Optimus Prime (Primax)



Optimus Prime is the awe-inspiring commander of the Autobot forces. It was his leadership that turned the tide of the Great War. Originally a mere civilian, he was chosen by the Matrix to lead, the first in a number of heavy burdens he has been forced to bear. Another is his bringing of the Transformers' conflict to Earth. Every casualty, human or Cybertron, weighs heavily on his spark. He does not show this side to his soldiers, and he never succumbs to despair. The Autobots need a decisive, charismatic leader, and that is what he gives them.

On the battlefield, there are few who rival Optimus Prime's prowess. He is easily the strongest of any Autobot his size, and what he lacks in raw firepower he easily compensates with guts. His compassion for other sentient beings is his only real weakness.

Prime carries within him the Matrix of Leadership.

Japanese name: Convoy

Generation One
(Note: Events from the UK-only comic stories are in italics.)

Before the Great War broke out on Cybertron, the robot who would be Optimus Prime (his name before becoming the Prime Autobot remains unknown) was a Transformer of note, displaying his skills in the Infraformers Sharpshooting Competition. Subsequently, when the war began, Prime quickly made a name for himself as a combat leader. On a mission with the Triggerbots to stop Megatron from claiming the Underbase, Prime was forced to jettison the massive databank into space to prevent anyone acquiring its power, but with this action, proved his wisdom and skill to the Autobot Council of Elders. ''The outbreak of the Great War saw Autobot territories falling under Decepticon dominion, one City-State at a time. The last City-State to be taken was the Autobot capital of Iacon. As Decepticons besieged Iacon, the Council of Elders prepared to surrender. Councillor Xaaron suggested that High Councillor Traachon step down and allow a military officer to assume Autobot leadership. Traachon then used his powers of veto and effectively elected himself out of office, allowing Optimus Prime to assume supreme command of the Autobots, becoming the first soldier to ever hold the mantle of Autobot leadership.''

Four million years ago, Cybertron - shaken from its orbit and drifting through space - came under threat when it floated into the path of a massive asteroid swarm that could potentially devastate the planet. Prime led a group of his most powerful Autobot warriors on the Autobot starship, the Ark, on a mission to destroy the asteroids, and although successful, in the aftermath of this mission the Ark was attacked by Decepticons, hoping to overcome their weakened foes. Intent on keeping the secrets of the Ark's computer, Auntie, from the Decepticons, Prime set the craft on a suicide course, crashing it into the prehistoric planet Earth.

In 1984 C.E., a volcanic eruption reactivated Auntie, which in turn brought the Transformers back on-line. Prime led the Autobots in their opening battles to prevent the Decepticons from plundering Earth's resources, but following their initial victory, the Autobots were all deactivated by Shockwave. Prime was decapitated by Shockwave, and had the energy of the Creation Matrix leeched from his mind to give life to Shockwave's creations, the Constructicons (although Shockwave was 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, giving Jetfire true life as a reward.

After a period of effective leadership, 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 efforts to restore him were unsuccessful, and his body was launched into space. The funeral barge eventually crashed on giant moon where it lay for untold time. At one stage, an alien ship crashed near the barge. The dying alien reached out toward the Matrix, with the Matrix choosing to revive the being as Death Bringer. Much later, the Matrix would revive a small predatory animal which would prove instrumental to the conclusion of the Matrix Quest.

Prime's personality had been copied onto a floppy disk 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 belive that he himself was a video game character, and in an attempt to bring him back to life, Goldbug, Joyride, Slapdash, and Getaway took the disk to the planet Nebulos, where a new body was constructed for Prime. They built a new body for Optimus Prime, and even upgraded it with the ability to combine with the trailer to form a larger robot. 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.

Powermaster Prime and his Autobots later battled Death Bringer. ''Optimus Prime immediately sensed Matrix energies emanating from Death Bringer, and realised that the undead reaper was a creation of the Matrix. Although Death Bringer proved to be invulnerable, Optimus Prime was finally able to defeat it by convincing it to self-destruct in concordance with its primary function. The battle with Death Bringer alerted Optimus Prime to the fact that his old body was still out there somewhere in space, and more importantly, that the Matrix that it carried was also with it. With a war to win, the location of the Matrix was not a high priority.''

With the subsequent threat of Unicron looming, priorites quickly changed and Prime began a quest to locate his old body and the physical Matrix object within it. When the Matrix was successfully 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.

Generation Two
Prime was plagued by visions of the Swarm - a destructive by-product of Transformer reproduction - entering into an alliance with Megatron against it and the forces of the second-generation Cybertronians led by Jhiaxus. Prime's body was destroyed yet again when he confronted the Swarm, but upon releasing the energy of the Matrix into it, purifying it, Prime was reborn by the repentant creature. At the end of the battle, 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.

American animated continuity
Voice actors: Peter Cullen (US), Tesshō Genda (Japan)



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 named 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 idolize them. Unfortunately for Orion, when Megatron, the leader of these robots, approached him with inquiries about using one of the dock warehouses, Orion fell for the deception and he and Ariel were fatally wounded when Megatron and his forces then attacked in order to claim the energy stored there. Searching for someone to help them, the time-displaced Aerialbots took Orion and Ariel to the ancient Autobot Alpha Trion, who used them as the first subjects 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, while Ariel was rebuilt into Elita One, the commander of the Autobot resistance on Cybertron.



As leader of the Autobots, Prime headed up the Autobots' mission to search out new worlds with new sources of energy to revitalise the depleted Cybertron. However, shortly after its launch, the Autobots' craft was attacked by the Decepticon space cruiser and boarded by Megatron and the Decepticons. In the ensuing struggle, the g-forces of a nearby planet pulled both crafts down, and the Autobots' ship crashed into a volcano, thrusting all the occupants of the ship into emergency stasis. Four million years later, in the Earth year 1984 C.E., a volcanic eruption jarred the ship's computer, Teletraan I back to life, and it reactivated the Decepticons, programming them with new Earth-based disguise modes. As a petty parting gesture, Starscream fired upon the Autobot ship, creating a landslide that knocked Prime into the path of the computer's restoration beam, restoring him to life, and beginning the war anew on Earth.

Prime was perpetually at the forefront of the action throughout the early years of the war on Earth, usually confronting Megatron, and, in some rare instances, being forced to team up with him for the greater good (or the lesser evil). He has suffered his fair share of battlefield scrapes, almost meeting his end when his vital cosmotron component was critically damaged by the Decepticon jets and Laserbeak, and suffering a severe - though unfair - defeat when Megatron challenged him to one-on-one comabt while imbued with the different powers of all the Decepticons.

Generally, Prime acting in a commanding role as part of larger battles and event, but played prominent and solo roles in a few, also. In 1985, Megatron created a perfect duplicate of him, leaving the Autobots unable to differentiate between the two until the clone disregarded the safety of their human companion, Spike Witwicky, exposing the deception. Later in the same year, Prime's fame and prowess led him to become the target of the demented big-game hunter, Lord Chumley, who sought his head to go along with his other rare trophies. Entering the hunter's estate alone, Prime defeated all the traps and beasts lying in wait and brought Chumley to justice. The same year also saw Elita One captured by the Decepticons on Cybertron and used to lure Prime there alone; although knowing it was a trap, he ventured in solo and was defeated by the Decepticons and nearly destroyed, until Elita's stasis-field powers froze time long enough for them to escape. Prime was forced to seek out Alpha Trion to save the wounded Elita's life, and in the process, rediscovered his forgotten connection to his creator.



Over the course of the next twenty years, the Decepticons succeeded in seizing control of all of Cybertron, forcing the Autobots to operate from their new city on Earth, and from two bases on Cybertron's moons. In the Earth year 2005 C.E., Prime was stationed on Moonbase One, and dispatched troops to Earth to acquire energy for an upcoming strike on Cybertron.  The Decepticons, however, got wind of the plan and used the shuttle run to attack Autobot City; a distress call summoned Prime and support troops to Earth, and in the ensuing battle with Megatron, Optimus Prime sustained fatal injuries, but not before turning the tide of battle and forcing the Decepticon to flee.  Despite the efforts of Perceptor, Optimus Prime died. The Matrix of Leadership, and with it leadership of the Autobots, fell into the hands of Ultra Magnus, and subsequently 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 have been destroyed in the explosion, but in reality, before the flagship impacted with the detonator, his body was recovered from the craft by two human scientists, Jessica Morgan and Dr. Gregory Swafford. However, as their ship departed, it was coated in solar spores released by the explosion of the sun. Jessica's father, Dr. 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. Swafford 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 unleashed its concentrated wisdom to destroy the Hate Plague.



In 2007, 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 revitalize Cybertron.

Binaltech
While Optimus Prime was fighting the Decepticon on Cybertron, he charged Ultra Magnus to protect the earth an to lead the construction of the new Autobot city.

Headmasters
(The Headmasters anime ignores the events of the 3-part "The Rebirth" story arc and picks up a year after "The Return of Optimus Prime".)

One year after Prime's resurrection, the Autobots had entered into an even closer relationship with Earth and began the colonization of other worlds, the first of which was the planet Athenia, where Optimus Prime was stationed. It soon became apparent, however, that when Prime had released the energy of the Matrix to cure the Hate Plague, the consequences were more far-reaching than he had anticipated - without the energy of the Matrix to act as a balancing factor, Vector Sigma had become destabilized, and the Decepticons suddenly returned to exploit this, assaulting Cybertron in order to seize control of the mega-computer. Prime took a squad of troops to aid in the battle on the planet, and when the arrival of the Autobot Headmasters tipped the battle in their favor, Prime broke off from the main attack and headed down into the depths of the planet, planning on stabilizing Vector Sigma at any cost.

Guided through the dangers of the planet's catacombs by the spirit of Alpha Trion while the other Autobots searched for the Matrix on Earth, Prime eventually arrived at the computer, only to find his way barred by Cyclonus and Scourge. Hot Rod then arrived with the Matrix, with which Alpha Trion merged, re-energizing it and transforming Hot Rod back into Rodimus Prime; for the first time, the two Primes fought side-by-side and defeated Galvatron.

Before Rodimus could implement the Matrix to stabilize Vector Sigma, however, Optimus Prime sacrificed himself to perform the task, merging with the computer and restoring its balance to save the planet.



Battlestars: Return of Convoy
Once more, Optimus Prime was revived by the Decepticons as the evil False Convoy. He battled the Autobots but was defeated and then reborn as Star Convoy via the Zodiac. He was reunited with Hot Rod, who became his Micromaster partner. With the likes of Sky Garry, Grandus and Sixliner, Star Convoy did battle with the Decepticons, lead by Super Megatron and Dark Nova. After defeating Super Megatron, his foe was resurrected again by Dark Nova as Ultra Megatron. After disposing of him, Ultra Megatron and Dark Nova merged into Star Giant. Star Giant was destroyed by Star Convoy, killing Dark Nova. Megatron survived the attack, however.



Generation Two Manga
After the end of the Great War, Megatron supposedly turned a new leaf and joined with Prime to form the Cybertron Alliance, and things were good for a little while. But after human soldiers killed one of his troops, he adopted a new body and started the war anew. Optimus Prime took a new Missle Trailer body and repelled the Decepticons with a new Generation of Autobots. But After being fatally wounded by Megatron, Prime used his Reconfiguration Matrix to build himself a new body, becoming Battle Convoy. Battle Convoy managed to drive the Decepticon forces into retreat.

Beast Wars
The Beast Wars raged on prehistoric Earth, eventually leading to the discovery of the buried Ark. Megatron, in a desperate gambit, decided to attempt to change history by killing Optimus Prime, who was still laying in the Ark in stasis lock. Megatron hoped that this would result in the Decepticons winning the Great War and eventually Predacon control of Cybertron. Megatron unleashed a full-power weapon blast at Optimus Prime's face, near-fatally injuring him. However, Optimus Primal proceeded to take Prime's spark into his body to protect it from surgical trauma while his injuries were repaired. The subsequent power increase caused by Prime's spark's connection to the Matrix mutated Primal into a large, Transmetal "Optimal Optimus" form. Then, with the repairs complete, Prime's spark was restored, and he briefly activated before sinking back into normal stasis.

Beast Machines
An enormous statue of Optimus Prime, bearing two Golden Disks, could be seen on Cybertron in front of the Hall of Archives. The statue was subsequently blown to pieces by the Vehicon forces. Later, Megatron II beamed a hologram of Optimus Prime down to the ruins of Iacon to confront Optimus Primal. Primal mistook the hologram for the real thing and shared with it the code for the Oracle. Megatron II quickly releaved his ruse and Primal felt like a real dumbass for weeks.

Kid Stuff Talking Story Books
Voice actor: Unknown



Optimus Prime is a "metallic nemesis." Megatron said so.

In one story book, a 2-part race was being held with a massive supply of oil and gasoline as the prize. The Decepticons wanted it badly, but so did the Autobots. Megatron entered the race by hiding himself inside a hollowed-out car, but ended up losing to Spike. Optimus Prime celebrated Spike's victory with a gargantuan smile as all the Decepticons starved to death.

Also, it would appear that Prime took off his face-plate to brush his teeth that morning and lost it. I'm sure it'll turn up sooner or later.

Dreamwave Comics continuity
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, gaining a powerful new body in the process, 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 space bridge explosion along with Megatron, but returned some time later, having spent a period of time on Quintessa.

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 organization run by the enigmatic Lazarus was able to seize control of several of the Transformers that fell back to Earth, while the U.S. military located Prime's body. Before his departure, Prime had entrusted a small portion of the Matrix to Spike Witwicky, who was forced by the product chief, General Robert 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, Prime's brother Ultra Magnus arrived and bested him. The injuries Prime took in this conflicted necessitated a prolonged restoration period in stasis.

IDW Comics continuity
As yet, litle is known about Infiltration Optimus Prime. It is certain that he's Prowl's direct superior, and only becomes involved in an Autobot covert unit's operations if that unit upgrades its alert status sufficiently.

Kiss Players
OH THE INDIGNITY.

Generation 1

 * Optimus Prime
 * Japanese ID number: 01


 * VS-X Convoy
 * this version had blue windows, and came with Megatron


 * Good-Bye Convoy
 * This wersion had blue windows, and came with Ligier and Alert


 * Optimus Prime (Powermaster)
 * Optimus Prime (Action Master)

Generation 2

 * Optimus Prime
 * Hero Optimus Prime
 * Japanese ID number: TRF-1
 * also released in a Japanese Giftset with Hero Megatron


 * Laser Optimus Prime
 * Japanese ID number: TRF-13


 * Go-Bot Optimus Prime
 * Unreleased Hero Optimus Prime redeco
 * Unreleased Autoroller General Optimus Prime
 * Battle Convoy reissue
 * Japanese ID number: TRF-13-S

Reissues

 * Too many to count

Robot Masters

 * G1 Convoy
 * Japanese ID number: RM-01


 * Metalic G1 Convoy w/ DVD
 * Japanese ID number: RM-10


 * G1 Convoy (black version)

20th Anniversary

 * Optimus Prime
 * Japanese ID number: MP-01

Universe

 * Optimus Prime (Spychanger)

Kiss Players

 * Convoy w/ Marissa Fairborne

Titanium

 * War Within Optimus Prime (3" Robot Masters figurine)
 * Optimus Prime (3" Robot Master figurine)
 * War Within Optimus Prime (6" Cybertron Heroes)

Classics

 * Optimus Prime

Trivia

 * According to Bob Budiansky, longtime comics writer Denny O'Neil named Optimus Prime prior to Budiansky being brought on to the Transformers project.


 * Aside from occasionally having Alpha Trion as a father figure, Optimus Prime may have a mother! In an advertisement for Pepsi Convoy that shows him in a refrigerator (along with Destron Pizza), a note attached to a nearby piece of tupperware reads:


 * Dear Convoy
 * Warm it before you eat
 * Mom


 * Although the ad itself is for Pepsi Convoy, he is a separate character, and it can be assumed that the note was left for Convoy/Optimus Prime himself.