Optimus Prime

In the various Transformers television and comic series, Optimus Prime is the leader of the heroic Autobots by right of his possession of the Matrix of Leadership. In Japanese, he is known simply as Convoy. (Comic book writer/editor Dennis O'Neil came up with the name Optimus Prime for the U.S. version.) In some versions of Transformers continuity, he is only the most recent Autobot leader ("Prime" is akin to a title, not a surname), though he is almost always considered to be the greatest. The original Optimus Prime died and was resurrected multiple times (particularly in the Marvel comic book series), owing to his fortitude, or perhaps his popularity among fans. Consequently, it has become almost a tradition for the further iterations of Prime to meet their ends, and then be restored to life.

The original toy that was to become Optimus Prime was originally released by Takara in October of 1983, and designed by Hiroyuki Obara as part of the Diaclone toyline, there named Battle Convoy.

In subsequent editions of the Transformers toy line, Optimus Prime has become the traditional name for the Autobot leader. There have been some variations on this name, for example, Optimus Primal (see Beast Wars, below). In Japan, the traditional name of the Autobot leader is some variation on the word Convoy.

Contents

1 G1 Optimus Prime 1.1 Animated Series 1.1.1 Headmasters 1.1.2 Super God Masterforce 1.1.3 Battlestars: Return of Convoy 1.2 Marvel Comics 2 Beast Wars 3 Robots in Disguise (Car Robots) 4 Modern Cartoon Universe 4.1 Transformers: Armada (Micron Legend) 4.2 Transformers: Energon (Superlink) 4.3 Cybertron/Galaxy Force 5 Dreamwave comics 5.1 Generation One 5.2 Armada/Energon 6 See Also 7 External links

G1 Optimus Prime

There is no nobler being than Optimus Prime. Were he human, he would be a doctor, a mechanic, a scientist and a warrior - but on Cybertron, there is no difference in these professions, and Optimus uses all his skills to heal, repair, improve the world around him, and if he must, to fight. His care and compassion is without equal, and he will battle unceasingly to protect the weak and defend what he believes in. As a 1980s style Cab-Over semi-trailer, Optimus Prime was made up of three components - the cab transformed into Prime himself, possessing the Autobot Matrix of Leadership, while the trailer became his Command Deck, a mobile battlestation/command headquarters, containing Roller, a mobile scout buggy. Injury to one component was felt by each of the others. The Combat Deck and Roller appear to possess some degree of autonomy, but while Prime could survive their destruction, they would not be able to survive without him.

Animated Series

Optimus Prime began his life as a robot named Orion Pax, a simple dock worker during the Golden Age of Cybertron nine million years ago, with a girlfriend name Ariel, and a best friend named Dion. At the time, a new breed of robot had recently appeared on the planet - ones with new robot-mode flight powers that made Orion idolise them. Unfortunately for Orion, when Megatron, the leader of these robots, approached him with inquiries about using one the dock warehouses, Orion fell for the deception and was fatally wounded when Megatron and his forces then attacked in order to claim the energy stored there. Searching for someone to help him, the time-displaced Aerialbots took Orion's body to the ancient Autobot, Alpha Trion, who used him as the first subject for the new reconstruction process he had developed - rebuilding the frail Autobot frames into battle-hardy configurations. With this reconstruction, Orion Pax became Optimus Prime, the first of the Autobot warriors, who took the mantle of leadership as the civil war against Megatron and Decepticons erupted.

Alpha Trion is known to have kept the Matrix of Leadership safe since the death of the previous Autobot leader, but it is unclear if he gave it to Optimus Prime at this point in time. It is probable, however, as he carries the "Prime" title as soon as Alpha Trion introduces him. Note, however, that Optimus Prime's body was not transformed by the Matrix in the same manner that Rodimus Prime's was - Rodimus's transformation occurred because he was the "Chosen One" of Autobot legend.

As leader of the Autobots, Prime headed up the Ark's mission to search out new worlds with new sources of energy to revitalise the depleted Cybertron. However, shortly after its launch, the Ark was attacked by the Decepticon space cruiser, the Nemesis, and boarded by Megatron and the Decepticons. In the ensuing struggle, the g-forces of a nearby planet pulled the craft down, and it impacted in the side of a dormant volcano, thrusting all the occupants of the ship into emergency stasis. Four million years later, in the Earth year 1984, a volcanic eruption jarred the ship's computer, Teletraan I back to life, and it reactivated the Transformers, programming them with new Earth-based disguise modes.

In Transformers: The Movie, set in the Earth year 2005, Prime sustained terminal injuries in battle with Megatron, and the Matrix and leadership of the Autobots fell to Ultra Magnus, and later to Rodimus Prime. Prime's body was entombed in a massive deep-space mausoleum with the many other fallen Autobots, but his corpse was desecrated by the Quintessons in 2006, when they reanimated it as part of an attempt to destroy the Autobots by using Prime to lure their space fleet into a trap. However, the Matrix was able to purify Prime of the Quintesson influence, and he got the other Autobots clear while he piloted his flagship into the Quintessons' detonator, triggering the explosion of a nearby sun.

Prime was believed to be destroyed by this, but in reality, before the flagship impacted with the detonator, his body was recovered from by two human scientists, Jessica Morgan and Gregory Swofford. However, as their ship departed, it was coated in solar spores released by the explosion of the sun. Jessica's father, Mark Morgan, loathed the Autobots, and his hatred only grew when an attempt by the Decepticons to steal a heat-resistant alloy he had developed resulted in Jessica being paralysed. Swofford and Morgan reconstructed Optimus Prime's body in an attempt to use it as a delivery system for the spores, which induced hatred and madness, in order to destroy the Transformers. However, when they could not reanimate him, they used his body as a lure instead, bringing the Autobots to their lab, where they were infected. As this "Hate Plague" proceeded to spread across the galaxy, Sky Lynx retrieved a Quintesson, who fully restored Optimus Prime to life. Coating himself in Morgan's heat-resistant alloy, Prime reclaimed the Matrix from Rodimus and unleased its concentrated wisdom to destroy the Hate Plague.

In the show's fourth season, consisting entirely of a three-part miniseries titled "The Rebirth," Prime began to suffer visions following the release of the Matrix's energy, which foretold a great transformation for Cybertron. Events began with the Decepticons' theft of the key to the Plasma Energy Chamber, which forced Prime to consult Alpha Trion within Vector Sigma, learning that the mega-computer had orchestrated events in order to restore Cybertron's Golden Age. When the Plasma Energy Chamber was opened and threatened to drive Earth's Sun supernova, Spike Witwicky and the other organic Nebulans who had become involved in the conflict as a result of these events were able to drain off the excess solar energy and revitalise Cybertron.

Optimus Prime was voiced by Peter Cullen in America, and by Tesshou Genda in Japan.

Headmasters

This Japanese-exclusive animated series served as a continuation of the American animated series, except it disregarded the events of "The Rebirth" and picked up a year after the events of Prime's return to life. Here, the releasing of the Matrix's energy begins to destabilise Vector Sigma, forcing Prime to merge with the computer to regulate it, sacrificing his life to save Cybertron.

Super God Masterforce

The second of the Japanese-exclusive Transformers series, Super God Masterforce did not actually feature Optimus Prime himself, but it did feature one of his bodies. This series sees human truck driver Ginrai merge with and control a Transtector (a lifeless Transformer body) which bears a striking resemblance to Optimus Prime - because it was designed as part of a plan to bring him back to life, only to be stolen and hidden on Earth by the series antagonist, Devil Z. Ginrai can merge with his trailer, becoming Super Ginrai, and can then merge again with his additional transforming drone trailer, God Bomber, becoming God Ginrai.

This toy was released in America as Powermaster Optimus Prime, with appropriately different accompanying fiction in the pages of Marvel Comics (see below). God Bomber, however, was not released outside of Japan until Powermaster Prime was reissued in 2003, and God Bomber - renamed Apex Bomber - came included.

Battlestars: Return of Convoy

Although this particular piece of Japanese-exclusive fiction was not actually an animated series, it remains part of the animated series continuity. Here, Optimus Prime is finally brought back to life through the use of Zone Energy, as the mighty Star Convoy. As another truck/trailer combination, Star Convoy transforms into a Micromaster base, and can combine with fellow Autobots Grandus and Sky Garry.

Marvel Comics

Amidst the chaos of civil war, Optimus Prime emerged as leader of the Autobots on Cybertron. He led a group of his most powerful Autobot warriors on the Autobot starship The Ark on a successful mission to destroy an asteroid swarm that threatened to destroy the planet. In the aftermath of this mission, however, the Ark was attacked by Decepticons, and Prime set the Ark on a suicide course, crashing it into the prehistoric planet Earth. Reactivated four million years later, Prime led the Autobots in their battles to prevent the Decepticons from plundering Earth's resources.

Howevering, following their opening war for fuel with the Decepticons, the Autobots were all deactivated by Shockwave, who decapitated Prime and leeched the energy of the Creation Matrix from his mind to give life to his creations, the Constructicons (unaware that the Matrix was not merely a program in Prime's mind, but a physical object in his chest). Before Shockwave could give life to his next Decepticon, Jetfire, Prime transferred the Matrix energy into the mind of Buster Witwicky, who used the energy to turn Jetfire on Shockwave, allowing Prime to reclaim his body and retake leadership of the Autobots.

Some time later, however, Prime engaged Megatron in a video game duel for possession of a super fuel. Prime was victorious, but Megatron implemented a cheat code, allowing him to re-enter the game. Prime was able to defeat him yet again, but in doing so, he also destroyed several of the game sprites, and refused to accept his victory, as he had performed an action that compromised his beliefs about the preservation of life, which he would never have done, had the duel been real. In accordance with the rules of the game, Prime's body exploded and he died. Autobot surgeon Ratchet 's subsequent efforst to restore him were unsuccessful, and his body was launched into space.

However, Prime's personality had been copied onto a floppy disc by the technician running the game, Ethan Zachary, who employed him in various video game scenarios he developed. Prime's damaged mind led him to believed that he himself was a video game character, and in an attempt to bring him back to life, Goldbug took the disk to the planet Nebulos, where a Powermaster body was constructed for Prime. In an effort to keep Transformers off their planet, however, the Nebulans had poisoned their fuel, and the sensation of dying convinced Prime that he was truly alive, and not a game character. To save his life, the Nebulan scientist Hi-Q bonded with him, creating Powermaster Optimus Prime.

Subsequently, with the threat of Unicron looming, Prime began a quest to locate his old body, and the physical Matrix object within it. When the Matrix was sucessfully reacquired, Prime sacrificed his life one more time to destroy Unicron by plunging the Matrix into his maw. However, the Powermaster process had been working to fully bond Prime and Hi-Q, and with Prime now destroyed, the process completed itself in Hi-Q's body, and the two minds and souls became one. Hi-Q's biomechanical body was stripped down and reconstructed by the Last Autobot, creating a brand new Optimus Prime (visually based on his Actionmaster toy).

In the Transformers: Generation 2 comic book series, Prime's body was destroyed yet again when he confronted the mysterious Swarm - a destructive by-product of Transformer reproduction - but upon releasing the energy of the Matrix into it, he turned its purpose and as part of its new function it rebuilt him (into a new body based on his Generation 2 "Hero" figure). At the end of the comics Prime’s dream of reuniting the two races of Transformers into a single force for good seemed to be a possibility when the Autobots and Decepticons fought side by side against a common foe.

Beast Wars

It is important to note that Optimus Primal, leader of the Maximal faction in this animated series and toyline, was not Optimus Prime - he was a descendant of his, who took the name to honor the Autobot leader. The same applies to the Megatron of this universe. However, before the animated series began, Hasbro did actually envisage Prime and Megatron as their beast counterparts, as this is was the first mini-comic that came packaged with the toys indicates. However, once the animated series began, this was forgotten.

The Beast Wars raged on prehistoric Earth, eventually leading to the discovery of the buried Ark, where, in the cumulation of his agenda, Megatron unleashed a full-power weapon blast at Optimus Prime's body, fatally injuring him in a plan to alter history and ensure Decepticon victory in the Great War. However, Optimus Primal proceeded to take Prime's spark into his body to protect it from surgical trauma while his injuries were repaired, and the subsequent power increase cause by Prime's spark's connection to the Matrix mutated Primal into an "Optimal" form with two additional transformations. Then, with the repairs complete, Prime's spark was restored, and he briefly activated before sinking back into normal stasis.

When animating the scene in which Primal removes Prime's spark, Mainframe's animators consulted Transformers: The Movie for reference on the interior of Prime's chest. However, not realising the importance of the Matrix of Leadership, they rendered it as a container for Prime's spark. Although Beast Wars writers Larry DiTillio and Bob Forward claimed that in their view, Prime had not recieved the Matrix from Alpha Trion at this point, one of the comics produced for Botcon indicated that the Matrix was in fact stored in a secondary compartment, hidden behind Prime's spark.

Robots in Disguise (Car Robots)

In this stand-alone alternate continuity, Optimus Prime - called Fire Convoy in Japan - leads the Autobots in a secret campain. Hidden in plain sight on Earth as common, everyday vehicles, the Autobots are forced to emerge when Megatron and his Predacons arrive and wreak havoc in their attempts to attain the power of Earth's varied energy sources.

In this world, Optimus Prime transforms into a fire engine. The front section of the vehicle detaches and becomes Prime himself, armed with his Blaze Blaster cannons and Gryo-Strike leg wheels, while the rest of the vehicle transforms into a mobile battle station/refuelling port/communiations array, and can combine with Prime as additional weapons and armor, forming his super mode. The ladder/hose section houses Prime's "Power Stream" water cannon, capable of shooting freezing streams of water, and also contains a quartet of rocket launchers. His super mode feet contain missile launchers than can mount to the shoulders of his regular robot mode. Prime is also holder of the sacred Matrix, which has led to some degree of bad blood between himself and his hot headed brother, Ultra Magnus (God Magnus), who feels that he was passed over and should be the one to possess the Matrix, which results in his coming to Earth to take what he believes it rightfully his. The brothers are able to combine into the super robot Omega Prime (God Fire Convoy).

For this series, Prime was voiced by Neil Kaplan (English) & Satoshi Hashimoto (Japanese)

Modern Cartoon Universe

This new alternate-universe incarnation of Optimus Prime is voiced by Gary Chalk in all English-language versions.

Transformers: Armada (Micron Legend)

Leader of the Autobots and protector of life throughout the galaxy, this universe's Optimus Prime leads his small team of Autobots to Earth to prevent the Decepticons from acquiring the small race of power-enahcing Transformers known as Mini-Cons.

This Optimus Prime transforms into a semi-truck and is partnered with the Mini-Con, Sparkplug (Prime). The cab of his truck mode detaches and forms Prime himself, while the trailer can transform into a battle station mode operable by Prime and several Mini-Cons. Prime can also combine with his base to form a "Super Mode" robot. Additionally, Prime can combine with Jetfire and/or Overload for additional power.

In this universe, the tragic constant of the Transformers multiverse continued, and Optimus Prime died by standing purposefully in the path of the Hydra Cannon built by Megatron from the three Mini-Con weapons. It was the Mini-Cons themselves, however, who resurrected him, entering the Matrix and reconstructing a new body for him. Subsequently, Prime was forced to face the dark part of his soul by Unicron, who forced him to face the fact that on some level, he enjoyed the thrill of combat. Following Unicron's defeat, Prime's denial was sorely tested as Galvatron forced him into one final furious battle, that ended when Galvatron sacrificed himself to end the circle of hate that powered Unicron.

Voiced by Toru Okawa in Japan.

Transformers: Energon (Superlink)

Although peacetime in the decade that followed the apparent deaths of Unicron and Galvatron had afforded Prime (called Grand Convoy in Japan) the opportunity to train his own elite squadron of Autobots, teaching the martial art of Kumite, the re-emergence of the war has forced him to return to his role as commander. The war for the Mini-Cons, and the truths he was forced to face in his confrontation with Unicron seem to have changed him - now a stern commander, rarely allowing emotion to interfere with his duties, his plans are simple, direct, and often violent, while his dedication to his mission to destroy Megatron and Unicron is unnverving in it's single-mindedness.

No longer able to combine with his trailer, Prime has instead been gifted with the Spark of Combination by Primus, allowing him to combine with the quartet of vehicular drones in his trailer, the Prime Force (Grand Force) - Fire One, Copter Two, Digger Three and Submarine Four, each of which can form either an arm or a leg when they combine with Prime, creating his Super Mode. Later, Prime also gained the ability to combine with his fellow Autobots, Wing Saber and Omega Supreme, meging with the latter regularly in the final stages of the conflict, growing to colossal heights to directly battle Unicron.

Voiced by Katsuyuki Konishiin Japan.

Cybertron/Galaxy Force

• Galaxy Convoy in Japan.

The Autobot Supreme Commander who is first to arrives to battle & last to leave. To his platoon, he an extremely warm-hearted leader whom they could depend on. Although subordinants tend to lose their courage in the most distressing situations, Prime never abandons his friends & always gives it his all.

Dreamwave comics

Generation One

In the new Generation One continuity established by Dreamwave Comics, Optimus Prime started life as Optronix (Orion to his friends), a data archivist. After taking note of a battle in which the Autobot leader Sentinel Prime had been defeated by Megatron, he was summoned to the council of elders and informed that the Matrix had chosen him to be the next leader of the Autobots. He received the Matrix of Leadership shortly thereafter, and almost arranged for the Autobot evacuation of Cybertron, intending to leave the Decepticons to their own devices, until a battle with Megatron beneath the planet's surface, accompanied by visions from the Matrix, stirred him on to fight for the safety of his homeworld.

Some time into his role as leader, Prime disappeared in a spacebridge experiment along with Megatron, but returned some time later, having spent a period of time on Quintessa. Events during this period have gone unrecorded as a result of Dreamwave's closure.

Following the awakening of the Transformers on Earth, the Autobots allied with humankind and eventually defeated the Decepticons at the turn of the century. They planned to return to Cybertron aboard the newly constructed "Ark II," but the ship was destroyed as part of a military conspiracy to take control of the Transformers. However, a terrorist organisation run by the enigmatic Lazarus was able to seize control of several of the Transformers that fell back to Earth, while the US military located Prime's body. Before his departure, Prime had entrusted a small portion of the Matrix to Spike Wiwicky, who was forced by the product chief, General Hallo, to use it to reactivate Prime. Functional again, Prime used the Matrix to reactivate more of his fallen comrades, and then faced off against Megatron in San Francisco.

Following this, Prime began to experience subconscious urgings, leading both the Autobots and the Decepticons to the Arctic circle, where Shockwave arrived to greet them - and arrest them as war criminals. Shockwave had succeeded in ending the war on Cybertron, but Prime soon fell in with a rebel Autobot group that had discovered Shockwave had a greater agenda. Rallying Autobots across Cybertron to the cause, Prime faced Shockwave in battle but was defeated and had the Matrix ripped from him and used to activate Vector Sigma. Before Shockwave could make full use of the mega-computer's data, however, Ultra Magnus (in this continuity, Prime's brother) arrived and bested him. The injuries Prime took in this conflicted necessitated a prolonged restoration period in stasis... but Dreamwave's closure meant that Prime never appeared in their pages again.

Armada/Energon

Just as Marvel Comics produced a companion comic to the original Transformers toyline that differed from it's animated counterpart, so too did Dreamwave produce a comic to go along with the Transformers: Armada and Energon lines that owed little to their animated fellows. This incarnation of Optimus Prime, however, is not particularly different from his animated counterpart in personality.

Transported to a parallel universe as the walls of reality began to crumble, fortelling the coming of Unicron to the Armada universe, Prime and Jetfire were supercharged by their Mini-Con companions into new, "Powerlinx" forms, and combined to hold the chaos-bringer at bay. Unicron was eventually defeated by the united power of the Mini-Cons, but ten years later, his threat rose again, and Megatron's disembodied spark, trapped within the world-eater, called out to Prime, intercepting his path during a spacebridge transit, and bringing him inside Unicron's body. Prime fought his way through Unicron's defences, but alas, Dreamwave's closure meant that resolution to the storyline was not accomplished.

See Also

There is also an Optimus Prime in the U.S. Army Ohio National Guard. He had his name legally changed to Optimus Prime in March of 2003, on his 30th birthday. His former name has not been disclosed.

External links

• Transformers On-Line Encyclopedia (http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Station/6563/optimus.html)
• tfu.info's page (http://www.tfu.info/1984/Autobot/OptimusPrime/optimusprime.htm) on the original toy. Other variations/editions of the Optimus Prime namesake are listed at the bottom.zh:柯柏文