Primus Vanguard

In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape our sight!

In times of darkness, the Primus Vanguard (プライマスヴァンガード Puraimasu Vangādo) vanquished evil to restore peace. Formed and led by Primus to safeguard their ancient universe, its membership is composed of warriors from various dimensions. These warriors are individually referred to as Warriors of the Seven Lights (七つの光の戦士達 Nanatsu no Hikari no Senshitachi), as the Vanguard is split into seven colour-coded Orders. These Orders are associated with both an element and a Transformers concept. Each is led by either a Convoy (司令官 (コンボイ), lit. "Commander") or a Prime (元帥 (プライム), lit. "Marshal"),^[1] the latter of whom have Orders composed entirely of Convoys and Convoy-adjacent beings.

Each Order is entrusted by Primus with a Matrix of Star Power as well as its own planet.

These Orders are:

• The Blue Order, led by Blue Big Convoy, bearer of the α Matrix, representing water and, uh, blue Transformers.
• The White Order, led by White Gallant Convoy, bearer of the Matrix Saber, representing police- and ice-themed Transformers.
• The Green Order, led by Green Tender Convoy, bearer of the Creation Matrix, representing nature and Bulkheads.
• The Red Order, led by Red Sentinel Prime, bearer of the Matrix Buster, representing fire and clear red redecos of Optimus Prime.
• The Yellow Order, led by Yellow Splendid Convoy, bearer of the Matrix Gauntlet, representing light and female Transformers.
• The Black Parade, led by Black Go Prime, bearer of the Black Legendisc, representing shadow and black redecos.
• The Purple Order, led by Purple Wicked Convoy, bearer of the Purple Matrix, representing evil and Shockwaves.

Their headquarters is the Ivory Towers, where Primus himself stands watch over the master Silver Matrix and commands their joint starfleet, the Sentinel Armada.

Fiction

Precursor World

...watermelon, cantaloupe, yadda yadda...

The Primus Vanguard was founded by Primus to carry out his charge from G One to safeguard the Seven Lights and seven universes of the Precursor World, with one colored organization for each colored world. The Star Power of each world was keyed to a Matrix and entrusted to the commander of that world's respective group. Primus himself possessed an eighth Matrix with the unique ability to hold all seven of the Star Powers and, if filled completely, gave the bearer the power to remake the universe in their image. Finale Prelude They specialized in dealing with intangible and extra-dimensional threats. Blue Big Convoy comic Their principal opponents were the Specters, "shadows" of the Seven Lights. Finale Prelude On the eve of their final battle, Blue Big Convoy used the power of his α Matrix to wipe out a group of Specters, but not before they prophesied that they would return when "the seven were divided". Blue Big Convoy comic This gave White Gallant Convoy an idea: if they combined the light of their Star Powers, they wipe out all of the shadowy Specters at once. Despite some individual misgivings, the task was completed and the seven universes merged into one universe, with the individual organizations being based on their own planets.

In this new universe, the Primus Vanguard came under attack by the Specters' evolved form, the Vok. When their forces hit a plateau in dealing with intruders mysterious to them, White used his Matrix to trace the Vok's origins to the future. Overriding Black Go Prime's objections, Primus used the Black Matrix to peer in the future, discovering the Vok's origins and that the next universe was one full of violence and death. Driven to hysteria by those revelations and his pet Primacron's plotting, Primus demanded the seven Vanguard leaders to turn over their Matrices so that he himself could restart the universe and guide it to a better future, but they refused and returned to their respective planets.Finale Prelude At some point, Black informed the other leaders of their eventual fates and the end of this universe, along with Primus being one of the few beings to survive on to the next world. Finale

...uh, superstitious and cowardly lot...

Some time later, the Blue Order leapt into action in order to save Star Convoy from an attack from Ultra Megatron, both of whom had come to the Vanguard's universe along with two teams of Seacons. However, a pair of traitorous Straxuses activated a berserker program they had infected the Blue Order with, forcing them to destroy each other. Big was able to fight off the virus long enough to take his own life with the Matrix Sword, which the more intelligent Straxus took from his body. Primus warned the other Orders of the Straxuses and their alliance with Ultra Megatron, but the Space Pirate Seacons, empowered by Angolmois Energy, took advantage of the confusion to plunder the Matrices of all but the Purple and Blue Orders. Purple Wicked Convoy approached Ultra Megatron (having now ascended to "Ultra Megatron Omega" via blue Star Power) and the Straxuses and proposed that they form an alliance. God Neptune comic 1.

The combined form of the Seacons, God Neptune, used the power of his stolen Matrices to face off with the villainous alliance. In the middle of their battle, Yellow Splendid Convoy, Green Tender Convoy, Black Go Prime, and White Convoy Grand Prime attempted to attack God Neptune, but were killed with the Neptune Sword. God Neptune comic 2 After further complications and manipulations, Primus was able to complete his plan by seemingly killing Purple Wicked Convoy for his Purple Matrix and absorbing all seven Star Powers into the Silver Matrix with the help of the Golden Age. Finale Prelude However, his attempt to restart the universe was interrupted by Primacron and his Neo Primus robot. Reduced to his base form of the Oracle, he was saved by the appearance of Red Sentinel Prime, who had survived the Seacon attack. The spirits of Black, Green, and Yellow attacked Neo Primus, all of the leaders resolving to help Primus live on to the next world. Purple also revealed himself to have survived and had been attempting to play Megatron in the Primus Vanguard's favor.

Megatron Omega ignored Purple's pleas to join the side of justice and absorbed Golden Power from one of Primus's golden underlings and became Gold Megatron. Using the Silver Matrix, Gold Megatron created an evil imitation of the Vanguard. The remnants of the Primus Vanguard and their allies were able to defeat the various villains and the Oracle attempted to set things right as much as he could.

...with liberty and justice for all!

The absence of the Primus Vanguard produced a power vacuum the Straxuses were happy to fill, seizing the relics of the Vanguard and even containing the Oracle. Finale Blue Big Convoy's sacrifice in the battles for the Seven Lights granted some measure of his Blue Star Power to the support drone MC-11, evolving it into the newborn warrior Magna Convoy, who was brought to life by his rage at the Straxuses' betrayal. As the last member of the Primus Vanguard, he swore on his predecessors that he would recover the Blue Order's Matrix Sword. Cybertron Magna Convoy prequel comic After prevailing with a little help from the Beast Soundwave of the Golden Age and Blue Big Convoy's diminutive clone, Convobat, Magna Convoy detected signs that other members may have survived, and resolved to recreate the Primus Vanguard anew.

Over time, the other inheritors of the One's Seven Lights slowly awoke to their destiny, observed by Beast Soundwave and a mysterious companion. Cybertron Magna Convoy Eventually, these warriors new and old came together to form the next generation of Primus Vanguard, defending the universe until its presumable natural end. Finale

Legends comic

Waspinator of the Legends World was unsure about which universe the Primus Vanguard operated in, so he asked Delta Magnus of the G1 World. Magnus clarified that he was part of the Primal Vanguard and had never heard of the Primus Vanguard, suggesting they were not from the same world. Bonus Edition Vol. EX

Notes

Yeah, that tracks.

• Though a number of characters speculate on the idea of the Vanguard being directly reincarnated in new forms (in particular, White Gallant Convoy convinces himself that he has to die so Optimus Prime can be born), this is eventually shown to be a misconception, firmly establishing them as unique characters. We've given most of the Vanguard commanders their own pages, with one exception: all signs point to Black Go Prime being the guy described by his original toy's bio.
• The Japanese terms for "Commander" (司令官) and "Marshal" (元帥) are normally pronounced shireikan and gensui, but Primus Vanguard stories employ a wordplay technique wherein a typical Japanese spelling is assigned an arbitrary foreign pronunciation, in these cases "Convoy" (コンボイ) and "Prime" (プライム), respectively.
• As you may have gathered, the Primus Vanguard is, with a few prominent exceptions, populated by repurposed toys from across the Transformers brand.
• The insignia of the Primus Vanguard is an Autobrand in white, despite existing eons before the concepts of Autobot or Decepticon. Philosophical implications aside, this means you can find it on the real-world toys of most of its members!

References