Adaptus
From Transformers Wiki
- Adaptus is a deity from the 2005 IDW portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.
Adaptus is a Transformer deity, believed to have "forged" the Cybertronians and given them the ability to transform. As such, the transformation cog is associated with him.
Worshippers of Adaptus specifically are called Adaptusians.
Sometimes he works under the cover identity of the "Grand Architect".
Contents |
Fiction
2005 IDW continuity
- First appearance: The Transformers vol. 1 #23 (invoked); More than Meets the Eye Annual 2012 (depicted)
Though legends would remember him as an immortal deity, Adaptus was a decidedly mortal robot, not so different from those that would come after him. The Unremembering Adaptus was ancient; as a member of the Guiding Hand, supposedly the first four Transformers to come into existence after the creation of their progenitor, Primus, he was created at the same time as Mortilus, Solomus, and Epistemus. Primus: You, Me, and Other Revelations This original quintet of Transformers would be present for the ignition of the hot spots that would propagate the Transformer species in ages to come. The Unremembering Later generations would remember Adaptus as an agent of change; supposedly blessed with an "infinity" of shapes and sizes, he would introduce the art of transformation to Cybertron. Alongside the first generation of Transformers—the benevolent Knights of Cybertron, the Guiding Hand would supposedly shape much of early Transformer culture, to the point where later generations would remember this prehistoric era had been a paradise for both the body and spirit. Primus: You, Me, and Other Revelations
Ultimately, however, Adaptus would be the 'bot who brought about its downfall. Worried that their immortal, utopian society would only bring about stagnation and prevent the mechanical race from accessing the Higher Realms, the way organic beings could, Adaptus sought to bring war to Cybertron and encouraged the Guiding Hand and their followers to strike out at other civilizations across the galaxy. The other members of the Guiding Hand refused to so, and so Adaptus turned on his own kind instead, bringing conflict to Cybertron for the first time. In the subsequent conflict, Adaptus was defeated and fled to a hidden base on Cybertron's first moon, readying a powerful electromagnetic pulse that would leave the inhabitants of Cybertron confused and disoriented while he made his escape. Adaptus's plan was a success: his ambitions gave rise to the neurological condition known as information creep, while at the same time leaving the other four members of the Guiding Hand with no recollection of their origins, with Primus himself becoming a "compulsively forgettable" 'bot who would eventually take the name of "Rung".
With the population of Cybertron in no state to stop him, Adaptus was able to retrofit the moon with planetary engines; having cracked the secrets of interstellar travel, Adaptus discovered the network of subspace tunnels known as the Warren and piloted his impromptu starship into the breach. The Unremembering
Over the next few million years, the passage of time and rise of information creep would see the truth jumbled and blurred beneath layers of conflicting mythologies; the Guiding Hand were mistakenly deified as supernatural gods, and subsequent generations of Cybertronians would remember Mortilus, bringer of death, as the warlike god who had betrayed his comrades and sparked what they remembered as the "God War". The Unremembering Primus: You, Me, and Other Revelations In this garbled sequence of events, Adaptus was an innocent god who had taken up arms to defeat Mortilus, and in the process was "stripped bare", reduced to the first transformation cog. Though defeated, Adaptus passed the legacy of transformation to future generations of Cybertronians as his gift to them. Primus: You, Me, and Other Revelations Some religious sects came to believe that Forged Transformers, who were formed naturally from sparks that emerged from hot spots were associated with Adaptus. These forged Transformers possessed a natural fluidity of movement in their hands that made them ideal for precise, delicate work such as medicine, which was seen by some as proof of Adaptus's existence. Life After the Big Bang A religious text named in Adaptus' honor, the Book of Adaptus, survived on Cybertron but, for reasons unknown, was considered to be disputed. Within the book existed clues to accessing the Warren. The Return of the King
A different group of Transformers became known as the Militant Monoform Movement, who symbolically rejected Adaptus by surgically removing their transformation cogs. Life After the Big Bang Some religious movements venerated Adaptus above all others, becoming known as "Adaptusians". Swerve was one such adherent. Twenty Plus One
The real Adaptus, meanwhile, still existed; having fled Cybertron aboard his retrofitted moon, he escaped through time and space, jumping forward millions of years into the Earth year 2018, where he witnessed a horrifying sight: a monstrous robot cast in the image of Primus laying waste to the Benzene Cluster. Using the Warren, Adaptus was able to jump backwards through time once more, where he began preparing for the arrival of the threat. Taking on the moniker "the Grand Architect", he built up a network of secret contacts, procuring sentio metallico in preparation of his ultimate goal: to "prepare, confront, [and] repel" the threat he had foreseen. The Unremembering The Return of The King He used the gear-like hieroglyph that had once been his personal coat of arms as his personal insignia, which his closest troops wore on their bodies. Animals These troops were just as mysterious as the Architect himself; they were all unfamiliar to modern Cybertronians, their names unrevealed. Chasing the Infinite
Though unaffiliated with the faction, the Architect's men used Decepticon Worldsweeper ships to move around, and reorganized the missing "Phantom Fleet" into a flotilla of mobile laboratories and staging grounds for the Grand Architect's various campaigns. Despite their slow speed, the ships became synonymous with his forces in the present day for those in the know. Animals An Axe to Break the Ice
Remembering a legend from his time that, if correctly positioned, Cybertron could reflect and channel light into a devastating beam of power, Adaptus reasoned that five Cybertrons would channel exponentially more, and set about gathering resources to build what he called the "God Gun", but with the real Cybertron ravaged by millions of years of war, Adaptus required a pristine Cybertron, and set about building a massive mold, a "negative" of Cybertron that he could use to recreate the planet five times over. Farsickness When the project was complete, Adaptus discarded the mold, which became known as the "Necroworld" and home to Mortilus, now a recluse known as the "Necrobot". The Not Knowing
Around the Earth year 2009, the Architect discovered criminal scientists Scorponok and Flame floating in space, following their escape from the Decepticon Justice Division. Declaring that the pair "belonged to him, now", the Architect brought them into his service. Kill All 'Cons The pair assumed high-ranking positions among his followers, helping to organize and co-ordinates his agents. An Axe to Break the Ice Chasing the Infinite These affiliates worked to create strange genetic experiments from sentio metallico supplied by blacksmiths: fusions between the organic and technological, including the hybrid Treecons The Ties That Bind and the multi-changing Infinites. Chasing the Infinite These bizarre creatures were early prototypes for the Grand Architect's main plan: in order to scour the Benzene Cluster clear of life and give him the space to create his God Gun, he would deliberately introduce biomechanical sleeper agents into the robo-phobic Black Block Consortia, using them to provoke a war between the Consortia and the Galactic Council. Farsickness
The Grand Architect's experiments met with repeated failure. One facility on the planet Corritan had to be decommissioned, and while the pods from it were being transported to a new location, they became contaminated and the entire batch had to be abandoned. Chasing the Infinite Rules of Disengagement After the death of the Architect's agent Demus, it was decided that the lifeforms growing in the facility he was tending, on Tebris VII, would simply be aborted, rather than risk the greater delay that a repeated instance of contamination would incur. Animals This proved a wise decision, as the facility on the next-nearest planet to which they would have been moved, Fortuna, was also compromised under unrevealed circumstances. Chasing the Infinite
During a conflict on Luna 1, Solomus—in his modern guise as "Chief Justice Tyrest"—attempted to open a space bridge to the mythical "Cyberutopia". Instead, the space bridge portal somehow opened into Adaptus's own mind, and when the Autobot Skids stepped through, he was greeted by a vision of the God Gun and the Grand Architect's own consciousness, who communicated with the amnesiac Autobot through a psychedelic medley of sensations. This Calamitous Life Farsickness His attention drawn by the fighting back on the other side of the portal, Skids turned and left, but Adaptus, curious, reached out after him. Instead of Skids, however, he found the body of the gravely-wounded Pharma, and dragged it back through, into his mind. Pharma's dying spark was just warm enough for his consciousness to be able to survive within Adaptus's mind. Farsickness Visiting Luna 1 himself, Adaptus found a gravely wounded Tyrest and took him into his service. Though Adaptus repaired Tyrest—both physically and mentally—the former Chief Justice remained unaware of his storied past as Solomus. A Dance Before Dying
Eventually, the Catharsian Mengel, based on the planet Troja Major, reported that she had successfully used the ancient source of knowledge known as the Magnificence to bring one of the Architect's lifeforms to term—an "Infinite", able to transform into anything, and even heal itself back from death. With the successful birthing of one of these mechs, the Architect's plans moved into their final phase, and he gave the order to begin tying up loose ends. While Scorponok and his men were on Troja Major to collect the Infinite, a summons was sent out to all the blacksmiths he had previously employed, calling them to the planet so his troops could execute them. Anode, Lug, and Wipe-Out were able to evade his death squads, but could not stop the Architect's forces from acquiring the Infinite. An Axe to Break the Ice Chasing the Infinite
Around that time, the Lost Light arrived at Mederi, running into the Grand Architect's fleet of Worldsweepers. Getaway struck a deal with the Architect, claiming Rodimus and his ragtag team were coming to stop his plan, and that Getaway would stop them in exchange for a place at the table. In order to prove Getaway wasn't lying and to have a chance of stopping him, the Architect had Scorponok turn all of the Lost Light crew into Sparkeaters. Lūstrāre
When Team Rodimus arrived at Mederi, an accident with the Warren led them to believe they had passed, causing the moon to present itself as the Afterspark. When Rodimus demanded an audience with Primus, the moon constructed a holographic mimicry of the Guiding Hand based on Drift's beliefs of the pantheon, with the holographic Adaptus acting as the main orator for the deities. The God War
Soon enough, Benzene was cleared, the pathway sterilized, and the preparations for "The Drilling" began. As "the Beast" approached, the Grand Architect began summoning his generals to him. A Dance Before Dying Lūstrāre
As the Phantom Fleet mobilized in Benzene, the influence of Pharma's consciousness on the Architect's mind drove him to have Flame rebuild his body into Pharma's likeness, while Scorponok gave him updates on the master plan. When Team Rodimus arrived, the Architect ordered the Black Block Consortia to execute them before Nautica spoke his symbol. His curiosity winning over, the Architect invited Rodimus and his senior staff aboard to explain himself, only for the Autobot to passionately state either all of the crew would be coming or none of them would. Conceding, the Architect duped the Autobots into a holding cell until he could deal with them. As Flame coordinated the Lost Light's impounding, the Architect was subjected to a mental attack from Sunder. Though his surface memories were probed, the Architect managed to force Sunder out and strip him of his powers, ordering that he and Froid be placed in the cell. When the time came for the God Gun to fire however, it transpired that the weapon had opened the door for the Functionists' invasion. As Scorponok ranted about this, the Architect made his way onto the bridge and murdered the Decepticon in retaliation for ordering Sunder to attack him and for raising his voice. Farsickness
When the Functionist avatar of Primus arrived, the Architect explained more about his temporal journey to Flame and Tyrest before ordering his fleets to engage the Functionists until the God Gun could recharge. No sooner had the order been given did the false Primus begin destroying the duplicate Cybertrons. Though Tyrest tried to rally his master into action, the sight of Ratchet roused Pharma into action, compelling the Architect into speaking to the prisoners. However, when they arrived at the cell, Team Rodimus was escaping via a hull breach. The Architect managed to seal the breach before he explained he wasn't Pharma and revealed that he was Adaptus. Though everyone in the room doubted the claim, Adaptus verified it by explaining the truth behind the Knights of Cybertron and pointing out that Tyrest was the new identity of Solomus while Rung was none other than Primus. The Return of the King
Naming his brothers undid their information creep, with Primus confirming everything Adaptus had said while explaining what had really happened in the God War. Though disappointed at being unable to sway Primus to his ideas once again, Adaptus returned his attention to the losing battle outside before he was attacked by a vengeful Solomus. Though wounded, Adaptus proved a better fighter than Solomus, stabbing Solomus through the chest with his chainsaw hand and swearing to subject his brother to a death so slow and painful that not even Ratchet would be able to heal him. Realizing he had no idea who Ratchet was, Adaptus paused to converse with Pharma, giving Solomus the opening he needed to deploy his drill fingers into his brother's head. Mortally wounded, both primeval Cybertronians exploded into inert sentio metallico. The Unremembering
The Functionist Universe
In a parallel timeline where the Great War never occurred, the Functionist Council venerated Adaptus above the other members of the Guiding Hand. Social engineering-based atrocities such as mass recalls were carried out in his name. The Custom-Made Now A World Misplaced
Under Functionist rule, Kalis was renamed "Adaptica" in honor of Adaptus and a statue of the god adorned the entrance to the city. A World Misplaced The statue was later destroyed by the gravitational forces of Luna 2's tractor beams. Modes of Production
Ask Vector Prime
In some universes, Adaptus was one of the Thirteen following the dissolution of the group as multiversal singularities. When the Thirteen spent time in Ancient Greece, Adaptus was fascinated by the ocean, and the holomatter avatar Adaptus used to interact with the human population wound up inspiring the legend of the god Poseidon. Vector wondered if his memory might live on in Sub-Atlantica. Ask Vector Prime, 2015/08/08
Following the breaking up of the Thirteen, Vector described how Adaptus and four of his other siblings retreated into the Realm of the Primes, while he underwent self-induced amnesia to keep hidden the location of the pieces of Nexus Prime. During a later battle between Vector—now believing himself an ordinary Transfomer—and Mogahn the Mass, Vector's consciousness transcended into the Realm of the Primes, where Adaptus and his siblings unlocked his memories of his past. Vector returned to normal space and wrested away Mogahn's Cyber Caliber, using a gift Adaptus had bestowed on him to reformat the blade into Rhisling, with which he vanquished Mogahn. When Vector recounted this event in his internet Q&A column, he casually remarked that Adaptus would later be called "Amalgamous", causing his readers to express confusion, since they understood Adaptus and Amalgamous Prime to be separate beings from different universes' versions of the Thirteen. The distressed Vector realized he was conflating the memories of two different universes, which ought to have been impossible. As such, it becomes hard to know whether Adaptus was truly part of those events or not. Ask Vector Prime, 2015/07/12
Beast Wars: Uprising
Adaptus was one of the gods worshipped by Builder and proto-former alike. His Cog was very special. Derailment
Notes
Foreign names
- Japanese: Adaptus (アダプタス Adaputasu)
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