Haha well I don’t really have much of an opinion on Unicron beyond “Welp, he’s out there somewhere I guess?” because generally like IDW!Shockwave- he’s used as a plot point rather than a character in most TFS narratives. I’ve seen the fan theories about how Unicron’s responsible for almost every shitty thing that happens- but he’s kinda like Hitler or Voldermort y’know?
I mean- he’s there, but you don’t really know him as a “person” more than a “concept” so you just go about your shipping and squeeing with barely a “yeah Unicron end of the world, Voldermort whatever.” because ultimately for a fan- Unicron isn’t really relatable beyond his representation as “THE BIG BAD END”.
So unless things change or Unicron’s character is expanded in some meaningful way beyond his role as “Robo-Hitler-Voldermort-Satan”, I doubt there’d be much interest in him as a character.
Can’t recall if it’s a canon somewhere or if it was fanon/ read in a fic once, but there’s been those ideas floating around of Unicron/Primus being necessary parts of death/life cycle. And that… just like the grim reaper in western human lore… people just don’t like him cuz they fear death/ the end of existence. But to that end, Unicron would defend his purpose by saying “nothing can or should live forever, for things must end so that others may begin”. He just… has a tendency to be violent/big/abrupt about said end, haha.
It could be cool to see a convo between Unicron and Primus in which Unicron admits it’s strange to harbor signs of life on his body, when all his existence his purpose had been for death, and how Primus, once buzzing with activity, sits hollowed and lifeless after centuries of war…
fuzz has a better answer here~ (๑˃ᴗ˂)ﻭ
(Although I honestly think that the only reason why they make Unicron our Earth- is to explain to the audience why the Cybertronians would want to come to our mudball lol. But there are meaningful ways of expanding on that “plot point” and to make it more than just a convenient excuse- which tbh in canon is taken for granted most times.)
But yeah, I would love to have an actual conversation between Unicron and Primus the way that canon material has OP and Megs interacting. In that through their long history of conflict/interaction their outwardly antagonistic relationship had somehow morphed into something deeper and more complicated than simple hate or opposition. <– this is the sort of meaningful expansion of “character” that would probably generate more interest in Unicron.
Rather than having Unicron just yelling down at whatever poor sod/crazy idiot who thought it’d be a good idea to sell their soul to Unicron lol. They could actually make him more appealing as a character- more Lord Vetinari/Mephistopheles rather than Voldermort/Satan.
(Wouldn’t it be interesting if Unicron approaches OP and seduces him to the “Dark Side” in the guise of greater good and plays him off Megs instead? Rather than having Megs be Galvatron-ized again…)
This one’s trickier because Unicronians are largely a myth, to Cybertronians. Unicron is a spooky boogeyman who couldn’t have possible existed, right? R-right?
But Primus! Primus is the ground upon which they walk, the wellspring from which all life comes! Primus is the sparks of those who have been, and those who are yet to come. Primus is the intelligence deep at the core of Cybertron. Sometimes it still ‘talks’ to it’s children. Primus is viscerally real to Cybertronians, as opposed to Unicron, and thus…all cybertronians are considered to be, in some respect, the avatars of Primus.
An ideal Cybertronian would do as a proper avatar. They are brightly-colored with shiny metallic portions, their paint fresh and flawless, their optics and biolights bright and reactive. Their EM fields open and unshielded, welcoming.
And then we have Primes.
Primes are the living angels of Primus- Matrices are powerful and their wielders often more powerful than they ever know, or have the capability to unlock. The original 13 were equal parts physical and energy being in truth, and had abilities that would be considered downright magical or inexplicable by most- in fact, many of their abilities are assumed to be exaggeration, or the result of histories being written with a strong bias.
Primes may appear completely typical outwardly, but their EM fields may be unusually ‘loud’ to others around them- and when excess energy is being used the nanites that suffuse Cybertron’s atmosphere may alight around them, framing them in structures of light- halos, texts, a sort of living, surrounding shield of displays. This usually cues in a cybertronian as to the unworldly nature of something like a Prime, or something equally powerful.
(This is heavily influenced by the Marvel comics’ take on Transformers history – the idea that Primus created Cybertronians to one day battle Unicron.)
Skyfire’s voice was soft, but the venom in it was palpable: ”You created us for war, split us into two kinds, and then left us alone – what did you think was going to happen?”
“Even if I had anticipated this,” the holomatter avatar of their creator said gently, “I would not have intervened, for I made you free beings to determine your own path, not mindless automatons to die in my war.”
“And yet you did make us to die in your war – you just let us bumble around killing each other first for – what? practice?… or was it to assuage your conscience by letting you think you were giving us a choice about what to do when the planet-eating abomination turned up?”
“Neither, my dear one,” Primus murmured, and as the avatar slid two fingers under Skyfire’s chin and coaxed him to meet his optics, the planet itself – Primus’s actual body – thrummed with energy beneath them. "It was to give my creations a chance to change and grow… into astonishing people like you.“
In Transformers: Prime we know several things about Primes, but very little is actually explicitly stated, so I wanted to gather up some pieces to make a point.
My understanding based on the series is that Prime is an institution of its own, a totally independent and limitless position of power above and outside all other institutions of power in Cybertronian society.
Primes are leaders. Exceptional individuals who wield great powers, like mythical swords and the Matrix. Optimus seems to have become unquestioningly the leader of the entire Autobot army just by being a Prime. He has the final word in everything, he is the highest ranking bot in every situation, he can call on his entire species like call them home or to battle, and he also is the spokeperson for them, considering he has made first contact with humans on Earth. There’s no question of the absolute, tremendous power that a Prime has.
In the end of the first season, Ratchet explains to the children how Optimus came to be a Prime in the first place, and he mentions that Megatron and Orion went to see the High Council, the governing power of Cybertron. High Council, as far as we know, is the government with power to make laws, but considering how concentrated Cybertron’s power was in their previous system, we can easily make the assumption that the High Council is also the court system, and most likely the law enforcement is also under it. Ratchet tells the children that Megatron went there to make demands and be named the next Prime, but that Orion was “truly worthy” of the title before the Council.
However, I argue that the Council is completely irrelevant in this matter. Based on Ratchet’s description they seem to be the ones to *see a worth of true Prime* or *give away a title*, but based on all the other things that we know of Primes, I say that the Council can merely make a recommendation of some sort. In other words, they can name a candidate, a bot who may set out to test if they can become a Prime. The High Council doesn’t make the decision who becomes a Prime, but who may try, and even that might be a formality with no real power behind it.
Only Primus himself can truly appoint a Prime.
We know that Primus created the first thirteen Primes, the now mythical first creations, the ones before everything, and all other Primes that came after them are the same. During the Unicron arc of TFP the “power of a Prime” is brought up, and later again when the Starsaber is introduced. The power of a Prime is not just Optimus’ skill in battle (albeit considerable), or just his physical strength, it’s something that allows him to defeat the Chaos-Bringer, Primus’ counterpart, and wield mythical weapons left behind by the previous Primes. It comes from within him, and manifests itself in pure energy.
We know that this power comes from the Matrix of Leadership, and that the Matrix was granted to Optimus directly by Primus after he went to Cybertron’s core to face him. This is also the instant that Orion Pax changes his name to Optimus Prime, as well as gets an upgrade, transforming an ordinary bot into a Prime. Even though we are led to believe (by Ratchet’s narration) that Orion was named a Prime by the Council, we are very clearly shown that the actual transformation into a Prime happened before Primus.
Now, based on this I argue that the institution of a Prime is entirely separate from all other bodies of power. It is divine, and since only Primus can make someone a Prime, it would make sense to think that only Primus can unmake a Prime.
It is a position of absolute leadership, granted by Primus. There are no rules or laws for a Primes.
Prime is independent, unchecked, unchallenged and absolute.
I don’t know how comfortable I am with the realisation that energon mined from Cybertron is Primus’s life blood, and that Cybertronians could be drinking the literal essence of their God. And because none of that is ever replenished because of Primus’ dormancy, they’re sucking a god dry.
But Primus made them that way. He made them drink His own blood. He ultimately made them to fight against Unicron. He sacrificed Himself for the greater good. For His children to prosper and become a force to be reckoned. yo
The Thirteen having to deal with bad manufacturing since they were Primus’s first creations and basically His trial run. He may be a god but even gods make mistakes their first time around 🙂
Plugs accidentally popping out of ports during plug’n’play because Primus forgot to add the command code to keep them locked in.
When their vocalizer is taxed, be it from yelling, emotional stress, or otherwise, the vocalizer is unable to handle it because Primus didn’t expect them to be so dang emotional, and it ends up making a grating monotone sound until the bot calms down and the vocalizer cools off.
Having to reinforce their own spark chambers because it was all too easy for the code to activate them to open while sharing a powerfully emotional event.
Optics leaking at random times because their body was producing too much coolant [Primus didn’t realise how often His creations would sit around doing activities that didn’t require that much coolant]. Despite most of them getting this corrected quickly, Liege Maximo somehow missed out on that and people he talked to often recalled him crying for no reason. He claims he’s just so passionate about what he’s talking to them about, selling them on believing him a lot more easily. Also, he’s an angry crier because of this.
A Prime’s spark being knocked out of alignment because Primus forgot to add secure latches, and feeling effects similar to when you take drugs, and a sense of weightlessness despite having both feet on the ground. One can only imagine how trippy this experience would be for Matrix-bearing Prima.
all that weld porosity because He did n ‘t c lean the cfucknging metal before we ld ing it
Their interface panels accidentally springing open during combat because Primus thought it was a good idea to have them manually activated, and carelessly bumping into the panel can accidentally brush against the trigger to open it. So, you can only imagine how embarrassing sparring/combat was. Likewise, interface panels being jammed because Primus’s molding accidentally melted over the button to open the interface panel.
Limbs just popping off when touched because the sensors overreact to the sensation and the joint was too loose to keep the limb in place. Likewise, parts of their plating falling off because Primus has a knack for incomplete fusion when it comes to welding two piece s of fukng metal together
Adding on to that, when Nexus Prime first tried to combine, his entire body basically disassembled. It took Primus a decacycle to put him back together. A very messy process when you add in energon lines popping out everywhere. Cue the traumatizing visual. Thank Primus that he created the Thirteen. Imagine what would happen if you tried combining and He hadn’t had Nexus Prime to test it out first.
Amalgamous Prime getting stuck mid transformation because his cog wasn’t big enough to reach all the parts needed to transform.
Sleepwalking because Primus forgot to add a shutdown function. Quintus Prime refused to have this fixed on the grounds that sleepwalking was a perfect counterpart to his daydreaming. That doesn’t make sense but neither does Primus letting him keep the Emberstone after he created the Quintessons ᵖʳᶦᵐᵘˢ ᵃʳᵉ ʸᵒᵘ ᵒᵘᵗ ᵒᶠ ʸᵒ ᵈᵃᵐᶰ ᵐᶦᶰᵈ
Solus Prime’s first hands were of those where the molding fused the fingers so she can’t bend them. Primus fixed that as soon as possible when He realised how loudly she could complain.
Primus getting frustrated with sculpting/molding hands and faces [and in the MTMTE continuity, legs lmao, goddammit milne you make it impossible to find leg references] because it’S HARDDDD.
One of them was once bedazzled to the max. Megatronus was not pleased. Another had a ridiculous amount of biolights compared to the others because Primus wanted to go all out on his OCs. Suffice to say that the design was not good and Vector Prime had to beg Primus to build him a new body in order for the others to take him seriously.
The Thirteen asking what that weird hunk of metal is that sits in the corner of a room, to which Primus admits was His first attempt at creating one of them, and it ended poorly because He didn’t know how to sculpt very well. To which the Thirteen were grateful that they didn’t turn out like that, and despite all the issues they had to suffer because of Primus’s incompetence in sculpting living beings, at the end of the day, they were proud to be Primus’s firsts.
I am? never going to be over how this sequence from the MTMTE Annual is the most Jack Kirby-looking thing not actually drawn by Jack Kirby I’ve ever seen.
Cybertronian Database 