Putting it out there right now; the Age of the Primes toys have been legitimately fantastic, easily one of the best toylines in years. Admittedly, it has a lot of stiff competition with the likes of Legacy and WFC beforehand, but it remains true that AOTP is continuing the age of high quality toys and I plan to get pretty much all of it (bar the Aerialbots, but that's just a personal taste).
What disappoints me, however, is the general lack of fiction surrounding this part of the franchise. As someone who got back into collecting through a combination of Transformers: Prime and the Prime Wars trilogy, both of these entries had stories and characters to help entice me into buying the toys. Granted, less so with the latter due to how poorly the Machinima trilogy of Transformers web shows were handled, but the point remains that the existence of fiction helped to sell (so to speak) the importance of these characters and the universe they inhabit. Who knows? Maybe they saw how badly the overall reaction to the WFC Netflix series went, and chose to prioritise Earthspark and Cyberworld instead. If that's the case, then it is understandable as to why they wouldn't commit to a fully animated series dedicated to one of the most divisive aspects of recent Transformers lore; the 13 Primes.
But y'know what? I love seeing this franchise get more animated attention after the bad reputation that came about following the live-action movies. Thus, I'm providing just a general outline of what I feel a story based on AOTP could turn out. I'll go further in depth on certain details (main characters, villains, themes, etc), but this is otherwise just general fan-wanking and wish self-fulfilment.
With all that out of the way, let's finally begin.
The Set-Up:
Generally speaking, the universe we'll find ourselves in will have the usual set-up; Autobots, Decepticons, leaving Cybertron to find resources, landing on Earth, etc. In this case, the War has been waged on Earth for the better part of 10 years, and humans are fully aware of their existence. And generally speaking, humanity is split; there are humans who fully support the Autobots and are willing to back them in the battle against Megatron (G.B Blackrock, the Witwicky's, the Malto's, etc) , but there are also humans that are distrustful of the whole race because of the damage caused by the War. There isn't a paramilitary force dedicated to destroying them (because that would be really stupid and unnecessary for the story I'm telling), but major political figures and world powers are still uncertain about the conflict.
And in one of these battles, with both Optimus and Megatron on the field (let's have it be at a hydroelectric dam, because why not), something bizarre happens; the arrival of one of the original 13 Primes. In this case, it would be the eternally wise sage, Alpha Trion. He appears through a portal in the middle of the field, catching both leaders off guard as he had been believed to have gone offline millennia ago. Because of Alpha Trion's arrival, both sides stop fighting; Prime, because he is stunned to see his mentor again, and Megatron, because he respects the archivist enough to figure out how and why he's even here. He may be a power hungry tyrant, but that doesn't make him so dumb as to ignore the obvious.
Anyways, a temporary empasse is made and both leaders give Alpha Trion the chance he needs to explain. He had indeed died shortly after the war originally broke out on Cybertron, reuniting with 7 of the Primes in the afterlife; in this flashback, at least 5 of the Primes are missing, which will be important later. What changed, however, is the very spirit of Primus appearing before the 8 and announcing the arrival of a dark force in the universe that threatens all of existence. And this entity, revealed partway through this story to be Dark Nova, is so grand, that only the combined power of the 13 can stand a chance against it. To this end, Primus uses his power to bring the Primes back to life and sends them on a quest to find the 5 remaining Primes who have scattered across the universe.
Hence, why Alpha Trion is here; he's seeking out Optimus, his sole apprentice from his days as Orion Pax the data clerk/dock worker, to see if he would be willing to join him in finding the other Primes. He isn't forcing him to do so, as he is also aware of the War that has arrived on Earth, but he still leaves the option for him should he decide to join. Naturally, while Optimus would be willing to go with Alpha Trion to help him on his quest, the War with Megatron is basically at the forefront of everything right now and the Earth needs him there to lead the Autobots.
But here's where the surprise happens; Megatron is willing to put the War to a halt and even offers his own services in finding the Primes. His reasoning is two-fold; firstly, while he desires to conquer Cybertron, Earth, and so on, he can't exactly do that if the universe ends up destroyed. It's mainly out of self-interest that Megatron is willing to lay down his arms and help find the Primes. His second reason, however, is somewhat more personal; Megatronus Prime, who was one of the Primes absent from the afterlife, was the one he respected the most for his warrior pride and reported feats of strength, hence why he named himself after him. He wants to meet Megatronus in the flesh (so to speak) to learn more about him. He's not going full fanboy, as he is far removed from his D-16 days as an downtrodden miner with grand visions for his home, but he wants to see if the supposed strongest Prime lives up to the legend.
From here, we can see the reactions of both sides to all of this, and it is mixed to say the least; for the Autobots, most of them are on board with Optimus helping Alpha Trion in finding the other Primes, but a handful are sceptical about all of this because of Megatron joining in on this quest. Ratchet, Ironhide, and Prowl in particular think that Megatron will pull a fast one as soon as they leave. Soon, Optimus is able to convince them to trust him if nothing else, as he knows that he and Alpha Trion can at least keep Megatron in his place. With that, Optimus leaves both Ultra Magnus and Prowl in joint command, not noticing that Elita-One is following him as he leaves.
Meanwhile with the Decepticons, they are FAR less receptive; Starscream thinks that Megatron is just taking the chance to meet his "idol", Soundwave has a general distrust of the Primes due to having been abused by the previous caste system Cybertron had, and Shockwave is doubtful of whether what Alpha Trion said was even the truth. The latter two only agree to let Megatron go due to their loyalty to him, but Starscream is another story; he has to be threatened to keep his trap shut if he values his life, which is about on point for the dynamic between him and Megatron. Regardless, he leaves Soundwave and Shockwave to handle the logistics while Starscream handles military operations; although the pair still come to blows for their leadership differences, Megatron recognises that Starscream is competent when he doesn't let his ego get in the way.
From here, Optimus and Megatron meet up with Alpha Trion on neutral ground, but just as they're about to find the first Prime on their journey, they end up under attack from a swarm of drone-like creatures, which the sage identifies as Dark Nova's troops known as Novaroids. They aren't that powerful, but their sheer numbers start to overwhelm them, even with Optimus and Megatron doing surprisingly well fighting side-by-side. Eventually, just when everything seems lost, Elita-One shows up and uses her Outlier ability to momentarily freeze the Novaroids in place, thus allowing them to fight off the drones until they're forced to retreat. Using her power drains Elita-One somewhat, which Optimus reprimands out of concern, but she is able to pick herself up. She explains that she followed Optimus here for two reasons; the first being that she didn't trust Megatron to keep his word for a parley, and the other being that she goes wherever Optimus does as both a warrior and his Sparkmate.
Reluctantly, Optimus lets her come with them, with Megatron saying it's only fair that he'd bring one of his own followers as well. It's here that he calls out Starscream, who had also followed him in secret but chose to avoid the battle, believing that "he could handle himself just fine"; in other words, he was hoping that the attack would get Megatron killed so he could take leadership for himself. Nonetheless, with Starscream there, we round out our 5-man band; Alpha Trion leading (though more of an advisory role), Optimus as his lancer, Starscream having the smarts (with his own agenda, because of course), Megatron the muscle, and Elita-One making sure the latter two don't go back on their words.
With the team assembled, Alpha Trion opens up a portal to the location of the next Prime and they follow him in. As they do and the portal closes, a nearby cliff face fades away and reveals a new robotic figure; Dark Nova's personal herald, Sideways. He notes that the "pieces are falling in place", and transforms before jetting off to his next destination; the location of the great manipulator, Liege Maximo.
Cut to black, end credits.
Conclusion for Part 1:
The primary thing that I wanted to establish from the start was the general tone and goal for this story; not just another story of Autobots and Decepticons fighting each other, but an inter-galactic adventure that puts larger emphasis on the differing viewpoints the characters have for their history. But more importantly, there were several long forgotten aspects of the franchise that I wanted to bring back into the forefront; chiefly, the fact that Cybertronians have super powers. And I don't mean hidden forearm blades or pop out lasers; I mean, ACTUAL super powers. Things like Windcharger's magnets or Soundwave's mind-reading or Trailbreaker's energy shields. And in the case of Elita-One, she possesses the ability to momentarily freeze time in a small radius at the cost of her energy. It's a risky power, hence why Prime was worried and the risk forcing her to use that power sparingly. It's not going to be a Deus Ex Machina power that automatically saves the day every time, but it will be lingering at the back of Elita's mind as their potential trump card despite Prime's concern.
Another part of the story that I wanted to establish was the mystery of which Primes were already in play or which ones needed to be found. Obviously, Alpha Tron is the main one, with the hinted existence of Liege Maximo elsewhere as part of Dark Nova's schemes; but the larger question remains not just about finding the remaining Primes in time, but whether it would be possible to find specific ones. The components of the Combiner Nexus Prime are a key example, as is the living enigma that is Amalgamous Prime; but there are also the likes of the unnamed 13th Prime, whose identity will be a secondary mystery.
SPOILER WARNING: it isn't Optimus. I have my own ideas for them, and it doesn't involve reincarnation or the likes of Logos or Zeta as a stand-in.
And remember, I established that 8 of the 13 were in the afterlife, with only Alpha Trion being confirmed among the other 7 thus far. Thus, the others have to rely on his memory of who else was there in order to help track them down, which leads to another setback; Alpha Trion can only remember so much at any given time. He may be the wisest Cybertronian to ever live and the knowledge keeper of the 13, but he only has so much space in his processor and can only recall certain moments. The best comparison I can make is to Madame Razz from the She-Ra reboot; he has wisdom to spare, but he can sometimes get muddled up as to who he's talking to. For example, he could be regaling a story regarding one of Megatronus' feats of strength to Megatron, but it would be in the context of "remember when you did this incredible thing?" as opposed to "my brother Prime did this incredible thing once". And much like Razz, this will initially be a comedic character quirk, but will have a larger impact on a few different stories; especially regarding certain characters after the 13, but that'll be relevant next time when I discuss spotlight certain adventures.
So join me then, and we'll see where this Age of the Primes story goes.
(To be continued in Part 2: The Journey).
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