Aliases: The Uncreator, The Devourer, The Chaos-Bringer
Allegiance: Chaos
Function: Lord of Chaos
Timeline: Unicron is a multiversal entity with versions of himself existing in every timeline. Unicron is known to have staged attacks on the Generation 1 timeline, the Unicron Trilogy timeline and the Aligned Continuity
That which does not become a part of me, shall become one with the great void.
Profile:
Since those times immemorial, Unicron has existed at the fringes of creation, travelling from world to world, system to system, reality to reality, bringing destruction and chaos as he continues his crusade to return all existance to the nothingness of the void that existed before time. Some hold that Unicron, as an ancient celestial created by The One itself, must operate on a higher level impossible for mortals to understand. They believe that Unicron is a function of the universe that destroys the old to make way for the new. Those who say such things have no understanding of what Unicron truly is. Those who've fought Unicron know the truth - they've been witness to how Unicron revels in the destruction he causes, taking satisfaction in reducing creation to nothingness. He is not a grim reaper who is wearily resigned to his task - he's a monster who has dedicated the very core of his being to destruction. Some even claim Unicron has a dark sense of humour. One factor is certain: Unicron is less a lifeform in the sense humans or Cybertronians perceive life, and more a terrifying, inevitable force of nature. He exists to consume and destroy all existance, until all that remains is nothingness.
Powers and Abilities:
As a celestial, Unicron is not bound by the traditional conception of space, time, or reality. His true form exists on the astral plane as pure, malicious thought; however, in the early days of creation Primus was able to trick Unicron into binding his form in the material planes to a dwarf planet. This has limited Unicron's ability to manifest in the material plane and has made Unicron reliant upon avatars and vessels to carry out his dark mission of destruction. Mostly, Unicron chooses to use a gigantic, mechanical planet as his vessel, but as the "true" Unicron is consciousness without form, he has demonstrated the ability to possess other beings, including several Megatrons and Galvatrons, Sideways, Rodimus Prime and even Cybertron itself.Even though he requires a physical form to operate on the material plane, Unicron is able to draw upon immense and unfathomable cosmic power. He can empower other beings with a fragment of his dark essence, turning them into his slaves or remaking them as heralds. Even the tiniest amount of Unicron's power is enough to make a Cybertronian stronger and more powerful than most other lifeforms. To maintain control over his heralds, Unicron establishes a psychic connection to them. If they should displease him, Unicron can inflict tremendous pain and mental torture. Like Primus, Unicron can create living beings from his physical body. Unlike Primus, Unicron rarely uses this ability to bring forth independent lifeforms with free will, instead mostly creating avatars which he can project his consciousness into, on the rare occasions he deems it necessary to interact with lesser beings directly. Given his ability to create other beings, some believe Unicron can create worlds as well as destroy them; if Unicron could create such a world, it would surely be a chaotic place tainted by his dark essence.
Unicron's planet form is unbelievably powerful. It is capable of devouring planets, moons, and even stars, increasing Unicron's vast energy reserves. The worlds that Unicron devours add to his mass, increasing the size of his physical form. Depending on the reality, Unicron's planet mode can vary in size from a small moon to larger than Saturn. Unicron's surface and internal structure are full of defensive countermeasures including "Bug" drones, razor-sharp claws, vats of acid and molten material, and the twisted, zombified remnants of those living beings Unicron has consumed. Unicron's internal structure contains a number of facilities including factories, smelting pools and a vast colosseum where those captured by the Chaos Bringer fight for his amusement. When he needs to directly engage in combat, Unicron can transform his planetary form into an immense robot. In this form, Unicron possesses incredible strength and is easily able to tear planets apart with his bare hands. He also possesses a huge array of weapons, including plasma flame breath, eye lasers, electrical fields generated around his skeletal wings, transwarp displacement bombs, and a chest mounted laser cannon colloquially known as the "chaos bringer" which can annihilate a planet in a single shot. Unicron can absorb the debris created by his many weapons to replenish his energy reserves.
Unicron's lifeblood (Dark Energon, aka Angolmois Energy) is charged with his cosmic power. It is a potent, dangerous energy source that poisons and corrupts all it touches; those foolish enough to take Angolmois Energy / Dark Energon into their bodies cut themselves off from Primus and will never know peace upon death, only torment at the hands of Unicron as their bodies become the latest vessel for his dark essence.
Weaknesses:
Unicron possesses only two weaknesses. He arrogantly views most other beings as little more than insects and annoying pests, and so frequently underestimates them. The light of creation, such as that contained within the Matrix, is anathema to Unicron and can seriously damage or destroy his physical body. However, destruction of his physical body merely drives Unicron onto the astral plane where he can recover and await another opportunity to manifest on the material plane and resume his mission to return all creation to chaos.Planet mode:
Author notes:
Unicron as a character is one I have some issues with. While he is an awesome spectacle and serves as the ultimate greater-scope villain of the entire Transformers mythos, he rarely gets treated as a character, instead acting as a plot device. I've recognised that in this writeup when I say that Unicron is more of a force of nature, which is fine for a bio and overarching lore but it doesn't usually make for a compelling story. Unicron often doesn't get a lot of motivation - as mentioned, he is a gigantic plot device way too often. His debut, for example, was entirely based around introducing some new toys and providing a set-piece for the movie's finale. And unfortunately, a lot of Unicron's later appearances fell into the same trap.So the question is, how would I write Unicron? At one point, I thought of Unicron as an unfathomable concept, an incomprehensible function of the universe. Since then, I've come around to realising that no, Unicron is comprehensible, and an absolute monstrous villain. Also, when Unicron shows up, he needs to be a game-changer. But that doesn't address the issue of Unicron being a plot device. The issue is the size of Unicron - the huge, planet-sized Unicron is a spectacle, but he doesn't really interact well with other characters. Contrast Transformers Armada Unicron with Transformers Prime Unicron. Armada Unicron is huge, and provides an incredible spectacle (which was made even more incredible by being the first time we'd seen properly Unicron in nearly two decades). But he wasn't much more than something to drive the plot of the final arc forward. As a contrast, Transformers Prime Unicron works through avatars and directly interacts with Optimus Prime, Megatron and the rest. He's a character in the plot because he interacts with the cast. Going back to Transformers Armada, I feel one of Armada Unicron's greatest moments is when he attacked Optimus Prime directly by possessing Sideways. It's the interaction that matters to me - and that's why I'd want Unicron to work through avatars in future.
There are exceptions to this, of course. IDW's take on Unicron was the force of nature version of the character I criticised just now, and yet it works because IDW leaned hard into the unstoppable inevitability of Unicron while also dropping just enough hints of an underlying motive. There's also the ending which not only gives Unicron a personality, but also a context in the story and draws together the hints in the earlier issues. Of course, the backstory and origin were completely changed from the usual backstory. In this case, I think it helped.
Overall, Unicron is a character who I simultaneously love and hate. I love the idea behind him, the lore and everything that Unicron represents. I love the idea of what Unicron can be. I just don't like the way he's usually handled when he does show up, and would much rather Unicron isn't used too often because he's one of those characters who seems to be so hard to get right. (Not to mention the related issue of how you de-escalate from a threat like Unicron. IDW handled that pretty well by ending their whole continuity on Unicron!)
Toys of Transformers Armada Unicron
Transformers Armada Unicron
So far, Transformers Armada Unicron is my only planet mode Unicron toy. He's a great toy, and I like him so much I've never felt a need to pick up another version of Unicron. Armada Unicron, in my mind, is the right balance between a reinvention of the original character and a homage to the original - basically, he looks right as Unicron but works around the limits of an animation model. The only thing I didn't care for were the chomping jaws - sure 1986 Unicron had that thing inside the planet, but he didn't have it on the outside. It just looked cartoonish. The 2010 retool of this mold looked awesome, but given the body wasn't a full on Generation 1 version, it felt like it missed the mark. The Haslab one is too big and expensive for me likewise that unofficial one, and so Armada Unicron is my figure of choice for the Chaos Bringer. He was a huge highlight when he was released in 2003 and still stands up today. He was very welcome after the near two decade wait for a Unicron toy and was a worthy interpretation of the design. And in my opinion, he still is. Just as well, since I can't afford that gigantic Haslab one!More information on Transformers Armada Unicron at TFW2005
See more Transformers Armada toys in my collection.