Axalon (BW)
| The name or term "Axalon" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Axalon (disambiguation). |
- The Axalon is a spaceship from the Beast Era of the Generation 1 continuity family.
The Axalon is a Maximal exploration vessel whose mission was to explore and survey uninhabited worlds, seeding them with stasis pods so that those Transformers within could adopt the appearance of local lifeforms and conduct research undisturbed. However, it was called upon to intercept and pursue a stolen Predacon starship, and was subsequently never heard from again by its superiors.
Fiction
Cartoon continuity
Beast Wars cartoon
When Megatron's band of Predacon criminals stole the Golden Disk and escaped in their ship, the Maximal science vessel Axalon was the only vessel close enough with the Transwarp engines needed to pursue him.
The crew of the Axalon at the start of the Beast Wars appears to have been newly assembled and the captain, Optimus Primal, was new to command.
The Axalon engaged the Predacon warship in battle as soon as both starships came out of transwarp, chasing it to a primitive world that would later be revealed as Earth. Outgunned, the Axalon's engines were severely damaged and it was slowly dragged towards the surface by the planet's gravitational pull. Realizing their ship would not survive, their cargo of stasis pods were launched into safe orbit from the rear docking bay. Despite this grim setback, Optimus Primal was not willing to allow their enemies to escape, and so he ordered the forward plasma cannon to be fired. Landing a well-targeted shot that crippled the Predacon vessel, both ships soon crash-landed. Beast Wars (Part 1)
After crashing on Earth, the Axalon became the Maximals' base of operations. Unlike the Predacon ship, it was still flight worthy (although only just), allowing the Maximals to repair it with salvaged parts when it seemed that the Predacons had destroyed themselves in an energon explosion. Unfortunately, the Predacons had merely faked their destruction to try and commandeer the repaired Maximal ship, and subsequently attacked the Axalon as it was preparing to take off. Although the bulk of the villains were defeated and the ship was able to take to the air, Megatron was able to board and jab his tail weapon into a key console, destroying the Axalon's transwarp drive and sending it back to the ground. The ship and its occupants landed in one piece thanks to Optimus' last-minute intervention, but the Axalon would never fly again. Victory
After Megatron's attempt to alter history, it was further destroyed by Predacon forces, as Rampage and some of Tarantulas's spider drones pulled it off the cliff that it was straddling. The ship's forward quarter, including the command center, split off and fell first, landing on dry land. The remainder, including its drives and primary computer center, fell afterward and sank into the lake, finally destroying the Axalon. The remains of the command center were salvaged to help fortify the Ark against Predacon attack. Optimal Situation Rattrap would later undertake a dangerous mission below the lake's surface to salvage the Sentinel shield control module; during the mission, an underwater battle between Rampage and Depth Charge sent the ship's remains plummeting even further into the lake's depths. Changing of the Guard
As the Maximals packed up their stuff for leaving Earth, they were hauling many large crates, some of which had pieces of the Axalon's command center dangling out from them. Nemesis Part 2
3H comics
Following the Maximals' evacuation of Earth, the Vok returned, intent on putting a stop to Tarantulas and his plans. At this point in time, both the Axalon's salvaged bridge and the rest of the wrecked, sunken ship remained exactly where they had been abandoned. Primeval Dawn Part 1
Timelines
Before leaving in earnest for its stated mission of interplanetary exploration, the Axalon was parked at a Maximal space station for a few weeks while it picked up its secret cargo. Finally, its impatient crew were able to leave, but subsequently were contacted by Maximal Defense Command Center about a rogue ship of Predacons in their area who had stolen the Golden Disk. The Axalon was ordered to pursue it.
A spectacular battle followed between the Axalon, the Predacon ship, another mysterious Predacon ship, and the Chromia 10. The latter two ships were destroyed, and the former two ships flew through a transwarp portal. Dawn of Future's Past
Beast Wars Metals manga
The Axalon was badly damaged during a space battle with the Predacons and left floating in the orbit of Energoa. It eventually crashed into the ocean when Protoform X broke free. Using the ship's still-active armaments, the Maximals blasted Rampage into space. Beast Wars Metals #2
Beast Machines toy bios
The Dinobot Airraptor served aboard the Axalon as interplanetary surveyor and navigator. Airraptor's bio
United
Fear blossomed as the news of Unicron's return spread. Optimus Primal and his crew tried valiantly to battle his new "Ark Unicron" form, but they were quickly defeated. In their darkest hour, the Axalon started glowing blue and revealed a previously unknown power: transforming into a super robot lifeform. Born again with a new living spark of its own, this powerful ally gave the Autobot army a hope of finally defeating Unicron. Axalon bio
2005 IDW continuity
a tale of a fateful trip."
Twenty thousand years ago, Onyx Prime sent the Axalon away from Antilla, entrusting its captain Domitius Major and his crew of Maximals with the alien artifact known as the "Talisman." Strange Visitors Our Finest
The Axalon travelled through space for ten thousand years before dwindling supplies of energon sent their vessel off-course in the hopes of refueling. Drawn to Earth by its supplies of Ore-13, the ship arrived in orbit, where it intercepted Autobot transmissions, bounced off of Shockwave's nearby ship. To protect his experiment, the scientist shot down the Maximals, the Axalon falling into what would become Brasnya, with the crash somehow activating the Talisman and scrambling the crew's memories. When Shockwave entered the ruined ship, he found one of the crew, Centurion, watching the Autobot transmission and believing himself to be Bumblebee, inspiring the Decepticon to conduct a novel experiment. While the Maximals fought, the Axalon itself was left to be buried by the ice and snow, forgotten by all. Strange Visitors
Though the Axalon's mission had ostensibly been to retrieve the Enigma of Combination, Onyx Prime was, in fact, a future version of Shockwave who had been sent back in time and was playing the long game, having sent the Axalon to Earth both so that the time loop could be completed (or started) and so that the Talisman could be safely stored on Earth. Centurion profile The First Who Was Named Our Finest
By 1944, Centurion was the last survivor of the Axalon, the horrors of World War I and II having allowed him to break through Shockwave's reprogramming. After he'd killed "Shockwave", he attempted to return to the Axalon so he could die, aided by Sgt. Savage and Garrison Kreiger. When the trio breached the frozen ship, the Talisman had vanished and its robotic spawns, the IRON Troopers, had puppeteered the corpse of Domitius Major, engaging Centurion in battle. Though the Troopers were ultimately defeated, the residual Talisman energy within the ship activated causing the Axalon, and its occupant Sgt. Savage, to vanish. Strange Visitors
Over the following decades, Kreiger established a base for himself beneath the crater of the Axalon, which would come to be known as the "Project Ice Man" facility. In 1994, Kreiger, aided by Atomic Man, would activate the Talisman once again, its energies causing the Axalon and its passenger to rematerialize, though what became of the ship following this is unknown. When Eagles Scream
2021 IDW Beast Wars comic
A lightly armed exploration vessel, the Axalon, despite being equipped with a Transwarp Drive, was limited only to regular space travel. On a routine protoform delivery mission to H'nkshanaar-4 however, the Axalon was tasked to intercept the warship Darksyde, stolen by Predacon separatists. Unable to engage the Darksyde on equal footing, the Axalon instead locked onto the stolen craft's Transwarp Drive, following it through time. Emerging from unspace, the Axalon sustained further damage prompting Nyx to simply ram the ship into the Darksyde but this left the Axalon unable to escape the gravity field of the nearby planet, though it managed to eject its cargo of stasis pods. Crashing in a valley, the Axalon's onboard computer rebooted and reconstructed its crew with beast modes to protect them from the high levels of energon radiation on the planet. Savage Landing Part 1
The Maximals went to work repairing their craft, sending Nyx to scout the surrounding area. Savage Landing Part 2 When she later failed to return, the Maximals began establishing a link to the orbiting stasis pods to try and expand their sensor range. Savage Landing Part 3 When they succeeded in doing so, they found a wounded Nyx who had joined up with the defected Dinobot. Surrendering, the Predacon asked to join the Maximals. Savage Landing Part 4
With its crew having had no time to repair the shields during their night of expanding the sensors, the Axalon was left vulnerable to a direct attack from the Predacons. Savage Landing Part 5 When Tarantulas managed to breach the Axalon, he made for the science lab only to encounter Rattrap operating a cargo-loading exoskeleton and tossed him out of the ship. Rattrap then managed to complete the repairs on the force field only for it to eject Dinobot with the other Predacons. When the hostiles turned on Dinobot, Primal had the Axalon's cannons scare off the Predacons. Bringing Dinobot back into the Axalon, the Maximals healed him and welcomed him into their crew. Savage Landing Part 6
With the force field fully online, the Maximals enjoyed some down time while getting to know Dinobot. This complacency left them unawares when the recently activated Blackarachnia, her spark still reading as a Maximal's, was able to walk directly into the Axalon whereupon her shell program activated. Pod Part 1
War for Cybertron Trilogy cartoon
The Axalon Kingdom episode 1 had a crew of over 200 Maximals, though after crashing onto Earth in the past and engaging in a conflict with the time-displaced Predacons, only Optimus Primal, Airazor, Rhinox, Rattrap, Cheetor, and Tigatron survived Kingdom episode 2 by the time the Autobot Ark and Decepticon Nemesis crashed on the planet. Damaged beyond the ability to fly and return to Cybertron, Optimus Primal and Rhinox checked the Ark's energon reserves in hopes of repairing the Axalon, though it was not enough. Primal then sought to salvage the Ark, though the Maximals soon after allied with the Autobots, Kingdom episode 1 and later left for Cybertron aboard the repaired Ark. Kingdom episode 5
Toys
Beast Wars 10th Anniversary
- Optimus Primal (2006)
- A small-scale toy of the Axalon was included.
United
- Axalon is a gray and red redeco of Energon Sharkticon, using all of the original paint operations, but in different colors. Axalon transforms into a Cybertronic submarine/battleship with dimly animalistic styling. His small gun turrets are movable, plus his side panels can extend outward to reveal spring-loaded missile launchers. He has two "dead" Mini-Con ports, one on each forearm. The vehicle mode's stylings were inspired by the Generation 1 Decepticon starship Nemesis.
- The mold was redecoed into the Timelines Sharkticons and retooled into Timelines Sky-Byte.
- Like the 5th and 6th wave figures, Axalon's package feature a sticker that said "limited quantity (数量限定)", indicating that this figure is released in limited numbers after its first and only shipment.
Notes
- The Axalon's main plasma cannons were used twice in the series: during the battle with the Darksyde (the guns that dealt the crippling blow to the Predacon ship) and once more during "Call of the Wild" as backup when the topside autogun was destroyed.
- In a running gag, the glass of the ship's elevator doors is shattered multiple times over the course of the series, usually by the Maximals.
- A very similar starship, possibly Axalon-class or meant to evoke it, was used in the 2001 Robots in Disguise cartoon by an Autobot who would eventually be reprogrammed into Scourge, as seen in "The Decepticons".
- Another starship of the Axalon's class was used by Ironhide's team in the Timelines story "Descent into Evil".
- Revenge of the Fallen Jetfire's Cybertronian form in Defiance has a more-than passing resemblance to the Axalon.
- A ship strongly resembling the Axalon can be briefly seen parked in a hangar near the end of the Power of the Primes episode "Saga's End".
Foreign names
- Japanese: Axalon (アクサロン Akusaron), Cyber Falcon (サイバー・ファルコン号 Saibā Farukon-gō)
- Mandarin: Axalon (Taiwan, 亞克薩隆 Yàkèsàlóng; China, 艾萨隆 Àisàlóng)
- French: Alaxon (War for Cybertron: Kingdom dub)
