger.  


Simon Furman would  
Simon Furman completed his original plans for Liege Maximo in the unofficial Transformers novella [[Alignment]], which revealed Maximo's plan of using the Hub to ascend to the "realm of the gods" during the titular cosmic event. Liege Maximo would be wounded by his [[Megatron (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|progeny]], causing him to panic and start the alignment, inadverently leading to his own destruction thanks to the combined Autobot-Decepticon armada and [[Swoop (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Swoop]] in particular, ending his reign of terror. An illustration released for ''Alignment'' depicting Liege Maximo with three massive spaceships would later go to inspire his [[Artifacts of the Primes|artifact]], the Liegian Darts.


caused when speculators abandoned an overheated comic market after realising five holo-foil copies of ''[[Robot-Master (comic)|Robot-Master Extreme Force]]'' #1 wasn't actually going to be worth much. Furman says it was launched at the "wrong time", and would later reveal Jhiaxus' very name was an in-joke about how successful he thought G2 might be ("gee, axe us").
A few years after the release of ''Alignment'', the release of ''[[Transformers: The Ultimate Guide]]'' gave Furman a chance to further establish Liege Maximo's importance in the history of the Transformers, describing him as one of the the mysterious "Thirteen Original Transformers" created by Primus to battle Unicron. Furman would make two further attempts to re-introduce Liege Maximo properly into the franchise with the [[IDW Publishing]] mini-series ''[[Transformers: Beast Wars: The Revisiting]]'' - which would have ended once again with Liege Maximo being sequel bait, and ''[[Transformers: The Thirteen]]'', which would have depicted Furman's vision for the Thirteen, presumably with Liege Maximo as a member. However by the late 2000s, Hasbro began to assert more control over the lore surrounding the Thirteen, leading to both mini-series never being released, and in the latter story's case, being written. .<ref>{{citesocial|quote=The Thirteen is probably not going to happen for a while, as it’s become more of a Hasbro thing than an IDW thing, and Hasbro need to crystallise the whole concept before it can be turned into a comic book. I think and hope it will still happen, as it’s a story I’d dearly love to tell, but I have no firm grasp or when or in what form it will eventually see print.|link=http://web.archive.org/web/20110612025753/https://hombreimaginario.deviantart.com/art/Interviews-10-Simon-Furman-130246343|name=Simon Furman|site=deviantART|year=2009|month=07|day=20}}</ref>.
*In Furman's afterword, we learned colorist Sarra Mossoff apparently wasn't ''supposed'' to colour all the fiddly little idents in the word


and artist [[Pat Lee]]<ref>[[Pat Lee#Failure to give proper credit|Allegedly.]]</ref> with contributions from [[Andrew Wildman]]<ref>Namely the fire thing.</ref> and [[Don Figueroa]], the Fallen debuted in the [[2003]] [[Dreamwave Productions]] comic mini-series ''[[Transformers: War Within: The Dark Ages|War Within: The Dark Ages]]'' as a [[Herald of Unicron]]. A mysterious, fiery being from the Transformers' ancient past, he returned to Cybertron to enact the [[Unbinding]], a ritual that would alert Unicron to Primus's location. Wielding mystical, entropic abilities, he was defeated by his creator, trapping him within the [[Seal of Primus]]. Only a month after this series concluded, ''[[Transformers: The Ultimate Guide]]''—also written by Furman—was released, and filled in more details of the Fallen's backstory, established him to be one of the mysterious "Thirteen Original Transformers" created Primus to battle Unicron. According to the Guide, the Fallen betrayed his siblings by joining forces with Unicron, and the battle ended with the Fallen being sucked into a black hole until his escape, as seen in ''The Dark Ages''. A [[2007]] [[bio]] written for the Fallen's ''[[Titanium Series]]'' toy would reveal he was the overseer of entropy.<ref>[http://www.seibertron.com/transformers/toys/titanium/the-fallen/1126/2/9/ Fallen's ''Titanium Series'' on-package bio]</ref>
As Hasbro brand architect [[Aaron Archer]] developed what would eventually become the [[Aligned continuity family|Aligned]] era of the franchise, Liege Maximo was reimagined from a Lovecraftian, looming menance to the a traitorous schemer and manipulator inspired by the traditional designs of [[Marvel Comics]] antagonist Loki. The [[Production bible]] informally known as the "[[Binder of Revelation]]" would remove Liege Maximo's lineage to the Decepticons and presence in the "present day". Instead, his purpose in the narrative of the Thirteen was to cause the death of [[Solus Prime]] and the transformation of Megatronus Prime into The Fallen, who by [[2010]] had become known as the "First Decepticon" and become the more well-known villainous Prime in the franchise. The Binder describes Liege Maximo being severely damaged by [[Prima]]'s [[Star Saber (Thirteen)|Thirteen]], eventually becoming trapped in the Hub. [[2011]]'s ''[[Transformers: Exiles|Exiles]]'' would broadly touch on Liege's role in the [[War of the Primes|fall of the Primes]], and the ''[[Transformers: The Covenant of Primus|The Covenant of Primus]]'' would provide a more fleshed-out depicition of Maximo's deceptions and plans, with a [[Farm]] of beasts being introduced as part of the conflict that would conclude the [[Age of Primes]]. The ''Covenant of Primus'' would also retcon a plot point from ''[[Transformers: Prime (cartoon)|Transformers: Prime]]'', suggesting that the arm stolen by [[Megatron (WFC)|Megatron]] from the [[Liege Maximo's Tomb|tomb]] of a dead Prime was in fact Liege Maximo's, despite the different colored arms.


As various parties slowly developed the concept of the Thirteen, [[2009]] would be a significant year for the character, becoming the titular main antagonist of the [[Live-action film series]]' second film, ''[[Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen]]''. The film would establish the character's connection to Megatron, and use his Decepticon-insignia-looking face to cement him as the true originator of the Decepticons: "The First Decepticon". Despite his death in the film, online Q&A sessions with [[Hasbro]] representatives<ref>See [[Hasbro Q&A/July 2009: Answers|Hasbro Q&A/July 2009: Answer #3]] for more information.</ref> established that the Fallen and his siblings were "[[multiversal singularity|multiversal singularities]]": special entities who existed across all realities, moving between them; this provided a loophole for the Fallen to survive the events of the film.
 
The novels of the [[Aligned continuity family]] significantly fleshed out the character's backstory, relationships, and weaponry. The [[2010]] novel ''[[Transformers: Exodus|Exodus]]'' established his original name of Megatronus, further strengthening the character's connection to Megatron and the Decepticon cause. Its sequel, [[2011]]'s ''[[Transformers: Exiles|Exiles]]'', re-introduced the Requiem Blaster as the personal artifact of Megatronus, unlike the Mini-Con weapon of ''[[Transformers: Armada (cartoon)|Armada]]''. The novel would reveal that the weapon's existence became a great point of contention among the Primes, and would be the weapon that killed [[Solus Prime]], who was introduced as his love interest. Two years later, ''[[Transformers: The Covenant of Primus|The Covenant of Primus]]'' provided an alternate, less-villainous interpretation of the Fallen's backstory, exploring his tense relationship with [[Prima]], the "Warrior of Light", and how the manipulations of the silver-tongued [[Liege Maximo]] led to an accidental death of Solus Prime in the [[War of the Primes]]. This less-villainous, more tragic interpretation of the character would be largely ignored when he made his proper television debut in the [[2015]] [[Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2015 cartoon)|''Robots in Disguise'' cartoon]], which highlighted his role as the "First Decepticon".


The Fallen was introduced to IDW Publishing's [[2005 IDW continuity|long-running continuity]], being mentioned in [[The Crucible|''Robots in Disguise'' #34]], and making visual appearances in [[Heavy|''Till All Are One ''#9]], [[Origin Myths|''Optimus Prime'' #10]], and [[The Falling, Interlude: The First Who Was Named|''Optimus Prime'' #18]], albeit in flashback sequences. In this universe, Megatronus and the rest of the Thirteen were warlords of [[Thirteen Tribes]] rather than demigods.  
The Fallen was introduced to IDW Publishing's [[2005 IDW continuity|long-running continuity]], being mentioned in [[The Crucible|''Robots in Disguise'' #34]], and making visual appearances in [[Heavy|''Till All Are One ''#9]], [[Origin Myths|''Optimus Prime'' #10]], and [[The Falling, Interlude: The First Who Was Named|''Optimus Prime'' #18]], albeit in flashback sequences. In this universe, Megatronus and the rest of the Thirteen were warlords of [[Thirteen Tribes]] rather than demigods.  

Revision as of 17:13, 8 April 2026

Evil is infinite, a natural counterforce to good in the universe that can never be truly defeated. None strikes greater fear into the sparks of Transformers than the horned demon, destroyer of worlds—wait, no, that's his uncle. Still, of the Thirteen primordial deities, there is one whose planet-shaking evil was so unforgivable that—no, wait, that's his brother.

Look, the Liege Maximo is still pretty evil, okay? Either he's the Prime of pure evil—the inevitable counterpart of the goodness embodied in the first Prime, the root of all evil, his name reverberating through the ages—ooor he's the Prime of lies. He's definitely at least one of those.

And what evil plans he has! Manipulating others with his silver tongue, gathering artifacts and allies, biding his time, waiting for the planets to come into alignment. Boy are the Transformers in for it. Darts will be involved! You know—the Liegian Darts? The Liege Maximo's famous darts. Trust him, it's going to be epic.

Conceptual history

Original Dreamwave Productions concept art for the Fallen

Created by writer Simon Furman and artist Geoff Senior as the antithesis to "the first named Prime", the Liege Maximo was introduced as the bigger bad behind Jhiaxus in the final page of Generation 2 comics. Revealing himself as the progenitor of the Decepticons, he was set to enact his plans, only for real world economics to end the G2 era with a cliffhanger.

Simon Furman completed his original plans for Liege Maximo in the unofficial Transformers novella Alignment, which revealed Maximo's plan of using the Hub to ascend to the "realm of the gods" during the titular cosmic event. Liege Maximo would be wounded by his progeny, causing him to panic and start the alignment, inadverently leading to his own destruction thanks to the combined Autobot-Decepticon armada and Swoop in particular, ending his reign of terror. An illustration released for Alignment depicting Liege Maximo with three massive spaceships would later go to inspire his artifact, the Liegian Darts.

A few years after the release of Alignment, the release of Transformers: The Ultimate Guide gave Furman a chance to further establish Liege Maximo's importance in the history of the Transformers, describing him as one of the the mysterious "Thirteen Original Transformers" created by Primus to battle Unicron. Furman would make two further attempts to re-introduce Liege Maximo properly into the franchise with the IDW Publishing mini-series Transformers: Beast Wars: The Revisiting - which would have ended once again with Liege Maximo being sequel bait, and Transformers: The Thirteen, which would have depicted Furman's vision for the Thirteen, presumably with Liege Maximo as a member. However by the late 2000s, Hasbro began to assert more control over the lore surrounding the Thirteen, leading to both mini-series never being released, and in the latter story's case, being written. .[1].

As Hasbro brand architect Aaron Archer developed what would eventually become the Aligned era of the franchise, Liege Maximo was reimagined from a Lovecraftian, looming menance to the a traitorous schemer and manipulator inspired by the traditional designs of Marvel Comics antagonist Loki. The Production bible informally known as the "Binder of Revelation" would remove Liege Maximo's lineage to the Decepticons and presence in the "present day". Instead, his purpose in the narrative of the Thirteen was to cause the death of Solus Prime and the transformation of Megatronus Prime into The Fallen, who by 2010 had become known as the "First Decepticon" and become the more well-known villainous Prime in the franchise. The Binder describes Liege Maximo being severely damaged by Prima's Thirteen, eventually becoming trapped in the Hub. 2011's Exiles would broadly touch on Liege's role in the fall of the Primes, and the The Covenant of Primus would provide a more fleshed-out depicition of Maximo's deceptions and plans, with a Farm of beasts being introduced as part of the conflict that would conclude the Age of Primes. The Covenant of Primus would also retcon a plot point from Transformers: Prime, suggesting that the arm stolen by Megatron from the tomb of a dead Prime was in fact Liege Maximo's, despite the different colored arms.


The Fallen was introduced to IDW Publishing's long-running continuity, being mentioned in Robots in Disguise #34, and making visual appearances in Till All Are One #9, Optimus Prime #10, and Optimus Prime #18, albeit in flashback sequences. In this universe, Megatronus and the rest of the Thirteen were warlords of Thirteen Tribes rather than demigods.

Concurrently with IDW's continuity, the concept of multiversal singularities was nullified in the 2015 Collectors' Club comic storyline Another Light. The final episode of the Titans Return cartoon introduced an amalgamated version of the Fallen—featuring his fiery abilities of the Dreamwave incarnation and the Egyptian-crown-like head and color scheme of Revenge of the Fallen. The proceeding Power of the Primes cartoon would adapt his backstory from The Covenant of Primus, featuring the Requiem Blaster and Solus Prime prominently in flashbacks and the present-day story.

For a few years, the Fallen was absent from Transformers media, save the rare cameo appearance in the 2019 IDW continuity or mention in Cyberverse, until 2024 brought him back to relevance with the Transformers One film. The film established Megatronus Prime as the strongest and most powerful of the Primes, whose facial design was virtually identical to the Decepticon insignia, including its purple color. Unlike previous incarnations, this Megatronus remained heroic right up to his death, having never betrayed or murdered his fellow Primes. Later that year, the Age of the Primes toyline would be revealed, introducing "Megatronus the Fallen" as a Leader Class toy inspired primarily by his appearance in War Within: The Dark Ages.

Notes

I guess we know to which Energon bloodline Inferno belongs.
  • "Liege Maximo" was likely meant to be this character's title or rank, while his proper name remained unknown, but subsequent uses of the character have treated Liege Maximo as the character's name (or, in some cases, "Liege" as his name and "Maximo" as a title in the vein of "Prime"). Jhiaxus has a similar title, Liege Centuro.
  • Liege Maximo, was, at one point, established as a multiversal singularity who existed as one being throughout all of time and space, but that is no longer the case.
  • In November 2007, Simon Furman cryptically hinted that the Liege Maximo would make a return in 2008 in IDW's comics.[2] It didn't happen under his pen, however, and Liege Maximo wouldn't make his IDW debut until over 9 years later, in Till All Are One #8.
  • Liege Maximo's "Aligned" design, by Eric Siebenaler, seems to have been heavily inspired by the Marvel Comics version of Loki; fitting enough for a manipulator and liar. Contrary to what you might expect, this was not done as a response to the massive spike in popularity that Loki would get as portrayed by Tom Hiddleston in 2011's Thor; his artwork was first shown at BotCon 2010, prior to the film's Loki's design even being revealed—and, indeed, Aligned Liege Maximo seems to be based much more heavily on the classic "ugly old man" Loki than Hiddleston's youthful hunk.
  • The dead Prime seen in the Transformers: Prime episode "Alpha/Omega" is identified as Liege Maximo in The Covenant of Primus. The concurrently published Art of Prime claims that it is Sentinel Prime, but that doesn't make sense, since Sentinel is not a true Prime and, as such, his limb would not convey the power to use the Forge on Megatron. The dead Prime's arm in Prime is red-colored, which neither Sentinel nor Maximo are; it may be due to influence from the live-action Sentinel.
  • The death of Liege Maximo in the Covenant of Primus is also at odds with other stories from Aligned continuity. The Exiles novel reports that Alchemist Prime left Cybertron to hunt down and capture Liege Maximo, while the 2015 Robots in Disguise cartoon and related materials show Liege Maximo as active in the Realm of the Primes. This is one of the larger examples of Aligned continuity's "It only works if you squint" rule towards the overall timeline.
  • Behind-the-scenes concept art from Cyberverse mislabels Liege Maximo's plinth in the Realm of the Primes as "Siege Maximo". Translating the words on the plinth, however, gives the correct name.[3]
  • In 2023, Aaron Archer revealed on a personal stream several concept sketches of the Thirteen he had made sometime during the 2000s, when Hasbro was still developing the full roster for what would eventually become the Aligned continuity family.[4] At this stage in development, the Liege Maximo's design was heavily inspired by the original G2 comic design instead of being based on Loki. In a bizarre deep cut, this early concept design was used as the basis for the character's appearance in the Age of the Primes key art and other promotional images.
  • EarthSpark Liege Maximo was designed by Nick Roche.[5] One of the concept designs for his head was a much more G2-inspired look, seen in the gallery below.

Foreign names

  • Japanese: Liege Maximo (リージマキシモ Rīji Makishimo)
  • Mandarin: Maximo Dàdì (马克西莫大帝 Mǎkèxīmò Dàdì, "Maximo the Great")
  • A concept sketch created by Aaron Archer in the 2000s
    A concept sketch created by Aaron Archer in the 2000s
  • 2005 IDW comic continuity
    2005 IDW comic continuity
  • 2019 IDW continuity
    2019 IDW continuity
  • One film
    One film
  • EarthSpark cartoon
    EarthSpark cartoon
  • EarthSpark concept art
    EarthSpark concept art
  1. ↑ "The Thirteen is probably not going to happen for a while, as it’s become more of a Hasbro thing than an IDW thing, and Hasbro need to crystallise the whole concept before it can be turned into a comic book. I think and hope it will still happen, as it’s a story I’d dearly love to tell, but I have no firm grasp or when or in what form it will eventually see print."—Simon Furman, deviantART, 2009/07/20
  2. ↑ "Actually, I’m saving LM for something else BIG that’s happening in 08."—Simon Furman, Simon Furman: The Blog, "SCRIPT (W)RAP", 2007/11/19
  3. ↑ Concept art of "Prime slabs"
  4. ↑ "Really we were trying to create a representation of each of the classic Transformer forms. So as I was creating the Thirteen, some had been figured out, right? So Megatronus I think, Liege Maximo, Alpha Trion I believe were already named characters... but then I tried to figure out how to bring the concept of beasts and combiners [and the Mini-Cons] and different elements into the concept, so that you had the whole pantheon of gods, different shapes and sizes and whatnot. So I went through and I drew kind of visions of what they could be. So this is not trying to figure the character out, but get the vibe of what the character was about, other talented people would come in behind me and do that. So there's like the idea that—why did the Quintessons think that they might have made the Transformers? Well they come from the guy that was like the Johnny Appleseed, or the character that seeded some of the planets, so they were confused... try to shore up some of these ideas for the Aligned continuity, right? Here's an elemental kind of concept, gears and metal and magnetism, kind of a proto-Transformer, kind of weird thing. [...] Here's another weird version of Megatronus, how big he is compared to like what Megatron would have been."—Aaron Archer, The Toy Armada, "Toy Armada Friday night LIVE: Creating characters and lore", 2023/05/26
  5. ↑ "IT ME"—Nick Roche, Bluesky, 2025/12/23
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