Matrix of Leadership
| The name or term "Matrix" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Matrix (disambiguation). |
The Autobot Matrix of Leadership (sometimes the Creation Matrix) is an artifact of great power. It is traditionally carried by the current Autobot Leader.
Much about the Matrix remains a mystery, including its exact composition. It generally appears as a hollow, spherical metal shell with two handles on either side and with a core sphere of blueish crystal at its center. According to some, it carries part of the essence of Primus.
The Matrix is the one thing, the only thing which Unicron fears.
Things that were related to the Matrix include: the Dead Matrix, Energon Matrix, Matrix of Conquest and the Matrix of Purification.
(The exact nature and power of the Matrix varied according to continuity. See individual entries below for details.)
Wisdom of the Ages
The Matrix in the Generation 1 cartoon continuity possessed the accumulated wisdom of Transformers in the past. This stretches from the time of It to Alpha Trion most of whom make up the Ancient Autobots who reside within its form. A bearer of the Matrix possesses the ability to journey within the Matrix to consult many of these beings, however, this action is quite dangerous as it can lead to one getting lost forever. Those who do this are often searching for something in the Transformers distant past that is lost
The accumulated wisdom was capable of being released in the Transformers "darkest hour" to aid them by using its light to destroy a threat to the race. However, the act leaves the Matrix depleted of energy and would require it to be "filled" with the wisdom of a new generation.
Fiction
Generation One
Marvel Comics continuity
(Events from the UK-only comics are in italics.)
Called the Creation Matrix (or the Genetic Matrix by the Keeper), it contains the essence of the Transformer's creator-god Primus, making it the one thing that can destroy Unicron. Possessing the Creation Matrix allows the bearer to grant new Transformer life to otherwise unsentient constructs. Also, when the human Buster Witwicky was in possession of it, he exhibited telekinetic power over all machines.
The fact that the Matrix was a physical object was generally unknown to all but Optimus Prime himself by the time of the Terran battles. But the powers of the Matrix weren't limited to the shell in his chest anyway. When his severed head was held captive by Shockwave, the Decepticon was able to force Prime to give life to the Constructicons, even though the Autobots had his body (and therefore the physical Matrix) in the Ark. While it's possible that the power was simply being channeled (Megatron would do just that to create the Stunticons), that seems unlikely given Prime's solution to the problem. When Buster infiltrated the Decepticon base, Prime had him connect electric cables between their heads, and he transferred the Matrix power into the human. Shockwave would later admit that he had been thwarted, as it had become impossible for Prime to create any new life.
Eventually Prime was rescued, and Buster returned the power to him, further cementing the notion that actual, usable Matrix energy had existed outside of the shell. And, as mentioned earlier, Megatron found yet another way to access the power. Bombshell planted a cerebro-shell in Optimus, and while it failed to take over his mind, it did provide some kind of conduit to the Matrix. Using Soundwave's broadcast abilities, Megatron tapped into the Matrix power when Prime gave life to the Aerialbots. Thus, the Stunticons were born.
Not realizing his monopoly on the Matrix had been compromised anyway, Prime kept the secret of its physical shell very (pardon the pun) close to the chest. This would prove an unfortunate choice. When he died, his Autobot followers launched his body into space in accordance with a funereal rite. It landed on a distant planet's moon called VsQs, where it lay mostly undisturbed for a while. There, the Matrix exhibited a rudimentary consciousness that was aware of the passage of time and referred it itself as the collective of its past holders. It wasn't literally an amalgam of their souls, but rather a new, childlike, amoral being that had known the goodness of its Autobot bearers and now wanted more.
It got a chance at new experience when a dying Deathbringer crashed on VsQs and touched the Matrix. The Deathbringer - who had been dedicated to ending unnecessary suffering - was warped into a new and very powerful being who sought to destroy all life. Though he left the Matrix in Prime's body, he still carried some of its energy, and the Matrix reveled in the vicarious experience of evil.
That curiosity found more expression when an insectoid creature crawled into Prime's corpse's chest cavity and became the next recipient of the Matrix's power. The Matrix was fascinated that the creature seemed to be meant to do nothing but destroy, so it re-created the thing into a larger, more powerful predator. The monster attacked a team of astronauts that had set up a research station on VsQs, killing nearly all of them. At least one escaped, who crashed in the seas of Pequod, another planet in the same solar system. "Awash with Matrix energy," he was swallowed by a klud, which ingested the energy.
Meanwhile, Optimus had been resurrected in a new body, and when he became aware of the threat of Unicron, he realized he needed to find the Matrix again. So he sent search parties to track down the funeral barge, which piqued Thunderwing's curiosity. As the opposing teams dodged each other, they eventually set their sights on Pequod, where the klud had been attracting attention because its species was supposed to have been extinct. Thunderwing, who believed himself to have an affinity with the Matrix, was able to psychically link with the Matrix-infused beast and see the memory of swallowing the dying scientist. Recognizing the "VsQs" stamp on his equipment, Thunderwing set out for that moon.
Once there, both sides battled the creature the Matrix had created, which had grown to enormous size. And it was Thunderwing who killed the beast and took the Matrix itself. The Decepticon immediately attacked the spaceborne Ark, manifesting the Matrix power in the form of a giant, vaguely humanoid energy field around himself. The Matrix began to speak through him, delighting in the firsthand experience of evil. When he realized he was being possessed, he tried to mentally battle the Matrix, but to no avail. The Autobots managed to win the fight only barely, getting Thunderwing off the Ark and then leaving him stranded in space.
The Matrix took time to heal Thunderwing's body, then set out for Cybertron. Coincidentally, it arrived just as Unicron was trying to destroy the planet. The Matrix-creature fought Unicron, but Unicron defeated it because it had become evil, and Unicron was more powerful in that realm. It took Optimus Prime's touch to cleanse the Matrix of its taint and reveal once again its essential purity. Rocketing into the Chaos-Bringer's maw, Prime opened the Matrix, destroying both it and Unicron.
And it should've killed Prime too, but when his decimated body was found, it was still kept alive by that pesky leftover Matrix energy. That body did soon die, but Prime's consciousness transferred to Hi-Q, who was later re-created into a new Optimus by the Last Autobot. This new body still contained Matrix energy, which the Decepticons coveted. Megatron defeated him in battle and sucked the energy into a siphon, which became the de facto new Matrix. He used it to create many new warriors, such as the Laser Rods and Rotor Force.
Then Starscream took it and used it on himself, merging with the Warworld and reshaping the interior of the ship. However, unlike with Thunderwing, Starscream found his own evil being subverted by the Matrix's goodness. Afraid of being changed, he returned the Matrix to Prime, and when Prime was consumed by the Swarm, he gave the Matrix to it. This completely reversed the nature of the Swarm. It had previously been a physically dark, destructive cloud, but it suddenly became a bright "force for life" that made all the Transformers totally blissed out. It also re-created Prime, though it's unclear whether this new body still contained Matrix energy, or what form the Matrix then existed in at all.
"All signs point to no."
So, when it's all said and done, the known Matrix-bearers are:
- Prima
- Prime Nova
- Sentinel Prime
- Optimus Prime
- Buster Witwicky
- Rodimus Prime
- Thunderwing
- Starscream
- General Ghyrik
(Note: In the later BotCon text story Reaching the Omega Point, Primon is added to the list though he is never mentioned elsewhere. Not even by the Matrix itself.)
(Note: The Matrix was originally portrayed as a life-granting computer program within Optimus Prime's mind, which accounts for the incongruous early comic stories. After The Transformers: The Movie established it as a physical object, Simon Furman retconned it into being such in the comics as well, first in the UK then the US books. Powermaster Prime's Universe profile clarified that the program was encoded in light patterns within the Matrix's crystal core.)
Animated continuity
Called The Autobot Matrix of Leadership (or simply The Matrix of Leadership, Autobot Matrix, yadda, yadda, yadda...) is an artifact of great power which holds within it the accumulated wisdom of past Autobot leaders. As such, it is traditionally carried by the current Autobot Leader.
Why the Matrix is the one thing, the only thing, which Unicron fears is not quite clear, but it seems to be in some way connected to Primacron's Assistant. It generally displays no powers beyond granting wisdom/visions and acting as a key to Vector Sigma. However it does, on occasion, seem capable of empowering and upgrading a Transformers physical form.
"No! Quit asking."
In the distant past, the scientist Primacron and his assistant created some of the first, primitive Transformers (how exactly this connects to their Quintessonian origin revealed elsewhere in the Cartoon is unrevealed). Primacron eventually created Unicron, who rebeled against his maker. In the ensuing conflict Primacron was badly injured and his robotic-seeming assistant appeared destroyed. His Assistant survived however and out of his remains rose what appeared to be the Autobot Matrix of Leadership which then flew off into space. (The exact meaning and import of this flashback is unclear, but it seems to suggest the Matrix began as the essence of Primacron's assistant.)
The Matrix of Leadership first documented appearance in modern times occurred when a dying Optimus Prime passed it, and Autobot Leadership to his chosen successor, Ultra Magnus.
Before passing away, Prime spoke of a prophecy - that one day, "The Chosen One" would rise from the ranks of the Autobots, and use the power of the Matrix to light the Transformers' darkest hour. That darkest hour soon came upon Cybertron in the form of the world-eater, Unicron, who knew that the Matrix's power was the one thing that could destroy him. Recreating Decepticon leader Megatron as Galvatron, he dispatched him to steal the Matrix, but when Galvatron obtained the talisman, he tried and failed to use its power against Unicron. Ultimately, the Chosen One who could open the Matrix proved to be the youthful Hot Rod, who reclaimed the Matrix and was transformed by its power into Rodimus Prime, before opening it within Unicron and releasing its power, which tore Unicron apart from within.
Later, when injured in battle, Rodimus's consciousness briefly entered the Matrix itself, and he discovered that it was more than a mere source of energy - it, in fact, contained the amassed wisdom of deceased Autobot leaders throughout history. Venturing into the Matrix a second time, Rodimus was shown the history of Cybertron by the ancient Autobots whose consciousnesses existed within the Matrix, revealing to him the Quintessons role in the creation of the Transformers. When he was resurrected, Optimus Prime later did the same thing when faced with the Hate Plague, (which he ALSO seemed to claim as their "darkest hour"). To cure the madness of the plague he expelled all of the wisdom from within the Matrix, saving the universe, but emptying the Matrix and leaving only a shell. He claimed they would have to start filling it with wisdom again, from that moment on.
Optimus Prime eventually used the shell of the Matrix as a substitute key to access Vector Sigma.
The only named robots known to have possessed the Matrix of Leadership in the cartoon are:
Over a dozen more past Autobot leaders were seen within it at various points, but none of them were ever given names.
Japanese continuity
- For further information, see: Energon Matrix
In Japan, the original Matrix held by Optimus and Rodimus Prime was portrayed more as a power source than anything else, though its power did apparently determine which faction Vector Sigma would obey. (Once the Matrix was depowered in Return of Optimus Prime, Vector Sigma became open to either Autobots or Decepticons controlling it, and by extension the planet.)
In later Japanese continuity a Matrix was seemingly carried by any individual with high rank. Therefore, there are many distinct Matrices. (It is unknown what relation, if any, these have to the original.) They tend to be weapons of extreme power and last resort. Accessing them, or having two of them in close proximity, can "power-up" their possessors into temporarily enhanced forms.
- Beast Convoy
- Lio Convoy
- Lio Junior (a copy of Lio Convoy's)
- Big Convoy
Dreamwave comics continuity
Prior to Optimus, the Matrix was held by Sentinel Prime, an Autobot leader killed by Megatron in an attempt to gain possession of the artifact, intending to use it to power the planetary engine turbines he had discovered. But Sentinel had already given up the Matrix for reasons unknown (perhaps foreseeing his own death), passing it to the Council of Ancients, who chose a data archivist named Optronix as the new bearer. Optronix and the Matrix were lowered into the Oracle Tank, with the words "Fill this sacred vessel with the wisdom of the ages", though it may be that the council was referring to Optronix and not the Matrix. Like Hot Rod, Optronix - now Optimus Prime - is physically changed by the installation of the Matrix, his frame altered to become larger and more powerful. Soon after, he is attacked by Megatron who cracks open his form and exposes the Matrix, which shows both Optimus and Megatron visions of the future, seeming to transport them to Earth, then to Nebulon. It is implied that Optimus somehow uses the Matrix to force Megatron to forget these visions, though how much knowledge he himself retains is unknown.
Before the Autobots leave for Cybertron on the Ark II, Optimus Prime gives Spike Witwicky a piece of the Matrix to safeguard during their journey. The Ark II crashes, but when Spike and Optimus are reunited, Spike returns the piece to him. Optimus uses the complete Matrix of Leadership to awaken his deactivated troops and call them to him.
After returning to Cybertron, a chain of events ultimately leads Optimus Prime to a confrontation with Shockwave in the chamber containing Vector Sigma. Shockwave transforms and blows open Optimus Prime, claiming the Matrix for himself and using it to access Vector Sigma's databanks. Shockwave was defeated by Ultra Magnus and the Matrix returned to Optimus Prime, but the forceful removal of the Matrix from his body combined with the long period of time spent without it caused a great deal of trauma to his systems, necessitating an extended session in a CR chamber to recover, and suggesting that at least in the Dreamwave comics the Matrix actually integrates with the systems of its holder to some degree rather than merely residing inside them.
Beast Wars
In the 1990s animated series, Beast Wars and Beast Machines series, the nature of the Matrix was explored and evolved.
These series used "The Matrix" as a term that referred not merely to the physical object, but to an actual other-dimensional realm - the Transformer afterlife also called the Allspark, the well of all sparks that are, have been, or ever shall be. From the Allspark springs all Transformer life, and when a Transformer dies, their spark returns to the Allspark, sharing its life experience with the collective, creating a huge store of accumulated wisdom and knowledge. Understanding this, it can be retroactively assumed that the physical Matrix object wielded by Autobot leaders in the cartoon continuity is not simply a storehouse of knowledge itself, but rather, a gateway to this afterlife realm. Similarly, this also explains its ability to bestow life as seen in the comic book continuity - by transferring a spark from the Allspark through its connection to the realm.
(According to the story editors, the Matrix was also used as a nickname in the Beast Wars series for the facility which produced Maximal protoforms, though this information was never introduced in the show.)
Universe: Primeval Dawn
After the Beast Wars, Tarantulas was reborn, intending to use his new Vok powers to steal the Matrix and warp reality to his liking. To protect the timestream, the Vok took the Matrix of Leadership from the unconscious Optimus Prime residing within the Ark, used it to create Primal Prime, then gave the Matrix to their new creation. In the following battle, however, Tarantulas was able to overpower Primal Prime and rip the Matrix from his body.
(Note: In the Beast Wars cartoon, Prime's spark was shown to be contained in a Matrix-like vessel. In Primeval Dawn, that vessel was shown to be merely a container for his spark, and the actual Matrix was hidden underneath.)
Unicron Trilogy
Animated continuity
Optimus Prime tried to pass the Matrix on to Hot Shot before he warped into space with Jetfire, but Hot Shot refused it, not feeling himself worthy.
When Optimus died standing purposefully in the path of the Hydra Cannon blast meant for Earth, Prime's Mini-Con partner Sparkplug held on to the Matrix, floating helplessly until rescued.
Later, it was the Mini-Cons who resurrected Prime, entering the Matrix and reconstructing a new body for him. Some time later, Unicron forced Prime to face the fact that on some level he enjoyed the thrill of combat. Following Unicron's defeat, Galvatron challenged Optimus to one final, furious battle. Prime choose to discard the Matrix at this time, flinging it into the void of space, so that he could battle Galvatron not as the leader of the Autobots, but as himself.
(How Optimus Prime got the Matrix back after this is uncertain.)
Note: Although in Energon Optimus Prime appears to have a permanent Matrix-like structure (complete with handles and all!) in his chest, this is not the case! The devise located in his chest is the Spark of Combination and not the Matrix of Leadership
In Transformers Cybertron, Optimus Prime uses the Matrix of Leadership to widen Vector Prime's dimension gates. Optimus Prime's distinctive cyber key is unique because of the influence of his Matrix.
Toys
Generation 1
- New Year Convoy (2002)
- He comes with the Matrix of Leadership!
- Galvatron II (2005)
- He comes with the Creation Matrix! It's green.
Robots in Disguise
- Optimus Prime (2000, 2001)
- Robots in Disguise Optimus Prime has a little door on his chest that hides a sculpted Matrix. It cannot be removed.
20th Anniversary/Masterpiece
- Optimus Prime (2003/2004)
- Japanese ID number: MP-01
- 20th Anniversary Optimus Prime includes a removable vacuum-metalized Matrix of Leadership that can also be pulled open.
- Ultra Magnus
- Japanese ID number: MP-02
- He had it too.
- Convoy Perfect Edition (2006)
- Japanese ID number: MP-04
- He still had it here.
Armada
- Optimus Prime (Super Base, 2002/2003)
- Japanese ID number: MC-01
- The large version of Armada Optimus Prime has a non-removable Matrix of Leadership behind the grill on his chest. This feature was kept for the various redecos of this mold.
Cybertron
- Optimus Prime (Leader, 2005)
- Japanese ID number: GC-01
- Cybertron Optimus Prime has a removable Matrix of Leadership in his chest. This feature was kept for the "Galaxy Force Optimus Prime" redeco.
Classics
- Optimus Prime (20th Anniversary DVD Edition, 2006)
- Yep, this version of the 20th Anniversary Optimus Prime mold still has the Matrix.
Trivia
- When asked about the visual design of the Matrix in an interview, Floro Dery's reply was, "The inspiration for the Matrix of Leadership is a thermonuclear bomb."[1] "Light our darkest hour" indeed.
