Unicron

"I have summoned you here for a purpose."


Name: Unicron

Allegiance: None

Function: Universal Dominator

Motto: "That which does not become a part of me, shall become one with the great void."


Profile: Created shortly after the dawn of time, Unicron is the most massive and deadly of all the Transformers. His goal is to absorb the universe!


Abilities: The size of a large planet, Unicron derives sustenance from digesting planets, moons, and even stars, thus making him larger and increasing both his power and his appetite. When it serves his interest, he has been know to make pacts with lesser beings, offering them stronger bodies and greater powers in exchange for their total allegiance. Woe be it to the would be betrayer, for Unicron possesses the ability to to both give and take way. With the mere thought of treachery, the slave will find his body involuntarily twisting into painful contortions. Among his numerous subjects are the Quintessons, who hunt down anyone who escapes his wrath. The deadliest secret of all is that this rumbling juggernaut when threatened, can transform into the Goliath of robots, capable of swatting armadas to dust and tearing whole planets apart with his bare hands.


Strength: ∞; Intelligence: ∞; Speed: 10; Endurance: ∞; Rank: 10; Courage: 10; Firepower: ∞; Skill: 10


G1 Animation Model


Robot Mode


Alt Mode


Alternate Images


G1 Marvel Comic


Third-Party Images


Ah Unicron, the holy grail of Transformers figures. Ever since I first set eyes upon the character in the pages of the Marvel comics and later in The Transformers: The Movie, I've longed for a screen-accurate representation of the Chaos Bringer. Until fairly recently it seemed like little more than a pipe dream, as every previous incarnation of the character has been wanting, based primary on his significantly less iconic Transformers: Armada appearance.


Recently, Hasbro ran a crowd-funding campaign through its Haslab arm aimed at achieving eight thousand backers for a colossal twenty-seven inch version of Unicron. Unfortunately, while the size is undoubtedly impressive it is based more around the current War for Cybertron aesthetic, which is not to my liking (what with all of its panel lines and greeblies). Additionally, while the alt mode is undeniably impressive, it comes at great cost to the robot mode, which is essentially curled up inside of the outer planetary shell - the very definition of a shell-former. It looks very little like the animation model I was so taken with back in the nostalgic days of the 1980s...


At around the time Haslab was attempting to get backing for its project, Zeta Toys unveiled a smaller, but far more screen accurate version of the character that they dubbed Core Star. The early test shots had me foaming at the mouth, but unfortunately the timing of Zeta's announcement was ill-conceived and they were promptly smacked with a cease and desist by Hasbro's lawyers. I was crestfallen. We'd come so close to a truly great representation of Unicron's most famous appearance, only to be denied at the final hurdle. Or so it seemed. Thankfully Zeta 'sold' the design to 'another company' and Core Star rose like the proverbial phoenix from the flames as 01-Studio's 'Cell', a rather cheeky, dark-humoured reference to the COVID-19 pandemic currently sweeping the globe.


Cell, like Core Star before it, is an extremely faithful representation of Unicron's G1 animation model, particularly in the all-important robot mode. 01-Studio (I'm convinced it's just Zeta by another name) went to great lengths to avoid another confrontation with Hasbro (although since Haslab's project was funded I suspect the company no longer cared), shipping the main body of the robot separately from the head and wings.


The resultant figure is leaps and bounds ahead of the Haslab version when it comes to cartoon accuracy, at least in robot mode. Certain sacrifices had to me made to the alt mode for such a great bot mode, but these are nowhere near as severe as Haslab's reverse compromises and the planet mode still looks very nice. Of course the 01-Studio/Zeta Unicron isn't as big as Haslab's, standing a 'mere' eighteen inches tall, but the smaller size makes for a far less ungainly figure that is much easier to manipulate and transform. Feast your eyes on some of the product shots below.


01-Studio 01S01 Cell



01-Studio 01S01 Cell


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