Thirteen
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The Thirteen are the first Transformers created by Primus, in imitation of Unicron's transformation abilities. Rightfully huge and powerful multiversal singularities like their creator, each was designated a Prime,<ref>A Hasbro Q&A response would later try to alter this. See Notes above.</ref> and given an aspect of the multiverse to guide over, as well as manning Primus's physical form—planet Cybertron. But power corrupts, and many of the Primes betrayed one another—with one even siding with Unicron—until few remained, secretly aiding or manipulating the next generations of Transformers.
Conceptual history
Despite how often their importance is trumpeted, the fact of the matter is, the concept of the Thirteen hasn't actually been around that long, hasn't been related in much detail, and hasn't been presented in a very linear manner. The development of the concept is described in this section to minimize confusion; for details of their history and actions in specific bits of fiction, see below.
The very earliest seeds of the Thirteen can probably be found in material produced by 3H Productions for BotCon, most notably 2000's "Covenant". This story introduces the undeniably similar concept of the Covenant, a group of twelve zodiac-themed Transformers who are the first creations of Primus, created as a test-run for the Transformer race. Despite the basic similarity between the Covenant and the Thirteen, though, the two groups have not been connected, and those same stories by 3H would ultimately contradict the later lore of the Thirteen by introducing Primon, a Matrix-bearer who preceded Prima, which should not be possible.
It was in the pages of 2004's Transformers: The Ultimate Guide that the mysterious "Thirteen Original Transformers" were first spoken of, and their basic origin was laid down: they were the first Transformers created by Primus to battle Unicron, and their number included Prima, the first Matrix bearer from the Marvel Comics series and The Fallen, an enigmatic servant of Unicron from Dreamwave Productions' 2003 comic, War Within: The Dark Ages. The book also noted that if Alignment had been published, the Liege Maximo, an ancient evil Cybertronian from the Generation 2 comics, would have been counted among them as well. Not surprisingly, it was the creator of all three of these characters, Simon Furman, who both wrote the guide and conceived the idea of the Thirteen<ref>Simon Furman panel, BotCon 2012</ref>, which was later taken and run with by Hasbro. While it was Furman who also created the Covenant, it is not yet known whether or not he was deliberately drawing upon his old idea when he introduced the Thirteen in this book.
The concept of the Thirteen quietly bubbled under for the next year, until another element was added with the introduction of Vector Prime in 2005's Cybertron series. Although presented merely as a very ancient Autobot in the original Japanese version of the Cybertron cartoon, Hasbro envisioned him as one of the Thirteen, and writer Forest Lee made this explicit in the first story produced for the Transformers Collectors' Club. This story also introduced the idea that all of the Thirteen were Primes, and that each had a specific function or purpose; Vector Prime's was stewardship of time, while a 2007 bio written for The Fallen's Titanium Series toy would later reveal he was the overseer of entropy.
While it was not immediately apparent, Hasbro had put a plan in motion for the Thirteen with the Collectors' Club comic: across the next five years, five separate robots were introduced who were gradually revealed to be components of a combiner, Nexus Prime, who was one of the Thirteen. During this five-year span, the subject of the Thirteen often came up at BotCon Q&A sessions, during which the idea of them being multiversal singularities solidified.
Also during this time, current Transformers comic license holders IDW Publishing spoke often of a potential comic book mini-series about the Thirteen to be written by Simon Furman, but this was eventually nixed, with Furman noting in 2009 that this was because it had "become more of a Hasbro thing than an IDW thing."<ref>Furman talks about the Thirteen in an interview on DeviantArt</ref> Hasbro's desire to control and fully conceptualize the story of the Thirteen was further made evident when, after Fun Publications'
Nexus Prime story concluded in the same year, they effectively took "custody" of the character as part of their future plans. This control, however, was evidently not all-encompassing: also in 2009, the Fallen made a surprising appearance as the titular villain of the second-live action Transformers film, Revenge of the Fallen, where he was a member not of a group of thirteen, but only seven Primes. Hasbro's October 2009 online Q&A retroactively justified this by explaining that while all the Thirteen were Primes, only seven actually had the word "Prime" in their names.
Eventually, in 2010, the grand scope of the new Aligned continuity family became the "delivery method" for Hasbro's long-percolating tale of the Thirteen. The novel Transformers: Exodus revealed Alpha Trion to be one of the Thirteen, and although this proved a bit questionable, as he had previously been shown to have an alternate evil "Shattered Glass" self, which a multiversal singularity should not, it did confirm the earlier allegation that not all the Primes had "Prime" in their name. The novel also revealed the Fallen's real name to be Megatronus Prime, and his pre-Fallen design was revealed at BotCon 2010, along with new designs for Prima, Vector Prime, Alpha Trion and the Liege Maximo, the latter now officially canonized as a member of the group. A year later, at BotCon 2011, Solus Prime was also named and revealed, and it was explained that each of the Thirteen represented one aspect of the Transformer race, their ranks also including a beast-mode Transformer and a Minicon. Solus would later factor into the Transformers: Exiles novel, which also introduced Amalgamous Prime and Alchemist Prime. Right around this time, the story of the Thirteen finally made the leap to the small screen, when, after years of being consigned to fan-targeted comics and convention panels, their origin tale was told in the Transformers: Prime episode, "One Shall Rise, Part 1".
And that's the story... so far!
Members
The following members of the Thirteen have been revealed:
- Prima, the first Matrix-bearer and first Transformer born from Cybertron, leader of the 13.<ref>Sentinel Prime was one of a dynasty of Primes, stretching back to the original 13 Transformers and their leader, Prima. — Transformers: The Ultimate Guide (2005) 1st ed p15, "Sentinel Prime"</ref> He was a warrior of light who used a Star Saber with the Matrix as its hilt.
- Megatronus Prime, formerly the guardian of entropy and warrior of darkness, now a herald of Unicron known as The Fallen.
- Alpha Trion who can see the past, present, and future, and who holds the Covenant of Primus and the Quill. He maintains a close relationship with Primus through Vector Sigma.
- Vector Prime, the guardian of space and time who spent most of his life outside the multiverse, observing it and occasionally stepping in to help.
- Nexus Prime, the first and greatest combiner, unpredictable, fascinated by change, and a lighthearted prankster.
- Solus Prime, a female weaponsmith.
- Liege Maximo, the ultimate evil counterforce of good.<ref>Liege Maximo was confirmed in Simon Furman's "Alignment" story as one of the Thirteen, but that story was "unofficial" and of debatable canonicity. He was later confirmed by Hasbro to be amongst the Thirteen, as part of their "Once Upon a Time on Cybertron" project at BotCon 2010.</ref>
- Alchemist Prime, co-founder of Cybertronian civilization.
- Amalgamous Prime, the trickster
- The first Transformer with a beast mode<ref>AllSpark.com live transcript of Archer and Alvarez's 2011 BotCon panel</ref>
- The first Mini-Con<ref>TFW coverage of Botcon 2011 Hasbro Story Building Panel</ref>
Fiction
Dreamwave Generation 1 comics
The Fallen was thwarted in his attempt to sabotage Primus's physical form, and the Thirteen allegedly died after casting The Fallen and his master Unicron through a black hole into another dimension. In truth, The Fallen was imprisoned in another dimension, while Alpha Trion kept watch over the Transformers in the Well of All Sparks while Primus entered his eternal sleep to hide Cybertron from Unicron. Transformers: The Ultimate Guide
Fun Publications
Vector Prime aided the Autobots in finding the Cyber Planet Keys to close the Unicron Singularity. He regularly reported their progress to Alpha Trion, but during one visit Unicron's servants Ramjet and Nemesis Prime attacked. Balancing Act Skyfall came to Cybertron looking for clues to his past, only to be attacked by Dark Scorponok, Balancing Act, Part 2 but his forcefield protected him. Ramjet offered him clues to his past in exchange for his soul service. Balancing Act, Part 3 They went to Primus's spark core to destroy him with the Dead Matrix, but Vector and Sentinel Maximus fought back. Balancing Act, Part 4 Ramjet said he would stop trying to kill Primus if Vector aided them in restoring the balance by resurrecting Unicron, but he refused. Balancing Act, Pt 5 Skyfall tried to save Ramjet but his forcefield only ignited an explosion that killed Ramjet. Revelations Part 1 Vector had drones repair Skyfall and found Omega Prime—Trion's creation from a Viron universe—had helped Sentinel defeated Nemesis. Omega's presence saddened Vector, as it confirmed the multiverse was falling apart, and he left. Revelations Part 2
Skyfall was helping Sentinel repair Vector Sigma, when Over-Run informed him he had found a twenty million cycle old carving of him and another bot. Revelations Part 4 Immediately during a battle between Mini-Con Autobots and Decepticons, Skyfall found Landquake. Revelations Part 5 The two seemingly vanished when Unicron attacked, Revelations Part 6 when they had been transported to Breakaway's universe, Crossing Over, Part 1 and the trio and went through a space bridge Crossing Over: Part 6 to find Topspin in Axiom Nexus. Cheetor and Silverbolt introduced the trio to Alpha Trion. However, Shockwave had Breakaway quietly subdued and taken to his laboratory. Transcendent: Part 1 Skyfall and Landquake realized Breakaway was gone, but Alpha Trion told them to come with him if they wanted to rescue their brother from the evil TransTechs. Transcendent: Part 2 He explained he was not from this dimension and was part of a resistance movement, introducing them to Topspin, whose job was to transfer their lowtech followers' sparks into their TransTech counterparts. Realizing Topspin was one of their kin, Skyfall and Landquake agreed to help. Transcendent: Part 3 Nightscream found Breakaway was being held near the portal to Alpha Trion's dimension, Transcendent: Part 4 and his acolytes attacked, rescuing Breakaway Transcendent: Part 5 and entering the transwarp device. Alpha Trion explained to Skyfall he was the key to the reunification, and stabbed and killed him as they entered his universe. Transcendent: Part 6
Despite his claim his was a peaceful world, Alpha Trion shot Downshift, and Breakaway realized Skyfall had been killed by an energy blade rather than shot from behind as the old Autobot claimed. Alpha Trion's troops arrived, took the four components and he proclaimed he would kill them all—as reunification still worked with one of them dead—and that his reign would begin. Reunification: Part 1 Landquake manipulated the raw energon and used smokebombs to escape with Topspin and Breakaway carrying Skyfall. Weeks later, after trying unsuccessfully to revive Skyfall, Reunification: Part 2 the Quintesson Aquarius appeared to take them to Megatron. Reunification: Part 3 Landquake explained their situation to the Decepticons, and Megatron asked Cyclonus to bring Heatwave, but then Cyclonus, revealing himself to be an agent of Alpha Trion, assassinated Megatron. Reunification: Part 4 Breakaway suggested they use their powers to revive Megatron, and found themselves in a white space with Skyfall and Primus. They made their choice: Nexus Prime was reborn. Reunification: Part 5 Nexus resurrected Megatron as Galvatron and defeated Omega Doom. Reunification: Part 6 Using Galvatron's gift of the Stellar Spanner, Nexus and Aquarius began dimension-hopping to find the shards of the artifact he had been entrusted with, so he could complete his memories. The Coming Storm: Part 1
Live-action film series
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The Primes were the guardians of the AllSpark, charged with replenishing it. They commanded Seekers and workers to find stars and replenish the AllSpark with their energy. The Fallen began seeing himself as the AllSpark's chosen one and began destroying solar systems with sentient life to replenish the Cube. His brothers warned him not to do it again, so The Fallen tried it again on Earth to lure them. Tales of the Fallen #3 The Fallen slaughtered all his brothers bar Prima himself, who gathered his brothers' lifeforce to trap The Fallen in his sarcophagus. Prima sacrificed himself to form a tomb with his brothers' bodies to hide the Matrix. Tales of the Fallen #4
A long time passed, and The Fallen was eventually dug up. From his prison, he pushed High Protector Megatron into forming the Decepticons. Defiance #2 Thousands of years later, Optimus Prime, the sole surviving descendant of the Primes to survive The Fallen's rampage, Revenge of the Fallen #3 had been killed. The Primes appeared to Sam Witwicky, giving him the Matrix to revive Optimus, and Optimus avenged The Fallen's brothers by killing him. Revenge of the Fallen
Aligned continuity
Legend says that Primus created the Thirteen to defeat Unicron. The Thirteen succeeded, and Unicron's defeated form was cast by them into space. One Shall Rise, Part 1
Statues of the Thirteen were created at some point after they defeafed Unicron One Shall Rise, Part 3
What is known about the Primes is that their war made "enemies of brothers, murderers of lovers, heroes of the insignificant, and cowards of the mighty". Allegiances formed and broke apart: Megatronus refused to bow before his brothers, and he believed he would be vindicated someday despite his destructive methods. The murder of one sent them across the stars, to battle among themselves for billions of cycles. Finally, there came a time when Prima had to relinquish the Matrix. Afterwards, the Covenant of Primus decreed Cybertron could only have one Prime at a time.
Alpha Trion remained on Cybertron, recording these events into the Covenant, and the Primes became myths doubted by some. Alpha Trion retreated into becoming the Archivist of the Hall of Records when Sentinel Prime, the High Council and the Guilds of Cybertron ignored his protests about the caste system. The Matrix did not bestow itself onto another until the unworthy Sentinel died, and Optimus Prime was imbued with it, while his nemesis had become known as Megatron, who like his namesake had come to destroy that he believed in. Exodus
Notes
- Transformers: The Ultimate Guide asserts that all of the Thirteen were destroyed in the early battle between Primus and Unicron, but the statement was disproven by the book itself, since it recounted how The Fallen was not destroyed but exiled to a transdimensional prison from which he later escaped. Fun Publications comics would later depict Vector Prime as the sole surviving member of the Thirteen, and then go on to introduce Nexus Prime as a co-survivor alongside him.
- The Ultimate Guide made mention of a rumor on Cybertron that Maccadam — proprietor of Maccadam's Old Oil House — was supposedly one of the 13 and that his bar existed outside the normal flow of space-time. The prose story "Prime Spark" confirms the latter half of that rumor, depicting the bar as a multiversal nexus of sorts, but it makes no revelations about Maccadam himself. Aaron Archer has declared that when the full identities of the Thirteen are revealed in the foreseeable future, Maccadam will not be among them. Moral of the story: rumors are dumb.
- According to the words the Last Autobot spoke "Since Cybertron's Creation, I have slumbered within the planet, awaiting a time long foreseen by your creator, Primus", it can be inferred that the Last Autobot might be one of the Thirteen.
- The Beast Wars Reborn text story establishes that Logos Prime—also known as Soundblaster—is an "ancient", has incredible powers over space and time, and is "one of [Vector Prime's] own", which all combine with his title to strongly suggest that he is one of the Thirteen. Additionally, the silhouetted image of the Thirteen produced by Yuji Kaida for TakaraTomy's World of the Transformers web site (written by Hirofumi Ichikawa, author of the Beast Wars Reborn story) includes a shadowed figure closely resembling Logos Prime, seemingly cementing TakaraTomy's (or at least Ichikawa's) intention that he be part of the group. However, a non-committal Hasbro Q and A answer suggests that they won't be including him in their definitive canonical list of Thirteen.
- In Hasbro Q&A on October, 2009 from The Allspark Forum, The Thirteen are referred to as "the Original Epic Warriors of Cybertron" by Hasbro.
- The notion of the Primes being originally huge is similar to early Revenge of the Fallen concepts where the Fallen dwarfed Optimus and was almost the size of a pyramid, as evident from Defiance #4 and the novelization.
- James Roberts came up with a completely different creation story for IDW Publishing's Transformers, just because he can. There is still an original group of Transformers and a war caused by treachery, but in that version the traitor is another god named Mortilus. Primus: You, Me, and Other Revelations
References
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