Unicron
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Image:Unicron.jpg Image:Unicron2.jpg Unicron is a fictional character from the Transformers universe and toyline. Able to transform from a metallic planet into a colossal robot, Unicron roams the galaxy, devouring other worlds in his path. In Cybertronian Mythology he is the eqivalant of the Devil.
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Generation 1
Unicron made his entrance into Transformers fiction in the opening scene of 1986's Transformers: The Movie, immediately making clear his driving goal by consuming the small world of Lithone in the year 2005. Subsequently, when the battered bodies of Decepticon leader Megatron and several of his troops were set adrift in space, Unicron appeared before them and offered Megatron a deal - in exchange for a new body, new troops and a new starship, he would destroy the Autobot Matrix of Leadership, the only thing that could stand in Unicron's way. Thus, Megatron became Galvatron, and began to carry out his assigned task, although he was loathe to do so; when Galvatron showed any signs of opposition to Unicron's will, Unicron inflicted agonising mental torture on his servant to bring him back into line.
Following Unicron's consumption of Cybertron's two moons, Galvatron successfully accomplished his mission, but with the Matrix in his hands, foolishly believed he could use it to bring Unicron under his control. Attempting to open the Matrix to intimidate Unicron, Galvatron only prompted his transformation into robot mode, and was swallowed by the planet-eater. Unicron proceeded to lay waste to Cybertron, briefly halted when the young Autobot, Hot Rod crashed a Quintesson spacecraft through his eye. Finding and battling Galvatron inside Unicron's body, Hot Rod reclaimed the Matrix and opened it within Unicron, destroying his body, leaving only his head drifting in space.
In Transformers: The Movie, Unicron (whose lips never moved when he spoke) was voiced by Orson Welles. Unicron proved to be Welles's final role, as he died a few weeks after completing work on the project; rumors persist that Welles did not complete recording of all his lines, and that Leonard Nimoy filled in for him, but director Wally Burr and actress Susan Blu refute the claim. There were two attempts to produce Unicron toys for the Transformers toyline, including voice clips from Welles himself, but the unimpressive results never made it to production.
Animated series
The third season of the Transformers animated series continued Unicron's story from where the movie left off, as the planet-eater's deactivated head settled into Cybertron's orbit, a grisly monument to the moons he had destroyed. His head was soon visited by Cyclonus, who accessed the memory bank to discern the fate of Galvatron, who had been hurled from Unicron through space by Rodimus Prime. Some time later, the ghost of deceased Decepticon Starscream reactivated Unicron's head and entered into a bargain with him, performing three labors in exchange for the restoration of his body. Starscream and Scourge gathered for Unicron Metroplex's eyes (breaking one and replacing it with one from Trypticon) and Trypticon's transformation cog, and then connected his head to Cybertron, which would become Unicron's new body. Starscream demanded that Unicron restore his own body so that he could complete the required connections; but once Unicron had done so, Starscream double-crossed him and refused to finish the job. Unicron's head was subsequently blown off into space by an explosion instigated by the Autobots.
Later, when searching for a new supply of anti-electrons, the Decepticons ventured to Unicron's head, where Cyclonus and Scourge accidentally awoke the slumbering demi-god. At the same time, Grimlock - who had gained super-intelligence through an infusion of anti-electrons - had constructed from pieces of Unicron's head the Technobots, and one of their number, Strafe, severed enough of Unicron's neural connections to shut him back down.
No more was heard from Unicron himself, but it was after this that his origin in the animated series was finally revealed. Unicron has been created near the beginning of the universe by the diminutive genius known as Primacron, who intended him to devour all life in the universe that it might be left a blank slate, which Primacron could then use as he saw fit. Unicron, however, turned upon Primacron, deciding that he would be the ruler of the galaxy, and set out into the universe to fulfil this destiny.
In the series, Unicron's role was taken on by Roger C. Carmel.
Marvel Comics
Controversy surrounded the revelation of Unicron's cartoon origin, with many fans taking a dim view of his origin as the creation of a primate. The wildly different origin for Unicron presented in Marvel Comics proved to be overwhelmingly more popular, and has shaped Unicron in fiction twenty years hence.
Far more than a mere product of science, as in the cartoon, Unicron was a fallen god from before the universe existed, who sought the ultimate peace that would be granted by the destruction of all life. Amazingly, Unicron accomplished this task, wiping out the universe and leaving only a formless void, and entering a deep sleep - but he had not been thorough enough. Tiny fragments of the old universe reacted with each other, and a new universe was born. And as Unicron slept, a defender arose to battle his evil - Primus, the Lord of Light. Unicron awoke and began to consume again, and he and Primus clashed many times, the force of their battle wiping out the life Primus sought to protect. To stop this physical destruction, Primus shifted the battle to the astral plane, where he fared little better, forcing himself into what seemed to be a sacrifice play - in shifting the battle back to the physical universe, Primus entrapped both himself and Unicron in two barren asteroids. But this was not the end of Unicron - over the eons, he learned to psionically shape his asteroid, and transformed it into a metallic planet... and then, again, into a gargantuan robot. Primus, to defend the universe against the threat of Unicron, turned his asteroid into the planet Cybertron; a planet that he populated with robotic beings that, like Unicron, could alter their forms. And thus were born the Transformers.
Marvel UK
This origin was not revealed immediately, however. Unicron's slightly convoluted comic tenure began in the United Kingdom's exclusive Transformers comic series, which interspliced its own original stores with reprinted American material. Jumping at the chance to work with a new cast of characters not involved in the American comics, writer Simon Furman decided to cannibalise the best elements of the movie and work them into his stories, creating a future universe based on the movie's events, but different from the cartoon. In the first use of this timeline, in the mega-serial, Target: 2006, Galvatron travelled back in time in an attempt to escape the control of Unicron, but Unicron was able to ensare the minds of three Autobots - Hot Rod, Kup and Blurr - and send them back in time after him to foil his plot. Though Unicron's role in the story itself was suitably minor, it offered the first glimpse of his greater mental power.
In the comics' version of post-movie events, Unicron's head did not enter Cybertron's orbit, and instead crash-landed on the Planet of Junk. Still active, Unicron used his vast mental powers to enslave the minds of the Junkion natives, who set about rebuilding his body. Cyclonus, Scourge and the bounty hunter, Death's Head, also fell prey to him, and he used them to exacerbate the stalemated war on Cybertron to keep the Autobots busy, so that they would not learn of his impending resurrection. When Death's Head fought back against Unicron's mental control, however, Unicron rewarded his temerity by revealing the comic book version of his origin. Death's Head then aided Rodimus Prime, projecting his mind into Unicron's where they battle, until Unicron's head was destroyed by explosives, and his essence was sealed within the Matrix. Rodimus and several other future Autobots subsequently travelled back in time to 1989 and participated in the "Time Wars," but when they attempted to return to their own time afterward, they discovered that disruptions to the timestream and erased their future, and replaced it with one where the Decepticons ruled Cybertron. In this dark future, Unicron's essence emerged from the Matrix and briefly took over Rodimus Prime, before he was thwarted by the removal of the Matrix from Rodimus's body. In 2010, however, Unicron attempted this again and succeeded, controlling Rodimus's body and reshaping it into his own image, before being defeated by Rodimus's own force of will.
Marvel US
In 1989, Simon Furman began writing the US Transformers series in addition to the UK comics, and immediately set in motion an epic Unicron-themed story. The alterations made to the timeline by time-travel and disruptions to the fabric of reality in the UK comic set the comic book universe on a path that would not lead into the post-movie timeline originally depicted as its future, and Unicron soon made his presence known to the Transformers much earlier than 2005.
A battle between the Autobot Classic Pretenders and the Decepticons' Mayhem Attack Squad at the centre of Cybertron had the unfortunate side effect of waking the slumbering Primus, who was stuck with a stray laser blast and awoke with a scream. Although he immediately sank back into slumber, Primus's scream echoed throughout the universe, to the fringes of known space... where Unicron heard it. Now aware of his old enemy's location, Unicron immediately headed towards Cybertron, but, seeking a herald to sow chaos in his name ahead of his coming, used his formidable powers to send three agents - Hook, Line and Sinker, forward in time to an alternate future version of 2009. In this timeline, Unicron had succeeded in consuming Cybertron in the year 2005, and Galvatron and the Decepticons ruled Earth. This timeline's version of Galvatron was pulled back to 1990 by Hook, Line and Sinker and press-ganged into Unicron's service, but, like his predecessors, turned on his master by forcing Emirate Xaaron to awaken Primus in hopes of destroying Unicron. Primus possessed Xaaron's form and attempted to hold off Unicron, bu he was weak, and his attack was a ruse, leading to his own destruction, which in turn succeeded in galvanising the Autobots and Decepticons to attack Unicron together. Ultimately, they did little damage, and many Transformers died before Optimus Prime was able to use the Matrix to destroy Unicron, exploding his body from within.
Beast Wars
Although the real Unicron did not make any appearances in 1996's CGI animated series, Beast Wars, his legend held strong. Starscream's ghost spun a lie that claimed Unicron had destroyed him, and when the mysterious alien race known as the Vok directly communicated with Maximal leader Optimus Primal, they searched his mind for an image that he would fear and respect, finding Unicron and taking his form.
Beast Wars II and Beast Wars Neo
Conversely, Unicron played a large role in the two Japanese-exclusive cel-animated Beast Wars series, Beast Wars II and Beast Wars Neo. Following the events of Transformers: The Movie and Unicron's demise, the Angolmois energy that gave Unicron life was left sealed in planet Gaia (a future version of Earth). When the war on this planet between the forces of Maximal leader LioConvoy and Predacon leader Galvatron (a different individual bearing the same name as Unicron's original creation) culminated in the explosion of Galvatron's Nemesis battle fortress, the resultant energy surge revived Unicron's consciousness. Seeking to complete his resurrection, he created the Blendtrons to gather the Angolmois Capsules his life-energy was now sealed in, and then proceeded to possess the lifeless body of Galvatron as a temporary host. After gathering the capsules, Unicron attempted to make Cybertron his new body, but was finally defeated by Maximal commander Big Convoy and his Matrix Cannon.
As with his G1 self, there was a failed attempt to make Unicron into a toy for the Beast Wars Neo line, and although regarded as quite impressive, the prototype - which, notably, does not resemble Unicron from the BWNeo series at all - did not make it into the production
Unicron Trilogy
Although Unicron had played a major role in the above-mentioned Japanese series, he had not been featured as a major player in American fiction for over a decade. That all changed with the advent of the three co-produced series Transformers: Armada, Transformers: Energon and Transformers: Cybertron, which reintroduced Unicron to American audiences and finally rendered the chaos-bringer in toy form, with the Mini-Con partner, Dead End. In reference to Unicron's key role in these three series, Hasbro's head of Transformers, Aaron Archer, has collectively dubbed them "The Unicron Trilogy."
This incarnation of Unicron was never shown to physically consume planets in the same manner as his G1 predecessor, only to blast and absorb the remains, although several references were made to consumption, so he may indeed perform the action. This Unicron was voiced by Mark Acheson in the US, while in Japan, Katsumi Chou provides his voice.
Transformers: Armada
A primal force of evil from the beginning of time, his origins lost to the mists of history, the Armada universe's incarnation of Unicron was the embodiment of all darkness and hate that lurks in the hearts of all beings. Having been defeated by the Autobot warrior, Omega Supreme, at some time in the ancient past of Cybertron, Unicron hid himself in plain sight of the Transformers, disguised as the planet's moon. In order to re-energise himself, Unicron implanted some of his own cells within Cybertron, where they grew and "hatched," giving birth to the diminuitive race of robots called the Mini-Cons. It was Unicron's intent that these small robots would increase the ferocity of the Autobot/Decepticon war, allowing Unicron to feed off the hatred that the war fomented - but as a result of interefence by human children, displaced in time from the 21st century, the Mini-Cons developed sentience, and fled Cybertron, crashing on Earth, where they lay dormant for a million years. And Unicron waited.
The subsequently awakening of the Mini-Cons once again increased the pace of the war, and to hasten the proceeding, Unicron created another being from his own body, Sideways, to serve as his agent for the purpose of constantly manipulating the events on Earth to keep the balance of power forever shifting, the ferocity of both sides constantly increasing. At the culmination of his plan, the Decepticons came into possession of all three Mini-Con weapons - the Star Saber, the Skyboom shield and the Requiem Blaster - which Sideways and Thrust then stole and used to reactivate Unicron. Shedding his lunar skin, Unicron transformed to robot mode and turned on Cybertron as the combined Autobot/Decepticon armada attempted in vain to stop him. Optimus Prime and Megatron (now Galvatron) entered his body with the human children, and Unicron addressed them through Sideways's form, absorbing all but Optimus into his collective consciousness and brining the Mini-Cons back under his control. However, from within Unicron's mind, Rad was able to use his connection to High Wire to restore the Mini-Cons' individual minds, freeing the weapons and deactivating Unicron. With the danger apparently over, Galvatron challenged Prime to a final battle, but the hatred between the foes stirred Unicron to life again, and Galvatron realised that to break the circle, he had to sacrifice himself. Plunging himself into Unicron's maw, Galvatron ended the hatred, and in a mighty flash, Unicron vanished without a trace...
Transformers: Energon
Alas, it was not to be, for there is always hate in the universe, and so there would always be a Unicron. However, Unicron's body was inactive, badly damaged from his previous battle, and it was at this time that a former victim of his chose to strike. Within Unicron's shell, the spark of Alpha Q, ruler of Planet Q, which Unicron had consumed in the past, still existed, and from Unicron's body, he created the Terrorcons to gather Energon, which he would use to regenerate all the worlds Unicron had devoured. However, Megatron's corpse and spark remained within Unicron, and slowly siphoned off some of the gathered Energon, allowing him to be reborn in his own new body. Alpha-Q then jettisoned Unicron's head and escaped in it, while Megatron took over Unicron's body, and continued to gather Energon in order to rebuild Unicron to use as his ultimate weapon. As the climax of this plan neared, a joint attack by Alpha-Q, the Autobots and their human allies saw all of Earth's Energon channeled into Unicron's head, which Alpha-Q then rammed into Unicron's body. The positively-charged Energon of Earth reacted with the negatively-charged Energon running through Unicron, tearing open a fissure in reality leading to a new area of space where planets Unicron consumed were recreated, and sustained through the Energon radiated from Unicron's head, which had now become a glowing red sun. Unicron's body, damaged once more, lay in the dark reaches near the fissure, and the Decepticons began to raid Alpha-Q's new planets for the Energon necessary to revive Unicron again. This time, they succeeded, and Megatron directed Unicron's body to retrieve his head, extinguishing the Energon Sun and killing Alpha-Q in the process. But the power of Unicron proved too much for Megatron to control, as Unicron began to take over Megatron's body. In the ensuing battle between Unicron and the super-powered Optimus Supreme, Unicron's body was successfully destroyed - but unbeknownst to anyone, he lived on in two forms: his miniscule Spark, and his consciousness, which lay buried in Megatron's mind. With quiet, subconscious nudgings, Unicron led Megatron to a massive reservior of "Super Energon" beneath Cybertron's surface, which transformed him into Galvatron upon his first exposure. After a series of failed battles, Galvatron proceeded to expose himself to the Super Energon once again, and this time grew to a gigantic height. Unicron seized control of his body again for a new vessel and set out to rejoin with his Spark, but a Primus-empowered Optimus Supreme engaged him in battle once more, and drew all of Unicron's consciousness out of Galvatron and sealed it within his own Spark. Enraged, Galvatron prepared to destroy Unicron's Spark, but it merged with him, enlarging him again, leading to another battle with Optimus Supreme, this time bolstered by the combined energy of all his troops' Sparks. Meanwhile, Primus merged with the Super Energon, creating a foundling sun which arrived at the site of the battle. Taking control of his body for a brief moment, Galvatron once again sacrificed himself in order to stop Unicron, plunging himself into the infant sun, which ignited and gave new life to Alpha-Q's worlds.
Transformers: Cybertron
The place in this trilogy of Transformers: Cybertron is somewhat harder to define. The storyline for the series conceived by Hasbro and consistently used on their toy packaging clearly marks it as the third part of a trilogy - with Unicron's destruction in Energon, the collapse of his body resulted in the creation of an enormous black hole which, if left unchecked, will consume and destroy everything. This necessitates that the Autobots find the Omega Lock and the four Cyber Planet Keys to save Cybertron and the universe.
However, the direction the story has been taken in by the Japanese production team responsible for the animated series does not follow this. Mention of Unicron in the story is only in casual, passing manner, and in general, the events do not seem to line up with the end of the Transformers: Energon series.
It was recently announced that a new Unicron figure will be released at the end of the Cybertron toy line as a Deluxe-class figure with a tank-like alternate mode[1], apparently as an indication that Unicron cannot truly die, since, as the embodiment of evil, he is a balancing force in the universe. The character did not appear at the conclusion of the Japanese version of the Cybertron animated series (Transformers: Galaxy Force), and it is unknown at this time if any additional footage will be made for Cybertron that shows this rebirth.
However it is far more likely that his re-birth will be chronicles in the Transformers Collectors Club comic. This comic follows the events of other autobot and decepticons during the events of Transformers: Cybertron seprate from the Cast of the TV show. In this story, the Black hole contains Unicrons essance and also links him simotaniously to all Cybertrons across the Multiverse giving him the potential to wipe out Primus in one fell swoop. This course is currently being held at bay by Transformers from across the Multiverse usually consisting of characters derived from Convention and Club exclusives as well as Cybertron figures that play no role in the televesion series.
Dreamwave Comics
Although Dreamwave Productions' Unicron Trilogy comics were cut short halfway through their Transformers: Energon series, they were able to establish a very important piece of information that would be used to shape Unicron's story in future fiction. The Armada comic established that its version of Unicron did not merely consume worlds and seek the destruction of the singular universe - it moved from universe to universe, throughout the entire multiverse, destroying entire realities and moving on to the next until all of causality and existence was completely obliterated. Although Unicron's coming into the Armada universe was forestalled by Optimus Prime and Jetfire, he eventually arrived, only to be destroyed by the power of the Mini-Con Matrix, without even transforming to robot mode. As in the cartoon, of course, he survived, but here, Alpha Q was a go-between directly employed by the crippled Unicron to interact with other beings. Alpha Q showed signs of rebelling against Unicron, but the series was cancelled before these plot threads could come to fruition.
Across the Multiverse
Although all the above related accounts seem to depict different characters in different scenarios, as more time has passed, more fiction has been written which steadily ties all the different incarnations of Unicron together, resulting in the declaration of one fact - that across the multiverse, in all realities, there is only one, singular Unicron, who travels from dimension to dimension.
This concept began with the release of a series of Transformers: Armada trading cards by Fleer. The biography printed on Unicron's card presented him to be one of two heralds created by the Allspark to explore the newly-birthed universe. Inspired by his Marvel Comics origin, the other herald was Primus, and the brothers set about this task, until they came upon a region of space teeming with pure Energon. Unicron wanted this power for himself, and cut Primus down before he could report it to the Allspark, casting his brother's body into the orbit of a nearby star. And so Unicron went on to become the engine of destruction that menaced the universe in recent years.
Not long after this, the publication of Transformers: The Ultimate Guide by Dorling Kindersley cemented this notion. Writer Simon Furman incorporated the various aspects of the Dreamwave Comics story, some elements of the Fleer storyline and his original Marvel Comics origin to create what is now essentially the "definitive" origin for Unicron. In this version of events, Unicron and Primus were again twin heralds, giant metal planetoids created by the "One", who were sent to explore the universe. But Unicron was an imperfect being and turned to evil, adapting his form to transform into a giant robot. To battle him, The One gave Primus this power also, but Primus opted to remain in planet mode, and passed the Transforming powers on to thirteen robots that he created from himself - the first Transformers. One of the thirteen turned on Primus and sided with Unicron, however, and the war culminated in a battle that saw Unicron and this traitor, the "Fallen," sucked through a black hole into another universe.
This new origin is part of the new G1 timeline laid down by the Ultimate Guide (apparently the timeline of the Dreamwave comics, but that has been debated), which is apparently being taken as the "official" G1 timeline for future projects that require it. This then means that canonically, there is only one Unicron, who has travelled from universe to universe across all the assorted Transformers continuities. This interpretation of the character has been evidenced by both the parallel-universe spanning Transformers: Universe toyline and convention-exclusive comic books - in which the singular Unicron captured Transformers from various alternate realities and pits them in battle against each other, feeding off the energies released - the most seriously, the exclusive Transformers: Cybertron comic strip in the Transformers Collectors' Club fan magazine, which depicts Unicron's actions in the various realities in a chronological order, and even goes so far as to establish Cybertron as the stable heart of the multiverse.
The idea of a singular Unicron and Primus has met with mixed reaction from fans, but for now, the idea remains the official take on the subject. Nevertheless, it does require some alteration of established storylines to properly function, most notaly the Generation 1 animated series.
Trivia
- The Armada figure (and its Energon repaint) came with its own Mini-Con, which transforms into a cannon-equipped 'moon' to Unicron's 'planet', looking not too dissimilar to the Death Star of Star Wars fame. Unicron's Mini-Con was originally going to be called Nebulon, a re-use of the official species name for the Head/Target/Powermaster partners. However, the name was changed to Dead End, re-using a name of one of the original Stunticons. A multitude of these Mini-Cons were featured in the cartoon adaptation of Armada, although they were portrayed more as immutable drones (stuck in their 'moon' mode) instead of sentient Transformers.