Ore-13

"These Rubik's Cubes just keep getting more and more difficult."

Ore-13is the last of a series of artificially-createdenergon-derived ores seeded throughout the galaxy byDecepticonscientistShockwaveas part of hisRegenesisproject. Taking root on the planetEarth,Ore-13 boosts the power ofTransformersto extreme levels, leading those who later discovered it to term it "Ultra-Energon";Shockwave favored the more prosaic name of" Power Itself "when christening the various ores after their different effects. It is not without drawbacks, however: while it will grant a user massively enhanced strength and durability, the more its power is drawn upon, the faster it burns out, leaving a user at risk of sudden de-powering in mid-combat.

Fiction

2005 IDW continuity

In his youth asJhiaxus's student, Shockwave spent a significant amount of time working on his pet project: a means to combat the increasing lack of resources that threatened Cybertron. As aSenator,Shockwave developed the idea of seeding distant worlds with energon, but this idea would not come to pass until the era ofSentinel Prime,after Shockwave's mind had been forcibly altered byshadowplay.Shockwaves

As theGreat Warraged, Shockwave extrapolated that the war would eventually devolve into a struggle over resources. 600,000 years ago, he turned his original plans to synthesize resources into theRegenesisproject, which seeded thirteen worlds with a potent distillation of standard energon. The seedings were designed to initiate a chain reaction which would produce Energon ore in plentiful supply, giving him the balance of power when the Energon shortages he had foreseen became inevitable.Spotlight: ShockwaveUnbeknownst to anyone but himself, Shockwave had not chosen Earth at random — Shockwave had selected the world because he correctly believed that it had become the resting place forNexus Prime'sEnigma of Combination.Shockwaves

A hundred thousand years later, Shockwave abandoned the Decepticons to investigate the progress of his ores, where the "Ore-13" had reacted with the local geology, threatening to become so overwhelmingly rich in Energon that the environment would become anathema to Cybertronians. Shockwave arrived over Earth ten thousand years ago, at the end of the lastIce Age,to continue the plan by stabilizing the ore before it destroyed the planet.Spotlight: ShockwaveTheMaximalstarshipAxalonhad simultaneously detected samples of his energon and made a diversion to Earth to refuel. Shockwave shot down the ship and used its crew in acruel experimentbefore returning to his business.Strange Visitors

Shockwave created global dampers that he then injected into the planetary crust to regulate the reaction, allowing the ore to safely develop into Ultra-Energon. Before he could finish the stabilization process, he was ambushed by theDynobotsand left buried by a failsafeGrimlockhad arranged, that triggered a volcanic eruption in what would be laterNevada.Spotlight: Shockwave

When Shockwave's absence was discovered byMegatron,he assignedBludgeonto investigate Shockwave's plans, andSoundwaveto spy on Bludgeon in turn. While Bludgeon discovered the full extent of Shockwave's plans he fed little of it back to Megatron—and Soundwave did likewise.Spotlight: Soundwave

Around ten thousand years later,^[1]Cybertronwas devastated byThunderwingand left uninhabitable.StormbringerSome time later, however, Bludgeon and his team returned to the planet in secret to begin work on restoring Thunderwing, and in preparation for creating their ownbio-grafted exo-shells.To do this, they needed power, and so they proceeded to Earth in the early1980sto mine "Ultra-Energon".Spotlight: SoundwaveEventually, Bludgeon's unit succeeded in restoring Thunderwing with the Ultra-Energon.Stormbringer issue 2Soon, the drawback of the powerful substance became clear: The infused Transformer was rendered far more powerful than ever,butthe Ultra-Energon burned itself out far faster than normal energon, and the more power the Transformer drew on, the faster his super-powered "high" burnt away.Stormbringer issue 4

Circa 2006,Skywatchwould experiment with the substance inside aclassified research bunkerthat had been retrofitted from Bludgeon's abandoned base. By using supplies of the material in conjunction with the alien artifact code-named "Talisman",Joe ColtonandGarrison Kreigerwere—after trickingSgt. Savageinto unwittingly activating the device—able to refine the volatile energies of the Talisman into a corrosive anti-Cybertronian weapon.When Eagles Scream

In the meantime, the presence of Ultra-Energon had been independently discovered back on Earth by a Decepticon infiltration team led byStarscream.It was dubbed Ore-13. After exhausting a vein of the ore beneath the original command bunker inNebraska,Starscream built a second command bunker over a richer vein inOregon.Although it was not enough to give Starscream any appreciable edge over Megatron, both Decepticons andAutobotsbelieved Ore-13 could drastically tip the balance of their entire interstellar conflict.Infiltration

AfterOptimus Prime's arrival on Earth, he battled the Ore-13-enhanced Megatron and was nearly deactivated, surviving only by downloading his consciousness into histrailersection. However, realizing that Ore-13 was Ultra-Energon, he communicated its weakness to the other Autobots, who successfully ran Megatron down until Prime could return to his body to deliver acoup de grâcejust as the Ultra-Energon high faded away. Retrieved bySkywarp,Megatron proceeded to purge his systems completely of the Ultra-Energon in aCR chamber.Escalation

The forces of theDead Universespecifically protected Earth from theReapersDevastationdue to its Ultra-Energon; their grand scheme was reliant on vast amounts of the energy, in which Earth was now rich.Spotlight: Doubledealer

A few years later, Shockwave used Ultra-Energon to build a new body for Megatron.Enemy Mine

As part of hismaster plan,Shockwave merged Ore-13 withOre-1,the fusion of the two ores allowing him control of all time in the universe. When all the assembled ores were merged through hischronal drive,Shockwave sought to use them to collapse all of time and space into raw fuel forCybertron.The Becoming

When the unaligned scientistMesothulastraveled to Earth, he discovered Ore-13 in its most potent form. From his experiments, he developed a modified, synthetic version he termedObtenteum,which he used to fuel his most powerful creations such as theTorand his army ofChimeracons.Sins of the Wreckers #3

TheTitanMetrotitanteleported to Earth and settled above a large deposit of Ore-13 buried beneathMonument Valley.White Heat

After Optimus Prime annexed Earth into theCouncil of Worlds,Once Upon a Time on Earththe tyrantBaron Karzabegan transporting samples of the ore toMicrospaceviaMicronus Prime'sspacebridgein an attempt to save his own universe from a destructiveentropy storm.O Ship of StateAs a side effect of the matter transportation process, many deposits of Ore-13 became unstable and threatened to destroy the Earth in a cataclysmic explosion, somethingScarlettandJoe Coltonwrongly held Optimus responsible for.Secret RaidersThe destruction ofMount Olympus,housing a rich vein of Ore-13, galvanized the United States government into launching a preemptive strike on the Transformers.Concorde Hymn

TheDire Wraithswere likewise drawn to Earth for its supplies of Ore-13; with it, they could enhance theirmagicalpowers and make themselves harder to detect. TheSpace KnightRomfound thathis armorreacted to Ore-13 and exploited to try and send the crystals into Microspace, hopefully putting it beyond the Wraiths' grasp, before Optimus Prime talked him down.O Ship of State

The Wraith that had been impersonatingJoe Coltoncarried around a case of Ore-13 which he intended to deliver to his superiors before Rom killed him.Concorde HymnThe case fell into the hands of thePresident of the United States.As the Wraith invasion was obvious at this time, it was entrusted toMarissa Fairebornonly for the Wraiths in theWhite Houseto obtain it. The leader of the Wraith cell used the Energon to enhance herself but was ultimately impaled on theWashington MonumentbyThundercracker.Thundercracker & Buster Save the WorldEventually, human collaboratorMiles Mayhemopenly challengd the Autobots and their allies for their supply of Ore-13, leading to an all-out battle in Monument Valley. When Baron Karza was defeated in the battle, the Ore-13, no longer destabilized, returned to normal and the crisis had passed.Valley Forge

Some months later, a wandering tribe ofJunkionsarrived on Earth, drawn to the planet's ample supplies of the mineral. While awaiting their arrival on theMatterhorn,Prime's halfMatrixglowed in response to the ore's presence. Hoping to use the superfuel to restore theirold homeworldto its former glory, the Junkion leadersWreck-GarandRum-Majoffered apositron corein return.A Lonely Pillar on the Plain

After theTalismanhad rendered much of Cybertron's energon unpalatable for Cybertronian consumption,The Dead Come Home, Part 1Optimus oversaw the extraction a large Ore-13 deposit inKentucky.The raw power in the one shipment being enough to power Cybertron and its colony worlds for weeks.Surfeit of Primes

Upon learning thatG.I. Joewas deliberately withholding histeleportationpowers from him,Skywarpwent behind their backs to try and gain the Ore-13 he needed to fix himself.Scarlett's Strike Force #2

OnceUnicronhad begun consuming the worlds that were seeded with Regenesis ores, Optimus Prime realized the Ore-13 would eventually draw the monster to Earth.Our Darkest

Animatedcartoon

Bulkheadcompared Ultra-Energon to candy.The AllSpark Almanac

Games

Transformers: Devastation

Ore-13 was used during thecyberformingofLithone,with the raw substance being injected into the planet's core.Devastation

Transformers: Earth Wars

Ore-13 is a mysterious substance that is an alternative to theEnigma of Combinationfor activating Combiners. After building a Combiner Lab, the Ore-13 Harvester and Ore-13 Storage can be built. If a player has a complete combiner, 10 Ore-13 is required to activate it and bring it into play for a limited time, however 25 Ore-13 can be used to skip the combiner's cooldown time.Transformers: Earth Wars

Transformers: Forged to Fight

So many pretty colors!

Grey Ore-13 is used to upgrade Transformers and Mods and increase their level. Class-colored Ore-13 gives an extra 25% boost if used on the correct class.

Ore-13 comes in different tier amounts:

• Tier 1 Basic Ore: 75
• Tier 2 Basic Ore: 225
• Tier 3 Basic Ore: 925
• Tier 4 Basic Ore: 4525
• Tier 5 Basic Ore: 19225
• Tier 1 Class Ore: 200 (+50)
• Tier 2 Class Ore: 800 (+200)
• Tier 3 Class Ore: 3000 (+750)
• Tier 4 Class Ore: 12000 (+3000)

Transformers: Forged to Fight

Notes

Foreign names

• Japanese:Ore-13(オーア13Ōa Sātīn),Ultra-Energon(ウルトラエナジョンUrutora-Enajon)
• French:Minerai 13( "Ore 13" )

References