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Conceptual history for Liege Maximo

A concept sketch created by Aaron Archer in the 2000s.

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, never being written .

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.

IDW Publishing's 2005 IDW continuity would bring Liege Maximo back to the comics in a substanial way, serving as an antagonist in the overarching narrative crafted by John Barber. The pages of The Transformers: Till All Are One, written by Mairghread Scott would reintroduce Liege Maximo to the present day after being freed from his prison, the Titan "Carcer" - who was secretly Liege's personal Titan Vigilem. As Liege Maximo appeared in the Optimus Prime comic, Barber would use Maximo's name as the origin for the Maximals' name, while linking their Beast mode to Maximo's alliance with the comic's overarching antagonist Onyx Prime, who was secretly Shockwave in disguise]]. Shockwave's role in "The Falling" arc of Optimus Prime, and the subsequent build-up to the grand finale of the universe, Unicron, once again overshadowed Maximo's role as a villainous Prime and antagonist, with Maximo perishing in "The Falling, Chapter 6: Unforgivable".

As a member of the Thirteen, Liege Maximo was often mentioned in passing. Ask Vector Prime would describe a Liege Maximo associated with the Greek goddess Aphrodite, while receiving quick mentions or appearances in media like Cyberverse, the 2019 IDW continuity, and Transformers One. One would depict Liege Maximo with a gold and white color scheme, in stark contrast to his primarily green color scheme in previous depictions.

Late 2025 saw the Liege Maximo reappear in Earthspark introducing him as the final antagonist of the series in its 88-minute finale Legacy of Hope, giving him the spotlight as a villainous Prime without the presence of The Fallen or pretenders like Shockwave for the first time since the G2 comics. Not long after, 2026 would introduce the first proper toy of Liege Maximo in the Age of the Primes toylines. A Leader class toy, this incarnation of Liege Maximo would circle back around to his original G2 design, with subtle elements from the Aaron Archer concept design of the 2000s.

New Unicron Opening

He's been ignoring Galactus's C&D letters.

Unicron is the eternal arch-enemy of his twin brother Primus, his earliest creations and their descendants. Known as the Chaos Bringer and other titles, Unicron has battled gods, demigods, and insignificant civilizations across millions of years, all of whom seek to prevent him from achieving his ultimate goal: unleashing an age of chaos that will end all creation, leaving only a swirling, infinite torrent of nothingness at the end of all things that he may finally slumber in eternally. Because of his omnicidal ambitions, Unicron's apocalyptic presence sometimes acts as a unifying force for Autobots and Decepticons, teaming up to prevent the Planet Eater from destroying Cybertron and/or Earth.

In most realities, Unicron can shift between his planet form and robot form with much greater ease than Primus, whose body has become Cybertron. In his planet form, he travels across the universe consuming planets, stars, and any unlucky civilizations in his path. However, a few universes see him suffer a similar fate to his twin, serving as the Earth's core, making it more difficult to change into his demonic-looking robot form. Just as Primus's body has a Spark and Energon, Unicron's body has an "Anti-Spark" and carries the malevolent substance Dark Energon, which can revive the dead and corrupt the living with Unicron's essence.

Unicron disdains all life, considering even his own progengy (organic or mechanical) parasites, and thus will not hesitate to destroy the surface world to continue his slaughter across reality. That said, Unicron will occassionally make deals with lesser beings, promising them vast new powers in exchange for their servitude. These minions are sometimes stripped entirely of free will, but many others follow willingly - even one of the Primes! Service to Unicron, however, is a double-edged sword, for it causes insanity and loss of self. And in the end, Unicron's plans ultimately call for their consumption as well.

For much of multiversal history, the singularity Unicron threatened all of existence, but now, that is no longer the case, and versions of Unicron are now restricted to their own dimensions. These Unicrons are still destructive, overwhelming beings of chaos and uncreation whose appearance signals the darkest hour. It is typically only Primus's essence, contained in the Matrix of Leadership, that can overcome the evil of Unicron, and bring about a new era for the Transformers... unless he becomes a black hole that threatens the entire Multiverse. Oops.

“	Unicron is frightening. Unicron will destroy... will destroy space.	”
—High Wire, "Uprising"