Cybertron (planet)



Cybertron is the home planet of the Transformers and (usually) the body of their creator, Primus.

It has a number of moons (at least three). It began its existance circling a binary star in Alpha Centauri, but, in many continuities, has left that orbit.

Marvel Comics
Here, Cybertron was the adopted form of Primus. This origin of the planet states that Primus trapped himself and Unicron in barren asteriods which they then shaped into their physical forms. In this continuity it does not seem that Primus designed his body to transform as it can in some others, but rather simply to be homeworld to his creations.

Cybertron in this continuity is roughly Saturn-sized (We could chalk the scientific impossibility of that up to Primus, who is a God after all.) as stated during the Marvel US run. This does bring up a number of problems if one were to consider this true throughout all the continuities. An alternative suggestion to this could be taken to mean that the text in the Marvel comic "Saturn sized" could mean that the equivalent habitable area on Cybertron is equivalent to the surface area of Saturn. Cybertron as a metallic planet has a habitable interior as well as a viable surface area, unlike Earth. Although this interpretation has never appeared in canon, it would go someway in explaining how Cybertron often appears, visually, as a smaller planet, as well as partly circumnavigating problem's of Cybertron's mass and size in terms of narrative (a planet so large would surely mean interaction between the key characters was less likely to happen). What may have been an attempt at a dramatic description in an earlier comic could cause problems later on, but this one possible interpretation, meant to put it in an Earth-friendly context (hence comparing it to a body in our own Solar system) which could make Cybertron smaller for those who may not wholly accept the concept of a metallic, Saturn sized planetoid.

Significant Locations

Cybertron is organized into city-states, the largest and most important being Iacon. Others include Helix, Kalis, Polyhex, Tarn, and Vos.

Beneath the sewers the Demons in the Darkness are locked away.

At the center of this Cybertron there is a room with a Huge head of Primus on the wall where he sleeps and is watched over by the Keeper.

Animated Series
As presented in the Generation 1 animated series, Cybertron appeared considerably smaller than the planet Earth. Entirely metallic on the surface, some of the lowest levels of Cybertron consisted of rock and dirt, suggesting an organic beginning to the planet. Its gravity is light enough that humans are able to traverse the surface without any trouble, and it possesses a breathable atmosphere. Water, or at least a substance resembling it, is in evidence on the planet - lake and rivers have been shown to exist, albeit sparingly. Many levels below the surface is the energy-furnace, the Plasma Energy Chamber, and at the heart of the planet is the spherical mega-computer, Vector Sigma. Cybertron is orbited by at least two unnamed moons, but its own place in the cosmos appears unfixed - in 1984, it was clearly shown to exist outside of the Milky Way galaxy; however, nine million years prior, Starscream and Skyfire had been able to fly from the planet to Earth under their own power, suggesting that it may drift freely through space, and had been passing through the Sol System at that point, going on to drift out of the galaxy over the ensuing millennia.

If the assorted colourful exclamations made by numerous Transformers are anything to go by, Cybertron also plays host to a vast array of fauna, including but not limited to: ant-droids, bolt-bats, cyber-ducks, dynametal ducks, electro-toads, glitch-mice, guineapigatrons, helio-hamsters, hydro-weasels, photovoltaic pussycats, retro-rats, robo-rats, sheepacrons, titanium moose-bots, turbo-foxes, zap-mice and robotopossums.

In it's earliest recorded days, twelve million years ago, Cybertron was a factory used by the multi-faced aliens the Quintessons to manufacture their robot creations. Notably, the origins of the planet are never explicitly stated - the Quintessons may have built it, terraformed an organic world, or colonised an existing metal planet. Whatever the case, after a million years, the Quintessons were forced to abandon Cybertron when their robots evolved true sentience and feelings, and knew they were being used as slaves, rebelling in the First Cybertonian War. The second war was soon to come, however, when the robots splintered into two factions - the peace-loving Autobots and the war-mongering Decepticons - and began fighting amongst themselves. With the Autobots' innovation of transformation, they were able to win - or at least stalemate - the war, and a period of peace descended on Cybertron, which shone with a healthy golden glow, distinguishing the period as the "Golden Age."

Eventually, however, Decepticons adopted transformation as well, along with robot-mode flight powers, and around nine million years ago, the creation of the Decepticon Megatron re-ignited the war on Cybertron. Megatron rallied like-minded individuals to his cause, and brainwashed others into his service, quickly killing the current Autobot leader in a strke on one of Iacon's outer cities. With this act kept out of the public knowledge, rumours circulated as Autobot machinesmith Alpha Trion worked dilligently on a new process to reconstruct Autobots into battle-hardy configurations for the war he knew was coming. That war finally erupted in full when Megatron fatally injured a naive young dock worker, Orion Pax, and Alpha Trion made him the first subject of his new process, reconstructing him into Optimus Prime, who would lead the Autobots in the Third Cybertronian War.

After a further five million years of war, during which many Autobots fled the planet, the Decepticons had acquired a large hold on the planet, with the majority of it under their control. The main Autobot force continued to operate from the capital city-state of Iacon, but Cybertron's energy levels were depleted to a dangerous low, necessitating a space mission to locate a new planet with new sources of energy that the Transformers could harness. Optimus Prime led his best and brightest on The Ark, but they were pursued by Megatron's elite troops, and all were stranded in stasis on Earth for four million years.

In the ensuing four million years, Shockwave, who Megatron had left in charge as guardian of the planet, maintained the Decepticon hold on the planet, though he was unaware of the continued guerilla efforts of Elita One's Female Autobots to undermine him as they raided his energy supplies. Eventually, Cybertron's energy level dipped so low as to put the planet in immediate, mortal danger. Re-establishing contact with Megatron, who had awoken with the other Transformers on Earth in the year 1984, Shockwave co-designed the Space Bridge, an intergalactic transport system that could transport Energon Cubes from Earth to Cybertron, abating the planet's impending doom.

Cybertron's place in the universe was forcibly altered in 1984 when the Decepticons constructed a colossal Space Bridge that actually transported the entire planet into the Sol system, into Earth's orbit, where its gravity wreaked havoc with the planet's natural balance, unleashing an uneding torrent of energy created by natural disasters. The energy acquired re-energised Cybertron enough to put it out of the danger zone, but the planet was soon knocked out of orbit by a massive Energon explosion, and set drifting off through the solar system. At this closer ranger, Cybertron remained easily accessed throughout 1985 at least, with the Autobots now able to reach it by conventional transportation (Omega Supreme), rather than having to constantly hijack use of the spacebridge.

By the Earth year 2005, Cybertron had exited the Sol system, but, remaining within the Milky Way, was still relatively easily accessible by shuttlecraft from Earth. By this time, the Decepticon forces had succeeded in conquering the entire planet, forcing all the Autobots off it, leading them to relocate to Autobot City on Earth, and to two staging ground bases on two of Cybertron's moons. It was at this time that Cybertron came under attack from the world-eater, Unicron, who consumed the two moonbases and assaulted Cybertron itself, only to be destroyed by the power of the Autobot Matrix of Leadership. His deactivated, decapitated head fell into orbit around Cybertron, a grisly new satellite to replace those he had destroyed. With the Decepticon forces in disarray after Unicron's attack, Rodimus Prime and his troops succeeded in driving their foes off Cybertron, reclaiming the planet for the Autobots, restoring and re-energising much of the planet by 2006, when the world came under frequent attacks from the returning Quintessons, whose previously-secret history with the Transformers came to light.

In the year 2007, Cybertron was once again wrenched from its place in space when Galvatron and the Decepticons invaded the planet and constructed a massive planetary engine that propelled Cybertron back into Earth orbit once more. Once there, Galvatron opened the Plasma Energy Chamber, intending for the energy release to drive the Sun supernova, consuming Earth, Cybertron and everything else in one final destructive blow. Spike Witwicky and the Autobots' Nebulan allies were able to stop this plan by reversing the rocket engine, which drained off the excess solar energy and channeled it straight into Vector Sigma, which used it to full re-energise Cybertron. Its rich golden hue restored, Cybertron entered a new Golden Age.

Japanese Series
While the American Transformers series was concluded with the three-part miniseries, "The Rebirth", depicting the 2007 events noted above, in Japan it was opted to continue the series, and so "The Rebirth" was disregarded in favour of producing Transformers: The Headmasters, a full-length 35-episode series set in the year 2011.

In 2011, it was discovered that the release of the energy of the Matrix by Optimus Prime to cure the Hate Plague had much more far-reaching consequences that anyone suspected. With the Matrix's energy depleted, Vector Sigma's balance - permanently tilted in favour of the Autobots by the existence of the Matrix - was reset to neutrality, allowing the Decepticons, bolstered by their new Headmaster troops, to freely invade Cybertron (known as Seibertron in Japan). Eventually, this forced Optimus Prime to sacrifice his life by merging with Vector Sigma in order to stabilise the computer before it destroyed Cybertron from within.

Not long thereafter, Vector Sigma developed a new metal alloy dubbed Cybertonuron, which enticed Galvatron into another raid on the planet. However, the Decepticon Headmaster leader, Zarak, feared the power that Galvatron would gain from the alloy, and so, to prevent either him or the Autobots from obtaining it, arranged for his Headmasters to plant bombs at the core of the planet, within Vector Sigma's chamber. The Autobots were unable to stop the countdown and the bombs detonating, tearing Cybertron apart and leaving it a charred uninhabitable ruin drifting in space.

The Cybertron Federation apparently worked together to rebuild Cybertron during the period of peace between Generation 1 and Generation 2

Beast Wars/Beast Machines
Little is directly known about Beast Wars era Cybertron, aside from what can be inferred from Generation 1. It IS in orbit around a star which it shares with several other unnamed planets. It has several moons, one with big gashes in its surface.

300 years after the signing of the Pax Cybertronia, the Maximals dominate Cybertron. The Maximal city of Cybertropolis had been build over the ruins of Iacon. Six Lasers Over Cybertron is an amusement park found there in this era. Among the examples of cultural refinement are some joints where the servers go around without their torso plates on.

Beast Machines returned to Cybertron, and likewise described it as once a natural world, hosting organic life (including gigantic bat and eagle-like creatures). Some of that life was apparently sentient since the Oracle computer foretold the coming of robots to the planet. What exactly happened to this world remains a mystery, though it could also be theorized that the Quintesson empire terra-formed and converted the planet to an entirely robotic/metallic city-world we know. The only remains of organic life were a few remnants of plant life far, far below, and a strange green organic ooze buried deep beneath the rocky core of the world that had the ability to enhance the life force of any living thing and super-charge organic growth.

The presence of fossilised animal remains and bones deep in the planet's interior has not yet been given an official explanation. It remains a mystery as to how Nightscream was able to not only copy a bat's anatomy, but also extract DNA unless of course it was coincidence that such a similar lifeform could have existed on Cybertron in an organic state millenia before. However, the chances of findign intact DNA after such a length of time makes this suggestion highly improbable.

At the end of Beast Machines the planet was transformed into a new Technorganic state.

Universe
Takes place in part on the post-Beast Machines technorganic Cybertron.

Animated continuity


In the Unicron Trilogy's animated continuity, Cybertron is revealed to be the body of Primus. Much like the versions of Cybertron before it, it is a metallic planet that is damaged by conflict. Cybertron existed in an unnamed system until the Energon series, where it was pulled from orbit and pushed into another part of space (or universe) that Alpha Quintesson had created.

In Energon, Cybertron was equipped with a system of Energon Towers that could surround the planet with a protective field, which has since been disabled due to Decepticon attack.

Cybertron had at least one known moon in the Armada series, but this moon turned out to be Unicron. It is unknown whether it was always Unicron's depowered body, or if the moon somehow became a new "host" body for him.



Through the ages, Cybertron has had many repairs, causing new "layers" to be added to the surface of the planet. Deep within the core is a pool of Super Energon that was once guarded by the four ancient combiners, Constructicon Maximus, and Bruticus Maximus, Superion Maximus, and his unnamed brother.

At the end of the Energon series, Cybertron was granted a new sun when Primus trapped Unicron's spark within a ball of Super Energon, igniting it. This sun would eventually colapse, becoming the Unicron Singularity.



It is unknown how large Cybertron is in this continuity, but it is most likely the size of earth or smaller. When Rad, Carlos and Alexis visited the planet in 2010, they required spacesuits to operate on the planet's surface, indicating a lack of breathable atmosphere; by 2020, however, humans were capable of surviving without specialised suits, indicating that an atmopshere may have been generated for the planet in some way.

In the Cybertron series, much of the planet had been repaired, including the construction of a "Sky Dome" headquarters where important meetings are held. This structure housed the artifacts that were used to mount the Omega Lock, which unlocks the robot form of Cybertron.

Dreamwave
The only continuity in which Cybertron has been mapped to some extent. A map of one hemisphere of the planet appears in the DK Transformers Ultimate Guide.

IDW
Some time ago, the constant fighting and the stripping of Cybertron's natural resources by both Autobot and Decepticon to feed their age-long war led to a terrible cataclysm that rendered Cybertron uninhabitable. As of the present day, it is a dead planet.

With no atmosphere, Cybertron's surface is unprotected from cosmic radiation and is wracked by plasma storms. Transformers must divert energy to their personal shielding in order to remain on the surface for short periods; the surface presumably immediately lethal for humans. The Transformer race has abandoned the planet (save for occasional scientific surveys from orbit) and is now conducting its conflict across the galaxy.

Landing on Cybertron is forbidden.

Trivia

 * Cybertron's "gashed" moon often glimpsed during the course of Beast Machines is heavily based on one side of a modern sculpture by Arnaldo Pomodoro, "Sphere within Sphere" ("Sfera con Sfera"), that can be found in the Vatican City's Courtyard of the Pinecone. See kids?  Transformers IS educational.