- Alpha Trion is an Autobot from the Generation 1 continuity family.
If Alpha Trion was a Decepticon, you KNOW he would stroke his beard while contemplating conquest. You know it.
Alpha Trion is one of the oldest living Transformers, and with that age comes a nuanced understanding of his race and their place within the universe. In his youth, he went by the name A3, and in this time, he helped lead the enslaved Cybertronians in their rebellion against their cruel masters, the Quintessons. As a result, he was instrumental in first establishing Cybertron as an independent planet.
In his older years, he has found a comfortable role in serving as advisor to other Transformers. He is an enigmatic old robot, though he is known to be the custodian of the Key to Vector Sigma. His sage-like manner paints him in almost a mystic tone, and possible connections between Alpha Trion, Vector Sigma, and the history of Cybertron itself have bolstered him into legendary status.
Fiction
Animated continuity
Generation 1 cartoon
Voice actors: John Stephenson, Corey Burton (War Dawn), Tony Pope (Forever Is a Long Time Coming) (English); Osamu Saka (Japanese)
Alpha Trion's rugged mustache, circa 11,000,000 BC
Millions of years ago, a mechanoid named A3 was part of the robot rebellion against the Quintessons on a factory world, creating a device called the Coda Remote that would stop their Dark Guardians. Due to a timerift created by Quintessons from the future, he was briefly pulled into the year 2006, but was soon returned by future Autobots to fulfill his role in Cybertronian history. Forever Is a Long Time Coming
Years later, he would be given the Matrix of Leadership by a dying Autobot leader. It would sit in his possession, unused, until the coming of the next Autobot leader. Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4 In the meanwhile, Alpha Trion developed plans to rebuild Autobots to better combat the escalating Decepticon menace.
He picked up the Matrix, shaved his beard, and then built Optimus, apparently.
The next Autobot leader would actually come to him when a group of time-travellers lugged a dying youth named Orion Pax to his repair center. Reluctant at first, Alpha Trion sensed a strong spirit in Orion Pax, and decided to rebuild him entirely... into Optimus Prime. When Prime asked if Alpha Trion could rebuild his fallen girlfriend Ariel as well, Alpha Trion agreed, and mused that Elita One would be a good name for a female warrior. War Dawn
When next seen - millions of years later - Alpha Trion was acting in an advisory role to the Female Autobots. When their secret base was discovered by Shockwave, he suggested they move their headquarters. During the following skirmish between the Female Autobots and the Decepticons, he engaged in holographic communication with Elita One, where he (somewhat randomly) reminded her to not use her time-stopping power, for its use would likely kill her. When she immediately used this power to save her beloved Optimus Prime, the Autobot leader tracked Alpha Trion to his secret base. Alpha Trion repaired her to the best of his ability, but revealed to Optimus Prime that only Prime could save Elita by interfacing to her with his power filter. An astonished Optimus Prime stated that only his CREATOR could know that! The Search for Alpha Trion
Respect your elders!
(Optimus Prime had apparently forgotten that Alpha Trion was his creator, although he seemed to know that Alpha Trion created Elita One. This, uncomfortably, makes Alpha Trion both of their fathers. Which would make them... )
Because Alpha Trion was one of the first generation of Transformers created by Vector Sigma, he was able to merge with that supercomputer. He was also the custodian of the Key to Vector Sigma. When Megatron stole the key in order to use Vector Sigma to give life to the Stunticons, Alpha Trion merged with Vector Sigma, sacrificing his own body in order to imbue life into the Aerialbots to counter Megatron's new troops. After this, Alpha Trion's appeared mostly as a spirit-guide, and had the peculiar honor of residing both within Vector Sigma and the Matrix of Leadership. The Key to Vector Sigma, Part 2
Headmasters anime
Alpha Trion's Spooooooky Ghost
Universe: Featuring the Wreckers
Alpha Trion was seemingly resurrected and/or reformatted as a lion by the Oracle to guide Primal Prime in much the same way as he aided many previous Autobot leaders. However, he did not make an appearance after his introduction until he showed up (back in his original body) for the Universe conflict. There, he existed in the center of Cybertron, aiding Primus in preparing for the coming battle with Unicron. After pulling Optimus Primal back from the dead, he aided the former Maximal hero in choosing other fallen heroes to restore.
Dreamwave comics continuity
Alpha Trion was seen hanging on Shockwave's wall. This was apparently meant to be very important to the huge, over-arching plot of the entire universe, but odds are we'll never learn why.
Toys
- Alpha Trion/Weirdwolf (souvenir add-on, BotCon 2007)
Old people can't drive, but they sure can fence.
- A bagged set of Alpha Trion and Weirdwolf was released at BotCon 2007 as a souvenir set add-on, limited to 1400 pieces. Alpha Trion was a retool of Cybertron Vector Prime, redecoed in purple, white, and red, plus a new head.
- Alpha Trion transforms into a large cybertronic space cruiser with "solar panel" wings, his shape seemingly taking cues from both the Beast Wars starship Axalon and the Star Wars Sith Infiltrator. His nosecone has a spring-loaded missile launcher at the tip. Inserting his Cyber Planet Key (painted gold to resemble the Key to Vector Sigma) does not activate any sounds, unlike Vector Prime's toy. He comes with a Mini-Con partner, as-of-yet unnamed.
- Alpha Trion has the more flexible translucent plastic parts (for safety reasons) of the Hasbro version of the mold.
Merchandise
- Alpha Trion (Super Collection Figure)
Unreleased
You'll never own me.
A redeco of Beast Machines Snarl was planned as Alpha Trion for the OTFCC Wreckers storyline, but this concept never made it past the paint mock-up stage.
Trivia
- Interestingly, Alpha Trion is one of the very few Transformers to show signs of aging and hair growth.
- According to a note in Japan's Comic BomBom magazine, A3 was the first successful Cybertronian, A1 and A2 being failures. However, the presence of Cybertronians within the Matrix of Leadership older than Alpha Trion (as seen in The Return of Optimus Prime) makes the actual canonicity of this questionable.