#and jro confirmed that Nova had the Matrix at some point so idk

[quetzalpapalotl]

In Furman's early IDW Optimus wasn't written as carrying the Matrix because Nova was supposed to have taken it with him to the Dark Universe where it got corrupted. But then McCarthy wanted the Matrix in his story so Nova's anti Matrix was just the vague darkness thing and Optimus had the Matrix this whole time (so Nova didn't have it when he got lost). Then Roberts in Chaos Theory called Nominus a Matrix bearer, had the mysterious Senator do the noncon body mod of a Matrix casing in Orion and established that the Matrix can create life. Later he had Matrix have a map inside left by the Knights. Around the same time Dille and Metzen wrote that Orion found the Matrix by accident when he fell into an underground vault (so Zeta wasn't carrying it). In Shadowplay, Roberts further links Nominus and Sentinel's Primacy to the matrix while also establishing they carried fakes. Some issues later, Robert reveala the Matrix as the source of cold construction in a program started by Nova (so Nova was in possession of the Matrix one way or another) and that it was this that led to the Matrix being replaced with a fake by a guy who felt bad about the whole thing (presumably before Nova left?? Since the spark reserves are referred as Nova's and the guy felt bad over "Nova's heresy"). Barber writes that Nova became the ruler of the planet and named himselr Prime after unifying it after the First Civil War with no mention of the Matrix, but he does write it as an important artifacts for the mythos of the Primes in the colonies. Later Barber confirms that Zeta ruled with a fake Matrix also which was implied by everything else. Then that Solus did put the Matrix in the hilt of Prima's sword (and Nova had been Prima's lieutenant so maybe that's how he got it???). And finally finally we have Roberts reveal that Rung who is Primus who is special but not actually divine is a Matrix making machine and that anyone can tap into the Matrix if they believe in themselves enough.

There are some things I want to say about this but I don't know how.