TRANSFORMERS: THE BASICS on PRIMUS 

Primus becoming a psychiatrist is such a dad thing for him to do. He still watches over his "kids". Even if they never get his name right.

I love Primus. The lore of all other forms of fiction is so humancentric. Transformers is like, nah, God is a robot, and humanity is just a random act of evolution.

Personally, my favorite version is the multiversal singularity who exists as Unicron’s equal and opposite. It gives the franchise a broader, more epic scope. It doesn’t require creators to feature Primus or Unicron, but ensures that when they do use them, it’s a major event.

Shout outs to all the cool parents that dropped a 90 on that cybertron figure for their kids

My god....this whole time I thought the “Rung is God” comment was a joke....but he literally was Primus! I need to read more of the IDW books!

Primus ranks as one of my favorite fictional deities. Kinda hard to say why considering that he actually doesn't do a whole lot in TF as a whole beyond existing and being a key figure to its lore, but he's still up there. I think it's the fact that he transforms into a freaking planet that clinches the deal.

One Christmas, my mom bought me the original Cybertron Primus figure. To this day I am still thanking my mom

Atleast he wasn’t killed by a Cosmically Powered Starscream

I want more Rung in things. He’s such a sweetheart who genuinely cares about people. I don’t care if he’s Primus or not he should just be in more things.

Make The Basics On: A Cosmically Powered Starscream

I was hoping you'd mention Primus the Order Bringer from Shattered Glass :P have you ever considered a Cybertron religion episode. They've created a few interesting bits of mythology over the years

Excellent video, Chris. To answer your question on favorite origins, I won’t lie, my heart still goes to the multiversal singularity seen in the Unicron Trilogy. I do like elements of the Aligned Continuity version as well, though.

That whole Rung reveal when I first read it... BLEW. MY. MIND!

Brilliant as always Chris! I am floored by how much research and love goes into your Basics Videos and how attention to detail and precision goes into your videos bringing them to a whole new level of entertainment I look forward to every time I get a notification of youtube and twitter. Keep up the good works and looking forward to the next one!

I think the multiversal singularity idea could still work; like, establish that the different versions of Primus and Unicron are still linked to each other, but come in all different forms and are associated with Cybertron’s history in one way or another.

5:16- “Till All Are One”...hmmm...now I think I know what Prime meant.

WOW! I never would have thought Rung had any kind of connection to lore like that. Incredible!

"For all their supposed omnipotence... even gods can be conned!"

Thank you SOOO much for the episode! Taking a break from making a full course pasta dinner from scratch. This was a delightful breather! (IDW's take was my fav interpretation. Rung is a great character.)

Simon Furmans origin of transformers blew my mind when I first got into transformers comics and cartoons. I believe it allows for transformers to be taken more seriously and showing a spiritual side to the franchise. Making them more human and relatable. However, when reading phase two of IDW and Rung was introduced therefore tossing away the origin o was highly disappointed. Sure, it's a different universe but just seems phase two was trying to do away with a ton of elements that made transformers special.

The basics on Primus: Primus is an American funk metal band formed in El Sobrante, California in 1984. The band is currently composed of bassist/vocalist Les Claypool, guitarist Larry "Ler" LaLonde, and drummer Tim "Herb" Alexander. Primus originally formed in 1984 with Claypool and guitarist Todd Huth, later joined by drummer Jay Lane, though the latter two departed the band at the end of 1988. Featuring LaLonde and Alexander, Primus recorded the live album Suck on This in 1989, followed by four studio albums: Frizzle Fry (1990), Sailing the Seas of Cheese (1991), Pork Soda (1993), and Tales from the Punchbowl (1995). Alexander left the band in 1996 due to lack of interest [1] and was replaced by Bryan "Brain" Mantia, with whom Primus went on to record the original theme song for the TV show South Park and two more albums, Brown Album (1997) and Antipop (1999), before entering into a hiatus in 2000.

Didn't even know that Primus existed until I started delving into the Transformers lore recently. Story is way more epic than I ever thought before.

Does anyone find it interesting that through out the years Primus has shown a darker side? Like there's abandoning his earliest children like the Covenant & Demons (and possibly the organic life that once lived on Cybertron), creating his main children through the multiverse to fight & murder each other in a supposed effort to get rid of his brother & being nothing more than weapons, and despite RG1 being shit; it was sorta interesting that it said that Primus used the multiverse as a testing ground to supposedly create one perfect world and what that implies. Anyway I prefer the multiversal Primus origin with elements from BM & IDW.

Not going to lie. I'd like if they merged the Rung concept with the conduit idea. Primus is still this powerful God of creation and order, but he masquerades as the psychiatrist Rung to walk amongst his own creations without having too much leeway to interfere in their lives. Sort of like the Gods of Greek myth.

8:22 one day we'll get a Kissplayers episode...or maybe not

Oh my god, it's Primus. Literally

I think my favorite is where Primus and Unicron are emissaries of The One, before Unicron turns evil. The Thirteen is one of my favorite concepts from the franchise. But I also like Rung as a character, and when you really look at it he probably is more than "just" another Transformer. He just... appeared one day. Then he used his power to create the rest of Cybertron's populace, possibly even the Guiding Hand. And his spark became a hotspot (no, not Hot Spot) after his sacrifice. There is definitely something to all that, but has thankful been left as a mystery to unravel. Stories are usually better when they don't explain everything.

9:40 This image and it’s info has been in most in these videos. There will be more of this in future episodes. It’s only Logical, considering it’s a huge part of every TF lore.

At last, the basics on Primus! That last part about him being an ordinary Transformer was a surprise to me, and also sort of reminded me of what happened to the Great Spirit Mata Nui in the ninth year of the Bionicle story. Also, I am considering supporting the channel on Patreon, but I need to work out my finances before I make any attempts. I apologize if it looks like I’m spamming, I was writing this comment before and I think I posted it before I could finish it.

Primus as a multidimensional Singularity and the Creator of the Cybertronian Race PLUS being Cybertron itself is the BEST story and interpretation of the Character.

So if Cybertron was organic in the past does that mean Primus' original warriors against Unicron were going to be organic as well? Like the Thirteen (or a version of them) weren't Primus' first children, examples being the Covenant shown in 3H comics and the Demons in the Marvel comics.

I always prefer the idea of Primus as a benevolent godlike entity that opposed Unicron and created the 13 Primes to help in this task. With the idea that the Primes are the penultimates of their race and any Primes after them being ordinary cybertronians who have proven worthy by their own virtue and accend to Prime with The Matrix.

I’m a fan fiction writer, and I’m writing my own version of the Transformers origin, which borrows from all versions. The history that’s told on Modern Cybertron is what we all expect. Primus and Unicron fought, Primus trapped them inside the asteroids, the asteroids reshaped themselves into metal planets, Primus created the thirteen Primes, etc. But then an invasion force would attack Cybertron and would challenge that history. The invading force is the quintessons, who were referenced a few times in Transformers legends, with some theorizing that they were one of many creations of Quintus Prime. And upon capturing one and studying it, they realize that their technology, while visually different, is actually the exact same technology as Cybertron, fueled by Energon, capable of transformation, etc. But then the Quintesson wakes up, and agrees to explain everything. He says that they are invading Cybertron as they want to reclaim it. After all, they did create it. Optimus naturally doubts his claim, as they were created by Primus, and the Quintesson replies. “Yes, you were. I’m not denying that. We did read your history coming in, and much of it rings true, but many things have been altered over time. Like Quintus Prime creating us. That’s not true. We created him. All he did was advance us from organic beings into the glorious robotic race we are now. But back on the topic at hand.” “The early parts of your history are completely accurate. Primus did fight Unicron, they were trapped in asteroids, and Primus did create the thirteen Primes. But that’s where your history deviates. If it stayed true, then you’d know that that’s where we came in. When we first found your planet, it was it was nothing but an asteroid with a massive energy sphere in the centre and thirteen smaller ones surrounding it. We were running out of fuel and desperately needed a new power source, so we integrated these energy spheres into our machines and found that they gave us unlimited clean energy. Only afterwards did we realize that the energy spheres were sentient and alive. So we gave them robotic bodies, and with their help, we started building factories on the asteroid until it evolved into what we now call Cybertron. The large energy sphere didn’t have a name, so our emperor, Primacron decided to name it Primus, after the first half of his name. And by merging Primus’s essence with our Vector Sigma computer, not only did it become sentient, but it became capable of giving life, specifically through another artifact of its own creation, the artifact you know as the Allspark. From there, your race began to grow, and our technology began to flourish. But then you turned on us. You called us slavers and banished us from Cybertron. From there, Primacron vowed revenge. And from there, we found another asteroid. And upon communicating with the entity inside, he realized that he was an enemy of Primus. Seizing the opportunity for revenge, Primacron converted the asteroid into a weapon capable of deconstructing planets and named it Unicron, after the second half of his name. But then we were betrayed again, as Unicron turned on us, forcing us to flee back to our home planet. But now we are back, and we are ready to reclaim what is rightfully ours.” Wow that was long. Got carried away with my creativity there.

I think my favorite Primus moment is his transformation to robot mode in Transformers Cybertron, especially with Vector Prime introducing him in as grand a manner as possible.

Oh, wow, I had no idea Rung was Primus. Man, I REALLY need to catch up with those IDW comics someday. ^^; Oh well, you learn something new every day. :)

First time I had heard about Rung and I admit, I liked the new adaption they did with Primus there (I'm used to the aligned continity)!

Primus should get some more Spotlight rather than appearing as cybertron.

I like the concept where Primus existed alongside Unicron, I think that's a cool concept that they were opposites of each other.

*G1 Marvel Primus:* I trapped myself in a rock. *Unicron Trilogy Primus:* I had three dedicated series chronicling my eternal struggle with my brother. *Aligned Primus:* I was technically retired. *Rung:* I... I have a PHD in psychiatry... *Other Primuses:* ... *Aligned Primus:* I knew I should've taken up a hobby...

Learned something new today. Didn’t know that about Rung. Can’t say I like the idea , but that’s pretty standard for IDW’s stuff.

While I love Rung, Primus v Starscream is my favorite Primus moment ever.

The idea with the singularitys should’ve stuck with unicorn and primus it was a way to have a solid connection to tie everything together them being multi universal beings doesn’t change what you can do with the story at all

In my mind, the Quintessons are the true creators of the Transformers, and Primus is simply part of their religion

Transformers Cybertron Primus was my first ever Transformer I owned growing up. Love him so much.

7:24 lil Trypticon just floating by

Wait a sec. Primus himself was Megatron's shrink at one point? O__O 12:33 ish

I Legit had the figure from transformers Cybertron. Could transform in a planet, had that glowing core and everything. God that thing was cool...

Amazin'!! It's the main bot 'imself~ *GOD.*

Favourite has to be the original version. I hoping we might get a basics on the Marvel comics someday.

Just saying, it's pronounced Jüng. It doesn't rhyme with Rung.

There is a phenomenon in Numerical Analysis known as Rung's phenomenon that has some applications to AI and complex problem solving. I kind of thought this played into his name as well as the similarity to Jung.

When this is going to happen ÷ Basics on megatron

I've always been a fan of the original g1 transformers series and toys and kept the idea that the quints where the original transformers designers for slaves and that primus was like a God like being. Great video as always thank you for it

I don't really have a favorite version of Primus, as my preference is to take bits and pieces of Transformers lore and make my own personal version of it. I CAN say, however, my least favorite is IDW. I utterly loathe how IDW seemed to do away with any sort of cosmic entities in their stories. Almost makes me think they oppose the idea of deities in fiction entirely.

I never liked the idea of Rung being Primus. It just seemed too much like the Mary Sue concept that Roberts had already mocked earlier in MTMTE.

13:21 you got the touch, you got the power!

Rung's reveal was an absolute jawdropper

Sideways next please! His whole multiverse thing is super interesting.

At 2:40 I could smell that comic book, my cousin had it when we were kids, I hadn't thought about that for a long time. Thank you for your content.

We don't talk about kiss players

Here's my origin for Primus and Unicron: They were both Created by the combined efforts of Primacron and Qunintessa who were creators of the Allspark. Unicron developed a rebellious nature, How ever Primus was a true delight. Before Primacron died, he asked Quintessa to choose one of their two creations (whom they saw as their children) to wield the Alllspark. Sensing Unicron's growing evil, Quintessa chose Primus to wield the power of the Allspark. Unicron was angry with this decision and tried to take the Allspark by force, only for Primus to create the 13 Primes and banish his brother into another dimension. With the battle having drained Primus, he would change into the planet that would become Cybertron.

I defer to the "unique digital entity" origin from the Unicron Trilogy myself. Along with a healthy helping of the WFC "core" depiction. All that Elder Gods stuff is good for a comic book but I never felt it fit in Transformers. I do enjoy the mystery around the idea of his G1 cartoon conception or how the Allspark fits in with him in the movies. Ultimately MTMTE presenting a legend passed down rather than in-universe empirical fact was probably the best way to handle the concepts at play here. Primus always comes to appear in the present day of any continuity, revealing the truth of his nature rather than remaining in the shadowed past where any of our gods reside to allow us to reinterpret them as we see fit.

One of your best videos yet. This help clear up so many confusions I had. Thank you

Thank you Chris, my sons and I love watching your channel! They are very interested in Clobber, and the fact that he went from Decepticon to Autobot. I’d be kind of interested in a “Basics on Transformer Allegiance” that explores the characters in Transformers history that have flipped sides. Thanks so much! Keep up the great work!

Very pleased that I read the series to completion so that Rung's true identity wasn't spoiled! It's an excellent series though. I highly recommend it.

R I P Rung 2018-2021 "We will never forget you"

I watched when it came out 41 seconds

Maybe it is the eyes, but I can't help thinking that Maccadam (of Cyberverse fame) is Primus and he's hiding it. "Last citizen of Iaconus" my @$$.

Thanks you, Chris for all that you do. It's always amazing to see such awesome content and it's a nice distraction from all the bs going on today. As for Primus, I've never been a fan of the idea of Primus actually being Cybertron. It seemed like a forced way to give Unicron a planet-sized opponent. In the G1 cartoon, Cybertron looks like ONE moon-shaped city. You don't get the impression that it's this vast-sized planet like Earth with unique geography with thousands of cities that can only be seen as you move closer to the planet. From space, you can't tell Earth even has civilizations until you move in pretty close. In comics, the Transformers describe it as having uniquely different areas and cities yet everything looks like one futuristic city. When Primus transforms into a robot, he just looks like an over-sized Fortress Maximus or Metroplex with nothing suggesting he's a planet that changed into a robot except for some of his parts being spherical. His scale would be MASSIVE too. Even the largest Transformers would be mere specks or smaller. It's just an idea that is not implemented well. The scale issue is what doesn't make sense about Unicron either. Most times, he's not even moon-sized when he's in his robot mode. Why would he have to mass-shift to a smaller size? To give Transformers a fighting chance? XD

I remember having that big Primus toy when I was a kid and I think it was like $60. Now a days a figure that big would be a couple hundred probably

Gather around friends and let us worship our God with The Covenant of Primus.

As for my vision of the character, I want to remind you something: Do you remember such a renegade bot named Sideways? An ordinary, unremarkable Autobot, shrouded in a veil of mystery about who he is. The Gray Cardinal, who at first seemed to be a simple autobot, then a Decepticon traitor, and in the end... well, we all remember who Sidewise was really. my idea is that Primus could create a similar avatar for himself, who, for one reason or another, would lose the memory of his purpose, for example. No, well, I think the idea is interesting. I'm in favor of transformers being associated with mighty cosmic deities, because it's just cool: giant robot gods are fighting in space, YEAH-A-A-A-A-A-A!!! Under the epic ROCK AND ROLL, OH YEAH-A-A-A-A-A!!! For me, this is an inseparable part of the setting, however, as for the creators of IDW, they also created D-void, which is a stupidly chewed and digested version of our beloved Giant Horned Man. (Poor Unicron) I don't recognize this nonsense with the fake gods of Cybertron. The fact that the writers did not understand the essence does not mean that it should not be. This, of course, is their right, after all, freedom of creativity, but I am disgusted by many of the ideas of the Lost Light Saga, I just want to spit.

I've always suspected that Primus came about as an "explanation" as to why Unicron knew about, and feared the Matrix in 1986 movie. I thought it was pretty funny that Rung turned out to be, well, "god" in the IDW comics LOL.

Nice to see Primus finally gain the Basics treatment. Fun fact! I actually own a copy of the Cybertron Primus figure! I mean, it's not in the best condition. His heel that had that volcano-looking thing snapped, all his other top fingers vanished but I still love it because it remains as my only transformer left ^u^.

0:28 Rodimus always looks terrified on that one cover

the best version of Primus is as the Multiversal Singularity

I love Primus. Their hard hitting sounds made them legends. I especially like Wynona's Big Brown Beaver..

My favourite alternative mode for Primus is when he transforms into John the Fisherman

I wish they didn't kill Rung cause 1. Oh no D : and 2. Show the peoples reaction to this guy being god, not just the Lost Lighters, and the actions of that. Maybe actually have him be an actual deity like in other works, but have him trying to still be another bot. I enjoy the thought of having gods just interact with "mortals" like how many pantheons work.

Hello Chris. Please take a look at the submitted subtitles for this episode. We really appreciate the effort to explain how the concept of Primus is setup and strengthened through the years. Thank you!

Do the basics on ratchet.

Rung's true origins as Primus was an interesting take, but I personally don't want it to stick. Ima be showin' my age, here xD I like the idea of Primus as a cosmic entity inhabiting Cybertron, a giver of light and giver of life for all Cybertronians, who first created 13 beings who became the 13 Primes (of which Alpha Trion is a member), then from there the rest of the Transformers sprung into existence using whatever conduit of choice (Matrix, Vector Sigma, Allspark). I absolutely LOVED what happened in War for Cybertron, with Optimus being able to actually talk to Primus and receive the Matrix.

He is so close to 100k subscribers! Keep going!

Kiss Players is certainly my go to for Transformers lore!

hey guys I'm up at five so good to see everyone

I personally like the Quintesson origin, maybe it’s because it their history with some other species. I’ve always felt it leaves a lot of things to be explore since the transformers don’t tend to interact with aliens outside of humans.

The Transformers’ origin was reason #8,547 that the Transformers comics have always been better than the cartoons. Even when I was a kid I thought the “Quintessons built them” origin was underwhelming, and Unicron’s origin from CotP especially was lacking. IDW2005 being my favorite continuity, I really like that take on Primus’ origins.

Quick question, is there enough material to do an episode of the basics on sideways? I remember him being my favorite character in armada growing up but i haven't seen the character in other media, except for transformers cybertron.

I'll keep believing that Rung is Jro self insert- Bc- C´mon!

Wow I've been collecting transformer toys for a few years now. I have Primus in my collection and Unicron from Armada series. This is awesome.

"A black hole that threathened to consume the universe" How do people come up with these ridiculous storylines?

My vote for the next one is Fortress Maximus

This is amazing.

Great Video as always, but I still prefer the Quintesson origin story. Also surprised after all this time there hasn't been an actual confrontation between Primus and Unicron in any animated series or comic since furnans first mention of them

If I was making a series I would have the 3 Matrices: Energon Matrix, Origin Matrix, & Matrix of Leadership, would be the equivalent of the Omega Lock and Cyber Keys and be the Key to reawakening Primus. As for Rung, I would probably have him as the Frist Transformer after the 13 and be the body for Primus' conscious mind while hidden in Planet Mode and takes the job of psychiatrist to try and give his creations a friendly face to talk to in Hope'sof preventing another Megatronus from "Falling".

Imagine being such a hardass that you can outfight GOD and defeat your people's Devil That slaps, man

Awesome...nice topic here, I actually had picked up that Rung toy a while back. I thought he was a funny character in the comics but I never seen the issues were he is said to be Primus very interesting.

Rung. Forever.

I really want him to make the basics of cliffjumper

I would kind of like to see an episode that would talk more in depth about the creator of Unicron and Primus, The One since most of the time Optimus or any other Primes including Primus would use one of the classic catchphrases "Till all are one".