Magic

By nature's hand / by craft, by art / What once was one / now fly apart!

Magic is a mysterious supernatural force, wielded by members of numerous species to accomplish various things.

It should not be confused with dark science, a perfectly quantifiable means of summoning extradimensional horrors.

Fiction

Generation 1 continuity family

Generation 1 cartoon continuity

The Transformers cartoon

Millions of years ago, the Quintesson Mara-Al-Utha was convicted of the crime of sorcery, and exiled to the dimension of Menonia. Here, magic was commonplace, and the exile's power grew under the tutelage of the Golden One, whose place as ruler he eventually usurped. Madman's Paradise

On the planet Earth, during the 6th century, there lived a wizard called Beorht. He helped the time-traveling Hoist and Warpath recharge their energy reserves by magically calling down lightning from the sky. However, one of his concoctions he claimed to be magical, the substance known as Dragon's Bane, had a clear scientific explanation. A Decepticon Raider in King Arthur's Court

Legends comic

Mindwipe used "ghost magic" to bring Devil Z back from the dead. Bonus Edition Vol. 34

Beast Wars Neo

The Predacon charlatan Saberback claimed he could use magic, when in reality, his "magical" abilities were just the Angolmois Energy's illusory effects. Unsurprisingly, some of his fellow Predacons were skeptical of his claims. After Magmatron revealed what information he learned from Galvatron about the Angolmois Energy and its mysterious abilities, Saberback admitted that it was the Angolmois that created the illusions and not him. Chase the Mysterious Capsule

Alternity

Magic was considered taboo even by the higher-dimensional Alternity; as a mystical and ancient craft, their advanced technology had no defenses against it. Megatron used this weak point to his advantage when he acquired a magical tablet, a sort of universal control board, and destroyed the Alternity aggregate with its power. Casting spells with the tablet came at a price, however; each time the artifact's power was used, it drained the life-force of Planicrons, lower-dimensional beings whose universe was being accessed through the tablet. Thundercracker became disgusted by the reckless loss of life that ensued from the Planicrons' exploitation, and used another tablet to set them free from Megatron's control. Alternation

2005 IDW continuity

In the earliest days of the Transformers, some Cybertronians professed a belief in magic, including the barbarian warrior Galvatron, who once believed that the members of the Thirteen possessed supernatural powers. The Crucible In truth, however, this was a lie, encouraged by the more decadent members of the Thirteen to ensure their hold over Cybertronian civilization would never falter. Origin Myths According to Alpha Trion, however, the powerful artifacts that the Thirteen wielded in their heyday were beyond the ken of Cybertronian science; their universe-bending properties were, according to him, comparable to "metaphors made real". Aphelion Rationally-minded Transformers of the era, such as Jhiaxus, maintained that these powers were simply advanced science. The Crucible

Unbeknownst to Cybertronians, "true" magic did exist elsewhere in the cosmos, regarded by its practitioners as a fundamental truth of the universe that could be harnessed and wielded for good or evil. Schismatic For reasons unknown, magic was almost entirely inimical to mechanical life; First Strike #0 exposure to magic affected Transformers on a subatomic level by rapidly oxidizing their metallic components, causing necrotic symptoms, and, eventually, causing them to crumble to dust. Schismatic Cybertron No More Likewise, Transformers were unable to process any kind of fuel that had been tainted by magic. The Dead Come Home, Part 1

When the Thirteen attempted to bring about the Pax Cybertronia, they invaded the planet Antilla for its resources. Though the Antillans fought back, they could not match the might of the Omega Sentinels. To that end, an Antillan scientist constructed the machine that would one day become known as the Talisman to sterilize his world and turn it into a weapon that would destroy the Transformers. When activated, this machine reached across time and space, stealing away the magic of the planet Prysmos from ten million years in the future, and refashioned Antilla into the monster that would become known as Unicron while the corrupted magical energies warped any surviving Antillans into the Dire Wraiths. Stranger Eons Our Finest Historia

When Onyx Prime returned to Antilla, he discovered the Talisman and deduced its magical energies could one day be utilized to kill the monster it had birthed. Our Finest

As time passed and Transformer civilization developed, magic soon became synonymous with the legends of the Primes: superstitions and folk stories from a bygone era. Lagrange Most Transformers would come to see "magic" as simply advanced science, Schismatic or, in the case of Rodimus, a sardonic byword for science that he didn't understand. Towards Peace

"Numb arm. Numb arm. N'arm! N'arm!"

Cybertron was not the only inhabited world in the cosmos, however, and other alien civilizations developed their own interactions with magic. In the ancient days of the planet Prysmos, its inhabitants came to worship what they called the Arcana Vast, an alternate belief system that venerated the power of magic over the "crude imitations" of science and technology. Schismatic First Strike #0 As Prysmosian civilization developed, however, the Arcana Vast was forgotten as technology advanced; some three hundred years ago, the last surviving sorcerer Merklynn sought to reverse this development and did so; casting a spell that brought all three of the planet's suns into alignment, the energies unleashed shut down all technology and ushered in a new "Age of Magic." This brief age lasted until the Talisman's initial activation struck Prysmos, unleashing gravitational forces that tore the planet apart. In the aftermath, a handful of Prysmosians escaped their world's destruction and fled into space as Merklynn tasked himself with finding a new world to colonize. Schismatic

When a horde of extradimensional zombies invaded Earth, their leader Britt nearly succeeded in corrupting the Autobots, and boasted that Cybertronian technology was helpless against her necromantic magic. The Transformers: Infestation #2

Having landed on Earth around World War II and adopted the alias of "Garrison Kreiger", Merklynn's efforts to recreate his lost homeworld bore fruit when a chance encounter with the Cybertronian Centurion led him to the wreckage of Domitius' ship; deducing that the vessel had once held the Talisman, he dedicated the rest of his life to finding it so that he could harness its power. Strange Visitors First Strike #6 Using Joe "Baron Ironblood" Colton and his Iron Ring as a catspaw to reach Cybertron, Merklynn shed his human disguise and tapped into the Talisman's magical power to transform the planet's energon into a supernatural substance, magically remaking a fraction of the planet into the city of New Prysmos. First Strike #6

In the aftermath, the Transformers were unable to process the magically-tainted energon, forcing them to rely on artificial human derivatives. The Dead Come Home, Part 1 Bent on completing its original mission to remake the entire world into a copy of Prysmos, the Talisman continued to burrow towards Vector Sigma, suffusing the ground with magical energy as it went. Wheeljack and Breakdown were eventually sent to New Prysmos to examine the Talisman, the latter discovering the inimical effect magic had on mechanical life. The Darkling Lords Cindarr and Virulina realized this meant the Cybertronians were vulnerable to magic, and Virulina subsequently used this to her advantage to kill Kup. Schismatic Wheeljack soon discovered that "magic" was, essentially, gamma radiation augmented with variable carrier signals riding the radiation, in a manner not unlike a system code, but that all caused molecular breakdown. By cancelling out the baseline gamma radiation, Wheeljack was able to neutralize the effects of Prysmosian magic. Desperate Measures To that end, Wheeljack constructed an anti-Talisman bomb to immunize Vector Sigma from the malicious obelisk's effects. Good Men It went off at the same time that Galadria had cast a healing spell on Ironhide, protecting the Cybertronian biosphere from future magical incursions but preserving New Prysmos and elevating it to the surface. The Curtain

The Dire Wraiths used their "dark magic" to shapeshift, teleport, and infect other living creatures with their mutative energies. Shining Armor #1 It did not share the Transformer-killing nature of Prysmosian magic; in fact, Wraiths could even be combined with Cybertronian biology to produce monstrous, albeit highly unstable, technorganic fusions. Shining Armor #2 Shining Armor #4 This was of some interest to the demented Wraith "scientist" Vekktral; after his scheme failed, however, the surviving Wraiths agreed that they would eschew science and machinery in favor of their natural abilities. Shining Armor #5 When the Dire Wraiths discovered Earth and its supplies of Cybertronian-derived Ore-13, they found that their various arcane powers were significantly amplified by exposure to the synthetic element. Thundercracker & Buster Save the World

When Unicron finally awoke and attacked Cybertron, Windblade called upon the Spectral Knights to use their magic and teleport her people to safety. Road's End During the final battle against Unicron, Starscream gave his life to activate the Talisman, its magical energies consuming him but burning a path down to Unicron's core. Optimus Prime followed the Talisman through the black hole at Unicron's centre, emerging in infraspace where the device's mystic energies destroyed its creation once Optimus had made peace with Unicron's creator. Ceremony

Transformers vs. G.I. Joe

After Megatron teleported from a black hole in an attempt to escape from the core of Earth's sun, his charred body ended up in a dimension where magic is a scientific given and is imbued with the power of friendship. The War Never Ends

Beast Wars: Uprising

A statue of Amenhotep III held at the British Museum was rumoured to have magical powers. Starscream led a raid to seize the statue to harness its supposed abilities. Cultural Appropriation

My Little Pony/Transformers

The extradimensional realm of Equestria was a land governed by the forces of magic. When the exiled Queen Chrysalis used her arcane powers to summon other changelings, she wound up connecting to a malfunctioning spacebridge whose energies were breaching the dimensions, summoning a handful of Autobot and Decepticons to Equestria. After meeting Optimus Prime and Bumblebee, Twilight Sparkle initially thought their transformations to be magic before Prime corrected her. Transformation Is Magic

As it was believed that changeling magic was required to open a portal back to Cybertron, the Decepticons allied themselves with the creatures for passage back home while also being eager to pilfer any arcane treasures from the Crystal Empire for themselves. When Grimlock and Spike managed to open a portal to Equestria however, Twilight Sparkle realized that any magic would do and combined her own with the energies of the Matrix of Leadership to return the Decepticons to Cybertron. While Shockwave informed Megatron that the Decepticons had failed to procure any magical samples, it was possible to instead bring Equestrian magic to Cybertron. Finale

Constructing a new space bridge, the Decepticons were able to return to Equestria and collected several specimens, both of native life and of magical artifacts. When Twilight Sparkle and her friends stumbled on this scheme however, they followed the Decepticons back through the portal and to Cybertron. An arcane blast from the princess struck one of the Decepticons' prizes, releasing King Sombra onto the metallic planet. Eager as ever for conquest, the unicorn tyrant cast a mind control spell on several Cybertronians and ponies to have them serve as an army to conquer Cybertron. The Magic of Cybertron

As Sombra cast his spell on ever more Cybertronians, Ratchet, Knock Out and Rarity discovered that focusing the power of friendship through Cybertronian technology could undo Sombra's magic, The Beauty of Cybertron while Spike discovered that the spell could be broken by breaking the enthralled's focus. The Mightiest Dinobot

When Sombra sought to enthral the Titan Scorponok, the Cybertronian/pony alliance confronted him, freeing his slaves with the magic of friendship. Sombra then transferred his essence into Scorponok, planning to use the Titan's systems to enhance his magic only for the alliance to use their own arcane weaponry to overload the Titan and end the unicorn's plans. In the aftermath, as the Equestrians returned home, Megatron swore off magic, deeming it too disruptive to the order that the Decepticons intended to bring about. Finale

King Grimlock

The land of Menonia was a realm governed by the forces of magic. Centuries past, Optimus Prime visited the land and helped install the Golden One as its ruler. When time turned the Golden One into a despot, the desperate resistance used their last of their magic to reach out across dimensions to try and bring Prime back but instead succeeded in getting Grimlock. Though the resistance pointed out that they needed the Golden One's magic to return Grimlock home, this had no effect on the Dinobot leader, an event that the tyrant observed via his magic powers. Grimlock the Rebel

Prime cartoon

The Forge of Solus Prime was one of many ancient devices that operated through the convergence of magic and science. Regeneration

Ratchet regarded the Omega Lock as a mystic force, one whose properties science could not replicate. Persuasion

Ask Vector Prime

Using magic, Princess Merida turned her mother Queen Elinor into a bear. It is unclear if this change was reversed or not. Ask Vector Prime

The Last Knight film

The magic of the Staff of Merlin was in actuality just advanced Cybertronian technology. When Edmund Burton explained this to Viviane Wembly and Cade Yeager, the former scoffed at the notion of magic while the latter was more believing, noting Hot Rod changing from a Citroen to a Lamborghini in seconds and also quoting Clarke's Third Law, impressing Viviane that he knew of it. The Last Knight

Merchandise

Transformers (2007)

• Magic Washcloths (2006)

Magic Washcloths were made available that allegedly could "magically unfold".

See also

• Chōkon Power
• Devil Power
• The Force
• Star Power