Onyx Prime

Move over, Predaking!

Of the Thirteen, Onyx Prime, the "Lord of Beasts", is the most spiritually-minded of their number, in tune with both the creatures of the natural world and the intangible realm of the spirit. He alone has the ability to properly use the three-faced Triptych Mask given to him by Primus; this artifact allows him to cast his spirit across vast distances to commune with the dreams of far-off beings, or even track the journey of a Spark across the afterlife. Though some view these strange mental voyages across distant realms as mere flights of fancy, Onyx and his visions make him one of the most inspirational Primes.

Onyx Prime's spiritual aptitude allowed him to cultivate an inscrutable presence that made him appear mysterious and slightly intimidating at the best of times, even to the other members of the Thirteen. In spite of his powers, Onyx Prime is a kind-hearted and friendly individual at Spark, a trait that made him one of the most liked members of the Thirteen. Indeed, all of his siblings treated him as a fiercely loyal companion and a steadfast confidant—Micronus Prime, in particular, once regarded Onyx as his closest friend. As the first Transformer to possess a beast mode, those Transformers who revere him as the greatest of the Primes tend to eschew the vehicular alternate modes of other Transformers, preferring to wear the animalistic forms exemplified by their spiritual progenitor.

Fiction

Aligned continuity family

The Covenant of Primus

Onyx Prime was the eighth member of the Thirteen produced by Primus, to serve as his children and warriors against his opposite, Unicron. As one of the mid-level Thirteen spawned between the opposing warriors Prima and Megatronus, Onyx Prime had a more balanced and elemental quality. He was a fierce warrior and fought valiantly in the battle with Unicron, but also had a spiritual side that intrigued some of his fellows while flummoxing others. He was very close to Solus Prime (often to Megatronus's chagrin) and was perhaps best friends with Micronus Prime.

The death of Solus Prime hit Onyx harder than any other member of the Primes. It was Onyx who discovered her body in her workshop, and the cry he let loose chilled Alpha Trion to his very oil. He had to be physically restrained by Vector Prime's power after finding Solus, and held in that position to prevent him from seeking vengeance on Megatronus himself. When the division between Megatronus and Liege Maximo came to a head, all the remained Thirteen warred with one another in a battle lust that was divorced from all possible reason. When they regained their senses, the Thirteen found Maximo dead and Onyx Prime gravely injured.

As Megatronus declared himself "The Fallen" forevermore and exiled himself from Cybertron, the Thirteen questioned what to do next. Solus Prime's body had melted down to the core of Cybertron, creating a font of life that could potentially produce new Cybertronians. As his dying act, Onyx Prime volunteered to catalyze the process, journeying down into this Well of All Sparks with the power of his Triptych Mask reorganizing the thirteen patterns of the Thirteen into an endless variety of new Cybertronians. They believed the power of Primus would preserve Onyx Prime at the core forevermore, keeping him from the death awaiting his injuries. Quintus Prime, Alchemist Prime, and Amalgamous Prime each contributed some of their power and skills to this experiment as well, ensuring its success. In the end, Optimus Prime and Micronus Prime chose to journey down into the Well with Onyx. Optimus intended to be reincarnated among the new sparks, allowing him to live among them and learn from them. Micronus could not bear to be parted from Onyx, and chose to exile himself to the core with his mortally wounded friend as well.

The experiment was a success, and the Well of All Sparks soon erupted with an endless array of new lifeforms, brought into existence by Onyx Prime and the power of his brothers and sisters. The Predacons of the Age of Evolution certainly drew strongly from Onyx's pattern, as did the other beastformers that followed in their wake over time. The Covenant of Primus

Prime cartoon

I may have wings, four legs, and a lack of normal arms... but I am not Origin Forme Palkia!

According to legend, at the beginning of time, Unicron and Primus battled each other for eons, with neither side remaining victorious for long until Primus created the Thirteen. These Thirteen defeated Unicron and cast him into space. One Shall Rise, Part 1

Generation 1 continuity family

2005 IDW continuity

Main article: Shockwave (G1)/2005 IDW continuity#Onyx Prime

First appearance: Robots in Disguise #34 (mentioned); Transformers Annual 2017 (Shockwave as Onyx Prime); Optimus Prime #18 (true Onyx)

Something happened on the day he died. Spirit rose a metre then stepped aside. Somebody else took his place, and then he cried...

In the barbarian age after the departure of the Knights of Cybertron, Onyx was the leader of a flock of wayward and mistreated Cybertronians, searching for whatever energon they could find. One day, they came across the time-lost Shockwave, transported twelve million years into the past as a result of the destruction of his chronal drive. The kindly Onyx offered the damaged Shockwave some of their energon and introduced himself; realizing the crucial role that Onyx would play in Cybertron's history, Shockwave took him up on his offer... after killing him and seizing control of his herd. The First Who Was Named

Disguising himself as the newly styled "Onyx Prime," Shockwave used his knowledge of Cybertronian history to ensure the perpetual dominance of the Cybertronian species, seeding history with ontological paradoxes (including the "Dark Cybertron" prophecy that his younger self would one day attempt to bring about) and the means by which he would one day find himself transported backwards in time. The Hallowing By establishing, and subsequently tearing down, every myth and legend that his fellow Transformers believed in, Shockwave aimed to destroy every faith, faction, and creed, sacrificing Cybertron itself to forestall Unicron, and uniting what remained of the Cybertronian species under a new banner—his own. Unforgivable

Power of the Primes toy bios

Onyx Prime's Spark passed into the possession of one of the twelve Prime Masters; hidden within a suit of decoy armor, they safeguarded the abilities of the Primes until the present day. By uniting with a larger Transformer, the Prime Master could channel the powers of Onyx's Spark and grant them unique abilities that varied with each new partner. Power of the Primes

Fun Publications

Vector Prime fondly remembered the time he spent with his siblings, including Onyx Prime, who Vector noted to be in tune with nature and especially the organic. Ask Vector Prime, 2015/06/14 Vector also noted that both Liege and Onyx utilized female holomatter avatars when interacting with humans. Onyx's avatar inspired/co-opted the myth of Artemis. Ask Vector Prime, 2015/07/20 Vector Prime also noted that there were universal streams where Onyx went by the name Onyx Convoy. Ask Vector Prime, 2015/06/24

When Nexus Prime united the Terminus Blade and Star Saber with the intent of thickening the walls between realities to prevent dimensional travel, Onyx Prime and the other members of the "multiversal singularity" incarnation of the Thirteen gathered to witness this momentous event. When Nexus brought the blades together, Onyx and the Thirteen ceased to exist as singularities and were splintered into multiple different incarnations across the multiverse. Out of the One, Many

Cyberverse cartoon

He was going through a biped phase.

Onyx Prime was one of the Thirteen. Dweller In The Depths Silent Strike The Other One

When the Primes ruled Cybertron, Onyx created many secrets hideouts and caches across the planet. In the Isle of Onyx Prime, he hid his Cortex Helm, entrusting the island's location only to his loyal knight Thunderhowl. The Perfect Decepticon

When Crystal City was created by the Crystalline King, Onyx Prime sent Thunderhowl to destroy the city, only for Thunderhowl to become trapped for millions of years. Thunderhowl

One film

This movie has TWO Shockwaves????

Obviously the entire plot of this movie is his fault. Or maybe not?

Onyx Prime was one of the original thirteen Primes created by Primus. When the Quintessons invaded Cybertron, Onyx fought with his fellow Primes against them. He would join the Primes in a secret meeting with the Primes' aide Sentinel, unaware that it was a trap. Onyx would be killed during the battle, with his brothers' and sisters' bodies resting in a hidden cave for fifty cycles before being rediscovered by miners Orion Pax, D-16, Elita, and B-127. A revived Alpha Trion would give Onyx's transformation cog to one of the miners,^[1] unlocking their lost ability to transform into an alternate form and providing a new, improved robot form.

A vision of Onyx Prime and the other Primes later appeared as Alpha Trion declared a damaged Orion Pax to be the next wielder of the Matrix of Leadership, Optimus Prime. Transformers One

Games

Transformers Roleplaying Game

Cybertronian mythology held that Onyx Prime, sometimes known as Onyx Primal, was a member of the Thirteen and the progenitor of all beast-formers. According to legend, he wielded the Triptych Mask and commanded the loyalty of the Titan Chela.

Mindwipe believed himself to be a true child of Onyx Prime, although Simacore vehemently disagreed. Technorganic Secrets

Toys

Power of the Primes

• Predaking (Titan Class, 2018)

• Known designers: John Warden and Lynsey Urban (Hasbro), Robby Musso (concept artist)

Power of the Primes Predaking comes packaged with Onyx Prime as a Prime Master. Since he is a Prime Master he can plug into any decoy armor's Pretender or weapon form, or replace a Power of the Primes Leader's Matrix core. Onyx Prime can also ride Legends Class figures and attach to Deluxe Class figures' chest armor, Voyager Class figures' bucklers, or Voyager Class figures' combined mode. It includes the frame for the Onyx Matrix, and can attach to it as a Prime Master would to a normal Matrix frame. When connected to the frame, he can hide in Predaking's chest, under Razorclaw's beast head.

Onyx Prime was repurposed as the Yellow Matrix wielded by Yellow Splendid Convoy in the Generations Selects Special Comic.

Age of the Primes

• Onyx Prime (Leader Class, 2025)

• Accessories: Tryptych Mask/spearhead, spear pole/arrow, tail/bow
• Known designers: Mark Maher (Hasbro), Shuhei Umezu (TakaraTomy), Marcelo Matere (concept artist), Aaron Archer and Ken Christiansen (original concept)^[2]

Let's see what you can see... This article is in need of images.

Age of the Primes Onyx Prime was released as part of the second wave of Leader Class figures in the line. He transforms from a bipedal robot mode into a centaur in 12 steps, and into a hippogriff/dragon-type creature in 19 steps.

His Triptych Mask has been reimagined as a spearhead, which attaches to a brown pole, perhaps to tie in with the character's then-recent appearance in Transformers One, in which he wielded the same weapon. The spear also doubles as an arrow, with beast mode tail serving as the accompanying bow. The upper part of his helmet can be lowered over his face (shown in this position for the centaur mode), and his second set of legs can also be deployed in beast mode.

Onyx was revealed at New York Toy Fair 2025.

Designer commentary on Age of the Primes Onyx Prime from Mark Maher on Instagram

This item is currently scheduled for release, but is not yet available at mass retail.

Notes

• Like other members of the Thirteen, Onyx Prime was once as a multiversal singularity who existed as one being across all space and time, but that is no longer the case.
• The artwork of Onyx Prime in the Covenant of Primus (at the top of this article) is a little hard to decipher, which for a while led many fans to believe that he had been drawn incorrectly in IDW's comics. Onyx was originally conceived as a centaur, as can clearly (if briefly) be glimpsed in his Prime cartoon appearance. However, the Covenant artwork depicts him rearing up on his hind legs, obfuscating his forelegs and supposedly leading several IDW artists to misinterpret his design, either mis-drawing his forelegs or omitting them entirely, thereby drawing him as a normal two-legged 'bot. Optimus Prime #18 turned this into a subtle piece of foreshadowing: the real Onyx was a quadruped, but his natural stance was the one thing that the bipedal Shockwave could not replicate while impersonating him. In the years since, subsequent depictions of Onyx Prime—including Cyberverse, One, and an apparent cameo in EarthSpark—have shifted over to depicting him as a biped. His Age of the Primes toy splits the difference, and gives him both a bipedal robot mode and a centaur robot mode.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Onyx Prime (オニキスプライム Onikisu Puraimu)
• Mandarin: Ruì Tiān Xiāo (锐天骁)

References