The Covenant of Primus

[Sparky Prime]

Maybe the spoiler could be read as

Spoiler

one ofthe original 13 TFs being named "Optimus Prime", and the name being perpetuated similar to the way that Megatron's is officially established to have been?

Gonna have to read it to be sure though.

Unfortunately, from what I've seen discussed on other forums, that's not how I've seen people sum up the book...

Spoiler

After the Prime's warred among themselves, just before the birth of the Cybertronian race, Thirteen decided he wanted to live among the Cybertronians, as one of them. He had his body rebuilt in the Well of Allsparks, and asked Alpha Trion to remove his name from the Covenant of Primus (which is why the book only refers to him as Thirteen) so that no one would know who he was. It's only at the end of the book that Alpha Trion reveals (to the reader) that Thirteen's name was Optimus Prime.

Something else I thought people might like to see, TFormers.com has posted several new preview pages from Amazon.com.

[Onslaught Six]

Reading that made me want to literally vomit. It not only strips Optimus of basically any of his character agency by making him a even more Special Sbowflake Destined For Greatness (instead of a badass normal dude who rose to the occasion when it was needed) but also makes it basically impossible for any of the Autobors to have ever been assholes.

Because that's always been the big thing for me. The Decepticons are jerks and crazies, but they were an inevitable response to uppity self-righteous bastards who thought they could treat half their race as slave workers. Optimus Prime is unique because he's someone who sees that the Decepticons are a problem 'because' of the mistakes his predecessors made. Whenever he and Megatron meet, he offers surrender. He offers peace. Because he wants to right the wrongs of the past, even if they weren't his wrongs to begin with.

And he has that moral compass because he's seen some shit. He grew up in the rule of he bureaucrats, and his young adulthood was during the early Decepticon rebellions. He saw a world that corrupt politicians and dudes with machine guns on their elbows turned into Hell, and said, "Fuck no. We're better than this."

He's not one of the fucking Thirteen.

[Mako Crab]

Damn, I wish I could like your post, 06.

It's right on the money with why I hate all these origins of the Decepticon army that retro-actively paint Megatron as the guy that started it all. The guy that built an army and named it and has been solely leading them for millions and millions of years. I always liked it back in G1, when there was all this history behind the war and the rise of the Decepticons, and Megatron was only one in a long line of Decepticon leaders. Look no further than Starscream's coronation scene, where the great hall is lined with statues of past leaders.

- At least, I always assumed they were past leaders.

Having Megatron and Optimus Prime as the current leaders with this whole history of Autobots and Decepticons behind them always added some meat to the story and some weight to the history that brought them to where they are now. To remove that and say that it's always been Prime and Megs robs the story of something.

[Shockwave]

The G1 cartoon showed it that way in "Desertion of the Dinobots" but the comic had a different take on it as it was Megatron that had started the Decepticons. But, it wasn't because he was rising up against some corrupt government, it was because he wanted power and conquest for himself.

[Sparky Prime]

I don't mind Megatron being the progenitor of the Decepticons, although I can see the appeal of him just being their latest leader in a war that has lasted for millions of years. But it really bugs me having Orion Pax among the first Cybertronians born on the planet. He's supposed to be young and inexperienced at the start of the Great War, not one of the oldest Cybertronians that's already gone through so many ages prior to the great war.

[Dominic]

If I recall correctly (from "Exodus" and "Exiles"), "Megatron" is a name of historic significance that the miner from Tarn appropriated. Is Hasbro over-writing their own "Aligned" history now?

He's not one of the fucking Thirteen.

He is now. (I do not like it either. But, if Hasbro says so, then it is what it is.)


Assuming that Sparky's quotes are right, and that we are reading them correctly, "Aligned" is now on the level of a 13 year old fan boy's fanfic. I honestly did not think that Hasbro would be capable of producing an idea as bad as "Optimus Prime is one of the first 13 TFs", especially given how much has been done with Prime's origin (as with Orion or Optromix) over the years.


Ah well, looks like I might be purging the above mentioned "Exodus" and "Exiles" novels.......

[Sparky Prime]

If I recall correctly (from "Exodus" and "Exiles"), "Megatron" is a name of historic significance that the miner from Tarn appropriated. Is Hasbro over-writing their own "Aligned" history now?

No, that's unchanged. I've seen it commented that the Covenant mentions he was originally named "D-16" and renamed himself Megatron after Megatronus, who was a member of the 13 Primes.

[BWprowl]

He's not one of the fucking Thirteen.

He is now. (I do not like it either. But, if Hasbro says so, then it is what it is.)

Well, y'know, in one continuity.

That's a thing: This new 'revelation' completely nukes any remaining shreds of that 'Multiversal Singularity' concept Hasbro had going for a while with Primus, Unicron, and The Thirteen. There's absolutely no way such a portrayal could be reconciled with versions of Optimus/Orion Pax we've seen in series like the G1 cartoon, IDW, Animated, or even the movies (where Optimus was so fucking clueless about how the Primes worked that he took some fair convincing that he could even be a 'descendant' of their line, however that even works), not to mention the fact that those iterations are clearly not the exact same guy.

I'd even bet a decent amount that there's plenty of stuff throughout the 'Aligned' continuity (like the TFPrime cartoon) that doesn't really work with the Covenant's attempt to turn Optimus into Transformers Jesus (What the hell, by the way? That's supposed to be Rodimus's thing!).

[Sparky Prime]

That's a thing: This new 'revelation' completely nukes any remaining shreds of that 'Multiversal Singularity' concept Hasbro had going for a while with Primus, Unicron, and The Thirteen. There's absolutely no way such a portrayal could be reconciled with versions of Optimus/Orion Pax we've seen in series like the G1 cartoon, IDW, Animated, or even the movies (where Optimus was so fucking clueless about how the Primes worked that he took some fair convincing that he could even be a 'descendant' of their line, however that even works), not to mention the fact that those iterations are clearly not the exact same guy.

Actually, that's not necessarily true... Apparently there was a short story titled "Prime Spark" published in a Transformers Legends anthology that I've seen some people pointing out. Taking place after Armada Optimus Prime's death, he somehow finds himself in Maccadam's Old Oil House, where he meets G1 Optimus Prime, BW Optimus Primal and BM Optimus Primal. After a few drinks trying to figure out why they've arrived there together, they eventually discover their Sparks share a resonates of one Spark. Which means every Optimus Prime and Optimus Primal from every dimension and era shares the same "Prime Spark" from Primus. Basically the point of the story is to suggest Optimus Prime/Primal's Spark is itself a Multiversal Singularity, and for Armada Prime to regain his resolve.

Although the continuity of that book is questionable given the editor makes the claim those stories were written just for the fun of it and shouldn't be counted among the 'facts' of Transformers continuity. But still, there is something to suggest every Optimus is somehow connected...

I'd even bet a decent amount that there's plenty of stuff throughout the 'Aligned' continuity (like the TFPrime cartoon) that doesn't really work with the Covenant's attempt to turn Optimus into Transformers Jesus (What the hell, by the way? That's supposed to be Rodimus's thing!).

Yeah, I've read plenty of comments about events told in the Covenant that clash with established events from other parts of the Aligned continuity. Like Unicron awakening because of the relic searches taking place on Earth, even though the relic hunting was in season 2, after Unicron had awakened and was sealed by Optimus at the end of the first season...

[BWprowl]

Actually, that's not necessarily true... Apparently there was a short story titled "Prime Spark" published in a Transformers Legends anthology that I've seen some people pointing out. Taking place after Armada Optimus Prime's death, he somehow finds himself in Maccadam's Old Oil House, where he meets G1 Optimus Prime, BW Optimus Primal and BM Optimus Primal. After a few drinks trying to figure out why they've arrived there together, they eventually discover their Sparks share a resonates of one Spark. Which means every Optimus Prime and Optimus Primal from every dimension and era shares the same "Prime Spark" from Primus. Basically the point of the story is to suggest Optimus Prime/Primal's Spark is itself a Multiversal Singularity, and for Armada Prime to regain his resolve.

Aw man... Look, fine, suggest all you want that Optimus Prime is some kind of superdestined hyperleader (ignoring that that type of 'Multiversal Singularity' isn't even close to how the other ones work, as well as the general impossibility of guys like Sunbow's Orion Pax and Animated Optimus Prime to have been rebuilt Cybertronian demigods), but for the love of crap, leave Optimus Primal out of it. His whole *thing* was that he was Just Some Guy who wound up wrapped up in things way, way bigger than himself, and went on to *become* something greater and legendary because of it. Don't tie any Prime Destiny or whatever crap to him, of all guys.

For clarification, Sparky, that's directed not at you, but at the so-called 'writers' of this mess. Obviously you're not super-crazy about it either.