Polyhex

Polyhex is a location on Cybertron from the Generation 1 continuity family.

Polyhex is a city-state that lies in the northern half of Cybertron, where it is surrounded by the Rust Sea, the Tagan Heights, Iacon and Nova Cronum. The fortress city Darkmount serves as its capital. Polyhex is in charge of Cybertron's satellites and home to the Cybertron network command hub. It tends to fall into Decepticon hands, which add such scenery as smelting pools and gladiatorial facilities.

Fiction

Generation 1

Marvel comics

Events from the UK-only comic stories are in italics.

• Locations
  • Darkmount
  • An unnamed Decepticon stronghold
  • The/A smelting pool
  • The Dead End
  • Energon cube transference stations
  • Ratbat's offices
  • An Autobase
  • The original space bridge
  • The Polyhex Toll Plaza

Getaway once used the Toll Plaza of the Titanium Turnpike in Polyhex to escape a Decepticon attack. Getaway's Universe profile.

Straxus gained rule over Polyhex as Lord High Governor, which presumably happened during the "middle years". From Darkmount, he practiced ruthless control over his domain with the support of some of the most skilled Decepticons: Ramjet, Dirge, Thrust, Kickback, Bombshell, Shrapnel, Octane, Astrotrain, Blitzwing and Ratbat. In response to the dwindling energy reserves of Cybertron, Straxus issued a campaign to hunt down the region's Neutrals, the Empties, to have them melted down for raw materials in the smelting pool. Harvester units were employed to fetch and transport the (not necessarily dead) bodies the Decepticons shot down.

In Earth year 1985, Blaster saved one Empty when he was waiting for Scrounge in the Dead End, the Empties' home. Scrounge meanwhile had infiltrated Darkmount in search for the abducted neutral scientist Spanner and obtained information that the Ark crew lost four million years ago was still alive and on Earth. Trying to reach Blaster, Scrounge was captured in the Dead End by Shrapnel and on orders of Straxus thrown into the smelting pool. Blaster, with the assistance of the rest of the Polyhex Autobase, came looking for him there based on information acquired from one of the Empties that had witnessed Scrounge's capture. He found him, but though Scrounge could pass on the information, he could not be saved anymore. The Smelting Pool! Spanner had been abducted in order to build a space bridge for Straxus' troops to be able to travel to Earth. Additionally, Straxus had gone so far as to have the space bridge constructed from the scientist's own body. This last fact was unknown to the Autobots when they decided they had to destroy the device. Blaster was assigned to plant explosives on the space bridge and blow it up while Perceptor and the others would distract the Decepticons by digging their way to Darkmount's power supply chamber and blowing the fortress up from the inside. Perceptor's group was succesful, but Blaster had been taken aback when he learned the space bridge was alive and hesitated too long. The Decepticons came to stop him, followed by the Autobots who came to rescue him. In the subsequent fight, the Autobots ended up on Earth, the Decepticons remained stuck on Cybertron, Straxus was seemingly destroyed and the space bridge needed extensive repairs to be used again. The Bridge to Nowhere!

Some time after, the Wreckers, a group of Autobots that operated from the nearby Iacon, initiated a plan called Operation: Volcano that was designed to result in the destruction of Polyhex's deadliest Decepticons. The operation was kicked in motion when the Autobots leaked false information to a rotten element within their ranks and tricked him into Polyhex, where he was discovered by Shrapnel. As expected, he handed the Insecticon the information in exchange for his life. Futily so, but the bait that would goad the Decepticon targets to Iacon territory had been cast. Roadbuster, who had followed the traitor to Polyhex, reported back on the first phase's success. Ten cycles later, the trap was about to close on the Decepticons when suddenly they received a communicube from Megatron. He ordered them to return to Polyhex immediately, prepare the space bridge and sent the Insecticons to Earth pronto, thus unknowingly saving their lives. Target: 2006

Straxus somehow had survived the incident at the space bridge, albeit only as a head on life support, and returned to Polyhex. He relocated his headquarters to another stronghold, where Megatron also ended up after accidentally being teleported to Cybertron through the space bridge. As was to be expected, the two Decepticon leaders did not get along, with all due consequences for the factions rate of success. The Harder They Die! When Megatron's plan to have Optimus Prime killed by his own soldiers failed due to intervention of Outback, he took it out on the stronghold and its inhabitants. Straxus's ally Ratbat had it known how much he disapproved of Megatron's presence, but Straxus ensured him he was working on getting rid of the old warlord. Under Fire! Nonetheless, the situation worsened for the Decepticons when Optimus Prime and Outback had fled to the Dead End and Optimus's plea to the Autobots to save Outback caused him to be recognized as the Autobots' long lost leader. Distant Thunder! With the assistance of the Cybertronian Autobot leaders, Optimus led five attacks on the Decepticons' transference stations for energon cubes. Tired of all that had gone wrong since Megatron's arrival, Straxus initiated the plan A of his scheme by forcefully swapping bodies with his rival. But he had underestimated Megatron's strength of mind, and the two ended up sharing a body that did not know who he was. Ratbat noticed this shortly before the Autobots launched a sixth attack on a transference station, in reality a distraction to allow Optimus Prime and Ultra Magnus easier access to the Polyhex stronghold to defeat Megatron. Seeing the two Autobots and mentally unstable more-Megatron-than-Straxus positively wrecking the stronghold, he ordered to have them all teleported to Earth by means of the space bridge. In doing so, Ratbat succeeded Straxus as Decepticon leader, Resurrection! while Straxus's mind gave up on taking over Megatron and separated from him to travel to a hidden room in the stronghold where he had prepared a plan B. Two Megatrons!

Ratbat's reign saw a steady if burdened cooperation with the Earth-based Decepticons through means of the space bridge. From Polyhex, Ratbat sent materials and reinforcements such as the Predacons and Prey! Trypticon and in return received fuel from Earth. However, the amount of fuel sent wasn't enough to so much as compensate for the usage of the space bridge, prompting Ratbat to pull the plug on the whole endeavor. King of the Hill! Ratbat subsequently came up with a plan of his own to acquire Earth's fuel more efficiently, for which he had a shipment sent via space freighter—slow, but energy-cost-effective. The operation came into trouble when the pilot failed to contact Cybertron despite making it to Earth, in response to which Ratbat summoned the Triple Changers to his office complex. Briefing them on the situation, he ordered the Triple Changers to use the space bridge to get to Earth, find out what had gone wrong and fix it. Crater Critters Upon receiving report that a Scraplet infestation was to blame, Ratbat invested in the capture of the Throttlebots, who had been plaguing the Decepticons for a while with small-time raids on their fuel storage depots. Rather than executing them, he had them brought to his offices and forced them to accept to travel to Earth and destroy the threat with corrosives. The Cure!

Meanwhile, Megatron lay deactivated in the Dead End after he had blasted himself through the space bridge. With time, his internal circuitry restored his body, but his mind remained a long way from home. Roaming the Dead End in a less than optimal state, he did try to assert his identity, but the Empties believed him to be just one of the nuttier among their numbers. Eventually, Megatron stumbled upon two Autobots cornering the Decepticon Blackjack, who recognized Megatron immediately. That, coupled with the sight of the hated Autobot insignia, brought Megatron back to sanity. He murdered the two Autobots and followed Blackjack out of the Dead End. The Resurrection Gambit! During their travel, Megatron found Straxus's old base, and within it, he learnt of Project Re-Birth, prompting a detour to Helex to tie up the loose ends from Straxus's existence. Two Megatrons!

By the time of Earth year 2006, Polyhex was the location of a time travel device that Hot Rod, Kup and Blurr used to pursue Galvatron and company to Earth, 1986. Target: 2006

Toy bios

Kick-Off trained in the gladiator pits of Polyhex while being held there as a captive.

Universe

• Locations
  • Darkmount
  • An unnamed canyon
  • The grease pits

During the Great War, the Decepticons captured Autobots to fight for their entertainment in the grease pits of Polyhex. Tap-Out was one of the many forced into the role of gladiator. Tap-Out's toy bio

Wreckers: Finale Part II

Dreamwave Generation 1 comics

• Locations
  • The Ultracons' base.
  • The grease pits

During the Border Wars, Ratbat's Ultracons had their base of operations located in Polyhex. Escalation

For an unspecified time in the war, Kick-Off was imprisoned at Polyhex and forced to fight in the grease pits. He ended up having to kill his best friend in one of the matches. Kick-Off's More Than Meets The Eye profile

Timelines

• Locations
  • Gladatorial pits

The Insecticon Buzzclaw used to be a fighter in the gladatorial pits of Polyhex. Buzzclaw's toy bio

IDW Generation 1 comics

During a heavy battle on Cybertron when Optimus Prime was still a fresh commander, he ordered the Autobots to reposition at Polyhex in the east. Old Ways

The Polyhexian border was notorious for its ongoing aerial skirmishes, which was why Rotorstorm was posted there. Last Stand of the Wreckers #1

Movie

If the Transformers RISK game is to be taken at face value, Polyhex exists and is surrounded by Praxus, Perihex and the area where the space bridge is located. Risk

Shattered Glass

• Locations
  • Darkmount
  • A unnamed university

Before the war, Polyhex was home to one of Cybertron's most prestigious universities, where Megatron gave math classes. Megatron's toy bio When the Autobots started to annihilate anyone not willing to join them, Megatron rose from the fires of the city-state and morphed the survivors into an effective counterforce. Polyhex was subsequently rebuilt to function as the Decepticons' base. Shattered Glass

Dungeons & Dinobots

Merchandise

• RISK TRANSFORMERS CYBERTRON Battle Edition (2007)

Polyhex is one of the purple zones on the board.

Notes

• Polyhex was introduced in the Marvel comics as a province rather than a city-state. This was before the concept of city-states was brought forth in the Marvel and other continuities, so make of it what you will.
• Polyhex was the second city and generally named area on Cybertron put in the canon, preceded only by the Autobot capital Iacon. This made it the first Decepticon specific region ever written about and as such it shone in the early Marvel comics next to Iacon, though it was passed by as its Decepticon equivalent by first Helex, then sort of Kolkular and since the Dreamwave comics Kaon. Shattered Glass, on the other hand, does place it against Iacon.

External links

• Transformers #162 Letters Page on Transfans.co.uk

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