Ore-13
Ore-13 is the last of a series of artificially-created energon-derived ores seeded throughout the galaxy by Decepticon scientist Shockwave as part of his Regenesis project. Taking root on the planet Earth, Ore-13 boosts the power of Transformers to extreme levels, leading those who later discovered it to term it "Ultra-Energon"; Shockwave favored the more prosaic name of "Power Itself" when christening the various ores after their different effects. It is not without drawbacks, however: while it will grant a user massively enhanced strength and durability, the more its power is drawn upon, the faster it burns out, leaving a user at risk of sudden de-powering in mid-combat.
Fiction
IDW Generation 1 continuity
During the Great War, Shockwave extrapolated that the war would eventually devolve into a struggle over resources. In response, he developed the Regenesis project, seeding a number of worlds with a potent distillation of standard energon. The seedings were designed to initiate a chain reaction which would produce Ultra-Energon ore in plentiful supply, giving him the balance of power when the Energon shortages he had foreseen became inevitable.
Hundreds of thousands of years later, Shockwave abandoned the Decepticons and he headed to Earth, arriving at the end of the last Ice Age, to continue the plan by stabilizing the ore before it destroyed the planet. However, before he could finish the process, he was ambushed by the Dynobots and left buried by a failsafe Grimlock had arranged, that triggered a volcanic eruption in what would be later Nevada. Spotlight: Shockwave Millenia later, Alpha Trion would reveal to Optimus Prime that Earth had not been chosen as Ore-13's resting site at random but due to the fact that the planet was the resting place of the Enigma of Combination. The Crucible
When Shockwave's absence was discovered by Megatron, he assigned Bludgeon to investigate Shockwave's plans, and Soundwave to spy on Bludgeon in turn. While Bludgeon discovered the full extent of Shockwave's plans he fed little of it back to Megatron—and Soundwave did likewise. Spotlight: Soundwave
Around ten thousand years later,[1] Cybertron was devastated by Thunderwing and left uninhabitable. Stormbringer Some time later, however, Bludgeon and his team returned to the planet in secret to begin work on restoring Thunderwing, and in preparation for creating their own bio-grafted exo-shells. To do this, they needed power, and so they proceeded to Earth in the early 1980s to mine "Ultra-Energon". Spotlight: Soundwave
Eventually, they succeeded in restoring Thunderwing with the Ultra-Energon. Soon, the drawback of the powerful substance became clear: The infused Transformer was rendered far more powerful than ever, but the Ultra-Energon burned itself out far faster than normal energon, and the more power the Transformer drew on, the faster his super-powered "high" burnt away.
In the meantime, the presence of Ultra-Energon had been independently discovered back on Earth by a Decepticon infiltration team led by Starscream. It was dubbed Ore-13. After exhausting a vein of the ore beneath the original command bunker in Nebraska, Starscream built a second command bunker over a richer vein in Oregon. Although it was not enough to give Starscream any appreciable edge over Megatron, both Decepticons and Autobots believed Ore-13 could drastically tip the balance of their entire interstellar conflict. Infiltration
After Optimus Prime's arrival on Earth, he battled the Ore-13-enhanced Megatron and was nearly deactivated, surviving only by downloading his consciousness into his trailer section. However, realizing that Ore-13 was Ultra-Energon, he communicated its weakness to the other Autobots, who successfully ran Megatron down until Prime could return to his body to deliver a coup de grâce just as the Ultra-Energon high faded away. Retrieved by Skywarp, Megatron proceeded to purge his systems completely of the Ultra-Energon in a CR chamber. Escalation
The forces of the Dead Universe specifically protected Earth from the Reapers Devastation due to its Ultra-Energon; their grand scheme was reliant on vast amounts of the energy, in which Earth was now rich. Spotlight: Doubledealer
A few years later, Shockwave used Ultra-Energon to build a new body for Megatron. Enemy Mine
After Optimus Prime annexed the planet Earth, Once Upon a Time on Earth the deposits of Ore-13 had become unstable and threatened to destroy the Earth in a cataclysmic explosion, something Scarlett and Joe Colton held Optimus responsible for. Secret Raiders
The Ore was in fact being transported to Microspace by the tyrant Baron Karza via Micronus Prime's spacebridge with the destruction of Earth being but a side effect. The Dire Wraiths also expressed an interest in Ore-13 with Rom stating it enhanced their power and made them harder to detect. Rom tried to send samples of Ore-13 into Microspace and beyond the Wraiths' grasp before Optimus Prime talked him down. O Ship of State
The Wraith that had been impersonating Joe Colton carried around a case of Ore-13 which he intended to deliver to his superiors before Rom killed him. Concorde Hymn The case fell into the hands of the President of the United States. As the Wraith invasion was obvious at this time, it was entrusted to Marissa Faireborn only for the Wraiths in the White House to obtain it. The leader of the Wraith cell used the Energon to enhance herself but was ultimately impaled on the Washington Monument by Thundercracker. Thundercracker & Buster Save the World
Some months later, a wandering tribe of Junkions led by Wreck-Gar and Rum-Maj arrived on Earth, drawn to the planet's ample supplies of the mineral. Hoping to use the superfuel to restore their old homeworld to its former glory, they offered a positron core in return. A Lonely Pillar on the Plain
Animated cartoon
Bulkhead compared Ultra-Energon to candy. The AllSpark Almanac
Games
Transformers: Devastation
Ore-13 was used during the cyberforming of Lithone, with the raw substance being injected into the planet's core. Devastation
Transformers: Earth Wars
Ore-13 is an mysterious substance that is an alternative to the Enigma of Combination for activating Combiners. After building a Combiner Lab, the Ore-13 Harvester and Ore-13 Storage can be built. If a player has a complete combiner, 25 Ore-13 is required to activate it and bring it into play for a limited time. Transformers: Earth Wars
References
- ↑ Maximum Dinobots #5: Shockwave to Grimlock - "Ten thousand, three hundred and ninety-six years, two months and three days."
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