Magnificence
- The Magnificence is an artifact from the IDW portion of the Generation 1 continuity family
The Magnificence is nothing less than a complete database and map of the known universe and every exploitable resource within it. This coveted artifact is the ultimate Magic 8-Ball; any question posed to it will be granted an immediate and accurate answer. Just how this works remains a bit of a mystery.
"A sentient search engine!"
"In the shape of a ball!"
"A ball with an eye in it! An eye-ball!Nickel, Crankcase, Fulcrum and Misfire, "The Ties That Bind"
Fiction
IDW Generation 1 continuity
Sometime after becoming on speaking terms with the Omega Guardians Senator Shockwave became convinced the Magnificence was in actuality one of the legendary Knights of Cybertron, one that had such an insatiable quest for knowledge they had relinquished their body. Whether or not this theory was correct, there were markings on the Magnificence tying it to Cybertron. When the Omega Guardians "ascended" the Magnificence was left behind in the Omega Bunker on Ki-Aleta guarded by fearsome drones. The Ties That Bind
During the Great War a team of Autobots led by Hot Rod sought out the Magnificence to keep it out of Decepticon hands. The team managed to decoy the Omega Guardians successfully with holograms and automated gun systems. However, sabotage from the former Autobot later known as "Doubledealer" led to the decoy systems failing and the majority of the team being slaughtered by the new Guardians. Dealer was still unable to procure the Magnificence as Hot Rod made good his escape and hid the artifact in parts unknown. Spotlight: Hot Rod
After extended urgings from a rescued Dealer Hot Rod sought out the Magnificence from where he had hidden it. This turned out to be Ki-Aleta much to Dealer's surprise. High atop a rock formation surrounded by ionized clouds, it was inaccessible to mechanical life forms save by making the treacherous climb up the rock face itself. Upon retrieving it, Hot Rod demonstrated that it was not only a chronicle of old information but new information as well. After using it to reveal Dealer's treachery (and dealing with him accordingly, pun intended) he queried it as to the details of the Expansion. Spotlight: Doubledealer
Hot Rod then sent the Magnificence to Garrus-9 where it was entombed beneath the Aequitas supercomputer. When Grimlock was arrested however, the Autobots decided his chest cavity was a more secure place and installed a tamper-proof brace within the Dinobot's chest so the Magnificence could only be surrendered if Grimlock wished it so.
Around 2009 shortly after the Surge, Scorponok and Flame escaped Garrus-9 and fell into the service of the enigmatic Grand Architect. Kill All 'Cons At some point the pair used the network of wormholes known as the Warren to go back for Grimlock; teleporting Grimlock onto their ship they tortured the Dinobot until he unconsciously surrendered the artifact, at which point the two disposed of the brain-damaged former Autobot by dumping him in a stasis tube. The Ties That Bind
Somehow the Magnificence went missing under as-yet-undescribed circumstances and fell into the possession of Mengel, a Catharsian merchant in Troja Major's Howling Town and another of the Grand Architect's associates. Mengel was able to succeed where the Grand Architect's other contacts had failed by using the Magnificence's endless supply of information to carry one of her genetically engineered protoforms to term creating the first viable "Infinite." Chasing the Infinite On the side, she used the artifact — which she called the "Resus Cradle" — to boost her business, boasting that it could resurrect mechanical life forms. Seeking to revive the recently departed Skids, Nautica came to Howling Town to try and bargain with the Catharsian for use of the artifact. An Axe to Break the Ice What Mengel didn't know was that Scorponok's detachment sought to reclaim the artifact and shortly after the creation of the Infinite a contingent led by Flame travelled to Troja Major to reclaim it.
After the Infinite had escaped her custody and seemingly perished at the hands of the Black Block Consortia the ex-Autobot came to Mengel and demanded the relic, ordering his men to ransack the compound when she refused to hand it over. His men found it and they brought it back to their Worldsweeper with the self-revived Infinite, presenting both to Scorponok. Chasing the Infinite
However, he discovered that the artifact had continued to evolve, even developing a moral code that allowed it to refuse any questions asked of it that violated its sense of ethics. Thanks to Scorponok's binary bonding with Abraham Dante many years before, Scorponok's brain patterns were not entirely Cybertronian allowing him to bypass the brain-scanning procedures that the Magnificence employed. Using the information within the Magnificence he embarked on a new endeavor to rebuild the Decepticon forces by creating an artificially engineered "organic Decepticon" he called the "Firstborn". Kill All 'Cons
In the meantime, Mengel fled to the ex-Decepticon antiquarian Agonizer where the two compared notes on the artifact. Realizing the Cybertronian history behind the Magnificence, Agonizer summoned the Scavengers to him via teleportal and after some exposition for Nickel's benefit sent them after the relic with the promise of making them fabulously wealthy. Sent to the desert planet of Confluence, they were quickly captured by Scorponok's forces and imprisoned. The Ties That Bind By making it seem like Grimlock had killed them the Scavengers were able to escape their cell and demanded Scorponok hand over the artifact. Using it, they were able to learn Scorponok was in the process of producing organic Decepticons. Scorponok quickly overpowered the group and prepared to extract their sparks prompting Nickel to consult the Magnificence to learn how to defeat the Decepticon scientist. Thanks to its suggestion the Scavengers were able to paralyze their foe by using a recording of Tarn's voice and used a nearby transmat portal to escape to Garrus-9 in the hopes of returning the Firstborn to normal.
On arrival, however, they realized that they'd been teleported into Grimlock's old cell locked from the outside and that the Magnificence had gone dormant, leaving them trapped in the abandoned prison with no way out. Kill All 'Cons
Notes
- The Magnificence has a superficial resemblance (including coloration) to the Pearl of Bahoudin from the 1985 The Transformers episode "Trans-Europe Express".
- In a Q&A Simon Furman said he originally intended to show that using the Magnificence had a price: "The information or what information precipitates mostly turns out to be a poisoned chalice... there was going to be a Hot Rod payoff, in which he goes well and truly through the wringer as a consequence of his mining of the Magnificence." Due to the revised and shorter nature of Revelation this subplot was dropped, though Hot Rod did go through the wringer in Maximum Dinobots, albeit for different reasons.
- In the same Q&A he said he considered making the Magnificence a Quintesson artifact but changed his mind.
