#Matrix Bearer

[autoacafiles]

Just a couple designs for Star Convoy and Megatron's first battle, for your enjoyment.

[pluralsword]

Some prime teamup photos we were finally able to do - full named shown Autobot cast of Prime, the IDW1 Autobot/Last Decepticon earth command team near the end of EXRID, and as many matrix/enigma bearers + smokescreen and pyra (potential primes) and primes as we could fit in front of Primus and our largest backdrop (ie all our autobot figures we have and two members of the Thirteen, and thanks to the first draft of TFTM, Daniel Witwicky).

[stonecrusherdrawsthearts]

[witchofthesouls]

Personal headcanon that Primes have a preference for odd or peculiar mates. They don't give a shit if their partner is a different species, some even consider it a bonus. Hybrids are most likely to happen since the Matrix of Leadership is all about Sparklings no matter the flavor.

Small human not afraid to object a Prime's decision despite the vast difference in power? Interest intensifies.

That's the true power of the Matrix. It has peculiar and varied tastes in mates, especially since it can compute the probability of viable offspring.

If it comes across something real interesting in genetics, powers, or feelings via its current bearer, then there's a high chance of pitter-pattering tiny feet in the near future.

[paci-transformers]

You know...

...maybe lying to each other about how it felt to take the Matrix was a bad idea.

[kytherion]

OOC (mun post)

My G-d he really is Senator Shockwave's brother.

@sharkteethies may have been right that he could get Epistemus to put on a whole body again

[nova--spark]

AU where the Matrix allows it's bearer to speak to Primes of the past

But also Primes of other worlds, other realities, with wisdom they need or do not have for their own home.

Imagine please, a young Orion who sees visions when the Matrix first binds itself to him, of many different versions of himself.

A version of himself in a world where he was no great warrior, just a humble repair worker, who stumbled onto fate accidentally with his crew, working hard to make something of himself.

A version of himself tutored by the Scribe, who was a friend to his greatest enemy, who's words were his sword.

A version of himself, or at least part of himself, bound to a descendant of his people, or perhaps even ancestor, who's form is that of a beast.

A version of himself, marred by war and betrayals by humanity, but still trying to hold on. Still trying to just keep his family alive.

A version of himself, who is brand new to this planet called 'Earth' still, and beginning to bond with humans. One who accepts that Cybertron cannot be home now, but maybe Earth can.

And each version of himself he sees, he can seek wisdom from.

And they too can seek out his.

[lunaforyou]

HI

Maybe you seen me in @transingthoseformers asks and wondered "Wow, what the fuck is wrong with this guy?"

Many years of catholic trauma

ANYWAYS, YES, I'M MAKING AN AU

So like, to understand this AU you need to understand three things

1) My genuine belief that tf1 Optimus will be tied or connected somehow in the creation of new sparklings

2) The fact that merging with the Matrix is considered "Interfacing" (IDW Optimus put it this way, not me)

3) My interpretation that the Matrix and the bearer are constantly spark merging.

I lied it's 4) My obsession with the Virgin Mary, she should have been at the cluuuub

So, the AU starts by Optimus somehow in the surface, his entire frame has been aching for a while but he is still needed to fight the Decepticons and the Quintessons.

Maybe a fight goes wrong, but it sends him panicking because his HUD just fucking told him "Emergence protocols initiated" and it's a little earlier because of the fight but that's not an impediment, the little one wants out and he wants out now

So you might want to guess, where does our dear Prime go to give birth?

.

.

.

.

That's right! The cave of the Primes! You get nothing for guessing correctly <3

Plot twist; Optimus didn't have a forge, another thing Sentinel took from the miners. The Matrix gave it back when restoring his frame, after all, it needed it for restoring the rest of the Primes. So yeah he freaks out a lot a lot

And yes! He is going through this TWELVE more times

The first one is Prima naturally, the little one gives Megatron a run for his money in "things that nearly killed Optimus multiple times" and almost gets stuck in the birth canal once or twice (Optimus doesn't want to think what would have happened to them both if his coding hadn't kicked in at the right moment) and Optimus can't see the little one without getting his carrier coding out of hand and deciding right then and there that he needed to find a sire for their sake. Also Optimus absolutely loves the little bastard like he hung the moons and the stars

And all the time, he felt the presence of other mechs in the cave with him. Someone definitely helped him stay upright, and he could squeeze his hand around a much much larger one when the contractions hit.

Right so he goes back to base, and everyone pretty much noticed how white and gold the sparkling is. Everyone assumes that somehow D-16 is the sire, keeping on brand with the platinated colors, and, well, Optimus doesn't correct them. Besides, it was just one sparkling, what harm could it do if a few rumors ran around here and there?

Ohhhh boy, not a week later, he discovers that maybe it won't be just one sparkling.

Also, I'm naming this au Primes Reborn, and you can't stop me

[tossawary]

I'm back to frequently thinking about a Transformers AU for SVSSS, because I love trying to fuse the worldbuilding (working across several different continuities of TF, admittedly) into something recognizable to both worlds that's also new. I also love pulling on the elements these worlds have in common: immortal beings, endless conflicts, switching bodies, cores of power, building yourself up to become a higher being, oppressive systems controlling entire worlds, people (characters) who were constructed and are discarded for specific purposes (profit and sometimes just entertainment) and are not always viewed as real people, the creator god might be just some guy over there, and so on.

For this AU, my story outline currently sticks to Cybertron and its surrounding space. I don't have any characters whom I want to make human, I have very specific backgrounds in mind for everyone already, and I have a plotline that doesn't require Earth or humans in any way. Though, for fun, I was absentmindedly fiddling with the idea of taking the characters of a different MXTX story (MDZS or TGCF) and making them into the humans of this AU.

I feel like Wei Wuxian would be one of those human characters who is basically already climbing into the seat before a transformer can finish introducing themselves as a giant space robot; oh, he is DOWN for whatever the fuck this is. However, if I was writing Wei Wuxian as a human in a TF AU, I don't know which SVSSS character I would pair him with as his "partner", as I personally would be far more interested in writing a story in which Lan Wangji and/or Wen Ning (both?) are Cybertronians. (Yes, obviously, Wei Wuxian would be a robotfucker for LWJ.) I'm leaning more towards Wen Ning, because there's the "I rebuilt this guy and turned him into an abomination who acts kind of in service to me" aspect, and also it's funny to imagine human Lan Wangji having to put up with his boyfriend's alien car being a part of the relationship.

With TGCF, making the characters into the humans of a TF AU for SVSSS feels like a reversal. Xie Lian's narrative everything arguably makes him an even better Cybertronian than any other MXTX character. The fall from being, say, a Prime and the Bearer of the Matrix to apparently being some poorly-maintained bot that spends its time picking up trash on Earth in the aftermath of some Cybertronian war? Delicious. Hua Cheng was some half-broken, half-starving, outlier freak, MTO discard saved by the new Prime EIGHT MILLION YEARS AND SEVERAL WARS AGO, and has never gotten over it and never will. And a lot of the other TGCF characters also match very nicely to TF worldbuilding: mmm, my brain likes chewing on the image of beautiful and terrifying, near-immortal robots falling from the "heavens". It's even easy to source internal TGCF characters as the humans if you need human characters, so there's no real need to make it into a crossover with MDZS or SVSSS.

So, ultimately, this TF AU for SVSSS is not going to be a crossover. I don't want it to be. But I did enjoy thinking about TF AUs for MDZS and TGCF as well, where the worldbuilding or character arcs fit nicely together, so I wanted to share that here.

[autoacafiles]

[pluralsword]

If anyone has a story with Arcana Magnus in it on Ao3 and wants to help make the tag Arcee | Arcana Magnus (Transformers) common (the tag it finally occurred to us to use for our story Sparkflung Trust where the orig cont Arcee uses that title and is a Matrix Bearer), have at it, the tag now exists! We suspect there are other stories out there where Arcee is a Prime but don’t know how many use the name :3 In any case, we salute y’all who have told a Matrix-bearer Arcee story

[ask-one-d16]

Hi D! I was going to ask Orion this but he’s a few solar cycles behind on his asks and his box is shut. So maybe you can give me an answer to this.

Who are the 13 Primes specifically? Names? What role did each play in the group? I know VERY little about these guys so anything you know would be good.

Here, I’ll let him answer that…

Orion! 13 Primes. Go.

Prima, the first Prime and the embodiment of purity!

Alpha Trion, the wisest Prime!

Solus Prime, the master forger!

Megatronus Prime, the strongest of all! And D’s favorite, of course!

Quintus Prime, the first scientist!

Onyx Prime, the “Lord of Beasts” and the most in tune with Primus himself!

Zeta Prime, the Thirteenth of the Primes and the first bearer of the Matrix of Leadership! My personal favorite!

Alchemist Prime, who could see both the material world and the spiritual realm! He also invented high-grade!

Micronus Prime, the moral center of the Thirteen! He could lend his energy to the others, and he created the first minicons, who do the same for their bond partners!

Nexus Prime, the first combiner!

Amalgamous Prime, the original and most unpredictable transformer!

And Vector Prime, the guardian of time and space!

Good job, buddy.

Any time!

[lillified]

maybe a little bit too specific of a question. but. You mentioned that all cybertronians have "progenitors"- i was wondering if any of the original primes had contributed their parts to creating other bots? (follow up question if that's true: is it considered a "sacred bloodline" (energonline?)? are there small traces of the og primes in every cybertronian? something else?)

I love this question!!

Cybertronian lineages are a bit complicated—just to clarify the “progenitor” thing a little more, I’d say they’re sort of like fungus, coral, or jellyfish. When I say they contribute genetic material or parts to offspring, I mean that they literally do contribute physical parts of themselves which eventually grow into an entirely separate organism, and that reproduction can happen completely asexually, where the resulting Bot is a 1 to 1 clone, or “sexually,” where multiple ‘Bots contribute organic material to a single offspring resulting in not only greater variance, but a reduced negative physical impact on the “parents.”

While the exact historical timeline of most of the Primes is not known, it is concretely believed that, with one very notable exception, none of them have “ancestors.” Though they are known as originators, Cybertronians aren’t directly descended from them, and the early genetic groups were instead more like cousins or siblings to eachother. Those disparate groups eventually commingled and that resulted in the modern Cybertronian diaspora.

The reason for the Primes never “reproducing,” at least not publicly, is political/theological. There’s a lot of religious baggage tied up in the hierarchy of Cybertronian life where the Primes are the first and most perfect beings, so any one of them having a descendant would raise a lot of understandable questions about the Godhand and its implications on the rigid divine hierarchy’s mutability—in short, it would be a bit of a mess! The Matrices are a halfway solution to this problem, but before I get into those, I should probably mention the Notable Exception.

So, there is one Prime with technical “offspring,” and that is Quintus. The Quintessons are Quintus Prime’s creation, and though they were deliberately engineered in a process that is quite a bit more complicated, they do have his CNA. Their existence very famously led to the end of the feudal hierarchy and a new era of caste-based determinism where social value and divine right were assigned via function. The Quintessons brought about an era where old flesh was no longer immutable and absolute, opening the floodgates for the philosophy of mechanization and new flesh. This (and the fact that, well, most of the original Primes are dead now) is why he is the exception—every acting Prime knows that the Godhand is dangerous.

That said, though, there is certainly an impetus for successors, and that’s where the Matrix came about. Because the exchange of genetic material isn’t always 1 to 1, you don’t have to be a direct parent to pass on material to another ‘Bot, or vice versa. In the right conditions, with the right material, a Cybertronian can absorb somebody else’s material to become genetically similar to them.

A Matrix is an isolated piece of an original Prime. While it’s hardly enough to overwrite the host organism, the Matrix bearer essentially integrates that material, absorbing the polyp sort of like a parasitic twin in utero, and technically changing the bearer’s CNA. So, in that sense, you can say all Primes are descendants of the originals!

Sorry for the long response, I hope this gave you the info you were looking for! I loved this question and I’ve put a lot of thought into this subject :)

[combjelli]

I'm getting back into digital painting after a long time and I'm a sucker for religious imagery Rodimus so please pretend that peacock tails work this way lmao

This is from an au in my brain where Cybertron is the Cybertronian god and matrix bearers become angels. Rodimus keeps running off to do what he wants and Cybertron keeps making his tail a little harder to lug around in an effort to keep him grounded (it doesn't work)

[finallyaplaceformyrobots]

Thinking about how tf1 would go if the matrix having a bearer meant that the thirteen primes got resurrected

just, Optimus coming up from the well/center of the earth or whatever with 13 other bots.

[moustawott]

Transformers One Official Novelization Worldbuilding and Lore Bits

Thanks to the Transformers One movie novelization, here are some worldbuilding facts that weren’t explicitly shown in the movie!

About Iacon city:

Cog-less bots can only work as miners, though the tier system (described later) suggests that they can move up or down a ladder of limited job options

All cog-less bots were born after the disappearance of the Matrix of Leadership

No cog-less bot has seen the surface

The book suggests that all Transformers bot, those who can transform into alt mode, were born before the disappearance of the Matrix of Leadership

Transformers can live anywhere they want in Iacon city, unlike miners

Miners have limited transport options: they can only use public transport or walk. The book also suggests that their access to the overall city is limited, said city being divided into main Iacon and the mining sectors

it is explained that Transformers rarely watch where they step when miners are around, often kicking miners as a result. Orion also notes that some will do it on purpose (yikes!)

There is a tier system that miners can climb. The movie has D-16 mention that tier 1 is the lowest. In the novel, D-16 is trying to reach tier 11 by the end of the current cycle. It is implied that D-16 is one of the fastest rank-climber amongst the miners

About Orion Pax:

His favourite Prime is Zeta Prime, who was the original bearer of the Matrix

Orion is passionate about learning the history of Cybertron, hence him often sneaking into the archives

Miscellaneous facts:

According to the novel, here are the Prime cogs each of the main 4 characters received: Orion has Prima's, D-16 has Onyx's, Elita has Alchemist's, and Bee has Micronus'

In some ways, the novel was better at telegraphing D-16's fall. The signs of him eventually getting tired of backing up Orion and failure to control his bloodthirst are more obvious to the reader.

Shoutout to the novel for also making Orion's motivations more obvious when it came to dealing with Sentinel: Orion knows that killing Sentinel won't actually solve the issue and believes Sentinel can be overthrown and stripped of his power without unnecessary violence. (My personal interpretation is that D-16 is using his desire for justice—more like vengeance really—to feel better about himself, not actually improve Cybertron. It’s the same logic those who support the death penalty have. They like the death penalty because it makes their own feelings better, no matter how ineffective the death penalty is for improving society.)