Thirteen

This article is about the group of ancient Transformers . For the comic series that might never be published, see Transformers: The Thirteen.

Guess the one on fire!

We are the 13, the first, the forgotten, each of us serving a function vital to the survival of the universe. Each of us designated a Prime and given a function to serve during the long march of infinity.Vector Prime, "Vector Prime: In the Beginning"

When Primus first created Cybertron, he created a crew of thirteen living robotic beings to man him. These beings, in imitation of Unicron's transformation abilities, were able to change their forms into the likeness of vehicles, weapons, and machinery. They were the first Transformers. Seven of them were "Primes" (For how that works in relation to the quote above, see the "Trivia" note below). Many of the thirteen died in a cataclysmic first battle with Unicron, where he was sucked down into a black hole and trapped along with his acolyte known as The Fallen, one of the thirteen who had turned against his brothers and joined Unicron. Of those that survived, many abandoned their original functions and were lost to time. Only Vector Prime was known to still be following the path he was set upon by Primus.

The thirteen

Vector Prime steps forward from the First Thirteen Tabernacle Choir with a heartfelt solo.

The identities of most of the thirteen remain shrouded in mystery.

Confirmed members are:

• Prima, the first Matrix-bearer and first Transformer born from Cybertron, leader of the 13.
• "The Fallen" (original name unknown), the guardian of entropy.
• Vector Prime, the guardian of space and time.
• Logos Prime, also known as Soundblaster. The Beast Wars Reborn text story establishes Soundblaster as an "Ancient", equal with Vector Prime. There is also a silhouette resembling him in the image from the World of Transformers web site, found at the top of this article.
• Nexus Prime, the guardian of the multiverse's Rarified Energon, capable of splitting into 5 smaller robots:
  • Skyfall
  • Landquake
  • Breakaway
  • Topspin
  • Heatwave

Possible members are:

• The Liege Maximo; he was confirmed in Simon Furman's "Alignment" story as one of the first thirteen, but that story was "unofficial" and of debatable canonicity.
• Maccadam; rumor on Cybertron says that he is one of the thirteen and that his bar exists outside regular space-time, linking all realities, though sometimes this rumor is chalked up to the imaginations of the bar's drunken patrons. The story "Prime Spark" from the Transformers Legends anthology confirms half of this rumor, portraying the bar as a multiversal nexus of sorts, though not making any specific revelations about Maccadam himself. The anthology labels all its stories as not being part of mainstream continuity, so its revelations could be viewed as irrelevant.
• The Last Autobot; according to the words he spoke "Since Cybertron's Creation, I have slumbered within the planet, awaiting a time long foreseen by your creator, Primus", it can be inferred that he might be one of the thirteen.

Numerous other very ancient Transformers exist—Boltax, steward of the Underbase, and the Keeper, protector of the slumbering Primus—but none have been included in the ranks of the thirteen.

Functions

Aside from their base functions as "crew" for Primus's planet form and their duty to battle Unicron, the quote above hints that each was given another charge. Three of the four known members of the thirteen were also charged with protecting specific aspects of the multiverse. It is possible, but unconfirmed, that each of the other ten might also have originally had an assigned role as guardian to some aspect of reality.

Vector Prime was tasked with overseeing the space and time continuum. The Prime who would eventually become the Fallen was tasked with overseeing the process of entropy. Nexus Prime was tasked with overseeing the multiverse's Rarified Energon.

Multiversal singularities

The original thirteen are multiversal singularities like Primus and Unicron, with only one of each of them existing throughout the whole multiverse. Though they may pass from universe to universe, it is one quantum individual doing so, and they possess no alternate-reality counterparts as normal beings do. For further details on how this weird little mind-bender works, see that article.

Fiction

IDW Transformers movie comics

The Thirteen being created.

A race of beings that included the Fallen were the first creations of the All Spark. They were extremely powerful and able to travel across dimensions. The Allspark then created the Transformers to seek out stars that could replenish itself. With their descendants, they formed the Dynasty of Primes, protecting Cybertron and the All Spark. The Fallen decided he wanted the Allspark's power for himself, and so slew the rest of his brothers...but they trapped him within a sarcophagus in the process. A long time passed, and he was eventually dug up. From his prison, he then pushed High Protector Megatron into forming the Decepticons. Defiance issue 4

DK Transformers: The Movie Universe book

The All Spark created "the Primes". One of their number, however, fought the other twelve as he prepared to harvest the power of Earth's sun. In the end, he slaughtered all of his brethren, but they were still able to imprison this Fallen being in a pocket dimension and save the Earth. The Movie Universe

Revenge of the Fallen

The ROTF adaptations have thirteen Primes. While designs were made for twelve non-Fallen Prime heads, the finished film shows only seven Primes.

See Dynasty of Primes

Titan Magazines Revenge of the Fallen comic

Legend has it that Primus created the first seven Transformers, known as "the Primes", though they believe themselves creations of the All Spark. (So... who started the legend?) The Fallen Profile

Trivia

• Originaly all 13 of the original Transformers were said to be Primes, see the quote at the start of this article. However when the Rise of the Fallen movie material decided that the original Dynasty of Primes only numbered seven a retcon was applied. Now it turns out that while they were all "Epic Warriors" only Seven were actually named Primes, and the othe six were not. Maybe Vector Primes memory was just fuzzy after so long? (Wouldn't be the first time that happened to a TF, and over much shorter periods)

• IDW comics talked repeatedly about a planned/potential miniseries telling the story of the Thirteen. What similarity this new telling would have to the previous original thirteen stories is unknown. Hasbro became quite involved, and Simon Furman stated that it "seems pretty likely that Vector Prime will be amongst the 13, the Liege Maximo too, and possibly Alpha Trion. But nothing’s set in stone here yet." [1] No release date for this series was ever set. As of Botcon 09, IDW says this series is off their publishing schedule. In an interview, Furman said it's "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". [2]

• Transformers: The Ultimate Guide specifically asserts that all of the original 13 Transformers were destroyed in the early battle between Primus and Unicron. In and of itself this statement cannot be accurate, since the same book later recounted how the Fallen was not destroyed but exiled to a transdimensional prison from which he later escaped. When the book was published, in 2004, it would have been hypothetically possible to assert that the other 12 members had been dead all along--but subsequent canon has indisputably established their survival.