Unicron
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Unicron was a planet-sized Transformer who devoured worlds and played the primary antagonist in his first appearance, the theatrical film, Transformers: The Movie, in which he was voiced by Orson Welles - this was actually his final film role before his death in 1985. It has been alleged that Welles passed away before completing his performance as Unicron, and that Leonard Nimoy filled in for him, delivering the characters' final lines, but director Wally Burr refutes the claim.
Unicron's function, according to his entry in Marvel's Transformers Universe is "Universal Dominator". In all his various incarnations he roams the multiverse devouring planets in his way. When he speaks in his robot mode, Unicron’s lips do not move.
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Transformers: The Movie
Making his entrance by dramatically consuming a planet supporting mechanical life (similar to Cybertron), of which only a single inhabitant survives, Unicron went on to appear before the battered Megatron, demanding that he destroy the Autobot Matrix of Leadership, "...the one thing, the only thing, that can stand in my way." To allow him to perform the task, Unicron "reformatted" him and a half-dozen other severely damaged Decepticons and provided them with a starship. When Galvatron returned with the Matrix, he tried to open it and use it against his master; but he had underestimated Unicron, who dramatically transformed from a planet-consuming machine-planet into a planet-destroying humanoid, and proceeded to lay waste to Cybertron.
The Autobot Hot Rod claimed the Matrix from Galvatron and managed to open it within Unicron, and the waves of energy systematically destroyed him. Uttering one last line: "Destiny... you cannot... destroy my... destiny..." Unicron exploded, and his disembodied head was trapped in orbit around Cyberton, a grisly monument to the moons that he had consumed.
Transformers (Generation 1 series)
Unicron had no explained origin in the movie, but later, in the third season episode "Call of the Primitives," his history in the animated continuity was revealed - Unicron was created near the beginning of time by an ancient genius called Primacron, to destroy the universe for him to remake in his own image. But Unicron decided that he would be the one to rule the universe, not Primacron, and rebelled against his creator, voyaging out into the vast expanse of space.
His destruction in the movie was not the last the Transformers saw of Unicron - the ghost of Starscream reactivated his severed head and entered into a bargain with Unicron, performing three labours 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 body so that he could complete the connection; 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.
In the series, Unicron's role was taken on by Roger C. Carmel.
Transformers Comics
Meanwhile, while working on the UK Transformers comic book, creator 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. After stories such as "Target 2006" and "Fallen Angel", featuring Galvatron traveling into Earth's past, Furman brought Unicron back by revealing that his head had crashed onto the Planet of Junk, where he had enslaved the Junkions to rebuild his body.
As the story unfolded, the vastly different comic book origin of Unicron was revealed, which would be expanded when it was carried over into the US comics when Furman began to write them. 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 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.
Beast Wars Transformers
Unicron is feared by most of Cybertron, even into the distant future, so much so that the Vok's use of his visage during the Beast Wars was enough to instill cold terror into Optimus Primal.
Beast Wars Second/Neo
Similar to the events of the Transformers: The Movie in his demise. But when Unicron's original body was destoryed, the Angolmois that gave him life was extracted and sealed in planet Gaia. However, the Angolmois energy surge from the explosion of Nemesis revived Unicron. He created the Blendtrons to get him the Angolmois Capsules to complete his resurrection. The Blendtron brought the lifeless body of Galvatron that Unicron's spark entered to use as a temporary host. After gathering the Capsule, Unicron went to Cybertron to make it his new body. But he was finally defeated by the Maximals.
Transformers Armada/Energon/Galaxy Force
For many years the toyline had no Unicron toy, despite a number of prototypes. This changed in 2003 when Unicron was reintroduced in yet another alternate timeline, the Transformers Armada universe, and was finally rendered in toy form. In this universe, it is known that, disguised as Cybertron's moon, Unicron created the race of small robots known as the Mini-Cons, to increase the ferocity of the Autobot/Decepticon war, so that he might feed off the energies released, allowing him to be reborn. When the Mini-Cons found their way to Earth, and were followed by the Autobots and Decepticons, Unicron dispatched an agent, Sideways, created from part of himself, to carry on his work, escalating the conflict by manipulating control of the three Mini-Cons weapons - the Star Saber, the Skyboom shield and the Requiem Blaster, the three keys that were then used to awaken Unicron. As the behemoth turned on Cybertron, the Mini-Cons broke free of his control, deactivating him - but when Galvatron then began his final battle with Optimus Prime, the hatred and ferocity of the fight awoke Unicron once more. To end the circle of hate that gave Unicron life, Galvatron allowed himself to be consumed by the monster, and in a brilliant flash of light, Unicron apparently ceased to exist.
Alas, it was not to be, for there is always hate in the universe. Having survived, Unicron started to consume worlds in the far reaches of space, with the Transformers unaware of his deeds. One such unfortunate world was Planet Q, but the general of that world's armies detonated the planet's core as Unicron consumed it, heavily damaging him and forcing him into dormancy - and within Unicron, the spark of Planet Q's leader, Alpha Q, still existed, and recreated his planet's armies as Terrorcons to gather Energon to regenerate all the worlds Unicron had consumed. 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 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 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.
In the recent Japanese Transformers show, Galaxy Force (to be brought to the rest of the world as Transformers Cubertron), Unicron's destruction creates a black hole that threatens to destroy Cybertron! But ancient artifacts, called the Planet Forces, have the power to stop the hole. With the discovery of the planets Animatros, Speedia and a yet unnamed planet, the hunt hunt for the Planet Forces begins.
In Transformers Armada, Unicron's voice is performed by Mark Acheson. In Energon, Unicron speaks through Megatron, hence his voice is provided by David Kaye, but Acheson briefly returned to the role for the series' special episode (commemorating 500 episodes of Transformers in Japan), in which a diminutive Unicron fought Hot Shot and Rodimus. In Japan, Katsumi Chou provides his voice for both series.
Revisions and Additions - Fleer Cards, Armada Comics and The Ultimate Guide
When Fleer released a series of Transformers: Armada trading cards, the biography printed on Unicron's presented this incarnation of the character to be one of two heralds created by the Allspark to explore the newly-birthed universe. 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.
When Unicron subsequently appeared in the Dreamwave Transformers: Armada comics, he was presented as a being who travelled from universe to universe, destroying all and moving on. This would become a very important aspect in the future...
With the publication of "Transformers: The Ultimate Guide" by Dorling Kindersley, scribe Simon Furman crafted yet *another* new origin for Unicron, incorporating this key point, and some elements of the Fleer storyline with the original Marvel Comics origin. Here, 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 13 robots that he created from himself - the first Transformers. One of the 13 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 "officially," there is only one Unicron, who has travelled from universe to universe across all the assorted Transformer continuities. This has been evidenced by the Transformers Fan Club Comic, but it takes some degree of imagination and twiddling of the facts of the original stories to make this idea make sense.
External links
- Transformers Encyclopedia entry on Unicron (http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Station/6563/unicron.html)
- Unicron.com's picture gallery (http://www.unicron.com/mainpage/unicron/unicron.htm)
- Unicron: Character or Plot Device? (http://www.angelfire.com/ego/zobovor/unicron_essay.html)