The Energon Pub

News Credits: 462 · Thu Jun 06, 2013 1:16 pm

http://idlehands1.blogspot.com/2013/06/ ... rimus.html

Be still, my beating heart.

News Credits: 5749 · Thu Jun 06, 2013 2:15 pm

The Idle Hands Blog brings us news of Transformers: The Covenant of Primus, a hardcover book from becker & mayer exploring the history of the Transformers civilization. Written by Justina Robson with 60 never seen before illustrations, some from the Hasbro archives and some newly commissioned pieces. The book comes in a special wall mountable Autobot symbol case that features three "transforming" sound effects that are activated as the interlocking pieces are separated to reveal a newly commissioned cover by our friend Ken Christiansen.

This book also reveals all of the original thirteen Primes:

Prima
Vector Prime
Onyx Prime
Alpha Trion
Micronus Prime
Alchemist Prime
Solus Prime
Nexus Prime
Amalgamous Prime
Quintus Prime
Liege Maximo
Megatronus
The Thirteenth Prime

The Idle Hands Blog has posted additional images and a few excerpts, which can be found by clicking here. The book comes in at 176 pages and is priced at $99.00

The Covenant of Primus is the definitive in-world history of the Transformers. For the first time, it reveals the stories of the Thirteen Primes, the original Transformers. The narrative will also cover the golden age of Transformer civilization, the war between Optimus Prime and Megatron, and finally the present day on Earth. Sixty never-before-seen illustrations, 20 commissioned just for this book, bring these epic events to life.

The hardcover book will be housed in a custom case shaped like the Autobot emblem. The classic mechanical “transforming” sound is triggered when the reader pulls open the three segments of the case.

News Credits: 25 · Thu Jun 06, 2013 2:37 pm

adding this to the top of my wish list

News Credits: 251 · Thu Jun 06, 2013 2:42 pm

That wall piece.... must have it! =P~

Liege Maximo is using design elements of Loki from the Thor/Avengers films. Clever! :grin:

Also like how Vector Prime continues to use his Cybertron-inspired design.

Unicron's new design is straight up sweet.

Not sure about the other Primes. I want to say the last one is Prima, but I'm not too sure. :-?

News Credits: 767 · Thu Jun 06, 2013 3:10 pm

I think I'll have to get this, this not only looks awesome but sounds really interesting.
The price is a little steep but, I think I'll be able to manage it.

Love the Loki design elements on Liege Maximo, the Aligned continuity stuff is sweet and actually the first time a book like this makes sense.

News Credits: 2 · Thu Jun 06, 2013 3:12 pm

very tempting. what continuity does this fit into?

News Credits: 767 · Thu Jun 06, 2013 3:40 pm

sabrigami wrote:very tempting. what continuity does this fit into?

Aligned, aka Prime, Rescue-bots, War for/ Fall of Cybertron, the crappy novels, the two Universe online games, and probably something I forgot now.

News Credits: 402 · Updated Oct 21, 2022

This looks like the book I've been waiting for for a long time.

News Credits: 2 · Thu Jun 06, 2013 4:01 pm

So there's some new names here

Always nice...
Prima - The First, Light and goodness etc
Vector Prime - Time and that kinda stuff
Onyx Prime - The First Beast mode guy? This one's new I think
Alpha Trion - Archivist, Scribe, Gandalf
Micronus Prime - First Mini-Con? (Also new name I believe)
Alchemist Prime - Um, an Alchemist i'm guessing
Solus Prime - The Forger, and fembot
Nexus Prime - Guardian of lots of swords and other items
Amalgamous Prime - The Trickster (I thought it was him who had the Loki horns in Prime?)
Quintus Prime - No idea at all, only that his/her name means 5... a quintuple changer?
Liege Maximo - The manipulator... I've always wondered if he was a Prime
Megatronus - The Fallen, I think we all know about him
The Thirteenth Prime - Bit lazy Hasbro

The Last Autobot perhaps?

I hope they do a cheaper version without the crazy giant Autobot sigil. Don't get me wrong, I love it, but i'd be happy to sacrifice it if it would knock £30 off or something. Also, an aside to that, if anyone is buying this mainly for the bot logo, i'd be happy to take the book off your hands

EDIT: I think Quintus Prime is a reference to the Quintessons, as an homage to their transformers making origins in G1 season 3 (Thanks ArmadaPrime for the idea)

News Credits: 2 · Thu Jun 06, 2013 4:13 pm

Dead Metal wrote:
sabrigami wrote:very tempting. what continuity does this fit into?

Aligned, aka Prime, Rescue-bots, War for/ Fall of Cybertron, the crappy novels, the two Universe online games, and probably something I forgot now.

I see. I'm not a big fan of the aligned continuity so it makes the price hard for me to swallow. The pictures are amazing though. That may be enough to get me to bite

News Credits: 6188 · Thu Jun 06, 2013 5:31 pm

This thing just looks amazing.
I'm a sucker for this type of collectible, as I already managed to acquire the (Star Wars) Jedi Path Vault and Sith Code Holocron, plus the Journal of Master Gnost Dural (probably misspelling all of it, but can't check right now).

This is definitely on the wishlist for Christmas.

News Credits: 4 · Thu Jun 06, 2013 5:33 pm

By Unicron's moustache! The pics look fantastic. Promise that if I buy the book we'll definitely get mass releases of these bots in plastic and I'll throw down the 3million dollars for a wall-case-thingy that I don't want!

Seriously though, it's well expensive for something that I really would quite like. Would be nice if there was a version of the book sans over-priced box.

Even more seriously: now that they've announced the original 13, I do want toys of them. Premium quality figures. They don't all have to Transform even, but I want some plastic representations of these dudes.

News Credits: 7 · Thu Jun 06, 2013 5:48 pm

Huh, I expected the Loki-looking bot to be Amalgamous Prime, and the weird ribbon-tentacle-cloak bot to be Liege Maximo.

I do wonder what --if any-- connection Quintus Prime has to the Quintessons. Since I'm looking for one I'm finding all sorts of them: "Quint" in the name, unusual robot design, tentacles in place of legs, creating life; almost sounds like the evil Quints are a complete perversion of the Prime (which sheds the first word describing him, "innocent", in an interesting light).
... but it can totally just be me looking too far into it.
D'oh, the post in the link directly mentions Quintus Prime makes the Quintessons.

Interesting how the 13th Prime is referred only to as "Thirteen". Megatronus has his name said despite becoming The Fallen and even forgetting his own original name and whatnot. Hmm...

Heh, they finally shed some light on the 13 business and it only raises more questions.

News Credits: 4 · Thu Jun 06, 2013 6:04 pm

"every answer only leads to a bigger question"

I'm thinking Thirteen might be a guy we've seen before, so they're keeping his or her name a secret for now. Furmanus Prime?

edit: or it's Taz that used to be in ECW and WWF

Thu Jun 06, 2013 7:02 pm

Definitely pick this up if I can. My only problem with this is the naming of Alpha Trion as a member of the Thirteen. He's a corny cliché that should have been l long forgotten. Not liking the beard on vector prime either. TF's with facial hair just look silly to me.

Still the book should be interesting anyway.

Thu Jun 06, 2013 8:56 pm

Liege Maximo?! There's someone I never imagined would be considered a Prime. Cue nostalgic reading of G2!

News Credits: 251 · Thu Jun 06, 2013 8:59 pm

Nemesis Maximo wrote:Liege Maximo?! There's someone I never imagined would be considered a Prime. Cue nostalgic reading of G2!

Yeah, he's been one of the original Thirteen.

Still can't get over how cool they used elements from Loki.

News Credits: 122 · Thu Jun 06, 2013 9:34 pm

Now THAT'S how Unicron should have looked in Transfromers: Prime.

I need a toy of that ASAP.

Do we have a price point on this book? Hell, what do I care, I'm buying it anyway.

:michaelbay:

Thu Jun 06, 2013 9:40 pm

Too expensive.
The excerpts are quite engaging though.

News Credits: 10 · Thu Jun 06, 2013 9:45 pm

megatronus wrote:Do we have a price point on this book? Hell, what do I care, I'm buying it anyway.

Taken from this very article:

The book comes in at 176 pages and is priced at $99.00

News Credits: 122 · Thu Jun 06, 2013 10:10 pm

Trikeboy wrote:
megatronus wrote:Do we have a price point on this book? Hell, what do I care, I'm buying it anyway.

Taken from this very article:

The book comes in at 176 pages and is priced at $99.00

Snideness aside, yes, I acknowledge that reading would have been helpful.

:oops:

News Credits: 402 · Updated Oct 21, 2022

I would love to see epic statues of the 13 Primes. Sadly I don't think that'll ever happen

News Credits: 462 · Fri Jun 07, 2013 12:30 am

Now that I can FINALLY sit down and read the article (been at work all afternoon/evening), here are my comments:

The Covenant of Primus is a gift to the humans from Alpha Trion, one of the ancient Thirteen Primes - the first Transformers. The book contains insights into Optimus Prime and Megatron and covers the full history of the Transformers, from new information about their origins, to the Golden Age of exploration, to the great civil war between Autobots and Decepticons.

Definitely Aligned Continuity-based, as those details come straight out of Exodus.

The hardcover book will be housed in a custom case shaped like the Autobot shield, with reflective foil for eyes and a wall-mounting hole on the back.

Wall-mounting = AWESOME!

Three classic mechanical Transformers sounds are triggered when the reader pulls open the three interlocking segments of the case.

That... could go either way. On one hand, that's awesome. On the other hand, it could get old really fast like most sound effect electronics in many of the toys.

MSRP $99

Oh dear, I better start saving.

- Contains never-before-seen illustrations of Quintus Prime, creator of the Quintessons; Leige Maximmo; Megatronus; and Thirteen, the unnamed Prime who was created last and who brought all the Primes together.

Really Hasbro? You gave the Quints their own 13er? Not sure how necessary that was.

Also, "Thirteen" being kept a secret... eh, guess he'll be revealed in due time.

*Excerpt of Chapter 1*

So, Alpha Trion was the third one created. Interesting. I hope Prima was the first, but I wonder who the second was. Guess I'll keep reading.

Solus Prime came fourth.

"Thirteen" is literally referred to as such, suggesting his name is intently being censored out.

Oh, wait. "Thirteen" is "the last Prime"... I really hope this isn't some forced attempt to secretly shoehorn Optimus Prime (or an obvious expy of him) into the group. :roll:

Seems the origin story of Primus and Unicron described in this book is more akin to the origin story created during the era of the Dreamwave comics and Unicron Trilogy media than it is like the original versions created in the Marvel comics.

Alpha Trion's title is "Memory of the Primes".

Though the Covenant has then-currently assumed the form of a book, it can take on many forms based its function as any point in space and time.

Amalgamous Prime's personal artifacts were a Scythe and the original Transformation Cog.

Quintus Prime possessing something called the "Emberstone".

Liege Maximo's artifact was the Liegian Darts.

Megatronus's name lacks his "Prime" suffix, either alluding to his eventual departure from the group or implying that he never had one to begin with (like Alpha Trion seems).

Other Primes revealed in this passage are Micronus Prime and Onyx Prime

Like Exiles said, Megatronus's personal artifact was the mighty Requiem Blaster, crafted by Solus Prime herself

"Thirteen" kinda sounds a little like a "Mr. Perfect", being well-liked among the group, having no special weapon or object of his own, and acting as both a mediator and visionary for the group. The glue that held them together, essentially. These types of characters can be very tricky to write, as it could end up in them being either everyone's favorite character or the most despise cliche of a character for being too flawless. Even Megatronus seems to like him. :roll:

Contains a never-before-seen illustration of Vector Prime and a new illustration of Unicron that was commissioned just for this book.

That's one funky looking Unicron, complete with what look like Dark Energon spikes for extra flavor.

*Excerpt of Chapter 2*

About that "I don't think so!" line of Micronus's shooting down the idea of Unicron making his own "Dark Primes", I read it in the voice of Michael Benyaer as Bob from ReBoot.

For Megatronus, since he's yet to "Fall", I imagine his sounding like Tony Todd's Prime Dreadwing voice, with the voice he used for the character in the ROTF movie being his "Fallen" voice.

Solus's voice, though, I haven;t yet found a match for, Alpha Trion all this time has been (appropriately enough) George Takei, in my head.

That's it! That's the art of Alpha Trion from the Binder that was shown at BotCon 2010 and 2011! Yay!

Ahh, so that's the story behind the Cyber Caliber! It's Nexus Prime's personal weapon and can separate into five shorter blade weapons.

Micronus is totally the first Mini-Con.

Aw, nuts! The except cuts off mid-sentence.

Transformers: The Covenant of Primus is due out December 3, 2013. This appears to be another Amazon exclusive. We'll give you a heads up when the pre-order goes live!

Amazon exclusive? Well, at least we know where to find it.

Also, this would make a swell Christmas present, so anyone who wants this better start dropping hints to your friends and family members.

-------------------

Also, can someone merge this other topic with this one? Or lock/delete that one? I had not seen this topic at the time it was posted, so its separated existence is kind of moot.

News Credits: 1 · Fri Jun 07, 2013 3:57 am

HOW MUCH!?!? Can't I get it without the admittedly awesome tin?

Oh well, better start saving. Will this be a widely available item or exclusive does anyone know?