Acolyte of Unicron

Acolytes of Unicron are brainwashed Transformers from the Marvel portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

We love to cosplay as our god!

Before Primus hid himself away in slumber, Unicron utilized the mental link the two shared to program mental commands into weakminded Transformers. These Acolytes of Unicron would activate, assemble, and assassinate the leader of Primus' armies when the time came for Primus and Unicron's reckoning.

They wear Unicron hats.

DEATH!Acolytes' rally cry, "The Void!"

Fiction

Marvel Comics continuity

Marvel The Transformers comics

This article was created just to put this panel up.

After Primus named Optimus Prime the leader of the army of Cybertron, the sleeper program activated, compelling the Acolytes to gather and assassinate him. They attacked Prime when he and Scorponok were discussing their fears of their own mortality. Scorponok realized that they were after Prime, but decided to help anyway. Eventually, the Autobots and Decepticons came to the aid of their leaders and defeated the Acolytes. Later, Primus told Optimus that he had deliberately named him leader of the army with the intention of drawing out the Acolytes. Royally pissed that he had been used as bait by God, the Autobot leader prepared to give Primus a piece of his mind.

Then Unicron arrived... and the pit followed close behind him. The Void!

Regeneration One

Regeneration One continues from the Marvel US series, and does not include the UK stories or any subsequently published stories.

Cultists from the Acolytes of Unicron were responsible for retrieving Galvatron when he returned to Cybertron during Bludgeon's assault on the planet. Ultra Magnus had thought that the cult had disintegrated after seeing Unicron's destruction but had in fact gone to ground and managed to avoid Autobot detection. The War to End All Wars, Part 1

The Acolytes brought the unconscious Galvatron to the Primus chamber, where their master, pleased with their service, bid them to go... only to hasten their departure by draining their life energy. Their master appeared to be Primus himself, who declared that the distinction between good and evil, order and chaos, would be rendered moot as "One will Be All", and set about his work. The War to End All Wars, Part 3

"Primus" revealed itself to Rodimus Prime as the corrupted fragment of Creation Matrix energy that had infected the Deathbringer, which had survived that entity's termination. Less Than Zero Having been brought to Cybertron along with the Transformers on Earth, the Dark Matrix creature hid itself in one of the Acolytes. It had used the Acolytes to save Galvatron so it could use him as an agent of chaos, helping further its goal of escaping into the multiverse. The War to End All Wars, Part 5

IDW Beast Wars comics

Rartorata was recruited from the ranks of these cultists. Beast Wars Sourcebook #3

Ask Vector Prime

According to Vector Prime, when one assumes the visage and appellation of the chaos bringer, one runs the risk of either attracting Unicron's attention, or merging with his Singularity. Ask Vector Prime, 2/6/2015

Shattered Glass

After the destruction of an evil iteration of Primus within a negative polarity universe, the Transformers were left without a home planet. Thankfully, Primus's "sister" Gaea stepped up to the task and became a "New Cybertron" for them to lodge upon. A government comprising heroic Autobots and Decepticons was formed, and the Acolytes of Unicron were assembled to serve as this parliament's guardians. The Future Buried...

They acted as priests for Unicron, relaying petitions from the ruling Galvatron and Ultra Mammoth to their god. Unicron still worked in mysterious ways, however, even for the Acolytes. He had them deny Heatwave's team a quest in order to encourage the laborers to seek their own quest and destiny out of contrarianism. Coalescence

Note

• Design elements of the Unicron cultists were based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which was kicking Transformers' butt in the toy aisles at the time. The cultists (sometimes) had two fingers and a thumb on each hand, two toes on each foot, and each carried either a sai-like weapon or a katana. However, their battlecry was "DEATH!", not "Cowabunga!" This would not be the only time that hordes of disposable robots in Transformers would have elements based on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.