Optimus Prime (Primax)


 * Optimus Prime is the leader of the Autobots in the Generation 1 continuity family. Before he became Optimus Prime, he was named alternatively Orion Pax or Optronix in certain continuities.



Optimus Prime is the awe-inspiring leader of the Autobot forces. Originally a mere civilian, he was chosen by the Matrix to command, the first in a number of heavy burdens he has been forced to bear. Another is his bringing of the Transformers' conflict to Earth. The complete opposite of his mortal enemy Megatron, every casualty, human or Cybertronian, 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. It was that leadership which turned the tide of the Great War.

On the battlefield, there are few who rival Optimus Prime's prowess. His ion blaster and his energon-axe are deadly weapons, though lacking when compared to others. He is easily the strongest of any Autobot his size, and what he lacks in raw firepower he easily compensates with guts. He would sacrifice his life to protect his fellow Autobots or those under their care, and has on a few occasions. His compassion for other sentient beings is his only real weakness, and one the Decepticons have taken advantage of time and again... though it's also the source of his strength!

Prime (usually) carries within him the Matrix of Leadership.

"Freedom is the right of all sentient beings."

- Optimus Prime's most common bio quote


 * Nicknames: Autobot Commander, Chief, Big Boss, Roller
 * Japanese name: Convoy, Battle Convoy (Laser Optimus Prime)
 * Italian name: Commander
 * French-Canadian & Chzech name: Optimus Primus
 * Hungarian name: Optimusz Fővezér; and Optimusz Prájm (pronounced: prīm) in both The Movie dubs
 * Portuguese name (Portugal comics): Optimus Supremo
 * Portuguese name (Brazil cartoon): Líder Optimus
 * Portuguese name (Brazil comics): Supremus Absolutus
 * Taiwanese name: Tīh-ghŭ (鐵牛, literally "Iron Ox" or "Iron Bull", a kind of vehicle in early days and rural area)
 * Chinese name (Taiwan): Jr-tsun (至尊, "Prime")
 * Cantonese name: O Baak Man (柯柏文)

Generation 1


Before the Great War broke out on Cybertron, Optimus Prime was a Transformer of note, displaying his skills in the Infraformers Sharp-shooting 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, who planned on using the energy of the Creation Matrix to give life to his evil creations. Before Shockwave could give life to his first Decepticon, Prime managed to transfer the Matrix energy into the mind of Buster Witwicky. Enough residual energy existed to allow Shockwave to bring his Constructicons to life, but he realized something was wrong when Prime failed to give life to his next creation, Jetfire. Deducing what had happened, Shockwave sent Jetfire (who was still little more than a drone) out to capture Buster. The human turned the tables on Shockwave, however, and used the Matrix 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.

''During the arrival of the Decepticons from the future, Prime, Ratchet and Prowl were mass-displaced into Limbo. Upon his return, Optimus observed the records of how poorly the Autobots performed in his absence, going so far as to seek leadership from Megatron out of sheer desperation. Optimus Prime began to consider whether he was too important to the Autobots, and if they could carry on should he fall. To alleve his doubts, he and a reluctant Wheeljack plotted to fake Prime's death to teach the Autobots how to fend for themselves. While Prime was setting up an imposter version of himself to leave behind destroyed for the Autobots to find, Megatron sent the Predacons to attack Prime. ''

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 believe that he himself was a video game character, even after he was reunited with his fellow Autobots. 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.

Prime quickly proved himself to be a fool, for he dared to ignore Rorza, the Rocket-cycle Racer from Rigel III.

Powermaster Prime and his Autobots later battled Deathbringer. ''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.

Marvel UK future timelines
''In an alternate timeline, Optimus Prime still maintained his Powermaster body in 1995. When a feminist group on Earth raised complaints that all the Autobots seemed to fit male archetypes, Optimus tried to appease them in the name of public relations. Unfortunately, his "appeasement" came in the form of a powder pink token Autobot female named Arcee. That...didn't go over well. ''

''Years later, in 2004, Prime was back in his original Earthen appearance. While attending the grand opening of Autobot City on Earth, the Autobots came under fire from Shockwave and his Decepticons. Optimus Prime and the Autobots bravely used their bodies as shields to protect their human guests until the Decepticons were driven off. ''

Earthforce
''While dealing with the oncoming threat of Unicron, Optimus Prime came under a great deal of stress and began actively berating Grimlock and his newly reactivated Dinobots for their more brutal methods of combating the enemy. This reprimand prompted Grimlock to offer his resignation from the Autobot army. Tempers got heated, and the two Autobots actually started brawling with one another in the conference room. After a few minutes of furious fighting, however, Prime and Grimlock effectively beat some sense into each other. Optimus Prime decided to take the Ark and its crew out into space, leaving Grimlock behind to command an "Earthforce" of Autobots, dedicated to protecting the planet in his absence. ''

''Optimus Prime returned briefly for an inspection after the Autobot Earthbase was completed, and the Dinobots barely managed to keep him from learning about the berserker rages which plague Slag every few million years. He also oversaw the reconstruction of Tracks in Wheeljack's repair bay, leaving the vain Autobot under Grimlock's command before returning to space. ''

Another Time and Place
After Klo, the Autobots returned to Cybertron in an effort to rebuild the planetary government and resources. Optimus Prime naturally took the lead in these endeavours, but matters weighed heavily on his spark. The Nucleon-soaked Hi-Q at the core of his new body was one thing, reducing Prime to a non-transforming "Actionmaster" like many of his fellow Autobots. But more importantly, Optimus Prime feared that the newfound peace on Cybertron would not last. He desperately wanted his soldiers to stop being soldiers, yet was petrified that something might come along and disturb their inactivity. This trepedation kept Optimus from stopping Grimlock from jetting off on an ill-advised mission to Hydrus Four in search of a way to reverse the Nucleon process, and he even refused to listen to Prowl when he reported that Grimlock took off to Hydrus Four anyway. Prowl struck a chord, however, when he pointed out that if he could track Grimlock's destination, so could the Decepticons. Shamed by Prowl's rebuke, Optimus Prime soon pushed aside his recalcitrance and assembled a strike team to go after the Dinobots.

On Hydrus Four, the Autobots discovered the Decepticons had taken over the medical facility with the Nucleon supply, and taken the Dinobots hostage. It seemed Bludgeon had a plan for the Nucleon, using it to recreate Megatron himself. With a surgical strike, however, they managed to free the Dinobots and take the fight to the enemy. Optimus confronted Bludgeon himself in battle, but was saved when Grimlock suddenly charged through and struck the Decepticon leader in dino-mode. In turned out the Nucleon process could be reversed after all! After that, all Prime and Grimlock had to do was tear apart the zombie-like, half-revived Megatron. Piece o' cake.

Generation 2
As time passed, with the Decepticons supposed in exile and Cybertron at peace, the Autobots functionally disbanded. They scattered across the galaxies, with many retiring in peace while others continued to fight for peace among other civilizations they came across. The time came when Optimus Prime was called back into the skirmish, alongside his honor guard of Kup and Hot Rod, when Grimlock and his combat unit discovered a greater Cybertronian Empire that had sprouted up without their noticing it. These next generation Decepticons, led by the Liege Centuro Jhiaxus, would conquer world after world using terraforming and exo-structuring processes to remake raw materials into a new Cybertron for their use. Optimus Prime, Grimlock and their "Dirty Dozen" of Autobots began a small resistance movement against Jhiaxus and his people, but realized they were out of their depth. As the call went out to reassemble the Autobot army en masse, Prime worried that they were still missing some greater threat -- he had begun experiencing visions of an unknown peril that was heading their way, and wasn't sure if even the united Autobots would be enough to deal with it.

Until he could identify this secondary threat, Prime ordered the Autobots to remain inactive at an Autobase built into a small asteroid belt. But certainly Grimlock was having none of that. He grabbed a sizeable percentage of their displaced warriors who had already arrived and headed out after Jhiaxus and his flagship, Twilight. Naturally, they got in over their heads. Prime grabbed some of his personal soldiers (Hot Rod, Kup, Prowl, Hound) and hijacked a strike ship to get close enough to Twilight for a rescue mission. Once Grimlock and his men were sent out on a prison vessel, Optimus blasted the ship just enough to cause chaos, and give Grimlock enough time to overtake the crew.

Surprisingly enough, he gave Grimlock no rebuke once they met up again -- in fact, Prime put the Dinobot commander in charge of the entire army! In order to fully understand the visions of impending doom he was receiving, Optimus Prime decided he needed to return to Cybertron itself, to help "cut through the static" that was garbling whatever message the Matrix was trying to send him. Engaging in a quasi-mystical ritual to expand his psychic boundaries, Optimus cast himself mentally back through time to witness the birth of the first Transformers, Prima, as he rose from the living structure of Cybertron itself. What he saw next, however, was astonishing -- Cybertronians birthing new Cybertronians themselves, causing living metal to burst forth from them in a bio-morphic reproduction process called "budding". Primus had apparently allowed this only up til a point, allowing the race to evolve in stages before discontinuing the ability and the memory of it from his progeny. Jhiaxus and his new Cybertronians, however, were the end result of some Decepticons somehow relearning the budding process. They were stronger, yes, and perhaps more evolved physically, but their souls, their sparks, were distilled too many times over. Optimus Prime awoke from his trance, believing he had come to understand the threat he sensed: the fractioning of his species. Little did he know that the threat was far less philosophical, and far more tangible, than he realized.

When word reached Prime that Megatron had resurfaced on Earth, he jumped at the idea of joining forces with the original Decepticons to face off against the Cybertronian Empire. Travelling to Earth alone, Optimus approached Megatron with the intent to talk. Instead, Megatron blasted him from behind, beat him to a pulp, ionized his every circuit, and then ripped out his chest and siphoned away the power of the Matrix. So no, the talking didn't go too well. Prime only survived due to Grimlock's talent for insubordination, as the Dinobot leader brought a massive strike team down to save their fallen leader before Megatron finished him off. Still, as the Autobots dragged Prime away to receive repair treatment, he knew Megatron would be back -- Optimus had stuttered out enough information about "new Decepticons" to pique his old foe's interest, and once Megatron went after them and bit off more than he could chew, they'd meet again.

In this, at least, Optimus Prime knew Megatron all too well. Only days later a heavily battered and bruised Megatron wandered into Autobase: Earth, looking for that alliance Prime had offered. With new allies, things were looking up for Prime until the unthinkable happened. His visions of death and apocalypse finally came true as the Autobots came across a devastated world looking almost identical to the images he had been experiencing. Optimus now realized his visions were not metaphorical in nature, and almost drew the conclusion himself before Perceptor's science team completed their analysis of the genocide -- it was their fault. More specifically, some by-product of the Cybertronian race had been formed by the budding process which created Jhiaxus and the Cybertronian Empire, an animate entity that scourred the cosmos of its own design. Before more data and analysis could be had, however, Jhiaxus and his troops arrived on Earth seeking to end their ancestors once and for all.

Once again seeking compromise, Optimus Prime took Megatron in an attempt to reacquire the Decepticon Warworld and use it to force Jhiaxus to see reason, that they faced a common and perhaps unbeatable foe in this "Swarm". His efforts were more than a little delayed, however, by the ever-treacherous Starscream. That Decepticon schemer had sold them out to Jhiaxus in the first place, but then came aboard Warworld and merged with it and the power of the Creation Matrix Megatron had been housing there. Still, Optimus Prime managed to reach a communications console, and begged Jhiaxus for an audience to discuss the impending threat which was bearing down on them all. As badly as Prime's last attempt to "just talk" with an enemy went, this time it went much worse, as Jhiaxus responded by ordering the orbital bombardment and destruction of the human city of San Francisco. Millions of lives wiped out in an instant. And before Prime could even attempt to respond or try again, the Swarm itself arrived in orbit.

As bad as things were, a silver lining did develop -- Starscream proved too much of a "pedestrian villain" to actually corrupt the Matrix as had happened in the past. Instead, it was actually turning him more heroic, giving him selfless and self-sacrificing urges! Not wanting to be a hero, much less a dead hero, Starscream willingly relinquished the Matrix to Optimus Prime. In yet another effort at unity and compromise, Prime took a skysled over to Jhiaxus's flagship, Twilight, in order to talk the Liege Centuro into working with the Autobots and Decepticons to commune with the Swarm.

Instead, Jhiaxus tore off his face.

The formerly icy Cybertronian had been driven completely off his rocker by the extended conflict with his ancestors, and was now little more than a mad dog pounding away at Optimus Prime. The brutality only ended when the Swarm entered Twilight and consumed Jhiaxus utterly. At this point, Optimus had reasoned that the Swarm was merely a void, searching for something to complete the emptiness inside it. With desperate reasoning, Prime allowed the Swarm to assail him, hoping that he (and the Matrix inside him) would prove to BE what it was searching for. His body ravaged to the point of total discorporation, Optimus Prime still managed to make mental contact with the Swarm as it consumed him, and expose it to the will of Primus. In the end, Optimus Prime successfully purefied the Swarm, and was reborn in a new, more powerful body. In the aftermath, Prime suggested they all move on to a new era of peace and enlightment.

Fun Publications Classics comics


Optimus Prime has returned to Earth commanding Bumblebee, Cliffjumper, Grimlock, Jetfire, Mirage and Rodimus (formerly Hot Rod) to counter the return of Megatron. When Transformers from another reality, Skyfall and Landquake, arrive on Earth unexpectedly, Megatron stumbles upon them, only to find himself under attack by Prime and his Autobots. Overwhelmed, Megatron managed to escape with Landquake, while the Autobots returned to Autobot headquarters with Skyfall.

Optimus Prime took his Autobots and Skyfall to South America, where the Decepticons were investigating a mysterious energy source that was similar to the radiation readings of their new dimension-traveling companions. After Prime left Jetfire in mid-transit to help RUNT fight the Seekers, he and the remaining Autobots arrived at their destination and battled the rest of Megatron's forces on the ground.

Shortly after the events of this battle, Prime regrouped, seemingly having lost Skyfall and Cliffjumper (along with Landquake). He was pleased to be visited (seemingly very quickly, if really at all) by Ultra Magnus when their paths crossed while the latter was hunting Bug Bite.

American cartoon continuity

 * Voice actors: Peter Cullen (Optimus Prime, English), Laurie Faso (Orion Pax, English), Tesshō Genda (Japanese), Francis Lax (French), Willi Röbke (German), Thomas Rau (German G2 Redub)



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 critically 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 combat 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. When Megatron created the Stunticons, Prime decided to have the Aerialbots created as a countermeasure, though Alpha Trion gave his life by merging with Vector Sigma to ensure their creation. For some reason, his memorial was also built 20 years before his death.



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, 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 attacked the shuttle, killing its occupants. Their scheme was to use the shuttle to stage a surprise attack on Autobot City; an attack which would have suceeded, if not for a distress call which summoned Prime and support troops to Earth.

Optimus Prime foresaw that his final battle with his arch-nemesis was looming, deciding that the Decepticons must be stopped, no matter the cost. Bravely, he plowed through the remaining Decepticon ranks, punishing them for every Autobot they killed overnight, before confronting Megatron. 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 could not be saved. Knowing his time had come, he passed the Matrix of Leadership, and with it leadership of the Autobots, into the hands of his old friend, the city's commander, Ultra Magnus. With his last ounce of energy, he muttered 'Til all are one, then died, his lifeforce becoming one with the ancient wisdom contained within the Matrix. When the young Autobot, Hot Rod, opened the Matrix within the body of the planet-eater, Unicron, Prime's voice was heard once more, dubbing the transformed Hot Rod "Rodimus Prime," new leader of the Autobots.



Optimus 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 Gregory Swofford. 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 paralyzed. 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 unleashed its concentrated wisdom to destroy the Hate Plague.



In 2007, Optimus 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.

At an undetermined point in time, through unknown circumstances, Optimus Prime was upgraded into a Powermaster body, and began associating with a young (and annoying) human boy named Tommy Kennedy. Tommy enjoyed doing school reports on the history of the Transformers, and who better to educate him on that subject than Prime? After finishing a story, Prime would often leave Tommy asking numerous questions only to inform him that they'd be answered another day before flying off into outer space. Some times, before leaving to attend intergalactic peace conferences, Prime would keep Tommy entertained with educational music videos performed by Stan Bush.

Madman Transformers comic
In 2001, Optimus Prime led the Autobot evacuation from the Decepticons' successful conquest of Cybertron, standing as the unflinching rearguard for his fleeing Autobots. Before he left, he secretly met with Ultra Magnus at the site of the future Autobot City to discuss hiding the Matrix of Leadership, against the possibility of Prime's capture or death. Unfortunately, Soundwave had secretly recorded this clandestine meeting and moved to capture the powerful Autobot relic. To the surprise of all, the young Hot Rod managed to defeat Soundwave and secure the Matrix. When the Autobots arrived back on Earth, Optimus Prime learned of Hot Rod's deeds, and as he was handed the Matrix, a mysterious energy from the artifact passed through both Autobots. However, Prime only cryptically stated that perhaps Hot Rod's destiny was greater than the young 'bot himself knew.

Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformer manga
When the Decepticons turned their attention to pillaging the energies of Japan in the late 1980s, Optimus Prime and the Autobots met up with a young Japanese boy named Kenji, whose inventive mind helped them to defeat Menasor during an energy raid on Tokyo. As a token of thanks, Optimus Prime granted Kenji a special communications helmet and made him an official Autobot ally.

While showing Kenji around the Autobots' new Tokyo base, Optimus Prime lamented that he wished his "kid brother" Ultra Magnus would hurry up and arrive with his trailer upgrade. As he pondered the where-abouts of his sibling, the Decepticons attacked Yokohama. The Autobots hurried to the scene only to encounter an over-powered Megatron in his newest form: the Super Megatron Gun. The Autobots' defeat seemed assured until Magnus arrived with Prime's trailer upgrade, the Scramble Power Buster. The Scramble Power Buster trumped the might of the Super Megatron Gun, leaving Prime and Magnus to vanquish the Decepticon forces with their combined attack: the Double Cross Kick (basically, them jump-kicking the Decepticons in the spine at the same time).

Prime and Magnus teamed up again to battle the Stunticons and Combaticons when the two Decepticons teams posed as Autobots and besmirched the two commanders' good names. Although Menasor and Onslaught's Decepticon Great Wheel attack proved a challenge, Prime and Magnus's "Finish Double" attack (suspiciously similar to their Double Cross Kick) soon won the day.

Scramble City
As the 1980s rolled on, the Autobots began an initiative to construct a new battle fortress known as Scramble City. The facility to construct the fortress was concealed within a cavern and overseen by Ultra Magnus, but when it was discovered by Decepticon spy Ratbat, Megatron unleashed a horde of Decepticon combiners to destroy the project before it could be completed. Optimus Prime lead a counter-offensive of Autobot combiners to the front lines. Things looked grim, as the Decepticon combiners thrashed the Autobots. As a last resort, Ultra Magnus activated Scramble City, which transformed into its robot mode of Metroplex and arrived in time to fight off the Decepticons. However, Megatron unleashed his trump card, the Decepticon City: Trypticon.

Super Robot Magazine manga
Continued Autobot and human interaction led to a joint project to create an interstellar transport system in the late 1990s. When Starscream fused with the mechansm and attempted a coup, Prime and Megatron were forced to team up to stop him, and went missing following the battle that ensued.

Binaltech
In 2003, the Decepticons attacked the Autobots on Earth with a plague of Cosmic Rust, leaving many of them injured, and the planet's defense force significantly depleted when Megatron made his big push to fully take over Cybertron in 2004. With Prime leading the Autobots in battling the Decepticons on their homeworld, no troops could be spared to bolster the defense of Earth, leading to the creation of new "Binaltech" bodies for various damaged Autobot warriors on the planet.

In the midst of the Binaltech conflict, the time-travelling Predacon Ravage attempted to alter history by using the Kronosphere to teleport Megatron and the Decepticon armada outside of time during a turning-point battle with Prime and the Autobots. This left the Autobots to face the looming threat of Unicron alone, but as Prime and Ultra Magnus co-ordinated a last-chance attack against the chaos bringer, Prime dispatched Skids into the past to undo the change made to the timeline.

Although the restoration of the original timeline was accomplished, the intervention of a mysterious entity known as "the Protector" preserved the "Binal-Time" timeline as an alternate universe. Prime was injured in the final battle with Unicron and gave the Matrix to Ultra Magnus, who used it to destroy the planet-eater, but ultimately, Prime survived and continued to lead the Autobots.

Robot Masters
Also in 2004, the Scramble City project was expanded through the use of the newly-discovered element Solitarium to involve the construction of the fully-fledged Autobot City on Earth. This coincided with the opening of a dimensional fissure known as the Blasty Zone, which transported the Predacon Megatron through time to the present day. This "Beast Megatron" seized control of the Decepticons, left leaderless by the mysterious absence of Megatron, and went up against Optimus Prime and the Autobots for control of the world's solitarium, but Prime was able to fend off the villains with the help of several Autobots and Maximals from throughout time and space who came through the Blasty Zone - Star Saber, Victory Leo, Lio Convoy and Optimus Primal. Through interaction with these heroes, Prime gains the power of and Energon Matrix.

Beast Megatron would not relent, and eventually discovered a massive deposit of solitarium beneath New York City. The Decepticons razed the city in search of the element until Prime and his forces arrived to save the day, this time aided by the enigmatic Autobot Reverse Convoy. Things were going smoothly until Reverse Convoy revealed himself to actually be the real Megatron, inhabiting the body of a Transformer from the planet Vehicon through use of his black hole interlink system. Now going by the name Rebirth Megatron, Prime's nemesis teamed with Beast Megatron to conquer their mutual foes. Prime managed to defeat the duo by combining his power with Lio Convoy's and Optimus Primal's.

Eventually, Prime returned all the displaced Autobots, Maximals, Decepticons and Predacons to their rightful place in time using the power of solitarium, and rid the Earth of Decepticons.

15 Go! Go! comics




Shortly before the Unicron War of 2005, an unknown saboteur badly damaged Teletraan I's databanks. Optimus Prime notified his Autobots of the attack and issued a command that the information be recovered as soon as possible. "Black Panther Man," stationed on the artificial Earth satellite Nana, volunteered for the important task and assigned Teletraan 15 to the case.

Teletraan 15 later traveled to the future, where Micromaster Hot Rod saved her from a Novaroid. As Dark Nova and Ultra Megatron prepared to merge, Star Convoy arrived and asked Hot Rod to aid him in the coming fight. But before they could start the battle, an interruption came from an unexpected source: Galvatron emerged from a Transwarp portal and attacked!

On another mission into the future, Teletraan 15 and her companion Steeljaw were aboard Jetfire as he was attacked by the Decepticon jets Smokescreen and Dreadwing on his way to his commander. Fortunately for them, Battle Convoy (a.k.a. Laser Optimus Prime) appeared and severed Dreadwing's wing with a single mighty slash of his sword. Teletraan 15 thought that he looked sad and wondered if he had learned his sword skills during his Kiss Player days.

Kiss Players


Following Optimus Prime's death in the Battle of Autobot City, Tokyo was devastated when Galvatron crash-landed into the city after being hurled out of Unicron's body by Rodimus Prime. The death and destruction that resulted caused a massive anti-Transformer sentiment to spring up, epitomized by the formation of the government organization known as the Earth Defense Command, who forced any remaining Transformers on Earth off the planet. Dissatisfaction with the E.D.C.'s extreme actions resulted in the formation of an underground resistance group led by the young Marissa Faireborn, a girl who had been rescued from danger by Optimus Prime in 1996, with the deceased Prime forming a rallying point for these commandos.



When Prime's corpse was covertly flown to Japan by the E.D.C., Marissa commandos attacked the convoy transporting the Autobots leader's body. Believing that they had secured Prime's body, the commandos were taken by surprise and slaughtered by the Ne squad Kiss Player Ringo and her Autrooper partner, who burst out of the torso of the decoy Prime body that had been atop the flatbed truck. As the sole surviving member of the squad, Marissa discovered that the true body was being transported within Prime's own trailer nearby. Slicing the trailer open, she was too late to prevent an E.D.C. Autrooper from partially fusing with Prime. Reflecting on her childhood memories of playing with the kindly Autobot leader, Marissa lovingly kissed his faceplate. In an explosion of energy that destroyed the trailer, the two fused and Prime was reborn in a new, living body. The pair had become Kiss Players!

As fugitives from the E.D.C., Prime and Marissa spent their days on the run and their nights hanging out at the beach. He longed for the day when he would be able to see her bathing in the sun, rather than the moonlight, although he also thought that all the soft-serve ice cream she was eating was making her a little fat. One night while Marissa was surfing, she had a squid latch onto her. Then a Legion that had infused itself with both an octopus and shipwreck attacked her. With tentacles. Prime fought it off and saved Marissa, but the E.D.C. Autroopers were soon dispatched to the scene, and the two had to beat a hasty retreat.



Over the months that followed, Prime and Marissa battled Legions, led Legions (due to the Galvatron-infused cells inside Prime's new body, which sometimes overcame him with nightmares about his old enemy Megatron), fled from Hot Rod, who believed Prime to be an impersonator of his dead commander, and both fought and fled from the E.D.C.

Finally, teaming up with Hot Rod and his Kiss Player partner Shaoshao Li (who had adored Marissa since childhood and hated Prime for "stealing" her friend's affections), and the E.D.C. Kiss Player Atari Hitotonari with her Autrooper partner, Prime and Marissa entered the secret experimental facility beneath the Tokyo headquarters of the E.D.C. and discovered the sinister truth behind the shadowy organization. Everything that had occurred was part of an attempt by E.D.C. commander Amao to resurrect her daughter, who had been killed in the 2005 catastrophe. Finding Galvatron's headless corpse imprisoned in the facility, the Kiss Players realized that the only way to repair things was to return the Unicron-created Decepticon's cells. Galvatron's body absorbed the Legions, the Autroopers, and the cells inside Prime and Hot Rod, who were returned to their former forms... which meant that Prime was once again dead.

Marissa did get a few chances to see her friend again - in 2007, she and her friends were transported back through time to 1984 where they witnessed Prime's battle with Megatron atop Sherman Dam, and then later, forward in time, to 2010, where Prime (and Goldbug) helped her once more by rescuing her and her friends from the Sharkticon pit on Quintessa.

The Headmasters cartoon
One year after Prime's resurrection, in 2011, 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.

The Battlestars


In a sinister plot to destroy the Autobots, Dark Nova had Optimus Prime's sparkless body revived as the evil False Convoy. False Convoy battled the Autobots but was defeated. Using the power of the Zodiac, Optimus Prime was brought back online and upgraded into Star Convoy. He was then reunited with Hot Rod, who became his Micromaster partner.

With the likes of Sky Garry, Grandus and Sixliner, Star Convoy formed the Battlestars and did battle with the Decepticons and Dark Nova's horde of Great Galaman drone warriors. Getting nowhere fast, Dark Nova then resurrected Galvatron (last seen buried in ice) as Super Megatron to counter Star Convoy. This didn't work all that well, and after defeating Super Megatron with the Triple Combination Battlestar Attack, his foe was resurrected again by Dark Nova as Ultra Megatron. After disposing of him yet again, Dark Nova merged with Ultra Megatron into Star Giant.

Star Giant proved to be virtually indestructible from the outside until Star Convoy got the bright idea of giving the villain the worst case of indigestion he's ever had. Holding Star Giant's massive mouth open, he ordered Sky Garry and Grandus to move in. After all 3 were swallowed, they began taking Star Giant down from the inside while simultaneously fighting off his various defensive systems. As soon as the trio escaped from Star Giant's interior, the monster exploded, leaving only his head slightly intact. As it happens, Megatron was housed inside Star Giant's noggin and survived the attack.

Nucleon Quest Convoy bio
Following the defeat of Star Giant, the restoration of Cybertron (following its devastation in 2011) began, but the planet was in the throes of a chronic energy shortage. In order to re-energize the struggling planet, Optimus Prime upgraded himself into a Powermaster by fusing with the Nebulan scientist Hi-Q. Protecting his body with a Phase Modulation Shield, Prime ventured into a black hole to obtain the super-energy Nucleon, which was used to restore Cybertron to its former glory.

Generation 2 story pages and mini-comics


With Cybertron restored, Optimus Prime upgraded himself into a new Action Master body. Megatron eventually recovered from his defeat and turned over a new leaf, joining with Prime to form the Cybertron Alliance. Things were good for a little while, as Megatron's attempts at peace were genuinely sincere, and the alliance ushered in what would be called the Second Generation of the Transformers. However, after human soldiers killed one of his dearest comrades, Megatron adopted a new body and started the war anew.

To counter Megatron, Optimus Prime upgraded his body into a new Missle Trailer mode. Rallying a new wave of Autobot warriors, Optimus diligently repelled Megatron and the Decepticons. Megatron eventually wore Optimus down in battle, though, blowing him away with a barrage of devastating attacks. Megatron finally succeeded in delivering a fatal blow to Optimus, shooting him at point blank with his cannon. Prime would have been done for, except that the sparks of the previous Autobot Supreme Commanders within the Matrix of Leadership activated the Reconfiguration Matrix to forge him a new body. Optimus Prime became Battle Convoy and easily trumped Megatron's power. After a lengthy and costly war, Battle Convoy managed to drive the Decepticon forces to retreat into deep space. Prime was last seen wounded, being aided off the battlefield by his fellow Autobots.

E-Hobby Generation 2 storyline
When the universe came under threat from an alternate-reality incarnation of Galvatron, Prime used his Reconfiguration Matrix to once again transform his body into a form resembling his original. Armed with powerful solar-powered missile launchers created by the Decepticons that were so energy-consumptive that Prime required a sunlight-absorbing black body coating to operate them at full power, Prime put his new body to use rescuing Laser Ultra Magnus from Galvatron's clutches.

Generation 2 manga


In the year 199X, the Decepticons had learned of a powerful new energy source known as forestonite which just happened to be located (surprise surprise) on Earth. Megatron sent his trio of Cyberjets to Earth first to draw out the enemy Autobots. The Cyberjets made quick work of Electro but were soon halted by the appearance of Optimus Prime.

Megatron then entered the fray and fired his Black Hole Burn attack from his fusion cannon, narrowly missing Optimus Prime but vaporizing Hooligan in the process. Prime fought fiercely but Megatron began to take the upper-hand in battle.

However, Prime was encouraged to keep fighting by the cheers of a human boy named Junpei. Megatron, surprised at Prime's resilience, attempted to finish his foe off with his Tornado Axe attack. Prime countered with his Double Wheel-Torque Mega-Ton, which trumped Megatron's attack and injured the Decepticon badly. Megatron teleported back to his ship and left Earth's atmosphere, vowing to return.

Optimus Prime addressed Junpei, asking if the boy was injured. Junpei revealed he was alright but presented concern about the Decepticons returning to Earth. Optimus Prime swore that the Autobots would remain on Earth until the threat of the Decepticons was finished and asked for Junpei's help in making that future a reality.

Beast Wars


The Beast Wars raged on prehistoric Earth, eventually leading to the discovery of the buried Ark sometime after it's crash on prehistoric Earth. Megatron, following his namesakes instructions in a desperate gambit, decided to attempt to change history by killing Prime, who was still lying 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.

Sometime after the Autobots and Decepticons awoke in the 1980s, the original Megatron gained access to one of Earth's Voyager spacecraft and inscribed a message on the disk on board. In the event that he lost the War, Megatron left instructions for the descendants of the Decepticons to use transwarp technology to travel to Prehistoric Earth, locate the Ark, and change history by killing Optimus Prime.

Beast Machines

 * Voice actor: Gary Chalk (English), Tilo Schmitz (German)

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 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 quickly revealed his ruse. Primal explained to his Maximals that he knew the image was fake, but he needed the location of the missing sparks from Megatron's mind.

Universe: Primeval Dawn


The Vok took the Matrix of Leadership from an unconscious Optimus Prime, used it to create Primal Prime, then gave the Matrix to their new creation.

Kid Stuff Talking Story Books

 * Voice actor: Unknown

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

Big Looker Story Books


In "The Great Car Rally", 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 Cliffjumper. Optimus Prime celebrated the Minibot's victory with a gargantuan smile as all the Decepticons starved to death.

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 protected the planet from the Decepticons. Over the next fifteen years, the Autobots befriended the humans, particularly the Witwicky family. The Autobots finally 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, along with seven humans, including Witwicky patriatch Sparkplug. Before the ship departed, Prime gave a piece of the Matrix to Spike Witwicky, Sparkplug's son and Bumblebee's closest human friend. 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. Spike was forced by the product chief, General Robert Hallo, to use the piece of the Matrix 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 arrived and bested him. The injuries Prime took in this conflict necessitated a prolonged restoration period in stasis...

IDW comics continuity


Optimus Prime commands the Autobot armed forces spread across the galaxy from the Autobot Orbital Command Hub. He was directly involved in the cataclysm (just under 450 years ago) that reduced Cybertron to a dead husk, fighting alongside Megatron in an attempt to stop Thunderwing's rampage. Their efforts were futile, and they only survived due to Cybertron itself swallowing Thunderwing at Thunderhead Pass. Megatron was unconvinced that Thunderwing was dead, and advocated that Cybertron be destroyed to better insure that the mad Decepticon was forever destroyed. Prime refused, and threatened to stop any effort that Megatron attempted. Megatron agreed to spare the planet, but warned Prime that anything which happened afterward was on his head.

In the present, Prime received a pulsewave from Ironhide, who was stationed under Prowl's team on Earth, saying that the Decepticon infiltration cell under Starscream had broken their infiltration methods and enacted siege mode prematurely. Soon afterward, the Autobot science vessel Calabi-Yau sent a distress signal from above Thunderhead Pass, and he ordered the Wreckers to withdraw from Varas Centralus and meet him on Cybertron. Thunderwing had been restored by Bludgeon and his followers, and though the Wreckers made short work of them, the real fight would be met with Thunderwing. After the Wreckers, Predacons and Centurion drones were unable to destroy the monster, Prime took to the field, firing massive amounts of energy at Thunderwing, forcing it to exhaust its last reserves of Ultra-Energon and, ultimately, its life.



Jetfire discovered information in Bludgeon's files about the mysterious new form of Energon found on Earth. Linking it to the pulsewave transmission from Ironhide, Prime diverted his spacecraft to Earth and called Nightbeat in to assist him. . Shortly after arrival, and having undergone alteration so that he could disguise himself as an Earth truck, he slowly began to realize how unusual the situation Prowl's unit had found itself in was. Not only had the Decepticons broken their own infiltration protocols over what Starscream had dubbed Ore-13, but after attempting to recover what appeared to be Sunstreaker's remains, it was also evident that some of the planet's native sentient lifeformshumansposed a threat possibly equal to that of their old enemies.

Optimus Prime, now fully filled-in on Earth's happenings, decided that they needed reinforcements. He called Nightbeat, Hot Rod, and Hardhead to come when they could. When Prowl pointed out that Megatron, in his new gun-based Earth mode, was in the breakaway Soviet state of Brasnya stirring up trouble, Prime ordered them into action.

Blitzwing almost got the drop on Prime, but Roller was right behind him and took out Blitzwing with a single shot. Megatron returned to his full-size robot mode and disagreed with the quality of Prime's tea and crumpets. At last, the two rivals were going to go at it.



The fight went well at first, with Prime blowing Megatron's fusion cannon clean off. Megatron, however, tireless thanks to Ore-13, prevailed, almost beating Prime into stasis lock.

However, Prime transferred his consciousness into his trailer, leading Megatron to believe him dead. Realizing that Ore-13 was the same as Ultra-Energon, Prime returned to his body in time to save his forces from the relentless Megatron, blasting him point blank in the face and dealing enough damage to the Decepticon leader to drain his power reserves, just as he did against Thunderwing. The victory was narrow, however, leaving Optimus with the daunting task of fending off an increasing enemy force without his last ace in the hole.

This near-death experience had left Prime somewhat unsettled. While his consciousness was in infraspace downloading to his trailer, he sensed a presence of dreadthe visage of his long-missing predecessor, Nova Prime. Looking for answers, Optimus Prime left Earth temporarily to seek an audience with Omega Supreme for answers. Once there, he found out about Nova's beliefs of how Transformers were a superior race and should remake the universe in their image, and faced down the rampaging Monstructor, a legacy of Nova's tenure locked away by Omega Supreme. Then he gave his "you shouldn't have done that" speech to Omega, handed Monstructor's limbs over to Jetfire's team, and went on to do what comic G1 Primes do best: have angst-ridden introspection about himself and the tarnished legacy of the Prime lineage.

After returning to Earth, Nightbeat discovered that a human group was aware of the base's location and recommended to Prime that they move the Ark-19. As preparations were underway, Prime received a message from Hound saying that Thunderwing had been stolen. Sideswipe, eager to search for Sunstreaker, suggested that they be reassigned to Earth, and Prime agreed. However, the thrashing that Prime gave Megatron had so embarrassed the Decepticon leader that he ordered in the Decepticons' living weapon, Sixshot. While moving the Ark-19, Prime and the others came under fire by Sixshot, who severely damaged their ship.



Ordering Ratchet to get Jimmy Pink and Verity Carlo to safety, Optimus then instructed Nightbeat to upload all of Ark-19 ' s data to Ark-32 and for Prowl to activate the self-destruct sequence. When Ark-19 exploded, it was assumed that Optimus was on board, but all was good at the end when he appeared with Bumblebee and the othersready to take on Sixshot. Optimus and the Autobots held Sixshot at bay, but the U.S. military ordered an air strike to destroy the alien robots. The battle was a stalemate, as Sixshot had to return to the Decepticons while the Autobots orbital jumped just in time to avoid destruction. On Ark-32, after a conversation with Jetfire, Prime informs Prowl that they need to retrieve Wheeljack, Hot Rod and Ironhide, and leave Earth to see to another crisis. The secure facility on Garrus-9 had been breached, and Prime and company needed to make sure that some of the "recent inmates" there didn't end up "in enemy hands." Before leaving Earth, Optimus Prime redirected Hound's unit to rendezvous with Ark-32 at Garrus-9, and told Hound to impress upon Sideswipe the importance of their mission and how he didn't leave Earth or Sunstreaker behind lightly.

Optimus Prime and Prowl met with Fortress Maximus and Jetfire on Garrus-9 and discussed the prisoners' breakout, and that a surviving Decepticon had been tortured. Maximus and Jetfire gave each other a guilty glance. Prime left Maximus in charge and returned with Prowl to the Ark-32. Meanwhile, Dead Universe resident Cyclonus attacked Hound's crew, but they received help from Ultra Magnus and drove Cyclonus to escape to Corata-Vaz. There, he activated the Nega-Core and fought with Magnus and Hound's crew, whom had followed him. In desperation, Cyclonus activated the Nega-Core's guardian — Thunderwing. Using the distraction, Cyclonus escaped but Magnus sent another tracker after him. All this was reported to Optimus Prime on the Ark-32, who recognized that this had something to do with his infraspace encounter in Brasnya. Prime ordered Jetfire to summon the Wreckers to find out what Thunderwing is guarding.



At some point in the next year, Optimus and Megatron would face off on Earth. Prime would be left in a critical condition after the battle, and the Autobots would be forced to leave Earth to the Decepticons

IDW Hearts of Steel continuity
He appears very briefly in the first few pages, in his "Ice Age Wars" body (we only see him in robot mode, but his altmode is a brachiosaurus ). He spends most of the story in stasis lock.

IDW Hearts of Steel Concept Art micro-continuity
Optimus is depicted as turning into the front half of a fanciful red-and-blue locomotive. The rear half of the locomotive turns into a battle station. Since this altmode has no place in the story, these sketches constitute a micro-continuity in which Optimus Prime and Megatron are active in the late 19th century.

Trivia

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


 * According to the staff of Beast Wars, Optimus Prime became a space explorer in the Beast Era.




 * By the time Optimus Prime appeared in Beast Machines, his 3D model from Beast Wars had apparently been lost, leading the animators to use a faceplated Optimus Primal head as a quick replacement to save time and budget.


 * 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.


 * The first wave of Dreamwave posters in 2001 identified Optimus Prime as "Captimus Primus", which is tantalizingly close to making some sort of sense.


 * Optimus Prime's Japanese name is "Convoy", which is named after his original name "Battle Convoy" in Diaclone toyline, because the name "Optimus Prime" is difficult for Japanese kids to remember and pronounce.