How did Unicron learn about the Matrix?

[Axaday]

In the Non-Primus cartoon universe where we first saw Unicron, where he was built by an alien monkey with no good ideas, how did Unicron learn of the Matrix and fixate on it as the one thing, the only thing that could stand in his way?

Followup question: Whoever told him what it was, did they tell him it would not be safe to take it internally?

 

[Sabrblade]

Well, in the flashback shown in "Call of the Primitives", when we see Unicron rebel against his creators, we see an object that very much looks like the Matrix rising out of the destroyed body of Primacron's assistant (referred to by the episode's dialogue script as "Oracle").

Nothing has ever really been disclosed about whether this object really was the Matrix or not (outside of later retcons made by outside party unaffiliated with the episode's original creators), but the fact that it does look to be the Matrix had led to endless speculation over the years.

If we're strictly going by just TFTM and "Call of the Primitives" as they were and without anything else said by later fiction made by other parties, then all we really have to go on is just the speculation because, admittedly, we really don't know the true answers behind the history of Unicron and the Matrix as originally presented by that movie and that episode alone.

If the object that rose out of the assistant's body really was the Matrix, then perhaps the reason Unicron lashed out at him and Primacron was in attempt to destroy the Matrix within the assistant's body. Maybe it was originally a fail-safe invented by Primacron and/or the assistant just in case Unicron went rogue and got out of hand.

Were that the case, how, then, the Matrix came to later be both a fount for the "Wisdom of the Ages" and a symbol of leadership for the Autobots is unknown. Not to mention the prophecy of the Matrix choosing an Autobot to be its Chosen One who will use the Matrix to "light our darkest hour" is likewise an unknown when going by the Primacron backstory.

There's just a lot of unknowns here that were never really explored by the movie and cartoon, which were only really fleshed out by other unrelated media that tried to make sense out of it all (namely by connecting everything to Primus). But if we're discarding all of that Primus stuff, then we're simply left to our own imaginations to figure out all that the movie and cartoon didn't bother to explain.

Maybe there's some missing info in the full script for "Call of the Primitives", but as of this typing, said script has yet to be found (only the dialogue script has been found), so we're out of luck on that.

 

[Undead Scottsman]

I've see it suggested that when Hot Rod catches the matrix and it does that "Glow" effect (late seen on Unicron's opticon doohicky) that it was basically a big beacon to the chaos bringer. Though that doesn't necessarily explain why he knew what it was or what it could do, unless it was nothing more than "Major power source connected in some way to my creator."

 

[Sabrblade]

I've see it suggested that when Hot Rod catches the matrix and it does that "Glow" effect (late seen on Unicron's opticon doohicky) that it was basically a big beacon to the chaos bringer. Though that doesn't necessarily explain why he knew what it was or what it could do, unless it was nothing more than "Major power source connected in some way to my creator."

Yeah, Unicron was definitely aware of the death of Optimus and his passing the Matrix to Ultra Magnus. We see Unicron observe this on the monitor screens of his brain, before he lets out his Incredible Hulk scream in outrage over this.

He was very much aware of the Matrix's existence by this point and what its power could do to him, but we don't know the specifics of how he came to learn of both it and its power to begin with.

 

[Axaday]

Were that the case, how, then, the Matrix came to later be both a fount for the "Wisdom of the Ages" and a symbol of leadership for the Autobots is unknown. Not to mention the prophecy of the Matrix choosing an Autobot to be its Chosen One who will use the Matrix to "light our darkest hour" is likewise an unknown when going by the Primacron backstory.

In October, Happy Meals come in plastic buckets with spooky faces on the side. It's a container for hamburgers, fries, and apple slices, but you could use it to hold Halloween candy and come summer you could carry sand around the beach in it.

I think pretty much anything that can hold Unicron-ending power could also hold some wisdom. You just have to know where to get some and learn how to load it.

If it was build at a failsafe (I have never noticed and will have to review. Is easter eggy or pretty obvious?) it is funny that it has enough juice to end Unicorn and then just enough for a hate plague and then you're gonna have to recharge.


Edit - Yeah, ok, if that isn't supposed to be the Matrix I'll eat my hat and I'll eat yours too. But perhaps it wasn't premade as a failsafe and was later adapted for that use and given by the Oracle to an Autobot. After all, when Primacron is up to trouble again, who did he call to fight? Transformers.

 

[Sabrblade]

After all, when Primacron is up to trouble again, who did he call to fight? Transformers.

Well, Primitives, specifically.

He needed the dumb animals to do what all the smart guys were too smart to do.

 

[Axaday]

Which is a weird plot point, but they weren't the only stupid sentient animals in the Universe. He could've call Sharkticons.

 

[Destron D-69]

it is not outside of reason that a created being could become greater than it's creator. There is nothing in the *limited* official g1 canon on the subject that suggest that this is not the case with Unicron. Primacron might have just set out to create a big monster to do his bidding - and at the same time have created a being that swiftly out grew that limitation and evolved into a demi-omniscient being.

think Vger from Startrek or the DCAU version of Amazo... or one of countless other creations that rose above their designed in limitations.

or like most things in g1 -it was just a cartoon written by a group of people who were just putting in scripts about plastic toys shooting lasers at each other for 22 minutes in between ads for frosted flakes and fruit roll-ups ... and they didn't really plan it all out XD

 

[CoffeeHorse]

We need a full Call of the Primitives script. Knowing whether or not the mystery object is supposed to be the Matrix won't make all this make obvious sense, but it would be nice to speculate with a confirmed starting point.

Help us, Sunbow Marvel Archive. You're our only hope.

 

[Sabrblade]

We need a full Call of the Primitives script. Knowing whether or not the mystery object is supposed to be the Matrix won't make all this make obvious sense, but it would be nice to speculate with a confirmed starting point.

Help us, Sunbow Marvel Archive. You're our only hope.

Greebtron, Walruslaw, Jim Sorenson, etc. have all been yearning to find the full script for that episode for over a decade, now. It's one of the Most Wanted of all the G1 episode scripts that have still yet to be found.

 

[LBD "Nytetrayn"]

Followup question: Whoever told him what it was, did they tell him it would not be safe to take it internally?

It was completely safe.

As long as it wasn't opened.

And no one could do that.

Well, no one he swallowed deliberately, anyway.

Certainly not the guy holding it when he did.

Unfortunately, there was that whole thing with the Chosen One crashing a big pointy thing right into his eye and making his way downtown, falling fast as entrails pass and he's Matrix-bound...

 

[Undead Scottsman]

It's kind of weird how fragile Unicron's eye was. Or how Slag could burn through his surface. Or how Rodimus Prime could throw Galvatron through his outer walls.

Dude survived an exploding moon IN HIS MOUTH without a scratch on him!

 

[The Mighty Mollusk]

It's kind of weird how fragile Unicron's eye was. Or how Slag could burn through his surface. Or how Rodimus Prime could throw Galvatron through his outer walls.

Dude survived an exploding moon IN HIS MOUTH without a scratch on him!

The Dinobots were nigh-invincible in dino mode but could be struck down like anyone else in robot mode, and they converted far less than Unicron.

Transformers are as vulnerable as the plot needs them to be.

 

[Axaday]

We need a full Call of the Primitives script. Knowing whether or not the mystery object is supposed to be the Matrix won't make all this make obvious sense, but it would be nice to speculate with a confirmed starting point.

Help us, Sunbow Marvel Archive. You're our only hope.

It could have just been an animator's decision.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

It could have been. But the rest of the animation really doesn't scream "clueless rush job" like a lot of G1 does.

 

[LordGigaIce]

In October, Happy Meals come in plastic buckets with spooky faces on the side. It's a container for hamburgers, fries, and apple slices, but you could use it to hold Halloween candy and come summer you could carry sand around the beach in it.

I think pretty much anything that can hold Unicron-ending power could also hold some wisdom. You just have to know where to get some and learn how to load it.

If it was build at a failsafe (I have never noticed and will have to review. Is easter eggy or pretty obvious?) it is funny that it has enough juice to end Unicorn and then just enough for a hate plague and then you're gonna have to recharge.


Edit - Yeah, ok, if that isn't supposed to be the Matrix I'll eat my hat and I'll eat yours too. But perhaps it wasn't premade as a failsafe and was later adapted for that use and given by the Oracle to an Autobot. After all, when Primacron is up to trouble again, who did he call to fight? Transformers.

The issue is that there seems to be two separate origins for the Matrix in Sunbow G1.
The Five Faces of Darkness five parter establishes a long lineage of Autobot Primes and hints that it has some origin tied to the Quintessons, which ties in with the origins of Cybertron and Cybertronians that same five parter gives.

Then, in Call of the Primitives, it's implied that the Matrix was tied to Primacron and his assistant and the creation of Unicron. Which ties in with TFTM where it's stated that the Matrix specifically can destroy Unicron.

These concepts aren't mutually exclusive. It's possible that both can work together, but we don't know how the Quintessons, and later Autobots, got it after Unicron turned on Primacron. Honestly? I'd love for SkyBound, which seems to reference the Sunbow stuff above everything else in its continuity, to take a stab at that.
Still, despite the ideas not being mutually exclusive, the missing gap between Point A and Point B leaves one scratching their head.

It could have just been an animator's decision.

Maybe. And maybe it wasn't intended to be the Matrix. But it sure does look a lot like the Matrix, and the ties to Unicron jive with what the movie establishes.
So short of the script showing up with notes that specify that it's not the Matrix, I'm going to trust my eyes and say that the thing that looks like the Matrix tied to a character with a weakness to the Matrix is, in fact, the Matrix.

 

[lastmaximal]

Clearly Unicron is a Chris McFeely fan.

 

[Destron D-69]

for a brief moment there Unicron was a singularity, One being that existed in all permutations of reality simultaneously -according to Hasbro, so he learned about the matrix being his weakness (in the g1 movie continuity) at that point when it became relevant to know that information in that continuity. Then when he wasn't any more because hasbro changed their mind -it manifested in his - now THIS Unicron's reality with him instantaneously becoming just a large robot built by a space monkey who could be damaged and blown up real good because he wasn't a singular supreme cosmic being anymore... which is why the Dinobots and everyone could damage him towards the end of his time in the film... when they couldn't scratch him with an exploding moon previous to that... because back then at the start of the film he was a muti-dimensional chaos god...

Simple really XD

 

[Princess Viola]

»«'´

 

[Princess Viola]

sorry had this thread opened and kitten walked on the keyboard