Alpha Trion (G1)


 * Alpha Trion is an Autobot from the Generation 1 continuity family.



Alpha Trion is one of the oldest living Transformers, and with that age comes a nuanced understanding of his race and their place within the universe. In his youth, he went by the name A3, and in this time, he helped lead the enslaved Cybertronians in their rebellion against their cruel masters, the Quintessons. As a result, he was instrumental in first establishing Cybertron as an independent planet.

In his older years, he has found a comfortable role in serving as advisor to other Transformers. He is an enigmatic old robot, though he is known to be the custodian of the Key to Vector Sigma. His sage-like manner paints him in almost a mystic tone, and possible connections between Alpha Trion, Vector Sigma, and the history of Cybertron itself have boosted him into legendary status.

Generation 1 cartoon
Voice actors: John Stephenson, Corey Burton (War Dawn), Tony Pope (Forever Is a Long Time Coming) (English); Osamu Saka (Japanese)



11 million years ago, a mechanoid named A3 was part of the robot rebellion against the Quintessons on a factory world, creating a device called the Coda Remote that would stop their Dark Guardians. Due to a timerift created by Quintessons from the future, he was briefly pulled into the year 2006. Fortunately, his partner Beta managed to start the rebellion as scheduled, and A3 was soon returned by future Autobots to fulfill his role in Cybertronian history.

Years later, he would be given the Matrix of Leadership by a dying Autobot leader, but Alpha Trion himself did not become Autobot leader. It would sit in his possession, unused, until the coming of the next Autobot leader. In the meanwhile, Alpha Trion developed plans to rebuild Autobots to better combat the escalating Decepticon menace.

The next Autobot leader would actually come to him when a group of time-travelers lugged a dying youth named Orion Pax to his repair center. Reluctant at first, Alpha Trion sensed a strong spirit in Orion Pax, and decided to rebuild him entirely... into Optimus Prime. When Prime asked if Alpha Trion could rebuild his fallen girlfriend Ariel as well, Alpha Trion agreed, and mused that Elita One would be a good name for a female warrior.

When next seen - millions of years later - Alpha Trion was acting in an advisory role to the Female Autobots. When their secret base was discovered by Shockwave, he suggested they move their headquarters. During the following skirmish between the Female Autobots and the Decepticons, he engaged in holographic communication with Elita One, where he (somewhat randomly) reminded her to not use her time-stopping power, for its use would likely drain her lifeforce. When she immediately used this power to save her beloved Optimus Prime, the Autobot leader tracked Alpha Trion to his secret base. Alpha Trion repaired her to the best of his ability, but revealed to Optimus Prime that only Prime could save Elita by interfacing to her with his power filter. An astonished Optimus Prime stated that only his CREATOR could know that!

(Optimus Prime had apparently forgotten that Alpha Trion was his creator, although he seemed to know that Alpha Trion created Elita One. This, uncomfortably, makes Alpha Trion both of their fathers.  Which would make them... )

Alpha Trion was one of the first generation of Transformers created by Vector Sigma. Because of this, he was custodian of the supercomputer's circuit key--but his own circuitry also functioned as a key and would allow him to interface with Vector Sigma on his own. He did just that, sacrificing his own body in order to compel Vector Sigma to imbue life into the Aerialbots to counter Megatron's new troops.

After this, Alpha Trion appeared mostly as a spirit-guide, and had the peculiar honor of residing both within Vector Sigma and the Matrix of Leadership. He knew of the important role that both Nebulos and the Plasma Energy Chamber would come to play in Vector Sigma's grand plan to rejuvenate Cybertron, and so urged Optimus Prime to help the plan become reality.

Universe: Featuring the Wreckers
Alpha Trion was seemingly resurrected and/or reformatted as a lion by the Oracle to guide Primal Prime and his Wreckers in much the same way as he aided many previous Autobot leaders. It is unclear whether this new form ever existed physically; its only appearance was as a vision in Primal Prime's head.

However, he did not make an appearance after this enigmatic reintroduction until Unicron posed a new threat to the balance of the multiverse. Alpha Trion, though technically still merged with with Primus/Vector Sigma/Whatever, was again in his original body (but now with a cape!). He/they pulled Cybertron's greatest hero, Optimus Primal, back from the dead in order to rescue recently abducted Cybertronians from the center of the Chaos Bringer.

When Primal succeeded at this monumental task, he confronted the Maximal Elders with one of his overblown speeches and was thrown in jail. Alpha Trion sent Snarl to stage a small rescue of his own, and Primal was returned to the center of Cybertron. Here, Alpha Trion presented Primal with a window into the past, present, and future of the Allspark, from which he could pluck any warrior, whether they be living or dead. Primal chose Depthcharge and Rhinox, the former of whom rejected Primal's calling. Alpha Trion quieted Primal's disappointment, letting Depthcharge go, expecting him to return of his own accord. To take his place, Alpha Trion pulled Omega Prime from the Robots in Disguise universe.

Dreamwave comics continuity
Alpha Trion was seen hanging on Shockwave's wall. This was apparently meant to be very important to the huge, over-arching plot of the entire universe, but odds are we'll never learn why.

IDW comics continuity
Alpha Trion attended the funeral of Bumper and Fastback, accompanied by Orion Pax, Ariel, and a robot who may have been Dion.

Timelines

 * Alpha Trion/Weirdwolf (souvenir add-on, BotCon 2007)
 * A bagged set of Alpha Trion and Weirdwolf was released at BotCon 2007 as a souvenir set add-on, limited to 1400 pieces. Alpha Trion was a retool of Cybertron Vector Prime, redecoed in purple, white, and red, plus a new head.


 * Alpha Trion transforms into a large cybertronic space cruiser with "solar panel" wings, his shape seemingly taking cues from both the Beast Wars starship Axalon and the Star Wars Sith Infiltrator. His nosecone has a spring-loaded missile launcher at the tip. Inserting his Cyber Planet Key (painted gold to resemble the Key to Vector Sigma) does not activate any sounds, unlike Vector Prime's toy. He comes a partner named Beta Maxx.  Alpha Trion has the more flexible translucent plastic parts (for safety reasons) of the Hasbro version of the mold.


 * This toy may represent another version of Alpha Trion, not necessarily one from a Generation 1 universe. It is not currently known.

Unreleased
A redeco of Beast Machines Snarl was planned as Alpha Trion for the OTFCC Wreckers storyline, but this concept never made it past the paint mock-up stage.

A redecoed Lio Convoy was also considered by 3H for Alpha Trion around the same time, and it was sort of this version that briefly appeared in the comic book (see above). Though the toy mock-up used Snarl, 3H hoped they could finagle the use of the Lio Convoy mold. "Alpha Lion"'s wireframe appearance in Wreckers #1 used Lio Convoy's body, but Snarl's head, hopefully allowing 3H to fudge either way, should they come to a decision. They didn't!

Merchandise

 * Alpha Trion (Super Collection Figure)

Trivia

 * Interestingly, Alpha Trion is one of the very few Transformers to show signs of aging and hair growth.
 * According to a note in Japan's Comic BomBom magazine, A3 was the first successful Cybertronian, A1 and A2 being failures. However, the presence of Cybertronians within the Matrix of Leadership older than Alpha Trion (as seen in The Return of Optimus Prime) makes the actual canonicity of this questionable.
 * In Robots in Disguise, an Alpha Trion is mentioned as an Autobot elder who created Optimus Prime and Ultra Magnus.
 * The Unicron Trilogy has another nigh-identical Alpha Trion. In fact, BotCon 2007 Alpha Trion's bio suggests many continuities have him, and they are all pretty much the same.