Optimus Primal


 * Optimus Primal is a Maximal and an Autobot in the Beast Era portion of the Generation One continuity family. He is also sometimes known as Optimal Optimus (not to mention Boss Monkey, Bigbot, Fearless Leader, etc.).



Young and untested, Optimus Primal was a mere captain of an exploration ship when he and his crew were diverted off-course to pursue a stolen Predacon ship under the leadership of some crook named Megatron. The rest, they say, is (literally) history.

Though he does have a penchant for stuffy speeches, Optimus Primal is much more down-to-cybertron than his legendary namesake. He is committed to the Maximal codes of honor and moral judgment, but he does view them with some irreverence, and is not above finding loopholes or administering unorthodox solutions if necessary. ("Sometimes, crazy works," he says.) He is eternally loyal to his friends and respectful to his enemies. He is brave and selfless in battle. However, he is so committed to helping others that he can withdraw into a deep depression when he feels he has let them down. This is the only time he is self-absorbed.

Optimus Primal is extraordinary for not only being able to distinguish himself despite living in the shadow of Optimus Prime, but for perhaps even surpassing him, seeing as he saved the life of his namesake and ushered in a new technorganic Cybertron. It is possible Optimus Primal is the greatest Cybertronian hero who has ever lived.

"Come on, let's have it, the usual destiny and honor speech."

- Megatron

"Speech this!"

- Optimus as he punches Megatron in the face


 * Japanese name (Bat): Convobat / Conbobat
 * Japanese name (Gorilla): Convoy / Beast Convoy
 * Japanese name (Transmetal): Metals Convoy
 * Japanese name (Optimal Optimus): Powered Convoy
 * Japanese joke name (Beast Machines): Ybonco
 * Italian name (original body): Black Jack
 * Italian name (Transmetal): Metal Gorilla
 * Italian name (Optimal Optimus): Optimus Primal - what the hell, Italy?
 * Polish name: Optimus Naczelny ("Optimus Primal")
 * Spanish name (Gorilla): Optimus Primitivo
 * Chinese name (Taiwan): Jīn-gāng Wáng (金剛王, "King King Kong")
 * Cantonese name: Odim

Optimus Primal vs Megatron!
Under the eerie shadows of a full moon Optimus Primal, a gigantic bat, Cheetor, a swift-stalking cheetah, and Razorbeast, a fearsome wild boar, hunt purposely through the depths of a jungle. Soon Optimus detects the thermal emissions and fusion activity from a building. His motion sensors register what appears to be a harmless Earth creature below.

Before Optimus realizes his mistake the alligator lashes out with as smashing swipe of its tail, knocking Optimus into the swampy waters. The beast transforms and Megatron towers above him. The building ahead is the Predacons' genetics lab and he'll never let Optimus reach the secrets inside. He orders his troops to attack and everyone transforms into their robot forms. The gigantic arthropods Tarantulas and Waspinator engage Razorbeast and Cheetor respectively while Optimus and Megatron face off.

Optimus brags that the Maximal "bio-genetic morphing process has allowed us to create the perfect fusion of organic musculature and Transformers technology!" Megatron retorts that the Predacons have fused with organics as well, but have used the DNA of Earth's most vicious predators. When Optimus notes that the Maximals seem to be getting the upper hand, Megatron immediately detonates the lab and escapes, vowing to return with new forms and new plans when the Maximals least expect it. The Beast Wars have just begun.

Timelines: Dawn of Future's Past
Optimus solemnly watched over the crew's stasis pods as they were loaded into the Axalon.

Beast Wars cartoon

 * Voice actor: Gary Chalk (English), Takehito Koyasu (Japanese), Guilherme Lope (Brazil), Ben Hecker (Germany), Riccardo Lombardo (Italy)



Optimus Primal was the captain of the exploration ship Axalon when his crew got word that the Predacon criminal Megatron had stolen the Golden Disk and a ship with transwarp capabilities. Primal's was the closest vessel that also possessed a transwarp drive, so the Axalon was sent to engage them. Primal followed the Predacons through a transwarp portal and appeared above a mysterious planet, but both ships were damaged in the ensuing space battle, and before both ships crashed into the planet's surface below, Primal ordered that the stasis pods carrying the rest of his crew to be ejected into orbit.

The planet was rich with energon — so much so that prolonged exposure would short out their bodies, so the Maximals and Predacons were forced to take organic forms from the local creatures. Primal took the form of a silverback gorilla. Primal remarked that his new form was "interesting" upon exit from the CR chamber. Estranged from his comrades, the Predacon Dinobot challenged Primal to a duel soon after their arrival, seeking command of the Maximals so he could, in turn, defeat Megatron. However, the Predacons saw the duel and tried to kill them both. Dinobot joined the Maximals after Optimus risked his life to stop him from dropping to his death. Dinobot later repaid him by saving him from a missile fired at him by Megatron who Primal was fighting. (That did cause the energon-laced mountain where they were to explode, but nobody got killed). Optimus earned Dinobot's respect, but the ex-Predacon would never admit to respecting him out loud.

Both sides entrenched themselves on their new world, and the "Beast Wars" began. Strange unnatural sites and artifacts were discovered, leading Primal and the others to believe that aliens had seeded the primitive planet with experiments and traps. One such trap, the Standing Stones, ensnared Primal's body for a short time, during which the Maximals scrambled to ascertain their chain of command. In his absence, the Maximals squabbled and fought over leadership, until finally his core consciousness was able to speak to them and name Rattrap as his replacement. Primal's body was subsequently retrieved from the Standing Stones, and he resumed command.



When Inferno discovered evidence of the Vok's imminent arrival, Megatron called a truce, to which Primal reluctantly agreed. While investigating a newly-created Vok installation, Primal was tortured and captured by the aliens, who spoke to him (in the form of Unicron) and told him of their plans to "sterilize" the planet. Barely escaping the Vok base, Primal returned to the Axalon to find it overrun by Tarantulas and Blackarachnia, who had turned a space stasis pod into an escape ship in order to flee the doomed planet. As the planet's second moon was converted into a Planet Buster, Primal took the ship to do battle with the superweapon, against the objections of his crew. Primal planned to detonate the ship's transwarp cell when in range of the weapon, after ejecting to safety. The plan worked—with the exception of the "ejecting" part. Megatron remotely seized control of the vessel, overriding Primal's ejection commands. The Predacon commander taunted Primal as he futilely beat his fists against the pod, until the detonation obliterated the pod, the Planet Buster, and Primal, reducing them all to so much space junk.



Primal's Spark journeyed to the Matrix, where it was soon recovered by Rhinox and placed in a blank protoform, which became his new Transmetal body. Primal now transformed into a mechanical gorilla with a gorilla-on-a-hoverboard third mode, which he used to kick the crap out of the Predacons.



Later on, Primal was captured and imprisoned in yet another Vok base, this one controlled by his archnemesis Megatron. During a daring rescue attempt by the Maximals and Tarantulas, Optimus engaged in a furious battle with Megatron, destroying both the Metal Hunter and the alien disc. The Maximals then suffered a number of setbacks, including the death of Dinobot, the destruction of Transmutate, and Megatron's acquisition of the deadly Rampage. However, the Maximals were soon greeted with good news: the realization that the transwarp wavefront created by the destruction of the Planet Buster would lead Cybertron to them, making a rescue operation possible. Help arrived soon enough, but in the unexpected form of the rebuilt Ravage, who had come to arrest Megatron for his crimes against the Pax Cybertronia. In the midst of this, Primal was forced to chastise new recruit Silverbolt for his dangerous relationship with Blackarachnia. Primal assisted Ravage in arresting Megatron, but was soon betrayed by the ex-Decepticon, allowing Megatron to escape and reach the Ark in an attempt to assassinate Optimus Prime.

Primal was forced to take the great Autobot's spark inside himself to keep it protected. This caused his body to grow larger and stronger (seemingly roughly as large as his Autobot ancestors), gaining ground and air vehicle modes along with his previous gorilla form. Megatron sardonically dubbed him "Optimal Optimus" (ironically, no one else ever used that name). In his new form, he successfully protected Prime's spark until it could be returned to his repaired body, thus saving history and the future from destruction.

With the location of the Ark revealed and Megatron now desperate to end the war at any cost, Primal was forced to move his Maximals into the volcano where the Ark's hull lay. This new, defensive war was much more difficult to fight, and disadvantaged the Maximals severely, even with his new four-mode body and enhanced firepower. With the loss of their defense system, Sentinel, the arrival of the rebellious and embittered Depth Charge, the awkward and violent maturation of Cheetor, proto-humans to guard, the theft of the original Megatron's spark and the ensuing mutation of Megatron II, the introduction of the previously treacherous and morally ambiguous Blackarachnia into their ranks and her imminent Transmetallization, Optimus Primal had more than his share of problems to deal with.

The tide was finally turned when the Vok resurrected and combined Airazor and Tigatron into the mighty Tigerhawk, who obliterated the Predacon base. In the end, Primal's forces defeated Megatron's, and with the captured Predacon leader strapped to the roof of a borrowed Autobot shuttle, the Maximals at last headed home. Leaving the planet and memorializing his fallen comrades, Optimus Primal declared that the Beast Wars were over.

However, Primal had just traded a war for a nightmare worse than he could imagine.

Beast Machines cartoon

 * Voice actor: Gary Chalk (English), Takehito Koyasu (Japanese), Guilherme Briggs (Brazil), Tilo Schmitz (Germany)



Seemingly minutes after the shuttle departed for transwarp space, Optimus Primal suddenly found himself back in his original, organic gorilla body and thrust into a dangerous situation on an eerily deserted Cybertron, unfamiliar with how he arrived there and pursued by an army of tank drones. Cornered by the mechanical terrors, Primal attempted to Maximize, but his parts only shifted painfully and his body was tortured by electric shocks. Using his ape-mode body's agility, he swung out of reach, and suddenly received a vision of a monorail-vehicle nearby. Swinging into the train car, he found Rattrap, afflicted by the same transformation lock virus as Primal. Rattrap suggested "taking off these fur suits", but there was not time, for another squadron of tank drones caught them. It would have been the end for Primal and Rattrap, had the timely arrival of Cheetor not saved them. Once again, Primal received a vision, showing a pit. Heading (well, falling) into the hole, he and his companions were caught on a familiar spiderweb, courtesy of Blackarachnia, who was back in her Season 1 spider form and severely weakened. Heading underground, Primal led the weakened Maximals to the depths of ancient Cybertron on Blackarachnia's webs. Falling into darkness, Primal threw a piece of scrap metal and discovered what appeared to be a wall of fire. He had, in reality, awakened the powerful and legendary Oracle. As the other three Maximals watched, Primal entered into the bowels of the computer, within which he was granted visions he could not yet comprehend, including the prophetic statement that "the seeds of the future lie buried in the past." The Oracle then began to "reformat" Primal. Primal emerged in a new, technorganic beast mode and urged the other dying Maximals to complete their "reformatting" as well. Shortly after this was achieved, the group was attacked by an underground army of Cycle Drones. During the ensuing fight, Primal was the first to master the "art" of transformation as he plunged into a deep pit. Flying out, Primal grabbed the nearest drone and demanded answers, but lost his concentration, causing him to revert to beast mode.

Primal began to teach the three other Maximals the lost art of transformation, which was mastered by achieving an inner calmness and finding their spiritual centers. Though Cheetor and Blackarachnia were successful off the bat, Rattrap badgered him just to "give us the command codes." Primal and the others were attacked by a mole drone, which broke their concentration and caused them to revert to their beast modes, so they fled. Primal also had to save Cheetor and Blackarachnia from a squadron of Aero-drones shortly after. Eventually, Primal and his allies learned that Megatron had broken free during their transwarp flight home and so arrived on Cybertron before them. Megatron had then conquered the planet and laid a trap for Primal's crew and any other Transformers returning to Cybertron.

A short time later, Primal's crew came across the bat-mode Cybertronian Nightscream, who seemed to suffer from the same transformation lock virus that Primal had upon arrival. Nightscream led them to an underground tree, where Primal, Rattrap, and Blackarachnia ate the fruit and began to revert to their animal instincts. When Nightscream was injured in a Vehicon attack, Primal showed a new talent granted by the Oracle, reformatting the youth into a new, techno-organic body. However, Optimus was critically weakened by this and requested the over-eager Cheetor to take command in his absence. . No longer the inexperienced scientist of his youth, Primal was constantly haunted by the losses of Rhinox and Silverbolt, and many of Rattrap's quips would send him into despair. During the events that followed, Optimus Primal came to be much more in touch with his spiritual side than he ever was before, due to an almost mystical connection to the Oracle. This granted him visions and intuitions, guiding him to complete its designs, though he had some trouble at first comprehending just what the Oracle wanted and how to go about it. Misinterpreting the Oracle's intentions led Primal into extremism, believing that he was meant to purge the technological from Cybertron, turning it into a fully organic world. Such was Primal's obsession with his "mission", that he was even ready to reformat an unwilling Megatron. However, Rhinox/Tankor took advantage of his reliance on the Oracle's visions, cutting him off from them, leaving Primal both confused and uncertain.

Optimus Primal and the Maximals began to probe deeper into Cybertron and discovered a chamber of fossils and a strange, organic liquid. As the liquid flowed through the chamber, palm-like plants sprang up, revealing Cybertron's organic roots. When Tankor gained control of the Key to Vector Sigma, he infected the verdant orchard, transforming it and Nightscream into "technomatter". While Blackarachnia kept Nightscream under control, the others searched for a mole drone to drill deeper into the core and produce enough liquid to reverse the transformation.

Primal later found the Plasma Energy Chamber, a device lethal to technological beings. While Megatron readied the planetwide pulse of Vector energy, Primal began to harness the energies of the Chamber to destroy all technological life on Cybertron. As the two forces clashed, Primal's spirit was transported into the Matrix, the Transformers' afterlife. As he and Megatron fought in the void, he pondered if this was his destiny, to fight his nemesis for eternity. Before him, he saw the faces of his comrades, the Maximals, berate him for his poor leadership and near-genocidal behavior. He then found himself back on prehistoric Earth, where a red-eyed copy of Primal attacked him, scolding him for his fanatical behavior. Finding himself back in space, he saw the collective sparks of Cybertron.

Meanwhile, the other Maximals journeyed downwards once more, speaking to Primal via the Oracle. Although Primal originally refused to lead the Maximals, he relented and returned. Around him, a forest of techorganic trees sprang up as he realized that his mission was not to destroy technology, but to create a balance, in the same way the Oracle had done for him.

As the Battle for the Sparks continued, the Maximals cultivated an orchard around the Oracle, but the plants fared poorly and began to wither. Worried, Primal wondered if the orchard was to be in vain. When an extraterrestrial shuttle crashed into Cybertron, it was Primal who led the Maximals toward the site. Discovering organic matter inside, the team was attacked by a strange plant-creature. Pursuing the beast towards the Oracle, Optimus reformatted the creature into a techno-organic plant. The plant introduced itself as Botanica, a fellow Maximal scientist, and tended to the dying orchard, restoring it to vigorous life.

In the ultimate conflict between Primal and Megatron, Optimus sacrificed his life, plunging with Megatron into the heart of Cybertron and ushering in the reformatting that returned the deactivated population to life and gave birth to the new, technorganic Cybertron. As the surviving Maximals looked out over their new home, Primal and the Oracle spoke to Cheetor, and Primal departed with the words "Transform, and Transcend", as his Spark joined the Matrix.

Robots in Disguise toy bio
When a spirit guide was needed to counsel the Optimus Prime of a past, alternate reality, Optimus Primal rose to the task.

Universe CD-ROM


On some alternate Cybertron, that universe's Optimus Primal was leading the Autobots Snarl, Silverbolt, and Striker against Reptilion, Obsidian, Tankor, Razorclaw, and Blackarachnia in the most intense day of fighting that year. Just as the combatants were really starting to beat the slag out of each other, they were interrupted by a mysterious spaceship that swooped down, sucked the Decepticons up on beams of light, and flew away. Primal and his troops were left dumbfounded, unaware that the ship had been a tool of Unicron in his quest to build an army for a grand war.

3H Universe comics

 * Voice actor: Gary Chalk (English, script reading)

As the denizens of post-Vehicon Cybertron just began to settle into their peaceful, technorganic world that Optimus Primal had given his life to create, Unicron unexpectedly struck from afar. He teleported several Transformers into himself, a handful of the countless victims across the multiverse whom he pitted against each other in order to harvest their energon radiation and, eventually, sparks. Decimated in some unknown battle and trapped between dimensions, Unicron sought to revitalize himself in this fashion.

Deep within Cybertron, Primus and Alpha Trion summoned Optimus Primal back from the dead and sent him on a raid to free Unicron's captives. Once inside the Chaos-Bringer, he found allies in the form of a Grimlock and even a Megatron from variant timelines. But he also found himself discolored by sinister radiation that threatened not only his body, but also his spark. Nevertheless, he was quite successful in his mission, battling Unicron's Minions until he had freed dozens of abductees. Then, still within Unicron, he sent them back to their home dimensions by the power of prayer.

Returning to Cybertron, Primal was glad for his victory, but he wondered if his own resurrection could bring about Megatron's return as well. More pressingly, Primal was unable to convince the Maximal High Council that any of this was actually happening, so he ended up turning to the dead for new troops. Primus gave him a selection of fallen warriors to choose from, and he picked Rhinox and Depth Charge. They were to launch more raids within Unicron while an orbital defense platform was being constructed above Cybertron. But Depth Charge refused to take part in more violence, so Alpha Trion took a cue from Unicron and transported Omega Prime into their dimension to fight in his place.

Fun Publications Cybertron comic


Optimus Primal took Omega Prime and others on raids within Unicron's internal "prison cities," freeing more captives. Primal then embarked on an even more proactive venture, leading teams to other dimensions in anticipation of Unicron's strikes and setting up defensive measures before the Chaos-Bringer could gather more victims. Despite gaining more followers in this process, Primal and other veterans were being worn down by Unicron's corruptive influence. Certainly those who had been abducted and reformatted by Unicron were affected, but some (such as Primal himself) who had been exposed to Unicron's nanotech virus and its accompanying radiation were also suffering. In order to avert madness and death, Primus reformatted Primal and several of his comrades. Not only was his new form immune to the virus and radiation, but it also possessed the Matrix of Purification, which could heal others of Unicronian corruption.



Months passed as the competing armies grew, their battles raging on a level comparable to the Great Wars. Cybertron itself remained stable, but only for a time. The planet fell victim to a massive invasion, later called "the Culling," in which Unicron's Minions swept across the globe in a killing frenzy, the sparks of their victims feeding the Chaos-Bringer. Primal's army fended the invaders off, but in the chaotic aftermath, Primal's earlier fears were realized as Megatron returned to lead the Predacons back to glory. He initially fought Primal, but he eventually called a truce to better face their common foe.

Continued raids saved many more captives and brought the Minions to near-defeat. Then as one raiding party including Primal and Omega Prime battled their way out, Unicron suddenly began to disappear. The raiders rapidly teleported away, but Omega Prime did not materialize with the rest. He was pulled in mid-teleport by Over-Run into the Cybertron of the Unicron Singularity, which had been the cause of the Unicron-war Unicron's disappearance. Presumably Optimus Primal made it back to his own dimension safely, but this is unconfirmed.

Beast Wars II


Optimus Primal was summoned across time by Lio Junior to help Lio Convoy destroy Majin Zarak. Optimus Primal became Burning Convoy by joining the power of his matrix with Lio Convoy's.

After Majin Zarak's destruction, Optimus Primal returned to ancient Earth.

Manga
When Lio Convoy goes nuts and grows to giant proportions, wreaking havok across the landscape, Optimus Primal is summoned across time by the power of the Matrix to heal him.

Robot Masters

 * Voice actor: Yuto Kazama (Japan)

Optimus Primal chased Megatron in yet another time warp into the Generation One era. There, he met and joined forces with Optimus Prime. Together, their special attack was a massive energon tornado called Double Convoy Tornado. The Double Convoy Tornado would come to be countered by Beast Megatron's and Rebirth Megatron's Double Megatron Tornado, but emerge victorious with the addition of Lio Convoy's Lio Typhoon Arrow, creating Triple Convoy Tornado Link attack.

He also had a temporary virus-induced Black Body form.

Beast Wars Reborn text story


Both Megatron and Optimus Primal awoke inside a bizare temple-like spaceship which was hurtling through space. Neither had any memory of who they were or how they got there, only their own names and a feeling of discomfort between one another. The pair went about investigating the ship in search of answers. While Megatron's memory was lost, his personality remained mostly intact: he was more concerned with seizing control of the ship before Primal did in order to gain the upper hand.

They eventually found a data log and discovered that their sparks had been taken and they were reborn into new bodies (unbeknownst to them, bodies identical to their original forms). However, their memories were intentionally not uploaded into their new bodies. While searching the log they discovered that the ship's main power source was a Golden Disk lodged within a giant pillar. Megatron immediately raced to obtain the Disk and Primal followed him. The closer they got to the disk the more the ship attempted to thwart their advance by manipulating its atmosphere conditions.

Once they reached the chamber, the ship's environment suddenly morphed to that of a decaying planet littered with the corpses of robots. The corpses came to life and began shambling toward them, intent on eating their sparks. They made short work of the zombies, leaving Megatron to obtain the Golden Disk and Primal with a feeling that he shouldn't entirely trust Megatron.

From another dimension beyond time and space, Primus recognized that something was amiss and sent one of his messengers to meet Primal and Megatron within the spaceship.

Beast Wars Metals manga continuity
Optimus Primal, who was killed while destroying the Vok Planet Buster, is resurrected as a sparkless monster using a voodoo ceremony. Rhinox rescues Primal's spark from Transwarp Space and restores him to his body.

Later, he eats Optimus Prime's spark.

''The Metals manga takes Primal's manic action hero side to the next level. He once put a bomb in his mouth and tricked the cannibalistic Rampage into eating his head. "I have a spare," he says casually, transforming to beast mode.''

Energon Wars expansion
Optimus Primal leads a motley crew of Autobots from (potentially) disparate timelines against the forces of Megatron. He is probably getting tired of having to do this.

Toys
Optimus Primal transforms into a gorilla. His attack mode consists of a pair of cannons and a laser in his left hand. His Transmetal robot mode is more different, being a clashing mixture of gorilla and robot. His twin maces become his guns. His beast mode has a more bluish color and his legs can convert to a hoverboard mode for flight. Primal's Transmetal 2 mode, dubbed Optimal Optimus, is his most powerful form. He has three alt modes. In addition to his robot and beast modes, Optimus has both a car and jet mode.

Trivia

 * The design of Optimus Primal's bat form is an homage to Batman, an action figure license also held at the time by Kenner.


 * Primal's gorilla mode, paired against Megatron's t-rex mode, was inspired by the showdown in King Kong.


 * Indeed, gorilla Primal's original tech specs (which belong to the micro-continuity that takes place on modern-day Earth) seems to strongly imply that Primal is a building-scaling ape of Kong-like stature. As speculated in the Beast Wars volume of the Cybertronian action figure guide, this may have been intended to explain why he is in the same scale as Megatron, a Tyrannosaurus Rex. This would also make somewhat greater sense in the context of the toyline itself, wherein the leader characters were of a much larger "Ultra" size-class than their minions, unlike their eventually much smaller depictions in the CG cartoon.


 * According to a guide book published in conjunction with the Beast Wars II theatrical film, Optimus Primal's original body had the following technical specifications. The veracity of these numbers in relation to anything actually featuring Primal, of course, is questionable.


 * Height: 2.8m (9.19 feet).
 * Weight: 2 tons.
 * Running Speed: 60km (37.28 mph, beast mode), 50km (31.07 mph, robot mode).
 * Airspeed: Mach 7.
 * Maximum Power Output: 1,000,000 horsepower.


 * According to his Robots in Disguise bio, Optimus Primal is from "the future", suggesting the events of Robots in Disguise are somehow part of the Beast Era's past.


 * According to his bio in the end of the comic "Dawn of Future's Past", Optimus Primal graduated near the top of his class at the Maximal Military Academy.


 * In his Transmetal form, Optimus Primal's spark chamber is on a hinge in his chest to swing down to the opening in his abdomen. In his Optimal Optimus form, he stored Prime's spark in his vehicle mode cockpit.


 * "Powered Convoy", Optimal Optimus' Japanese name, is Ultra Magnus' pre-Transformer name in the Diaclone toyline.


 * According to the control art of Optimus Primal's toy, his chest originally seemed to be a kind of launcher instead of being an homage to the Matrix.


 * According to the diagram of Optimus Primal on the catalog packed with "TM-SP DX Convoy", his spark chamber is Matrix-shaped. I wonder if some profit-hungry bot is passing off Knockoff copies of the Matrix...